Maundy Thursday || Victory Church [Holy Week #4]

Hello victory family and welcome back to Holy Week. We are so glad that you joined us tonight tonight is going to be even more Interactive than it's been before because we're all gonna be taking communion together So before we even got started at the very top of the night We wanted you to know so you can go off and grab Some of those pieces those elements together run over to your pantry go over to your refrigerator Refrigerator I can say that name. There we go We can so we can take communion together in just a little bit but for those of you this might be your first time We're glad that you're here. My name is Steven Hathaway, and I'm Liz Mendoza I'm so grateful to be here with you, and I'm barely really excited to introduce our special guest Sherry Cochran. Hey everybody I'm happy to be here tonight Sherry. We're real glad that you're here You're someone who's been around victory for quite some time. How long have you known the Rouse's? Well, let's see When Randy and I started dating I was grilled by Pastor Dennis and loved on by Pastor Colleen who are my brother-in-law and sister-in-law So I don't have to call him. That's right. Randy Randy is 31 years Wow, that's that's incredible. That's awesome. So we have a wealth of information joining us tonight She's we're gonna have a great time together And it's a great night for you to be able to invite some friends and family members to be a part Even if you have maybe a son or daughter or a relative that you would like to join in tonight with Communion Tonight is very special because you know It's we're gonna be talking about the very first Communion and what it looked like for the disciples to sit together with Jesus as he reformatted What it would it look like for them? This is this is gonna be great for you to experience with your friends and your loved ones So if you're on Facebook on YouTube or the website Click the share button grab the link text it to some family and friends that you can go out and invite them to join along With you communion is big for those who join with us online. Yes, because they've even ordered special communion cups Absolutely. We have had families who have told us we actually ordered those. Yeah the special in church These things but Liz what happens if somebody doesn't have this how can they still be a part? I think what I love about communion most is that Jesus and he knows the heart

He knows the intent he knows the motive and so sometimes especially at home back way back in COVID days when the world shut down we We know that special elements for our online community our online campus We understand so that could look like graham crackers Goldfish actual crackers wheat thins are awesome bread always works juice juice boxes if you have kids around Water if you're deaf if you're like, oh my goodness, I've even had some people say that they had to use milk but I mean our goal tonight is just to break down what communion is and we just wanted to Extend the invitation for you to also join with us So so go ahead and grab them right now If some of you probably already have those those elements ready to go Perfect great because we're getting ready to watch I think one of my favorite videos of the week and all of them have been awesome For those of you that have missed any of them One of the big questions that we get every single night is all right. I didn't see last night. So where can I go? All of them can be found on our YouTube channel So if you want to go back and see any of them, you can find it there You can also see all the people that we've interviewed over the past week whether it's on Palm Sunday with Todd Danielle or Corey pastor Dennis last night. Please make sure you go back and watch last night Stories that he shared were really powerful And so we've got even more coming up this week as we lead all the way up until Easter Sunday Where we celebrate the resurrection so much richness for us to go through as believers But now let's kick it off by watching this video together ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ This moment in John 13 is one of the most powerful moments in the entire Bible. And this passage actually contains one of the most profound words ever written. In fact, it's such a small word that you may have missed it. So let's revisit it again. John 13 tells us, Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. Stop. Try and pretend you don't know what comes next. I mean, think about it for a minute. What would you do if you had all power? I can think of quite a few things that would be on my list. I can also tell you something that would be at the very bottom of the list, serving other people. But Jesus knew he had all power. He knew who he was. There's no confusion about who's in charge here. There's no confusion about who the main character of the story is. So, I think it could be the most profound word ever written. So, Jesus knew he had all power and that he was God. So, he wrapped a towel around his waist. He got on his knees and he washed the disciples' feet. This is one of the most upside down, revolutionary,

crazy things that happens in scripture. Jesus has power. So, he uses that power to serve. And we see that Peter is so shocked that he stops Jesus and says, Jesus, you will never wash my feet. But that's because Peter's misunderstanding the moment. I mean, he thinks that essentially, since there's no servant around to wash their feet, Jesus thinks that he has to do it. But Jesus is doing this for a reason. And he responds, unless I wash you, Peter, you have no part with me. And Jesus is saying, Peter, I know this may be hard to hear, but if you're gonna be in my family, you have to let me serve you. So, Peter responds with this beautiful statement. Then Lord, wash not just my feet, but wash my hands and wash my head also. And Peter's saying, Lord, wash all of me because I want all of me to be with all of you. But Jesus replies, come on, Peter, it's not bath time, right, you know? He says, no, you're already all clean. I mean, except for one of you is not clean. But I will serve all of you by washing your feet. And Jesus, fully God and fully man, one by one washes the disciples' feet. Peter, James, John, Bartholomew, Matthew, Philip, Thomas, Andrew, Judas Thaddeus,

James, the son of Alphaeus, Simon, the zealot. And you know who else was there for this beautiful moment? The one who wasn't clean. Judas. Judas, the same one that in just a minute, Satan would enter. Judas, the one who would stroll out of the room to gather the guards to arrest Jesus. Judas, the one who will betray Jesus with a kiss on the cheek. Jesus knew full well what Judas was about to do. So, he washed his feet. He takes the feet of his betrayer and his hands and serves him. What kind of God is this? And if Jesus can show love and kindness to Judas in a moment like this, how do you think he feels about you? I think I have an idea. God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners, Christ Jesus died for us. God loves us. loves you. And after he washes their feet, Jesus puts his outer robe back on and they all recline at the Passover table. Jesus wanted to make sure that people understood what was about to happen in the hours to come. And the greatest act of serving the world has ever seen. As he was about to lay down his life in service for us all, he wanted us to remember this new covenant, this new agreement between God and man

of how we are made right with God. That we aren't saved and made new by our own good works, but only by Jesus's good work on the cross. So with his friends surrounding him, Jesus redefines the Passover meal. This body is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. This cup is the new covenant of my blood. It pours out for you. It pours out for you. This simple act of sharing bread and wine had huge implications. It went way beyond a ceremonial act. This wasn't about tradition. It was about relationship. It was about communion, an intimate moment between friends. And the Bible tells us to do this, to take communion often and to do it in remembrance of Jesus. That as we take the bread and drink the cup, that we remember what Jesus did for us. So we're gonna do this today together as the family of God. Now, I understand you may not have bread and juice, so grab whatever you have and let's join in this moment together. Let's focus on the words of Jesus himself, that this bread is his body broken for you. That means when you accept this bread, you accept healing and wholeness in your life and strength for the journey. So take, eat and do this in remembrance of Jesus.

This cup is his blood poured out for you. And when you accept this cup, it means you are exchanging your death for his life. Your sins are forgiven and you are brand new. So take, drink and do this in remembrance of Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for serving your people. We receive it in Jesus name, amen. What a powerful visual reminder of what the last supper was like. I hope you were all able to participate in the communion along with us. I can see a lot of you in the chat right now, really just kind of soaking the song right with us. Like Pamela, we're glad that you're here with us. Fabiola, Amber, Marva, a lot of you are here and we're glad that you are because now we're going into the part where we start to process and think and remind ourselves, what did this first communion not just mean for them, but what does it mean for us? What does the Lord, since it was mentioned so often in scriptures and Jesus said, I want you to keep doing this to remember me. So what can we do now to help to remember that? Well, you can put down in the chat what it meant for you. What was going through your mind as you watched that video, as you took communion, as Pastor Johnson led us in that moment, but also what kind of questions might you have

that we would love to be able to answer? We have famed Bible scholar. Honestly, I'm so excited. I know she feels so ridiculous. She is, she's very humble. She's brilliant. And she's someone that has taught me a lot of things in the scripture as well, as we were doing some of the team that we were together to help plan for some of the messages. So we're so grateful that you have a chance to hang out with us. We even have some people who were a part of Hamilton Mill in the chat who said hello to you. For those of you who might not know, Her and Pastor Randy were pastors at the Hamilton Mill campus for quite some time. And you have a lot of fans up there and we're glad that they're here along with us. So let's jump into the first question that we have. This is for all of you watching online. Also, Sherry, it's for you as well. All right. So why is it important to remember and to reflect on the first communion? I think there's a lot of reasons of why it's important. One thing that I've been thinking about a lot personally this week, as I've just been in the scriptures about just this whole week of everything that Jesus did. One thing that really has been standing out to me a lot is the intensity of Jesus' emotions over these next few days. He was fully human, which means he had feelings. He felt the things that we feel. He just didn't sin in response to them.

So I love that just prior to when he washes the disciples' feet and just prior to leading them in what we call the first communion, they didn't know it was the first anything. They didn't know that at all. The beginning of this chapter of John, it says, when Jesus knew that his time had come to return to the Father, so he knew he was going away, it said he loved his disciples in the world and he loved them till the end. And then it goes into this picture of washing their feet. So yes, it was an act of service, but nothing Jesus did was on the outside in. Everything flowed from the inside out. So that preface that John gives us of how intense Jesus must have been feeling the love for these people that are in that room with him right then, knowing this is his last time with these people. And he's washing their feet, that he's cleansing them on the outside how much love he is pouring out on them. And then he then he leads into the communion. So when we're when he's, as Pastor Johnson mentioned, is he's giving a new interpretation, a new meaning to the Passover meal that they're sharing. There is no way the disciples have a clue what what is actually happening. They're thinking it's supper, right? Like, OK, cool. Exactly. In fact, a little bit earlier when he's washing Peter's feet and Peter's first protesting, he says, you don't understand this right now, but later, later you will. I think the same is true about communion. And so we have this picture that they didn't have yet, that from that moment on, that that communion,

everything was going to be different because there was a new covenant that was coming into being that was propelled by just this overwhelming, intense love. So back to why do I think it's important? I think when Jesus calls me to remember him in communion, that it's not just to remember everything that he did through his sacrifice, which there's lots of just there's lots to talk about about the covenant. But for me, it's become so much more about tapping into and just really feeling with Jesus, the intensity of the love that drove him to do that for us. He doesn't want to be separated from me. He doesn't want to be separated from you. From the very beginning, we can see God's brokenheartedness from the time that he created human beings. He wanted to be with us and that's broken. And look at the lengths that he went to to mend that gap so that we don't have to be separated from him anymore. So every time we take communion, we remember not just that we're forgiven because that forgiveness was required in order that we not be separated from God. But he did it so that we don't have to be separated from him because he wants to be with us so much. So communion reminds me of my need, but it also reminds me of how wide and deep and high the love of Christ is for every single one of us and for you. So when we remember communion, that in that moment, that we are receiving everything that he paid so dearly to give us, but that we'd understand that he's been chasing us ruthlessly our entire lives and going to the very end because he loves us so much that he doesn't want to be apart from us ever. And now we don't have to be.

If we receive his sacrifice, if we look to him to be righteous for us on our behalf, that we don't ever have to be separated from him again. In fact, he goes, he sends the Holy Spirit to be with us today. And then there's no break. You get to be with him forever. So I know that's a long answer, but for me it just gets overwhelming to even just picture how Jesus must have been feeling in that moment. I have a hard time saying goodbye to my friends. I have a hard time saying goodbye to my daughter when she's going back to Colorado Springs. I had like, and to think he, how intense was he feeling? These are his friends, but he feels that intense towards us. Absolutely. He feels that towards us. Yeah, that's a, all of the, you're referencing can be really easy for us because we're so forgetful when we get into the, the routine of how we live life and the busyness, we can forget just how much Jesus paid for, for us to be able to have that kind of closeness with him. And it's, I think that's the reason why our gracious God gave us these kinds of moments where we have to pause and we have to stop and we have to reflect and remember he knows how forgetful we can be. And I, that's one of the things I love about even studying some of the Jewish tradition, how, how Jehovah gave them at key moments, things where he said, you just crossed the Jordan. I want you to make, um, a bunch of piles of rocks together to remember what just happened here. And that's, that really was what Passover was for. Passover was to remember how God delivered them from Egypt and they had to have it every year and there was real clear symbolism along with it.

And the symbolism was remember what happened in Egypt. But when Jesus was saying, okay, now I want you to do this, not just to remember what happened in Egypt. I want you to remember what I'm about to do for you and keep doing it to remember so that we, we don't lose sight of it. And a lot of you guys have said just that, like, I love what, uh, Mrs. Mrs. Lane says, or it's easy to stray from the real meaning of something that you do on a regular basis. Exactly. And that's so true. It's important to go back to the beginning, to the origin. Um, Elise says, well, I remember the first time I realized Jesus was pursuing me. I still remember his touch and his feeling, his warmth. I mean, it's even as you were referencing when we understand that the God of the universe loved us so much that he didn't want to be separated from us. What he, all the heightened sense of emotions that he must've been feeling. Uh, Demetria says that the moment Jesus embraced Judas and they both knew what was about to happen, man, that was incredibly emotional to see if he, yeah. And if he loved Judas in the middle of all that, what kind of continued love can he have for us? Yeah. I think I'm so grateful too. I'm grateful that victory has given us just the resource, the content, because I think there's something so powerful to be able to see a visual of what actually happened, what, what took place. And it's only a glimpse, um, because we weren't there happened so long ago, but I think, um, what, to what you were saying of man, we can get so used to just going through the motions of things. Like I know I'm guilty of that.

I can read my Bible because I love Holy week. I love it so much, but even I remember the first time whenever I read those words, cause this is a great story. It's one of the greatest love stories too, because to have a man with you in mind, to be up on a cross, taking the beatings that he did to all in love and all just to be with us, to have a relationship with us like that is, and we're just, I feel like we're like inching our way to Easter and it's just, and it's just anticipation. Um, but what I'm guilty of, um, is to go through, um, the scriptures and just call it a story without personalizing it. Like Jesus had me in mind when he was up on the cross or Jesus had me in mind when he was explaining to his disciples, like, we'll do this and remember me. And I think that's so powerful to be able, I'm grateful for tonight. I'm grateful for Monday, Thursday, um, to be able to sit and to reset and to remember just that, um, I think it's so powerful. Like I'm moved to like, and online just be expecting me to kind of be not a baby about this, but it's just because I'm hoping that you guys are encouraged with this, but he had you in mind. And I think that truth is so powerful. It's motivating just to, just to pursue him back because he, like, like you said, Sherry, like he's taken just so much time and so much effort to just pursue us and to be with us, to be in relationship with us all at the chance of us pursuing him back. Like, and isn't it crazy to think when we even saw on that video, as he's watching the disciples feed, he's humbling himself out of love because he's going to, for those that he created beings that he created to love, he created us to love us. He created us so he can love us. So in that moment, He's humbling Himself before what He created. I think sometimes it's so easy for me to just flip right on, or I am His creation. Like, He made us. He made us to love us.

And yet, this God that made us to love us humbles Himself to love on me in a way that is serving, that is sacrificial. He washes them on the outside, and then He's going to turn around and wash them on the inside through incredible pain, incredible suffering. Not just in His body, but in His Spirit. He bore the sins of the world. The world of those He created. How much do you have to love to be willing to do that for that which you made? To give up everything for it. And He became separated from God in that moment so that we never have to be again. And yet, He still gives us the choice. Would you like to? I want you to more than anything. This is how far I've gone. So communion, the washing the feet, that humbling Himself. When it talks about for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. We are the joy set before Him. And the reason that He endured all of that is represented in those communion elements. This is my body that's broken for you so that we can be made whole. This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you so that we can have access again. So that we can be cleansed. So that we can be free. So that we can be healed. Like, wow. He did for us what we could not do. There was no other way. So this whole night, I know that tomorrow. Also, He goes into the Garden of Gethsemane tonight. Well, not literally tonight, but you know what I'm saying. All those things happen on Thursday.

But imagining how He feels through all of that. And what is compelling Him to continue forward. And it is love. Love that we have never understood between human beings. Love that is big enough that it literally holds us together. Even though we don't really understand how that works. We can't fathom it. So why communion? Because we do forget. All through the Old Testament. The memorials that you're talking about. The rituals that they were invited to. Not rituals, but patterns that they were invited to be part of. It was because we are a people who tend to forget. And all the way through the Old Testament. It says, only remember and do not forget. Remember and do not forget. Which means that I have to be told over and over. And I do have to be told over and over. To purposefully put things back together. To remember. The opposite is kind of gross. Dismember. So remember is to put it all back together in our minds. Put all the pieces back together of what it is. And it gets better and better every time we remember it. Because I believe that He, by the Holy Spirit, gives us more and more insight into everything that was involved. It's not just forgiveness of sins. Which has to be.

It's the foundation of everything. But it's so much more. So much more. I need a list to go to the grocery store to remember. So on a regular basis, ask my wife. I am pretty forgetful. I walk from one room to the other and forget. I don't even make it to the grocery store. I do that all the time. My phone. You know this. Where is it? I'm holding it. I'm holding my phone. Where is my phone? The question is how many times does Liz have to go back in the house before she can actually leave. It's actually a game now. I get sad if I have everything. But the graciousness of our God where He knows that about us. But still gives us things like this to help remind ourselves. To brush off all the craziness of the world. To be able to reflect and to remember. Our God loves us so much. And so we get to continue to see His love for His people. And this next question. Because it wasn't just communion. So many things happened that night. I wish we had enough time. Me too.

It would take hours just to talk about the depth of what that dinner looked like and what happened in it. And then afterwards when they went to the garden, so much happened there as well. But we can't get into all of it. But we have a couple things I think that we really can get some, continue to get some great nuggets out of. And here's the next question. Why would Jesus, having received all power, then begin, like His first step, the first thing He did was begin to wash the feet of others. What was going on in the Lord's mind? when he thought, I need to wash these guys' feet? We all think. We all look at each other. Yeah, we're like, oh, gosh, oh, gosh. I'm gonna sound incredibly redundant. I think it's, I think he had all power. He could choose to do anything, but he created us to love us, so he continued to use his power to love, and that was to begin by demonstrating that love in a physical way, about a physical washing. Also, there's a lot of symbolism in that time. It's also a form of commissioning. It's also like a form of sending people out in that time, but he uses all of his power to love us completely, starting with the outside in that moment, and then, of course, moving to the inside to cleanse the inside as well.

He never uses his power selfishly because God is love, so everything he does springs from a place of unselfish giving, so maybe we're only surprised that he humbled himself because that's what we don't do, but that is his nature, and that is the nature of the kingdom that he calls us to. Yeah, amen. I think that we have some great responses as well. Like, Shakia, you put down, you wanted to show what real leadership looked like for us to be able to model as well. He showed that leadership is love and serving and caring. That's great. We have some awesome questions that you guys are putting in. I'm really looking forward to going through this. Someone said, I think Rico on the website said, I could see a podcast coming out of that. Hey, you might be speaking prophetically, friend. That's true. How about this one? Q has a great question out there. It is, how do we learn to forgive ourselves as Jesus forgave us, especially coming into living for Christ after 22 years of sin and following worldly culture? I'm a new believer, and I still feel some shame at times. Great question. Great question. You know, I feel like we're all learning, right?

And we have to give ourselves the same grace that God does. And I think the very fact that somebody would say that, like, man, I'm trying hard to build this relationship, but I've got decades of not following Jesus that I feel like I'm having to unlearn. And that's totally fine. The same way that Jesus gave mercy to the disciples, I wanna paint a story of what happened while they were having dinner that I feel like might help you feel a little bit better. Sometimes I love seeing Jesus's emotions on display because it reminds me that, you know, he fully God and fully man. So there is a moment at dinner, at this last supper, when Jesus is reminding them about, he was about to be betrayed. You can read a little bit more about this in Matthew. And when he tells them this, the disciples understandably, like all of them, except for one, started to be like, who did this? All right, is it me? Is it you? And they start to have an argue about who would betray Jesus. And maybe- Jesus is reclining. Yeah, he's sitting in back. He's chilling. I mean, you know, that guy, that's not him. Like he just drops it in the room.

By the way- What do you guys think about this? My dear friends, you're gonna- They start arguing about it, and maybe even like interrogating one another. Like, I bet it's you. I bet you're the one. 100%, I would totally throw you under the bus. I'm just saying. What do you mean, would? I know our last staff meeting, I saw what you did. I'm just kidding. Just kidding, he's joking. So I feel like they started to argue, and then the argument in the very next verse, they then begin to argue, not he would betray Jesus, but he would be the greatest. So I'm sure there were accusations like, I bet he would, because I never would. I'm gonna lead us. I would never betray the Lord. I love him more than all of you. I'm the best at being humble. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, look at him. That sounds- Doesn't that sound- That sounds something like I would say that. Good old humanity, right? Yeah.

Yeah, Jesus is just reclining. Yeah, and if you would think of any time when Jesus would want to flip a table again, it would have been in this moment, right? But he didn't. He loved them. He served them in that moment. He continued to teach them. So if there's moments where you feel like that you're having to relearn some things, of course you are. Paul taught us in Romans 12 that we're transforming ourselves. It's a process by renewing our mind and staying in word, staying in community, staying in prayer. So let me encourage you. You are in good company because we are right there with you. And we don't want you to feel like that. Shame is, I don't think that that's how God likes to motivate us. Remember what Romans says, it's God's kindness that draws us to repentance. He tries to draw us back to himself whenever we make our mistakes, our sins that would want to separate us from his love. But the same way that we've been adopted in and that His love is here for us, it's not like you're gonna go too far

where He pushes you aside. God's mercy and kindness is new every single morning for all of us. Good stuff. Anybody have any thoughts about that question? Well, I know that, of course, I've done my fair share of things, especially some that I felt a ton of shame about, especially as a believer where you kind of go, I knew better than that. I knew not to go there or whatever. But beautiful thing is Jesus not only bore our sin, He bore our shame, which means that what He did on the cross was for both. I think that sometimes that we can receive His forgiveness for the sin, but we also need to turn over the shame. I wonder if sometimes that is hard because we fear that if I don't have this regret, if I don't hold on to the shame or the regret, that maybe I would go there again, or I wouldn't be grateful enough, or that I wouldn't... I wonder if sometimes we hold on to it because we fear letting go of it, almost like, well, gosh, I don't ever wanna do that again, so I don't ever wanna forget about how bad that felt. But here's the thing, the key is not to be... Jesus invites us to release both of them to Him because He says, I came that you might have a life,

that we are made into a new creation. The key is not about how intensely we feel bad about the past anymore. That's not our guard from falling. Our guard is everything that He lays out in John 15 about abiding, staying connected, remaining, learning, receiving His love, being led by... It is about intensifying by the power of His Holy Spirit, our connection to Him. And as our connection to Him grows, our connection and even the frequency with which that shame comes back to haunt us, because it does sometimes. Because there's a little bit of a difference between shame and regret and condemnation. And it's not important to get into all of that, but to say, I still have regret. I still regret some of the things that I've done, but I don't have to live under the shame because Jesus has chosen for me to be free from that. And I can be assured that He will help me not return by His power. Not because all of a sudden I've got my act together. And so that's good news. That's good news. Yeah, it's interesting too, because I oftentimes, again, like we're all human here. We're all honest. We do not know everything.

We do not claim that. So one, I wanna say thank you to whoever commented this, because you're stirring up some amazing conversation. Thank you for being brave. Thank you for being vulnerable. And we hear you. And we also relate with you. I wanna just say that boldly. We relate, we can relate with you. Me, I think struggling, I still struggle with just even perfectionism, or even just putting my, bringing, I have a heart to bring my most excellence to God. But even sometimes that perfectionism can kind of creep in. And I'm like, oh, that wasn't good enough. Or God, you know, I sin. Surprise, I sin. And I'm like, Lord, like, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, please forgive me. And we'll have our moment. He's like, you know, Lizette, I forgive you. But then myself, because of my own humanity, or my own, just my own way of thinking, I'm still beating myself up about it a little bit. And I remember just, I remember feeling shame about feeling shame. I don't know how that kind of just stirs. And I think just our own humanity and our own thoughts are just so complex.

I'm grateful that we have a God who will sit with us patiently. I'm not sure if this thought helps, but just what kind of helped me was, Lizette, if God can forgive you, why can't you forgive yourself? And, you know, that's something that is, I'm still learning and growing in. But it's oftentimes helped me. You know, like, if the one who created you, if the one who loves you most and knows you most, isn't that so sweet? He knows every single thing about you and loves you in such an extravagant way anyways. If he can forgive, just let's try and forgive yourself too. And hope that encourages you. I hope that you feel that you're with friends here in that. But just thank you again for just being bold and sharing with that. Yeah, that's good. I love the way you guys are treating this, almost like a small group where you have a chance to be, encourage some friends, be able to express how you're feeling. And if you're not involved in one, man, we got so many different groups that you can get involved in and where we do just what we're doing here. We get a chance to look at the passage, think about it together, ponder it,

and encourage one another. So I want you to know Victory is a place that loves community. And if you have yet to join one, we invite you to come and be a part. Also, we'd love to get a chance to meet. you as well if you haven't ever visited one of our campuses. If you're in the Atlanta area, this weekend is one of the best times to do it. We have so many extra services because we're going to see more people come and visit than we probably ever have seen before. We have services beginning at a couple of our campuses on Saturday, on Friday, also on Sunday. Instead of like telling you each and every one, here's a QR code that we'd love for you to be able to scan. It's going to tell you and show you which campuses might be close to you, all the special service times that they have available, how we would love for you to come out and see us. We keep saying that Liz and I are at Norcross. If you happen to swing by, please come up and say hello to us. Let us know that you've been watching Holy Week services this past week. We'd love to be able to meet you in person. And then don't forget, on Friday night and on Saturday night, tomorrow and the day after, we're still continuing our Holy Week experience. We have some more great guests coming. Vance Smith, one of our young adult pastors here at Victory is going to be joining us. Also Pastor Israel Piotter is going to be joining us on Saturday, and he's going to help us understand what the disciples were going through that day after thinking to themselves that they have lost their Savior. It's going to be a special conversation. I can't wait for all of you to come and join us. And just to highlight some of the things, even reflecting on what you have been sharing, Liz. I love that shenanigans. I love that name again. It just reminded us that shame is not of God. And then Dania, you had mentioned this. I think it's so great that shame points the finger, but love has open arms. I feel like a lot of us just needed to remind ourselves, especially that phrase of, listen, if the Lord can forgive me, I can forgive myself. That's some powerful things for us to be able to hold on to and think about tonight. And we hope that maybe you kind of have a new understanding of what communion looks like for all of us. That it could be something that you just don't practice on Sundays when you're at service, but even with your family or with some friends, a small group, or even by yourself, as we continue to remember all the

things that Jesus has provided for us through what he went through on the cross and his resurrection. Thanks for being with us again. And Sherry, thanks for hanging out with us tonight. This was fun. We really enjoyed it. I don't get a chance to see you as much anymore. I love it whenever we can get a chance to hang out and talk scriptures together. It's always rewarding. We don't talk scriptures usually. We crack jokes. That's right. Why not both? I think they go hand in hand. And thank you everybody for being here. We'll see you tomorrow night at seven o'clock.