Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: I don't have the heart to leave Good Friday on a sad note because this is not the first Good Friday. It happened 2,000 years ago. We know exactly what happened three days later. And we have the joy to worship knowing how this thing ends. And so we are prepping ourselves to for Easter.
But what I love is that every Sunday is Easter Sunday. This is just the one where we have a lot more people.
And so we have the privilege to celebrate the fact that our God, he is not dead. He's not some dead Jewish guy 2000 years ago rotting in the ground. No, he is alive. I know what you're gonna say. He has risen. He is risen indeed. We're not a cult, I promise. That is a very, very multi century long tradition in the Christian church. At the end of our services we ask a simple question.
What is your next step? And if you are here and you're a believer in Jesus, your next step is, is to savor and enjoy what God has done for you and Jesus Christ. It is to worship him, it is to honor him, it is to repent of the sin that we committed that put him there and to grow more and more in our relationship with God. If you're, if you're here and you are like, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do with Jesus, I don't know what I believe. Maybe your next step is to ask some really hard, poignant questions. Whatever your next step is, we would love just to encourage you take your next step and, and your relationship with God. I think for most of us our next step is we are gonna plan to be here on Sunday morning at 8 o', clock, 9:30 or 11, or all three if you really want to. And we are gonna worship together. I have one quick word. If you are like a regular attender at Village Church, this is your home.
If it is possible, park at the metro lot and it's not gonna rain. Fingers crossed. But it's not gonna rain so far, God willing. Might be a little chilly, so bring something warm. But we have so many visitors that come and parking is just a chall and so if you're able, you can park out there. There'll be a lot of space and it is a two minute walk. Can we do it? Amen. And if you can't park it, it's fine. Like nobody's going to judge you if you park our parking lot. Please do. But I want to close and I want to read to you from John 3, 16 and 17 for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Amen. Village church. Amen. Thank you for worshiping with us, and we'll see.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: You.
[00:05:29] Speaker C: Sa.
It.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Sa.
[00:11:19] Speaker C: It's.
Ra.
You.
Sa.
It.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: Sa.
It.
[00:32:54] Speaker B: Good evening, Village Church.
Good evening. My name is Draybo Hennon. I'm the worship pastor here.
We are blessed to worship with you tonight for our Good Friday service. This evening, our whole goal is to turn our eyes to Jesus, and we want to do that and remember what he did for us at the cross. We want to do that through singing, through reading of scripture, and through teaching. And so I'd like to start our evening off with a reading from Matthew.
And Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray.
And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
Then he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me.
And going a little further, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.
And he said to Peter, so could you not watch with me one hour?
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, my Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.
And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
So leaving them. Again he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
Then he came to the disciples and said to them, sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Rise. Let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.
While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve. And with him a great crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the elders of the people.
Now, the betrayer had given them a sign saying, the one I will kiss is the man sees him. And he came up to Jesus at once and said, greetings, Rabbi. And he kissed him.
Jesus said to him, friend, do what you came to do.
Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and Seized him.
Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus said, you have said so.
But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how many things they testify against you?
But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, which of the two do you want me to release for you? And they said, barabbas.
Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?
They all said, let him be crucified.
And he said, why, what evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, let him be crucified.
So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of this man's blood. See to it yourselves, if you're able. Would you stand with us as we worship?
Sing.
[00:36:41] Speaker C: When I survey When I survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory
[00:37:08] Speaker D: died
[00:37:11] Speaker C: My richest gain I count but lost and pour contempt on all my pride.
See from his head.
Sorrow and love flow me Go down did such love in sorrow me O thorns come po so rich all the crown.
Where the whole realm were the whole realm of nature.
That were an all.
To spoil Demons my soul, my life, my own Demeans my soul Demons my soul, my life, my own.
[00:39:56] Speaker B: See what can wash
[00:39:59] Speaker C: what can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus what can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus oh, precious, O precious is the floor that makes me white as snow no other fountain Nothing but the blood of Jesus Jesus.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
[00:41:11] Speaker B: You may be seated.
[00:41:15] Speaker D: Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters.
And they gathered the whole battalion before him.
And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand.
And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, hail, king of the Jews.
And they spit on him the reed and struck him on the head.
And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
As it was said by the prophet Isaiah. He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and Acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed.
[00:42:53] Speaker C: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look all in him, his wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
Turn your eyes to the.
There. The Son of God gave his life for us and our measure this dead was amazed.
Eyes upon Jesus, look for in his wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strange in the light of his glory and praise.
And the things of earth will grow strange in the light of his glory.
And.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him.
When they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
And Jesus said, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they cast lots to divide his garments.
And the people stood by watching. But the rulers scoffed at him, saying, he saved others. Let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the chosen one.
The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, if you're the King of the Jews, save yourself.
There is also an inscription over him, Quote, this is the King of the Jews, end quote. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us.
But the other rebuked him, saying, do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds. But this man, he has done nothing wrong.
And he said, jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
And he, Jesus, said to him, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise. Let's pray together.
Father, on this Good Friday, we remember that you so love the world that you gave your only son, that whosoever would believe in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus, we remember that you willingly went to the cross. You willingly suffered. You willingly died. You endured the wrath that should have been on our body and our soul and our emotions.
Father, we also lament it was our sin that required the shedding of Jesus blood. It was our punishment that Jesus endured. And so, Father, we also stand in awe and gratitude. Somehow the shed blood of the God man was so potent it could cover the sins of any and all who would trust in you. So would you remind us anew this evening of your love for each one of us most beautifully and most clearly seen, and the death and the resurrection of your beloved son, Jesus. We pray all of this and we do it in Jesus name. Amen. Village church.
Amen.
Well, my name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the village church and I say this every week, but I really, truly mean it. It is my honor, it is my joy. It is my privilege to be able to encourage you from God's word.
So Good Friday is a little bit different than most of our school.
Good Friday is what we would call a communion service. Now, there are a bunch of kids in the room, and a bunch of moms and dads are thinking in this moment, do I let my kids partake in communion toward the end of the service? And I just want to give you a little bit of a rubric, and I want to encourage you. So for all the kids in the room, your mom, your dad, your parent, your guardian, whoever you are with that has oversight of you, they get to make the decision. They're in control.
Amen. Moms and dads, Amen. All right, good. And so here's how we think about it. Communion is for those who have personally trusted in Jesus. And one of the things I love about the gospel is that it is so simple that even a kid can understand it. And so moms and dads, I want you to just think about your kids.
Have they made a profession of faith? Do they believe that they are a sinner? Have they trusted in Jesus? Have they asked him to forgive their sins? Do they believe he died for their sins and was raised from the dead? And moms and dads, you know this better than anyone. And maybe these are conversations you haven't had yet. And so you can look at your kids and say, hey, we're not going to partake of communion, but we're going to talk about this later when we get home. And guess what? We celebrate communion every Sunday for the most part. And so if that's something that you guys decide you want to do, you can come back any Sunday if you mom and dad have a strong clarity that they have trusted in Jesus. Sound good? Ville Church.
Awesome. All right, good. So one of the most basic questions in Christianity, it's also one of the questions that for most people is really difficult to Answer. It goes like this.
Why did Jesus have to die?
I've asked this question to a whole bunch of people, and. And if you're, like, a true Christian, like, you really believe in the good news of Jesus Christ, you believe in what he did, like, you know, but sometimes we have a really hard time giving vocabulary to some of the most important things. And so there are kind of two groups of people here in the room. The first group, you know who you are. You grew up in church. You're used to church language. You're used to Christianese. And so when a pastor or somebody puts a question like this I on the screen, why did Jesus have to die? Jesus died for your sins. Jesus died on the cross. Like, this doesn't, like, rock your world. You don't look at this question with any kind of level of confusion. But there are another kind of group of people who often are actually walking through the doors of Village Church. And maybe you're here because a friend or a family member or your loving mother pleaded with you to be here. And so you're here out of kindness and grace to her.
Maybe you didn't grow up with any kind of church, any kind of, like, lingo. You didn't go to a youth group. You didn't go to a vbs, you didn't go to Awana growing up. Even as I say Awana, you're like, what's that? And what's vbs? And really, your idea of, like, pastors in the Bible is like Ned Flanders from the Simpsons or something like that. Welcome to my life. This is what I have to overcome. When I meet a lot of people, they think that's what it means to be a pastor. Pastor or something.
But for you, like, you wake up on Sunday mornings and you have no guilt for sleeping in. It doesn't even cross your mind, like, maybe I should go to church. And like, you just. You don't even think about it. You have a sports game on Sunday morning, you go there, and it doesn't even cross your mind. Like, oh, maybe we should go to church. Or, like, the idea that you would give a percentage of your income as a tithe to the church, like, doesn't even cross your mind. In fact, when that does, you think that is really dumb. Why would anybody actually ever do that? And so when you read a question like this, why did Jesus have to die? Like, on so many levels, this does not make any sense to you. Let me just illustrate this, all right?
Have you ever sat and listened to a group of guys play Strategy board games.
You know those games where people sit for hours and hours and hours and hours and there's like, sometimes there's dice and there's cards and there's characters, etc. And then have you ever just listened to them talk? And it's complete nonsense. Okay, so I'm going to read to you what would be a normal conversation from one of the most popular strategy board games. And here's the challenge. Don't say out loud what it is like after the service if you know this board game. Game, come talk to me. Okay, Quote, you cannot put the robber on my eight or again. You traded him two sheep for a brick five minutes ago just so he could build the longest road before my turn. Look, if you wanted wheat, you should have settled for better numbers instead of begging for a 3 for 1 port trade every round.
I hear that and I'm like, what in God's grace just happened? Some of you heard that and you're like, I know exactly what he's talking about. And that was a bad move. I shouldn't have done that.
This is what Christianese or the gospel sound like to so many people who don't have any exposure to church or to the Bible or to sermons. And so here's what I want to do this evening. What I want to do is I want to answer this question, and I want to answer it as simply as I possibly can.
And I want to answer it in a way that if you are 5 years old or you are 95 years old or older than that, you can remember it. So I want to give you two simple answers that really do get to the heart of why Good Friday is not bad Friday.
Two answers that you can give away to someone else so that they can understand. Okay, what is this whole Jesus had to die on the cross thing all about?
The first answer is this. Why did Jesus have to die? It's very simply, Jesus died. Two words here for sin.
Unfortunately, in our cultural moment, the word sin is one of those words that is not heavy enough.
It does not carry the weight of the word. And so for most of us, when we think of sin, we think of it's probably not the right thing to do, but it's actually like, not that big of a deal. Okay? So I want you to check out this picture.
When you see this picture, what should you do?
Run really fast. Okay. This is called the trefoil radiation warning symbol, and it is the international symbol for radiation danger. Now I would like to read to you a true story. This is from history.com and this is one of those stories that you might have a nightmare about. Here we go. In late 1985, a private radiotherapy clinic in Guayana, Brazil, shut down and moved. And the institute left behind a cesium 137 teletherapy unit for cancer treatment. But it did not notify licensing authorities about the abandoned technology.
Fast forward two years. September 1987, two scavengers broke into the abandoned institute looking for scrap metal. They found the radiotherapy machine, which had text and warning symbols on it, but they didn't understand it.
They dismantled part of the machine and removed a valuable looking stainless steel canister, which they brought home.
That evening, the two men began vomiting, but assumed their illness was due to something they ate.
Two days later, medical providers diagnosed the diarrhea, dizziness, and hand swelling as an allergic reaction to food.
While one of the men rested, the other worked to take apart the canister. A few days later, he succeeded in prying open the container and removing a ruptured lead capsule, which he then quickly sold to a local junkyard owner. That evening, the junkyard owner noticed a blue glow emanating from the capsule in his garage. He brought it into his house, thinking the pretty powdery substance inside the capsule, radioactive cesium chloride, might be valuable or even supernatural.
Over the next few days, the junkyard owner and his wife admired the phosphorescent substance and shared it with family and friends and neighbors. People rubbed the glowing powder on their skin, allowed children to play with it and pass fragments between households. They even sold pieces of the capsule to another junkyard, further spreading the contamination.
Those who handled the cesium powder quickly fell ill with nausea, vomiting, skin lesions, hair loss, and multiple other systems. All in 249 people showed significant signs of contamination.
Dozens received treatment. Four died from the exposure, including the junkyard owner's wife, their six year old niece, and two of the junkyard employees.
What? So in 2007, smarter people than us decided we should probably come up with a new picture that brings a bit more clarity. Because this is not the only story. Multiple stories like this have happened over the last few decades. So here is the new image, and I think it is much better.
So if you see this run, I think this is far more effective.
Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's not true.
It also doesn't mean it's not dangerous. You could look at this sign and go, I'm impervious. Doesn't matter what you think, because if you Go near something with this sign on it, you'll realize you're going to lose when it's you versus radiation.
So culturally, when people hear the word sin, it carries no weight. And one of the things that the scriptures are just so clear on is that sin is profoundly dangerous.
I want to read one part of one verse. It's from Romans 6:23. And I want you to just sit on this for a moment.
The wages of sin is what?
Death.
The consequences of sin. When you participate in sin, death is the result.
In fact, you can't party with sin, you can't engage sin and not have death be the inevitable result. The consequences for sin is both spiritual and physical death. Spiritual death, immediately, physical death.
Inevitably, sin is dangerous not simply because it kills. Sin is dangerous because sin is a violation of God's eternal laws. I don't know if you've ever considered it like this, but sin is illegal, okay? Not maybe in the American court system, but in the divine court system, the ultimate court system, the ultimate court system by which every human alive will stand accountable. Sin is illegal, okay? What would you say about a judge who just lets people break the law and then get off scot free?
If it's you, you're pretty pumped. But if it's the person you hate, you're like, you're gonna scream injustice.
And the whole system in America, like, hinges on judges acting justly according to just laws. And yet somehow people have it in their minds that when I sin and do something illegal in God's eternal court, that somehow he is supposed to just say, ah, no big deal, okay? If we would freak out and lose our minds at an earthly judge who doesn't uphold the law, why would we think that the holy, righteous, good, sovereign Judge of the universe is not going to be just and uphold the eternal divine laws?
And so here's what we find very quickly here. We find that this, like every person's sin will be judged by the just judge and will be dealt with, with accordingly. And then people have this notion and sometimes they'll, they'll ask this like, well, can I just pay for my own sin? Like, why do I need Jesus to pay for my sin? And to that response to that, I respond, you can pay for your own sin.
The problem is that the only way that you can pay for your sin is in hell.
You might say, I don't believe in hell. It doesn't matter if you believe in hell.
It doesn't matter if you believe in radiation. Things are real. Whether or not you believe in it or you.
And so if you come to village church, you hear this quite a bit, maybe you're new, but we want to be really clear. Every sin will be paid for. And there are one of two options. Either you pay for your sin and hell, or Jesus pays for it on the cross. I don't know about y'.
[01:01:17] Speaker C: All.
[01:01:17] Speaker A: I'm not interested in hell. I am interested in believing in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and having him pay for my sins on the cross. And so here's the question. Why did Jesus have to die for sin?
For your sin.
For my sin.
As a payment for sin. Jesus died to pay for your sin. Because you and I, we do not have the ability nor the resources to do it yourself.
Like, if you had the resources, the ability to pay for your own sin, I would tell you, go figure it out. Here's what you should do to go pay for your sin.
The problem is that in the divine court, the ultimate court, the only court that actually matters, at the end of the day, there are two options. Jesus, blood or hell.
And the reason we call this good news is because God is offering every single person on the planet freedom from hell, that Jesus would be the payment for their sins if they would believe in the good news of Jesus Christ. That's not the whole story.
If all you do is tell somebody Jesus died for sin, like, yeah, that's good news. But there's even kind of better news to this.
There's a second reason.
Jesus, he died for love.
I don't think there are any messages more powerful than when somebody gets this principle for the first time. Time that the God who made you, designed you, formed your DNA, created a personality and put it into a soul, into that body.
The God who, literally every breath you take, it is a gift from him, that, that the God who has designed you and created you and put you where you're at loves you you, wants to bless you, wants to pour into you, wants to encourage you, wants to tell you the truth. Like, we've all got a bunch of bad friends who never tell us the truth and we need those truth telling friends.
God, he'll actually tell you what is real and true. He will call sin sin. He will call things for what they are. He is honest, he is good. And I think most people would love, would love to know that the God who made them, loves them, wants a relationship with them and is wanting what is best for them and to bless them. And this is one of the things I love about Good Friday is that we get to Tell people, listen, the thing that broke your relationship with God, your sin, my sin. Jesus on the cross, he has bridged that gap. He has made it so that you can have forgiveness.
And he loves you. He didn't just go to the cross because he was bored or because he's like, fine, Father, I'll go to the cross for these losers. That's not how it went down.
I want to read to you a couple of scriptures. And what I want you to do for this first one is I want you to just kind of slow your brain down for a moment.
You know this scripture, You've heard it a hundred times, maybe a thousand, maybe more. But I want you to just soak in for a moment God's love for you.
It's John 3:16 for God. So. And what's that word?
Loved the world that he gave his only son.
I love this, that whoever believes in him. And this is interesting, there's no contingent on this, like, you could be the worst human who has ever lived. Whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved.
Why did Jesus die? For love and for sin. It is that simple. Now I want to read a few more scriptures. But what I want to ask you to do is I want to ask you to read these scriptures with me. Ephesians 5:25. Let's read together.
Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her for love and for sin.
Romans 5:8. Let's read together.
But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us for love and for sin. 1 John 4:9.
In this, the love of God was made manifest among us. That God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through him for love and for sin.
Lastly, Galatians chapter 2.
I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God. Here it is, who loved me and gave himself for me, for love and for sin. And this is the wonderful news of Good Friday, the sin that separated you from God. Jesus died for sin. And Jesus died because he loves you. He did not just make you and abandon you. He has come to resolve every single thing that stands between you and a real, forever, genuine relationship with Himself. All right, so at the end of our messages at village church, when we get to the end we end with what's called so what's. Good job, you guys. Listen, I appreciate that.
And this is so we can kind of bring home the message and make it as practical as we can. Here's the first so what Good Friday reminds us that we must stop trying to pay for our own sin.
Stop relying on your baptism, stop relying on your church attendance, stop relying on your religious activity, stop relying on the cross your fingers, hope that God's just going to overlook it and it's going to be no big deal. He's not a corrupt judge.
There is one acceptable payment for sin, only one, and it is the blood of Christ. And if you reject that, then you will have to pay for your sin and hell. And that is not God's desire. Nor, and I want you to hear me, nor is it necessary because God has taken the initiative to say, I've done the work. Will you now own your sin and be in a relationship with me? Here's so what number two, Good Friday forces us to ask, have I personally received God's payment for sin and his love for me as we come to communion? I said this at the beginning, but I want to reiterate this.
Communion is for Christians. It's not for people who don't believe in Jesus.
And you might be wondering, should I partake of communion?
Maybe you don't go to church here. Maybe you're visiting, Maybe you have a different church. And most people do. They want to be respectful of the church that they're at. And so I want to help you answer this question. Should I take communion?
We are not concerned when it comes to communion, what church you go to. Our primary concern is whether or not you are a Christian, whether or not you have personally trusted in Christ. And so here are some simple questions.
And if you can, with a clear conscience, affirm these.
We want to invite you to partake of communion with us to celebrate Good Friday.
Can you affirm this?
I am a sinner.
You know, some people can't affirm that. Like, they don't believe in sin. They don't. I mean, can you. Can you step back and say, I am a sinner. I've sinned against God.
Have you personally apologized to God and asked him for forgiveness? Like, have you ever just gone to him and said, I. I need your forgiveness. I have sinned. Forgive me and save me.
Okay, have. Have you made Jesus your God? Do you know that you can believe Jesus is God, but he can, like, not be your God? For example, Satan. Satan believes Jesus is God, but Satan doesn't worship God.
Is Jesus your God? Have you. Have you given him your allegiance? Not only have you said, forgive me because I don't want to go to hell, but like Jesus, you're my God. You're the only God that I'm going to worship.
Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and was raised from the dead?
Have you stopped trying to earn your salvation, but you believe God and take him at his word when he says it's finished, all the work has been accomplished by Christ. You don't need to add anything to the this. Like, for many of you in this room, you hear all of those statements and you say, amen. Absolutely. I'm definitely a sinner. I've sinned before God. I have asked God to forgive me. Personally, I believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and he is my God. Like, I am not trying to earn my way to heaven. Like, I'm receiving the gift of God that he has given me through Jesus Christ.
If that is you, then communion is for you.
It doesn't matter where you go to church. Now, in any kind of service like this, there's three kinds of people.
The first kind are the ones who believe that you know who you are.
The second kind are those who you have not trusted in Christ.
One or all of the statements that I just made, you personally don't affirm. And you're like, yep, I'm not there. I'm here because, like, try to be polite to somebody. I'm here because I'm curious, but definitely not a Christian. And so my encouragement to you is, do not partake of communion. Nobody's gonna look at you, nobody's gonna judge you. Nobody's gonna condemn you.
Communion, when you partake of it, is a personal declaration of belief and conviction.
So by partaking of communion, you are saying, I'm a sinner. Jesus is my God. I believe in his life, death, and resurrection. And so if you're not there yet, first of all, we're just really glad you're here. Like, every single Sunday, there's a bunch of people who are not Christians who come to village church. Some of them are stuck. They're going with their parents. Some are here because they're curious. Some are here because they like the people.
And so, like, we love you. We're glad you're here. And if you ever want to take a next step, if you ever have questions that you want to pursue, I don't care how hard they are, it would be our joy to engage in your questions, wherever you're at, at spiritually. But if you're here and you're just like, yep, nice try, Pastor. Not for me. I just want to ask. You don't partake of communion. There's a third group of people. You walked into this room and you probably realize, like, you're not a Christian, maybe you're a cultural Christian, but, like, you know, Jesus, like, isn't your God, right? And then as you heard me preached, you realized that your sin has separated you from God. And maybe you're here right now and you're like, I don't know why, but. But, like, I have never gone to God and personally apologize and ask him to forgive me and save me. And, like, right now, I know that I need to do that. I'm not going to make you raise your hand, run up here, and make a spectacle of you. What I want to ask you to do is we're going to have a time of silence here in just a little bit. I want to just encourage you, talk to God, apologize to him. There is no special mantra that you have to say, be honest with him. And here's what I just love about what the Word teaches about our God.
That anybody who, like, sincerely asks him for forgiveness and to save them, his answer is going to be yes. Like, he's not. Like, I don't think you were good enough. Like, if you are sorry for your sins and believe that Jesus died for your sins and was raised from the dead and you really want him to forgive you, I just love this. His answer is always going to be 100%. Absolutely. Let's go. You are once for all, all and forever forgiven.
Here's what I want to encourage you to do. We have a time of silence, and then we're going to sing. And then after the song, we're going to actually partake of a bread and juice together.
If you want to trust in Christ for the very first time, I want to encourage you to partake. And this partaking might be your first declaration that you are making Jesus your God, that you have asked him to save you and to forgive you, that you believe that he died for your sins and was raised from the dead and that he loves you. And if that is a decision that you want to make, I just want to encourage you, partake of communion and then find someone, find somebody that you know as a Christian and tell them, come and talk to one of us up front. And we would just love to encourage you and to help you figure out, like, okay, what does this mean that I have now made a decision to follow Jesus. And we would love to encourage you. So here's kind of how we do things. In just a moment. Moment. You're going to have a time of silence. It's time to pray, to confess, to thank God. And then we're going to sing. And if you haven't gotten the bread and the juice yet, while we're singing, I want to invite any of you. You can stand up. They are over at the corner to my left, the corner to my right. And then they're also between the double doors, right in the back. It is not unusual or weird if you get up in the middle of a song, go grab the elements. And what I want to ask you to do is hold on to them until the end. End of the song. At the end of the song, I'm going to come back up and then I'm going to read some scripture and we're going to partake together. Sound good? So let's have a time of silence and reflection and talking to the Lord.
Father, I want to thank you that you love us so measurably, so deeply that you have given your son to die for our sins.
Thank you that you did this for sin, to resolve the sin issue that we cannot resolve ourself. And you did this because you love us and you want relationship with us.
Lord, it is our absolute privilege to partake of communion, to worship you and to remember what you have done.
You resolve the problem that no human being on earth could resolve.
Father, I thank you that salvation is not through good works. It's not through ritual, it's not through sacrament. It is through faith, through belief in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And so, God, we celebrate and we thank you and we love you. And Lord, for those of those who are here, who they just don't know what to do with you yet, would you, with overwhelming power, clarity, reveal the truth of who Jesus is?
Would you reveal not just who he is, but how much God, you love them so that it is undeniable and unmistakable? And so, God, we love you and we worship you. Now we do this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
