Workers in the Harvest Pt 2

All right. Good morning. It's wonderful to see you guys. If you guys want to go ahead and stand with me, we'll pray and we'll get started. Heavenly Father, God, I just thank you for this day that you provided for us, God. Thank you for how much you love us. God, thank you for how good you are. I just pray that you bless this time, God. Prepare our hearts to receive from you this

morning, Lord, and help us to lift a joyful noise to you, God. We want to praise you this morning because you are worthy to be praised, God. Lord, we just ask that you, again, just bless this time. Bless the worship and bless the word as it goes out, Lord. We ask these things in your precious and holy name. Amen. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like, and we'll continue on.

I swear, I swear, I count on it never fails. You won't fail me now in the waiting. The same God who's never late is working all things out. You're working all things out. Oh, yes, I will lift you high in the lowest valley. Yes, I will. Bless you. Bless your name. Yes, I will sing for joy when my heart is heavy. All my days, you're working all things out. I choose to stand against, lift you high. Bless your name.

Lord, I just ask that you come and do a mighty work in our hearts this morning, God. God, I know that we fall short of your standards all the time, Lord, but God, you can take what's broken in God and just make it something new and use it for something good.

God, and that's my prayer this morning, God. Just do something awesome in our hearts this morning, God. Take what's broken and make it new.

Where I'm still in your presence, and all the noise dies down, Lord, speak to me now. Lord, you have all my attention. I will linger and listen. I can't miss a thing, but I know once more of you. My heart wants something new, so I surrender all. Be undone by my desire is to know my fears into the wind. I am desperate for you're the fire and the breath in my soul. Oh, the life in my bones. There is no hesitation.

In your love and affection, it's the sweetest of all. My heart wants something new, so I surrender my desire. I am desperate for you, God. Lord, that is our prayer this morning, God. We are desperate for you, God. I am desperate for a touch of you, God, to come and work in our lives. God, do something awesome in us this morning, God. Take what's broken and make it new, God. Use us for your glory, God.

For my fears, I am desperate for you. If it's not one thing, it's another. Tangled in life, a savior, and you take brokenness to sight and make it beautiful. If it's not one thing, it's another. In words, tangled in life, a savior, and you take brokenness aside and make it beautiful, beautiful.

If it's not one thing, it's another. A savior, and you take brokenness to sight and make it beautiful. A sinner, it's another, and you take brokenness aside, and make it beautiful. But, God, as we were saying, God, just take what's broken in our lives, God, and make it new. You make it beautiful, God.

If it's not one thing, it's another.

Angled in life, a Savior. And you take brokenness aside and make it beautiful, beautiful.

It's another.

Take brokenness aside and make it beautiful. God, you are awesome, God, in that you can take something that's so broken and deformed and messed up and sinful, God, as me, and just turn it into something new, God. I just find it absolutely amazing, God, and I just can't do anything but just lift praise to you, lift my hands to you this morning, God. God, you are awesome, and you are good.

If there are anybody here that does not know your goodness this morning, God, I just pray for them. I just pray that they would come to that realization of just how good you actually are, God. Lord, I just pray that as Pastor Ryan comes this morning, God, that you would overflow him with your Holy Spirit, God. Let your word go out of him with power. God, and not return to you void, but just accomplish the purpose for which you sent it, God.

God, do something awesome and mighty in our hearts this morning, God. We love you, Lord, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Why don't you guys go ahead and take some time in fellowship with one another.

Good morning.

Glad y'all can be here this morning. If you can start locating your seat, grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over a few announcements together.

Again, welcome to Calvary Chapel this morning. Glad you could be here. Glad we've all survived Snowmageddon 2022. Hopefully, that's the extent of it. I was telling somebody earlier this week, I like snow for about four hours, right? I like to watch it fall down, and I like that first initial, ah, look, isn't that cool? Snow's on the ground. And then I'm like, okay, can it be 80 now?

And let's get rid of the snow and go back to living life. That's just me. That's my own anti. I'm like, don't let it snow. Don't let it snow. That's just me. Okay, a few things in your bulletin to pay attention to. On the left-hand side, all of the things are happening this week, so find some spots to get plugged into, whether it's college, youth, home fellowships,

men's, women's, there's all those things going on over there. A couple of things to add to what's taking place on the left-hand side of your bulletin is that tonight, is our first Sunday of the month, so we do our intercessory prayer night. We gather in the back room there about 6 o'clock, and we take some time to pray for the things going on within the church, the community, the nation, and the world. So come join us for that.

Great time of prayer. And then also, Rick Hawkins is back in action with doing his monthly prophecy update this Thursday. Due to a lot of circumstances, it's been since about November that he's been able to do that. So come check that out. There's a lot happening in the world. I'd be interested to hear everything that he has to say with some of those things.

Over in the middle section of your bulletin, actually, before we get to that, there's two other things I need to tell you. Number one is that this coming Saturday, the one that is approaching us in a week, is both men's and women's breakfast. Women's breakfast will be at Bricks at 8 o'clock. Men's breakfast will be in the back room, the agape room back there, at 8 o'clock as well on Saturday.

And then there are giving statements available for those that gave last year. The statements for your taxes and stuff are available. See Gene Festy. He was one of the ushers. See him after church, and he can give you that giving statement. The other thing that's going on is we are trying to get folks signed up for a church directory. So we've got a little video for that.

The church has grown so much over the past few years that we've started noticing a need for an updated church directory. So that we can all get better at matching names with faces. So over the next several weeks, we are going to start doing your family photos immediately following church services. There will be a sign up table immediately following service today where you can pick a time slot on either February 13th, 20th, 27th, or March 6th.

If you are a first service attendee, we will have time slots open for you immediately following the first service on February 13th and 20th. When picking your time slot, the only thing that we're asking is that we leave the first couple of slots open for you. When picking your time slot, the only thing that we're asking is that we leave the first couple of slots open for you. The first two slots open for the families with the really young children so that we can get them in and out as quickly as possible.

Sorry if you can hear her the whole time. Once all of the photos are taken, I'll be uploading them to a gallery so that you can download your family photos for free if you want. So don't forget. Sign up to start today and I can't wait to see all of your smiling faces. Okay, so, pretty excited about that. Now, if you were one of those people who's like, I take bad pictures, I really don't want my picture taken, I'm not going to be in the directory.

Can you do it for me? me, please. Can you just go ahead and get your, listen, I take terrible pictures too, okay? I have a lifetime of school pictures to prove that. So if you could please just go ahead and sign up anyway and just put on that best smile that you possibly can. And if it's a really goofy looking picture, we won't make fun of it at all. It'll be awesome. And so, no, seriously, it just helps out

so many people. I can't tell you how many people are like, oh, hey. I'll say, hey, do you know who this person is? And they go, hmm. And I'll try to describe them, and they're still like, still drawing a blank. But once they see their face, like, oh, yeah, I totally know who that is. And so that's why the picture directory thing came up. So please, please help us take part in that. That sign up is

in the back. Julie Davis will be back there. So those are the things going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And then for our responsive reading this morning, we're going to be in Psalm 96. We'll be looking at the New American Standard just so we all sound the same. If you need a New American Standard Bible, there should be one in a row around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 96, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word,

I will read the odd verses, if you will follow along with Lewis, and the even verses. Psalm 96. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord. Bless His name. Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory. Sing the nations. His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name. Bring an offering and come into His courts. Worship the Lord in holy attire. Tremble before Him all the earth.

Say, among the nations, The Lord reigns! Indeed the world is firmly established. It will not be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar in all it contains. Let the field exult in all that is in it. Then all the trees be made this way. of the forest will sing for joy. And read verse 13 with me. Before the Lord, for he is coming,

for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the earth in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. Father, we do just want to sing to you a brand new song, a song of your goodness, a song of your glory, a song of your power. More than anything, Lord, a song of the love that you have for us. And so, Lord, we praise you for who you are. Just ask that as we get ready

to spend time in your word this morning, that you would give us fresh vision into who you are and what you want for us to see. Lord, may this not be a morning where we attend a group meeting, Lord. May it be a morning where we meet with you. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And as you're doing so, if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Matthew,

chapter 10. Matthew, chapter 10. As we move forward, we moved into Matthew, chapter 10. We started a new little series that we'll end today called Workers in the Harvest. Jesus had ended chapter 9 with his stories of healing by telling the disciples that the harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray that the Lord would send workers into the harvest. And then as he began chapter 10, it says that he called his

12 disciples to himself, and he began to commission them to go out into the harvest, which tells us that when God says pray for workers to go into the harvest, the workers he wants to send into the harvest are you. And so we talked about what it looked like to be a worker of the harvest. That was the first thing that we looked at. We said that it could be anybody because the disciples were a variety of people with different backgrounds and sets of issues, and yet God chose to use them. And the second thing that we looked at was the

instructions for the workers in the harvest. And if you'd like to pick up on some of those instructions, you can go back to the website and check out last week's message. Today, what we move into is the warnings. Because Jesus knew, as he had said in verse 16, that he was about to send these guys into the world as sheep among wolves. The wolves, of course, have all the scary things like big fangs and

claws and all those kinds of things. Matter of fact, one of my favorite little things floating around the internet this last week, because it was Groundhog Day, is it shows this picture of a wolf that's almost smiling, and he says, I have no idea if the groundhog saw his shadow. I ate him. I just thought that was a hilarious meme. That was rolling around. That's the idea. And he says, that's who's in the world as wolves, and

you're sheep. You know, that's my hooves for sheep. I got nothing. And so they're going to have to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. And so he needs them to be prepared for the dangers that face them. And so as he prepares them for these dangers, he gives them three warnings. First of all, he warns them about the persecution to come. Second of all, he's going to warn them about the

fear of man. And then third, he's going to warn them about the division that the gospel brings about. So we pick up. In verse 17, with warnings about persecution, notice what it says,

Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. When they persecute you in one city, flee to the next. For truly, I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.

It's enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher and the slave like his master. If they've called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign the members of his household? And so the first thing he tells them to prepare them for persecution is he tells them, you need to beware of men. The word beware means to be alert or cautious. In other words,

they should pay attention to the people that they're ministering to, the people that they're working with and working towards in the harvest, because those very people that they're giving out the gospel may be the very ones who begin to persecute them. Now we'll find that that being cautious, being alert, doesn't mean we should be fearful, but it does mean that we should pay attention. That's having discernment. And they need to beware because there's a handful of things that they're going to do. First of all, they will hand you over, it says, to the courts.

Just take note of that. They'll hand you over to the courts. It's interesting because he says they're going to hand you over to two things, and the first one has to do with the civic arena, the governmental arena. He says part of the persecution is that they'll hand you over to the courts, and you'll have to stand trial because perhaps what you're doing or saying will be opposed to the laws of the land.

So I prefaced in the first service this section on persecution with this. We live in the United States of America where I would say we don't endure a great deal of persecution, at least not as far as the world is concerned and not as far as stories of the past are concerned. That's not to say that there's not persecution taking place in the world today. As a matter of fact, if you go to countries that are mainly Muslim or even Hindu, you will find that there is great persecution that takes place in the church. As a matter of fact,

some of the things that we see him talk about here are actually happening in those nations. We're not always aware of it because we don't see those things happening with us, but it is beginning to take place in the world around us. Our neighbors just to the north of us, and I don't mean Nebraska. I'm talking about Canada. They've started passing laws there that pastors cannot

speak out against things like homosexuality because it's called hate speech. As a matter of fact, pastors can be imprisoned for hate speech up there if they speak the truth of the gospel and they call sin what it is. And so while we don't see widespread persecution in our nation right now, I don't know that we're very far from it. You may not realize this, but when Joe Biden took the presidency, he began to eliminate anything that was Christian in nature that had been in the White House up to that point in time. Like him or hate him, and I don't care what your political views are, Donald Trump was

the most pro-church, pro-faith president we've ever had. And he took lots of stands, albeit I wish he would have quit using his Twitter. I wish he would have every now and then just stopped talking. But the policies that he passed were very pro-church. And he had a lot of Christian influence in the White House. The very first thing that the Biden administration did was get all of that out of there. Why? Because they're secular,

humanistic in nature. That's just who they are. And so I think that part of that that's going to take place with us over the next few years is there's going to be a greater persecution that arises. And it will begin in the civic arena because they will start passing laws, things like hate speech. It's the way most of the world has gone. But not only does he say,

well, you have to be brought before the civic arena in the courts, but he says you will be scourged in the synagogues. That's the religious arena. Now, isn't it interesting that as far as the world goes, as far as the world's courts go, we'll just be brought to court. But as far as the church goes, that's where the real beatings will begin to take place. And I believe that the other

area where we will begin to see persecution within the church, for true believers, is from churches that don't hold to the true gospel, that don't hold to what the word of God has to say. I would call them somewhat liberal in their theology because they don't want to hear what the truth of the gospel is. They think we should just accept everyone. Doesn't matter whether or not they've been living in sin. We should just be okay with sin. Now,

listen, I want us to understand something. I believe that the church should be a hospital for sinners, not a sanctuary for saints. That being said, if I come to a hospital for sinners, I want my problem identified so that it can get healed, so that it can get dealt with. And if we bring people in that are living in sin, that's a wonderful thing. But just know, I'm going to tell

them what the sin is so that they can be healed from it. And as we do that as the church, as you do that as believers, I think some of the greatest persecution that we'll face is from the church, is from those churches who will not hold to the truth any longer. He says they'll bring you in front of those people. But then there's a third thing he says in verse 18. He says,

and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. He said there's a third area that you'll be brought in, and it's in front of some of the world's greatest leaders. And as you're brought before some of the world's greatest leaders, it will be for one reason and one reason only, that you can give a testimony of Jesus. You can give testimony to what Jesus has done for you. And listen,

I believe that whatever arena we're given, whether it's the arena of having to defend our faith or the arena where we have a voice for people, it should always be to give testimony to the truth of who Jesus is. It should always be to give testimony to the truth of what God has done in our lives. Because brothers and sisters, you may not be the greatest apologist for the faith. You may not know all of the details about the Greek and the Hebrew and be able to defend all those kinds of things. But here's what you do have.

You're here this morning and you're a born-again believer. You have a testimony. And the testimony of your changed life is the most powerful thing the world can ever see. Because I may not be able to tell you what that means in the Greek, but I can definitely tell you what Jesus did in me. I may not be able to tell you all of the historical evidence, but I can sure tell you the evidence

about my own life and how much Jesus has changed me. And so he says, that's what's going to take place. Yes, he gives us this warning to beware of men. He gives us a little bit of a word of encouragement because I don't know about you, but the thought of standing in front of kings and governors and courts and churches, it's kind of a terrifying thought, right? What am I going to say? He says,

but when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say, for it will be given to you in that hour what you are to say, for it's not you who speak, but it's the spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Can we just isolate those first two words? First two words? Not you, me. For just a minute, it says, don't worry. Now, there's going to be two

themes that we see run through this message today. One is don't worry. The other one is don't fear. We'll get to don't fear in just a minute, but don't worry. I think sometimes as we pay attention to the potential that's coming for us as believers, we can get a little bit worried about it, right? Like, listen, I get it. Me saying the things that I say could land me in jail someday. I'm well aware

of that. I've already told you, you need to start to collect. I feel like that's something that we should pay attention to. I think it's a line item we should add to the budget for the church because I say things and it scares me, right? Because I know the repercussions of some of the things that I say, not just the dumb things, because I know there's plenty of those, but the biblical things. And so when I say those things, I leave it. This

is why I didn't ever want to go online. Well, this was the main reason. The second reason is I wanted you to come to church and not watch online. But the first reason is because I did not want to deal with the criticism that comes from the entire internet, hearing what I have to say, and then being able to comment on it, and me having to face some persecution because of it. Because every time

I teach on things, I leave and I'm like, who am I getting a phone call from this week? Who am I getting an email from this week? Like, I get a little bit nervous about it. And listen, I'm not built for prison, okay? Like, look at me. I'm not made for that. I told you last week, I have no street cred. I will not be made for that. I'm not made for that. I'm not made for that. I'm not made

for that. I will not last, right? Anyway, all that to say, sometimes it's easy to worry. But Jesus is like, hey, don't worry. Don't worry because I'm going to give you everything that you need to say. You don't need to think, okay, let's make sure I can plan for every single question, right? Like, if I'm going to prepare somebody to defend their faith, I can't prepare them for every single

question that that'll ever come up in life because that's impossible, right? Like, I've dealt with a lot of people over a lot of years now. And you know what's funny? People can still ask me questions that go, huh, I've never heard that one before. That's a pretty good question. Actually, that's a dumb question, but I still never heard it before, right? I can't prepare you for every single

question, nor can I do that in my own life. So what happens if somebody asks me a question that I can't answer? The Bible just told us right there that God is faithful. You don't need to worry about how you're going to respond because when put in that position, God will give you the grace that you need to answer the question. So, I'm going to give you the grace that you need to answer the

in the way that is fit. He will give you everything that you need. Why? Because it's not you who are speaking at that point in time. It is the spirit of your father who is working in you. That means I don't need to live my life terrified that somebody's going to ask me a question that I don't know the answer to because the God of all knowledge, the God of all questions, if you're

here this morning and you're born again, his spirit dwells inside of you. And because of that, he is able to bring forth the truth from you in ways that will make you sit back and go, I should take notes on that because that was good. Right? That's who God is and that's what he's able to do. He gives us the grace to handle those kinds of things. And not only the grace to

know what to say, but the grace to have the strength to say it. Because if you're anything like me, sometimes I know what I should say, but I lack the strength to say it because I know the criticism that it could bring about. And every now and then, I just go, you know what? Let's just do this thing. I have a sticker on my computer right now. It says, Into the Storm. And I got it from this company that sells buffalo sticks, right? Not like

little buffaloes on a stick, but actually meat that's protein. Anyway, you know what I'm saying. And the philosophy of this company is into the storm. And they said, do you realize that when buffalo have to face a storm, when a snowstorm is coming, they don't turn and run from it. Instead, they turn and walk into it because they know that if they walk into the storm, they'll finish it

that much faster. And so, I got it from this company that sells buffalo sticks, right? And I got it So, that's the philosophy I'm trying to live by when it comes to saying what needs to be said, is I need to go into the storm. And that's what God's grace is able to give us when we're in that moment, is He's able to give us the grace to walk into the storm. Now, one thing that needs to be

pointed out is that this is not an excuse to not ever study the Bible. I don't really need to study the Bible because I know that when the time comes, God will give me everything that I need. Yes, He can because that's who God is. God can speak through anybody that He wants to. Just ask Balaam, right? Because remember that story when Balaam wouldn't listen to the message from God and so

the donkey started talking to him? I can't help it. The 14-year-old side of me, see, this is one of those dumb things that I should get criticized for. The 14-year-old part of me really likes to read that in the old King James. I'm just saying, you're going to laugh. It's going to be funny. I should be criticized for that statement right now, even though it has nothing to do with faith.

Anyway, but Balaam is not listening to the message from God. So who does God use to speak to Balaam? The donkey. He starts to beat his own donkey because he's not listening to the message from God. Listen, God can speak through anyone or anything that He wants to, but God moves best through prepared vessels. And I think the best thing that we can do to always be prepared is to

have an abiding life in Christ. Because if I am living my life at the feet of Jesus, if I am in communion with Him, I am living my life at the feet of Jesus. I am living my life at the feet of God. If I'm taking in from His word, if I'm in fellowship with Him and I'm in prayer, it's amazing how much more freely the Spirit moves through me because my vessel is prepared, because I am ready to do what God has called for me to do. He says, don't worry. I'm going to take care of you. And

then he goes on to talk about this extent of the persecution. He says in verse 21, brother will betray brother to death and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all because of my name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. That's one of those sections that's never going to make it on your refrigerator,

right? Like no one's ever going to take the verse, but you will be hated by all because of my name and claim that as their promise. Like what are you claiming for 2022? That I'm going to be hated by everybody for Jesus, right? Nobody put that as their goal. And yet it's very true in the Bible. And if we begin to understand that Jesus, the creator of the heavens and the earth,

who came to his own and his own didn't receive him, is talking to his disciples who are about to go out into the world and carry his message out into the world. If the best way he can prepare them for that is to say, here's what you need to know. They're going to hate you. Then it would be really good for us to understand that they're going to hate us. And that's okay. That's okay

because we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are loved by the creator of the heavens and the earth. And if I have that, then I have everything. And he says, it's the one who endures to the end who will be saved. Well, that endurance is a tough word, isn't it? The word endure means to bear up under, right? Like probably when you were out shoveling snow and in between you being like, this is the

dumbest thing I've ever done. You were having to bear up under the fact that you had to finish because the sidewalk needed to get shoveled, right? That's endurance. Do you know what I think our culture could really use right now? Some endurance. Because we're not very good at that. I've been thinking a lot about all the supply chain issues and even the potentials that could be coming. I mean, I think that the next war that we're

going to face, yes, we'll deal with on a military front, but I also think we'll really be on a cyber front, not the least of which could be maybe like losing the power grid or something like that. And I don't know if everybody in the world understands that if the power grid goes down, it doesn't just mean that your lights don't turn on. It also means your internet doesn't work, right? It blew 10 people's minds right now. The internet will not work. Not only that,

water will not show up at your house because if no power is anywhere, then those PLCs aren't sending the water to your house. And if I'm being honest, I'm not sure that we as a 21st century American culture can handle that because we are people who are not good at endurance. And it's something that we need to begin to build up in our lives and say, Lord, you're the one who's going to do it. You're the one who's going to do it. You're the one who's

going to do it. You're the one who's going to do it. You're the one who's going to do it. You're the most important, not all of my things, right? Like I'm not built for it, right? Like it was really cold this last week and my bedroom is the farthest end of the house that gets the least amount of heat. And I like to keep my heat really low anyway. But when I show up in my bedroom and

I'm like, like penguins come running out, I'm like, well, that's not good. I can endure under that. That's too cold. But if you really want to screw me up, you'll cut my air conditioning out in the summertime, right? Like that's when I really get upset. That's when I'm pretty sure death is the next step for me. We're not built for it. We're built for it. We're built for it. We're

built for that kind of thing. And yet God tells us right here, those who endure to the end will be saved. Now, when he says we'll be saved, I don't think what he's talking about there. I don't think what he means there is that that's the guarantee of our salvation. Our salvation was guaranteed the moment that we put our faith in Jesus Christ. I think what he means by those who endure to the

end will be saved is that those who endure, who continue to bear up under the persecution, will be given everything. They need by God to continue to bear up under the persecution, even to the very last death, even to the very last breath. I think one of the greatest things we can do as 21st century believers is to read stories of those that have gone before. There's two books I'd like to recommend to you. One is Fox's Book of Martyrs. If you're going to get that, I would highly recommend

the updated version. Otherwise, you're going to have a hard time reading it because we just don't read Old King James anymore. The second, second book that I would recommend to you is a book called Jesus Freaks. And that is a little bit more modern day. It's within the last hundred years of stories of persecution. You know what's true of all these stories of saints that have been burnt at the

stake or died for their faith in some way, shape, or form? They all faced death with joy. How were they able to do that? How were they able to face death with joy? They were able to face death with joy because they endured. They endured to the end. And though physically their life was not saved, spiritually speaking, they were stronger than they'd ever been on top side of planet earth because those who endure to

the end will be saved. He goes on from there in verse 23 to say, but whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next. Truly I say, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. Now the last part that he talks about here in warnings of persecution, he says, Notice what he says in verse 24.

He says, listen, culture teaches us that a servant's not greater than his master. In other words, a servant does not get better treatment than the master. He says, what you need to understand is if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, which if you remember correctly, Jesus cast out a demon there in chapter 19. And they said, he casts out demons by the power of the demons. They basically called him Satan.

He said, if they've called me Satan, what do you think they're going to call you? You're not any greater. It's enough for you to be like your master. And so it's a beautiful thing that when the world maligns you for your faith, you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that means I look just like my dad. That means I act just like my savior because that's what they did to him too.

And so he gives us these warnings. He's about persecution. Now, the second thing that he begins to warn us about is the fear of man. Notice what he says in verse 26. Therefore, do not fear them for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body, but are

unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able. To destroy both body and soul in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father? But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear. You have more value than many sparrows. Therefore, everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me

before men, I will also deny before my father who is in heaven. So the next part that he comes to is this aspect of the fear of man. And he's going to tell us three times, do not fear. And we're going to look at each of those. But it's kind of interesting what happens to us with the fear of people, is it not? It's kind of interesting how much that drives our culture, how much that drives our world,

that fear of what people are going to say. As a matter of fact, there's entire think tanks for politicians that are based upon the fear of man because they try to determine, so what are people going to say if I do this or say this or make this? How is that going to affect my popularity? Do you know what I hate? I hate that that's what they do because that tells me they are no longer acting based upon their convictions. They're acting based

upon the popularity of the people. And it's easy for us to criticize a bunch of politicians in Washington about it. But I have a question for you. Do you do that? You may not put together a think tank. Well, if I stand for my faith and my job, maybe I won't get the promotion. What do you all think about it? Everybody cash your votes now. But it still goes through your mind.

What if I get really serious about my faith with Jesus and all my friends look at me like I'm a lunatic, which BT dubs, they will. We may not consult a lot of other people about it, but that's what our thought process is because we struggle with this fear of man. Jesus knows that, and so he addresses it. Notice the first thing he says, therefore, do not fear them. I love this in

contrast with verse 17, because in verse 17, he says, beware of men. But here he says, but do not fear them. In other words, we use wisdom and wisdom and wisdom and wisdom and wisdom and wisdom and discretion, but we do not live our lives in fear. We do not live our lives in fear of the opinion of people. He says, do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed

or nothing hidden that will not be known. In other words, whatever kind of things they do in persecution of you, it is completely done in the sight of the Father. The book of Romans tells us, vengeance is mine and I will repay, declares the Lord. And since we know that, nothing that they do is concealed, what should we do instead? What I tell you in the darkness, verse 27, speak in the light. What you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the

housetops. What does he mean by that? He means the words that you're hearing from the Holy Spirit that he speaks in the quietness of your heart, the work that he's done in your heart in secret where no one else has seen because only the Holy Spirit and you can see how God has changed you. Proclaim it from the housetops. Yell it from the rooftop. Again, this is the greatest testimony that you have to the world that is around you of what Jesus has

done for your heart, how he has saved you, how he has redeemed you, how he has now given you a purpose in your life, your life that had nothing that was purposeless, that was broken, that was destroyed by sin. And he came in and he put all of the pieces back together and he took brokenness aside like that song that we sang this morning and he made it a brand new work of art. And now that he's done that, he just wants you to tell everybody in the world, I was broken and he healed me. I was lost and he saved me. And he wants us to shout it from the

rooftops. He wants us to tell as many people as we can that what he has done in your heart, he's able to do in the hearts of people. We so desperately need people in the world right now that are shouting from the rooftops the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. I saw the title of an article. I didn't have time to read it last night, but I saw the title of this article and it was talking about the trauma of the lockdown. We have no idea the full

repercussions of what we have done to people over the last year and a half to two years. We have no idea the repercussions on the mental health of young people today because of what's taken place in our culture over the last couple of years. Not even just the lockdowns, but all of the woke culture and everything else that's completely destroying young people. And what they need to hear more than anything else, is not that, hey, everything's going to be okay. Because in the world, it's not going to be okay.

But what they need to hear is there is a savior who is in charge of it all, who loved you enough to die for you, who loved you enough to give you hope, and your life has value. And they need to hear that. But they can't hear that right now because there's too much noise. There's too many people saying, shh, don't give out that message. That's not a popular message. And we have to start

saying, I don't care if it's popular. Because I'm not scared of what they're going to do to me. I'm not scared of what will happen to me. Because in the big scheme of things, that stuff doesn't really matter anyway. He says, proclaim it from the rooftops. He gives them a second, don't fear. He says, do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to

destroy both soul and body in hell. He says, don't be afraid of those who only have one thing in their life, one thing over you and one thing only, and that's that they can take away your life. One of the things I'm learning as I get a little bit older is just how brief life is. Now, I know two things. One, I know Jesus is coming soon, but soon is relative in the scheme of Scripture, so soon could be

tomorrow or soon could be a hundred years from now because no man knows the day or the hour, and that's okay. But the other thing I know about soon is that soon, I won't be on this earth anymore because I'm only going to last so much longer, right? Like, the reality is I'm only given so many years on this earth. 80, 90 years. Maybe I've got enough of my great-grandmother's DNA flowing through me

that I'll make it to 100 and something. Not going to lie, this much of me hopes I don't. But all that to say, but knowing that I, you know, already have high blood pressure, all of my joints are really bad, that's probably not going to happen. I'm probably not going to make it that long. Life is brief. This is something I've learned here lately. In June, we will have lived back in Ark City for 12 years.

Can you believe that? That's dumb. I feel like I just got here yesterday. I feel like I just got down here. It'll be 12 years. And Aaron and I were talking the other day, and I'm going, man, if the next 10 years goes as fast as the last 10 years goes, it's going to happen like, I mean, like blinking an eye. And then my girls will be grown, which is dumb. They'll be out of high school.

Which is wrong. They'll probably, one of them will probably be married, even though she's not allowed to like boys right now. And boys aren't allowed to like her right now, right? Like, I have to be as intimidating as I can possibly be. But we've already discussed, not built for prison, not that intimidating. But it all goes so fast. Why do I say all that? Because I kind of realize we need an eternal perspective.

We need to start thinking eternally and not just here and now. Because if I start thinking eternally, I go, man, if they take my life away now, who cares? Because when it comes right down to it, I'll be spending eternity with my Savior. So if I exit earth a little bit sooner than I already would have, then is that really a bad thing? Maybe I shouldn't be scared of those who could harm my body,

but can't do anything to my soul. They can't touch my soul. There's a proverb that addresses this, and I'd like for you to look at it really quickly. It's in Proverbs 29. So if you would look up Proverbs 29. Oops, I went the wrong direction. I can't multitask.

And I want you to look at verse 25. Many of you probably know this, but it's good to take reference of it. Maybe underline it in your Bible. Make a little note out to the side. It says this. Proverbs 29, 25 says, The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. I love the verbiage that's used there. It says the fear of man brings a snare.

When I think of a snare, I think of a trap that you get caught in, right? Something that causes you to be paralyzed and you cannot move because that trap has stopped you from being able to move. Do you know what the fear of man does to us? Exactly that. It causes us to be paralyzed in fear. It causes us to feel like we can't move one direction or the other because we're so terrified about what someone's going to say.

And the fact of the matter is, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, the world around us is dying. Meanwhile, we're paralyzed. We're paralyzed in fear. And it's something that's created in our culture. It's something that is rampant in our culture right now because it's not just Christians that are terrified about what people are going to say about them. The entire social media generation that we live in right now

is terrified about what people are going to say about them. We need to be delivered from that. How can we be delivered from that? Well, first of all, we stop fearing those who can only kill the body but not the soul. Go back to Matthew. But we start doing this. Rather, verse 28 of Matthew 10, but rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

C.H. Spurgeon put it like this. There is no cure for the fear of man like the fear of God. Isn't that a great line? If we would start to fear God as much as we feared man. Now listen, I don't think we should live in a place of going, today will be the day he snuffs me out because I'm an idiot. Right? Like if God was going to do that, he would have done that day one.

He would have looked and said, he's not going to make it and just snuffed me out. Right? I can see the direction he's going. He's not making it past junior high. God doesn't do that. But we do need to understand that he's the creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the one who holds the world in motion and keeps it spinning the way that it's spinning right now

and make sure that the right amount of air goes into your lungs and out of your lungs at the correct cadence. That we need to understand that that's God. And he is powerful. And if I'm going to fear anyone, fear him. Because after all, we're told in the Proverbs that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Well, he goes on from there to give us a third,

do not fear. Notice what it says in verse 29. He says, Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows. He starts off this last statement about not fearing like this. He says, Are not two sparrows sold for a cent?

You can imagine, if you will, Jesus probably taught mainly outside with his disciples. He's probably hanging out out in a field somewhere. And as he's teaching, a couple of sparrows come flying by. And he looks and he goes, The most common bird in the entire world just came flying by. He says, Look at those two sparrows. You can pick up two for a cent. A cent, as far as we're concerned, is one-sixteenth of a denarius.

A denarius was a Roman daily wage. We might call it one or two dollars. So you can pick up a couple of sparrows, let's say, for a dollar, right? I can pick up two cheeseburgers for a dollar at McDonald's, right? That's a pretty good price. That's very insignificant, very inexpensive. Not much value in those two sparrows. And yet he says, As seemingly little value as they have, not one of them.

Falls to the ground without your father taking notice. I believe it was Believer's Bible commentary that put it like this. He said, God never misses the funeral of a sparrow. And had a great line. He never misses the funeral of a sparrow. He says, And if the most insignificant bird on the face of the earth is that important to your father, we need to understand something about us.

The very hairs of your head are all numbered. Now, as I've mentioned before, some of us make that easier on God than others. For some of us, it's become a subtraction process. But they're numbered nonetheless. Because that's how well God knows us. And that's how much he cares about us. And then this next line is just so amazing. He says, Are you not of value, of more value than many sparrows?

Therefore, do not fear. Brothers and sisters, your life is so valuable to God. It is so important to God. There's not a single life that lacks value. We just came off of Sanctity of Life Month in January. I should have referenced it. But I think every day should be Sanctity of Life Day. But that was the particular month, Sanctity of Life Month in January, in which we understand that all life has value.

It has value. It has intrinsic value because we were created in the image of God. And as we were created in the image of God, we were created in the image of God. He then breathed life into each and every one of us. And as he did so, it was because our lives carry so much value. And now our lives have such intrinsic value that it says he pays attention to each and every one.

We're told in the scriptures, Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of the saints. You are of more value than many sparrows. He goes on from there to apply it. He says, Therefore, everyone who confesses me before men, I will confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.

Now that's a difficult little section to interpret there because if you read that, it seems like, again, you might be able to lose your salvation. But I don't think that's the indication that we're given there. Because after all, who was one of the greatest men to deny that he knew Jesus? It was Peter. Do you know what I think rung so loud in Peter's mind, like the Liberty Bell,

that he probably couldn't hear anything else the day that he denied Jesus? If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father. I bet it drove him nuts. And yet Jesus still restored him. So what does he mean here? If this doesn't mean you can lose your salvation, what does it mean? It means the heart that is truly, truly been saved, though it may stray and struggle to take a stand for righteousness,

will never ultimately be able to deny the truth of what God has done in their life. If you can deny the truth of God in your life, then God's truth has never really taken its hold in your life. Therefore, he'll deny you before his Father. But if you confess him before men, then he will confess you before his Father. And so he tells us, the fear of man, will keep you from knowing me.

But if we understand those three do not fears, then we can begin to rest in this knowledge that our life has great value. He'll give us everything that we need. And he is ultimately the only one that we should fear. Now, he goes on from there to give us a third warning and a last warning. And the third warning that he gives us has to do with division. Notice what it says in verse 34.

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. The man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

He who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it. And he who has lost his life for my sake will find it. I remember the first time I ever read, verse 34 in Bible college. It wasn't the first time I ever read it. It's the first time I paid attention to it. And I remember thinking, well, that seems odd.

I thought Jesus came to bring peace. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men, right? Isn't that what the song says? Isn't that what he's supposed to do? Listen, for those of us that accept Jesus as our savior, it's the greatest peace he's ever brought to my life, right? My understanding of the gospel brought me peace that nothing else could bring me. And so does Jesus bring peace?

Yes. As a matter of fact, sometimes Jesus brings peace between people. When two people come to know Jesus as their Lord and savior, they could have been at complete odds with each other based on historical background, racial background, ethnic background, whatever it is. And yet they find that the truth of Jesus Christ has broken down the middle wall of separation.

And now there's peace between those two people. So if Jesus brings peace, then why did he just say, I didn't come to bring peace on earth? Because Jesus requires a decision. And that decision will force you to choose a side. Liberal churches right now will tell you, yeah, Jesus was a pretty good person. He was a really good person. He was a great teacher. Not sure we need to get real extreme

with some of the other things that he has to say, but he was definitely a good person. And if you just be a good person, that's the important thing. Listen, Jesus either is who he says he is, or he's a lunatic and a liar. But the claims that Jesus made, if they're not true, don't make you a good person. They actually make you a false preacher, and they actually cause you to lead a lot of people astray.

We would call him a really evil person. If Jesus isn't who he says he is, then we put him in the category of those that drank the Kool-Aid, right? We put him with the Jim Jones and some of those people. But if he is who he says he is, if we believe that he is who he says he is, then he really has to be the son of God and a savior. But we have to make a decision.

You see, Jesus forces us to make a decision. He says, you're either for me or against me. You can't be in a happy middle ground where I'm a really nice guy that you like to listen to. You're either going to follow me with all your heart, or you're not going to follow me at all, because I spit lukewarm people out of my mouth. That's what Jesus tells us in Revelation.

These are hard words from Jesus, are they not? These are difficult things, and yet Jesus says, this is what the followers of me need to understand. I did not come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword. In other words, I came to divide. Matter of fact, there's a couple of different times Jesus talks about division, doesn't he? He says, I came to divide the wheat from the chaff.

I came to divide the sheep from the goats. Jesus brings division, and you'll find that as you make a decision to follow Jesus Christ and get serious about that decision to follow Jesus Christ, your circle will get just a little bit smaller. You know why? Because Jesus brings division, and people will say, listen, you were great until you got all radical about this Jesus thing.

Now I don't know about you so much. You're a little too serious about it, and Jesus says, now we're talking. And it's not easy. It's hard to have people separate from you because of the choices that you make to follow Jesus. But what are you more worried about? Your body on this temporary earth or your soul for eternity? He says, I didn't come to bring peace.

I came to bring a sword. As a matter of fact, I came to set people against each other. And the first place that that will begin to happen is within your own home. Now, I've never actually seen a family member hand another family member over to be killed because of their faith, although I read lots of stories about it in places where Islam is the dominant religion.

Every morning in my Bible class, we have this voice of the martyrs calendar, and we pray for a different country every morning, and we read a little bit about what goes on in that country, and it is awe-inspiring that when you come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, you literally just gave up your family. And now your family is your greatest enemy. Now, I've not seen that happen, but I have seen families that are never the same because one person decides to follow Jesus and the rest of the family can't take it. As a matter of fact, did I say this during the service already?

Well, if I did, I'll just repeat myself. As a matter of fact, there are certain religions that seem to be family-based religions. Have I talked about this already? Okay, good. My bad, sorry. Oh. Anyway, Islam, Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, even what I would consider to not be a true biblically-based religion, and that's Catholicism. Those are family-based religions.

And as a matter of fact, when you stop following that, you get ostracized by your family. I've seen it happen. I've seen people no longer be able to be a part of their family functions anymore because they're the crazy one now that follows Jesus. I've also seen people that will not make a decision for the faith because they're too closely tied to their family.

And so he says, I came to bring some separation in those areas. As a matter of fact, families will eventually divide over this whole thing. And so as he talks about this division that he brings, he's gonna give three decisions that disciples need to make. Number one comes in verse 37. He says, he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me

is not worthy of me. In other words, Jesus has to come before your family. You say, Ryan, that's hard. That seems so anti-God. Shouldn't family come first? Not before Jesus. He has to come first in your life. My youngest daughter asked me here a couple of years ago. She said, Daddy, do you love me more than anything in the world? And I said, almost. I love Jesus.

I love Jesus first. And she's like, that hurts my feelings. And I said, well, you just have to understand. If I don't love Jesus first, I can't love you the way that I'm supposed to. Because Jesus has to come first in my life. And as a matter of fact, if I'm gonna make a stand for the faith, I have to put Jesus first. I have to make sure he is the one on the throat of my heart

and nothing else. The second decision that has to be made is this. He says, and he who does not take his cross and follow me, is not worthy of me. Now, you and I hear that phrase and we know that the cross is one of the central themes of the Bible. So we've heard it a lot. What we don't realize is in the book of Matthew, this is the first time the cross is mentioned.

This is perhaps the first time the disciples have heard Jesus mention the cross because you and I have nothing to equate the cross to in our culture. I've heard some commentators and Bible teachers say, Jesus would say, you must take up your electric chair and follow me. Or you must take up the lethal injection, and follow me. But here's the thing. While those are ways of capital punishment,

those are humane in nature. Debate that all you want to, but they're more humane than what the cross was. You see, the cross was so inhumane. The cross was so disgusting. The cross was so an offense to people that it wasn't spoken of in polite company. As a matter of fact, you didn't mention it. And so when Jesus said this, Peter spilled his drink. Everybody stopped talking

because Jesus said, as a matter of fact, if you're not willing to take up your cross and follow me, you're not going to be able to do it. You're not going to be able to do it. You're not going to be able to do it. You're not going to be able to do it. You're not worthy of me. They probably heard, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, take up your cross, and they went, because it would have stopped all the conversation

because it was such a shocking thing to come out of Jesus' mouth. And we need to understand something. I think sometimes we over-dramatize life and when we have something difficult in our life, we say, that's just my cross to bear. No, it's not. Because the cross means one thing and one thing only. It doesn't mean a difficulty in your life. The cross means death.

And for us, as 21st century believers, the best thing that we can begin to understand is this. The cross needs to mean death to myself. In other words, death to my own desires. Death to my own will. Death to my own plan. Why? So that His can take precedence. So that His can be the plan that I ultimately fulfill in my life. He says, if you don't do that, you're not worthy to follow me.

Can you imagine how many of these guys were like, man, I don't know if I can do that. That's hard, because you may be sitting here thinking the exact same thing right now. Ryan, this is hard stuff. This isn't the happy thing I was hoping for. But isn't it worth it? Knowing what Jesus has done to save me, knowing that He secured my eternity at the cross, isn't it worth it?

Well, He gives one more decision that needs to be made. He says, He who has found his life will lose it, but he who has lost his life for my sake will find it. In other words, if you're finding your life based on the things that you've done, the things of this world, you're finding your identity in this world, you've lost your life, because your life has zero meaning to it. If you can leave this world and know that the only thing that you can say is that you accomplished things in this world, you've really done nothing at all.

No, it's not until we lose our life in Christ and find all of our identity in Him, find all of our worth in Him, find all of our hope in Him, that we truly gain. Our life. He goes on from there in verses 40 through 42 to talk about those who will ultimately receive the disciples. He says in verse 40, He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.

He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of coffee, or a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. While many will persecute and reject him, there will be those that accept not only the message, but will accept the disciples.

And will accept us as workers in the harvest. And for them it's the same as if they were saying, we accept Jesus. And for them there will be a great reward. For them there will be a great reward for all those who will accept the truth. And so he closes with that, a little bit of hope. But as we wrap up here this morning, I want to remind us, the harvest is ripe,

but the laborers are few. Anybody can be a worker in the harvest. If you're here this morning and you know Jesus is your Lord and Savior, you fit the category. Because God will fashion you into who he wants for you to be. But just know, we all as disciples of Jesus Christ need to count the cost. There's persecution that's to come. There's always that fear of man

that we're going to have to face. And division is something that we'll just need to know as a reality. But as I've said before, we don't need to worry and we don't need to fear because he'll give us everything that we need. Amen? Well, this morning is Communion Sunday. And so I think that they're rallying the children now. So as the worship team comes up, I'm going to wait until they can get the kids in here

so that they can hear what I have to say too. I don't see a child in the hallway. Maybe they're not. So we're going to wait until they can get the kids in here. So as we come to the communion table this morning, we understand that what we do when we come together to take communion is we celebrate the death of Jesus. And ultimately, we declare the death of Jesus.

Oh, here they come. We'll give it just a second. Come on in, kiddos. I hope we have enough chairs.

Isn't it great, all the tiny saints walking down the hallway?

Right over here, Dean.

Or Wesley.

There it is. Got a few more coming down. I love seeing all the young people.

Okay. As I was saying, we're about to partake in communion. And it's a celebration of the death of Jesus Christ. It's a celebration of what he's done for us. Our entire purpose, our entire reason that we do anything that we do in the faith is because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. So the very last night of the feast before Jesus went to the cross, it says that he stood before his disciples

and he took his, took bread and he broke it. He said, this is my body, which is broken for you. Take and eat. And then he took the cup and he said, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. Take and drink. And we're told that every time that we partake in this meal, this communion supper, that we declare the death of Jesus. And that death of Jesus

is not only what makes us one with him, but it's what makes us one with each other. It is truly the peace. It is truly the peace that we have in Jesus Christ. But we're told in the book of 1 Corinthians that we're to do this in a worthy manner. Now to do this in a worthy manner means two things. Number one, if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior,

then this is gonna mean nothing to you. This is just gonna be a sad little cup of juice and a super dry cracker, right? And it won't be worth anything. But if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus, may I say that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's calling you by name because God does that. He desires that no one should perish, but that all should come to everlasting life.

And what we've been talking about here this morning, being workers in the harvest, you are the harvest. And he wants you to know that he loves you so much that he died for you. That your life is so valuable to him that he was willing to take on the cross, be separated from the Father so that he could bear all of the sin that you have in his own body on the tree to save you. That's how valuable your life is to him.

And all he wants you to do is to confess that you're a sinner and ask him to be your Savior. That is the simplicity of coming to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. His Holy Spirit will come in and do everything else. So if you're here this morning and you've never done that, then I want that to take place this morning. And in just a minute, when these guys sing this last song,

you can just, in the quietness of your heart, pray that little prayer. But if you're here this morning and you're a believer in Jesus Christ, then there is a way that we also can make sure that we partake in a worthy manner. We partake in a worthy manner by making sure that our heart is clean before the Lord. And so, as we sing this last song, I want to ask you to pray that the Lord would search your heart.

The psalmist David said, Lord, search me and know me and see if there's any wicked way in me. And then lead me in the way everlasting. And that's what he wants us to do. Allow his Holy Spirit to do that searching work in your heart. And then as those areas of sin that he reveals in your life come up, confess them to the Lord. And you know what he does the moment that you do?

He not only forgives you, but he heals you and restores you. And that's what he wants to do. And so, as we sing this last song, pray and ask the Lord to search your heart and see those things. The ushers are going to come down and they're going to hand out the elements. Parents, if you would please help kiddos with the elements. And as you receive your elements,

if you would please stand. And then when they're done singing, we'll all partake together.

Who sits on heaven's mercy seat is the blessed mercy.

A new song to him who sits on heaven's mercy seat.

And is and is to come with all creation I sing. There's a light in creation I sing. Grace to die with you.

Creation I sing. Grace to sing. Die when I sing. Grace to the King of kings.

Everything is to come.

I sing. Grace to the King of kings.

Father, we come before you and just thank you. Lord, I thank you for your blood that was shed for us. For the remission of sins. Lord, your blood that makes us brand new. Washes us white as snow. Father, I thank you for your body that was broken. Lord, for the stripes. That heal. And Lord, I thank you for the sacrifice that you made for us. So that we could be your children.

And Lord, as we take this time to celebrate. It resonated in our hearts and our lives. Father, we thank you and we praise you. In Jesus name. Amen. Let's partake.

Would you bow with me one more time.

Father, what a great day with your family. What a great day with your people. And Lord, I just thank you for what you've done. Through your word this morning. And I just ask that you would continue the work that you've begun this morning. As we go throughout this week. Lord, that you would continue to knit our hearts together as family with each other. And Lord, that you would continue to knit our hearts together with you.

And that you would take this truth of your word. And soak us in it this entire week. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.