First Baptist Church Hoptown

Grounded In The Gospel: Why Baptism And The Lord’s Table Matter

• First Baptist Church Hoptown

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Looking for solid ground as the year turns? We walk straight to the source: the gospel, baptism, and the Lord’s Table—two visible signs that rehearse an invisible grace. We start with four clear questions from Romans 1—Who made us, what’s wrong, what’s God’s solution, and how are we included—to show why the cross is not a moral upgrade, but a rescue by a perfect Savior. From there, we connect belief to baptism, not as a finish line but as the public start of discipleship, and we explore why the Lord’s Table is our ongoing nourishment, not a ritual for “good weeks,” but a steady reminder that Christ’s work is finished.

SPEAKER_00:

You're our Savior, hallelujah. You are refuge, you're our strength. It's more than we just thank you for that. So, Father, we love you. Thank you for the love that you've poured out on us. It's in your name. Everybody said.

SPEAKER_01:

Amen. That's a great song to end the year with. Well, good morning, church. If you have your Bibles with you, I invite you to turn to me to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. As you're turning there, I'll pray for our time. Father God, as we open your word, we ask that you would do what's only you can do. Open the eyes of our hearts by your spirit. Silence every competing voice that would tell us to trust ourselves, to excuse our sin, or settle for a deluded gospel. Grant us repentance that leads to life, faith that clings to Christ, and a humility that that just gladly sits under your lordship. And for those who know you, that you would deepen our assurance and renew our joy in such a great salvation. And for those who are far off, still draw them to the Savior who welcomes sinners. We want Jesus to be exalted and sin to be repented and mercy to be magnified and grace unmistakably clear. And Lord, as we look ahead to the year before us, we we confess that we don't know what it's going to hold, but we know who holds us. And we ask your blessing, not as a for a promise of ease, but as the assurance of your presence in our lives and your faithfulness and your sufficient grace. Order our steps according to your will. Give us wisdom for decisions and courage for obedience and patience when we face trials and gratitude in every season. Shape us as a church to be faithful and anchored in truth and devoted to prayer and generous in love and bold in our witness. And keep us from drifting and guard us from pride and make us a people who live not for our own glory but for yours alone. And Lord, we entrust this year and this message and our very lives to you, confident that he who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. And so, Lord, we come before you, your people, your church, seeking your voice from your word. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, here we are, another year in the books, another one just a few days away. The past four years for us have brought changes as a church, all of which were in had the intention to secure a sure footing as we prepare for the next five years of mission in our community. Our focus in 2026 is going to be strengthening that foundation while preparing intentionally for the future. This begins with a clear and thoughtful uh preaching plan that grounds us in Scripture and reinforces the clarity of the gospel in our lives. And that plan actually has already been built for the year of 2026. We're going to have a series on the basics of faith in the beginning of the year. We're going to go through the book of James. We're going to finish up the book of Genesis. We're going to look at the book of Galatians, the book of Ruth, and the book of Jonah, Lord willing. Now, alongside this, we're going to focus on the basics of healthy church life: teaching, prayer, discipleship, fellowship, financial stewardship, mission, ensuring that growth is not just numerical, but deep, durable, and spiritually formed. And at the same time, we look ahead to the next five years with wisdom and foresight. This includes assessing the needs of our facility, which, as many of you know, they're relatively significant, and matching out a catch-up plan of deferred maintenance, clarifying what's next for the ministry as God continues to grow and shape our church. And we're also going to be, glory to God, bringing the revitalization of the church's business and governance to completion. Amen, somebody. We are bringing the the the business and the governance that's all going to be complete this year, Lord willing. Uh we're going to be developing, I think the last thing we have is developing clear staffing policies and procedures to support long-term health with our staff and effectiveness. And that's really the capstone of the work that has been completed with by establishing elders, strengthening the deacons, uh, finalizing leadership structures, new bylaws, financial policies and procedures. I said that really quick, but that seemed like it took a long time to do, didn't it? Any elders in here agree with that? That took a long time to complete, didn't it? And so our early focus in 2026 is going to be the basics, doing the basics of the faith well and with consistency. And so today we begin this idea of doing the basics well with two very important things in the life of the believer and the ministry of the church. That is, baptism and the Lord's table. It's important for us to be reminded of what the scripture teaches of these things, as we might be inclined to ascribe to the bread and to the cup or the waters of baptism, something that should be ascribed, shouldn't be ascribed at all, or worse, miss their purpose altogether. So let me start by giving you a concise definition of these two things. The ordinances of the Lord's table and baptism are physical representations of a spiritual reality that is much more, that is, that is far different and far greater and much more significant than themselves. The Lord's table and baptism are inseparably linked as two gospel ordinances that Jesus has given to the church. That's why we call them an ordinance. Each one proclaiming the same saving work from a different angle, if you will. Baptism is that initiating sign of union with Christ, our public identification with his death, burial, and resurrection. It declares that we have been cleansed by his blood and brought into the covenant community by grace and by faith. The Lord's table, by contrast, is the ongoing sign of that communion that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't repeat salvation. The Lord's table, if you will, rehearses that salvation. It continually sets before us the broken body and the shed blood of Christ as the sole ground of our forgiveness and peace with God. And so together, these two they trace the rhythm, if you will, of the Christian life. Baptism, the entrance, and the table nourishes us as we walk with Jesus. They're visible sermons, if you will, of the gospel. Signs that do not work automatically, but which by the Spirit, the Spirit uses to strengthen faith as they are received in trust and repentance. Baptism says you belong to Christ. The Lord's table says Christ sustains those who belong to him. And so they are meant to arrest our attention, if you will, to steady our hearts, to remind us that Christianity is not built on a vague spirituality or personal sentiment. It is built on a defined historical saving reality, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why Scripture is never casual when it speaks about these two things. See, these ordinances do not create the gospel, they declare the gospel. That's why they're so important in the life of the church. They don't save us, they point us to the one that does save us. So before we take the bread and the cup together today, I want to uh I want to talk about baptism and discipleship, but we need to even go further back than that. We need to have clarity about what the gospel actually is. And so I asked you to turn to Romans 1, where Paul lays out the gospel, and he does this by asking, if you will, and answering the most important questions that we can face. So that'll be our first heading this morning. Let's consider what the gospel is. And this is the foundation of our understanding of both baptism and the Lord's table. These two point us to something. They don't point us to something nebulous, not something that can't be defined. They point us to the eternal reality of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is called the good news because it addresses the most serious problem that you and I have as human beings. And that problem is this God is holy and God is just and we are not. Now we just got through Christmas. Some of you don't get paid for a couple more days, and like I got bigger problems right now. No, you don't. Your biggest problem is that you are separated from God due to your sin. God is holy and we're not. And at the end of our lives, at the end of my life, at the end of your life, we're gonna stand before a just and holy God, and we will be judged. And I'll be judged either based on my righteousness or lack thereof, or on the righteousness of someone else. And so Paul frames the qu the gospel around four questions. And if you've been with us for some time, I hope they're familiar to you. I hope by the time the Lord calls me home or calls me to another assignment that you're like, I am so sick of those four questions because you tell us those all the time. Yes, because I want you to tell others. That's what we're called to do. And if there's any way that we can get a framework into our minds so that we can understand the gospel and share it with people quickly, that is very important. So the first question who made me? Paul insists in Romans 1 that mankind is not autonomous. And he begins this amazing presentation. Look in verse 18. He says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them, for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, has been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made, so that they are without excuse. We did not create ourselves. We are not even self-reliant or self-accountable. It is God who created us, and therefore it is God that has the right to demand our obedience. It is God who designed us, and therefore it is God who can say, This is how you were designed to live. So the question of creation is absolutely critical. I heard a speaker at a youth rally once say to the students that the matter of the end times, this is when everyone was an end times expert. He said, The matter of the end times is the most important thing that you could understand. And I wanted to jump up and say it's absolutely not the most important thing for you to understand. What is critical for us and for students and for children to come to terms with is the is the question: who made me? Where do I come from? Am I a product of time plus matter plus chance? Or am I fearfully and wonderfully made? Am I a part of this race of humanity that is the pinnacle of God's creation? Or am I just dust? Am I just DNA dancing to random chance? If we are made by God, we are then dependent on God, and therefore we are accountable to God. And so the second question then follows that what is our problem? Our problem is that we have rebelled against our Creator, we have rebelled against God. And everyone knows there's a problem. Everyone has a solution for the problem. Everyone knows there's a problem with the world. I mean, we just turn on the any media, and every generation has their own brand of trouble. But it's just plain old trouble. And that rebellion, that sin brings separation. You see, humanity, mankind by nature is separated from God. You could be ambivalent towards God, you could say, listen, dude, I'm an atheist, I'm not even antagonistic to God, I just don't care about God. But the reality is you are rebelling against God. And in Romans 1, Paul says that if we continually rebel against God, he might just let us continue on the path that we're creating for ourselves, which leads to our own destruction. Look at verse 21. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their own hearts to impurity, dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. And then, of course, excuse me, in the next few chapters in Romans, Paul continues with this theme. We all know the verse that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And that's why the world is the way the world is today. Sin gives birth to sin, which gives birth to sin. And for those who disagree, I have people argue this with me all the time. They say men and women by nature are actually good. Now you see, humanity has fallen. Sin has infected and affected every aspect of creation. And so when I say all of humanity is evil, I'm not saying there aren't nice, kind people out there. I'm saying that every single person has fallen away from the glory of God. Now, by our standards, there might be some wonderful people out there, but by God's holy and perfect standard, all of humanity has fallen. And people say, well, men and women by nature are good. And people say, well, if we just got to know each other, all the suffering in the world would end. But at the same time, they lock their cars, they lock their homes, they cancel their credit cards when they lose them, they make sure their kids don't talk to strangers. Why? Because we know in reality, and the Bible says it, the heart of man is wicked above all things who can know it. You say, well, what's the point then? What hope is there? Well, I'm glad you asked. That's the third question here. What is God's solution to all of this? Is it for us just to pull up our bootstraps and try harder and be better and be nicer? No. If we are sinners, if we're unable to save ourselves, we are completely hopeless unless a solution comes from outside of us, a solution given to us by the one who created us. And that solution is the sacrificial death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. Jesus is God's solution to our problem. What about all the problems in the world? Jesus is the solution to all the problems in the world. You're like, well, I don't know if I understand that. If if the church did, and I don't mean the church, I mean the church, if we did what God what God asked us to do to glorify him, to make disciples, the challenges in this world might still exist, but they'd be much less. The solution is Jesus Christ. That's why Paul says again, Romans 1, verse 16, what does he say? I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith, the faith as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. So God demands perfection for salvation. That's a problem. He demands perfect righteousness. Despite our rebellion against God, we can be made perfectly righteous through redemption that's in Jesus Christ. Jesus was born with without sin, lived a life of perfect obedience to God. Without sin, he died a perfect, innocent substitute on your behalf. That is why Jesus is God's solution to the problem that we have. Our problem is separation from God. That separation is due to sin. And our sin problem is solved through Jesus Christ that through his substitutionary death on the cross. Now, if we stop there, we're not sharing the entirety, we're not understanding the entirety of the gospel. Because that's the fourth question. How do I how am I included? How am I included in this solution? How do I take part in all of this? You see, we can agree that Jesus was great and Jesus died. We can even agree that Jesus rose from the dead, but unless we come under that, we are not part of that. And you say, Well, how can I be included? Just be perfect. You can go to heaven if you're perfect. How's it going? Anyone have a New Year's resolution yet? You're like, dude, that's a couple days away. Don't even start with me yet. I'll ask again next Sunday. And everyone's gonna be like, dude, that was four days ago. Don't ask me about that now. We just need to be perfect. We just need to live a perfect life. We need to never act on our anger, we need to never get road rage, we never get mad at someone for having a different political opinion, never raise your voice at your children, never act selfishly, never act on lust, never, never, never, never, never. We can't. We just can't. But Jesus has. And that's where the good news comes in. This gospel, Jesus has it, and he says, Here you can have my perfection. Because you don't have it. We are saved by believing in Jesus Christ. We are included in this solution by trusting him. Trusting that nothing else can save us except for him. Salvation, very simply, is turning from your sin and believing in Jesus Christ. And this is not something any religious professional does for you. It's all faith. There's no other mediator between you and God except Jesus Christ. Right where you are, right now, in the quiet of your heart, you can cry out to God, save me, and he will. That was my experience. I heard the gospel, and I'm like, does that mean me? And so I was like, Lord, save me, and he did. That salvation, that conversion leads to a whole new life in Christ. A changed heart, a changed mind, a changed pattern of living, a life of discipleship, working out your salvation in fear and trembling. And that life of discipleship begins. With your baptism. And that brings us to the next big piece here. The baptism. Go back, flip back one book. Go to Acts chapter 16. If you're in Romans, just flip back. Acts chapter 16. I'm going to read from verse 29. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in. And trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house, and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them, and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Faith, belief, leads to salvation, which leads to that outward expression of that inward reality, that outward expression of baptism. I mean, this may not shock anyone, but my view of baptism is decidedly Baptist because we are in a Baptist church. And I can tell you, in my years of study, I think that is the most biblically accurate. So my goal today is to show the simple evidence from the scripture that that may mean comparison to other religions. I don't mean to be unkind to anyone. But let me say this: before we consider what baptism is, we need to be sure of what baptism is not. Baptism is not how we get saved. Baptism is not how we stay saved. Christy and I early on in our walk with Christ, this was uh, I think we only had one child at the time. We we went to this, it was a we found out later it was a cult. They were very nice. I think that's probably why. But the guy said from the stage, unless I've baptized you here, you are not saved. And that's when I looked at her and I'm like, we're in the wrong building. Because he said that he could save them through baptism. But baptism doesn't wash away our sin. Baptism is an outward expression of something that's already happened internally. You are proclaiming to the world that you're in Christ, you're proclaiming to the world that you're gonna live your life for him. And it's done in this peculiar way of immersion. The overwhelming evidence of scripture is that baptism is done following conversion. We are saved, then we are baptized. You don't see years of time elapse between salvation and baptism in the Bible. And so, although baptism follows conversion, we are not saved by that act. We are saved by faith alone, uh, Christ alone, all by God's grace alone. And so it's not how we get saved, saved, saved. So what is it? It's a command. First, it's a command for those who are in Christ. That's what makes it an ordinance. Jesus told us to do it. We are to make disciples, and that begins with their baptism. The act of going down into the water identifies with Jesus' death and burial, and coming up from the water identifies with his resurrection, that outward expression of something that's already happened to me. It's a physical representation of a reality that is far greater, far more significant than just a person in water. It's a very symbolic act that represents a biblical reality of being made new, being made a new person, being made alive in Christ. And so we can say with certainty that only those who can say from a regenerated heart that Jesus Christ is my Savior should be baptized. That's why we hold a relatively simple Baptism 101 class here. Now, I faced a lot of criticism for that over the years, not here, but in past churches. They say, why would you have a class? If somebody says they need to be baptized, you need to baptize them. I don't disagree with that. That session is just a process of making sure, it's a means to an end. It's an opportunity for me to get to know you as it is for you to understand what baptism is. And I've used that class almost as a filter to help protect people from being baptized while they don't know who Jesus is. I've also seen people come to Christ in that class, glory to God, and then we baptize them. It might delay baptism by a few days, but I'm not suggesting someone waits several years to prove that they're a Christian. That's not what that class is. Baptism is intended for someone who's a believer. And so here, for instance, with children, we wait until they're old enough to express their own decision to follow Jesus and understand the meaning of baptism. Baptism doesn't save us, it's a symbol and it's a celebration of that salvation that we have. And so the power that brought Jesus back to life then is the same power that he uses to change our lives. And of course, that is worth getting excited about. And so baptism is that outward expression of the inward reality. And that brings us to the third piece, then, the Lord's table. Flip back two books to the book of Luke. Luke chapter 22. Verse 14. Luke 22, verse 14. When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him, and he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So I want to consider the Lord's table from two perspectives, the practical and the spiritual. From the practical perspective, this is it's obvious this is an ongoing thing in our lives, the Lord's table. It's like baptism in that it possesses all the elements of an ordinance, but it's unlike baptism in that baptism is that starting gun, it's that initiation into our discipleship, whereas the Lord's table is continuing and it's meant to be observed throughout the life of the Christian. Second, like baptism, the Lord's Supper is intended for the believing Christian. And that's why every month you hear me give the warning if you're not in Christ, I invite you to pass. Or if you are in Christ and you are in deep habitual sin, I invite you to pass. This is not being me being exclusionary or mean. I invite you to pass for your own benefit. Just like we seek to protect this pulpit, we don't want just anyone standing here. We want someone here that loves Jesus, that is deeply committed to the proclamation of his word. The same is true about the Lord's table. We want those who know Jesus to take part in the broken body and the blood of Christ. And I gave that warning once at a former church, and a young man came up to me afterwards and he said, How dare you, how dare you exclude me from taking the Lord's table? I was like, Man, I didn't exclude you, I just warned you. He's like, Yes, but I'm not a believer, and you excluded me. I said, Well, let me tell you about Jesus. And he came to know Christ and he got baptized. And the next time that we had the Lord's table, he took the Lord's table with us. That's why we do those things. It would have been worse for me to say, hey man, just anybody. You just take, you do whatever you want. Because he would have left here thinking, you know what? I guess I'm I'm a whatever the Christian thing is now. But now he's in Christ. And so Paul gives this same solemn warning to the Corinthians when they're uh going to take part in the Lord's Supper, and he says this in 1 Corinthians 11. He says, Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if then he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. We're all sinners. We need not be sinless to take the Lord's table. But if we are going off the rails with sin, if we have no repentance in our heart about sin, this morning I would invite you to pass from taking the Lord's table for your benefit. This is left up to your own conscience, isn't it? We don't go around and check off names of who takes and who doesn't take the Lord's table, because this is truly between you and God. And here's the thing: people aren't thinking about you nearly as much as you think people are thinking about you. Most people are just preoccupied trying to deal with their own stuff. And so if you need to pass from taking the Lord's table, there's nobody sitting there going. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because they're they're dealing with their own things. Nobody's judging you because we're all busy searching our own hearts for unrepented sin. And so we when we come together, we take this time seriously with glad hearts. And we do this here, we do it once a month. It can be done more often. I prefer to do it not less than that. And it's really no prescription in the Bible about this. Jesus tells us, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. Now, the question that I often get is why do most American churches use grape juice? This is an American tradition. People say, Well, didn't Jesus use wine? Well, yeah. Jesus and his disciples would have used actual wine in the Lord's Supper. I mean, we can argue the nature of that wine all day long, and people love to argue the nature of that wine all day long. But they sat down at the Passover feast. It was the most important feast of the year, and it's unlikely that they would have had anything but the best wine. So wine's been used in the Lord's Supper for 2,000 years. That was up until around 1870, until a man by the name of Thomas Welch figured out how to pasteurize grape juice and basically made non-alcoholic wine. Now, what was interesting is that at the time the temperance movement was in full swing in North America, and many churches adopted the use of Welch's new juice because they desired to avoid the purchase or consumption of alcohol. I think both wine and grape juice are made, well, we know they're made from the same fruit, and they visually present the same message of Christ's blood. Healthy churches often differ on this issue for practical or theological reasons. I'd never break fellowship with anyone or refuse sharing the Lord's table with those who practice it differently than I do. I think we should strive to maintain a biblical and compassionate approach in all that we do as God's people. We seek to, as we seek to make disciples in the world. And that's why many churches will serve wine and grape juice together and leave it up to the conscience of the people. But in the end, I believe it's permissible to use grape juice as we do here. Is it the best? I think in our mission context, it's absolutely fine. Because wine as a gift of God and a sign of his blessing was used in the Passover and in the institution of the Lord's Supper. And following that biblical that pattern is likely the most biblical. And so then what about the presence of Christ in our communion? Now, this is challenging, certainly, for those who come from uh, say, a Roman Catholic tradition. I believe that Jesus is present in the service of communion, but spiritually rather than physically. This is typically called the real presence to indicate that as a spiritual presence is every bit as real as a physical one. You think about all the promises that Jesus made about his presence being with us, and I think that we can, and we should take them seriously. He said, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Where two or three meet together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. And so this gives us ground to affirm that Jesus Christ is present with us. He's present with us in the Lord's table. This the spiritual blessing, the spiritual grace that we receive from this act. And I know that's true because I've yet to come to the Lord's table and be unmoved by it. I mean, I'm not an overly emotional person. I can tell you there's probably one or two times that I've actually had tears in a worship service. And both times it was when the Lord's table was being, when we're taking the Lord's table together. Paul said, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Jesus said the same thing. He said, Truly I say to you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And so we speak of the real presence of Jesus in the service as we know it now, and we seek to respond to him. We seek to serve him. We readily admit that there's times when this is difficult and the Lord does not seem to be present with us. And you're like Goulet, it's the last Sunday of the year. I don't feel Jesus with me. He is. You know what the good thing is, is that the presence of Jesus Christ is not based upon our emotions. The presence of Jesus Christ in our life is not based upon how we feel about it, it's based upon his promises. Glory to God. Amen, somebody. Because there's days when we just don't feel it. Whether it's because of sin or fatigue or misplaced faith, Jesus can often seem far away. And we long for that day when we see him face to face and we're like him. And this time of the Lord's table is a reminder of that day. Because there will come a time when all of us who are in Christ, we're going to be sitting around the greatest feast that we've ever seen. We are going to be, our fellowship is going to be sweet, and Jesus is going to be our host, and all the signs and everything else will have been fulfilled. And that spurs me on to holiness in my own life, to know that this is just a shadow. It's a glimpse of what we will experience when we are with Jesus face to face. And so we're going to close our time with the Lord's table. We're going to close it out and then have a final song. And so I want to invite the deacons to come up and serve us. And the deacons are going to be at the head of each one of the uh rows here, the columns. And in a moment, I'll invite you to exit to your right and come down and receive the bread and the cup. And once you return to your seat, I would just ask that you would wait and we will all celebrate together. And in the quiet of your own heart, you can cry out to God to show you any unconfessed sin, any rebellion that retains its foothold in your life. And once everyone has received the bread and the cup, we will celebrate the Lord together. Let's pray before we take the table. Father, we come to your table grateful and humbled. We know that we don't come because we've had a good week or because we've earned a place. We come because of Jesus. Because his body was given for us, his blood was poured out for the forgiveness of our sins. Thank you for welcoming us, not as strangers or servants trying to prove anything, but as sons and daughters who belong to you by grace. And as we take the bread and the cup, help us to slow down and remember. Remember that the work is finished, that our guilt has been carried by Christ, that we are forgiven and free. Meet us here by your spirit. Strengthen our faith when it feels weak and soften our hearts where they've grown hard. And as we enter a new year, renew our love for Christ and for one another. Keep us from taking this lightly. Keep us from fear. Help us to have honest hearts, trusting fully in you. And Lord, send us out changed. Let the grace we receive shape how we live and how we follow Jesus. And we pray this in his name. Amen.