Speaker 1: 0:13

It's so good, all right.

Speaker 2: 0:20

My name is Cheyenne and I'm in eighth grade and I go to Sassoon Valley and I'm reading Matthew 24, 36 through 51. But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father, as it was in the days of Noah. So it will be in the coming of the Son of heaven. Nor the son, but only the father, as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be of the coming of son of man. For the days before the flood, people were eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be of the coming of son of man. Two men will be in a field one one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill. One will be taken and the other left.

Speaker 2: 1:02

Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day the Lord will come.

Speaker 2: 1:07

But understand this if the owner of the house had known what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and not let his house be broken into.

Speaker 2: 1:19

So you must also be ready, because the Son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Who then is a faithful, wise servant whom the master puts in charge of all his servants in the household to give them their food at the proper time. It will be good for the servant whose master finds him doing well when he returns. Truly, I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions, but as opposed to servants wicked, and says to himself my master is staying away a long time, and then he begins to beat his fellow servants. Then he begins to beat his fellow servants and eat with Drake, with the drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, an hour which he's not aware of. He will cut him into pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Speaker 1: 2:05

That's the word of the Lord. This is the word of the Lord. That's great. Thanks be to God, you got it. You want to take it back? Good job, thank you, jeff.

Speaker 1: 2:13

Had talked about one story of someone's journey and I just want to let you know, like that's, what those light bulbs represent on that cross as you walk out. That's just from this year, so every one of those light bulbs represents that exact same story. So it's just beautiful to be a part of that. Last year we had like almost 300 of those stories. We're going to see it at Christmas as it gets bigger. So today we're going to finish out Matthew, chapter 24. Just a disclaimer I did not plan that it would land like this. So today is on the end times and I know the election is just a couple days away. This wasn't on purpose Like it, just how it happened to land. Yeah. So I was like I found that funny myself as I just kind of watched it unpack.

Speaker 1: 2:57

We've been walking through the gospel according to Matthew, verse by verse. We're not skipping anything. Obviously, as you can see, today we're unpacking it about. Hey, what did that mean then in the context to the readers and the listeners of that time. And then what does it mean to us here and now? So this is one of these passages.

Speaker 1: 3:19

This is one of those areas eschatologically which means the end things where Jesus' return is one thing that Orthodox Christianity has always held that Jesus will return in the flesh and put all that was wrong in the world and make it right, that he will bring forth new heavens and a new earth and that his return will be bodily and that we will then be transformed to becoming like he is and we'll enter into eternity with the living, visible Christ. This belief, this is a belief that the church has always held true to, and the church has not been in an agreement in how that actually takes place that all throughout the ages, people haven't actually agreed necessarily on what that looks like and how it takes place and when the end of the age actually began. So the end of the age actually began you see it in the book of Acts, in the first chapter, when Jesus ascended to the right hand of the age actually began. So the end of the age actually began. You see it in the book of Acts, in the first chapter, when Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father. It says in chapter 1, verse 9,. After he said this, he was taken up. This is Jesus taken up before their eyes, the disciples, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside him, them, men of Galilee. They said why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.

Speaker 1: 4:51

Now the problem is is that the church has historically not held to that advice. When it comes to the in things, like we love our imaginations, we, you know, like we like tickling all the different possibilities, and what we've seen in American evangelicalism over the past 40 or 50 years, or probably actually since the end of World War II, this is what really put prophecy at the forefront, where many evangelicals, their mind was all shifted when the reinstitution of Israel took place, which actually wasn't that long ago, and this just created, all of a sudden, this whole speculative side of Christianity that honestly, I think has had negative impacts, and we're going to see that in the church today, this speculation around when Jesus will come back and what are the signs of the times or what are the signs of his return? You know, and there's this whole question is it like literally seven years of tribulation, or will there actually be a ruler called the Antichrist? And then what happened was, as millions and millions of Christians, or even non-Christians, started reading this series called the Left Behind series. You remember that one? That one caught on like a wildfire. Some of you guys watched the movies. How many of you, after reading that or watching the movie, you know, got onto a plane and you just asked the pilots is there a good one and a bad one? I just got to make sure, and if you've seen it or read it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Right? And then so, like all of a sudden, when that took place and you know, kind of things shifted here in our American culture. Scripture turned into fiction and because of that there's been all kinds of backlash, honestly, to it. We have this whole new generation of Christians who grew up in the church and don't want to be a part of what they consider kind of like this sort of silly, speculative side of prophecy, and then have done something equally horrifying, which is then ignored, that we're called to give our attention and our focus to the intimate return of Christ, that we are to believe with the very depths of ourselves and our being that, actually, that that in itself becomes the motivating factor for holy living.

Speaker 1: 7:11

So this first part of chapter 24, which we talked about last week and there's all kinds of speculation especially packed in that Verses 1 through 35 deal with the destruction of Jerusalem. That actually happened in 70 AD. It's historical. Remember, last week we talked about how there was two questions that Jesus was asking. Let me see if I can get this to there. It is. There's two questions that Jesus was asking. This first one happened in 35 through, excuse me, 3 through 35, about the destruction of the temple. That's what the disciples were asking about, and so he answered that question first, and he actually then gave a timeline to it. He said within this generation, which for in biblical terms a generation is 40 years we get that kind of concept from the Israelites and the generation that had passed there and it ended up happening in 37 years. We know this from history. Then the second half of this was about then Jesus's return, and he actually uses some language to pivot to answering that second question which we're going to go through today in verses 36 through 51.

Speaker 1: 8:21

The other thing that we talked about is when prophets talk and Jesus was a prophet of his time too, and he mentioned lots of prophets that you the way they explain it and I gave you kind of this visual is, think of it like a person looking off into the distance. Like even right over here you have foothills and then eventually you have some other hills and some larger hills and then you get to the big mountain, mount Diablo, and you can't get context of like what the distance is. It seems like it's very close until you get there and you see another set of them and it seems very close. And next thing, you know you've traveled huge distances and so kind of that first part was of that 40 years, it was just kind of the foothills here, but then he would kind of move back and forth to talk about the kind of end and then come back and talk about things that were happening in real time. And this is the picture that in the imagery and language that prophets used, that it wasn't necessarily always linear, sometimes it was near and sometimes it was far away and you can't tell that.

Speaker 1: 9:18

So today, this is what the church has always been certain of that Jesus is coming back and we're going to consider, and even in the midst of that, some of these things that we should not do, in the midst of that that the church continues to foolishly do, I think being speculative. And so, just clearly, I want to let you know that this is never the church is never called to play like pin the tail on the Antichrist, like the church plays that game right. We're not called to like throw out dates of judgment day and as we'll see. One last thing, just as a reminder as we hop completely into this I think it's really important, as a reminder, to remember that when we read the Bible, the Bible was not written to us but for us, so understand who it was written to. There's cultural context that was taking place and individuals and having a discussion that's been recorded and it's for us the breadth of this. So much of the New Testament. When Paul, he's writing specifically to a church and to cultural things that are taking place there, but it's also for us. We can gather information from that. So, beginning Matthew 24, verse 36, this is where he pivots, but about the hour or the day, nobody knows, big old question mark, not even the angels in heaven or the son, but only the father.

Speaker 1: 10:42

I remember there was churches years ago or even individuals remember this Like guys bought like thousands of billboards. Do you remember this stuff? You've probably seen these over time All around the US declaring that Jesus was coming back and what day that it was going to take place. In fact, there was actually a billboard right out here in the 680 that had Judgment Day and we survived, just so you know. And apparently for them this page in the Bible was missing, like Jesus answers it right here. I remember it was fun. One of our community groups actually had shirts made after the day that passed that says I survived Judgment Day, may 21st. It was just super fun.

Speaker 1: 11:23

So verse 37. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the coming of the Son of man. From the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage Up to the day Noah entered the ark and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of man. In other words, life on earth was just happening. It was functioning as life functions, and even though Noah's building like this huge, massive thing right in their midst, they didn't believe it, they didn't buy into it, they continued to ignore the warnings and life continued. And you know, they sat there and said, yeah, you're building something for something that has never happened before, and so this has never happened before in human history. You're building this crazy thing. It's not going to happen now. So they just thought it was weird, it was a joke, and then notice the suddenness of this and I also want you guys to really catch the urgency.

Speaker 1: 12:21

Verse 40. Two men will be in a field One will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill. One will be taken and the other left. Now, first off, I do not believe that this text is advocating for the rapture I think this text is actually dealing with is judgment and division, which will eventually come. Remember again that the picture that Jesus just painted here, the ark, right where the bad were actually the ones swept away and the good stayed, not the good, the good weren't taken up. He just painted this picture of the ark, and so that something's going to shift. There will be people that get to stay and be left behind, but like in a good way, if you remember how this thing kind of all culminates and ends, it's a new heaven and new earth. Heaven comes down to earth, not the other way around. So therefore he says keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this if the owner of a house had known what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and he would have not let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready because the Son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Speaker 1: 13:41

The two key ideas around the return of Jesus right here that he's explaining to us is that Jesus is trying to pound this idea into the disciples' minds. And these are the two ideas you see right here watchfulness and attentiveness. He's saying watch out, watchfulness and attentiveness. An attentiveness of what God is up to, an attention to this that we hold as followers of Christ, believing and clinging onto this like strong belief that if Jesus died and carried our sins for him and we believe that he rose from the dead, that we can just be as, just as confident that he will return again. And we are to then watch for that, not be looking to the news to try to piece together some sort of strange riddle about what it means, or keep watching, you know, looking for the signs of the times. What he's saying is watch this and keep your eyes fixed on him, because we're waiting for his physical return and there's work to do, there's a participation that needs to happen. But even while we're waiting for his physical return and we'll get to this a little bit further along in Matthew he says lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age.

Speaker 1: 14:54

So watchfulness is an attentiveness to God's spirit, his moving, his calling, his call for us to actually follow him. Last week, his moving, his calling, his call for us to actually follow him. Last week he reminded us that it looks like standing firm in the midst of the crazy world that we live in, like standing firm and then enduring till the end, hanging on. But watchfulness is also connected to like a readiness, and another word for readiness, being ready for something, would be prepared right, when you get ready for something, you're prepared for it. And then another word for prepared, if you're a follower of Christ is just simply being faithful. Faithful is being prepared, because faithfulness is preparedness. It's being ready. It's this, you're hanging on to it. You understand what's being ready. It's this, you're hanging on to it. You understand what's taking place and so many people call this actually the end of the age.

Speaker 1: 15:49

But I think for us, in context and understanding, it might be easier for you to, or even more helpful for you to call it the time of the in-between, right Between here and there, the time of the in-between. And for many of you, as Christ followers, you're actually living in that state personally, because the in-between is the hardest place to maintain faithfulness and watchfulness. When you're just in the in-between. The in-between for a married couple is after like the initial romance, guys. You remember those times for those of us who are married, where is after like the initial romance, the guys. You remember those times for those of us who are married, where you're like I gotta lock this in, like you gotta make sure this happens. I fell in love with this woman, and you're like I don't wanna lose this girl and so therefore I shall bathe every day, right. And you just did all kinds of disciplined things, like you picked your laundry up, your place was clean, like your car was the cleanest it's ever been on the inside, right and then you got married and you're like all right, that's over. So we're back to like four times a week and I don't pick up my laundry typically, so that just happens. It's out right, and the dishes, you know all of this stuff.

Speaker 1: 16:59

And suddenly, like we found this lack of motivation to maintain and here's the issue that we're actually dealing with today as we jump into this text is it challenges us with being watchful and faithful in the in-between, where Jesus was warning us not to like drift, which we can do, and it's hard to invest into your relationships. Right, marriage really actually means more work. You gotta work harder at the relationship. Maintaining the in-between is like, yeah, you got to continue to work at your health. Maintaining the in-between is hard because it's like, yeah, it's hard to keep your sobriety because it's just the same thing. You got to stay watchful and faithful to this. And this is so difficult because we live in a day that's driven by immediacy.

Speaker 1: 17:45

We love the immediate and immediacy drives this lack of attention and apathy and this impatience that we get with things right, like if the internet is not fast enough. We can't get a hold of someone right away. Like, how dare you even think you can leave a message right? This is an immediacy thing. We want everything immediate because the best things in life come immediate right. No, we know that's not true. The best things in life actually require the most effort, the most discipline and they often are the most costly. But we love shortcuts. Man, I wish there were shortcuts for lots of things in life. I'm sure you have your list too.

Speaker 1: 18:30

When I was younger, I desperately wanted to have a six-pack like just rock-solid abs. I have one, it's in the refrigerator, I'm keeping it cold and like. I remember watching I don't know if you guys ever remember this the Ab Flex, and it was like these commercials, like you're doing that right, different things where you didn't have to use your head. I wasn't quite there, we'll get there in a second. So I found an easier way and actually, here you go, you can throw that up. I then this like shock thing was an infomercial for this like shocker, and it was like you could just go throughout your day and you just get shocked and your muscles are like constantly contracting and like they're getting stronger and you can put them on your biceps too. This is literally you can still get this stuff today, right, and so I didn't tell anyone.

Speaker 1: 19:16

I like saved my money up and I bought one of these bad boys back in the nineties and I was like I'm gonna be ripped. Right, I was feeling good about it and they had like pictures people just do a normal life and so it took eight D batteries. It was a little heavy. That should have been a giveaway right off the bat. And I was like I'm gonna do two things at once. I'm gonna take this thing to school and I'm just gonna be doing class and I'm just gonna be getting ripped right now. Right, I was feeling good, so good. So I did that and I think I was in math class and I didn't realize this is the first time now using it and I'm all kind of like feeling cool about myself.

Speaker 1: 19:52

And I got this. I got a jacket on over it and I didn't realize that it didn't have like a button or a knob for like how intense it is. It only had different, like different settings and how intense it was going to be. And so I kicked this thing on and all of a sudden, I'm like making these faces, golly. And I'm hitting another button. It's like hit, hit, hit.

Speaker 1: 20:15

So my teacher notices and is like Larry, are you okay? And I was like no, I'm fine, and I'm trying to talk to me. I'm like I need to go to the bathroom and she's like, oh my gosh. And I'm like getting up, going, ah, ah, ah, hitting all of this stuff, trying to push all these buttons. Oh, that was the last time I used that.

Speaker 1: 20:39

Right, these are scams. Right, people make money from these. Like by what? Like feeding into her desire to shortcut everything, like this is my shortcut and it's going to be amazing. And they're always like that, you know, like the pills you can take that'll make you skinny while you continue to eat whatever you want, and ice cream and I took some of those too Some weird Amazon green bean coffee thing, and all it did was give me stomach cramps to make me feel like I was a poop myself. Like it's bad. Here's the thing. Do any of these scams actually work? No, right.

Speaker 1: 21:09

But you see, the people who create them are brilliant, because they understand something about human behavior that we are extremely forgetful when it comes to learning from our past and we're extremely eager when it comes to jumping into some new possibility that might create the discipline that we're unwilling to actually like exercise with time and energy to invest into it, the costly part of it, and truly aren't you glad that it doesn't work. Like, think about this Immediate education. Like you know that four-year degree, you kind of did it in like six months. You're glad that it doesn't happen. Like, especially when it four-year degree, you kind of did it in like six months, you're glad that it doesn't happen. Like, especially when it comes to like medical school, you're like, wow, congratulations, you did it really. Like we don't want that. Or like the dentist you go to and they're like, yeah, I learned it on YouTube in like four hours, it was awesome. You're not going to be like that's excellent, you want the discipline and the cost, like that would be bad.

Speaker 1: 22:09

And that's because things that are worth moving towards in life require tremendous effort and a stick-to-tiveness, like you got to stick to it, and a willingness to persevere and to press in. And this level of intimacy is actually it goes along, not just with like silly examples of how to have perfect bodies without you know actually exercising. This is why our nation views divorce as a viable option, like quickly, right, like for the moment. You feel really incompatible and we're not willing to do the work that it takes and things hold our interest for a really short time, and that's why we're driven by these things. It's this constant allure of new and this constant boredom with the old and this unwillingness to discipline ourselves towards the goals that we actually want to achieve in our lives, and I think that this actually plays deeply into the problem of being watchful and faithful.

Speaker 1: 23:10

Notice, in that scripture, again, we're called to be watchful. Again and again and again, jesus is calling us to a disciplined life, and he uses this challenging illustration that you're supposed to stay awake. You're supposed to stay awake and wait for the thief that's going to come, but you don't know when. And that's exactly what he's actually calling us to do. He's saying, hey, we need to discipline ourselves and work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Be faithful, literally standing firm, like it's going to feel old news. But hey, you're to be ready, you're to stand firm, you're to continue to do these things. Then he continues, verse 45.

Speaker 1: 23:51

Who then gives us this other beautiful picture? Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household, to give them their food at the proper time. It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing it when he returns. Truly, I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that the servant is wicked and says to himself my master is staying away too long, and then he begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and in an hour he was not aware of. Then he will cut him into pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites there's that word again where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Speaker 1: 24:40

So this word faithful here is just another word for being holy. And holiness is this full-hearted commitment to God's plans, purposes, his character. It's even what we talk about through our mission statement here helping unchurched, anti-church, de-churched people become wholehearted followers of Jesus Christ. Like a commitment to God's plans, his purposes, his characters, a commitment to. Like a commitment to God's plans, his purposes, his characters, a commitment to the mission. And this is what Jesus means when he says be ready, be holy. It's not being perfect, and holiness has this single-minded focus upon that which we have been called to and those of us who are followers of Christ been commissioned by Jesus to actually witness out, then, with our life, our words, our behavior, the truth of the gospel, and this is why he says in Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews says strive for peace with everyone and for holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. So again, watchfulness, attentiveness.

Speaker 1: 25:44

Secondly, the return of Christ means that there will be this ultimate victory of good over evil that we declare through the work of the cross and Pastor Jim talked about this earlier that Jesus already is the victor. This has already been accomplished. There's been victory over sin, the devil, the dominions of darkness and all of the world. That is wrong, but we have not seen its full impact yet. In fact, it seems to us like days actually keep getting darker, and that's because Augustine said that the devil is like a mortally wounded dog, and those of you who understand this, it's actually the most dangerous kinds of dogs. The ones who are dying or have been injured actually become more ferocious. And if you're sitting here today and you know Jesus, you've already tasted on like this small level a now and a, not yet reality, A now and not yet reality in regards to victory over death.

Speaker 1: 26:49

Which brings me to this third thing, which is that Christ's return means restoration. It means restoration Not only does it mean that history will culminate in Jesus's return when this new heaven and this new earth comes, but it also means that there will be total victory in that moment where sin and evil will be put away once and for all, which means that there will be restoration with this new heaven and new earth, restoration that will encompass social, cosmic, personal, moral, even the there or the now and the not yet reality happening, because we've experienced it. And being faithful is about managing the in-between. We are being called to manage the in-between. So what do we do in the in-between? Love God, love neighbor. He gave us that answer, actually, last week. It's that, back and forth of the mountain range, jesus gives us hope for the future and hope now.

Speaker 1: 28:01

And I want to redefine really quickly hope for you, because hope defined by all our culture is I'm going to buy a lottery ticket and I hope I win a million dollars, right. And what do we have? We have just enough faith to waste a buck, right, just enough. And that dollar is just this minute chance, but you don't believe you're actually going to win. Right, you can have the dreams, but you know you're already setting yourself up. I don't believe I'm actually winning, but I have. I have just enough faith to say I do. And I think that maybe too often we can actually do the same thing with Jesus, where it's like I have just enough faith to say I do, I give my life to you. I have just enough faith to be like I'll raise my hand, I'll make a decision. Just enough faith. But I don't actually really believe, like on the deep down inside of me, that it's really going to be different and I'm not even totally sure he's coming back. But I'll raise my hand just in case, give me a light bulb, just in case, right.

Speaker 1: 29:12

But what we're told real hope is hope from a Christian perspective is not like I hope it's going to happen. It's faith in knowing the hope of what is going to take place. According, paul wrote in Romans, chapter five according to him, hope does not disappoint because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us. This is the us, us, us, this us. You see, at just the right time he says when you were still powerless, christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this While we were still sinners. Christ died for us.

Speaker 1: 30:01

If you're living frustrated as a Christian and not seeing progress in your life, I would argue that that's directly connected to misplaced expectancy, that you haven't allowed the promise of Christ's return to captivate your heart, and that here we're told that the hope is in his return and the belief that this is going to happen. And actually what it does is. It creates faithful living and watchfulness. But what happens when the trials keep happening to us? What happens when you go through eight months of anxiety, right, what happens when you thought Jesus was going to do this thing for you but it does not come to pass? I would say that potentially you had misplaced expectations. Your expectation was not in. I want to see Jesus. Your expectation often ended up being in what can Jesus do for me?

Speaker 1: 30:59

Which is often the beginning of misplaced affection in something, which leads to an increased disappointment in something or someone. Disappointment in something or someone, remember. He says at just the right time. And what happens in delay? Well, delay can feed into bad character, and when Jesus doesn't deliver you from this or that difficulty, when Jesus doesn't rescue you from your anxiety or from your illness, when he doesn't give you that job, or you've been unemployed for eight months, when that really becomes this thing, that's just so essential in those moments, that's when it's so essential that we become watchful and faithful, that, no matter what happens, lord, you alone as I say watchful and faithful in the midst of this crazy life that I'm living you alone hold the words of life and I'm just here to say with you. That is so hard in the in-between. But when there's delay and nothing comes, we tend to give up. That delay can feed into bad character, and that's where we forget that Jesus is coming back and therefore, now I live as I want.

Speaker 1: 32:15

Drift, this is this drift, that is the example that he gave us. And so how do we remember? How do we remember that? How do we remind ourselves? Well, he thought about that, which is why he left us these beautiful rituals. You know what a ritual is?

Speaker 1: 32:33

Rituals are something that teach us and remind us of something. I'll give you an example that hopefully, many of you use the ritual of I love you. Right, I love you. Like you just keep telling that other person I love you and then you like want the ritual back. You're like, right, I said I love you and they go like this, I know, right, why do we do that? Did we like forget? Do we think they forgot? No, it's to remind us of something and it's to teach us something. It's a beautiful ritual and, by the way, if you haven't heard those words in a long time, please see me. I will gladly tell you I love you and I mean it. I'll look you right in the eye, we'll make it awkward, it's gonna be awesome and this is a beautiful, important ritual.

Speaker 1: 33:22

But Jesus actually left us with other new rituals, new rituals that he taught his followers to perform. The first ritual is actually called baptism. Baptism is this beautiful ritual that happens in the in-between, that first that we're even going to do this. Actually, in two weeks, we're going to spend the whole service just appreciating and watching people be involved in that ritual. That this ritual shows literally just as Jesus died. So you go into the water and it becomes this personal connection with his death and then as coming out of the water. You, so to speak, come back to life now with Jesus. And so baptism is this sacred ritual that joins your story to the death and resurrection of Jesus's story, that we no longer need to atone for what we've done, that Jesus reminds us. Jesus has done this, you don't have to do this stuff anymore. It's a reminder. It's this beautiful ritual that reminds us who Jesus is, that he loves us and then he's got you. You don't need to atone for anything.

Speaker 1: 34:31

The second one is called the Lord's Supper, or you've heard it called the Eucharist, or today, even communion we just participated in, just like 25 minutes ago, which is this reenactment. It's a ritual, it's this reenactment of Jesus's last meal with his disciples, where he used bread and he used wine to portray his coming death as a sacrifice. That God loves you and he's got you, that he's going to do this atoning thing for you and he says do this ritual like the I loves you, so you can pause and stop and remember that I love you. It reminds you of something so you can continue to stay watchful and faithful in the in-between. And so now followers of Jesus take up this bread and this cup regularly to remember and participate in the power of Jesus's death and in his life.

Speaker 1: 35:24

And these rituals remind us of God's love to encourage us to live a life of love and grace. But they do more than that they actually connect us. They connect us to this new life source. So, in the in-between, may we not drift A reminder for justice, mercy and faithfulness, and that the power that brought Jesus back from the dead is the same power that can deal with the evil that happens in our own lives and transform us into people who lead lives of love and peace. So stand firm, watchfulness, faithfulness. He is coming, but only the Father knows when. And in the in-between, love God, love another human, take a deep breath and be reminded he loves you, he died for you, he loves you and all will eventually be made new. Will you stand as we respond in worship?

Speaker 2: 36:44

Can we give God a hand clap, a praise for that message?