Why Do Christians Take Communion? | The Table: Part 1 | Pastor Alex Himaya

Come on church, let's celebrate what God has done in and around This place this summer Let me just say to you. Good morning. It is so good to be back with you Today, I've been out for five weeks and and the last message I preached was on spiritual warfare And I've certainly faced some of that over the last few weeks I was actually gonna do three of the love languages and a tick got in the way I never thought I'd say that sentence that a tick got in the way But many of you have asked already this morning. I am much much better. In fact, I'm about 95% back and And so thank you for all your prayers I also want to thank Josiah and pastor John and Kate for filling in in those three weeks Would you thank them again for doing that? We rejoice I want to jump in today But before I do let me just remind you of a thing or two Your campus pastor may have just told you this but I think it bears repeating two weeks from today say two weeks On August the 30th. It is a gospel Sunday And we do three of those a year only three of them a year and here's the deal We've made with you on those three Sundays If you will just invest in somebody's life To the degree that you earn the right to invite them to come with you on one of those gospel Sundays We will in a crystal-clear fashion share the gospel. We will not embarrass you We will not embarrass your friends or family or loved ones. We will just simply present the good news of Jesus To them and every year all three times we see hundreds of people Respond to the good news of Jesus. And so I want to ask you to begin now In fact right this very moment Would you just ask the Holy Spirit to lay somebody on your heart that he wants you to invest in and if he does that If he lays someone in your heart, then write that name on those two cards the same name on both cards Okay in a moment, we will use one of those cards as part of a response In a moment, but I want to jump in today. I'm beginning a three-part series That we're calling the table and the table that we're talking about is the Lord's table or what we call the Lord's Supper you may have been raised in a church where you call it communion

Or a church where you call it the Eucharist We around here. We call it the Lord's Supper because that's what it is. It's a supper that belongs to The Lord and maybe you grew up taking every single week or once a month or whatever You know sequence that was for you or maybe you're here today and you've never heard of it And this is gonna be your introduction to the Lord's Supper and it doesn't matter whether you've known about it forever or for five Minutes, I I think one thing is true for all of us. There are parts of it That you've not spent a whole lot of time pondering and thinking about what what does that actually mean? Here's an example. Have you ever thought about the fact that in the Lord's Supper is an intersection? And in that intersection are two Adams two covenants two lambs two meals One foreshadowing the other and so I just want to ask you study that over the next few weeks on your own in your own time and come on Sundays having studied and having gotten yourself ready and then on Sundays We'll dive into the culture and the context of the Bible the whole Bible to see what all of that really Means because it's true that the Lord's Supper is a big part an important part of theology And so I want us to all start This series on the same page and I find it easier to start on the same page with a definition So I've written you a short definition of what the Lord's Supper is the Lord's Special meal that believers take part in to remind us of what Jesus said and did now That's a simple definition and it's kind of a 50,000 foot Definition, but I want you to notice Jesus told us to do this Some institution or church or organization did not start this Jesus himself started it and not only did he start it He did it himself and then he told us to Do it and in the Lord's Supper, there's there's two basic elements You have the bread which is unleavened bread represents the body of Christ and you have the cup We use juice some churches use wine

But but the bread represents Jesus body, right that was broken For us and the cup represents his blood which was spilled on our behalf So in its essence, the Lord's Supper is a picture of the cross and it represents all that Jesus did at the cross and he paid the price for your sins and made a way to reconcile you to God. And with him, he brought peace between us and God, and he even made a way for our healing. And as I said, at this intersection, two Adams, two covenants, two lambs, two meals, one foreshadowing the other, and the origin of what we call the Lord's Supper was the Last Supper, the last meal that Jesus had with his disciples before he went to the cross. And that meal in that day was actually another supper called the Passover Supper. And if you were with us at Holy Week, at Easter time, we talked all about that. We'll refer back to that periodically in this series. But for now, let's go to the Gospel of Luke and Luke chapter 22 and read about the Last Supper. It says, when the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. And Jesus said, I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. Say the table. The table. And he says, Jesus says, I have been very eager. Those words translated in English as very eager

in the Greek actually convey a whole lot of passion. In fact, in the Greek, it's literally this. I desired with desiring. I desired with desiring. Sometimes Meredith speaks with that kind of passion about Mexican food, right? And it simply means that Jesus had one goal and only one goal in mind that night to have this meal with his disciples. Now look at what he goes on to say in verse 16. For I tell you now that I won't eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the kingdom of God, meaning the kingdom to come. He's talking about his second coming, when he will return again. So the Lord's Supper always looks back and it always looks forward with present implications, okay? And so it's always happening, looking back and looking forward. In that day, they were looking back to the Passover. In our day, we're looking back to the cross and what Jesus did on the cross. By the way, think about it, when Jesus gave them the instructions that when they take this to remember his body and his blood, the cross had not happened. He was telling them something that was going to happen. But for us, we look back to the cross and we look forward to the end of the age when Jesus will come back.

And during the Passover, we talked about this at Easter, Jewish people drink from more than one cup of wine. We taught this back at Easter. How many cups of wine do they drink from? Four, I'm giving it away right here. How many cups of wine do they drink from? Four, right, they drink from four. And during that fourth cup or one of those cups, Jesus says and does this and it was a big deal. Let's read it. He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. He broke it into pieces and he gave it to the disciples saying, this is my body, which is given for you do this in remembrance of me. In other words, we are to remember the cross, not just simply admire the cross. Now look at what he goes on to say. After supper, which is important to the theology because this is the fourth cup. After supper, he took another cup of wine and said, this cup is the new covenant. Remember I told you two covenants? The new covenant between God and his people, an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. That in two simple verses is the whole story of the Lord's Supper. But in the culture and in the context of what was going on, there is a whole world of meaning and theology and implication.

This was not just a little snack to tide them over. This was more than just a part of a bigger feast called the Passover. This was huge. Jesus calls this a new covenant. And when they heard that, understanding what a covenant was, that would be amazing for them and life-changing for them. Remember, two Adams, two covenants, two lambs, two meals, one foreshadowing the other. And by calling this simple meal the new covenant, Jesus is saying I'm ushering in a whole new state of affairs. This is going to change everything. Everything will be different in ways that they could not comprehend until a week later. But today what I wanna talk about is the whole idea of a covenant meal. Because in order for us. To understand the Lord's Supper, we have to understand biblically what a covenant meal is. Simply put, a covenant meal is a shared meal that two parties partake in together, at least two parties. And they sit down and they eat as a way of sealing a covenant. You see this everywhere in ancient culture. In fact, even today, you see this play out in the Middle East. Meals are very important in that culture. Meals are very important to me for probably less spiritual reasons

and maybe even less relational reasons, right? I love a great steak when it is prepared the right way with the things that should go with us or with it, right? In fact, I would say if you order a steak well done, you're allowed to come to the table because we are a grace place, right? You may have to sit at a different one, but you get to come to the table. But in the Middle East, look, they almost always overcook beef. Like they're afraid of parasites and bacteria and all, and maybe they should be, but it's not always in the Middle East about the quality of the food. But it is always about the quality of the company. Meals in that culture are all about who you share them with. And if you sit down for a meal with people, usually, I say usually, almost always, it's for hours. And if they sit at the table and they would say, we're opening the table, meaning we're not closing this until we're all done, until you've finished eating, you've quit, and you're talking and laughing and being with each other. And that goes all the way back to Old Testament times, specifically to the idea of a covenant meal. In fact, in Exodus, second book of the Bible, God invites Moses and all the elders to come up to the top of the mountain to share in a covenant meal with him.

Let me show you that passage. Exodus 24, the Lord instructed Moses, come up here and bring along Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and 70 of Israel's elders. Moses, if you remember, had been up on that mountain for nearly a week, and he received the 10 commandments and a whole bunch of other teaching that would be a part of what's known as the book of the covenant. Moses comes down off the mountain and he writes all this down in a book and he reads it to them. He doesn't just hand it to them, he reads the whole thing to them. And after he reads it, he asks them, do all of you agree? And they all respond, yes, we agree to all of it. In fact, let me read it to you. Look at verse seven. He took the book of the covenant and read it aloud to the people. In other words, you couldn't just scroll to the bottom and click yes. He read the whole thing to them, right? And it says, and they all responded, we will do everything the Lord has commanded. We will obey. In other words, this is their part of the covenant. This is a big deal.

Are you seeing this? This is their part of the covenant. Now, you need to understand what a covenant is, though, because in our culture, it's confusing. Because we use the word covenant for things that aren't really what the Bible would call covenants. If you're a homeowner and you moved into a neighborhood that has a homeowners association, an HOA, how many of you have an HOA, okay? You move into a neighborhood. When you close on that house, they hand you a booklet with some rules. And it's called a covenant, a homeowners association covenant. And it's a list of rules. And some of them are strange, like you can't mow your lawn on Tuesday, or you can only paint your house this shade of white, or this shade of gray, or whatever. And by the way, we don't have a homeowners association in my neighborhood. It's kind of like the Wild West in my neighborhood. I think we should have a homeowners association, and I nominate me to be president of it. Because of my religious background, I'm really good at making up rules. And your grass is too tall? Fine. Your trash cans are still out? Fine, right?

You put up Christmas lights before Thanksgiving? Church discipline. Like, we're not putting up with any, right? But that's not what a covenant is, right? In the Old Testament sense of the word, a covenant is not a booklet or a list of rules. A covenant is a bond that you share with someone else. In fact, the verb used in the Bible to seal a covenant is not to sign something. It's not to shake hands or spit on your hand. It's nothing like that. The verb is the verb cut. Biblically, you cut a covenant with someone. And back in Genesis 15, which is 600 years earlier in the life of Israel, God tells Abraham that he's going to cut a covenant with him. And he tells Abraham, hey, go get a heifer, a goat, a ram, and two birds. And he tells them, cut. the animals in half and lay one half on each side making a path through the rock and Abraham knew exactly what was going on by the way he had seen this before and so Abraham lays these animals out one piece on one side and one piece of each animal on the other side a path And the rock in the middle and the blood is pooling up in the The crevices and the pools in the rock. It's a very bloody encounter blood is everywhere and Abraham is Anticipating something really big about to happen and in those days and in that culture if you wanted to make a covenant with someone You would agree to the terms maybe you would write them down and sign it but then you would cut animals in half and lay them and make an altar between These two parts of the animal and you barefooted would walk through the blood leaving your footprints in the blood on the rock They would walk through the other side of the blood leaving their bare footprints in the blood on the rock

You would meet in the middle and then you would look down at the animals on either side of you and you would say May what happened to these animals happened to me if I don't fulfill my part of the covenant but in Genesis 15 Instead of God meeting Abraham in the middle of this path God met God in the middle of that path and he went through from one side as fire and he went through the other side as smoke and Abraham is watching the whole thing and God met God all by himself. In other words, he was communicating to Abraham. This covenant is all up to me He's saying you don't have anything to do with it and fulfilling it I am gonna do all of the work Abraham now if you've been around church or Christianity any length of time that sounds very familiar to you That sounds a whole lot like grace What we would call amazing grace that our salvation is not dependent upon anything we do But it is completely dependent upon what God has done and that's the type of covenant that your God wants with you And now after the covenant is cut There are terms to the covenant and those terms are written down in the book of the covenant and they were read to the people And then Moses killed a bull and what he does is well, it's interesting In fact, I don't know of anywhere else in Scripture that this happens, but let me just read it to you Moses took the blood from the basins and Splattered it all over the people This is one of those Bible stories that never made it to flannel graph and you know in Sunday school lessons He sprayed the blood over all of them and then declaring this he says look this blood confirms the covenant The Lord has made with you and giving you these instructions now, where did Moses get that idea? I just alluded it to it and told you in Genesis 15 Abraham had to slaughter all those animals. So Moses is using that blueprint for his procedure and The point biblically is this every covenant requires blood and the new covenant that Jesus is setting up at the Last Supper It's not the blood of bulls and it's not the blood of rams or heifers or birds It's the blood of the lamb the lamb Jesus himself is the lamb and that's what the Lord's Supper Represents for you and me and when Jesus said what he said at the Last Supper the disciples intuitively knew Something big just happened. Let me just show you this by laying these two passages side

By side so that you can see it. I've color-coded these words so that you can see the comparison and I want you to read The words in color when I get to it. Okay, this cup is the new Between God and his people an agreement with Which is poured out as a sacrifice You got it Look at what Jesus said This blood confirms the covenant the Lord has made with you. Do you see it? word for word The blood confirms the covenant and the covenant is made with you and for you and when Jesus spoke those words He was doing something very very very special. He was using a rabbinic Jewish technique called we've talked about it Ramez Ramez is where the teacher says something out of a scripture out of a Bible story and expects the student to know the Context and to know what it is that he's talking about or what he is referring to so when Jesus used those three words The disciples minds went immediately to Exodus 24 and they knew what Jesus is saying is special This is monumental. It is so amazing. This is a covenant meal that is having with us. Now what's a covenant meal? We'll go back to Exodus and I'm going to show you. Okay look at Exodus 24. Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu. Those are great names. We don't hear those names regularly. And you don't need to feel the pressure if you're having a child to use Alex in the name of your child. You can use Alexandra, Alexander, Alexis. You can use any version of it you want. But the 70 elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. There they saw. Now I want to point this out. This is big news. They saw the God of Israel with their eyes. And under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli as clear as the sky itself. Moses and Aaron and the 72 others climbed up the mountain. And there had to be tremendous fear in these old guys hearts. Why? Because they had been told you can't climb the mountain. You can't even touch the mountain. Don't even touch it. And they get up to the top of it and can see God. Which is usually very, very, very bad news. In fact look at what goes

on to say. And though the nobles of Israel gazed. They didn't just see him. They're now gazing upon God. What happened? He did not destroy them. In fact they ate a covenant meal. Eating and drinking in his presence. They were not destroyed. And they could see God. And they lived. And they shared a covenant meal. And a covenant meal is part of the process I've been trying to describe to you. You agree to the terms. You go through that blood ritual. And then you seal it with a meal. And after they had just done this blood oath thing. Blood is everywhere. They say let's sit down and eat. It's all over the Bible actually. In Genesis 26 when Isaac makes a treaty with his neighbors. In Genesis 31 when Jacob and Laban make peace. In Genesis 18 when Abram and Yahweh eat together. In each of those stories they share a meal after making a covenant. And it wasn't a meal to feed their stomachs. Because contract negotiations are exhausting. And killing animals makes you really, really hungry. It's more than that. It's bigger than that. In fact today introductory I just want to share two aspects of a covenant meal. And I want you to write these down. And I want you to ponder them when we take the Lord's Supper in a few minutes together. Now because they point to something bigger. Okay. And the Lord's Supper is pointing to something much, much bigger. Now you could go out west of here. Near Sepulpa. On to the turnpike. And you would see this sign. Oklahoma City 100 miles. How many of you seen that sign before? Okay. You've seen that sign. It says Oklahoma City 100 miles. Now maybe you've been to Oklahoma City. Maybe you lived in Oklahoma City. I don't know why you would live there. Okay. Tulsa is way better. Right. Far greener usually. Right. Far better culture. Way better pastors. It's just a better place over here. Right. But maybe you've been to Oklahoma City. But just because you see this sign does not mean that you're familiar with Oklahoma City. Now it points to the fact that there is an Oklahoma City. But it's just a sign pointing to the fact that there is an Oklahoma City. Right. It is a sign of the real thing. The Lord's Supper is not the thing. It is pointing to the thing. And it is not a replacement for the thing. So let me show you two points today. Okay. Write these down and ponder them this week. Number one. Covenant meals are a

symbol of peace. Say peace. To share a meal in that culture means that you can rest. It means there's no more conflict. In fact in that culture you would not just sit down to eat. You lay down. Some of you are like that's a spiritual discipline I could get behind. Like eating in bed. Like I think I could do that one. Right. But you would lay out a blanket and you would lay down at a low table. The very act of laying down puts you in a vulnerable position. And you shared a meal in that vulnerable position saying I trust you. Every single time I walk in my house my three-year-old Australian Shepherd named Annie acts like I've been gone a year. And she talks. just makes these noises like she's so excited to see me and I will pet her and then she will immediately lay down on the floor and put all four legs straight up in the air so that I can see her belly and pet her belly. Now I don't understand that but I asked dog people who understand dogs and they said what she's communicating to you is I trust you. She is putting herself in a very vulnerable position where she could clearly and easily be harmed and what she's communicating is I trust you. I'm safe around you. I'm at peace with you. Now think about Psalm 23. We studied it before where David said you prepare a table. Say table. Before me. Listen to what he says. In the presence of my enemies. Even though there are people out there that are out to get me I can lay down with you Lord and be at peace. Why? Because I trust you to protect me. That's what the Lord's Supper represents. That you have been made right with God and therefore you have peace with God. It's all over the New Testament by the way. Paul hammers this in Romans 5. Look at what he says in verse 1. Therefore say therefore. You should go back and read chapter 4 this week to see what the therefore is therefore. What he's talking about. Therefore since we have been made right in God's sight we have something. Because we've been made right in God's sight we have something and that thing that we have is peace with God. Why? Because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. So when we take part in the Lord's Supper these verses are coming alive. We finally have peace between us and God and it might sound like we're the ones who decided that we

wanted to be at peace with God. That we had a problem with God and he had offended us and now we want to be right with him. But that is not the case. You and I were enemies of God and we were the ones with all the attitude and all the sin that caused all the relationship to go bad. But it was God who did everything to come down and settle that peace by sending Jesus to die for us and shed his blood for us. That's why Jesus said this is a new covenant that is confirmed with my blood. So the Lord's Supper confronts my tendency. This is my confession to you. It confronts my tendency to measure my relationship with God by how well I have performed. And let me just declare to you today pastorally when you have failed you don't need to run from Jesus. You need to run to the table. And that peace brings peace in every other relationship. It leads to peace in every relationship. In fact I would say to you today if you don't have peace in your life, can't find peace in your life, I'm chasing after peace in your life, everything's unsettled in your heart, it could be that you have not accepted that peace. God's peace. The very peace of God. You have not accepted his invitation to follow after him with all of your heart. And with that acceptance of that invitation you now belong to the family of God. Which brings me to the second thing that the covenant meal represents. It represents a it's a sign of say it, belonging. I want you to notice that Moses didn't go do this covenant meal all by himself. God told him invite your brother and his sons and while you're at it 70 other people, right? Bring them all. The meal when you see it that way was a banquet. It wasn't a work lunch. It was all about community, right? This is the Christian life. It was never intended to be walked alone. We were made to enjoy community together. In fact in the opening pages of this book, but certainly the book that Moses wrote, the book of the covenant while he was up on that mountain in Genesis, he talks about creation and he says, and God made the heavens and the earth and he called them good. He made the Sun and the moon and the stars and he called them, say it, good. He made the plants and the animals and he called them good. But the first time God said that ain't good, and I'm not sure that's how he said it, but something like that was when he saw Adam all alone

because he knew that he had made us to need each other. And the way we say it around here is this way. Life is better together. It's better together, meaning we cannot actually do this thing all alone. It's better when we do it together and that's why we don't We don't just meet in rows and big rooms all over this city on Sunday mornings, but we actually meet in living rooms and circles and homes all over this city. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them offered all over the city almost every day of the week for every demographic or mixed demographic that you could possibly think of. And today we've made it incredibly simple for you to find a group if you don't have one. In the lobby of all of our campuses today, we have the start of a community group expo where there are people and leaders who want to meet you and help you find a group. That word community. Some of you again were raised in a church that called the Lord's Supper communion. Communion and community, do you know it's the very same word? So communion by very definition cannot be taken alone. When we take the Lord's Supper, we are saying we belong to Christ and don't miss this. And we belong to his people. It's a shared meal. Every covenant meal is a shared meal. And when you share a meal in the Middle East, you are saying you and I are one. We're part of the same family. Now covenant meals meant that you're a part of their tribe. They're a part of your tribe. And that still happens in almost every meal in the Middle East. If you travel with me to Israel or Egypt into the Middle East, by the way, this month is the deadline if you want to go to Kenya in January, we just have a few more spots available. So if you're going, you need to sign up this month. But when you travel to those places with me, periodically, we make friends or existing

friends that we've already are friends with. And they invite some of us into their home. And we go sit in their home and we share a meal with one another. Every time that happens, it's not a quick bite at McDonald's. It means something to them because they are inviting you to sit with them. It's almost like finding your table in the high school cafeteria. I don't know if you remember that. But there was all kinds of tension and grabbing that tray and turning to face that room full of tables. But once you found your table with your people, the tension went away when you turned to face that room. Why? Because you had a table that you could sit with people and they were your people and they got you and you got them and you were in relationship and you felt safe there. There's a saying in the Middle East, especially among the Bedouin tribes who still live in tents and are still nomadic and still move all over the land based on pastures for the livestock. And one time I spent some time in a Bedouin village and under a tent and under the sky where you could see a billion stars gathered around a fire sharing meals with these people. And there's a saying that they would say, and I'm going to share it with you and I'm going to make you Middle Eastern today. The saying is this, there is now salt between us. There's now salt between us. I want you to say that phrase. There is now salt between us. And here's what that means. They would literally give you salt to season your food with, but it was bigger than seasoning because in their minds, there's now salt between us means we are now bonded. We're bonded forever. It's as if you took your salt shaker and they took their salt shaker and you mixed

it into one and shook it up. There's no separating it at that point. There's now salt between us and the idea in their culture and in their mindset is salt lasts forever. I don't know if you noticed that or not, but there's no expiration date on any bottle of salt. It lasts, it may lose its taste, but it lasts forever. It'll never go bad. That's why it's used in preserving. In the days before refrigeration, you could take raw fish or raw meat and set it in salt and it would preserve it for days and days. Why? Salt is eternal and it's everlasting and it means something. And here's what they're saying. There's no end to this covenant between us. Now watch this. When Jesus told his disciples, this is a covenant meal. They knew that he was now providing peace. Peace between them and the father. But they also knew they would be bonded forever. That this is an eternal, everlasting aspect to this meal. It's not some one-off. And when Jesus said in all the gospels, well three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, John six is not a part of this story. Okay. So don't confuse that. But in these three gospels, when Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me, the word in the Greek. Do this in remembrance. Is in the imperfect future tense, which means I want you to keep on doing this forever and ever and ever you don't stop because

I'm not gonna stop and you see there's only one person by the way who can invite you to this table and it's Jesus That's why we call it the Lord's Supper Look at this verse The time came Jesus and the Apostles sat down together at the table now there's something in the Greek language here and in the context of this story that says this is Jesus table and He invited the disciples To this table and it's a big table if you did Christianity in the 90s, you know, it was a big big table with lots and lots of food and The table of Jesus is very very big and It's full of people from all different backgrounds and all different nationalities and all socio-economic Statuses it's full of people with all personalities people who are loud and people who are quiet but at the end of the day It's Jesus who chooses who sits there and the thing is he has invited you and my question for you today is have you? accepted his invitation And if the answer is no, by the way when Jesus said every time you eat and every time you drink You are proclaiming the Lord's death Meaning this is not just about receiving It's about proclaiming And I want to ask you have you received the invitation? Have you accepted the invitation and are you proclaiming the invitation to others? In fact, if the Holy Spirit has laid a name on your heart And you've written that down. I want you to grab that card if he hasn't grabbed the card and let's pray about it Okay, would you just just bow your head and ask the Lord? Who would you have me invest in over the next two weeks and invite to this place on? August the 30th and If you're here today And you've never trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior never given your life to him I

Want to help you do that with a prayer And you're gonna hear people praying all around you at every single campus But If that's you you want to give your life to Christ and receive his invitation Would you just pray with me and would you say dear God? I Know I'm a sinner But today I ask you To forgive me for all of my sin Jesus would you come into my life? to be my Lord my Savior my forgiver in the best way that I know how I Turn my back on my sin, and I trust you alone Jesus To save me Thank you for saving me And if you just prayed that prayer and you meant it with all of your heart listen you're invited to the table to the Lord's Supper Would you stand with me across all of our campuses today? Here's what we're gonna do. Just go ahead and stand if you would cross all the campuses at every campus We have the elements for the Lord's Supper at the front of the room and some of the campuses We also have it at the back of the room, but we're gonna step out We're gonna bring that card now I gave you two cards one for you to keep so you can remember to pray for them and The other I want you to drop in this receptacle so that we can pray with you For your friends and family and loved ones and neighbors and whomever they are to you And in fact let me just encourage you I don't want you just to pray for 23 years there was a name That I wrote on cards like this and Sometimes I invited him and and sometimes I just prayed for him and never reached out a

couple of months ago he died and Never came and to my knowledge never trusted Christ And so my encouragement to you is this if God lays somebody on your heart Talk to God about that person But then go talk to that person about God and it may just be as simple as come with me on August 30th I'll pick you up. I'll take you to lunch afterwards. Just come be a part And so today as you come forward drop the name in the receptacle take the elements of the Lord's Supper Go back to your seat and in a moment the campus pastors will come and instruct you on taking the Lord's Supper together Come on church. Let's get the elements and let's lay these names in the receptacles ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪