The Messenger and The Messiah.

Oppening:

Good Morning again Connection Church!

I hope you all are doing well! It is great to be back with you again. It is a beautiful thing to gather together on the Lord’s day! We get to worship God together. Worshipping and glorifying God is our purpose. It is why we were made. This is our purpose! Each week we gather together to worship God through singing, the learning of truths, the reading and preaching of God’s Word, and the gathering around the Lord’s Table together. Thes are beautiful things because they enable us to worship God together and they even grow us in the knowledge of God’s love and grace.

This is why I truly believe it is vital that we gather together! We grow closer to God and are encouraged in the spreading of the gospel as we go from here.

Introduction of the Text:

With this in mind open with me to Matthew 11:1-19. Normally we open with a recap of what we have covered so far in Matthew. This morning however, I would like to simply remind you of a few things and then ask some different questions.

Matthew was written by the Apostle Matthew. He was a tax collector but left all to follow Jesus. He wrote this account so that we could know who Jesus is. Specifically Jesus is the promised Messiah, God in human flesh, the true King.

But earlier in Matthew, we encountered a very famous character named John the Baptist. What can you guys tell me about John the Baptist?

Good. With this in mind, will you stand with me for the reading of the Word of God.

Reading of the Text:

Matthew 11:1-19

1 When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.

2 Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples

3 and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”

4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see:

5 the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

6 “And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”

Jesus’ Tribute to John

7 As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

8 “But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ palaces!

9 “But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet.

10 “This is the one about whom it is written,

‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You,

Who will prepare Your way before You.’

11 “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.

13 “For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.

14 “And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.

15 “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children,

17 and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

18 “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’

19 “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Let’s Pray together.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we ask that you would move today. Open hearts Lord. We know that only you can draw people to Yourself. So Lord, we ask that you would bring people to know you.

I pray for the church this morning, Lord. Draw them closer to You. Sanctify them according to Your Word. Make them more holy. Convict them of sin. Encourage them to share the gospel with the lost. Make them completely committed to you. May they make little of themselves and much of you.

If anyone is here who is not saved, please save them Lord. Let today be the day that they come to know You.

Use us in this community, Lord. We long to see people come to faith in You. We want to be used. Please use us Lord. We want to be used by You here.

We ask that You would humble us Lord. Let us be like Your servant John. May we decrease so that You may increase.

I pray this for myself. Let me make much of You Lord. I pray that you would humble me. Let me be content in you. Make my life a life that is obsessed with making much of You. Do not let me speak against You. Do not let me disqualify myself. Help me be faithful.

We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Introduction:

Remember, Jesus has just finished teaching His disciples and now they have parted ways. Jesus has just sent them to proclaim the gospel in Israel. As He sends them out, Jesus continues preaching. He does not stop, or take a break. He continues preaching the truth.

Next we must remember that John the Baptist has been arrested by Harod. Harod will soon be tricked into executing John. John is almost at the end of his life. But before he dies, John sends his disciples to Jesus.

John Sends His Disciples to Jesus.

Explanation:

John is in prison. Specifically John is in prison for speaking out against Herod. John had spoken out against Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife and many other evil things. This is recorded in Luke 3:19-20 if you want to read it.

Soon, John would be executed. But as he was waiting in prison, John heard of the works of Jesus. So he sends his disciples to Jesus with a question. He asks if Jesus is the expected one.

There is considerable confusion on this question. Was John doubting? While he was in prison waiting for his death, did he begin to doubt if Jesus was the messiah? Was John plagued with the what if questions?

Or was this for the benefit of John’s disciples? Perhaps John was still holding strong but knew his time was up. So in love, John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the Christ for their benefit. This was the position that the church fathers and the reformers held to. They believed that John send his disciples to Jesus for their benefit.

Either way, Jesus answers John by quoting from the Old Testament. Jesus gives several quotes. He starts by quoting Is 35:5-6, 61:1.

Isaiah 35:5-6 says:

5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,

And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.

For waters will break forth in the wilderness

And streams in the Arabah.

Isaiah 61:1 says,

1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

Because the Lord has anointed me

To bring good news to the cafflicted;

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to captives

And freedom to prisoners;

Then, Jesus tells John “blessed is he who does not take offense at Me” I believe this is Jesus eluding to Is 8:14-15 that says:

14 “Then He shall become a sanctuary;

But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over,

And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15 “Many will stumble over them,

Then they will fall and be broken;

They will even be snared and caught.”

Argumentation:

We see several amazing things in this passage.

Jesus is the messiah.

By referencing the Old Testament Prophesy, Jesus confirms that He is the fulfilment of the prophesies in Isaiah 35:5-6, 61:1. Jesus is the one who is healing people and proclaiming the gospel to the lost.

2. Jesus encourages John.

If John was doubting, Jesus graciously encourages him while he was awaiting his death. But even if he wasn’t doubting, how encouraging would this be for John? “You were right John,” Jesus says to him, “I am the Messiah.” What comfort in the face of death.

3. Jesus encourages John’s disciples.

If John had sent the disciples to Jesus to aid their faith and point them to the messiah, Jesus has just confirmed for these men that He is the Messiah. This is incredibly consistent with John’s mission and character. His very life purpose was to point people to christ.

We know from the gospel of John that John the Baptist sent Andrew and Peter to Follow Jesus. John 1:35-37 “35 Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.”

It is not inconsistent to think that John was one last time sending disciples to follow Jesus. In fact it makes sense. John’s most famous statement is in John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” What a quote. John existed to point people to Jesus.

This is why I believe this is likely what John is doing. He is sending his disciples to see Jesus so that they may hear from Jesus Himself that He is the messiah. I think this is most consistent with the whole of Scripture and John’s character. However, regardless of the reason, Jesus has encouraged John and His disciples. If John was doubting, Jesus calmed his fears. If it was for the benefit of the disciples, they surely must have benefitted.

Jesus ends the statement that He is sending back to John by saying “Blessed is he who does not take offense at me.” The last thing Jesus sends to John is a reference to Isaiah 8:14-15. Jesus is claiming to be the rock of offence. Peter confirmsJesus is the Rock of offence in 1 Peter 2:4-10

4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

6 For this is contained in Scripture:

“Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone,

And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,

“The stone which the builders rejected,

This became the very corner stone,”

8 and,

“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”;

for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

This is why I say that people who claim that Jesus never claimed to be God really never study the Bible. Jesus is here claiming to be the fulfilment of these prophesies. The very authors of the Bible recognized that Jesus here is claiming to be God. Jesus has claimed to be the fulfilment of the miracles prophesied in Isaiah. Jesus has claimed to be the stone of offense. It is obvious that Jesus is not hiding the fact that He is claiming to be the messiah.

In essence, Jesus has just told the disciples of John that their master had announced the true messiah.

But Jesus does not stop here. Jesus proceeds to go into detail about who John is. We now see Jesus talks about John.

Jesus Talks About John.

Explanation:

As the disciples of John were leaving Jesus begins to teach the crowds about who John was. He starts off by saying: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 “But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ palaces!” The answers to these questions is an obvious no. John was not a reed shaken by the wind. Anyone who reads what he spoke can see that.

There was a firmness to John. He prophesied the coming of the Kingdom and the coming judgement. John did not wear fine cloths. He wore camel’s hair and a leather belt. John was many things but he was not a reed, shaken by the wind. Nor was John finely dressed, entertained by kings. He lived in poverty and self neglect.

So if John was not any of these things, what was John? Jesus tells us in verse 9, 9 “But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. 10 “This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way before You.’”

Jesus says that John was a prophet, but not just any prophet. John was the last prophet before the messiah. This is an incredible position. All of the Old Testament prophets all pointed to Jesus, but John got to see Jesus come. John was the last of this old school of prophets pointing ahead to Christ. And now Christ had come. As Matthew Henry beautifully puts it, “they saw Christ’s day at a distance, and their vision was yet for a great while to come; but John saw the day dawn,” Jesus is here giving John an incredible honor. He says that he was more than any of the previous prophets.

As Matthew Henry again puts it, “John said of himself, he was not that prophet, that great prophet, the Messiah himself; and now Christ (a very competent Judge) says of him, that he was more than a prophet. He owned himself inferior to Christ, and Christ owned him superior to all other prophets.”

John was not just a prophet. John was the forerunner to the Messiah. This was an incredible position. Jesus is placing John above all those who went before. John was the fulfilment of the prophesies about the forerunner to the Messiah.

Argumentation:

This is very significant because Jesus is affirming John’s position as the prophet who announced the Messiah and is affirming His own position as the Messiah. Jesus has said that John is the one who will announce the Messiah. Within the Jewish system, they were all very familiar with the prophesies about the messiah. they did not understand all of them or recognize the intricacies of them, but they all knew the messiah was coming and knew that there would be one who would announce the Messiah.

As Jesus was teaching the crowd about who John was, He was also teaching them who He was. Jesus was telling these people that John, the one who had very publicly announced Jesus, was the one who would announce the Messiah. Jesus in essence is saying, “John, who announced me as the Messiah is the fulfilment of the prophesies about the one who would announce the messiah.”

Again we see how ridiculous it is for people to try to claim that Jesus never claimed to be God or the Messiah. Jesus, by giving such honor to John is clearly claiming to be the Messiah.

Then Jesus pays John an incredible compliment. Jesus says that John is the greatest born among women.

John Was the Greatest Born of Women.

Explanation:

This alone was enough for Jesus to say in order to validate all of John’s ministry. I mean, what a compliment. John was the greatest man ever born of a woman. It is hard to get any better compliment than that. Jesus is here stating again John’s superiority to the previous prophets.

John was the one who God has brought into existence in order to announce the coming of the Messiah and the coming of the Gospel. John was the greatest of the old system. He had the incredible honor to to usher in God the Son and the gospel.

Argumentation:

I fear we seldom recognize the beauty of the Gospel. Let’s look at the beauty of the gospel up until John’s day. Adam sinned ushering in sin into mankind. This brought death, disease, thorns, destruction, toil, and evil of all kinds. Most of all this brought deserved spiritual death and separation and judgement from God. But God in mercy promised to bring about salvation.

By faith in this promise, you could be saved. God them set apart a people for Himself. God promised Abraham that the savior would come through His line. God then protected the people He had chosen. God raised up Moses to deliver the chosen people from bondage as a foreshadowing of the true salvation to come. God made the elect people into a nation.

God then raised up kings and promised David that the Savior would be from His line. God raised up Prophets to prophesy to the people about the coming Messiah.

Throughout the Old Testament we see God again and again promised the coming of the savior. He promised and protected this promise. All of history has pointed ahead to the coming salvation through God coming to earth.

John the Baptist was the one who ushered Jesus Christ, the fulfilment of all that had come before, in. Truly there was no one who had gone before who was greater.

Think about how amazing this is. Don’t just skim over it. Actually think about this. John was the one who ushered in the fulfilment of all of human history.

But then Jesus continues by saying that the least in the Kingdom is greater than John.

The Least in the Kingdom is Greater than John.

Explanation:

Wait, What is Jesus saying here?

Jesus is saying that John was the greatest who had come before, but something greater was coming. Those who are after the cross and the resurrection are greater than John.

But we must be careful. We must look at what this is not saying.

This is not to say:

This is not to say that we are more devout or holy than John. Truly we have much to learn from the holiness of this great man. I would argue that none of us are as devout or holy as John was. John mortified sin. John’s entire existence was to point to Jesus.

This is not to say that John was not “saved” and we are. John was assuredly saved. He without a doubt was fully believing in Christ and trusting in the fulfilment of the promise. This is what saves people. It saved people then, it saved people now. John was saved.

This is not to say that we have nothing to learn from John. To say that we have nothing to exemplify or learn from John the Baptist is to ignore the clear weight and blessings Jesus here bestows upon John.

This is to say:

This is to say that we have seen the fulfilment of the promise. We are blessed and in a better place because we bear witness to the fulfilment of the promise and the establishment of the Church.

This is to say that the prophets and apostles who came after John were greater than he was. We would be remiss if we took this passage out of the context it is in. Jesus has just commissioned the Apostles to go and preach the kingdom of God, then commends John as the greatest of those who had gone before. We can see here that the Apostles were greater than John.

This is to say that those who teach and preach the gospel see the fulfilment of the Law and Prophets. We see a fuller picture than even the prophets did at their time.

1 Peter 1:10-12 says:

10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries,

11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.

Argumentation:

We looked at how amazing the gospel is until John’s day and how amazing it was that John was the one who announced Jesus, but let’s look at how amazing our standing is now.

Now that we are after the cross, we see the beauty and fulness of salvation. We have insight into so many more mysteries that those who were before the cross did not understand. Because of this, we see the fulfilment of so many of the prophesies they searched to understand.

We have the Holy Spirit within us to teach us and aid us in our sanctification. This alone is incredible! We have God within us! We are no longer under the burden of the Law for the Law has been fulfilled (not abolished) And because the Law is not abolished, we are able to build on the foundation of the Law and Prophets. This is likely what Jesus is talking about in verse 13.

13 “For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.”

Beyond this, the Gospel has gone out to the gentiles, giving us hope! We are gentiles and now we have hope of salvation too!

We have so many benefits now!

Jesus then transitions into a rebuke for the people who did not have an ear to hear. Jesus rebukes those who rejected John and Himself.

Jesus Rebukes Those Who Rejected John and Himself.

Explanation:

Listen to Matthew 11:16-19 again

16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children,

17 and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

18 “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’

19 “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Jesus starts by using an example of children in the marketplace. These children are upset because they played a flute and the other children did not dance, then they sang a dirge and the other children did not mourn. These children are rightly presented as foolish. They want dancing and mourning. They was joy and sadness.

This is what the people were like. They heard John’s bold and angry message about judgement and repentance and were angry. They saw John’s lifestyle of fasting and withholding of things from himself and they hated him. They were so angry they said he had a demon.

The people saw Jesus gathering with redeemed tax collectors and sinners and they were angry. They saw Jesus saving sinners. They saw Jesus eating and drinking and they hated Him. They were so angry they said He had a demon.

Argumentation:

Jesus in essence was saying that it was impossible to please people. When John preached harshly lived a life of lack, they rejected him. When Jesus preached with joy and lived a life of merriment, they rejected Him, calling Him a scoundrel and drunkard. The people were impossible to please.

And we can surely gather that this was likely at least in part aimed at the pharisees. The pharisees were the most vocal opposition to both John and Jesus. But it was likely much broader than this, because Jesus does not directly call out the pharisees.

But the point is clear. People are fickle and reject the truth. Clearly the message Jesus and John presented was true. Jesus Himself assures us in this passage that what John presented was true. Because of this we can clearly see that these two men were obviously not concerned with attracting people. People were calling them all kinds of names, even demon possessed. However, they continued to preach the truth.

In our day and age, Jesus and John would be known as anti-seeker sensitive preachers. Likely the current stock of pastors and church leaders would have been upset by the methods of Jesus and John. You can almost here the rebukes. “You know Jesus, if you just used this outreach tool, people wouldn’t hate you.” “Maybe lessen the talk of sin and judgement, then people would like you.” “Maybe don’t call out the religious corruption.” Maybe you shouldn’t witness in that part of town.” But Jesus and John would have openly rejected this talk as foolish.

They endured maligning and hatred. Ultimately they were both arrested and killed for their messages. But they never changed their messages. In our day, we hear so many strategies for how to attract people. It is good to find ways to impact people with the gospel. But we NEVER abandon the truth. We NEVER lessen the truth. We seldom hear about holding to the truth in spite of rejection and hatred. However, for Jesus and John, faithfulness was enough. The truth of the Gospel was enough.

Is it enough for us? Is it enough for us today? Is simply being faithful enough, or do we have to change the message of Jesus and John in order to be liked?

However, there are a few questions about this passage that many people have.

Questions:

What does it mean in verse 12 that “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force?”

Answer:

Option 1: People are violently coming to faith in Christ, and the people who are “kicking in the doors of kingdom” are not the type of people who would be expected to get saved.

Option 2: The gospel message is facing violent opposition from the pharisees and Rome.

I personally think option 1 is more likely the intended meaning because it fits better in the context of the passage and reflects what Jesus says later about the nature of the people Jesus is surrounded by. Whereas, I feel that option 2 does not fit as nicely in the context of the passage.

Despite this, either option or both options could be the meaning of this, because both are true.

Why does John the Baptist deny being Elijah in John 1:21?

Even though it is not directly part of this passage, people wonder why John the Baptist would deny being Elijah in John 1:21 only for Jesus to confirm him as Elijah in this passage.

John 1:21 21 They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he *said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

The Answer:

In short, the belief of that day was that since Elijah was taken up to heaven without dying, he would physically return to announce the messiah.

John was not the actual Elijah. He was John, not Elijah. He was the “Elijah” who was prophesied, as he himself says in the next two verses.

John 1:22-23

22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

23 He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Application:

But Where do go from here? Honestly There can be difficulty at times applying a passage like this to our lives. But I see three clear applications.

First, we should be like John the Baptist.

Be Like John the Baptist.

If Jesus puts such a high view on John, then we can be sure that there is much in him that we can emulate. John was a humble man. He was not prideful, he lived to make much of Christ. In the same way, we should make every effort to make much of Christ. I pray that we say every day “He must increase, but I must decrease.” just like John said.

I wish the Church was more concerned with decreasing in order to make much of Christ. Instead we seem to concerned with decreasing Christ so that we may increase.

John was also an preacher of the Gospel. I wish that we would be bold in proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. John did not shy away from preaching the gospel. Till his death he was proclaiming Jesus.

I hope that you look at this and you see how great John was and you learn from Him.

Second, we can be more concerned about the truth than about people’s rejection.

Be More Concerned About the Truth Than About People’s Rejection.

As I talked about earlier, Jesus and John were both rejected by people. Neither Jesus, not John changed their message in the slightest. They were more concerned about the truth than about people’s rejection.

However, I fear we have this backwards today. In our day and age, we are more concerned about people’s opinions than we are about the truth. You constantly hear the cries, “Don’t offend. Do whatever it takes to be loved. Disagreement equals hatred. Lie to keep relationships.” But we must never be like this. Jesus and John were clearly more concerned with the truth than they were with offending people.

We are to be gentle and loving, but we must NEVER compromise the truth. I fear we have a generation of spineless Christians who have no idea what they believe or even why they believe it. Lost are the days of understanding the faith. Often we throw away an growth in the faith in order to gain the ability to reach people.

We must reach people, but then what? Once they come to faith, then what? We must train them in the faith. I pray that we have a strong church. A church that will stand before councils and boldly proclaim the truth despite the consequences.

May people be utterly offended by what we say but never doubt for a moment that we love them. May we have a church that says things like;

“Since then your serene majesties and your lordships seek a simple answer, I will give it in this manner, plain and unvarnished: Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the scriptures or clear reason, for I do not trust in the Pope or in the councils alone, since it is well known that they often err and contradict themselves, I am bound to the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise. Here I stand. God help me. Amen.” Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms.

Heed the Message of Jesus John.

The clearest response however is that we should heed the message of Jesus and John.

Repent and be baptized. If you are not saved, I pray that you will heed the message that Jesus and John proclaimed. Turn away from your sin and turn to Jesus for salvation.

Whatever else you are trusting in is a false hope. The only hope is found in Jesus. You are a sinner. You have violated God’s holy law. Because of this, you deserve hell. But God in love has provided a way of salvation. Jesus came to die the death you deserve, in your place. If you trust in Him, you will be saved. Turn away from your sins. Abandon what you are trusting in, and trust in Christ. This is what repentance means.

Repent, believe that you cannot be saved. Believe that Jesus can save you. Then follow Him in physical obedience. Be baptized. If you have never followed in obedience to be baptized, then you need to obey Jesus and do so.

Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth.

As we close this message out, we are going to partake of communion together. Communion is a public confession that you are trusting in Jesus as your savior. We as Christians obey Jesus in taking the bread and the cup in remembrance of what Jesus did for us. This is an act reserved only for Christians, because only Christians truly can acknowledge Jesus’ lordship and death in our place.

Communion is an act of great peace and comfort for Christians. We believe that this is a physical and spiritual representation of Jesus’ death in our place. It is a physical reminder of Jesus’ death in our place. So we are going to take a few minutes to pray before partaking.

Today, I would ask that if you are saved, you bow your head and take a few moments to thank God for saving you. Ponder the beauty of the gospel, thank God for saving you.

Prayer:

Communion:

Matthew 26:26-29 says

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Closing prayer:

Closing Hymn:

Closing Benediction:

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 3

18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.