SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Lambs and Company, a podcast about life. We will feature guests and friends on the podcast to have quality conversations and wonderful fellowship. We hope you will join us. It's a life worth living, and it's a life worth giving.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Well, welcome to another Lambs and Company. Um, here with Dr. Hardy Hall, and a life worth living is a life worth giving. And we've been enjoying uh the different uh episodes that we've been doing, and uh we really um are thankful for the opportunity to do this. And um today's episode we want to talk about communion, and the real reason for that is someone that listens to the podcast specifically requested that we address communion because of the different uh practices. Because if you're in the Catholic Church, uh communion is practiced one way, if you're in a Protestant church, it's practiced one way. If you know if you're in an evangelical church, it may be practiced a different way, and they're different views concerning communion. Um what I want to say going into this, and I know Artie agrees with me on this, and and um uh but we kind of really like the way that the scripture says it.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

In other words, it's wonderful when we've got history, it's wonderful when we've got theologians that are, you know, uh trying to explain or tell us uh what this means. But you know, at the end of the day, uh Arthur Pink used to say, um, use the scripture to interpret the scripture. And there was a mutual friend of ours that was on the advisory board here at Lamb's Chapel for years, and that was Dr. Fuchsia Pickett, and she said, Don't read into the scriptures, read out of the scriptures. And the other thing is Jesus said that one of the reasons that the paraclete or the Holy Spirit was given to us was to lead and to guide us into all truth and understanding, and he would help us to understand, but also to realize that the Holy Spirit is a revelatory spirit, and he's also going to work in my life and your life to help us understand what the Father says. I think a wonderful example of that was when Jesus was asking, whom do men say that I am? And the different disciples were saying, Well, you know, some think you're John, some think you're Elijah's, you know, some think it. But all of a sudden, Peter pipes in and he says, You know, you're Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus stopped and commended him for it and said, You know what, Peter, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. Well, it was the Father that promised that when Jesus was being taken back, that the promise of the Father would be given to us, which was the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the one that said the Holy Spirit was going to help reveal and open the eyes of our understanding, lead and guide and help instruct and teach us, convict us, comfort us by way of the word. And so um just leading into this, I just want you to know before we get through this, the place I'm going to end up personally, and I think Dr. Hold agrees with me on this, we're going back to what the scripture says. You know, it's wonderful what the Catholic Church uh has decided, it's wonderful what uh Martin Luther decided, it's wonderful what John Calvin decided. It's wonderful. And the church and church history has actually established itself, and there have been battles, there have been arguments, there have been fights over these things. But, you know, Luke chapter 22 and verse 19 through 20 says, He took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup, saying, This cup is a new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Notice what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, in verse uh 20, beginning in verse 23, he says, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Same word remembrance that Jesus used. And in the same way, he took the cup and after supper, saying, This cup is a new covenant in my blood, do this as often as you drink in remembrance of me. And so, having just pointed that out, um, one of the things, and I'm just gonna throw the terms, theological terms out and let Artie really get involved in this, but uh, you know, one of the things that the the Catholic Church actually looks at when they do it when they're um um practicing communion is trans uh substantiation. And then there's the also the consubstantiation, I believe, and I might not be saying it quite right, but then there was also what Calvin came along with, and uh, and I think um, well, actually uh Zwingli, I think, which was Swiss, yeah, he came along with the area and called memor um um memoralism.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Just like a memorial or a or a um a celebration, that that's the idea, that it's a symbol and not really uh it it it was a pr and more of a practice that you do, and then and then there's also the reformed view that I think John what John Calvin kind of introduced.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

But these are all terms that people get into, and um the truth is it's kind of like Jesus talked about baptism, he was baptized, uh his disciples were baptized and everything. And it's funny what we've done with baptism today. By the time we got done with it, it's sprinkling. Well, baptism is baptizo, it means to actually be immersed, saturated. Pretty much. And and you know, and it's and the same thing, I think sometimes we get into taking things and shifting it and working it to fit what we want culturally or what we want as far as uh, you know, what suits us and suits our personalities and things like that sometimes. But that that's unfortunate because I I think it explains why we're in the condition as the body of Christ and in the culture that we're in today, because we really sometimes don't act like what Paul said to Timothy, all scripture is given by God, it's inspired, right? And it's meant to be lived out, it's meant to be transformational to us. It meant it is intended to form something in my life that wasn't there apart from God. And um, but do you want to pick up Artie and just kind of maybe um because we were asked specifically to do this podcast and to talk about the theology that's involved. And do you want to jump into that? Sure. Run with it for a little while.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Uh the but what we what we practice as that we call communion or the Lord's Supper or uh that sort of thing, uh the original church, it would have been a very different thing. Jesus, it comes directly out of the Passover meal. That was a passage you read where he said, This is my body, this is the blood of the covenant, and he explained that uh there was going to be this memorial, this remembrance of him and what he did. That's the thing that Paul says about it. It do this, you know, until he would come back. And uh the early church practiced a meal. They would all gather together, they would eat a meal together. They probably gathered maybe every day or or as often as they could in the evening, and uh and would eat. That's the whole thing Paul talks about in Corinthians. And so the the fact that that we've turned this sort of into a ritual or a uh you know, some practice that we do, it's not exactly what the early church did. And we don't necessarily have to do what the early church did, we just need to remember the event and uh celebrate that event as best we can, which we can. It's not hard to do with uh bread and and uh we use grape juice, uh other groups use uh wine. And uh so it there's not a problem with any of that, but part of where the arguments come in, because everybody kind of does that. It's you know, either it's all related somehow. In fact, the two practices that all Christians do, bat water baptism and communion. Those everybody does that. They all kind of have different opinions about it, but they all do that. The Catholic belief came out of uh the ritualism that developed in it in the church, and uh it took a number of years for that to occur, and that's we all have a tendency to do that, and they uh made up beliefs about it, and uh the the transubstantiation idea comes from uh the idea that when the priest pronounces, this is my body, this is my blood, that supernaturally the bread and the wine are transformed into the literal body of Christ, blood of Christ. That's not necessary for the practice, but that's that's sort of what's the teaching of the church. And then when there's any of that left over, is put in this little box called the tabernacle in in the Catholic Church. And uh the priest drinks the wine, the congregation in the Catholic Church just receives the bread. The uh there kind of differs different views of that. Consubstantiation is the idea, and it's more within the the the Lutheran church, some of the reformed churches, that the the bread remains bread, the wine remains wine, but the presence is with the bread or within the bread. Sometimes it's called impanation, that's another term, I think Luther used that. Uh and that somehow there's a presence of God, it it remains bread, remains wine, but there's a presence of God with it. Uh Zwingli, the the one of the more uh radical reformers, had the idea that this was just a symbol. It was just symbolic. There's no real reality to it as far as actually taking the body of Christ or taking the blood of Christ when you when you do this, is it's just a symbol, and we're celebrating that symbol, and we're celebrating communion in that sense. And a lot of Protestant churches, the Baptist churches usually go that direction. A lot of the um uh Pentecostal churches, those those that have sort of come out of the Radical Reformation, the Reformed churches, uh, Lutherans um have a tendency to go with more of a consubstantiation idea. There's and and and John Calvin sort of had a middle of the road view, uh, and often Presbyterians have this view that that there is the bread's the bread, the wine's the wine, but there is a spiritual reality behind the celebration. I think he may have been right, actually. I think there is a reality in that. I I don't question that aspect. And uh uh so I you know, that may be a uh a legitimate view, but but the arguments over this are just kind of unbelievable as far as who does what and who can have communion with who and who can do can't oh you can't do that if you're a Catholic. Now the Episcopal Church, the Church of England, has uh uh often they have various views within there. They've kind of gone more in the direction of the uh of the Protestant view uh after Henry VIII. But it they're they're all over the place with some of that. Within the the Anglican church, there was a conservative wing, there was a liberal wing, there there was uh the the Puritan wing. There it a lot of that's happened through the years in in the history of the uh Church of England. So so there you'll find high church practices with Episcopalian church where it seems almost like Catholic Church. You'll have others that are a little bit looser and all of that. It just kind of depends on the the priest, the local church, and some of those things that are there. So I guess that comes to the point of what we believe about all this. And I think at Lamb's Chapel through the years, we've tried to do this as a celebration of the sacrifice of Jesus, what he did for us, the blood of Christ. We remember his death in that and what he did for us. We uh appropriate that in our lives, but I think we also have this idea that there is a there's a reality, there's a spiritual reality in doing this practice together that joins us together. We we it's uh one loaf, we all have pieces of that, and we all come together, and and we all in and in our situation in church here, we we all participate in uh drinking the grape juice. The the question always comes up, well, who can participate? You know, is there some reason that you can't receive communion? Or some reason that you can't do this? Uh and that varies among churches too. Some churches say, Well, children should not do this because they don't know what they're doing. Okay, that might that might make sense. Uh other churches really don't care. Um, I was a guest at a Baptist church not long ago and they did communion. And the invitation was for anyone who was a Christian. You didn't have to be a member of that particular Baptist church, you just had to be a Christian. And and you know, if you want to participate, so so you could. Um other places, you know, the Catholic Church has always been pickier. They they they you know, if you're a Protestant, you know, and and and then if Catholics uh a Catholic comes into a Protestant church, they're kind of going, I don't know. And after I think Vatican II in the 60s, uh there was a loosening of that so that Catholics could participate and share. And through the years, I think the Lutheran Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, they've all sort of decided that they can share communion with each other. And if you can't find a Catholic Church, you can get in the Greek Orthodox Church. And if you can't find a Greek Orthodox Church, you can go to the Catholic Church. Um all of that are just these these little theological nuances. And uh I uh you know who's right? I I think your point, let's just go back to the Bible, and what does it say? Did did Jesus mean that this was literally his body and literally his blood? I kind of doubt it. They all ate it right there. So obviously there must have been some and Jesus was there. So there was some spiritual reality to that, but there it was, and and they were partaking of Jesus in doing that. But there was no uh, you know, magical formula that turned it into something else. So I you know, I think that's that's what you find in the scripture. And you just have to rest in that. I you know, everybody can worry about this stuff. You know, so if you come to Lamb's Chapel and you're a saved Christian, well then there's just no problem. You're a member of the body of Christ, whether you're a member of this church or not. And and uh that I you know, I think that's something we can all kind of rest in.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Well, you know, uh just from a uh an under-shepherd standpoint, um one of the things I've observed over my 50 plus years of being in Christ is I've gone in and out of different circles, and if communion was offered, it was almost like the admonition or the warning, or even sometimes a threat was almost given from the pulpit. That you know, don't don't you do this if you got sin in your life. My thing is from a from a standpoint of communion, when Christ provided that to establish a new covenant, yeah, and herein is remission of sin, right? If you have cancer and you're getting a treat, it's almost like telling somebody, don't get a treatment for your pro for your for your plague or for your cancer or for your problem.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

And my thought has been always been if you have a problem and you're a brother or sister in Christ, yeah, and you're struggling, you're exactly who needs to be partaking of the cup of blessing.

unknown 18:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

And you're exactly the person that needs to partake of the bread and give thanks to the Lord because of what he's done, because you can't do it.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

And you know, the other thing is if Christ is the head of the church, and Paul used this language, and it's interesting, it was the same letter that he uses to explain what he's experienced in 1 Corinthians 10 and also in 1 Corinthians 11 of how he received it from the Lord. But he was talking about the body and its many members, it's many different parts and facets and its diversity and everything else. But there's only one head in this thing, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

And Jesus was the one that made the sacrifice, he's the one that provided the atonement, yeah, he's the one that provided the redemption, he's the one that provides the forgiveness, he's the one that provides the cleansing.

SPEAKER_03 19:47

All of that.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

It seems to me that if I'm a struggling brother or sister in the body of Christ, and I'm weak, and I'm I'm struggling, I'm the very person that needs that lifeline and that source of blessing and life to my life.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

And yet, I'm telling you, it's almost like I look back over this to reflect sometimes, and it's almost like I understand you don't do this unadvisedly. No, you don't do it lightheartedly, like, hey, we're having a party type thing. Right. No, you discern the Lord's body, but part of discerning the Lord's body is to realize the body that Paul makes reference to is many different members. And to realize you have weak, you have people that are strong, you have people that are vegetarian, you have people that eat meat and vegetables, you have people that understand grace, you understand uh, you have people that live according to the letter of the law many times, you have people that probably are too loose and lighthearted in their life and their walk. You have all kinds of people, but the one place we need to all come to is the Lord's table and to the cup of blessing.

SPEAKER_03 21:08

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

It's the one place that we can be healed because it said many are sick, yeah, and even some have died because they've not discerned the Lord's body. Right. What if we looked at that and what if you look at that already and you and you realize that maybe it's the way we've treated one another sometimes that's caused the weakness and the sickness.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

And many times it has created barriers that has cut off all cut us off from the real blessing and the lifeline. Because, you know, I I've got a verse here. Um in 1 Corinthians 10 16, and you're familiar with this. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion? Of the body of Christ. Well, the word communion there is quantity.

SPEAKER_03 22:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

And you know, it's funny that Paul uses the same identical word when he talks in 2 Corinthians 6 14. Listen in the context. He said, don't be unevenly yoked together with unbelievers, for with the fellowship half righteousness, or what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness. So I think the thing you said is key when people come into the room and communion is being remembered or being celebrated. It is for everybody. And if if for some reason you don't feel at this moment you can partake, then you abstain from that. But don't use that as an out not to deal with the issue. What are you having to abstain from? Why are you backing off from the cup of blessing and from the table of thanks?

SPEAKER_03 23:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

You know, that's the real issue. Are you backslidden?

SPEAKER_03 23:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

If you're backslidden, then you have bigger problems than the cup and the bread. The cup and the bread are the remedy to your problem, and they're the solution to the issues of your life. Well are you running from God? Is the real issue. And you know, and then you've got people that just kind of want to come into the gathering and pretend that you know they're a brother or a sister, but you know, sometimes Paul called them out as false people.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

And, you know, uh, you know, I had to think even yesterday, as recent as yesterday, somebody was telling me why they don't go to church. You know, they they they were pointing out, I don't go to church because hypocrites are there. And I stopped and I said, well, let me ask you this. So do you go to Walmart? Or do you go to Piggly Wiggly, or do you go to Food Lion?

unknown 23:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Yeah. I said, they're hypocrites there. Why are you going there? In other words, people always want to flip that up, that they're hypocrites there, but hypocrisy is a major problem. And to me, the only person that can clean that problem up and actually straighten that problem out in a man or a woman's heart and life is the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And one of the best places to do that, I think, is in the body of Christ that understands how to discern the Lord's body, remember what it was about. It was a new covenant. It was a new covenant to provide for us what we're not, what we couldn't manufacture, what we couldn't achieve and do apart from Him.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

And you know, in First Corinthians, going back, 1 Corinthians 6, he that's joined to the Lord, and again, part of the communion and intimacy, he that's joined to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 24:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

It's like, where why do we why do we disregard these verses, but we get here and we almost hold people hostage when it comes to communion. When the truth is, I want to say to people, if you're broken, you're messed up, you're screwed up, and you you just can't sort it out and figure it out. One of the best things to do is come to the cup of blessing, come to the table, and just be honest with the Lord. That's part of the moment that you're in. You quietly say, Lord, you know what? I'm messed up.

SPEAKER_03 25:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

I'm messed up. I either messed up or I messed up. And I need your help to bring healing and wholeness to my spirit, to my soul, to my body, to my life.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Because of what your sacrifice was and what you did to establish for us. Is that I mean, that's oversimplifying.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

But that's the reality. It it you who's perfect? You know, I mean, we all just, Lord forgive me, and and I need your body and your blood for that forgiveness. I I I it it is kind of the the idea that John Calvin had was that there was a in any institutional church, there was the visible church and the invisible church. The visible church was just people who were sitting in the room. Some of them were part of the invisible church where that had their hearts right with God and they were actually saved. In other words, in any institutional situation, you're gonna probably have people who are genuinely saved Christians, and those who are not, they're just attending. And and uh there's no, I don't know what you're gonna do about that. You you can't go through because you don't know people's hearts, you don't know where they are, and even those that at the moment maybe aren't living as they should, or they uh maybe they're not even saved. At least they're in church, at least they're there, at least they're hearing the gospel, you know. So I it it but as you say, people always want to find excuses. Well, there are bad people there, or there somebody there's sinners in church, or there are people in church that did this, or you know what that pastor did, or you know what this? I know, I don't care. God is God, and we're not, we're not perfect, we do bad stuff, we fail. All of that happens, but that doesn't change God or the gospel. You know, it it is still the same.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Well, that that's why, you know, I I remember uh I think it was Derek Prince in one of his teachings because he used to take communion on a he and his wife used to take communion every day. Yeah, and I mean that was a personal choice he did. They didn't do it as a ceremony, they saw it as a benefit in their life. And you know, Psalm 103 says, you know, forget not the Lord and all of his benefits. And they were using and approaching that from a standpoint uh of the opportunity to humble themselves before the Lord, but also to receive from the Lord, you know, what he had provided to their life and for their lives. And I I like I like that, you know. When we started as a minister, we used to do communion every Sunday, but then we moved away from it, and I tell you, and you remember while we moved away, we we realized people are just getting into this where it's a ritual. Yeah, they're missing what we're doing it for.

unknown 28:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

So now when we do it, we're selective on moments and times, or if we sense it's a moment where we need to do it. Yeah, but people are encouraged, and there are people that that celebrate a communion at their homes on a regular basis. Yeah. And I and I I don't that's okay. You know, but you know, if if you were part of some of the you know other structures, that would not be permissible.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Where I don't think that's biblical.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

You know, only the priest or only the the the nuns or or and only some of them would be certified, or you know, or or it's gotta be the the the uh episcopalian preacher or it's gotta be the Baptist guy. You know, it No, it it doesn't. You know, you you can have communion in your house and it's okay. Uh uh and and even the elements of what you use is not always a big deal. You know, we we sort of use the little cracker-looking thing, which kind of unle it represents unleavened bread, I guess, and and grape juice. I I mean Jesus taught he had unleavened bread and and wine. So if you want to do that, you go ahead. But but if you just if you've got some things you can use, it it it there's not a real problem with that. I don't know. I don't think.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

No, that would be that would be there would be you know, we've we've I've been in situations where I've had to use uh a grape drink from a store and a saltine cracker. Yeah. Because the person wanted to celebrate communion and that's all I had access to.

SPEAKER_03 30:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

And you know, a lot of people would, oh, you can't do that. I'm like, you know what? They're focusing on the fact that this is a saltine cracker, or this is just a not even wine, or it's not even really Welcher's grape juice. It's a grape-colored drink. Yeah, but their thought was in celebrating what Jesus said to celebrate.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

And and the the it it does symbolize that, that aspect's true. So the element itself is not the important thing. The belief that you have about that, where Jesus said, This is my body, it suffered for you, this is my blood, it was shed for you, and it brought that covering, that atonement in your life. And and that's what we celebrate, that's what we appreciate. God thank you for saving me.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Absolutely. Well, you know, I think this kind of um kind of gives uh some thought to some things. And if if you're by yourself and you want to celebrate communion at your home, you have a high priest there. Yep. In the book of Hebrews, it clearly tells us Jesus Christ, our high priest.

SPEAKER_03 31:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

So if you're used to going through an avenue where you're part of a church structure and you've got a priest or you've got a you've got someone that officiates that for you, that's wonderful and fine if you're in a corporate setting. But if it's in your heart by the Spirit of God to celebrate communion, you could go to your refrigerator and you could get Welcher's grape juice, or you could get bread, or you could get crackers or whatever, and you can do that. But whatever you're doing, you're doing it is unto the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

And Jesus Christ said, do this in remembrance of me. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, he said, This is how the Lord personally delivered this to me and instructed me to do this. So I think, you know, you're in good hands following what Jesus said and what Paul under, you know, a divine moment where Christ actually showed him and told him what to do. If we do these things, I don't think uh you're gonna get up. I don't think you're gonna get in trouble with with your organization. You shouldn't. I'll just put it that way. What you want to what you want to do is you want to discern the Lord's body. Yeah, you want to allow him to counsel out the power of sin over your life that has been trying to govern you or rule you and ruin you. You want to be forgiven, you want to be healed, you want to be helped, and you want to be filled with hope. And all of those things come through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why I think it's a cup of blessing.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

You you can't you can practice Christianity by yourself. I mean, if you were in a cave by yourself, you'd be a Christian. But you can't practice the fullness, you can't fully practice Christianity without people. You gotta have a church, yeah. You gotta have, you gotta have people. You may not like that, but you got to. And uh, you know, it it you may want to go hide in a cave. That's what the whole monastic movement did. Let's go hide in a cave somewhere, get away from all these awful people. But you can't do that. Discerning the Lord's body is that very thing. You recognize we need each other. We really do.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Well, we do, and that's part of what Cornelia is really about. It's corn in the with the Lord, it's coronel with fellowship with one another. Yeah, and our fellowship with one another is it flows and works better and fits better when we actually have Christ as the center of it. Uh you were saying that, but I couldn't I couldn't help but think about Rick Howard. Rick Howard used to every once in a while come up with a zinger, you know. And he Rick said, he said, yeah, he said, you know, he said, uh I gotta tell you about the guy that had been uh you know shipwrecked and they stranded on the island, and and they got there finally after years of, you know, and they found the guy out there and they got there and they said, Well, what is this? He said, This is my house. And he said, Well, what is this? He said, This is my church. He said, What is this? He said, This is the other church. And they said, Well, I thought you were here by myself. He said, Yeah, but we had a church split. I thought that's bad when you're by yourself and have a church split, you know. So I think we better, I think we are better off when we recognize that the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. And I think we better allow it to bring the separation for us between our spirit and our soul. And there's a lot of stuff sometimes that's soulish, and there's uh there are areas that God has given us that are really for our spirit, man, and and for our development, our maturity, and our advancement in the Lord. And I just hope that some of these definitions that you've received today maybe have helped bring some clarification or some understanding to that. You can do further study on that. But um, I I can tell you this if your study does not bring you into a relationship and fellowship with the Lord and other people, uh, you need to put whatever you're studying down and get back to the Word of God and allow the Spirit of God and the Word of God to be your guide and to be your counsel and to be your help at this time. You really do. And uh, Artie, would you close us in prayer today?

unknown 35:44

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

Lord, we recognize we need you, but we also need each other. Help us when we come together to know your spirit. Lord, help us to appreciate and celebrate your gift to us of eternal life. You suffered, you died, you bled, and you were raised from the dead through power, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, help us remember that, appropriate that, believe that, receive that in our lives. Forgive us, Lord. Touch us, Father, heal us, Lord, heal us spiritually and heal us physically in all the things that we lack. And we thank you, Lord, for for giving us this celebration that we can we can have as a as a group together. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

Amen. Thank you, Hardy. And um thank you for taking your time to join us for Lambs and Company. And a life worth living is a life worth giving. Have a blessed week. Thanks.