WEBVTT 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:08.720 This podcast is a ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:14.320 For more information about Grant Parkway, visit Grantparkway.org. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:16.480 If you don't have a Bible, there's one on your row there. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:19.199 I'm going to read from start reading from page 958. 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:22.960 And by now you may have looked around and figured out something different is going on here. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.800 We celebrate communion here today. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:32.399 We figured it'd be a good thing on this memorial day to kind of kind of remind ourselves of how all this got started. 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:43.600 And so the Bible so prioritizes and makes a big deal out of communion or the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper, whatever word you're most comfortable with, that it kind of gives us instructions on how to do it. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:48.000 And I want to read from that in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, the Apostle Paul says these words. 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:59.520 He says, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:01.759 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:07.840 In the same way also he took a cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:11.280 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:16.480 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:24.560 Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and the blood of the Lord. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:28.959 Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:33.920 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:37.280 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:40.719 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:47.120 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:55.599 Paul kind of gives us some clear instructions there, and then just basically three things he says to us that I want us to focus on before we come to the table this morning. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:57.439 He says, number one, remember. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:01:58.400 Remember. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:01:59.599 What do you mean, remember? 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:03.760 He says, Jesus says, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:11.520 It's so easy for us to get so plugged into school and our kids' extracurricular activities and this, that, and the other that we could kind of forget it. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:12.639 I was reading this week. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:14.639 I keep this debt, this book on my desk. 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:17.039 It's just a little book entitled Note to Self. 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:18.879 I would highly commend this to you. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:22.080 It's a great way to catechize your children, teach your children. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:24.240 It's got 48 little short readings in it. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:25.759 They're about a page or two long. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:30.080 Put it on your dinner table and just pick it up and just every once in a while just kind of read one of them. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:31.840 Have a family discussion about it. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:32.800 Here's why. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:34.080 I read this one this week. 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:36.400 Dear self, take note. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:39.360 Your view of Jesus tends to shrink over time. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:46.800 It is not that your theology itself drifts, but sometimes you so focus on one aspect of Jesus that you tend to forget the rest. 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.919 The result is a shrinking Jesus in your faith. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:56.319 And as your shrinking Jesus becomes small, Jesus, he is easily eclipsed by your idols and ego. 00:02:56.639 --> 00:03:09.439 The bigger and more biblical your understanding of who Jesus is, the more likely he is to be such an object of love and adoration that the idols that aim at capturing your attention and swaying your allegiance will lose their power. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:18.319 This is why you sometimes lack earnestness for the kingdom and the glory of God while you overflow with passion concerning temporal things. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:21.280 Jesus is big, beloved. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:25.199 When I say remember, I want to just put you to charge. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:33.039 I want to remind you, instead of just saying remember, I want to remind you who the Bible reveals him to be by just reading the Bible to us this morning. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:38.240 As pedestrian as that can feel and sound, it can be very enlightening and very clarifying. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:45.919 This is the way John remembered him in John chapter 1, with these words In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:53.759 He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through him, and without him not anything was made that was made. 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:56.639 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 00:03:56.879 --> 00:04:00.400 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:03.520 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:08.400 He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:12.719 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.639 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:21.519 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:24.639 He came to his own, his own people did not receive him. 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:36.800 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:46.560 And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:56.000 John bore witness about him and cried out, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:00.160 And from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:02.399 For the law was given through Moses. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:05.519 Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:13.680 No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:20.319 Remember, this is the way Paul remembers him in Colossians 1. 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:24.800 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:41.759 For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.480 And he is the head of the body, the church. 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:50.160 He is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:06:02.319 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:19.839 And you you who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:35.519 If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. 00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:41.519 Isaiah the prophet of old remembers him this way. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:45.279 Who is believed what they heard from us? 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:48.560 And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:54.480 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:07:00.319 He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:07.600 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:14.399 And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:22.240 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:27.600 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:33.920 Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:37.519 All we like sheep have gone astray. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:40.959 We have turned every one to his own way. 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:46.079 And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:49.920 He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:55.519 Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is before its shears is silent. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:59.360 So he opened not his mouth. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:10.000 Unless we get stuck in this one-dimensional view of Jesus that is besodted with our sentiment and not clarified by principle. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:17.600 John also writes as the revelator what is to come. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:20.800 He describes it with these words. 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:24.560 And then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.759 The one sitting on it is called faithful and true. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:30.720 And in righteousness he judges and makes war. 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:35.120 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:38.399 And he has a name written on him that no one knows but himself. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:43.919 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the word of God. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:53.840 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses, and from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:01.679 And he will rule them with a rod of iron, and he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:08.399 And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:17.279 And now remembering today, when the Bible gives us instructions and says, Hey, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:22.720 It's easy, let's confess today, it's easy to forget Jesus and kind of think just about ourselves. 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:24.799 And so the first thing we do today is we remember. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:27.039 The second thing we do is we proclaim. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:29.679 The Bible says so much with so little words. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:33.039 He says, as often as you do this, you proclaim the Lord's death. 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:41.440 And so let me just say to you that we practice open communion here at Grand Parkway, which means you can be visiting today, and you're welcome to come and celebrate communion with us. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:44.559 But by your coming, here's what we're kind of proclaiming. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:55.519 Here's what we're saying, that we are such wretched sinners by nature, that our only hope of forgiveness is that the sinless Son of God died on the cross is payment for our sins. 00:09:56.240 --> 00:10:00.639 What you're saying is that yes, what the Bible says about me is true. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:04.240 We should be the most authentic people that anybody knows. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:12.559 I live a couple doors down from a widow on my street, and I told her dying husband, and he was in the hospital, and he said, I'm concerned about our yard. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:17.840 Uh that we live on a corner lot and we've got a big yard and a big backyard, and I'm concerned my wife can't keep up with it. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:22.480 And then a moment of just sheer stupidity, I blurted out, I'll take care of it. 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:26.080 That was two years ago. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:29.200 This stopped being sexy a long time ago. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:33.600 And so every time I do something, and I'm not, I'm not complaining, it's the most spiritual thing I do. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:38.080 The Bible says that pure and undefiled religion is to take care of widows and orphans in their distress. 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:41.919 But every once in a while, one of my neighbors will walk over and tell me how noble I am. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:47.200 And I have to tell them the truth because part of me wants to just keep silent and go, keep talking. 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:50.080 Let me just rub this in like beauty cream. 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:52.080 Yes, yay, me. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:59.759 So the other day when one of them came over and said, You're such a good man for doing this. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:01.840 I said, No, I'm really not. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:04.159 I'm a selfish weasel. 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:11.279 And I might just be beating my body in hopes of making it my slave so that after I preach to other people, I won't be disqualified for the prize. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:13.840 And my neighbor just backed up beer in hand. 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:15.120 I I don't know. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:17.840 I don't, I don't know what you just said. 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:20.639 I'm just gonna go back across the street now and watch you finish. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:23.039 Well, I tell you what, I'm fixing, we eat this thing. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:23.919 You can sweep it all up. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:24.720 No, I'm good. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:25.600 I'm good. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:27.440 All right, thanks for coming. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:29.679 And and I'm not trying to be difficult. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:33.679 I'm just trying to not just kind of make this all about, yay, look at me. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:37.200 I said, this is by far one of the more spiritual things that I do. 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:38.240 What am I saying? 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:40.720 I'm saying what the Bible says about me is true. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:43.840 I can't apply it to you, but I can apply it to me. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:45.360 I can tell you it's true about you. 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:53.600 But what it says about me that I've sinned and fallen short of the glory of God when I receive these elements today, I'm saying what the Bible says is true about me. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:58.960 But you're also saying what the Bible says about Jesus is true as well. 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:05.039 Therefore, his death is sufficient and it's satisfaction for your life. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:09.440 So I can tell all of you this, regardless of what heinous sinners you are. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:13.679 And by nature, you're damnedable wretches, and you should all be burning in hell. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:17.279 How's that for a Memorial Day weekend? 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:21.200 You may be sitting there thinking, I shaved my legs for this. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:25.519 My boss doesn't even talk to me this way. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:31.519 Martin Luther, the great reformer, said this if your sin is small, then your savior is small. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:37.200 But if your sin is great, then your savior is great as well. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:43.039 You must embrace your depravity, otherwise, the cross has no wonder for you. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:44.799 It's jewelry. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:49.200 It's not propitiation. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:57.120 It's not that the wrath of God was satisfied, so I no longer live in fear that God's gonna find out what I'm doing and come get me. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:00.720 No, he knows everything I was ever going to do. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:05.840 And yet Isaiah 53 goes on to say that it pleased God to crush him. 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:22.240 So that's what the Bible means when it says, and as often as you do, you you and as often as you do this, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:26.159 So your confession today is not, okay, communion, this is something we do. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:28.879 No, your confession today is this is who I am. 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:37.440 My confession today is your pastor, is that I am such a sinful, fallen creature by nature, right out of the womb. 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:40.240 By nature and by choice, a sinner. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:42.320 That Christ had to die for me. 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:45.200 There was no other way I could get to heaven. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:50.879 But I'm also so loved by God that Jesus was glad to die for me. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:55.360 So I can't boast and I can't snivel. 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:00.559 Third thing the Bible tells us is just to examine ourselves. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:04.000 Verse 29 has this phrase in it that we often get wrong. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:09.120 We often consume upon our lust or our misunderstanding or our preference. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:15.600 Verse 29, it simply says, hey, and let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:20.320 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:27.039 What do you mean without discerning the body, without recognizing that your sin affects the church who is the body of Christ? 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:30.559 So you can no longer say, I'm not hurting anybody. 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.279 You can no longer say, we're consenting adults. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:34.960 What we do is our business. 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:43.759 If you belong to a church, if you profess to be a Christ follower, a Christian, then you've got to discern the body that your sin has a corporate aspect. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:45.440 Your life is not just vertical. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:48.320 You and God, just me and Jesus, that's all I need. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:52.320 I can talk to God and the deer stand as good as well as I can on Sunday morning. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:53.840 That's not what you're created for. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:01.759 You're created to be a part of something bigger than you, and the only thing that will always be bigger than you is the church, the body of Christ. 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:10.080 That's why Paul says, whoever drinks this without discerning the body, discern the corporate nature of your sin today, beloved. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:20.799 Some churches are what they are, not because the pastor or the staff or the whatever, but because the people. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:27.919 That's why he says you drink judgment on yourself. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:33.039 You say, no, what do you mean? 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:38.960 To profess to be part of the body, you discern the body before you come to receive the elements. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:43.039 You examine, we examine ourselves and our relationships in light of the gospel. 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:47.600 And so I'll just bring this down to where we live. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:50.000 I had to tell somebody this week that I love very much. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:55.600 You don't want to forgive this person that sinned against you because you've forgotten what a great sinner you are. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:00.799 And apparently that was news because this person said, I don't think I like that. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:03.919 Does it surprise you that you're a sinner? 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:06.480 Well, no one tells me that but you. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:09.919 You should bring me a trophy then. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:11.919 Or bake me a cake. 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:15.519 Yes, I say crazy things like this to people who I love. 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:18.240 You see, here's the thing. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:24.480 When you remember what a sinner, what what sin you're capable of, and I don't think we're just sinners saved by God. 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:27.200 We're we're we're saints, we're children of God. 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:30.080 Don't lose sight of that, but hold on to the like C.S. 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:35.519 Lewis says, the Christian's nostrils should always be attuned to the cesspool within. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:43.120 It's like when the disciples, Mark's account of the Last Supper, the disciples, Jesus said, When he was going to betray him. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:45.840 And the Bible says that each one of them said, Is it me? 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:48.399 You you you got to be mindful of your capacity. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:51.360 You got to be able to say, Is it me? 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:53.279 Instead of going, I bet it's Judas. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:54.480 He kind of looks like a fink. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:55.279 Look at him. 00:16:55.840 --> 00:16:58.559 Beady-eyed little weasley guy, but it's him. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:01.200 They all looked inside and said, Is it me? 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:07.039 Does it catch you off guard what you're capable of? 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:09.680 It shouldn't. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:14.480 That's why the Bible says, examine yourself. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:17.839 And that's why we as a church just take some time. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:19.200 Clyde's gonna come. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:23.519 I'm in a voice of prayer, and we're just gonna examine ourselves just for a brief moment. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:24.960 Won't be a long drawn. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:29.839 And by the way, this is not, let's now let's hate ourselves in the name of Jesus. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:31.920 That's bad gospel, folks. 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:32.960 No, no, no. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:34.799 It's okay to go, you know what? 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:36.160 I'm in a good place. 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:40.079 Coming to church doesn't mean let's get my sad on now. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:42.319 No. 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:46.160 When I say you're damnable wretches, you should go, yeah. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:50.480 But Christ died for you to make you sons and daughters. 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:52.000 You're the people of God. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:57.519 When they sang earlier, you know, this is amazing love, you should have ripped your shirt off and swung it over your head. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:58.319 Wow. 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:05.279 Don't you want to go to church once and walk out and go, can you believe that God took his shirt off? 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:09.920 Aren't you glad grandma didn't do that? 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:18.319 Here's the thing do not let this lose its wonder. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:21.519 This is not math, this is music. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:25.599 This is such a profound mystery that we can't figure it out. 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:31.680 We just kind of sing about it in a way to try to get our our arms around it and our heads around it. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:39.119 That's why the hymn writer says, We're the whole realm of nature mine. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:42.960 That were an offering far too small. 00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:51.519 Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:58.400 If you hear anything this morning, you hear this you are a loved and beloved people. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:06.960 That's what Paul says in Romans, and God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:09.200 Christ died for us. 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:13.279 He did not wait for you to get your act together because you can't. 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:14.559 I can't. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:17.599 He said, I'll go first. 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:20.480 And he died. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:32.240 For those days where you get up and you hate yourself and your clothes don't feel right, and you're just your marriage is off the tracks, and you're just kind of like, should have married the other guy. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:39.200 You can just look up and there's a frame of reference that's eternal. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:41.039 It says, you know what? 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:43.519 I know you have these days. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:47.680 Let's examine ourselves, beloved.