Point Community Church
The teaching of Point Community Church in Austin, TX.
Point Community Church
Rewind: Roles In Marriage
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Well, hello. Good morning, everyone. My name is Josue Villa, and I serve the church here as one of the elders and also as part of the teaching team. So it's my privilege to be up here and bring God's word to you this morning. We're in this series called Rewind, and it's about the family. It's about marriage. It's about parenting. It's about even stages in life where there are some who are single and what the Bible has to speak into all that. And last week we started, Nick kicked us off with talking about marriage and the foundations of marriage and the purpose of marriage and what God how God instituted marriage. And today we want to continue that subject on marriage, and we could actually preach it for many weeks. So we're doing our best to narrow it down to some just uh some of the foundations, some things that can help you, some bit uh knowing that these are biblical things that can get you started for you to search for yourselves, search the scriptures, dig deep to see what God has to say about marriage and our relationships. So to start off this morning, I wanted to tell you a story, and I just want to let you know that it's a joke. Sometimes when I'm up here, people see me as very serious, right? And and I say a joke, and you don't know that it's a joke. So I'm gonna tell you up front that it's a joke. All right? Right? All right. This is uh uh uh a two diaries diary between uh uh a husband and a wife, right? So what I'm about to read is uh the same thing happened. They're writing about the same thing the same evening, but uh this is her diary about this evening. She says, Tonight I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice desk restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much. I asked him what was wrong, he said nothing. I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He he said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me and not to worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why he didn't say, I love you too. When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed too. But I still felt that he was distracted and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep. I cried. I don't know what to do. I feel like my marriage is a disaster. His diary, same accounts. Cowboys had a bad draft. Will they ever win again? That's it. And I know you laugh because it's a silly story, and I know it is pretty silly, but the point of that is that no one can deny that men and women are different. That God designed us differently, not just physically, but he designed us differently emotionally and spiritually. So today what we're going to continue to talk about marriage, but more specifically, the different roles that God has given men and women, husbands and wives. Okay? And how God has shaped us differently, and even though that we are the same in the body of Christ, no one is superior to anyone else in the body of Christ. That's what Jesus died for. But that God has assigned, just like in the body of Christ, different roles. In the marriage, he has assigned different roles. And I think there's a lot of confusion about that. That is why there are so many broken marriages, so much hurt, so much pain, so much confusion. So we're going back to the basics of the scripture. So I want to read to you from Ephesians, a text from this morning comes from Ephesians chapter 5, verses 21 through 33. Follow along in your Bible. If you don't have a Bible, you can uh think there's some under the chair in front of you. If you don't own a Bible, you can take that one home. It's free. It's a gift from the church. The scripture says, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Good start there, right? Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body of which he is a savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church. For we are members of his body. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery. But I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you must also love his wife as he loves himself. And the wife must respect her husband. The word of God. Father, reveal it to us. Speak this morning to us in a special way that we would be under be able to understand. And not just understand, Father, but be strengthened to leave this place and live the life kind of life, Father, that you have set out for us. I pray that you be with me also as I speak your words. May they be yours and not mine. Cleanse my heart from all my sins so that I can speak with a clean conscience. It's in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen. What we just read is part of a letter. Okay, just a snippet of the letter. It's a letter written by Paul to the church in Ephesus. So I want you to have that in mind as we talk about this. That it's primarily a message to the church, not a message to the existing culture, it's not a message to the workplace, it's not a message to the government, it's a letter to the church, the body of Christ. In other words, this letter wasn't just written to people who were married, it was written to an entire church, the entire body that included 80-year-olds, all the way to teenage boys and girls. So this letter and this message is for everyone. Paul talks about marriage as part of his letter to teach a deep truth about Christ. He wasn't just writing them to give them some marriage counseling tips. But we also understand some deep truths about Jesus and that we would so that we would fall in love with him. So if we can understand marriage from God's perspective, that that would strengthen us. That it would strengthen our relationship with our Savior Christ. So as we talk about this message and the different roles of husbands and wife, I want to start off by talking about some myths, some very common myths about marriage that we need to address first. If you have your worship guide, you can open it up and take notes there, fill in the blanks. But myth number one that needs to be addressed is the myth that marriage promises a happily ever kind of life. A happily ever kind of life. We live in a culture that promises complete fulfillment if you just find a life partner. We watch movies, and that is the entire message of these movies. In these movies, for the first hour and a half, people have problems, right? Men and women, they have problems, they have obstacles to overcome. But at the end of the movie, the boy and the girl always come together somehow, and we are left with the impression that nothing bad ever happens after that, that love conquers all, and that they live happily ever after. But friends, there is no such promise in the Bible. In fact, the Apostle Paul also talking to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 7 28, he's talking about marriage, he's talking about singleness, he's talking about uh women who have been abandoned, about people who are considering separation. He has all sorts of uh teaching on this in 1 Corinthians 7. You can go home and read about that. But in there, he throws this snippet and he says, But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. Can I get an amen? In other words, marriage is not a fairy tale. Marriage is hard work, it's a life of sacrifices, it's a life of struggles, it's a life of frustrations, and many times heartaches. And in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul uses language like this wives submit to your husbands, respect them, follow their lead. And he says to husbands, language like this: husbands, love your wives, give yourselves up for them, care for your wives as much as you care about yourself. Now, let me ask you, why does Paul have to talk like that? Because marriage is not a fairy tale. As long as two sinners are married to each other, there will always be friction, there will always be pulling to our natural desires to put our own needs first. So, as followers of Christ, the Bible teaches us that we need to have a realistic perspective about marriage, to not put all put all our hope in another person, not to put all our hope in a future husband or a future wife or in a perfect marriage, not to put all our burden, all our hope on that another person who is a sinner, just like I am. But in fact, the Bible teaches us that in any marriage, he says it's not a sin to get married, but in any marriage, you and I, we are going to need all of God's help. We are going to need all of his grace to not just survive in marriage, but to thrive in it. And one thing that God wants us to understand is that God uses marriage not to give us eternal happiness, but to mature us, to make us more like Christ. So marriage is not a happily ever after kind of life. It's not a myth. Myth number two is this this is a very common myth, especially in our culture, that the best kind of marriage is where responsibilities are divided equally. The best kind of marriage is where responsibilities are divided equally. Now, this sounds very nice and very spiritual at face value, but let me tell you it's a myth. When I do premarital counseling, and I've done some here, so forgive me. But I ask, I ask couples very specific questions Who's going to do the housework? Who's gonna do the dishes? Who's gonna do the laundry? Who's gonna pay the bills? Who's gonna mow the grass grass? Who's gonna go buy the groceries? You know what the most common answer is? We both will. We both will. Oh, they went through counseling together, we're going, we're both gonna do the work, and I just roll my eyes. You know that I read statistics that in households where both husband and wise work outside the home, the wife still comes home and spends 15 to 20 hours a week doing most of the housework. Just the reality. When I ask couples, how are you going to make major decisions in life in your marriage about money or children or changing jobs or taking care of aging parents or relatives that want to come live with you? You know what the most common answer is? We'll talk about it together and come to a consensus. And I'll roll my eyes again. I'm really not a good counselor. You see, most people they go into marriage with a belief that things work out better if there is no definite or defined roles, that if just left to the natural flesh, that all selfishness will magically get discarded, and that for everyone, that everyone will know exactly what 50-50 looks like. But this belief often leaves husbands and wives confused and frustrated and disillusioned. You know that in marriages where both husband and wife work full-time, and the wife comes home and takes care of the kids, takes care of the household work, and at the end of the day, she is tired. You know the statistics show that in that case, something has to give, right? That an overwhelmed and tired wife, one of the first things she will sacrifice is time with her husband and intimacy with him. And when that happens, friends, there are a lot of major problems. Friends, it's a myth that a good marriage is when husbands and wives share responsibilities equally, that there are no clear and defined roles. We learned last week that God created marriage, that God has a definite purpose for marriage. And he has clear purposes and roles. They are different. It doesn't make one better than the other superior to another, but they are different. Just like in the body of Christ, the Bible says we are many in the body of Christ. Not everyone can be pastors, some are pastors, some evangelists, some teachers. Everyone has a different role. No one is better than another, but we are different. So it's a myth that roles are equal in marriage. Myth number three, the Bible's views of marriage and male and female roles are outdated. Very popular thinking out there. Very popular myth in our culture, and not just in our culture, but also in the church. I think for many of us, we we tend to associate biblical teaching to marriage in the 1950s and 60s. We saw our parents, we saw our grandparents, we saw how our grandmothers were submissive and compliant and stuck in the kitchen and couldn't speak up or have a different opinion. Or we saw our fathers and grandfathers abuse their authority and overwork and neglect their kids and embitter their children. So we think, I don't want any part of that, and I don't blame you. But whatever you do, friends, as we talk about this, whatever you do, please do not associate the 1950s and 60s, their general view of marriage, with biblical marriage. Okay? June cleaver and work cleaver is not what God had in mind for marriage. The Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. What he teaches about marriages from the very beginning is life, it's truth. It applies, it does not get outdated, it applies today. So, with that in mind, let's break down the passage here in Ephesians. Very, I know this is broad, but husband's role. Let's talk about the husband's role. What does Paul talk about here in the husband's role? Well, in a Christ center marriage, and fill in the blank there, in a Christ center marriage, the husband's core role revolves around leadership, around leadership. Ephesians 5.23 says, For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body of which he is the savior. Now, Paul says, in a Christian marriage, okay, we're not talking about the world, we're not talking about talking about the workplace, the government. In a Christian marriage, husband and wife believing in Christ, as they go through life together, Paul says they're going to be playing out a real life drama of Jesus' relationship with the church. Have you ever looked at your marriage that way? It's a real life, it's it's a copy of what Christ is doing with his church. My marriage is a copy of what Christ did for me for his church. Now, Paul doesn't say here, husbands, that you're the big boss. He doesn't say that here. He doesn't say that you're the dictator or have the final word or authority over everything. And men, you have many roles as a man, but the primary one, here's the primary one. Okay, this is what Paul is talking about here. The primary role is to be the head of your wife and your family. In other words, to offer life-giving leadership. Friends, the man, the reason many children and wives and homes are suffering is because there is no man offering this life-giving leadership. Many husbands just bail on their families, they bail on their wives, their kids. The woman is left alone to fend for herself, to fend for her children. In other cases, the man, the husband is present in the home physically. He's eating the food, right? But he's not offering life-giving leadership. Now, what am I talking about about life-giving leadership? But let's look at what Paul says. Ephesians 5 25. He says, Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Paul says, Husbands, you are the head. You're ahead for the reason. As the head, you have some very defined responsibilities. You are to lead, you are to provide, you are to protect, you are to have a plan for your family. So this leadership that we're talking about, it's not a worldly view kind of leadership. It's not, woman, bring me my notchul and beer. Okay. That's not what it's talking about. It's the leadership that Jesus taught. It's the leadership that Jesus modeled. In fact, when he's speaking to his disciples in Luke 22, 25, and 26, he said, Jesus said to them, the kings of the Gentiles lorded over them. And those who exercise authority over them call themselves benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Pretty clear, isn't it? Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. You see, friends, leadership in the world, in leadership in the world, the leaders get the benefits, don't they? That's why Jesus says they're the benefactors. They get their own way, they call the shots, they rule over others. But in God's kingdom, it's upside down. In God's kingdom, leadership is turned upside down. In God's kingdom, the greatest, the one with the most responsibility, the leaders, they serve. They sacrifice, they give themselves up, they take the brunt of all the hard things. All we have to do is look at Jesus as Jesus loved the church. Jesus gave his life. He stooped down to his knees and he served his disciples. He served the church. You see, leaders, they lead by serving. Leaders lead by serving. Husbands lead by serving, they serve their wives, they serve their children, they serve the church. They lead by serving. You ever wonder how leaders in the church became leaders in the church? I don't often think about this, but I was thinking about this this week. How do leaders in the church become leaders in the church? Well, they lead because they serve and they serve and they give of themselves and they sacrifice for others. And husbands, Paul teaches, you are to be sacrificial, you are to provide for your families. Now we're gonna talk about the wives row here in a minute, but husbands. Your primary role, you could have many roles, but the primary role is to, one of the one of them is to provide for your family. We live in a time where the majority of households live on two incomes. And I know that, I know that everyone, not everyone here is in the same situation. We all have different circumstances and struggles. I understand that. But I believe the scriptures give the husband the primary role to work hard and to be sacrificial. And at the very least, to give their wives the option to stay home and take care of the family. We're gonna talk about this in just a second, alright? And if you have questions afterwards, you can talk to Nick. Now, friends, this doesn't mean, husbands, this doesn't mean that you overwork either. All right? And that you neglect your family. But this kind of love and leadership for your wife and family requires a high calling of sacrifice, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. This life-giving leadership also refers to spiritual leadership. Husbands. Ephesians 5, 25 and 26, he goes on to say, husbands, love your. He says more to husbands here than he does to wives. But husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Friends, what is Christ doing for his bride here? He's serving his bride with a purpose in mind to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word. Now, Jesus' bride is not always beautiful, but we must admit that. Most of the time, many times it's an ugly bride, but Jesus loves his bride. Many people talk, I you know, when people say, I just don't like the church and hypocrites and I always cringe and it takes everything within me to hold my tongue because Jesus loved the church. Even as sinful as we are, and in our state of brokenness, Jesus loved the church and gave himself up for her. But Jesus here is washing his bride through the word. He's changing us, he's transforming us. And husbands, he's comparing us to that. Husbands, this is your role also for your family. We are following Christ's lead. We are reflecting his leadership. And when that doesn't happen in the family, when we are not leading spiritually in the family, the family will suffer. Believe me, your wife will suffer, your kids will suffer. If you have young kids, you may not see it now. But later, you will see the consequences if you fail to lead spiritually. Friends, in other words, husbands, you should lead your family in prayer. I know that kids leading prayers at dinner are cute every once in a while, but you need to pray with and for your family. Your children should hear you pray, they should learn how to pray from you. Your kids and your wife, then they need to hear you pray, but also you need to read the Bible to them. You should be leading your family and in these conversations and these thoughts. Husbands, you should also serve the church. When there's a call to serve, your wife shouldn't be the one to sign you up to serve. God gave us a role to lead spiritually. And friends, the family is suffering because men aren't taking up that call. They work hard, they bring an income. But other than that, we're missing, we're missing something, friends, not just in our culture, but we're missing this in the church. Husbands, to be like Christ. Now, there's so much that we can say about this, but we gotta move on. But to summarize this for husbands, biblical leadership, friends, is not a place of ease and advantage, okay? But a clear calling, husbands, to work, to sacrifice, to serve, and to take responsibility for your family's spiritual growth. It's Bible. Role of a wife. In a Christ-centered marriage, the wife's core role revolves around nurturing. It revolves around nurturing. Now, here's where in our culture, this part of the message is rejected. Okay? It's scoffed at. Paul here talks about some commands for the wife to submit to her husband to respect them. And that's what sounds so offensive to so many people. And that's why this is rejected. So here I want to make clear that nowhere in scripture does it say that women have no leadership gifts, that they can't make contributions in the workplace or to the world, that they're in fear. Nowhere in scripture does it say that. In fact, I believe like the smartest person in our family is my wife. And the prettier too. But we're talking about in a Christian-centered marriage, the husband looks to Christ as to how to respond to his wife, and the wife looks to the church as to how to respond to her husband. So biblical submission is not something that is forced, that is coerced, that is demeaning. It's not the husband saying, Wife, obey me, submit to me. That's not what Jesus had in mind for himself. That's not how Jesus leads. That's not how Jesus wants his wife also to respond to him, like, oh, I'm following because I have to. I have to obey. No, Jesus wants his church to respond to his leadership, to submit to him willingly, to be free, for it to be liberating and glad and strengthening, and that we would do it with joy. There is such great joy in a marriage that can reflect what Christ is trying to reflect with his church. So Paul says, submit to your own husbands. That's what one version says, submit to your own husbands. He doesn't say you have to submit to every male. He doesn't say that you have to do that because females are in fear. No. He says, submit yourself to your own husband. Now it's always curious that every time a message like this is preached, sometimes single ladies they want to apply this to their boyfriends. But let me just say this doesn't say submit yourself to your boyfriend or to your partner. That's not a covenant. You there's no covenant that's been made. Like Jesus has made a covenant with his church. It's it's submit to your own husband willingly. To follow his lead as he's following Christ, to follow his lead willingly, to follow his lead, to encourage him, to build him up, to to you're not gonna change your husband by nagging on him. In the history of marriages, I've never seen it work. But you know what I have seen work? What Ofi and Michael talked to us about last week. It was incredible to hear her say, I started praying for him. That works. That changes hearts. Now I want to make clear that submission is not a role, okay? It's a response to your own husband. It's a mystery that Paul is talking about, it's the mystery of Christ and his church. But I do believe the scriptures talk about the primary role of a wife is to nurture, to love, as uh we read in Genesis last week, to be a helper to her husband. Without these contributions, ladies, without these contributions to your marriage, your your marriage will suffer, your husband will suffer, your kids will suffer. Ladies, there's no doubt that you are gifted in many ways. It can do the work that men do equally and even better, no doubt in my mind. But in marriage, there is a central core role that is life-giving to your family. It's to love, to nurture, to help, to just be there. I'm not talking about the 1950s, I'm talking about Christ and his church. Paul teaches Titus in Titus 2, 1 and 2. He's training him to be a pastor, and this is, and he says, as a pastor, I want you to do this. He says, You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the Bible. He says, likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. Paul says this not about a culture or different times. Those times were not any different than they were today. Paul says this is not about culture, it's not about time. He says this is about sound doctrine. This is about the Bible, it's about God's teaching. Now, why does Paul say that older women should help old younger women and to urge them to love their husbands, to love their children? Why does Paul have to teach that? Well, friends, because women in those times were putting aside these priorities. They were being tempted with other things, and and they could do other things, but they were setting aside these priorities, and they needed someone to remind them what was most important, what was a top value, a top priority, and that everything else falls under that. One of the reasons women go back to work for sure is to contribute financially. I know that. But actually, studies show that that's not the main reason women go to work. The main reason women put aside these priorities is because they find their value and significance in the workplace and not at home. Husbands, this should trigger something in us. Husbands, you've got to value your wife. You gotta let her know how important she is. What an important role she plays, that you couldn't do what you do without her. You gotta tell her how important, what an important part she plays in your children's life. Her satisfaction and value should come from God, from her husband. You gotta reward her, you gotta praise her. There's a pastor that I know, and uh I haven't followed his lead, but um he he takes the kids once a month, and and he gets his wife a hotel room because she just likes to sleep for once a month and get away from that. That's great, right? That's that's his reward for her. I'll take the kids. You you go grab a hotel room and sleep. It's our job, husbands. I want to say something here to single moms, because I know when you hear messages like this, and there are single moms here, that when you hear messages like this, that it brings you heartache and and much guilt. And that's not my intention this morning, it's not the word of God. But I want to say that I believe that God has a plan for you too. I believe that God will give you an extra measure of his grace and your struggle. I believe that God will reward you one day for your faithfulness, for your perseverance, that he will supply your needs, that he will fill in the needs of your children and your family. I believe that God provides and cares for your children. I believe that because the Bible says that he's gonna step in. When there's an absent father, he says, I will provide, I will take care of those children. The Bible also says to you that you should lean on the church. I believe that. You should lean on the church to help you. And I know it takes a lot of humility, but the body of Christ is made up of many parts, and the body of Christ, in the body of Christ, no one is incomplete. If you are single or widowed or divorced or abandoned, in the body of Christ, you are not incomplete. Christ completes you. Not Jerry Maguire, Christ completes you. Because here, here's what Paul wants us to see, friends, ultimately. Verse 31, he says, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ in the church. He says, I'm not even talking about marriage. I've told you all these things about marriage. I'm not even talking about that. The bottom line is this marriage and the distinct callings of men and women point us to the mystery of the gospel. Marriage is a mystery, indeed it is. But Paul says, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the mystery of Christ and his church. That mystery has been revealed to us. He says in Ephesians chapter 1. It's about Christ and the church, our marriage, our callings, our roles as men and women, they should point to Christ. No matter what the stage in our life is, no matter what our marital status is, that stage in life, it should point to Christ. The very next chapter, Ephesians chapter 6, he speaks to children on how to respond to their parents, and he speaks to parents on how to respond to their children. Why? Because that is a message of the gospel also. Obedience, submission, leadership. It's it's all it all points back to Jesus Christ. God has revealed the ultimate ultimate mystery to us. Jesus gave himself up for us, became one flesh with us, he's united to us. And here's the thing about the gospel, here's the thing about the message. Jesus doesn't walk out on anyone. He doesn't abandon, he doesn't neglect, he doesn't get lazy about his job, about caring for us. It's the mystery God wants us to know. The gospel doesn't say, I'll only love you when you do what I want you to do. The gospel says the mystery of the gospel is this that he loved and he died while we were still sinners. He gave his life for us. And when you see, friends, when you see what the gospel is about, when you see the gospel for what it is, the message of Christ and his church, for what when you see that, then everything in life changes, everything in marriage changes, in singleness, in your struggles, no matter where you are today, Christ loves you. He loves you with a sacrificial kind of love, and he will never ever stop loving you. And that's why he says, You can trust me, you can follow me. And those who trust him follow him wholeheartedly. They submit to him, he's the king, he's the lord. And we gladly follow him because he knows what he's doing. We know that he will take care of us. He is our king. Friends, we're gonna give everyone an opportunity uh here in a few moments to respond to the gospel. If there's someone who who's never responded to gospel, to the message of Christ and and the forgiveness that he offers you. We want to offer that opportunity. We're gonna have the elders and uh part of the staff up here. And if you want to respond to the gospel, if you want to know what that what that response looks like, uh, we'd be happy to talk to you either this at this prayer time or even afterwards. But at this time, we also are going to open up communion. We're gonna invite uh those who have put their trust in Christ to go to the tables here beside us and also in the rear. But this is a time, friends, you know, we we even communion, it's a mystery to many people. It's a mystery to me still. Why do we do that? What is it's the mystery of Christ, it's a reminder to us of the mystery that's been revealed to us through Jesus Christ, his son. As we take that bread, it reminds us of Christ's sacrificial giving of his own body, his life to redeem and rescue us from sin. And as we drink that cup, it is a reminder to us, the mystery that through the sacrifice of one man, through the spilling of blood of one man, that those who put their hope and trust in him can find healing, can find forgiveness of sin, can find new life. It's a mystery. It's a mystery that we continue to figure out, to dig in, to dig into. But it's all, friends, it's all in Jesus Christ. Why don't we stand at this time? We're gonna be open to pray with you and also to take in communion.