The Promise That He Made to Us
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
This past Thursday while siting in the living room with the family at the parsonage...
My eye caught a few visitors to our neighborhood who were knocking on doors.
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I saw them across the street.
Finishing up at my neighbor’s home...
They made their way towards the parsonage.
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The moment they pushed the door bell I was already at the door.
As I opened it I found what many of you have probably experienced many times before too...
Two very nice and well mannered young men in crisp and clean white dress shirts and black slacks.
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They had that familiar book with the navy blue cover and gold text that read:
“The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ”
They were missionaries with the Church of Latter Day Saints.
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As usual with these conversations we had a friendly discussion...
That was soon directed at what we each believed.
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The Mormons tried their hardest to say that we worshiped the same Jesus.
They said we too believe Jesus was the Savior of the World.
And that they too believe Jesus was the Son of God.
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It was very convincing...
But I asked them if they believe that Jesus was a part of the Trinity...
And it was clear we both did not believe in the same Jesus.
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You see Church, Mormons believe Jesus was a created person.
They believe Jesus and Satan where brothers.
They also believed that if they are faithful...
When they die...
They themselves with get to be a god too a rule over a planet.
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Let me put it bluntly.
That type of teaching of Jesus and that type of doctrine is straight out the hottest pit of Hell!
That is blasphemy!
That is heresy!
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They deny the biblical Jesus...
The true Jesus.
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Likewise they deny the Father too.
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These young polite men...
Who broke my heart to see them so lost...
They are liars who are filled with the spirit of the antichrist.
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We need to pray for them and all the other individuals deceived in this cult.
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And Mormons are doing today Gnostics and other false teachers have been doing since John’s time.
And this takes us to our study for today.
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So, please turn your Bibles to 1 John.
We will be conducting our study in Chapter 2 and focus on verses 21 through 25.
Our message this morning is called, “The Promise That He Made to Us”
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Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) You Know the Truth
1) You Know the Truth
Verse 21: I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
John wants to clarify to his readers...
To the church he is ministering too...
They know the truth that was shared with them from the apostles.
The truth found in the Gospels...
They know it and can depend on that knowledge.
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The reason John is reassuring them is because the false teachers are teaching things outside the Gospels...
Things outside the Word of God.
They present themselves as special religious leader with secret knowledge that only they know because of their special relationship with God...
But John has already go to lengths to prove these false teachers are of Satan...
They are of the world...
And they have no fellowship with genuine true believers.
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They false prophets didn’t teach about a biblical Jesus...
They didn’t teach and Jesu who was fully man and fully God...
They taught something else.
And that alone makes them liars and antichrists.
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The mercy we have from God that keeps genuine born-again believers protected from falsehood is the Holy Spirit.
Consider this note I came across this week in the MacArthur Study Bible which stats:
“The Holy Spirit guides the believer into knowing ‘all things’.
True Christians have a built-in lie detector and persevere in the truth.
Those who remain in heresy and apostasy manifest the fact that they were never genuinely born again.”
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For those who are a new creation...
They will be guided by the Holy Spirit.
So, John is encouraging his readers...
Trust in the only thing that has authority.
Trust in God’s perfect Word.
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Don’t listen to anyone who claims to have some type of special revelation.
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When some one tells you they believe in something that seem a bit fishy...
Just tell them...
Chapter and verse please.
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Everything that we need to know is contained in the Word of God.
John taught this to his audience...
Sharing with them the truth found in the Old Testament.
And sharing the truth that we too have recorded in the Gospel accounts.
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Remember what 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says:
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
You see Church...
God gave us the Scriptures so we don’t have to be deceived.
All of it is goo for every good work.
That means there is not a good work you can do that does not have its roots in the Word of God.
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Biblical Scholar Colin G. Kruse says,
“One of the strategies that the author urges his readers to employ against the influence of the false teachers is to hold on to the very message of the gospel that they heard from the beginning.
Recalling people who are being faced with false teaching to the gospel as they first heard it, and by which they were converted, is a strategy that is also employed elsewhere in the New Testament and needs to be practiced today.”
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So, like John implored his audience to trust in the teachings that are true and authoritative.
I implore you to do the same...
And trust in the truth that we have had from the beginning.
Trust in the truth that God wrote Himself...
And don’t be fooled by the things of man.
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But to teach lies...
To present a Jesus that does not line up with the Word of God...
Well, that would be to deny both the Son and the Father.
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So, let’s take a look at out next point.
2) Denying the Son
2) Denying the Son
Verse 22-23a: Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father.
Notice what John is saying, Church.
Notice that following any Jesus will not cut it.
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The false teachers or antichrists as John calls them...
They said they believed in Jesus but they denied that He was fully man and fully God.
So, in reality they denied Him and the Father too.
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That is why it is imperative that we understand who the biblical Jesus is from Scripture.
Jesus is not some genie in a lamp that will grant your every desire.
Jesus is not a hippie who only taught about love and never offended anyone.
Jesus is not just a good moral teacher or wise prophet that was only man.
Jesus is not still in the grave.
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Any of those beliefs or other unbiblical beliefs is a denial of the true Jesus...
And the one who denies the Son also denies the Father...
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As John says here...
To do this is to be an antichrist.
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Beloved, the world hates this truth...
They can’t stand that there is only one way to eternal life.
They can’t stand that the only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ.
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That is considered unacceptable.
The world wants many roads to Heaven but...
There is only one way and that is through Jesus Christ who Himself said in John 14:6:
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
This makes sense with the rest of the truth found in Scripture.
For who knows the Father except the Son and those chosen by God as it says is in Matthew 11:27:
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
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However, if one rejects Christ...
They will find themselves under judgement as it says in John 12:48:
48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
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So if we remain in Him and believe in Jesus as the biblical Christ...
Then it is a promise from God that we will reign with Him.
However, believing in a different Jesus that is not found in the Word of god is to deny Him...
And the result of that is that He will likewise deny us too on Judgement Day.
2 Timothy 2:12 make this point clear:
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;
We can’t be ashamed of the Jesus who is of the Bible...
Even if believing in the Jesus of the Bible makes us bigots and foolish to the world.
Just keep in mind what Mark said in his Gospel in Mark 8:38:
38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
So, instead of being ashamed of the Son of God.
We must confess the Son of God.
And that takes us to our next point.
3) Confessing the Son
3) Confessing the Son
Verse 23b: Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
This is a profound truth.
Confessing Jesus is always tied to a relationship with the Father.
For all who confess Jesus in a truthful and biblical manner...
Without exception have been first born of God from above.
This truth is found in 1 John 5:1:
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
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This confession of Jesus cannot just be so kind of act of lip service.
When John talks about confessing Jesus he is referring to those who have genuine faith and have been born again...
These individuals, who have the Holy Spirit in them, obey God’s Word.
They listen to the commands of Christ...
And they truly practice what they preach.
That is why Jesus makes it clear in John 14:23 that the ones who actually love Him also display obedience:
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
As you can see with this verse...
What this also means is that the Father will savingly love those individuals and will have a relationship with them too.
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I understand many people claim to be Christian...
Many people claim to be followers of Christ...
But your verbal confession of an intellectual fact is pointless if you don’t also really believe in your heart...
And if you truly believe with your mind and with your heart...
Then by the authority of Scripture it will show in your life...
Mainly, you will abide in the teachings of Christ.
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However, regardless of your claims...
If you do not abide in the teachings of Christ...
Then it reveals that you never had saving faith in Him from the beginning.
Just take a look at what John says in his second letter in 2 John 9:
9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
So, I beg you...
Confess Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior...
Confess Him with your lips...
Confess Him with your heart...
Surrender to Him...
Surrender your will to Him...
Surrender your desires to Him...
Surrender your ambitions to Him...
Surrender your motivations to Him...
So, as 1 John 4:15 says:
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
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What a wonderful truth from the Word of God...
We can hold onto these promises because of the source of those truths...
The very words of God.
And it is this subject we turn to n ext in our study.
4) Truth Abiding in You
4) Truth Abiding in You
Verse 24: Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
A genuine relationship with God is always accompanied by God’s Word being a focal point of that person’s life.
So, the whole Trinity...
Father, Son and Holy Spirit...
Abide’s within the person who also have the Word of God abiding in them.
This will result in the production of good works.
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Remember, you and I are not the source of our good works...
God is the source.
Take a look at John 15:4–9 for an excellent passage on this truth.
Jesus says:
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
Did you see that, Church?
Whatever you wish will be done for you.
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Now some like to stop there and use this verse out of context but let me reiterate the full truth.
Whatever you wish will be done for you if you abide in Jesus.
So, if you genuinely abide in Jesus, you will wish for things that fit with the will of God.
You will ask for the things that are eternal and not material things.
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And only after you have a saving relationship with Jesus will you every really produce good works.
Your good works will never save you.
Only Christ’s good and perfect work on the cross saves.
But your good works will prove that you are truly disciples of Jesus...
And a true disciple of Jesus lives a life saturated in the Word of God.
I love what John 8:31 says:
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
He didn’t say if you abide in certain rituals you will be my disciples.
He didn’t say if you abide in certain oral traditions you will be my disciples.
Jesus exposed the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes for those lies.
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What Jesus clearly said was that if you abide in His Word, which is the Bible...
If you abide in Scripture alone...
Then you prove you are truly His disciples.
For whoever claims to know Jesus...
Whoever claims to have a relationship with the Son of God...
That person must keep His commands and they are exclusively found in the Scriptures.
As 1 John 2:4 says:
4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
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That truth in the Bible...
It contains the promise of eternal life...
And this is were we will explore next in our study.
5) The Promise of Eternal Life
5) The Promise of Eternal Life
Verse 25: And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.
Wow, what an amazing promise to hold on to.
The world doesn’t have any means to make a promise like this.
In fact, no one with any real authority can make a promise like this except for our God.
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The world and the things of the world are perishing my dear brothers and sisters.
John said that himself in this letter as we already talked about previously.
As John 3:36 says:
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
You see Church, we all start our life as sinners.
All of us have God’s wrath on us.
That only changes when we come to faith in Jesus.
That only changes when God by His mercy and grace alone...
Opens our eyes and soften our hearts.
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The world can’t save you.
No church can save you.
No religious person can save you.
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There is only one name that saves...
And that is Jesus.
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Scripture is clear, we are saved by faith alone.
Look with me at Romans 4:13–16 and see biblical truth...
And see how the promises of God come from faith and not works.
13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
If good works could save...
Or if simply adhering to the law saved then faith and the promised of God are null and void.
That is why Paul says here that it depends on faith.
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We find this truth in John 6:40 too...
Jesus said:
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
And again in the Gospel of John we see the necessity of faith as seen in John 17:3:
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
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Jesus made a way for wicked sinners when there was no other way.
So, put your trust in Him today if you never have done this...
Or be encouraged if you already are one of His followers...
That your future is eternal life.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
As this message comes to a close I want to share this:
If you travel up I-395 through Washington, D.C., and cross over the Potomac, you will likely cross the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge.
Who was Arland D. Williams Jr.?
On January 13, 1982, he gave hope to five individuals at the cost of his own life.
On that cold January day, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the icy Potomac.
Ice on the wings prevented the plane from a successful takeoff.
Almost all of the passengers perished.
Five different times, a helicopter dropped a rope to save Williams.
Five times, Williams passed the rope to other passengers in worse shape than he was.
When the rope was extended to Williams the sixth time, he could not take hold and succumbed to the frigid waters.
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His heroism was not rash.
Aware that his own strength was fading, he deliberately handed hope to someone else over the space of several minutes.
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Likewise, Jesus did not make a rash decision to give His life for ours.
That Jesus would be an atoning sacrifice for us was His destiny from eternity past.
We need only take the lifeline handed to us by his sacrificial death on the cross.
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And it is now about the remembrance of that great sacrifice of our great Savior that we bring our attention to.
Communion
Communion
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As we begin our communion service I want to invite every genuinely born-again believe in the room to partake in this act together.
If you do not yet know the Lord and have a relationship with Him or if you are under church discipline from this church or another church they I will ask that you wait until you have resolved your issue before participating.
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As you came in you should have picked up a communion packet if you are joining us.
This has both the bread and juice in a convenient package.
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If you have not recieved one of these please raise your hand and one of our deacons will get you one.
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Before we join together in communion I want to remind everyone that we are to take communion in a worthy matter.
Are you breaking Gods commands?
Are you practicing and doing things you know you shouldn’t?
Now is the time to take care of those unresolved issues.
Ask God genuinely for forgiveness.
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Do you need to forgive someone that hurt you in the past?
Now is the time to do it.
Do you need to confess a sin you are trying to hide?
Now is the time to do it.
Have you been unfaithful in something God is calling you to do?
Now is the time to do it.
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So as we continue to prepare ourselves for communion...
Please take time to pray if you have something you need to say to our God.
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Remember, He is merciful and will never reject the one who comes to Him in humility.
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So, as some of our brother and sisters are praying let’s take the time to remember what this is all about.
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Christ was the sinless lamb that gave His life for His sheep.
He experienced both physical and spiritual trauma like no one before Him and no one after Him,.
We as a people...
That is you and me...
We mocked Him.
We beat Him.
We despised Him.
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We are so two faced as humans aren’t we, Church.
One moment we sing “Hosanna!” as Christ rides into Jerusalem...
And the next we cry out “Crucify Him!” as the religious leader of the day manipulate us.
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Beloved, Jesus knew we would do that to Him.
Yet He died for us anyway.
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While we were His enemies...
He died for us.
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We deserve Hell.
We deserve punishment.
We deserve death.
And that would be fair.
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But He gave us a gift.
He gave us Heaven.
He gave us eternal life.
He gave all this to His sheep...
The ones who confess Him and believe in Him...
Who believe in Him with their mind and heart.
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For His followers we remember what He did because it was His sacrifice that paid our overwhelming debts that we had no way of paying ourselves.
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So, let us take a look at Mark 14:12-25:
12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
13 And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him,
14 and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’
15 And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.”
16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
17 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve.
18 And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”
19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?”
20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.
21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.”
23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.
24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
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Tom will you pray before we partake in the bread:
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The Word of God says in Luke 22:19:
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
(TAKE THE BREAD)
Adrian will you pray before we partake in the juice:
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The Word of the God says in Luke 22:20:
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
(TAKE THE JUICE)
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With that we conclude the communion portion of our service.
To God be all the glory.
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Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.
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