Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] All right, Happy Fourth of July.
[00:00:08] How do you say that? Yeah, Happy Fourth. I was like, how do you actually respond? Hey, I've never met you. My name is Michael Feueling. I'm the lead pastor here, and I want to invite you to open your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 14.
[00:00:21] Last week, we launched our summer series called the Questions of Jesus. And we're just beginning to see that Jesus is the master at getting to the deepest parts of the heart through perfectly designed questions. So on the front end of this message, here's what I wanna do. I wanna tell you the question that Jesus asks. We're going to answer it right away, and then we're gonna spend the rest of our time in Matthew 14 really trying to come to grips with the answer. All right, so what is our question? This morning, Jesus asks Peter, why did you doubt?
[00:00:59] Why did you doubt? Now, in Greek and in English, doubt can mean a few different things.
[00:01:04] There are three, I think, very helpful Greek words for doubt, and they all have a little bit of a different nuance. And so here's the first one. The first one you might find if you're a Greek scholar reading your Greek New Testament, is apostia, describing the unbelieving skeptic. And so the person that has this kind of doubt, they might say something like this, I do not trust this or Jesus as true, and I refuse to entrust my.
[00:01:31] This would be the unbelieving skeptic. This is not the word that Jesus used. The second Greek word is diachrino, describing the worldly straddler.
[00:01:42] This person might say, I'm divided between two paths. I know what's right, Jesus, but I'm wavering whether or not I'm gonna choose it. This, too, is not the Greek word that Jesus uses for doubt. He uses a different word. He uses the word distazo. And this describes the struggling believer, this person who's experiencing this kind of doubt. They might say something like this, I know what is true, but I am struggling to stand on it right now. So when Jesus asked Peter this question, Peter is not an unbelieving skeptic. He's not like kind of a worldly person straddling, trying to figure out, am I gonna follow Jesus or not?
[00:02:27] No. Peter is a struggling believer who's struggling to stand emotionally on what he actually knows to be true. So let me just ask you a question as you kind of watch this text unfold.
[00:02:41] When is the last time that you were put into a circumstance that emotionally felt bigger than Jesus?
[00:02:51] I am not. I'm not asking theologically what you need to be true. You know, theologically, Jesus is bigger than any circumstance you could be in Amenville Church, I am asking, when was the last time that your body and your emotions were pulling you away from what your mind knew to be true about who Jesus is?
[00:03:13] All right, so let's answer the question. Why did I doubt?
[00:03:18] I doubted because Jesus put me in over my head.
[00:03:22] That's probably not the answer you were thinking, but I want to show you this. Matthew 14. It's one of those texts that has blessed Christians for 2,000 years with theological vocabulary for situations that are bigger than my ability to handle. Situations that cause me to struggle emotionally with God's goodness, with God's sovereignty in my life, really specifically, situations that kind of take my faith, my confidence, my trust in Jesus, and, like, bring it to its limits. We use the word now from Matthew 14 to describe this as a storm.
[00:04:00] A storm is anything Jesus uses to expose the limits of my faith so that he can deepen my confidence in him. So as we study Matthew 14, here's what I want to do. I want to make this as practical as possible. I want to share with you eight unchanging storm truths. For you note takers, we're gonna have eight points. Here we go. And two. So what's. Now, all of these will not equally apply to all of you right now, but my guess is one of these or two of them you're gonna need so you can reframe or frame correctly a past storm. Some of you are in something right now, and you need one or two of these to ground you in reality. Some of you, your lives are incredible. Like, life could not be better. Well, just wait, because you're gonna need some good doctrine before the storms come. Amen. For everyone else whose life is not perfect right now. Good. Awesome. And most of you are like, I'm eight.
[00:04:55] What could possibly be wrong in life? You're like, wait till you're 10. No. All right, storm truth number one.
[00:05:01] Jesus either allowed or sent you into this storm. Matthew chapter 14. We'll start in verse 22.
[00:05:08] Immediately. He, Jesus, look at this. Made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. Okay, there are so many things going on here, and I'm gonna focus our time on the things relevant to doubt and storms. Did Jesus know a storm was coming? The answer is yes.
[00:05:33] Here's what this means.
[00:05:35] This storm came not because the disciples did something wrong, but because they were in the middle of obeying Jesus. So some storms happen because we are foolish and sinful. Amen.
[00:05:50] Some storms happen because other people around us are foolish and sinful. Some storms happen just because we live in a fallen world. And sometimes Jesus will intentionally send you and me right into the middle of the chaos of, of the storm.
[00:06:04] Storm truth number two. We're gonna fly through these eight notes. Good. Despite what you feel and the chaos around you, Jesus sees you struggling. Look at verse 23. I think this will surprise most of us.
[00:06:20] And after he, Jesus, had dismissed the crowds, he'd already sent them in the boat. He went up on the mountain by himself to pray. If you ever want some of the emotional context, read earlier in John Matthew chapter 14. Jesus had just the day before learned that his cousin and beloved friend was executed for public entertainment. And all he's been trying to do is get away to pray. And the crowds keep finding him. So Jesus is like, you guys go to the other side crowds. You go away. And Jesus needs to spend time with the Father because he is in deep, deep emotional grief.
[00:06:51] Now it says this.
[00:06:53] When evening came. And I need you to mark this time in your brain.
[00:06:57] When is evening between 3 and 6pm when evening came, He, Jesus, was there, alone, finally gets to pray. But the boat by this time was a long way away from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And Mark tells the same story. And he clarifies what Matthew implies. Let me show you what mark says. Mark 6:48. Indeed, Jesus saw that they were making headway. What's that word?
[00:07:28] Painfully.
[00:07:30] For the wind was against them. Look at the word saw. Jesus saw the disciples struggling in the storm. And do you know what Jesus did when he saw them struggling in the storm?
[00:07:43] Nothing at all.
[00:07:45] The best we know is that he's praying, trying to come to grips with the murder and public execution beheading of John the Baptist.
[00:07:52] And here they are, he's like, ah, they're struggling. Got it. Good. And I want you to remember, okay. What time was it that they started struggling? Evening. It was 3 to 6pm okay, just keep that in your brain. Storm truth number three.
[00:08:04] If Jesus has not intervened in your storm, it's on purpose. Verse 25 jumps forward in time some hours.
[00:08:12] Now it says, and in the fourth watch of the night.
[00:08:16] This is 3 to 6am in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking in the sea. I don't do math well, so I double and triple check this, but can we do some math together?
[00:08:30] Do you know how long Jesus waited After seeing that they were painfully struggling to get up and walk toward them between nine and 12 hours.
[00:08:44] What?
[00:08:45] I don't know about you, but, like, I want my Jesus to, like, show up stat.
[00:08:53] And you see this when you just read about the character of Jesus, like, he's not apathetic to their situation.
[00:09:00] Jesus knows something that these boys in the boat don't know. He sees something that they cannot see. So what are some things that Jesus sees that the disciples probably don't have eyes to see in the middle of the chaos? Well, Jesus sees the coming crucifixion and the absolutely impossible challenges these young men are gonna have to face in, like, probably less than a year.
[00:09:24] Jesus sees that the Jews are conspiring to kill them and that each of these young men will be slandered, hunted, and most of them are gonna be murdered for their affiliation with Jesus.
[00:09:34] Jesus sees that after the resurrection, these spiritual kids are gonna have to take the good news and the message of Jesus on all over the world. Jesus sees that the demonic realm will exhaust them and push them to their physical, emotional, and spiritual limits while they are bringing the gospel to the end of the earth. Jesus sees that they are going to spend some of them years in prison being beaten and berating and standing before the most powerful people on the planet representing Jesus. And all the disciples can see are wind and waves.
[00:10:06] But Jesus knows that there is something more pressing than them feeling safe right now.
[00:10:14] What Jesus understands is that these young men need to be pushed to their limits to prepare them, to make them stronger for what is most certainly going to happen.
[00:10:27] Storm truth number four. Storms expose and they correct bad theology. Have you ever noticed bad theology in the middle of, like, really difficult situations? Well, you're in good company. Verse 26.
[00:10:38] When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and they said, it's a ghost, and they cried out in fear. Okay, do the Jews believe in ghosts? No, they don't. There's all this folklore around the sea because a lot of people died in the sea. And so you could call this like, some version of like, bad fisherman folklore and what comes out of them in this moment. But they're terrible theology that, that they got from essentially the secular world. And sometimes you don't know the residue of some of your old spiritual habits until you're in the thick of it. Let me illustrate this for you. Like, over half of our church we've shared this with you are ex Catholics, and I want you ex Catholics just to think about this for a moment, okay? You are like, you just did something really dumb. You have sinned big, but you are repentant. But back when you were a Catholic, what would you have done? You'd go to confession and the priest would give you some Hail Marys to do, and then you would go do those, and you'd be magically absolved from your sin by doing these things and. But now you know better. You're covered by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.
[00:11:41] But you're in the middle of a storm and you're overwhelmed, and you find yourself going back into that old drawer, grabbing that old rosary. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. I grow Catholic. Yes.
[00:11:53] And sometimes. Sometimes storms expose the old lies and spiritual baggage that need to be put back into the drawer, thrown in the trash, and you don't even know it's there until you're in the thick of it. And so sometimes when you're in the storm, it's God's way of saying, hey, there's some old habits and patterns you haven't broke yet. And we're gonna put these to rest once and for all. Storm truth number five.
[00:12:17] The safest place to be in a storm is 100% in the presence of Jesus.
[00:12:22] Verse 27 says this immediately. Jesus spoke to them, saying, take heart, relax, it is I.
[00:12:30] Do not be afraid. So, in case you were wondering, was it a ghost? No.
[00:12:35] Let me tell you what you're about to see so you can kind of adjust your own expectations when you are in your next storm.
[00:12:47] Jesus presence in a storm doesn't always erase the emotion of fear, but it does put it in its rightful place.
[00:12:59] I cannot tell you how many times I've experienced deep fear. And my response was to spend sometimes days in prayer and fasting, bringing it before the Lord.
[00:13:10] And there have been enough times where do you know? It didn't go away any of my fear, but what it did is it empowered me to do what is right, not what I feel.
[00:13:23] And when it comes to storms, I don't know about y', all, my feelings lie, lie, lie. Like their pants are on fire.
[00:13:31] They make the storm way bigger than Jesus and Jesus way smaller than the storm. And if my feelings were to win the day, I would live in a state of anxiety and fear because my feelings tell me that Jesus is too small. But here's what I know.
[00:13:48] I know that Jesus is sovereign over storms and there is nothing he cannot do. If the dude can walk on water, Is there anything the man cannot do?
[00:13:57] Storm truth number six, if you will ask, Jesus will invite you past the limits of your faith. Verse 28. Peter answered him, lord, if it is you. It's interesting, in the Greek language, if and since are the same word. So it could be, I think, probably a little bit easier to understand since it's you like, confidence, it's you command me to come on the water.
[00:14:21] And I just. I want you to see this because I think Peter gets a really bad rap here. But I want you to. I want you to notice what Peter does not ask Jesus to do. He does not look at Jesus and say, please end this storm.
[00:14:34] He also doesn't accuse Jesus. He doesn't say, if you loved me, you would have never sent me into this storm.
[00:14:43] What does Peter do?
[00:14:46] Peter asks Jesus if he can come closer to him.
[00:14:52] Because what Peter saw in that moment was the boat was not the safest place to be. The safest place to be was in the presence of Jesus, who clearly was emotionally unmoved by the chaos, unaffected by the water and the waves. And so Peter's in the boat and he's like, I don't wanna be in here. I wanna be over where you're at. Because wherever you're at is the absolute, safest and best place to be. The problem was not that Peter had no faith. Do you guys see the faith that Peter had just to do this and to take the step onto the water? Peter had awesome faith. I love Peter's faith. Here's the problem. His faith wasn't strong enough yet. Yet to endure being murdered one day.
[00:15:34] And so what Jesus knows is that. Listen, I'm not here to criticize your faith. I'm just saying you're not ready yet for what is absolutely, certainly going to come your way. Verse 29. Here's how Jesus answered Peter's question. He said, come. So Peter got out of the boat, he walked on water. He came to Jesus.
[00:15:52] But when he, Peter, when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried out, lord, save me. Even in the middle of his sinking, he knew the source of salvation was Jesus and Jesus alone. Nah, I gotta get back to the boat.
[00:16:09] Pastor Michael, are you trying to tell me that Jesus will command me to do something that he knows I don't have the faith to do?
[00:16:20] Yes.
[00:16:23] Are you telling me, Pastor Michael, that Jesus is gonna call me to do something that he knows I will fail at?
[00:16:33] Yeah, for sure. Welcome to following Jesus.
[00:16:37] Come with me. I can't.
[00:16:40] Yeah, you're Right. We can. I'll fall. I'll pick you up.
[00:16:45] This idea that Jesus only, like, gets you a little bit out of your comfort zone, only pushes you a little bit. It's gonna be fine. Doesn't make your life hard. And anytime something bad, he's like, oh, no, I didn't see that coming. Like, we have to blow that version of Jesus up. Because the Jesus presented in the Gospels is intentional, is sovereign, and is up to something way bigger than whatever is happening in the moment.
[00:17:07] Storm truth number seven.
[00:17:09] Storms reveal and expand the limits of your faith. So verse 31, finally we get to the question.
[00:17:15] Jesus immediately reached out his hand, took hold of him, saying to him, oh, you of little faith. Why did you doubt?
[00:17:26] Why did you lack confidence in me, even just for a moment? And here's what's gonna happen. People, they're going to. This is actually a little great indicator of your view of God, your view of Jesus. Because what people often do is they read their view of God into this question.
[00:17:43] So for those of you who think Jesus is always disappointed in you, which is most ex Catholics, by the way, as we think again, been there, done that. So I know that feeling.
[00:17:52] You might hear Jesus saying something like this.
[00:17:55] You really let me down, Peter. I'm disappointed in you.
[00:18:00] For those who think Jesus is grumpy and unpleasable, you might have grown up in, like, a really hyper fundamentalist, legalist environment where the pastor was always yelling at you and telling you you're not good enough. Gosh, Peter, why are you so useless and stupid?
[00:18:17] But for those of you who know how kind Jesus is, you realize it's a little bit of inference, but I don't think it's a stretch that Jesus probably had a smile on his face, because you can make powerful points with a light heart and a gentle question.
[00:18:35] And when you get the whole vibe, Jesus isn't overwhelmed, like, if it was me trying to get someone in a storm to safety, I'm like, get out. Get out of here.
[00:18:44] Jesus is literally just walking.
[00:18:46] Like, the text is actually really funny because it even implies. This comes up in a bunch of different Gospels, this story that Jesus didn't even probably initially intend to go talk to them. He was like, we're gonna let this thing go for a while, and then we're gonna see how this goes. He sent them in there on purpose, and then this series of events happens, and Jesus just maximizes the lessons and the teaching and the training. But here's the thing. They were safe the whole time, weren't they it didn't feel like it, but they were Finally, Storm truth number eight.
[00:19:16] When Jesus purposes are accomplished, the storm will end. It says he will end the storm. Alright, good. He will end the storm. Verse 32. So simple. When they got into the boat, what happened?
[00:19:29] The wind ceased.
[00:19:31] John's version of the story, I think it adds a really encouraging and interesting detail. John 6:21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat. Why? Because wherever Jesus was, it was calm and immediately look at this. The boat was at the land to which they were going. Poof. They're on the land.
[00:19:50] When a storm has fulfilled its purpose for everyone involved, Jesus will end it totally and even sometimes miraculously.
[00:19:58] And as we kind of pull back, one of the big reasons Matthew's telling the story for generations to read is is because he wants it ingrained into our soul that Jesus is sovereign over storms and with a word he will and he can end the storm. And he will do that.
[00:20:19] Not an hour, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, maybe 9, 10, 11 or 12.
[00:20:25] But he will do it at exactly the right time when his purposes are fulfilled.
[00:20:31] He will hear you, he sees you, and he will respond in exactly the right way to build in you and I what he intends to build. This brings us to two. So what's oh, actually I want to read the end, verse 32.
[00:20:45] When they got into the boat, the wind ceased verse 33 and those in the boat worshiped him, saying truly you are the Son of God. Like, if you had any doubts about who Jesus is, this moment will make it very clear this clearly ain't no man. This is the Son.
[00:21:01] All right, two so what's I want to dig more deeply into the question, why did you doubt?
[00:21:06] We doubt because Jesus put us in over our head. And I want to share with you a theological insight that separates immature spiritual babies from mature spiritual adults.
[00:21:17] Immature spiritual babies believe Jesus job is to make their life easy.
[00:21:23] Mature spiritual adults, on the other hand, know that Jesus job is is to make them strong.
[00:21:32] It is not a sin to be a baby. Amen.
[00:21:36] It's only a sin if you stay a baby.
[00:21:39] And Jesus is not interested in you Christian staying a baby forever. Jesus is interested in making you strong and deeply rooted in him and connected to him.
[00:21:55] Jesus sees a version of you on the other side of this storm that you probably don't have vision for.
[00:22:03] A version of you who is stronger, a version of you who is more durable, who is wiser, who is more equipped, and most importantly, the source of all of those who is closer to Jesus than ever. Because before, this is not a delightful truth, but it's a truth nonetheless. In a fallen world, there is one primary way this kind of depth and growth happens, and it's through storms.
[00:22:37] I don't know if you've ever been in a gym and maybe you've seen this on tv, and you hear these guys and they're just like, grunting. They're like lifting weights. Ah, right. And you realize they're doing something that most of us don't do, which is like, they are pushing their physical bodies to a limit. And there's this interesting secret.
[00:22:55] If you want to grow muscles, there's a lot of things you have to do, but there's one big one. You don't do this, you don't get stronger, and you don't get bigger muscles. You have to overload your muscles to the point of breaking. So I was teaching my son how to work out, and one of the things I would tell him is I would say, stop wasting your last set.
[00:23:16] You do this last set, you're doing three sets of 10. But what if you've got more in you at the end, right? Because if you stop at your third set of 10 or whatever you're doing, and you got more in the tank, you're not gonna build any muscle.
[00:23:26] And so teaching the principle, like, you have to push it to your limits, and not just pushing it to your limits. And so, like, here's what happens. This is just everybody who's learning to work out. You get to the last three, you're so tired, and you're like, oh, I've worked really hard. I'm gonna stop. Your muscle doesn't grow when you work hard.
[00:23:43] And so I tell them, never waste your last set and never waste your last rep, because your last rep, the one that you can't finish, the one that is push to your limits, that's where the muscle grows. And then there's a double secret here, which is you get to that last rep, and let's say you push it up. And then I watch this so many times as guys really hard to work out. They just let it go. And I'm like, you wasted the last half of your last rep. Because that last half, as you are painfully going down, you are tearing your muscle fibers. And it is your last half of the last rep where all of the strength that you want actually comes from. And I'm like, guys, we suffer so much, and then we get to the end and we give up. And I'm like, don't waste the last moments. Don't waste the end of this. Like, endure. Like, this has a purpose. And the purpose, yes, it is painful, but the purpose is to build you stronger. And so you might be in the end of something. You might be like, I'm done. I don't got any more. I just wanna look at you and say, do not give up. Do not give up. I mean, you stay close to Jesus. Like, yes, you are past your limits. Yes, you are in deep water. Yes, there is chaos. Do not give up. Because the greatest growth, the greatest strength, the greatest transformation happens. And as you get to the final stretch of whatever the storm is, he will end it at the right time, in the right place. Don't give up. Amen. Village church Amen. So number two, every storm you encounter is preparation for a greater storm coming.
[00:25:04] You doubt and I doubt because Jesus put us in over our head. And the question is, why? It is always to prepare you for the.
[00:25:15] For Peter. This storm was not about this storm. It was about the next one that is coming.
[00:25:21] And one day, you and I are going to have one final storm. And you will face our greatest foe, which is death. And you and I have to face it head on with complete confidence in Jesus Christ. And that kind of confidence with which we face death does not just come out of nowhere. It comes after a lifetime of going through storms with Jesus in his presence and getting deeper and stronger in him. I wanna tell you the true story of Peter's next three storms to kind of put this into perspective. Roughly one year later, Peter had a second big storm when Jesus got arrested. And when Jesus got arrested, affiliation with Jesus would definitely lead to persecution, if not death. And so Peter was, you know the story, publicly asked, do you know this guy? Three times he denied him. Which is one of the most offensive things that you can do to your wrath as a disciple of a rabbi, is to deny them. Jesus denies Jesus three times. After the resurrection, Jesus finds him. And we'll deal with this later in our Questions series. But he asked him one of the most beautiful questions. Do you love me?
[00:26:28] And Peter repented.
[00:26:30] Peter had a third storm. We just studied it in the book of Galatians. Peter was afraid of the Jews and the Judaizers. He knew what they were capable of. And out of fear of them. And this, by the way, is after having received the Holy Spirit, being an apostle of Jesus Christ, planting churches, proclaiming the gospel, watching people come to faith in Jesus Christ, he denies the gospel out of fear of his life. Do you guys see a theme in Peter's life. Fear makes him do really ridiculous things.
[00:26:58] And so God sent the apostle Paul to confront him. And do you know what Peter did? Peter repented.
[00:27:05] Peter's fourth storm came when he was hauled before Nero's regime. They were going to crucify him. He didn't want to, as tradition says, die the same way Jesus did. And so they crucified him upside down because he considered himself unworthy of dying the kind of death that Jesus died.
[00:27:23] And Peter, in the final moments of his life, prepared by failing multiple storms, faced the end of his life with courage in his final storm. Here's what I think is so striking about Peter. He failed a lot.
[00:27:38] And you might be looking back at your life and you're like, oh man, I'm doomed. I failed in a storm before I doubted God, I gave up. I rejected him. And here's what I love.
[00:27:47] Peter learned the lesson of those storms through repentance, not even necessarily through success.
[00:27:54] Like I have a hunch that Peter would have to repeat storms that he did not repent of. He and I just have good news. You might look at the past and be like, man, I failed a lot. Learn the lesson by calling out your sin for what it is and repenting of that so that Jesus doesn't have to put you back through a similar storm to get that into your mind. Thick skull. Amen.
[00:28:14] I wanna close by reading a Psalm, Psalm 77, and it's just a portion of the psalm. And when all this was done and the waves calmed down, they get to the other side.
[00:28:24] I guarantee you this psalm was going through the disciples brains a thousand years before Peter's storm.
[00:28:34] Psalm 77 starts in verse 16.
[00:28:38] When the waters saw you, O God.
[00:28:41] When the waters saw you, they were afraid. Isn't that good indeed. The deep trembled, the clouds poured out water. The skies gave forth thunder. Your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind. Your lightnings lighted up the world. The earth trembled and shook. Now listen to this. Your way was what through the sea?
[00:29:04] Your path through the great waters. I love this line. Yet your footprints were unseen.
[00:29:12] You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. And so Matthew shows up, shows us Jesus on the water. No footprints, no panic, no fear. The waves under his feet, the storm under his authority. His hand outstretched to save. He's a far better savior than Moses and Aaron ever could be.
[00:29:34] Jesus saved them from the storm. But it doesn't just stop there. If he Saved them from the storm. Can he not save us from our sin? And the answer on the cross was absolutely. And the answer in the resurrection was, you better believe it.
[00:29:47] Jesus has conquered the greatest storm, which is death. Which is why you and me, before we face death, what do we need? I need to be reconciled to my God through faith in Jesus Christ. And this is also great news for us. If he can save a wicked sinner like me and you, he can save anybody.
[00:30:03] And you, you might be here and you're like, I've never trusted in Christ. I have awesome news for you. God, through the blood of Jesus Christ, can save you once and for all and forever. Will you come to him? Will you make him your God? Will you apologize to him? I've sinned against you. The Bible is clear that if you believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, you will be forgiven and you'll be saved. I can't think of a better gift than freedom, real freedom on the 4th of July, than freedom from your sin, freedom from hell in Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank you.
[00:30:41] You are so kind.
[00:30:43] Not only are you able to intervene and save us because you are sovereign even over weather, but you are sovereign over life and death and eternal life. I think of Jesus, what you said in Revelation 1, Fear not. I have the keys of death in Hades.
[00:30:59] You're sovereign over death, you're sovereign over eternal destinations.
[00:31:04] And you hold all the resources that we need to be safe from our sin and to be with you forever. Grow our faith, grow our confidence in you. Teach us, stretch us, and we are filled with gratitude. Thank you. Because you don't just see us, but you never leave us or forsake us. From the moment we trusted in Christ, you adopted us as your children and you never abandoned us.
[00:31:28] Lord, we love you, we worship you, we thank you, and we do this all in Jesus name.
[00:31:35] Amen.
[00:31:36] Amen. Well, this time we're gonna celebrate communion together. And I just wanna kind of set the stage for communion, because communion is for Christians.
[00:31:46] Communion is for those who have trusted in Christ. Communion is not for perfect people. Communion is for people who have confessed their sin to God, who have made Jesus their God, who have believed that he died for their sins and was raised from the dead. And so if you are here and you have come to God and believed in Jesus Christ, I want to invite you to partake of communion together with us. If you have never trusted in Christ, there are kind of two options here. The first thing is, you know, when we do partake. We just wanna ask you not to do that. Because if you haven't believed in Jesus, there's no need to do that. But maybe you're here and you're like, I've never believed in Jesus Christ and I am ready to make him my God. And I just wanna encourage you, if you are ready to trust in Christ and to give him your life, take communion. Because when you take it, you're declaring that he's your God. And so I just want to invite you, if you're ready to trust in Christ, let's take communion together. And so kind of here's how it works. We're going to have just a time of silence, an opportunity to reflect, to worship him, to thank him, to talk to him.
[00:32:48] It'll be about a minute or so, maybe a half hour, we'll see what happens. But then, then we're going to do is I'm going to pray and we're going to sing, sing together.
[00:32:56] As we're singing, there are elements between the double doors and at the columns on each side of the room. You're free to get up, go grab those elements, bring them back to your seat. When the song is over, I'm going to come back up and read some scripture and then we're going to partake together. And this partaking together is just a symbol of our unity in Jesus Christ. So let's take a moment or so and let's spend some time with the Lord.
[00:34:25] Father, thank you for the fact that you hear every single thought that every one of us are thinking and we each get your full attention.
[00:34:34] Thank you. That you declare to every one of us who has trusted in Jesus that, that we are forgiven.
[00:34:42] And so we declare that again. And we reaffirm your covenant with us, what you have done for us through the shedding of your blood and to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We love you. And now it is our joy and honor to respond in worship. And we do all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Ville Church Am.
