Good morning, everybody. I hope you had a great week. I'm glad you're here today, and I have a feeling you will not regret being here today. If you have a device or a Bible, I'm going to invite you to turn to Philippians chapter three. We're getting close to the end.

Some of you have been following along in the study guides, and I hope that this has been a rich experience for you. And today I want to encourage you to think about, like, when you're studying the Bible, especially when you're getting toward the end of the book, context matters. So anytime that you read a verse, you got to remember that there's been a lot of other verses that came before that verse that bear into the way you interpret that verse. And so the further along you get in the book, the more cumulative information that there is. So that's your little nugget for Bible study, because in a week or so, we're going to be talking about Philippians 4:13, and I promise you I'll get on a soapbox because that is one of the most misinterpreted passages in the entire Bible.

Last week, I challenged you guys that as you left to pick up one of these cards, this is called Be the Bridge. It's an invite card. If you weren't here last week, let me just give you a little quick infomercial about what this is for. This is a card with 20 blanks, and we printed 500. So my math people in the room, what is 20 times 500?

10,000. So if 500 people take a card and they invite 20 people, we will have 10,000 invites. Now, the way this card is laid out is there's five blanks underneath connection under relationship. So when we have an event like the ladies brunch, if you invite somebody to the ladies brunch, you go in there and you write that name down. Or if you invite somebody to come to group with you or to one of our grow groups, or you invite somebody to come on Wednesday nights.

I mean, I know someone in this church now I'll leave nameless who has started coming to this church because of our Wednesday night grow groups. So you invite them to a grow group. Or the simple invite of come to church with me, right here it is. And then that last one, mission invites. Like, if you know somebody who does have a passport and you go to them and say, hey, that Mexico mission trip's coming up, you should think about going there's where you'd put their name down.

So I've got A name down here, and. And I've been praying for this couple that they would go to a group. And that's what this card is for. This card isn't for you to bring back and us brag about 10,000 invites. That's not what it's for.

But what it can do is serve two purposes. Number one, as you look at this card, in fact, if you've got your card with you, I want you to pull it out, I want you to look at it, and you see those names on there? That gives you an opportunity to pray that the invite you made has an effect. Are you following? Like, you call them out and say, I pray that they will find a group to connect.

But then I look at my card and I've got some empty blanks. You know what those are? They're called opportunities. That's when I can sit and I can pray. Lord, you know who it is that I might encounter?

It may be somebody in this room. It could be the person that I'm standing next to as I'm getting my license renewed. I don't know. But being perceptive when you're out in the community matters. In fact, one of our sweet ladies shared with me this week that she went to buy chicken.

What? You don't buy chicken? I love chicken. And I mean, she went in to get chicken for supper, and while she's standing in line, she noticed that the lady beside her just didn't look like she was feeling very well. Started talking to her, and she might be listening to the story right now.

And I'm going to get the details wrong. So. So forgive me, but she's talking to this lady, and they start talking about a surgery that this lady had just had. And like, oh, well, I had that surgery, too. And they keep talking.

Well, she invites her to come to a group. Well, while they're talking, someone else is listening that's sitting at a table. And she had had the same surgery they had both had. And so she starts talking to her and finds out that, you know, she had gone through this surgery and had had a hard time, but she wasn't in church. So she said, you know what?

Let me tell you where I sit at Ebenezer. And I'm inviting you to come to worship with me. Me, two invites in a matter of just minutes. See, my hope is that by summer, all 500 cards are gone. I mean, some of you in this meeting, you may be overachievers, you may fill out six cards, but that's not the point.

I'd rather you make two invites of quality and make connection than fill this card up. That's the point, is that the invite gets them to come. So if you've got your card, I want you to look at it. If you don't have a card yet, they're on the table in our connection center. Would you grab one today?

You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to show you how to pray over this card, Father. You know the couple that's listed on my card, and I'm praying and hoping that they will make connections in the group that I think that they visited. I pray, Father, that you would put people in their path that might be able to confirm that invite that was made. But, Lord, for these other blanks, Lord, you know how my life is going to play out this week.

You know, everywhere I'm going to go, you know every interaction I'm going to have. And I pray, Father, that you would put somebody in my path that I can invite to come to the ladies brunch that I can invite to come to Easter. Lord, I pray that you would help me to see and discern and to take that time. You said you would give us the words to speak when we stood before leaders. And so, Lord, I pray you do so.

I pray you help me find somebody that I can invite to a group. I pray simply that I find somebody this week that I can invite to come to church or to come and serve with me. It might be in Blythe, it might be in Mexico, wherever it is, Lord, I pray, lead me. Because every one of us that hold this card in our hand, Lord, we need you to direct us, to lead us and to give us favor. And so I pray that you do so.

In Jesus name, amen. So you know what? There you go. That was your coaching moment for the day, what to do with this card. So if you've got a card, keep on praying.

If you don't have a card yet again, they're on the table right out in our connection center. And I pray that you will use that as an awesome tool. So right now, would you stand with me? Would you stand with me as we read, starting in verse number 17? Fred did such a great job last week, helping us to remember, to put the past behind us and to press toward the prize of the upward call we have in Christ.

That's what he's called us to do. And remember I shared with you two weeks ago how we need to count the cost in our life and realize there's nothing in our life that compares to the value of Jesus Christ. So I'm putting it all in the past. I'm leaving the past behind. But where am I going?

Where am I going? Let's find out. Let's read starting verse 17. Brothers, join in following my example. In other words, literally it says, become a co imitator with me and observe those who walk according to the pattern that you have in us.

For the last two chapters, that's all he's talked about, is, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this. For many walk, but they are enemies of the cross. Their end is destruction, and their God is their appetite, and their glory is their shame. And the they set their minds on earthly things. That's not the path that you want to follow, and that's not who you want to imitate.

But then he says, listen, for our citizenship is heaven. Let me say that again. If you're here and you don't have joy and you need one fact to give you joy, it's that our citizenship is out of this world from which we also eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who. Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has, even to subject all things to himself, to that God and that Jesus be all honor and glory and majesty. Father, in Jesus name, as we dig into your word for a few moments, would you let this one truth the fact that Jesus Christ is just waiting to come back and take us home.

Give us the joy that we need to strive and walk in this life in Jesus name. And everybody said, better be careful what you. Amen.

Let me just throw these notes away. How y'all feel about that? So I want us to look just very quickly, because he gave us two commands in this passage. In verse number 17, in verse 18 and 19, he tells us one example not to follow. And then in verses 20 and 21, he gave us an example to follow.

And in that, let me make a correction. I sent Deborah the wrong verse number at the bottom of your study guide. It's not a seven, it should be a 20. So would you scratch that out and put a 20? The verse is correct, the number is wrong, but we see two examples.

Now remember, this goes all the way back to the beginning of chapter two, where he said, hey, listen, have this mind, have this mindset to put others above yourself. Who had that mindset? Example number one. Jesus Christ, who emptied himself, came to the earth, put on a Humble form. Humanity died on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven and was raised again to prove that he had beaten sin, death and hell.

He beat all of those, and God exalted him. Where did he exalt him to? Where is Jesus? He's at the right hand of the Father. And where is the right hand of the Father right now?

It's in heaven. Are y'all following like Jesus humbled himself, put on a humble state, and because of what he did on the cross, God exalted him highly and he is in heaven. Where is our citizenship according to verse 20? It's in heaven. You see?

Listen, I don't know what you came in this room today with. I don't know what's weighing on your mind. I don't know what's troubling you, but here's what I know. You can take about all the worries and cares you have in this world and put it in about three or four boxes, but there is nothing in this world that compares to what we will have someday in the future. Whatever you are toiling with, whatever you are struggling with, whatever strife you have in your life, nothing compares to what we will have someday when we reach our eternal home.

And if that is the case, then every day that I wake up, the one thought that should go through my mind is, is Jesus coming back today? Is today the day? Is today the day that Jesus will stand back up and that he will come back and take us home? That what we see now will be over, and what is to come is 10 million times better? See, we don't think about that.

Why? Because we fall into the trap of living in the moment. We listen to the voices that are in our life. We allow life to overwhelm us. It's like we're in the ocean and there's a red flag.

If you don't know what a red flag is, when the surf is up and the waves are coming and we're out there and you're getting beat day after day, wave after wave, and. And you get stuck in the moment and you forget that this moment is momentary, but that what's to come is eternal. So do you want to live for the wave that's slapping you in the back, or do you want to live for the Savior who's going to come and pull you out of the waves? Which one do you want to live for? Because it takes us in the moment, renewing our mind to remember that there is a Jesus who loves us, who saves us, and is about to come back and.

And take all of us home and our citizenship. Though my address may be 289 Northwoods Drive, my residency is someday in heaven. That ought to light your fire. And so I want you to notice. Let's just walk through these verses kind of quickly and we're going to get to the point.

You know what the application of this message is today? I'm going to tell you. It's worship. It's for us to fall at the feet of our Savior and our King, and adore him and adore what he's done for us. Sometimes we just need to take a moment and be thankful.

Even though everything in our life may be falling apart, the one thing that is constant and is true is Jesus Christ. And so I want you to look at in your bulletin. Follow with me again in verse 17. This is the pattern. Who you follow determines who you will become.

You can write that on your refrigerator. You can tattoo it on the back of your hand. You need something to remind you, whoever you follow is what you will become. A few weeks ago, I had the little sprayer went out on my hood that puts the washing fluid on my windshield. I cannot stand a dirty windshield.

I like to see as I'm getting older, I want to see better. And so it broke. And so I went on. I already had the part. I bought about four of them years ago because they break easily.

But I couldn't remember exactly how to get it off. So I went to the authority, YouTube. Y'all are laughing, but some of you have done this. I went to YouTube and I watched this self appointed expert tell me how to change that little nozzle. And he was wrong.

I have enough mechanical skill to know what he was saying was wrong. And if I would have done what he said to do, I would have had to go on and bought about $200 worth of parts for a $2 part. That's all I was changing, you see. But in our lives, we are looking for people to follow all of. Honestly, I think it is human in human nature, in our DNA that we are followers.

We are apes. We mimic. Not apes in the sense of. Don't take that. That's not what I mean.

I'm saying, like, we ape people. That's a word that means to mimic. We ape people. And you ape people. You mimic people.

The reason you wear some of the clothes that you wear is because you're mimicking somebody. The reason that you do the things that you do is because you followed someone's pattern. Like I wanted to be like my dad, When I was little, there were things that I would dress and the ways that I would carry myself and really some of the ambitions I had that were I wanted to be like my dad. And as I got older, I started kind of thinking a little bit more for myself. And I decided, no, that's not the pattern I need to follow.

And because I wanted to be me, and then I thought I wanted to be a mechanic. So I followed my grandfather's pattern and I started mimicking my grandfather. And as I got older, I didn't do that. What Paul is saying here is that if you are going to be successful in your Christian life, you need to be careful about who you follow. Back up with me for just a moment into verse number 15.

I want you to hear what he says. After he says, I press on toward the goal for the prize. He says, let us therefore, as many as are perfect. Do you remember a few verses before that Paul said, not that I am perfect. What does he mean?

Is he perfect or is he not? No, he's not. He's saying that until I leave this earth and I get my resurrection or my raptured, glorified body, I am not there yet and you are not there yet. But. But he says, as many of you that are perfect or mature, you need to have this attitude.

There's that word again. For now, you need to think like this. Well, think how that I count the cost, that I leave that stuff behind, that I value Christ more than anything else. And if that's not my attitude, he says, God will reveal this to you also. Whatever your mindset is right now, God has the ability to help you change your mind.

Don't lean on your own understanding as Solomon wrote in the Proverbs, but lean on him to give you understanding. But listen to what he says. He says, however, let us keep living by the same standard to which we have obtained, in other words, what we have gotten a hold of these elemental things, we need to keep holding to those. Well, what is the elementary things in faith? What is the elementary things?

You and I are born into this world and we're sinners and we cannot save ourselves. There's not enough good stuff that you can do and I can do in order to save ourselves. You cannot work to earn it. You cannot mark yourself. You can't sign card.

None of that will save you. What saves you? The complete and finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross that the Son of God came to the earth. The very word of God, as John tells us, came to the earth. Put on human flesh.

But he lived a sinless, perfect life. So when he went to the cross and he died for your sin, it takes your sin away. It doesn't just cover it, doesn't brush it under the rug. It takes it away because he is the sinless, perfect son of God, the unblemished lamb who sacrificed himself for your sins and mine. And he did that out of complete love for you and me.

But that's not the end of the story because we know that the Bible says that the wages of sin is what say it, it's what? Death. So what's the opposite of death? And how do we get life if we're dead?

Whoa, that one was spread out. It's through Jesus. It's through the resurrection. The greatest event that has ever happened on the face of this planet is that Jesus Christ appeared, died and was raised again. He is not dead right now.

He sits at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for you and for me. That powerful God loves you and did that for you. He didn't save you to earn your salvation. He saved you so that salvation could work out of you. And so he says, imitate me.

Be an imitator with me. Be careful who you follow. In fact, he's laid a list out. You're going to be like minded. So be like Jesus.

And by being like Jesus, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And don't forget Timothy made sacrifices. And don't forget Epaphroditus who became sick to the point of death for you. And then look at my example. Not that he said I'm brow beating or anything like that.

He said, look at what I've given up, look at what I've suffered. Look at where I've been, look at where I've come. This is the model, this is the pattern that our call in life is to exhibit. The bruised, the beaten, the bloodied body of Jesus to a lost and dying world to proclaim the gospel that saves you and me. The gospel isn't clean, the gospel is horrid.

But it's the best news that you and I have ever received. What God needs is people that are imitating Jesus Christ. They don't need somebody who's imitating some popular preacher online. They don't need somebody who's just doing what the rest of the crowd is doing. If everybody went and jumped off the bridge, would you go too?

Kind of concept. He says to imitate me and to watch out to be like on a guard post, looking and observing what they do. So when you're looking at people, and if they say they're doing one thing but they don't do it, they may not be worth following. Every one of us in this room today needs to take inventory and ask ourselves, is the people that I'm listening to and following worth following? And if they're not, stop it.

Because they're leading you down a path that you don't need to go. We need to live according to those elemental things. We need to keep it not complicated, not complex. Following Jesus at the end of the day isn't complex. When you keep in mind that the only way you're getting to follow him is that he invited you and he died for you, pay attention to who you're following.

Here's this promise. Ephesians 2:10. For we are his workmanship, we are his poetry, we are his art, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would. What did he say there? Walk.

Live in them. He says in 1st Corinthians 4:16. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. So I want you to think for a moment. Do you know anybody in your life that you would say lives like Paul did?

I mean, seriously think about it. I don't know that there's ever been another human being like Paul. Maybe there's been some martyrs that have come along and they lived like that.

I don't know that I've lived to the extent that Paul has because I'm still breathing because Paul was beheaded. Y'all remember that he lost his head for the gospel. I don't know that anybody in this room, like the Book of Hebrews says, has shedded blood for the cause of the Gospel. But would you do it?

Would you go to that extreme that someone who is lost in going to hell would get to hear the gospel? Does it move in your gut to know that there's somebody, somebody that needs to hear the gospel and they're depending on us to be imitators of Paul, to be imitators of these men and women of faith that we are called to do? But what does that look like? Well, there's two paths. There are two paths.

And I believe, because a lot of people say, well, we're not allowed to judge people. Yeah, we are. Yes, we are. Because if somebody is going down a path that I don't need to follow, then I need to make a judgment and go follow somebody else. Are you with me?

Don't buy into that. Judge not, lest you be judged of the way the world interprets it. Yes, you need to discern, because here's the two paths. There's the wrong path and there's the right path. There is no gray area.

There's only one of two paths. You're either on the path to heaven or you're not. You're either going to heaven or you're going to hell. There is no in between. There is no purgatory.

You don't leave this life and then hopefully somebody else earns your way to heaven. That's a lie. And it's very clear here. Look at verse number 18. Second point.

Those seeking temporal things walk in death and destruction, and that is not who you should follow. He said, for many walk of whom I've often told you and now even tell you weeping. This moved him so much to tears. Like this bothered Paul. It bothered him back in chapter one when those were preaching out of selfish ambition.

It bothered him at the beginning of this chapter that there were Judaizers telling them, well, you're saved now go get circumcised. It bothered him. Why? Because anyone that stood against the finished work of Jesus on the cross is an enemy of the cross. Are you with me?

Anything I try to add to take away from the Gospel is making myself an enemy of the cross. I'm trying to remove what the cross means and more than likely trying to exalt myself in its place. If I take down the cross, I have to put something there to follow. What are you following? Who are you following?

Well, let's break this down because these people have some specific attributes and characteristics. Their focus is that they are standing against the Gospel, against the cross. They are an enemy against what redemption stands for. Their destination. If this is their focus, this is their destination.

It's destruction. What is destruction? It's hell. It's hell. The same word is used in second Peter 3, 9, where he says, the Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing anyone to be destroyed, to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

There's only one of two paths that you can take, and this path leads to destruction. But how do they look? What's their attributes? Well, he gives you three. First of all, their God is their appetite, their stomach.

It's literally the word for stomach. In fact, if you think about it from this way, if all my life, if my life existence is about what I can put into my belly to make me feel good, then guess who becomes the God of my life? Me. See, when it says that there is a God other than God, there's a word for that in scripture. It's called idolatry.

When I live solely for my own pleasure, I have become my own God.

God is their appetite, that appetite, that thing. In other words, what they're striving to do is to sin without restraint. All I'm worried about is making sure I get what I want, when I want it and how I want it. I'll walk over whoever it takes to get there. I'll steal, I'll rob, I'll pillage, I'll manipulate, I'll abuse so that I can feel my belly.

Why would you want to follow somebody like that? Better yet, why would you want to be somebody like that? Second attribute we see here is it says that their glory is their shame. Their glory is their shame. What's he talking about there?

In other words, they're standing up and they're saying, hey, look at how bad I am. Y'all know some people like that, that glory in how bad they are. Think about Genesis 3. How weird would that story be if when they ate the fruit instead of hiding in the bushes and then making underwear out of fig leaves, that when God showed up, they went out and said, hey, God, look at us, we ate the fruit. We know that we're naked and gloried in their shame.

Do you hear me? Like, we do this sometimes. We glory in the things that should be sinful. As Paul said in Ephesians. He said, let like they want to go into the dark and bring those secret things out, things that are shame filled.

That when I realize and I stand and I look at a holy God and I see how destitute and broken I am, I realize that in my shame God can rescue me until I get to that place of brokenness and my glory comes off of me and goes on to him. I can't find the right path. And their minds are set on earthly things. Earthly things are the opposite of those things that are eternal. They're the things that are right here, right now.

And that's how most of us live day by day, a step at a time. But there's got to be something different that when I get to the end of my day and I lay my head down on a pillow, that I can think, you know what? Tomorrow may be the day that Jesus Christ is coming back. And that should give me joy, that I'll have the opportunity for one more day to live a life that would glorify him, not to fill my belly not to glory in myself, not to just be satisfied with these things that are momentary. Do you know what momentary things are?

They're momentary. It's like a piece of candy you put in your mouth. No, no, no, no, no, no. I got a better example because I got kids in the room. You know that bubble gum they sell with the duck?

You know what I'm talking about, don't you? I'll buy a pack, and Micah will eat it in five minutes. There's ten pieces in there. You know why? Because it only takes about two minutes for the sugar to be gone.

And then it's just a wad of just junk. You might blow a good bubble out of it, but that's about all it's worth. That's what momentary things are. That's what earthly things are. It's like the bubble gum you chew that loses its flavor in two minutes.

It might have been good for a second, but it's not eternal. My question to us today is really, how are we living? Remember, he said, they walk, but how are you walking in eternal things? Point number three says this. Those seeking eternal things live by the Resurrection.

Those seeking eternal things live by the Resurrection. Look at Galatians 6, 8. Or let me just read it to you. You don't have to turn there. He says, for the one who sows to the Spirit, will from the Spirit reap eternal life, compared to those who sow to the flesh, who reap corruption.

There's only one of two paths that you can go down. You're either on the path to destruction, or you're on the path to where your citizenship lies, which is heaven. Listen again to verse number 20. For our citizenship is where. Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. Jesus came, put on a humble form, died on a cross, was raised back to life, and then it said, God highly exalted him. Where? To Heaven. Is your heart in heaven or is your heart here in the world?

Because I can tell you, it makes a difference in how you live. Remember it said in that passage for us to. In chapter two, to humble ourselves. Well, look what it said here. Jesus, actually, he'll take the body of our humble state, the humble state that he took on when he came here, and with the body of his glory.

Because remember, God highly exalted him, gave him that glory by the exertion of what his own power. Guys, Jesus Christ is not weak in the sense that we think humility. He is all powerful and. And sovereign. And he's able to subject not some things, not a few things, but Everything is under his feet, and that's the God we serve.

And so when I'm thinking about my life and I'm thinking about the things that are going on around me, it helps me to remember that we have this promise in 1st Thessalonians 4 that we can comfort one another with these words that Jesus is going to come back. The trumpets will sound and the dead in Christ will. Will be raised, and those of us who are alive and remain will be transformed. Or we read in First Corinthians 51, 57 that we will be transformed and death no longer has its sting. Why?

Because I'm living with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. It's inside of us if we know Jesus Christ. So why do I want to walk through this life with no hope and no joy, knowing that the very power of God that that gave the Son of God that physical life back now lives inside of you and me? I can have joy. That's a taste of eternity.

When I realize that the Spirit living inside of me is just a glimmer, just a speck of what is to come, we can find joy knowing that what is coming is greater than what is now. I can find joy knowing and remembering and thinking that what is coming is better than what's now. My question is, do you believe that? So I want to challenge you. Who are you imitating?

If that pattern doesn't look like Paul's pattern, doesn't look like Jesus pattern, stop following them and find somebody to follow. Are you on the right path? Are you on the right path? I had someone make a comment to me in the last service and said, you know what? What you said really made me think.

Because when I began to think about it, I realized I am living for my own stomach. I'm living for what's here and now. I am my own God and I need to repent. What about you? Maybe you're joining us online and you just happen across this.

This sermon today. Maybe you. Maybe you are on the wrong path. But here's the thing. If you're on that path, where's the end going?

It's going to hell. Is that really where you want to spend your eternity? Or do you want to spend your eternity in heaven? And lastly, would you take me at my word that living for eternity is so much sweeter than living for the here and now? Putting your Stock As Colossians 3, chapter 1 says, that we are looking where Jesus has been raised and that we're seeking the things that are above.

Would that Define your walk in Christ. You know, someday there's coming a day when we're all going to sit at this big old table. No, I'm not going to sing. Big Big House. Some of y'all remember audio Adrenaline.

John wrote, he said, let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And then he said to me, write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

If you go back In Matthew, chapter 26, verse number 29, Jesus tells his disciples when he institutes the Lord's supper. He said, but I tell you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it. New with you and my Father's supper Kingdom. Guys, I can't wait for that. And I hope that you can't wait for that.

I'm invite our deacons to come at this time. And we're going to worship. This is worship? This is worship. This represents the broken body of Christ whose body was broken for you and your brokenness.

And so we come to the table broken to receive something broken to make us whole again. Jesus. And this blood, this juice that represents his blood, was spilled so that your sins could be taken away. If you're here this morning, you're holding on to your sins. Let it go.

Let it go. Give them to the Lord. You're holding onto them a whole lot longer than he ever would imagine, holding on to them. So as you take this today, we know that Paul taught us in First Corinthians, chapter 11, to never take this lightly, that if you're not a believer in this room and you're lost, I'm inviting you right now to bow your head and say, jesus, I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. But I believe you are the Son of God who died on the cross and was raised again so that I could have my sins taken away and you would give me eternal life.

And it's not based on my attitude, my personality, or the things that I've done. It's all because of what Jesus did on the cross. And I invite you before. Before you take any morsel, before you drink anything, if you're not saved, give your life to Jesus right now. And then when we sing at the end of this service, you come up and talk to one of us.

Randy's here. I'm here. Kevin's here. We would love to talk to you. Number one, maybe to hear you say, I just accepted Jesus as my Savior, and that's an awesome thing, praise God.

But it also says if you take it for wrong reasons, you reap judgment on yourself. So this is nothing to take lightly. He's invited you to the table, but we have to be dressed and clothed to come to that table. So as they're handing out this bread, take a moment and pray. Go ahead, guys, if you will.

Go ahead and start passing out the plates. Take a moment in prayer and say, lord, you know what? I know I'm dirty. I've done some things I shouldn't have done, but I know I'm saved. God, I need you to cleanse me first.

John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and he's just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from our own righteousness. If you stay dirty, it's not because he didn't offer the soap. It's because you refused to take it. So she's playing this music. You might even know some of the songs she's playing.

I'm tempted. I was tempted. Last service. To start singing. I may do it at this service.

I don't know. Listen to the words, this music, and reflect about what it is Jesus has done for you. So that in a few moments, when I say, eat this, you know you're taking the very broken body of Christ that was broken for your healing. So, guys, we would please go serve our people.

Jesus said that he did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. And sometimes you may wonder, like when these guys come forward, like, why does it take so much longer? Because no one serves themselves. And so as you take this morsel and you eat it, I want you to think about the broken body of Christ who was broken for you and for me. So take and eat.

In that text, in Matthew 26, he says, and when he had taken a cup and he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink from it, all of you. Not some of you, but all of you. For this is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. So, gentlemen, if you would, as they're coming down, I want to read a quote to you from a former professor of mine. His name was Stanley Toussaint.

I want you to hear this statement, because what we shared today is that if we want to experience joy, we need to live to what is to Come not what's in this moment. He said Jesus wanted his disciples to labor for him in the present age. That's the here and now. But do so joyfully, anticipating reunion with him in the earthly kingdom. You see, for us, we.

We know Jesus in the spirit, but these men knew Jesus in the flesh. And they were not happy at the things Jesus was telling them, as he was telling them, I'm going to die. I'm not going to be with you much longer. But it makes me think of the words of John 14 when he said, jesus says, don't let your hearts be troubled. If you believe in God, believe also in Me.

For in my Father's house there's many rooms, many mansions. And if it were not so, I would have told you he was a truth teller. He said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you will be also.

Guys, is that the longing of your heart today to be where Jesus is? Because I can tell you, living in the present moment, Jesus is always with us, helping us, guiding us, directing us. Shed his blood so that you and I could have a relationship with Him. So, guys, would you take this in worship in honor and remembrance of what he's done? Father, you're good to us.

We bless your name. We thank you for what you've done. We worship you today and we love you and Jesus name. Gentlemen, if y'all want to go ahead and go back to your seat, I want to invite everybody else to stand with us. Said at the end of that passage in Matthew 26:29, he said, after they had sang a hymn, then they went out to the garden.

Guys, let's sing. We're going to sing about the goodness of God. We're going to sing about what Jesus has done for us. Let the joy of the Lord rise up in your heart and sing to him like you've never sang before. If you're here today and you don't know Jesus, come talk to one of us.

If you haven't been baptized and you know you need to make that decision, come and talk to us. Whatever your next step is, don't hesitate. It's not that we don't know if we don't have tomorrow, we just don't know what tomorrow's going to hold. But I can tell you it's going to be good either way. You either get an opportunity to live for Jesus, or he's coming back.

It's nothing Bad. It's all good. So guys, sing with us now. Alone in my sorrow. Dead in my sin.

Lost without hope, no place to begin. Your love made a way to let mercy come in. When death was arrested, Ash was redeemed.

Ash was redeemed. Only beauty remains.

My orphaned heart was given.

My morning grew quiet. My feet rose to dance. When death was arrested, my life here. Oh your grace. Oh your grace so free watches over me.

You have made me new. Now life begins with you.

Released from my chains, I'm a prisoner no more. My shame was a ransom. He faithfully Lord for he cancelled my debt and he called me his friend. When death was arrested. In my life begin.

Co your praise so free. Wash it so.

You have made me new. Now life begins with you.

It's your endless love pouring down us. You have made us to now life be kings with you.

Our savior you displayed on criminal's cross.

In darkness rejoices though heaven lost.

But then Jesus rose without freedom in him cause that sleep it was arrested in my life begin.

Call your praise. Suffering washes over me. You have made me do. Now life begins with you. You.

It's your endless love pouring down.

You have made us new. Now life begins with you. And it's your image love. Let's sing it out. Sing it.

It's your endless love.

Amen. Aren't you thankful this morning? Let's give him our praise one more time in here. Amen. Will you say stand?

We got a couple of announcements and then we'll let you go.