- Well, good morning, church. It's great to be back with you and worship online with you. I hope that as you have now gathered around the screen that you have your communion elements ready to go. We're gonna take communion together at the end of my time, you have downloaded the notes that we're gonna have in front of us as we go through God's word together, and you have your Bibles ready to go. I wanna invite you to go to 1 Timothy 2. We are in the midst of this series called A Healthy Church where Paul is describing to us that this is us, a healthy church. And he is saying to us, these are the things that must be healthy practices within the life of the church. So before we dive in, let me pray for us, and then we'll begin. Father, thank You for Your Word. And we ask that Your truth would speak into our hearts, that we would have eyes that see and hearts willing to obey. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. If you were to travel to the ancient city of Ephesus today, you would notice it is quite a distance from the Mediterranean Ocean. However, at the time that Paul writes this book, the 1 Timothy, the church in Ephesus is in the midst of a thriving metropolis. And the reason is because boats from the Mediterranean were able to travel up the canal into the port of Ephesus for importing and exporting goods. Now that was able to happen because they continually and intentionally dredged out the harbor. You see, there's a river that runs through Ephesus, the Ancient City of Ephesus and it was dumping silt into the harbor. As long as they intentionally dredged out the harbor, ships were able to come in and bring the goods. However, over time, that intentional dredging of the harbor didn't keep on happening. And there was silt that built up into that harbor and it kept the boats from coming from the Mediterranean into the ancient city. And if you were to travel there today, you would see that the Mediterranean Ocean is quite a distance from the ancient city, and it ended up dying. It's a great time metaphor for life. We have to be intentional about healthy practices, intentionally dredging out that stuff that impacts our relationship not only with God but with one another. But it is also a great metaphor for the church that we must continue with healthy practices, making sure that we do the things necessary so that we can become a healthy church. Well, today, in this passage, Paul is once again dealing with that topic. He wrote this book to help us understand what it means to be a healthy church. And today, we're gonna look at this subject in chapter two, prayer and the roles in the life of the church. Now, Paul, in chapter three, verse 15 gives us our key verse. He says, "If I delay you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth." He's talking about the gathered church here and how we function and stay healthy. And now in chapter two, he begins to talk about the subject of prayer and roles. So let me begin and let me read for you starting in verse one, if you'll go down there with me. "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this, I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am telling the truth, I'm not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." Paul begins with describing how prayer needs to be the priority. You see, a healthy church keeps prayer a priority, a focus of everything that it does. Now what he says here, right at the beginning, he gives four character qualities that really describe the same thing. There are different aspects, I should say, of prayer. He says, "I urge that supplications," these are requests before God, "prayers," which is a general word for prayer, but it describes adoration, "intercessions," that means coming before God and being an intercessor for yourself and your own issues that you're bringing before God, but also for others, "and thanksgiving," and he's asking that this kind of prayer be made for all people. It needs to be a priority of a church. And then he says specifically at the beginning of verse two that we need to be praying for government leaders, for kings, and all who are in high positions. We need to pray for their wisdom. We need to pray for the officials of our community, in our nation, in our world, especially during this time to have great wisdom and leadership. Now, the rest of the passage talks about how God wants people to be saved. So I believe he's saying specifically pray for their salvation, that's the idea. And then he wants you to pray that those government officials would bring calm, peace and calm, or order within society as a result of them coming to Christ or simply as a result of policy, but to bring peace and calm so that we can live a peaceful and quiet life. The idea here is that we pray that there would be calm and order in our society so that the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ can continue to go out and that specifically takes place when we pray for their salvation. And even though God may allow troubles in our life, the church will still grow, this is done by His divine purposes, His sovereign will. And oftentimes we know that when persecution comes to the church, the gospel is still communicated. But that still doesn't make the point here or exclude the point that we need to be praying for peace and calm so that all avenues of freedom are open both in our society and around the world, so that the gospel is communicated. That's the idea of what Paul is after here and no matter what, whether we experience difficulties and trials and troubles or whether there is peace and calm, which we need to pray for, we are to live an honorable life. Why? Because when we live a dignified and godly life in every way, at the end of verse two, we earn the right to be heard. And then Paul says this, "We need to pray for the salvation of everyone." That's really the emphasis starting in verse three. It is pleasing, it is the desire of God that all people will be saved. Now, just because it's a desire doesn't mean that all people will be saved, only those who put their trust and faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will be saved. However, we need to be praying as a healthy practice for all of these things, but specifically, we need to be praying and making it a priority to pray that God would open the doors for us to share our faith so that people can put their trust and faith in Jesus Christ. Now why do we need to pray that way? Why is prayer the beginning of evangelism? Well, Jesus said that no one comes to faith in Him unless the Father draws Him. So evangelism or it's another word for sharing our story of how Jesus Christ changed our life and then sharing the facts of the gospel and a person must understand they're a sinner and in repentance, turn to Jesus Christ, put their trust and faith in Him as Savior and Lord believing He died in the cross for their sin, that's what we mean by evangelism. And that begins when we pray for God to open up their heart, to draw them to Jesus Christ. Now we do that because he says here, "There is only one God." He gives us some real doctrinal truths that need to be a part of our church here. There is only one God. He's affirming the trinity by the way, one God, existing in three persons, God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, but he's also saying there's only one way of salvation, there's only one true God. And regardless of where people are in our society today, worshipping all these other gods are not worshipping a god at all. Paul is saying, we as a church need to be praying that they would come to the knowledge of truth, truth in God, the true God who offers salvation to us. He says through the one mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ. Now a mediator reconciles a relationship between two estranged parties. We were estranged from God because of our sin. It was Jesus Christ who came as the mediator. And the way that our relationship with God can be restored is because of His perfect work on the cross. He did what was necessary. Our salvation is a work of God from beginning to end and it was Jesus who came forward, offered His death on the cross, as the only payment God would accept on our behalf because of our sin. And He rose from the grave, victoriously conquering sin and death and He offers his sacrifice on our behalf if we're willing to receive it and put our trust and faith in Him. And then the relationship with God is, once again, established. Jesus said, "I'm the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him," he says in John 14:6, and it says here, he's the only mediator, in verse six, who gave himself as a ransom for all. Now, a ransom is a price that was paid to release slaves. So the term was used back in the first century to describe how someone would pay a price so that slaves are given their freedom. And it was Jesus who paid the price with His life, His death on the cross for our sin in payment, so that we could be free from the penalty and the power of sin. He paid the ransom and Paul then says in verse seven, he became a preacher and apostle communicating truth to Gentiles. And it's really a challenge for all of us to be praying and to be sharing the message of Jesus Christ. Now, I really do believe the application here is very pointed for our time and our culture today. And the questions that arise for us is really the following. Are you praying for your governmental leaders, local leaders, city officials? Especially in light of everything we're experiencing in our society today. Are you praying for their salvation? Are you praying for God to give them wisdom? Are you praying for God in the midst of this time in which He is shaking our world and He is shaking our lives with COVID-19, and also with the racial issues that are going on in our world today, are you praying as God is sovereign over everything that He will begin to draw people to His Son, Jesus Christ, as Savior and Lord? And are you praying through your neighborhood? I mean, a practical thing is as you walk in your neighborhood, as you bike, as you drive around, are you praying for the houses that contains people who are next to you? Who may need to know Christ as Savior and Lord? Are you developing relationships with them? That is the application here. So as a church, we wanna encourage you to do that, we wanna encourage us as a church to continue to pray and there are ways for you to connect with our prayer ministry here at Rock Point Church. If you'll just contact us through our website or call the office, we'll pass on to you all the information. We have a group that prays together collectively every Wednesday night, and they would love to invite you to be a part of that. So I hope you take advantage of that. Prayer will continue to be a priority. Well now, Paul turns his attention to a healthy church having complimentary roles of men and women. Yes, prayer is priority, but also this idea of complimentary roles for both men and women. Now, this word complimentary simply means this, that we believe that God has given roles to both men and women in the home, but also within the church that complement one another, not compete, but complement one another, different by design with different giftings, equal in spiritual value, which we'll mention again here, but they complement one another within the life of a healthy church and a healthy home. So now, look down at verse eight. "I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works." Paul begins this section as he's beginning to unpack this concept of complementary roles for men and women, he leads with men, which is interesting, that's where he starts. And he says that he desires for men to pray. I take this as to lead in prayer, both in small groups and large groups, but then he focuses on character, lifting holy hands, that was simply a way that they expressed prayer in a cultural way back then, but also today, it's a common practice to live holy hands. What does that mean? Open hands, open heart. I'm coming to you, God, with a pure heart, confessing my sin, ready to receive what you have for me. And the reason why that is there is because there are things that can inhibit our prayer life with God. Now, first, we wanna look at a verse here because our prayers can be hindered as men who are married in our homes, and then we're gonna jump right back over here again in what Paul gives us in 1 Timothy 2. But in 1 Peter 3:7, there's an interesting verse, which emphasizes the same point. He says, "Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life." What's he doing? He's saying, "Look, they're equal spiritually with you in every way. And you as a husband, are to live with them in an understanding way and grant them honor as a weaker vessel." What's he saying there? He's saying, "You need to live with her in a way that understands her and her unique differences. She was created different by design. You need to live with her in a way that honors her so that she can flourish as an individual. And if you're not, your prayers, so that your prayers may not be hindered." So how I treat my wife, guys, you gotta listen to this, how I treat my wife in the home has everything to do with my prayer life and my prayers can actually be hindered when I do not treat her properly. The idea here is don't bully them, don't push them around, don't abuse them emotionally or physically. Understand them and honor them as God's gift to you by design so that they can flourish and grow. Otherwise, my prayers are hindered. Well, the same idea is found back here as Paul says that, if there's sin in your life, if there's anger, if there's quarreling with other people, those things need to be resolved, so that you can have your prayers honored before God. Now I take this to be this, guys, here's the takeaway for us, lead spiritually in your homes and in the church and lead with prayer, that needs to be a focus. Again, Paul is saying these are important things in the life of the church, but lead with character. He's talking about the character development. Now, he really does the same thing with women in this next section, as we already read. And really the idea of all these comments about modesty and apparel, he's really talking about not dressing in a way whereby culturally you're not drawing attention to yourself. Now this applies different in different cultures. And Paul is saying, "Look, don't draw attention to yourself." The same idea is found, if you'll turn right over to 1 Peter 3:3. Paul, again, talks about the inner qualities of character as he does here in 1 Timothy. He says in verse three of 1 Peter 3, he says, "Do not let your adorning be external-the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." And that's why Paul says here, if you go back over to 1 Timothy 3, he says that she should focus on godliness, the inner quality. So in both cases, both with men and women, he starts out with this idea. We need to be focused on our character as we live out our spiritual lives consistent with roles found within the gathered church. That's the idea, so we need to be growing as disciples and followers of Jesus Christ. And we also need to be passing on our faith to others because this is incredibly important when you are a parent with a young child or a student in your house. We are to be focused on both boys and girls, men and women on the heart and that begins in the home. It's why one of the principles that we cover within our grace-based parenting courses here at Rock Point Church is understanding a child's heart but developing a heart for God. And we talked about four different ways. We talked about how a child needs to develop a humble heart, a reverence for God, and respect for others. We talked about how a child needs to have their heart cultivated, so that they have a generous heart, a heart that understands that God has given them resources so that they can share with other people. We talked about how they have to have a grateful heart. One whereby they understand that they have been given so much in life and therefore, they need to be generous with those things. But they also need to have the fourth heart quality, have a servant's heart by giving to other people, a humble heart, a generous heart, a grateful heart, and also a servant's heart, whereby they are giving to other people. See that's developing the kind of godly character Paul's after here. Now, you can find all of those in a wonderful book by Dr. Tim Kimmel called "Raising Kids for True Greatness". We will get you all the information, you can go on the website, familymatters.net, and you can find those and also contact us in our website and we'll be able to get you the information that's found there if you're interested. Well, now, Paul specifically turns his attention towards women when he says in verse 11, let me read down through the rest of the passage, "Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." That simply means that she sinned, "Yet she will be saved through childbearing-if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control." Paul was talking about character in small groups and large groups. And now here, he deals with the functions of men and women within the gathered public assembly of the church. Now Paul is dealing with a subject that oftentimes is culturally sensitive. But I want us to begin with this understanding that even though there are differences of opinion on this issue, we do so with a spirit of grace. And Paul is talking about different roles, different roles that are complimentary. Now we understand that there's a complimentary relationship between a husband and wife and a home, that's Ephesians 5, but here, it is within the life of the church in a complimentary role, different roles by design, but complement one another, not compete with one another. They're equal but they are different. Now, before we begin, let me give you a few key things. First, from the beginning of creation, which Paul does reference here and we just read. God in His wisdom and providence has given to us complimentary roles for our good and God's glory. And based on His good created order in creation, men and women were both created in the image of God with infinite dignity, value, and worth. And God intends for men and women to function in those different, yet complimentary roles in the responsibilities both in the church and in the home as I referenced just a minute ago. And these roles distinctions do not come from cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity, but from God's revealed Word of God to us, okay, and for the good of our humanity and our flourishing. And so we recognize that as a good act of God's grace, he's given these things to us so that we can, as men and women, function in a way whereby there is protection, there is preserving, there is the practice of God's glory and our joy for our flourishing in humanity and also in the church. Now, I also want to state that the Bible gives us a vision of men and women serving alongside of one another in our world, and in our church. And in this image of us serving, we are empowering one another to fulfill God's design for us and when we don't empower sexes to engage in their gifts, okay, a complementarian partnership, both genders suffer and the mission of the church suffers. And so in light of all of this, let me also now give you a picture, the predominant image in the New Testament, flourishing in our partnership as roles, the primary relationship though, between Christian men and women is one of brotherly and sisterly love, and that's important to understand. We are now part of the family of God. And it's important to understand that while we each have equal involvement, that does not mean interchangeable involvement. And as we discuss this, I wanna do it with a spirit of grace as we have conversations with one another, and even within the realm of complementarianism. Sometimes there are disagreements, but we don't divide over them. We live in unity and grace, still holding to the fact that as Paul states in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17, All scripture is inspired, given to us and applicable for today. Now, the context, as we said, is the gathering of the church. And so as Paul says in verse 11, "Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness "and then remain quiet," he says at the end of verse 12. What's he after? The word quiet here does not mean silent. The word actually means along with submissiveness means that she respects those that are in authority. She's learning, she's growing from the individuals that are mentioned who are teaching and having authority, which we'll talk about in just a minute. I really wanna focus on the word learn, though, because I wanna flip this to a positive statement. We oftentimes come to this with a negative statement. Back in the time that this was written, a Pharisee over in Israel, a Sadducee, a religious official could not be a woman. Paul is actually saying, as a former Pharisee, "Look, women have a right to learn doctrine and truth." That's the point here. Let them learn. So as they learn, though, within the role that they have been given, verse 12, "I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man." That's the statement that he makes here. So really, there's two things we need to unpack. First, it's the word teach. What's he after there? Well, he uses a specific word here in the Greek language, which I'll refer to, that doesn't mean teach, it means teacher, it's in an infinitive form, and it means to be a teacher. Now, in the New Testament, the role of teacher was an authoritative office and I want you to stay with me as I talk about what Paul is saying here and think with me. A teacher was a declarer of doctrine, and the teachers were among the early officials in the church exercising their function of telling doctrine and truth and communicating the Word of God, and this is especially true when it comes to the church at large. Authoritative teaching role was assigned to men and nowhere in the New Testament do you see this role given to women. Now Priscilla and Aquila, Priscilla's the wife and Aquila was the husband in Acts 18:26 instructed Apollos so that he would be corrected in his doctrine, but they did so not in front of the entire church assembly, but privately, they communicated to him. Now, you also have another concept here. So the word teach means teacher, and I think the idea here is clear, especially in the context with this next word authority, the teacher, authoritative teacher, or he says, exercise authority over a man. Now, this is an unusual word for authority. In a non-negative way, it means to be domineering over or usurping authority over and the idea here is that a woman is not permitted to have full authority over a man. So who is given that authority over a man? Well, again, the context is important here. There were no chapter headings or big letter three or big number threes and fours or chapters and verses when Paul wrote this letter. And so this passage flows right down into, what we typically say, are the qualifications for overseers or elders that are found in chapter three starting in verse one. And when you get down in there and you actually look at these individuals, who are commissioned by God to be overseers, in other word, that is the equivalent elder who has the governing authority over a church, that office is given and he uses the male gender-specific term of man used here in chapter three and male pronouns, he, and clearly that office is given to men. If you go over to chapter five verse 17, he says, "Let the elders or overseers or qualified men," not every man but qualified man or qualified men that meet the qualifications that are given there in chapter three, "they are the ones who rule." So Paul is simply saying that the authoritative teacher and those with the governing authority need to be men over a church, that's the point. And now he gives the theological reasons for this. In verse 13, he says, "For Adam was formed first and then Eve." Paul refers to the created order of Adam and Eve in order to support a complimentary understanding of roles within the church, he was created first. if you go into Genesis 2, you read how Adam did not have a helper suitable to him. So by the time to get to verse 18 of chapter two, he says, that God began to form Eve, so that she would be a helper suitable to him. I don't bristle at that word, women, if you're listening to it, because the word helper actually is used, the Hebrew form of that word is used in the Old Testament to refer to God helping his people. So he's clearly saying she was brought along, created exactly according to his opposite, different by design so that they would complement one another. Roles were established before the fall was recorded in chapter three, Adam was created first, the commands were given to Adam by God communicating those, he was to communicate those to Eve. Now, I'm gonna add something in and then I'm gonna talk about the fall here. In chapter three after both Adam and Eve sinned, it's interesting because God walks to the garden and he doesn't say, "Eve, where are you?" He says, "Adam, where are you?" Adam, as the leader of that relationship had to come before God and to actually give an account for what took place. There was created order. Now he continues the discussion in verse 14, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Transgressor simply means sin. Now, the fact that he says, "And Adam was not deceived," doesn't mean that women are more gullible. His point is simply this. She is the one that had the conversation with the serpent. She stepped forward and led that relationship engaging with the serpent, and there were lies that were going both ways. And here's the point that I want you to see, as he says, Adam was not deceived, she was, what he's saying there is she stepped forward, had the discussion with the serpent, and actually began to lead the relationship. Why is that the case? Because Adam was passive. The Hebrew understanding of Genesis 3 is that Adam was right there and he was. I think it's clear in the text. He was right there listening to Eve communicate lies and Satan communicate lies. And he acted passively by not stepping in and saying, "Wait a minute," taking his leadership role, correcting the false truth that was being communicating and stopping the whole thing, he didn't, he remained passive, and so she was deceived, and then she gave to Adam, and then he willfully chose to eat of that fruit. And he plummeted, as Paul says, in Romans 5, the entire human race into sin and death. What he did was, in many ways, was worse. So his point here is to clearly communicate that when roles are reversed, and he acted passively, and she stepped forward, and he didn't step in, and fulfill his roles, his role, there were disastrous consequences. That's all he's simply saying here. And as a result of that role reversal and the fact that Adam sinned and Eve sinned, we ended up in a very difficult situation today. However, even though Paul is saying Adam was created first, Adam needed to be the leader of that relationship, as illustrated by the creation order and also illustrated by the fall. He says, "However," in verse 15, and this is what I love, "yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith in love and holiness with self-control." What is he after here? Well, I think it's a very simple message. First, he says, "Yet she," who's the she referring to here is singular, it's referring to everything he just said, she obviously is referring to Eve, that's the context. "Yet even though she fell as a sinner," so it's a spiritual issue he's talking about, "she will be saved through childbearing," because it's a spiritual issue he's talking about, he's not talking about physical childbirth here. Women die, so he can't be talking about physical childbearing and therefore physical saving, I should say, he's not talking about that here. He's saying, "Yet, she will be saved through childbearing." He's not saying that this is a physical saving because he's talking about spiritual issue. He's also not talking about spiritual salvation through childbirth, so if it's not physical saving, he's talking about spiritual saving, and he's not talking about how physical childbirth will save us because we know that'll be work salvation, we also know that there are women who die in childbirth, and we also know that we don't earn salvation through childbirth. So really what on earth is he saying here? And it is a complicated verse to understand, I get that. She, Eve, will be saved through the act of a childbirth to come, which brings about our Savior. Now, where do I get that? Well, the word childbearing, actually, in the original Greek language has an article in front of it. He's talking about the specific childbirth event that brought about our Savior. The event doesn't save us, but it brings about our Savior. Where does that come from? Well, Genesis 3:15. After the fall, which is the total context here, Eve was given a promise that one of her descendants, a seed would come that would conquer sin and death, that would conquer Satan, the enemy, and sin. And that came by way of Mary giving birth to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who would go to the cross and die for our sin. His point is even though roles were reversed and sin entered into our world, Eve, who committed this act, that actually became where she sinned, she will actually find salvation to the seed that was promised to her at the birth of Jesus Christ, who would go to the cross and die for our sins. Again, the birth of Jesus didn't save her. The cross and resurrection of Jesus did, as is for all women, because that's why he finally says in the plural form, "If they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control," they means plural, all women, all women will be saved. And the idea of faith, love, holiness with self-control means, as you begin to practice this faith and live this faith and love and holiness in this godly character that gives evidence that you've truly committed your life to Jesus Christ. He's making a simple point here. In light of roles, in light of the fall that took place which Adam and Eve were both a part of, please, men, and hear me out, please, men, don't devalue the role of women, because they were able to be a part of something that brought about our Savior, Jesus Christ, and women are saved like us. They have infinite dignity value and worth. They are given gifts and abilities in a way and they were equal with us. As a matter of fact, they brought about our Savior, Jesus Christ, and we should forever be thankful. And I also believe that with every physical act of birth, even though it doesn't happen with every woman, it really is a picture of our new birth in Jesus Christ. Just like physical death reminds us of spiritual separation and death from God forever for all eternity, also, physical birth reminds us of the new hope that can be brought about when we give our lives to Jesus Christ. So how does this apply to us at Rock Point Church? Let me just briefly say this, and then we are going to move into our time of communion but this is very important. At Rock Point Church, we do believe that the Bible reserves the office of elder based on our governing leadership structure, the office of senior pastor, and those that are the preaching pastor from the front for the church gathered in worship, we believe that those offices, based on what I just explained, and officiating communion and also baptism, which are two ordinances that we practice here at Rock Point Church, those offices are reserved for men. Apart from that, women can serve alongside of us in a variety of ways. As a matter of fact, 99.9% of everything that happens around here is open to women. They can serve as deacons, they can even teach mixed audiences in Sunday school classes, because the way that we see this is that's not the gathered worship assembly of the church, and they do so under the authority of the elders, the senior pastor, and the male pastor responsible for that area of ministry. Let's all agree that scripture trumps our culture and as we wrestle with these issues, we submit for the good of the church, for our good, and the glory of God. And it's interesting because Paul ends with this understanding of salvation. And that's really where we're gonna turn our attention to communion because we have one mediator who gave His life as a ransom for our sin, and that's really the purpose of communion, to once again remember what Christ has done for us. And if you've put your trust and faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, you're free to take communion with us. As we, once again, reflect upon the fact that Jesus's body was nailed to a cross and his blood was shed so that we might find forgiveness of sin, and it reminds us that Jesus Christ is our Savior, both men and women, and that we, in partnership, communicate that message until He comes again. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we are grateful for your goodness, we are grateful for your grace in our lives. Father, we thank you for the enormous gift, the incredible gift of Jesus Christ given to us so that we could find a savior. It's in Him as a person we put our trust and that we reflect upon right now in these moments. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 11, "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, He 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." Let's take together. And 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." Father, we thank You and we worship You. And we ask that the truth, the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ would flow in and through us as a healthy church, reflecting you to our world, for our good and your glory. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.