Preacher: Josh White
Well there’s you all see the weather forecast for this coming week.
We made it.
Almost so funny how this is just like the opposite of the rest of the country they’re all dreading what’s to come but we’re all excited about it growing up in Spokane Washington the months that I look forward to the most was the month of May And there’s a few reasons for that the first was my birthdays in May So as you know as a kid you always look for your birthday month but also Spokane Washington is known as the lilac city and all the lilacs bloom in like the second week of May and it is it is absolutely beautiful there’s all these purple flowers and all these bushes all throughout the city of Spokane it’s really pretty and then also when I was growing up I don’t know if they do this today but usually on Memorial Day weekend Fairchild Air Force Base always had their air show and so we didn’t go every year but my dad he was really into jet planes and and so the couple reasons that I really like to go to the air show was my dad would talk about each of the airplanes and say yeah that’s the fastest one you know that that can travel the longest distance and so he would tell me all the specs on the stats on all the different airplanes and it’s kind of fun to see my dad get all excited about things and you know having a guy get excited is kind of fun and my kids never have a dad he gets excited about anything but anyway but it was also really need to kind of walk through the planes and and see how big they are and and in the most important thing about the air show was on the way home we’d always stop at the same place and get a huge ice cream cone now that was like the best part but um you know several years ago right after we moved here I took Caleb and Kyle to the air show out at Luke and this was like in March and I don’t remember how old they were when we moved here they were four and two so it was probably a couple years after that so they were still really little guys and I remember I looked on the Web site and said go park in a dirt parking lot and a shuttle bus will take you from the parking lot to the airshow and so we got out there it’s already getting hot and it’s dusty and. Were so many people that the shuttle buses got stuck in traffic and so were sitting there waiting forever for the shuttle bus to come.
Couple hours went by and eventually there you know there were little guys and crying and one would really go so we just went home so we can go to the airshow. And I did I’ve never had the courage to try it again so I’ve never been to the airshow here but one of my favorite things about the air show how do your venue an air show and most OK Aren’t they cool they’re awesome the best thing in my mind is when you get the planes to do the fly bys and especially the corded needed fly bys of jets like that isn’t that awesome Those are the Blue Angels and it’s amazing you look at that picture and it’s a cool picture in and of itself but how fast are they going they’re probably going to three four hundred miles an hour as they fly like that and so I love to watch the Blue Angels or the Thunderbirds which are the F. sixteen S and it’s so need to see them information in and they’ll kind of. Pay and off to the right to left or right information and they’ll do loops and they’ll do all these things here’s another picture and look at that fact I was trying to find a You Tube clip of the Blue Angels and I didn’t really find anything that would have been fun to watch here in the service or I just have a couple clips but I remember listening to one of the commentators as he was describing what the Blue Angels were doing and he says in this formation their wings are eighteen inches apart eighteen inches apart they’re going hundreds of miles an hour it is extremely dangerous for them to be doing this and so when you look at this it is obvious that all the pilots that are piloting these planes they have to be precise and they all have to be as the saying goes they have to be on the same page they have to be on the same page this is a routine that they are following and they just can’t go off script and say well I just want to bank left right now they can do that then. I have to do things in accorded native effort and so in many things in life we all need to be on the same page I think this is true of other things in life I think anyone who’s been in the military you know there’s one person calling out the orders and everyone else does what the one commander tells you to do in businesses you usually have the C.E.O. or the boss or the manager telling everyone this is what we’re supposed to do for the day they’re all in the same page definitely when you’re dealing with sports teams especially sports teams that run plays they all have to be on the same page for anyone that’s married you realize it’s really nice to be on the same page with your spouse and usually goes a lot better than when you’re not but it’s also true of the Body of Christ.
When Jesus prayed a couple weeks ago last couple weeks to look to John seventeen when I can look at that today but on the night before Jesus was betrayed he’s in the garden of guess somebody and he’s praying and he says Father make all the followers are going to come after the disciples make them one just like you and I Father are one what do you mean by saying that he wants the followers to be one obviously he did not mean that in a physical sense you know we can’t be one he also did not mean that in a an emotional sense we can’t all be experiencing the same emotions having the same emotions and so when Jesus was praying for the unity of the believers units a year this one this is in the mind unity is primarily mental and what he was praying is that all the believers would understand and adopt God’s will for our existence and all of us work on the same page to make that happen and when that does happen what you and I get to explain like Paul says in the fusions for we get to experience the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace while we are going on in the sermon series that work her. The End which is one another ng one another and this is based on the Greek word early on and it’s found over one hundred times in the New Testament and we’re primarily looking at the times where Paul or maybe some of the other authors talk about one another ring each other does the different commands of one another and when you put these into groups thirty percent of the times that you see this Greek word it’s talking about unity and we’ve been talking about unity the unity of one another’s lately you also have thirty percent of them dealing with love which we’ll talk about pretty soon fifteen percent are talking about humility in the twenty five or random and miscellaneous And what we’ve been looking at when it deals with the unity you can subcategorize those into commands were talks about things that we should be in order to be united things that we shouldn’t do which is what we looked at last week and things that we should do which we’re going to look at today just kind of as a recap talking about the things that we’re supposed to be if we’re going to be united we need to be patient and gentle with each other that’s dealing with the way that we respond to conflict patiences not allowing the conflict to overcome our own emotions gentle is not allowing our rage to spill out on to other people that’s how we respond to generally last week we talked about the things that we’re not supposed to do and we looked at three main threats to unity and so we talked about the threat of confusion how sometimes we’ll read something in the Bible and it’s confusing and some people just say forget it I’m not even trying to figure this out that is a threat to the unity because we’re united in the truth another threat is competition sometimes we look at each other and we try to one up each other or see ourselves as over or above them better than each other that is a threat to our unity and another threat is our conversation when we bite and we devour each other so the words that come out of our mouth is sometimes can be a threat for unity what’s today we’re going to do is talk about the things that we should do. And if you have sermon notes in front of you you’ll notice I have three points because every sermon must have three points but we’re going to spend the majority of the time in the majority of the emphasis is going to be on the first point and will kind of briefly go over the second two. And then as you’ll notice hopefully today one thing we’re going to do at the end of the sermon is we are going to celebrate together the thing that unites us which is the blood and the body of Jesus Christ and so we together as a body of believers this morning will participate in the Lord’s Supper together but let me give you the first thing that we must do in order to build an experience the unity of believers and that is this the first thing that we must do is you and I all must live in obedience to God’s Word we must live in obedience to God’s word and by saying this I literally mean that we make God’s purpose for our lives our purpose. Because unity is a matter of the mind not the heart sometimes you it’s somebody else and you feel like you you like the same things you feel passionately about the same subjects but unity especially unity among believers is what we know and what we have in our minds and when we all understand and we act according to God’s purpose for our lives then we’re going to experience the unity that God wants us to have I want you to turn your Bibles to Romans Chapter fifteen look at a few different passages today that talk about our unity.
And for those of you that were enjoying postman is Sunday School class this morning you’re going to see a word study a Bible study Methodist morning for the sermon so we’re going to Romans Chapter fifteen.
And I’m going to put some of these most of these passages up on the screen today.
If it will work here we go Romans Chapter fifteen and we’ll look at verses five to seven
Romans Chapter fifteen verses five or seven.
The apostle Paul writes. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God Now in the first part of that section in verse five we have our word all the loan which is one another right after harmony and Paul says that we should live in such harmony with one another that together with one voice who may glorify the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ Let’s take a look at the word harmony the word harmony is the Greek word for net zero which means likeminded So some of you if you’re not looking in the E.S.B. some of your translations might say like minded Well that’s what for a net zero means it means to direct your mind to something specific or to set it on something specific I think a great example of people having a like minded this in living in harmony with each other is what we were just doing just a few minutes ago musician they harmonize they be read literally they read literally off the same page of music that’s how they stay in harmony with each other you know I’m just even the word harmony and thinking of music it reminds me of the commercial so many might remember this from the seventies.
I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony so we know how we live in harmony right we all drink Coca-Cola Classic that’s that’s the Coke commercial. But harmony means to some extent that you and I what we need to do is we need to give up our own agenda and we all get on the same page thinking the same thoughts and having the same purpose another great example of the importance of people having for net zero or. Having a like my goodness Yesterday I watched college football I’m sure some of you watch college football when the oftens get through the line of scrimmage are they doing what backyard football kids do you know are you OK you go out and if you’re open I’m going to throw you the ball no they get in a huddle and the coach says you’re going to run the play X. eighty over a mountain goat lion onto ready break and so they all who are they don’t exactly what that means and they all do the exact same play because they are like minded they’re in harmony with each other and if they’re not the play is going to break down and so that’s what harmony and unity means it means having the same mind.
Fortunately there are some great examples in scripture using the same word of practical situations where people did have harmony with each other and when they didn’t have harmony with each other so let’s look at a couple of those first one isn’t Philippians chapter four. Philippines’ chapter four I’m going to put this on the screen as well.
Flip in chapter four verses two two through four.
Or she has me flip in chapter four verses two and three.
And I don’t know why I always think of this passage I reference this passage quite a bit but I really just wonder what the situation was and someday I’m sure we’ll find out but here in flippin chapter four we have two ladies who at one time were in harmony with each other for no and now they’re not and so Paul encourages them to get their minds together fully in chapter four verse to Paul writes to these ladies she says I entreaty Oh D.N.A. and treats and TICKY to agree in the Lord the word agree is the Greek word for KNOW which means to live in harmony or to have have the same like mindedness verse three yes I may ask you also true companion help these women who have labored side by side with me in the Gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life and so you look at this and why is Paul calling all these two women in this church and Philip I will have no idea what they were fighting over maybe we will some day when we meet them in heaven will say oh your sin TICKY So what was it what was going on but at some point in time these women were thinking and acting the same for the cause of the gospel they had made the Gospel their priority and their minds were focused on that and something happened they went off script something became more important and now they were striving with different agendas and now that their minds are not the same there’s no unity and you can tell what was going on in that church side you were being drawn there was the Yoda side and then there is the sin taking side and policy you need to get on the same page you need to agree to the same thing so another passage in kolache and scored a caution in chapter three.
Kolache and Chapter Three beginning in verse two.
Paul tells us a great way for you and I to stay focused on the Lord to live in harmony with each other for all of us are going to be in harmony in unity with each other this is what we are supposed to do caution chapter three will begin in verse one.
It says if you if then you have been raised with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God and here is our record for now set your minds on the things that are above not on the things that are on earth for you have died in your life is sitting with Christ in God When Christ Who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory but how what a wonderful passage you says said your minds on things above in other words set your minds on God’s priority why did God create us in the first place what is our mission that we’re trying to accomplish as believers in Christ that’s what we’re supposed to do and that’s hard isn’t it because there’s a lot of distractions how many of us we’re all going to raise your hand but how many of us wake up on Monday morning or every morning you turn on the news or get online or however you get your information and your mind starts being focused on all the things of this world instead of the things that are above it happens all the time right I don’t think God is asking us to ignore the things that are in this life that’s impossible there are things that we’re going to just be focusing on but he doesn’t want us to make the world agenda our agenda all right and I think that’s such an important point to make we’re supposed to keep God’s priority in our life first and foremost all the things that we see in this life our souls if these They’re temporary but our souls are eternal and so what we need to do is be united in trying to get the people of this world to see God’s grace that’s how we’re going to experience unity so I wanted a couple good examples talks about setting your mind on the things above agreeing with each other and now we’re going to look at a couple good bad examples first one is in Matthew Chapter sixteen so open your Bible to Matthew Chapter sixteen.
And this is where Peter one of the many times repeaters chastised by Christ.
Peter such a good example to us all in so many ways Matthew Chapter sixteen and will begin in verse twenty one.
And on the screen I have verses twenty two and twenty three I’m going to I’m going to read twenty one it would all fit on one slide so I’m going to read twenty one and then you can pick up in verse twenty two but Matthew sixteen. It says from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised and so Jesus is explaining this to the disciples and now we have verse twenty two and this is on the screen. And Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him saying Far be it from you Lord this show never happened to you. But he turned to him turn and said to Peter Get Behind Me Satan you are a hindrance to me for you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man so in that moment Jesus and the father were in unity they had harmony with each other Jesus knew what the plan was and he was about to fulfill it Peter being a human being he wanted Jesus to be king and he wanted to be King right now but that wasn’t a part of the master plan and so Jesus said Set your mind on things above not on the things of man and I want to got to ask all of you a kind of a serious question I think especially as we’re looking at this point I think all of us should just take the time just kind of reflect on our own minds and where they go but how much of your mental energy do you devote every day to the temporary things of this life.
For you put a percentage on it is probably pretty high wouldn’t it again I don’t think God is asking us to not think about the temporary things that you know we’re usually thinking of. The thing that we think about the most is probably what we’re going to eat right we’re always thinking about that that’s very temporary we have to think about those things but how much time do you spend how much energy do you spend thinking about the terminal purposes of God and how all of us realize that in this life we have an opportunity right now to join him and when the body of Christ when you and I together set our minds together on God’s purpose that’s when you and I will experience unity and so the first thing that we need to do to experience unity is to live in obedience to God’s word and obviously we need to study God’s word so that we can live in obedience to it let’s move on to the second couple points second thing we must do is this we must wait for each other we must wait for each other we must be patient with each other if Eason’s chapter four we get this verse and we’ve looked at this verse a couple times and before we read this I’ll just say this we need to wait for each other because as believers and as followers of Jesus Christ everyone here is that a different speed in a different level of their maturity not all of us are the same but we need to wait for each other and grow together and efficiency after four verses one in two we’ve read this before but this is what it says I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness with patience and here’s the command bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace so Paul tells us that we need to bear with one another some of your translations might have the word suffer instead of bear with because this literally means that we need to be willing to suffer sometimes the suffering might be physical a lot of the times the suffering. Is going to be a motional or mental but to bear with someone means to hold each other up we’re patient and we’re gentle with another person this kind of makes me think of assisting another person that is in need followers of Christ are not always on the same page so we need to be patient with those who go off script from time to time and a lot of times people go off script they won’t be doing the things of God for a variety of reasons sometimes it’s because of sin. Sometimes it’s because of disobedience Sometimes it’s because a tragedy came into their life and and they’re coping with life’s difficulties or ords they’re dealing with differing opinions you know just thinking about this bearing with one another and in kind of waiting for another This reminds me of the last time I was in the Grand Canyon I think I talked about this recently but back in the end of May a pastor friend of mine from Michigan came down and said hey I’m going to be in Arizona and it’s on my bucket list I want to hike to Grand Canyon and I want you to be my guy that’s the word he used he wanted he wanted me to be his guide and so there was him a good friend of his and then his daughter so there were four of us that went into the Grand Canyon all four of us were at different ages and different fitness levels and different abilities and different length of legs which matters when you’re in the Grand Canyon and two of us were we wanted to move we want to go fast and two were going a lot slower and so it was kind of a moment where I had to bear with someone else and I remember thinking what is the purpose of being in here well the number one purpose when everyone in the canyon the number of purposes you’ve got to get out right you get you can’t just stay in there you got to get out so that’s when I’m on purpose and so if we need to bear with each other and all of us go and get out of the green hangin together at the same time. You know I think a lot of disunity that takes place in the body of Christ is because people are impatient with each other and they’re trying to go different speeds and I thing. It’s ironic that this is one of the purposes of church God has us all come together and he out calls us to gather and assemble together so that we are considerate of each other and that we all do church somewhat at the same speed so we’re not off doing our own thing at our own pace.
You know as I was thinking of this I thought how some people grow in their relationship to God fast some people are really slow and maybe we’re proud of certain people and frustrated with others but when it comes to the next thing that all of us are looking forward to which is receiving our glorified bodies and spending eternity with Jesus Christ. You know when that’s going to happen for everybody.
At the same time.
It’s going to happen at the same time we will all receive our glorified resurrected bodies and be in the presence of Jesus Christ for eternity and that’s going to happen at the same time we refer to that as the Rapture in first US alone eons we read this in this what we’re going through in our Bible study in Thursday morning so it’s kind of this is on my my mind. We can this is verse seventeen but I want to read some verses before Paul is writing to the people in Tesla Nika and he says to them because they were concerned about people who have died you know what happens to them and he writes to them and first US alone as for all pick up in verse thirteen says that we do not want you to be uninformed brothers about those who fall asleep that or that you may grieve as others who do not have hope for sense we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep for this we declared to you by word of the Lord that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not perceive those who are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with the cry of command with the voice of the archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead will rise first the dead in Christ will rise first and here’s the verses on. The screen then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord therefore encourage one another with these words and so this passage just teaches of something important that the next stage of our salvation we have a resurrected glorified bodies God is doing this so that we’re all doing this together at the same time there’s going to be unity even in that and so if you ever get frustrated with another person understand that’s a time when we’re supposed to bear with each other that’s when we experience unity Well let me give you the third point third way that we can experience unity with each other and that is kind of the fail safe when we don’t want to and that is we need to learn to forgive each other we must forgive each other in order to experience unity you know as I was thinking about this you know one of the main reasons why we don’t experience unity with another human being it’s usually because of differences you know um there’s people that are different races genders nationalities and we kind of fear the unknown and so we don’t experience unity with them or different beliefs we don’t experience people with different beliefs like politically right now can you believe what our nation is like or we have a lot of disunity but among believers among true members of the Body of Christ the main reason that they don’t experience unity is probably because one person offended the other person someone offended the other person and that’s when Satan drives that wedge in between two believers trying to get them to experience disunity rather than unity and when a person has been offended by another person as we talked about for about a month just a while ago that person spends so much of their life in bitter anger trying to punish another person for what they have done and we waste precious time. And so the earlier that we see ourselves falling into that trap hopefully we will get out of it sooner by forgiving the person who hurt and offended us so that what we can do is spend our time on the things that matter rather than wasting our time being angry with those that we need to be united to one last passage I want to share with you show you and share with you as collage ins and cautions chapter three verses twelve and thirteen Paul writes to us and he says put on then as God’s chosen ones holy in Beloved compassionate hearts kindness humility meekness and patience bearing with one another and if anyone has a complaint against another for giving each other as the Lord has forgiven you so you also must forgive.
Jesus Christ came to earth on a mission and now was to provide the redemption for our sins and Jesus had a choice I guess in some ways you can think about this he could have either focused on our sins and been wrathful and angry with us or he could have done with God in him had decided to do in the first place and that is to pay for our sins and to forgive us and the only way that God could redeem us and restore our relationship with him was to forgive us and now we get to join God in His eternal plan and so sometimes for us to experience that unity with him and each other you and I need to forgive.
What I want to do this morning is N. the section on unity and one another in one another with having communion and the passage that we turn to to get our instructions for today on communion or the Lord’s Supper is found in First Corinthians eleven so I’m not going to put this up on the screen but you want you to turn there right now we’re going to read a portion of this
first Corinthians Chapter eleven.
And every time we have communion and I’ll do this today I read from First Corinthians alive and verses twenty three through twenty six those are the instructions that we get when we’re going to read the context of this situation now I really love the Corinthians because they were kind of like the junior highers of the Bible and what I mean is they’re not kids anymore they’re not adults and they just they kept messing up they didn’t know how to do things right and so Paul says Now let me tell you and give you instructions on how to handle the Lord’s Supper because they weren’t doing it right so thankful Thankfully we have a good bad example to learn from but here in First Corinthians alive and Paul is teaching them that as a body of believers this is how you practice communion the thing that unites you together and to Jesus Christ so first Corinthians eleven beginning in verse seventeen. He says but in the following instructions I do not command commend you because you have come together it is not for the better but for the worse for in the first place when you come together as a church I hear that there are divisions among you and I believe it in part for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized but when you come together it’s not the Lord’s Supper that you eat for an eating each one goes ahead with his own meal one goes hungry another gets drunk What do you not have houses to eat and drink in or do you despise the Church of God and humiliated those who have nothing what shall I say to you shall I commend you in this no I will not and so when they were coming together and participating in the Lord’s Supper they were all doing it on their own one was over indulging in the bread some one was over indulging in the wine and Paula saying you don’t get it this is the time when we are united with each other this is why we wait. Two at the same time eat the bread and wait to the same time we drink the juice which represents the blood of Christ and this next passage is our instructions will read through this quickly Paul says for I received from the Lord What I also deliver to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said This is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way also he took the cup after supper saying This cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes verse twenty seven says whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the blood the Body and Blood of the Lord let a person examine himself then and so we eat of the bread and drink of the cup for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself that is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died but if we judged ourselves truly we would not be judged but when we are judged by the Lord we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world so then my brothers when you come together to eat wait for one another wait for one another if anyone is hungry let him eat at home so that when you come together it will not be for judgment about the other things I will give directions when I come you know I think I said I’m so glad that the Corinthians existed so that they could do most things wrong so that we can learn from their mistakes but Paul wanted them to understand about their unity and so he tells them now while they are participating in the Lord’s Supper which reminds us of the unity that we have with Christ’s death and resurrection he says to do it in a united way together because together they are redeemed by the death of Jesus and together really. He will be raised in given to immortal glorified body and so that is what we do as a body of Christ to be unified with each other we wait for each other we make our lives be living independence of word.
So right now it’s time as we participate in this communion I’d like to have the men to come forward and be prepared to cross out the bread and the juice.
And
we start with the bread.
And this represents the body of Jesus and all of us says you grab the bread you take the bread out of the tray we’re going to do what Paul tells us to do we’re going to wait for each other and we’re going to do this together and we’re going to eat the bread together because we are united and as you hold onto the bread what I want you to spend your time thinking and focusing on is this what you’re holding in your hands is the very thing that paid for your sins. And represents the stripes in the wounds that Jesus took upon his body. The bread represents the death of Jesus and you through your faith and through God’s grace are united with Jesus in his death so that we can have life so spend time thinking in praising God for this unity that you have with Christ through His death.
Like you just read from the Apostle Paul in First Corinthians this is what he wrote to them and this is what he writes to us for I received from the Lord What I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread when he had given thanks he broke it and said This is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me
your father how can we thank you enough.
For sending your son to die for us.
And your word tells us that we through our faith in you have forever been identified with the death of Jesus that we have been buried with him in his death and because of that our sins are forgiven. And you’ve united us with Jesus not only in his death but more importantly it’s resurrections a father in this moment we just thank you and we come be as.
If. Her face maybe live in a way that will honor you pray this in Christ name
and now as we pass out the juice which represents the blood of Jesus Christ I think this is the one that excites me the most because we know the story that Jesus died.
He also rose again. And the scripture says that if we are identified with him in his death we will also be identified with him in his resurrection and so there’s so much more to our eternal existence we’re only experiencing just the first part now and so as you hold on to the juice and as we wait to drink together think about the fact that you are united with Christ future all of us are united with Christ future and so we need to have our mind set on that even in this life to spend time thanking Christ for giving you the hope of the best future possible because of this death and resurrection.
In that same instruction Paul wrote to them as he writes to us and he says in the same way also he took the cup after supper saying This cup is the new covenant in my blood do this is often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cop you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes
the. Father in this moment this is this morning it’s so wonderful to just spend time thinking about our future and how we have faith in what took place in the past we have faith in the death of Jesus Christ and we more importantly we have face it three days later you raised him from the grave just like you said that he would and so Father our faith is grounded on this firm foundation and you will finish what you started that you will come when you will call us to be with you forever and whatever our future is going to look like in whatever role that we have with you we know that will be in your presence forever as a passage tells us and first US long as for so father in tell them until the time that you call us to be with you forever help us to do the things that you have called us to and that is to be united with each other to spend our time so I’m focused on the things that are above and not the minutia and the temporary things of this world oh Lord I pray for not only us as individuals but for us as a church to help us to be united in our purpose and into spreading the message of your Grace to the community around us thank you Lord for this great hope to which you have called us and may we be united in that and pray this in Christ’s name Amen. I want last thing when you leave you can take the cups and you can put those in the trash container as you go by but I do want to close right now with the benediction and so may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all again.