Instructions, Part 1

Now we request of you, brethren, verse 1 of chapter 2, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him. One more caveat before we get going here. I read at least six different commentaries yesterday, and there were four different opinions in those six commentaries that I read. So you just need to know that when it comes to subject matter, like what we're about to deal with in chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians, there's a lot of different opinions.

And each of them was convinced that they were right, and everybody else was wrong. So we're going to do the best we can to work through what the Bible, says, and try to stick to as many biblical things as we possibly can. Now, he says, We request of you, brethren, in regard to, or with regard to, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him. This would appear that he is telling us about one subject with two aspects to it.

Because do you notice that the linking word, and, is used there? The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together. together to him. It's not two different subjects. It's not two different events. It's one event, the second coming of Christ, that I believe has two different acts based upon what we read in scripture. And the two different acts are these, Christ coming for his church and Christ coming

with his church. That's what the second coming involves. The Christ coming for his church is what we read about in 1 Thessalonians, where he says, I don't want you to be ignorant about those who have fallen asleep. For when the last trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive and remain will be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air, and we will forever be with the Lord. That's Christ coming for his church. I believe that that

is a separate event from Christ coming with his church. Not everybody believes that. Some people believe that Christ will receive his church halfway through the tribulation. Some people believe that Christ will receive his church when he comes again at the end of the tribulation, that we will rise to meet him in the air and then come right back down, which doesn't make a ton of sense to me, but that's what some people believe. And that's okay. We can still

fellowship even though we disagree on these things. These are not salvation issues. This eschatology is just the way that we view things, and I'll try to bring us back to that biblical balance in the end. But I believe that what he's speaking of are these two different instances, and there's concern over it. And so he says, With regard to this one event that has two different acts, the coming of our Lord Jesus

Christ and our being gathered or assembled to him, and now's where he gets to the point, I don't want you to be quickly shaken from your composure or to be disturbed. He requests that they not do two things. Number one, be quickly shaken. That word shaken is a violent word. It means a sudden jolt. It's the exact same word that's used in the book of Acts when it speaks of the fact that there was a great earthquake. That's the same Greek word that's used

for shaken there. And can we just be honest and say that sometimes when it comes to talking about end times events and the fear that people have over end times events, sometimes it can produce a little bit of a jolting on the inside of us. Because we can go, oh no, what's the right thing? What's the right interpretation? He says, I don't want that to be you. I don't want you to be shaken by these things. I don't want you to be

jolted by these things. But the second thing he tells them that he does not want them to be is he does not want them to be disturbed. That word disturbed carries with it a continual state of being upset or being unsettled. Because they're fearful about what the future holds, and so they're walking around constantly stressed out is the idea. To be honest, I think that there's some people over the past few years that have found themselves

either shaken, jolted, or they have found themselves unsettled with the events that are going on in the world today, right? When COVID first struck and then they came out with a vaccine about that, everybody said what? It's the mark of the beast. If you take the vaccine, it will change your DNA and you will become demonic, right? And there was all this teaching going on. Do not take it because it's the mark of the beast.

No, don't take it because you get to choose whether or not you take a vaccine, right? But everybody was convinced this is the mark of the beast. And if you do this, then you can't go. I heard people say this. I heard people say that that was what was going to take place. And then when October 7th happened with the attack in Israel, it was terrible. Everybody goes,

this is it. This is the end. We're finally here. The battle of Armageddon. Maybe not yet, right? I remember when Y2K, like we just had New Year's. I remember when Y2K happened, right? And everybody bought bags of beans and generators. And I was like, that doesn't seem like that's probably going to happen. It feels like we're making too big of a deal out of this.

And quite frankly, probably someone owes someone some money for the amount of beans that they bought. But this is what we do, right? We get quickly jolted. We get unsettled. We get shaken by these things. And listen, God does not want us to be shaken. We get unsettled. We get shaken by chickens running around with our heads cut off. He wants us to be aware of what's going on around

us, but he does not want us to live in fear. He does not want us to live shaken. He does not want us to live constantly upset or unsettled about the things that are going on around us. I just got done listening to a very good book, and I would highly recommend it. It's called Are We in the Tribulation by Amir Sirfati. And he starts off the book by saying, no, we're not. He's like, that's a terrible way to start a book like this. But no, we're not in the

tribulation. But it's a great read because he kind of goes through parts of these sections and lots of other places in scripture and shows how we cannot be in the middle of the tribulation right now because the church is still here. It is really the big part of it. And we haven't seen the Antichrist and all the different things that we're going to see right now. But I found myself

a few times going, boy, this feels very tribulational, right? With all of the things that have gone, with all of the world leaders that we've seen. And I'm going, man, if I didn't know my Bible better, I would be kind of like, boy, this sure feels like it's it. This sure feels like the thing, right? Like, what do we see all take place just New Year's Day? All kinds of wild events. I felt

like a Job experience with my phone blowing up with all the, well, a truck drove into a crowd in Las Vegas, a cyber truck in New Orleans, a cyber truck blew up in Las Vegas. I think we bombed some people over in Yemen or something along those lines. I don't know. I don't know. And then you start reading about a fireworks explosion that takes place in Hawaii where lots

of people were killed. And then the jet airliner that crashed in, was it South Korea the week before? And almost everybody on the plane was killed. And you're kind of going, what is going on? What does all this mean? It means there's evil in the world. And it means sin is dominating. And I believe that the birth pains are getting stronger. But it does not mean that we're in the middle of

the tribulation. And so, he goes on to explain. He says, I don't want you to be quickly shaken from your composure or to be disturbed. He tells them the three things he doesn't want them to be disturbed by. Either by a spirit or by a message or by a letter as if it is from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. He says three things. A spirit. In other words, someone claiming to be

spiritual, being guided by a spirit, giving some sort of spiritual guidance, and then a spirit that has some sort of a prophetic message. A message, again, some sort of prophetic message. Or a letter. Somebody that wrote a letter and said, this is from Paul. He wanted me to deliver it from you. And just so you know, we're in the middle of the tribulation. Jesus has come. And they're going, oh

no, we missed it. He says, I don't want you to be shaken by these things. And have you noticed that there's nothing new? There are still people out delivering these kinds of messages today. About a year and a half ago, I was in a church. I was in a church. I was in a church. I was in a church. I was in a church. And I watched an Instagram reel that somebody had posted. And it was this guy on some

sort of a podcast saying that Jesus already came back. That the second coming has already taken place. And all I could think was, well, that doesn't make sense. Like, pretty sure according to Revelation, when Jesus comes again, he's going to rule and reign. And Satan's going to be bound for a thousand years. And that's not real figurative language. It's like, it's not that

it will be like Jesus is ruling and reigning. It says he will rule and reign. And yet these kinds of messages go out all the time from everybody who claims that they've heard from the Holy Spirit. This is why the Word of God is so important. Because you've got to be able to hold everything up against the Word and go, I don't think that makes sense. I don't think that's what

the Bible says. It says, I don't want you to be shaken because a spirit or a message or a letter claiming to be from us has been given to you. Pay attention to all of the things that you read. Again, if what you tell me starts off with, I heard this thing on YouTube, my first question for you is going to be, but did you compare it to the Bible? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

But did you compare it with the Bible? Because lots of people come to me and say, oh my gosh, Ryan, you will not believe what I listen to on YouTube. And I'll say, actually, I probably can. I can probably believe the craziest thing in the world you just listened to on YouTube. And you probably shouldn't believe it. Because everybody in the world has a voice on there.

He says, don't be shaken or disturbed by these things. And then he gives them a warning. Let no one in any way deceive you. Let no one in any way deceive you. And this is not only true for prophecy. This should be true of everything that we read. It's a new year. And I've seen lots of people post things along these lines on social media. It's a new year. Help me build my reading list. And I see some of the books

that people put out that they say you should read. And I want to be like, can I say no, don't read any of those? Because I see some of the things and I'm like, well, those aren't good. And I know those authors. They're really bad. So maybe don't read those. But we have to be careful that we're not deceived. Because listen, here's the thing about deception. Follow me on this. It's really, wait for it,

it's really deceptive. See what I did there? I mean, I know that's like the dumbest thing you've heard all day, besides you should come to church, even though it's snowy outside. But the fact of the matter is, the reason why it's deception is because it's deceptive, meaning that any of us can be subject to it. Any of us can end up falling into it. And that's why I'm saying,

don't fall into it. Because it's not blatantly wrong. It's not blatantly false. It's not blatantly false doctrine. There's always some truth hidden in it. And it always kind of makes sense. And then you go, oh man, maybe, maybe they are right. Maybe that is what I'm supposed to be thinking. And that's why it's deceptive. And so he says, let no one deceive you. And then

he begins to give them instructions. After he gives them these requests and warnings, he gives them the instructions, which carries with it the idea of the revealing. Notice what it says in verse 3.

He says, that day won't come. What day is he talking about? You should ask yourself that question. First thing I want to point out is that you may notice in your Bible that it says, for it will not come. That phrase, it will not come, is in italics. Do you notice that? That means that that is not in the original text. It's not in the original manuscript that was put out. It was added by the translators to bring a little bit

of understanding to it. But when you read the rest of the verse, you realize why it's put there. Because it says, for it will not come unless the falling away comes first. So what are we talking about? What's not going to come until the falling away comes first? The day of the Lord. He's talking about this day of judgment. This day of the Lord referred to in the Old Testament,

reinforced in the New Testament, particularly by the teaching of Jesus in Matthew chapter 24. This day of the Lord will not come unless two things have taken place. These are the two signs for the understanding of the fact that you are living in the middle of the tribulation or that the day of the Lord has come. Number one is that the apostasy comes first. The apostasy comes first. The word apostasy there is from the Greek word apostasia.

I love when they're simple like that. It comes from that Greek word, but the idea behind apostasy is this. It means a falling away or a rebellion or a departure. Now, there are some that try to say, well, the word departure here could also mean rapture. I have a hard time going that far with it. Maybe. I'm not willing to completely throw that idea out. As a

matter of fact, Kenneth Wiest, in his translation that I quote a lot, actually translates it that way. Unless the departure, the rapture of the Lord, is the day of the Lord. So it's not going to come first. That's actually how he translates it. It takes place first. I don't feel like that's what he's saying here. I think it carries with it the idea which it does throughout the rest of

scripture, which is apostasy, because it's the same word that Paul will use elsewhere when he talks about in the last days, apostasy will come. Same word that's used in all of those places. But the idea is a falling away or a rebellion. A falling away from the faith. Now, I think that we see signs of this apostasy taking place. I think that we see signs of this apostasy taking

place now and really probably have for the entire time that the church age has been in action, right? Jesus kind of told us that that would take place in many of the kingdom parables. He talked about the fact that there would always end up being in the church a mixture of those who were true believers and those who were only believers by name only. He told us that would always be the case. So there's always been that kind of spirit of apostasy, that feeling of apostasy that's

taking place. But this speaks of something more distinct. A distinct moment, a distinct falling away, a distinct event that will create a falling away from the church, from the true faith, from true faith in Jesus Christ. Well, it only makes sense to me that if the ambassadors, that's us, are taken out and no one is there to be that witness for true Christianity any longer, that the church that is left, because believe me, there will be a church left here.

The church that is left will completely depart from the faith. They will completely depart from any sort of real faith in God because of the departure of the church. And he gets into that a little bit further down, and we'll talk about that a little bit more next week. But it speaks of a distinct apostasy, a distinct falling away that will take place because the witness has been removed. But the second and more distinct sign that's given to us is that the falling away will

come first, and then the man will come first. And then the man will come first. And then the man will come second. And the man will come up, and he will come second. So we're going to renewed the way that faith is in the Lord today as president. If you'll take a look at Hebrews 8, Matthew, verse 1, it says, It says, It says, It says, It says, him as a son of destruction. In other words, destruction is the characteristic that he is

marked by. It is the very opposite of salvation because it is destruction. And it says that he will be revealed. In other words, his true identity will be made known to all. This is a figure that we oftentimes refer to as the Antichrist. Now, when it says Antichrist, it's not necessarily against Christ, although that's true as well. Anti means in the place of, right? An anti-type.

He's the Antichrist. He will be everything the opposite of Jesus and yet display himself as some sort of a God. And this Antichrist will put himself on the scene. And it says he's going to do a handful of things. It says that when he is revealed, he will oppose, verse 4, and exalt himself above everything. So first of all, he will oppose. That means to be against. But second of all, he will exalt himself

above. Now, Daniel 9 talks about this. And we'll get into Daniel 9 just a little bit more, but let me share with you what Daniel 9 says. It talks about that 70 weeks. And in those 70 weeks, you have, first of all, the first 69 sets of seven that bring us right up into the coming of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, from the time that the decree that the temple was built, it's the exact date of

when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey on that day that we call Palm Sunday. And so that first 69 sets of seven, that's the exact date of when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey on that day that we call Palm Sunday. And so that first 69 sets of seven, that's the given. And it says, at the end of those 69 sets of seven, the Messiah will be cut off, but not for himself, which speaks of a death for someone else. And that's that first 69 sets of seven. But then,

if you continue on in the reading, it says that, and then he will confirm a covenant with the people for one week. He, meaning an antichrist, will confirm a covenant with one week, that last set of seven years, which will start that. That period, that tribulational period. And the only way that that covenant could be made is if there is a falling away that comes first, so that everybody says, we need to look to someone to be our leader.

This guy has a plan. He has a plan for religious peace. He has a plan for international peace. He has a plan for economic peace. We should follow what that guy has to say. That's called the three-legged stool. And this guy has a plan for the three-legged stool. And this guy has a plan for the three-legged stool. And this guy will have a plan to deal with all of it. Now, there's a lot of conjecture over who this

could be, or maybe who this even was in the past. Some people say antichrist has already come. They said, oh, it was Nero. Nero was the antichrist. Doesn't fit all of it. Even around the time that Paul wrote, Caligula, one of the emperors, tried to set himself up as a god. Doesn't fit everything that Paul had to say here. And so, a lot of people have been put out there. Some people have even said

Adolf Hitler, because of some of the things that he did. Is this antichrist? The problem is, none of them completely fit the bill. And so, a lot of people have been put out there. Some people have even said So, it's someone that we're still waiting for. It's someone that we're still waiting to see revealed. And I believe that because we're here as a church, we won't see him, because we will be

gone by the time that he arrives. As a matter of fact, and I could be wrong on this, everybody in every generation tries to go, I think I know who it is. And I remember listening to a guy teach on this a couple of years ago, and he goes, here's the thing. If you think you know who it is, that's not who it is. Because we're not going to know. As a matter of fact,

this guy went on to say, I think we'll all be as surprised as anybody who it is. If we could be there to see who it was, we'd be like, oh, I didn't see that one coming at all. And I found that to be kind of an interesting statement. And so, we need to remember that our job is not to sit around looking for who the antichrist might be. Our job is to sit around looking for Christ and see who

he wants us to be. But he tells us about this so that we are aware of it. And so, he opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God. And so, he tells us about this so that we are aware of it. Or object of worship. The second thing that it says that he does is it says, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Now,

the word temple there is the phrase inner sanctuary in the Greek. So, the idea is that this guy is going to set himself up in the inner sanctuary and require worship of himself. He will establish himself as God. That's what Daniel refers to as the abomination of desolation. And he will establish himself as such. And when he does so, the Jewish people will go, oh, no. What have

we done? This is not good. And he will establish himself as that. And it's funny because I remember as a little kid hearing about this and thinking, who just blindly believes what somebody says and absolutely fawns. And I was like, oh, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that.

And I watched the way that people reacted to this presidential candidate in the early 2000s. And I was just like, now I see it. Now, I see how people can do that. And they can faint when they hear him talk. And they can fawn over every single word that he says, even though none of it makes any sense. And it's all just a bunch of words and jargon. And you went, now it makes sense. And I

was like, oh, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. And he said, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. Now, I see how people can do that. Because the power of speech is strong. That was one of the reasons why a lot of people thought Hitler might have been that guy, because he could convince an entire nation of people to do

whatever he wanted them to do because of the power of his speech. And so for an individual to have that sort of power in their speech, to then be empowered by Satan and to establish himself as some sort of God, that's a lot of power. And so I'm going to do that. And I'm going to do that. And you go yep that's how it happens that's how that begins to take place and so

that's what this guy will do he will establish himself as this God to be worshipped and of course he will have his his prophet and he will have his image and all those other kinds of things matter of fact go with me a couple of places to learn a little bit more about this guy go over to Daniel chapter 9 and we'll just read those those sections Daniel chapter 9 right after Ezekiel and then Hosea and then Daniel or no excuse me right after Ezekiel and then Daniel you hit Hosea you went too far and like I usually do I told them 26 and 27 to put up on there but let's start in verse 24 for context sake I'll give you a second to get there Daniel chapter 9 verse 24 starts like this 70 weeks have been decreed for your

people and your holy city to finish the transgression to make an end of sin to make atonement for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place so you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks it will be built again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary, and it will come with a flood. Even to the end, there will be war. Desolations are

determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. But in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. And on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction. One that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate. Now, it says that he'll make the covenant, that he will put an end

to sacrifice, and he will establish himself in that inner sanctuary. Now, I hope you're asking yourself a question. How can he do that? How can he be in the inner sanctuary? How can there be a daily sacrifice when there's... No temple. That's kind of hard to do, right? And right now, there's major issues over where the Jews believe the temple should be built, because two different groups of people claim that's their

holy site. And so there's a major fight over that. There's a major battle over that. And there's no temple. Well, all of the plans are there for the building of a temple. Everything's ready for the building of a temple. We're just waiting for someone to have a plan to bring peace so that the temple... Can be built. Well, that's what this Antichrist will do. He will bring the peace. He will be able

to bring everybody together, sit them down at a table, and he will make them all a deal they can't refuse. They'll all sign it, and a temple will be built. And everything will look beautiful until on the wings of abomination, one who brings desolation will do away with the weekly or the daily sacrifices and establish himself as God. Now, it's not just an Old Testament idea. Go over

to Matthew, Matthew chapter 24, and I want you to look at verse 15. Matthew 24, 15. And it says this. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, inner sanctuary, let the reader understand that those who are in Judea must flee to the mountain. Who is ever on the housetop? Go down to his house. Whoever's in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

Woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days. Pray that your flight will not be in winter or on a Sabbath, for then will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. So, we see that this guy's also talked to... Jesus also talks to us about this exact same guy. That this guy is coming, and that's what he's going to do. And so, Paul says, you need to know,

you're not living in these times. You're not living in the day of the Lord unless you've seen two things. Number one, the great falling away. Number two, the coming of the Antichrist. So, don't let your heart be troubled. And so, as we wrap up here this morning, I thought to myself, so why do we care about this section? How do we bring it back to a biblical

balance? Because not everybody agrees with all these things. Not everybody agrees with what I have to say. And so, let me bring it back to the balance that I think we always have to come back to. And the first part of the balance is the warning and the request that he gave to us. Don't be shaken, don't be disturbed, and don't be deceived. Brothers and sisters, there is so much

out there being put out all the time. There are so many things that are being put out, and you should not allow yourself to be disturbed. You should not allow yourself to be shaken, and you should not allow yourself to be deceived. That was my biggest message to all of us all throughout the COVID issues. It was my biggest message to us with all of the other crazy things that have gone on. We've got to stop being the

church that runs around with their heads cut off. We cannot be the Christians that run around freaked out about every single thing that happens. And every time something major happens in the world, we say, this is the big one. This is when it's going to happen. Let me tell you, let me pull out my prophecy chart again, and I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you,

I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you, no don't be shaken don't be disturbed and don't be deceived stay in the word and stay focused on the word and that brings me to the next thing number two is keep your eyes on Jesus and your focus on the gospel keep your eyes on Jesus and keep your focus on the gospel if our job was to be constantly looking for the Antichrist Jesus would have said lift up your heads for the Antichrist is near but that's not what he said he says lift up your heads because your salvation is near we're looking for Jesus not the Antichrist we need to be aware of the things that are going on in the world we should know

what's happening in the world around us but we should not run around like crazy people every time something happens in the world we need to be the steady force we need to be the ones who's minds are settled upon the fact that we serve a risen Savior who has a plan for how he's gonna bring everything to fruition and is ultimately the one who is in control and we can rest in that and that's what Paul wanted these people to do and it's what I will keep bringing this back to you throughout this chapter stay focused stay steady keep your eyes on the gospel amen well I'm gonna invite the worship team to come up because today's Communion Sunday and so I want to spend just a few moments talking to us about

communion as always inside of each of these trays there's a couple of cups there's the cup that has the cracker in it and there's the cup that has the juice in it and in and of themselves they're pretty basic things pretty basic elements that don't mean anything to most people in the world other than some juice and crackers but for us as believers in Jesus Christ they are symbolic of something so much deeper something so much more important, something so much more life-giving than we can ever imagine. It's true spiritual sustenance to us because they are symbolic of the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, which is the very reason that he came and the reason why he's coming back is for his church that has been purchased by his blood

because of the sacrifice of his body. So Paul tells us that every time we do this, we're to make sure that we do so in a worthy manner. And so first of all, to partake of it in a worthy manner is to truly understand exactly what we're partaking of to remember the sacrifice. As I've shared with you lots of times before, but I just love doing it because I think it paints for us the picture of the sacrifice so much is that these are just nice little squares that we buy at the Christian bookstore because it's an easy way to do things.

But the matzah bread that Jesus would have used on that last great night of the feast was the bread that was both pierced and striped and unleavened. And it speaks of his body. His body that was unleavened because that leaven always speaks of sin in Scripture and so it was pure, it was sinless. And it was striped because of the way it was baked, but his body was striped for us.

We're told by his stripes we are healed. And of course that bread has all these little piercings in it that they would do so that it would bake properly. And so as Jesus held up that bread that was pure, pierced, and striped, he took it and he broke it. I can't imagine what was going through Jesus' mind and his humanity at that point in time knowing that that's exactly what was about to take place for him.

He was about to be broken for us. And he took that broken piece of bread and he handed it to his disciples and he said, take and eat because this is my body that was broken for you. So every time we partake of that, that little cracker that's in the bottom of that cup, we are reminded that his body was broken for us, that he endured the piercings in his hands and his feet, the crown of thorns in his head, the beatings that he endured on his back and his side being pierced for us because he was broken for us. And then he took the cup, that cup of the new covenant, he said this is the cup of the new covenant of my blood, take and drink.

And every time we do this we are reminded that the one thing that gives us life is the blood of Jesus Christ that covers our sins. That he took upon himself all of the sin of humanity and that he made not just an atoning sacrifice but a purifying sacrifice for our sin. The final sacrifice for our sin. And every time we partake of that cup we are reminded of the blood of Jesus Christ that flowed so that our sins could be forgiven.

And so we are reminded of the greatness of this meal because it means so much to us. But then we're also reminded that if you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, this meal doesn't do anything for you. As a matter of fact, I would encourage you not to do it if that's you this morning. But if that's you and you need to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then today's that day.

But then there's those of us that are believers. The way that we partake in a worthy manner is to make sure that our hearts cleaned out before the Lord. To make sure that there is no unconfessed sin, there's no unconfessed bitterness or unforgiveness, that there is nothing between us and God. Because while sin no longer separates us from God eternally, it breaks our fellowship temporarily.

And that fellowship sometimes needs restored. So as we do so, if there's restoration of fellowship that needs to take place, then allow God to do his work in your heart and in your life. And as you receive these elements, if you would please stand, and then we'll partake together. Father, we come before you, and Lord, I thank you for your body that was broken for us.

Lord, I thank you that you were willing to endure the stripes, the nails, the beatings for us, Lord, that your body was broken for us. And Father, I thank you for your blood that was shed for us, your blood that covers our sins. Keep us always in mind of this sacrifice. We pray, in Jesus' name, you may partake. And if you'd bow with me one last time. Father, thank you for the time that we had in your word.

Be with us as we go out from here, in Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed.