In remembrance
2024-11-03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwqma-rEuoU

Just singing a gospel song. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

Yeah, I grabbed one. I actually sent ... Yeah, last Sunday I was like, "Oh no." I think you're off the hook from having to hand stuff out, Linda. All right. Good morning. It's good to be here with you this morning as we get ready to gather for worship. I'm going to begin with a word of prayer, and then we'll read Scripture together and sing together for a few moments. Let's go ahead and pray. Father in heaven, I am so thankful for being here this morning. I'm so thankful for your people. I'm so thankful for your church and for your word, and I just ask that you would be with us, that your spirit would be working in us to convict us and to strengthen us and to help us to see your truth. Be with us as we sing and as we pray together, as we gather around the table. May you encourage us and help us. It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to begin by reading from the 100th Psalm. We're going to read the first four verses at the beginning

and the last four verses at the end. And so let's go ahead and be standing, and we will read together. Dave, it's so good to see you. Warms up my heart every time you walk in the door. All right, let's read from the 100th Psalm together. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing. Know the Lord. He is God. He made us, and we are his. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. This is the word of the Lord. We consider that in those words, the sheep of his pasture. I was taking part in a baby dedication yesterday, and we were reading through the 23rd Psalm, and that reality that the Lord is our shepherd, and he is the one who leads us to refreshment and to nourishment, but also he is the one who walks with us in those dark moments, in the valley of the shadow of death, who prepares a table before us, even when surrounded by our enemies.

That is a truth that is worth rejoicing in. And so, we're going to sing "Glorious Day," followed by "Battle Belongs," and then we'll move into our prayer and share time. I was buried beneath my shame. Who could carry that kind of weight? It was my turn. Till I met you. I was breathing but not alive. All my failures I tried to hide. It was my turn. Till I met you. You called my name. And I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness. Into your glorious day. You called my name. And I ran out of that grave. And I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness. Into your glorious day. Now your mercy has saved my soul. Now your freedom is all that I know. The old made new. Jesus, when I met you, you called my name. And I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness.

To your glorious day. You called my name. And I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness. To your glorious day. I needed rescue. My sin was heavy. The chains break at the weight of your glory. I needed shelter. I was an orphan. Now you call me a citizen of heaven. When I was broken, you were my healing. Now your love is the air that I'm breathing. I have a future. My eyes are open. 'Cause when you call my name, I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. You call my name, and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day.

The End When all I see is the battle, you see my victory. When all I see is the mountain, you see a mountain moved. And as I walk through this shadow, your love surrounds me. There's nothing to fear now, for I'm safe with you. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And every fear I lay at your feet. I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And if you are for me, who can be against me? For Jesus, there's nothing impossible. for you. When all I see are the ashes, you see the beauty. When all I see is a cross, God, you see the empty tomb. So when I fight, I'll fight on my cross. I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high. Oh, God, the battle belongs to you. And every fear I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh, God, the battle belongs to you.

Almighty fortress, you go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadow. You win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. Almighty fortress, you go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadow. You win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. In every field I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We've been working on learning a new song, "Firm Foundation," which I think has to be true of us in our life if our foundation is not good. Jesus tells us in the parable that this song is based upon that our house in times of storm comes crashing down. So we're going to sing this song, and then we're going to do something a little different than we normally do in terms of our order of service. Normally, we would move into our time around the table celebrating the Lord's Supper. together, but as we are in November, seeking to remember God's goodness and His grace to us, we are going to do that at the end of our message. So we're going to let our message this morning from the 22nd chapter of Luke lead us and bring us to this table. So we're going to sing and then we will jump into our message this morning. So we're going to sing "Firm Foundation."

Christ is my firm foundation. The rock on which I stand when everything around me is shaken. I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. Cause He's never let me down. He's faithful through generations. So why would He fail now? He won't. He won't. I've still got joy in chaos. That makes no sense. So I won't be going under. I'm not held by my own strength. Cause I built my life on Jesus. He's never let me down. He's faithful in every season. He won't. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. Rain came, wind blew. My house was built on you. I'll say with you, I'm gonna make it through. Rain came, wind blew. My house was built on you. I'm safe with you. I'm gonna make it through. Yeah, I'm gonna make it through. 'Cause I'm standing strong on you.

I'm gonna make it through. 'Cause my house is built on you. Christ is my firm foundation. The rock on which I stand. When everything around me is shaken. I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. 'Cause He's never let me down. He's faithful through generations. So why would He fail now? He won't. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't. And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves, for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise the cup, after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that's poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table." This is the word of the Lord. And to this account, I ask that you would help us to see your love and your goodness, that you would help us to remember, that you would help us to fix our eyes on you, that as we walk through this life as individuals and as a church, that you would be our firm foundation, that you would help us to dig down deep and to remember to see your goodness. It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. One of, I think, the great differences between a leader and a boss is that a boss tells you what to do, but a leader comes alongside of you and helps you to do it or shows you how to do it. And as we move through the Bible from almost sort of the very beginning of God's people as a big group, God doesn't simply

call them to remember God's deliverance and his promises and his goodness, but he helps them to do so. We'll take a look this morning in just a few moments at a glimpse of how God does that through instituting a meal of the Passover, but also when they come into the promised land. He says, get some rocks and make a tower so that when your kids come by, you can ask, what are those rocks doing there? You can tell them what God has done. And you see that God throughout Scripture, not just in these places or in these examples, calls us to remember. And so the Lord's Supper instituted at Passover as a place to remember God's salvation. And so that's where we're going to be this morning, taking a look at the salvation that is found through Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross.

God's salvation. In Exodus 12:14, the context for these words in Luke is the Passover. And God will say this to his people, "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, as a statute forever. You shall keep it as a feast." That God saves. And it's a moment in the midst of their lives where they focus on hope and thanksgiving, not just that God has saved in the past, but that he has cared for his people and has promised to do so in the future. And it is not just a general, "God is so good." Sometimes it's very easy for us, as we remember what God has done, or to thank him for what he has done, to do so in sort of

a general way. For example, "Well, we thank you for this day." But God, as he institutes this meal, helps them and helps us to see specifics of that remembrance. And so in Exodus chapter 6, you have these two verses that are essentially the backbone for the Passover meal. And I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. And I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And His disciples would celebrate the Passover meal. These two verses from Exodus would essentially form the skeleton of this celebration. Because in these verses are four promises of God, that God will bring His people out, that God will deliver His people, that God will redeem His people, and He will take them, and they will be His people. They won't belong to anybody else.

From where they were in Egypt, in the brokenness and heartbreak, it is a wonderful promise. And the way these form, sort of the outline of Passover, is during the Passover celebration, you would drink and refill your cup four times as you're celebrating. And at each of these four times, you would stop and you would remember this promise of God, that God would be the one who would bring you out and you would drink from the cup. During the outline of the service, you would drink to remember God's deliverance. And drink to remember God's redemption. And drink to remember this promise that they would be God's people. And so you would be remembering continually these very specific promises of God. And if you notice in this text in Luke that we are in, Luke references two cups.

We read this text around the communion table, and there's a cup, and then he breaks the bread, and there's another cup. And we wonder why is there a cup and then bread and then another cup. Jesus, before he institutes the Lord's Supper, he celebrates during the Passover service this cup of deliverance. And after supper, when he takes the bread, which in the Passover service is either set aside, depending on if you're just a group of adults, they would set aside some bread. If you had kids with you, you would hide it around the room, and then you would send them on a scavenger hunt, and whoever finds the bread and brings it back to the table gets a little reward. They would take this after-dinner bread. And Jesus takes this bread, showing the sort of the continued providence of God, and he breaks it, and then he celebrates with this cup of redemption. And so as we're called and invited to this table with Jesus,

there's three things I want you to know and three things I want you to drive deep into your heart. And the first is this, that in Christ, you are accepted. Luke 22:14 says this, "When the hour came, he reclined at the tables and the apostles with him." Now, our posture can tell us a lot about our attitudes. It communicates something about us, right? We can tell when somebody is relaxed. We can tell when somebody is 10 and we can tell when somebody is nervous or you can tell when somebody is excited. You can tell when you're talking to somebody if they're happy to talk to you or they're annoyed to talk to you or whether they're putting up walls sort of against you, closing off their body language. And we sort of pick up on it and think about it naturally. But Passover, in part, was all about body language. The first Passover is eaten at an extreme herd.

Exodus 12:11 says this, "In this manner you shall eat it, with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's Passover." And it reminds me is when we were kids and our cousins were all visiting and we'd been playing outside and we got called in for dinner and there's just a little bit of daylight left and we would run in with all of our stuff and we would eat as fast as we can and run back out the door. Right? That's the picture here. These guys are not sort of sitting down, taking off your jackets, you know, putting your bag or your purse over to the side and getting ready to relax and enjoy a dinner together. They are eating as fast as they can because in a moment they may have to run out the door. But what's interesting is all subsequent Passover meals were eaten in comfort and relaxation, enjoying the delivery

reverence that God had accomplished. That Jesus, as he reclines, which was the custom of the day around this day, it's not just an interesting cultural note, but it's a message for those of us who are in crisis that you don't have to be ready to run or move, that God has done it. You can rest in your salvation. But also Jesus will say, "I wanted to eat this Passover with you." Who you ate with matters. Your meal companion said something about you. It's a little bit like today when you drive and you see people with bumper stickers, right? They declare their causes, right? They declare who they support. They declare my favorite, and in fact, my brother-in-law's car at the bottom of the parking lot has one. It says, "Do you really follow Jesus this closely?" And I wish I had that the other day when I was driving. But bumper stickers, they tend to tell

what we're excited about, or what we support, or they sort of mark us out as who we are. And in Jesus' day, the companions with who you ate did the same thing, right? These are my people. I support them. They are my friends. This is where I stand, unlike today, where we can eat pretty much with whoever we want. Most people, some might, but most people will. Not judging Jesus' day was like putting a bumper sticker on your car. That's why the Pharisees get so angry about Jesus and say, "You're eating with tax collectors and sinners." So who is Jesus eating with during this Passover meal? The disciples of Jesus are a pretty funny group. Different vocations, different personalities, different political views. So you have fishermen, and then you have the guy who taxes the fishermen, and then you have a zealot.

He is the terrorist who wants to kill the guy who taxes the fishermen, right? There is a lot going on just in a few of Jesus' disciples. And even more as the church gets bigger and bigger. There are different personalities who really are only known in the Gospels for bringing people to Jesus. In the middle of it all, there are, sitting around that table, people with political differences. We hear Matthew, the tax collector, and the zealot who in a previous life would have killed that tax collector talking about where they stood. It's a pretty relevant group around the table for today. Now we likely know what happens after this meal, but if you don't, Jesus goes to the cross to save these guys. And that's what Jesus is focused on. And that's what is on his mind.

In this moment, that I want you to see his love as he has this group of people surrounding him, and he goes, "Earnestly, I have desired to eat this meal with you." And it's like, "My hunger is hungry," is how that literally comes out, but not for the food, but for these people. So what's on the disciples' mind in this moment? In verse 24, just a few verses later, "A dispute arose among them as to which of them was regarded to be the greatest." It's not a new argument. James and John will actually tag their mom in to be part of this argument at one point. And over the next few hours, some of the disciples will sleep. All of them will flee. Peter will deny him. These guys around the table are rough and humble. They're selfish. They're sinful. They are afraid. And Jesus loves all of them.

Maybe you believe that you have to somehow just be good enough for Jesus, that you have to earn a place at the table. But when you come to Jesus, you are accepted, loved, and transformed and brought in. And I want you to see in Christ that you are accepted. One of the things growing up that was kind of a status for us was we have a kind of a big extended family and we would gather either for Christmas or Thanksgiving. Most of the time it was at our house there would be several separate tables. And the main part of the dining room would be the main table where all the grown-ups got to sit. And then over kind of along the wall in there would be another table where those of us cousins who were old enough got to sit. And then around the corner in the living room was a table where the little kids got to sit. And in part it was because they were so excited because of all their family and everything going on. They didn't eat a lot anyway.

They grew up as you sort of moved from table to table. So if sometimes there wasn't enough room and maybe you got stuck at the little kids table, it was kind of an insult, right? I don't belong at this table. Or maybe sometimes when somebody gets promoted ahead of time, say they don't belong at the big people table. And the adult table, it seems like when all dessert was brought out, it was always served on the adult table, right? We didn't put it on the counter with the rest of the food. All the adults sit, all the pies and everything there. And what I want you to know is there are no separate tables in the kingdom of God. Young, old, men, women, doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, what you've accomplished, if you are in Christ, there is a place at the table for you bought by the blood of Jesus. And you are loved and accepted.

Acceptance that Jesus does and move in to look more specifically that in Christ we are loved. Jesus says, "I earnestly desire to eat this Passover with you." It's the last meal before the cross. And Jesus knows and he understands this reality. And I think most of us facing this, we wouldn't be very hungry. But Jesus says this about the meal, "I have earnestly desired to eat this meal with you." And the question is, is Jesus excited for this roast lamb, the bitter herbs, sitting around a table for hours walking through a worship service that involves a meal? Is Jesus going, "Man, I can't wait for that roast lamb. Hopefully it's not too dry this year." Or those bitter herbs that bring tears to your eyes to remember the tears of slavery. Jesus isn't talking here about the food.

Jesus is like, "Man, I really just love all the selection of food for this Passover meal." What Jesus is saying is this in John 13, "Now before the feast of Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in this world, he loved them until the end." Jesus' desire is not reluctant. It's based in love. Have you ever had to do something you didn't want to do? How quickly do you move? When we go and do our work with horses on Monday, it's one of those things you realize you maybe don't think about until it happens, but it's rain or shine, it's warm or cold. And I'll tell you what, there are some days it's like, "Man, I'm just going to sit in the car and let the kids go do the work." Right?

Let them get cold. Let them get wet. Jesus isn't like that. He's not reluctant in His love for you. He doesn't look at you and go, "Man, I know I should love Him." He's not obligated. He is doing this because He loves you. His love is not based in being deserved. The goodness of the disciples, in the next few hours they're going to argue, fall asleep, abandon, and Peter will deny Jesus. And if His love for them is not based on their goodness, why would you think His love for you is based on your goodness? I want you to see as Jesus sits with this meal that He brings one big table. He loves the people who surround this table. And in Jesus, there is hope. In Christ, there is hope. I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He said,

"Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you, from now on, I will not drink the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And often we see this celebration, especially when we come to communion, as looking back to the past. But Jesus says, "This is also a call to look forward." Not to bring the parents from Egypt, where He brings you out, and He redeems you, and makes you His people, but also to look forward to the substance of what that represents. It's why Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 16, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." We live in a broken world, and we can see it, and we can feel it, and we can hear it, and we are surrounded by it.

We see it in conflict, in society, in our families, in our relationships. We see brokenness, and we see evil. And Romans 8 will say this, that creation cries out, is groaning, because they feel the weight that you and I feel in the depth of our soul about the brokenness of this world, and that things are not as they should be. It's why the book of Revelation, this glorious vision of Jesus, ends with these words from John, and he just says, "Come, Lord Jesus, the groanings of my soul, and to see you in how you make it right, how you defeat the dragon, and you bring us home." And he says, "Come, Lord Jesus." Horatio Spafford, in the midst of loss of his businesses and his four children, will say this, "Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul."

In his darkest moment, what does he say? "Lord, haste the day. I've lost my business. I've lost my children. My wife has just encountered a shipwreck. She sent me a telegram that says, "Saved alone." And he says, "Even so, haste the day when you come back and you fix the groaning of my soul." And it's interesting, that last line that maybe you've sung that says, "Even so, it is well with my soul." It's not originally that. He originally writes this: "It's a song in the night, O my soul." It's what Job says in the midst of the darkness, that God is the one who gives me a song in the darkest night. Job's song, Horatio Spafford's song in the night is Jesus. Let's take a look at the broken bread and the poured out cup.

The broken bread and the poured out cup in Luke 22:19. He took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." What happens here is in two directions. For the disciples in this moment, Jesus is showing them what is about to happen. The true Passover lamb is about to be sacrificed. True redemption was about to be accomplished. True deliverance was at hand. Truly being made a person, or people, or being brought into the family of God that was going to happen. The Son of God, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, is about to step into the darkness so these people and we can be brought into the light.

And the question here is this: What other person would take all of your bad brokenness and give you all of his goodness intentionally? Romans 5 says, "For while we were weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly." But God shows his love for us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For the disciples, this was about to happen. For you and me in Christ, this is what has happened. And when we hear this, and we hear those words, "The remembrance of me," or we remember Jesus. And as we come to this table, I want you to see these things. First of all, Jesus suffers intentionally and willingly for you. He said to them earnestly, "I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." The decision for Jesus to go to the cross is intentional.

He says, "Willing," not given, or he says, "I've given," not taken, not forced, not coerced, but my body, given for you. And he took bread, and when he gave thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." I want you to hear the language that Jesus uses. "I earnestly desire before I suffer. My body is given. This cup, my blood is poured out." Jesus willingly gives his life, knowing that he is about to suffer. I want you to see that Jesus goes to the cross willingly, and he goes for you. The arrest that follows, the mocking, the beating, the flogging, the crown of thorns, the cross is for you.

And this meal that we are about to partake of is a nourishment for our souls. You and I are really good at hiding the hunger of our souls. We drown it out by entertaining ourselves. We push it aside with busyness. However, in the quiet times, if we're honest, we feel that we need something more. In the times of struggle and difficulty, we feel our weakness and emptiness. And even sometimes when joy and goodness comes, and we're excited, it may be with a tiny tinge of discontentment. I thought this would make me happier. That feeling is the hunger of your soul. And it's not a physical hunger, but it is a deep and abiding spiritual hunger that I need to be loved truly. I need hope. I need a future. And Jesus says, "Do this in remembrance of me."

Mostly, when we hear this, we think about the spiritual significance of Jesus' death and burial and resurrection. And this is right to think that. To think about the spiritual significance that Jesus is about to go and to die in your place for your sins, to carry the weight of your sin upon His shoulders, to go into the darkness so that you can be brought into the light. It says, "For your sake, He was made poor who was rich, so that in Him we can have all these riches." And we think about the spiritual significance. But also, I think, this is just simply saying, "Remember Jesus." And it might be easy for us to say, "I would never forget Jesus," but it literally happens with the people sitting at the table with Him moments later. He says, "Remember me," and just a few moments later they're arguing about who's better and who's greater, and they're completely ignoring Jesus.

And just like that, this remembrance is not just a spiritual significance, but it's a remembrance of Jesus and who He is. Jesus is sitting with them, showing them His sacrifice. And some of these people have followed because they have heard John the baptizer say, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." And they know what that means in terms of lambs and Passovers. And moments later they've forgotten Jesus. We are much the same. On January 7th of 1855, Charles Spurgeon preaches a sermon called "The Remembrance of Christ." And he says this, not about the people listening to his sermon, but about himself. He says this, as he talks about remembering Jesus, "Far too many other things attract and occupy me." And he'll picture the moon and the sun, and he uses this illustration of the sun with all of its largeness, and it's brighter, and it's more significant than the moon.

Yet the moon, upon our planet, exercises a lot more influence in terms of how our oceans move. And Spurgeon makes the point that the reason the moon has so much influence is because it is close. And he says, "Here is my problem when it comes to forgetting Christ." He says this, "So I have find that the little crawling worm of earth has more effect upon my soul than the glorious Christ of heaven. A handful of golden earth," and he means money, "A puff of fame, a shout of applause, a thriving business. My house, my home will affect me more than all the glories of heaven simply." He says, "To me, earth is near and heaven seems far away." And what God does in His glorious providence is He gives us a meal that brings us close.

This bread and this cup is not just directing our minds to the theological work of Jesus, although it certainly is, but it's directing us to Jesus Himself. To His birth, He will be called Emmanuel, which means God with us. To His baptism where it is proclaimed, "This is my Son with whom I am well pleased." To His ministry and power and might, both in words, as people say, "Who teaches like this?" And His miracles who say, "How is it that the wind and the waves obey Him?" "Who gives sight to the blind and hope to the outcast? Who can forgive sins?" And then to the suffering in the garden, to the high priest, to the Sanhedrin. And ultimately Jesus suffers under the hands of Pontius Pilate. He is crucified, died, and buried, and on the third day He rises from the dead.

He ascends to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whom He will come to judge the living and the dead. This meal for God's people directs us to remember Jesus. So what we are going to do is we are going to pray, and then we will partake together of this. Father in heaven, help us, as the writer of Hebrews encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, despising the shame, has went to the cross on our behalf. It is now seated at your right hand. Help us as we eat this bread. May you nourish our souls. As we come around this table to drink the cup, together with our brothers and sisters in Christ,

this table that you have prepared for us, may you strengthen us, and may we dwell in your house forever. I ask that you bless this bread and this cup. It is in Jesus' name that I pray. Amen. So if you will take the bread with me. As Jesus shares with His disciples, and He says this, "This is my body, which is forgiven for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Let's partake together. And then He takes the cup, the one after supper, the cup of redemption that reminds us of that promise from Exodus chapter 6, "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm." And Jesus, who is about to stretch out His arms to redeem His people, says this, "This cup is poured out for you as the new covenant in my blood." Let's partake together.

And as we focus our minds on Jesus, we proclaim Him, as Paul says, through this meal until He comes again. Let's stand, and let's sing what we just celebrated. In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground. He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground. Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace. When fears are stilled, when strivings cease. My comforter, my all in all. Here in the love of Christ I stand. In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless faith. This gift of love and righteousness. And righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save. Till on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay. Light of the world by darkness slain. Then bursting forth in glorious day. Upon the grave He rose again. And as He stands in victory. Sin's curse has lost its grip on me. For I am His, and He is mine. Brought with the precious blood of Christ. In my life. No fear in death. This is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry. To final breath. Jesus commends my destiny. No power of hell. No scheme of man. Can ever pluck me from his hand. Till he returns. Or calls me home. Here in the power of Christ I'll stand. No power of hell. No scheme of man. Can ever pluck me from his hand. Till he returns. Or calls me home. Till he returns. Or calls me home. Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Thank you for being with us this morning. A few announcements before we pray, read a verse of Scripture, and sing the doxology. First of all, Wednesday night Bible study. We are in the last little bit of Colossians as Paul says his goodbyes, and he shares those from whom he is sending greetings, and those to whom he is sending greetings. Fascinating stories of both faithfulness and struggle. That will be Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Also, the children's church is the second and fourth Sunday of each month, and so that will be next Sunday. And then the fourth Sunday, November 20th, which is a Wednesday night, I would like to invite you to come have Thanksgiving dinner with us. We'll provide the turkeys and invite you to bring a side or bring a friend or bring both if you want.

We like eating Thanksgiving food, and the more Thanksgiving meals, at least from my perspective, the better. So I'm going to smoke a couple turkeys and bring some sides, and we'll come and eat together and celebrate. We're also going to do something a little different. We've never done this before. Generally, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we're all kind of very busy and have plans. But if you do not have plans, this Thanksgiving Eve, we're going to do at 6:00 p.m., kind of a quiet worship service. I talked to my brother-in-law. He's going to be here, and he's going to lead worship for us. Kind of a quiet time of joyful Thanksgiving through worship and Scripture as we come into a holiday of Thanksgiving, a place where Christians are called not just as a holiday for the nation, but to live with every day, living in Thanksgiving.

And so that is Wednesday, November 27th at 6:00 p.m. There's going to be Thanksgiving Eve worship. I'm going to go ahead and have a word of prayer, and we'll read a verse of Scripture and be dismissed. Father in heaven, I thank you for Jesus in grace. Thank you for your people and how they encourage and strengthen and walk with us. Thank you for your church. I thank you that we could gather this morning to stand together and to sing together and to gather around the table to fix our eyes on Jesus. Help us as we move through this week to do all that we do, remembering his work on the cross. I thank you for your grace that you have just given us so wonderfully. It's in your son's name we pray. Amen. The 100th Psalm, which we began with this morning, ends with these words: "The Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations."

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him, above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's pray.