TRANSCRIPTION | Wed, October 14, 2020 | Judging Stewards

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Get to be with you again tonight. We are so enjoying these Wednesday nights where that we have the opportunity to just lean a little deeper into the Word. Right now we're working through the book of 1 Corinthians. Tonight, we're going to be in chapter four, and I'm actually going to be reading from the ESV version. You can welcome to pull up your Bible or pull up an app on your phone, but also would share with you, you can go to ericgilbert.org. And once you're there at the website, you can scroll down just a little bit, you'll notice there's a link that says discussion guides. You can click on that link, and then you can just pick Wednesday nights. And then once you're there, you're going to be able to see that you can download the discussion guides, you can click on the message notes. Even after the fact, there'll be some message transcripts that will be available there for you to go back and visit. We just want to make it as easy as possible for you to be equipped by the Word. So we're putting these resources in your hand so that you can keep them. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

And one of the things we've noticed about discussion guides, this actually came to me through someone else, they shared it with me. They said, you know, I know that discussion guides were created for watch parties because we do have people and maybe you're one of those groups tonight that you're watching this in a group. And after it finishes, you're planning to have a time of discussion. We also know that there are people who are using this in prayer times. So someone shared with me is like, you know, I wasn't with the group, I was by myself. But I got the discussion guide, and I just went into a time when me and the Lord just had a conversation about it. And so you use that however the Lord leads, guides, and directs you. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

But, what we're gonna do as we get ready to dive into this, and our title for this series is called What in the world. And I've shared before that that's a common question at my house. Like it's almost kind of like a byline, that when we see something that we just don't know how to process, or it looks like somebody's just doing something foolish or crazy, we're like, what in the world. Matter of fact, we said it two times yesterday that I know of when we were just going back and forth on Instagram sending stuff to our family about, man, what in the world was that person thinking? What in the world were they doing? And I believe that after Paul had ministered in Corinth for 18 months, and he had given himself over to try to raise up this church, that I believe when he started to get reports about what was going on in that church, I think he kind of had somewhat in the world moments. He began to hear that they had slipped into sexual perversion, they slipped into drunkenness, they had slipped into some stuff where that they were beginning to just live increasingly sinful. They were bound by arrogance. They were following personalities more than they were following the presence of God. I mean, you name it, these people are struggling, what in the world. And that's the other part of it is really the issue was the world was getting in them. And it leads me to this question that I think all of us have to evaluate, and the Book of 1 Corinthians helps us do it like what in the world. What from the spirit of the world is beginning to work in us, even if we are a part of the church, and it's something just always take a really good look at. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So recapping here just a little bit, the thing I want you to see is that we've already learned by reading through the Book of 1 Corinthians that there are two kinds of people; there are saved people, and they're unsaved people. Got any saved people in the house tonight? Thank God for that. All right, two kinds of people saved people and unsaved people. Then we learned also through the book of 1 Corinthians that there are two kinds of saved people. Okay, there are the mature ones, and there are the immature ones. And I would really invite you to go back and take a look if you haven't got a chance to see it yet. 1 Corinthians 3, we really kind of dove into this, and really started to look at what does it truly means to be mature and immature. We even dissected what it means to have the milk of the Word versus the meat of the Word. And I believe that if you can get a chance to see that you might be surprised, it does not mean what you probably think that it means. And next thing that we noticed is that in chapter three, okay? And so, and forgive me, this is my typo, but it's actually chapter three, that it talks about the fact that they were a family, that the church is a family, okay? The church is a family and the goal is maturity.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So just make sure we're all on the same page in 1 Corinthians chapter number 3, when Paul was going through that, he points out three things in that chapter, that the church is a family and the goal is maturity. He points out that the church is a field, and the goal is quantity. In other words, win as many people into the Church as you possibly can. Another thing that he pointed out towards the end of chapter three is that the church is a temple, and the goal is quality. Okay, so God wants his church to be holy. We're like a temple. He wants us to not just have a bunch of people in His church, but He wants quality saints, people who are not living like the world, come on, but they're living like Jesus in the earth. And so here's the next thing. So again, this picture was also painted in chapter three, three more things, that if we're a family, then we need to understand the Word of God is food for the family. And then we need to understand that the Word of God is seed for the field. Then we need to understand that the Word of God is material for the temple. So all that was in chapter three. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

You say well we've already gone through that. Why are we revisiting it? Because what Paul does in this next section is he continues this vein of three things, okay? And here's what happens in these three things, is we get three pictures of the minister in chapter four, okay? So in chapter three, we learned about the Church, and we learned about the Word of God, but in this chapter, we learn about God's ministers, okay? So what we're learning here is God's got a church, and God wants His Word to be prevalent within that church. And that word is going to have many purposes in our life three specifically in chapter three. But in chapter four, He has ministers, and He wants to use those ministers within His church. And three things that He points out about the ministers is, number one, they are a steward; number two, they are a spectacle; and number three, they are to be like a father in that congregation and to those people. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

And so let's just take a look at the verses that kind of specifically point that out. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, this is where he points out that it should be a steward, that the minister should be like a steward. So this is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ, and as stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of the stewards that they be found faithful. And so when you're looking at a minister in a church, when you're looking at a pastor of a church, a pastor should be a steward, and in that should be found faithful. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So the next thing that we see is that God has actually set ministers to be like a spectacle, makes you feel good about being in ministry, right? But he says, For I think that God has exhibited us as apostles, as last of all like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. So He's laying it out right there, ministers don't get to have all of a celebrity, that ministers don't always get to be high and elevated. Although, He points out to us that it is that we should honor later in Scripture, all those things. There are going to be moments when for the sake of ministry, you might look like or feel like a spectacle. I feel about like that every Sunday afternoon. A little bit tonight. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

1 Corinthians 4, he talks about the father, he says, “I do not write these things to make you ashamed but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for I have become your father in Christ, through Jesus Christ through the Gospel. And I urge you then to be imitators of me.” So three things, a steward, a spectacle, and a father. He's told us that his church has to be like a family and every family needs a father. And we know that ultimately, we have the Heavenly Father, right, the Heavenly Father, but what God has done as He's desired to use ministers who would care enough to not just teach to not just be an instructor, but to help bring correction, and to help bring discipline, and truly help somebody mature, and to help grow It's one of the things I believe he's pointing out is that an instructor, a teacher, might have interest in growth, but a father will see to it that he's not satisfied until you grow, because he cares so much about the family, both in quantity and in quality. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So, we could take a lot of time, and we could break down all three of these things. But what I think is the best approach for us is let's just pick one. Okay, let's pick one, and let's go into it. We're going to start with the first one. We're going to talk about the fact that ministers are stewards. Ministers are stewards. I want you to look with me at this verse, 1 Corinthians 4:1, it says, “This is how one should regard us, as servants,” some translation, say, ministers, were using that word a lot tonight, “servants/ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mystery of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards, that they be found faithful.” So ministers are viewed as stewards, and that those stewards are literally like servants of Christ. And when you think about what that word servants mean, you notice their servants of Christ and ministers of Christ, that the Greek translation of that word servants is literally under rowers, okay? Under rowers. Everybody say that “under rowers”, like what is that? It comes from the time of the Romans. And what it represents is when the Roman ships were moving from one location to the next, they had rowers who would go down into the deep parts of these ships, and they would row those big boats forward. And most often, the people who were rowing those boats were slaves. And so there were the people at the top of the boat and those under the flag that got the glory. And they're the ones that arrived like conquering heroes, but the people who were actually moving the boat were the slaves that were underneath. And so what Paul is saying is that when you, when you sign up for ministry, it may not feel all that lucrative, and it may not feel all that glorious. He said, in fact, if you're a true servant, you're just a steward that is like a slave who has been given the opportunity to row the ship forward. You ought to just tell somebody row the boat baby. Row the boat. So every time that we're serving in ministry, we are rowing the boat, and it doesn’t always feel good. And sometimes we're fatigued, and sometimes it burns. Sometimes we wish we could take a day off, but we are called to row the boat, row the boat. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

And so here's what I want you to notice about this concept of the steward is that it's the steward that is rowing the boat. It's the servant that is rowing the boat. And the thing about a servant is that, and maybe even better stated here, steward, these words are so interchangeable in this text, but it manages everything but owns nothing. That's what a steward does, manages everything, but owns nothing. The responsibility of the steward is to be faithful to his master, and he may not please the members of the household, and he may not please the other servants. The servant, the steward. I’m gonna say it again. He may not please the members of the household, and he may not even please the other servants. He has one obligation, and that is to please the master. Because the master owns it all. And so when you truly really begin to understand ministry, you realize there's gonna be days when the rest of the household’s upset with me because it's not my job to please them. Like when you're truly in ministry, you're going to realize like it's not today, some of the other stewards and servants may be a little upset with me because it's not my job to please them. It doesn't mean I'm just blatantly rude, or arrogant, or run over people. But the high calling is to make sure that the master is pleased. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

And so one of the things that is going down in 1 Corinthians, when you're reading through these first four chapters, and it's still being talked about in chapter four, is that there is a controversy that is broken out in this local church. And the reason it has happened is because they are disagreeing about personalities, okay? So Paul birthed this church. He spent 18 months with them, some would say that maybe the congregation has reached 50 to 60 people at that point. After he moves on, he is followed in Corinth by a guy named Apollos, okay? And we don't know a ton about Apollos based on Scripture, but there's a lot of early church history that can fill in some blanks for you. And the thing about Apollos is he must have been the TD Jakes of his day. He was a bad man when it came to preaching, evidently. Because when Apollos was preaching, it has such an effect that even though Paul was recognized as a teacher, and he's recognized as a scholar, and he's recognized as a theologian, after Apollo's came on the scene, they're like, man, I kind of like amening him. Like, can we fire up the Hammond B3, and listen to him for a while, because I really like that. In fact, maybe Apollos should be our apostle, and maybe Apollos is the one who should have the authority over this house. And they start arguing over which one is actually to be preferred over the other?

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

And did you notice when we read that verse, it says that Paul said, that “I and Apollo's are servants of Christ, stewards of Christ, we are under rowers of Christ,” that we're all just rowing the boat. What he's saying is, how could you prefer one slave over the other? That's what he's saying, how could you prefer one slave or the other because everything we got to start with belongs to the master. And he's calling them out about this reality that it's not about who's being a good steward, being a good servant. It's not about who's the most popular. It's not about who's the best preacher. It's about who's the most faithful. That's what becomes the most important. It’s not the popularity or the preaching prowess, but rather, the faithfulness. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

And so what you discover when you're going through this section about the steward, okay? When you're going through this section of 1 Corinthians about chapter four, about the steward, you notice there are three, three judgments in the life of the steward. Three judgments in the life of the steward. The first one is man's judgment. Okay. And that is found in 1 Corinthians 4:3, “but with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by any human court,” okay. So let's just make sure everybody's on the same page. Paul’s saying, I've been there, I've ministered in Corinth, through this letter, I'm still ministering, and I get it, you're gonna judge me. Because that's what good church people do, right? Just you're gonna, you're gonna judge me. And he says, I just want you to know, it is a, man I should have underlined that, it is a very small thing. that I should be judged by you. In fact, you can put me in front of the whole human court. You can talk about me on Facebook. You can talk about me on Twitter. You can send me back and forth in your DM’s and your text messages. You can even have me for lunch with your fried chicken after church on Sunday. It's just a very small thing. Paul’s saying, as a minister for me to know that you're judging me. You know what he understood, he understood that the only judgment that really matters comes from the Lord. People are going to judge. People are going to draw their conclusions. People are going to criticize, but he's like, at the end of the day, it's a small thing for me to be judged by you in comparison with being judged by the Lord. We're going to talk a little bit more about that in just a minute. But first, we need to notice the second judgment. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Three judgments in the life of a steward. The first one's man's judgment; the second one is self- judgment. Okay? Self-judgment. It's recorded in 1 Corinthians 4:3, “In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted.” Man it, this is a deep verse. And it's one of those that if you were to come across it in your morning devotional time, I hope that you would stop for a minute and just ponder it for a second. Because this is one of these verses that you need to meditate on. Because he's already said, I get it, other people are gonna judge me. That's a small thing to me. Do what you got to do, say what you got to say, be whoever you got to be, do your thing. But I want you to know, I'm not focused on judging myself because honestly, he's saying in my life, I don't know anything that is off base. I don't know anything that's off-kilter. That's why I think, later on, he was okay saying to people, you can imitate me. Can you imagine being at a place in your walk with God, where you actually felt comfortable about looking to somebody and saying, you can imitate me. Because a lot of these weaknesses that I've dealt with have been handled by God's strength. Like, that's, that's the undertone of so much of Paul's letters. But he said, even though I can't find anything in my own heart, and even though I'm not judging myself in this particular season of my life, I am still not acquitted. I don't get to make the call. So many people don't realize it, that they operate in self-judgment, and come to the conclusion of self-righteousness. Because they look at their life, and they don't compare it to the holiness of Jesus. They compare it to someone else. And they think, just because I'm better than that person, I'm not as bad as that fella. I haven't done the things that they've done. And then they start to feel self-righteous, and they feel like that they're deserving or they're entitled, and that they are acquitted. And Paul's like, listen, I can sit here and judge myself if I want to, but at the end of the day, there's only one judgment that really matters and that is God's judgment. Three judgments, three judgments, man's judgment, self-judgment, but God's judgment is the judgment that matters the most. 

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Pastor Eric Gilbert

And so let's take a look at that 1 Corinthians 4, 4B, excuse me, chapter four, and it's the second part of this verse, “It is the Lord who judges me.” It is the Lord who judges me. Can we just say that out loud together? It is the Lord who judges me. Come on, say it again with me. It is the Lord who judges me. Isn't that good to know? Like, you just deleted a bunch of tweets in your drafts, didn't you? You don't even got to get them back now. Like, those emails that you've been writing that email, you're like, I'm gonna scold they're hide. I'm gonna let them know what I really think. I'm gonna let. Like, when you realize what they're judging, they're judging me, but it's the Lord that judges me, and He's the one I need to be having a conversation with about it. He's the one I need to be working it out with. The Lord judges me. 

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Pastor Eric Gilbert

And so I think that Paul sensed that there was the chance for people to take what he was saying and twist it. Because even what we just talked about, don't you realize how some of this could possibly get twisted if somebody had like Ill motives. And so what I think is he realized, okay, now I'm telling these people that I'm not judging myself because I can't find anything wrong with me, and they're going to start running around saying, well, I can't find anything wrong myself either. And they're going to use that to manipulate it to their own advantage. He realizes there's gonna be people who's going to say, you can't judge me, God's the only one that can judge. You'll have never had that conversation with a relative. Come on somebody. You can't judge me. God’s The only one. Like, yeah. Praise God. So you know what he does? He says, let's just line this thing up. I’m gonna give you a rebuke before we even get started. You gotta love Paul. He

gives a three-fold rebuke next. And I think it's to avoid that self-righteous independence. And here's what he shows us in the three-fold rebuke that comes in the next two or three verses. He shows us “Do not judge at the wrong time.” Do not judge at the wrong time. Watch this, 1 Corinthians 4:5, “Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time.” And now he's gonna tell you what the time is. “Before the Lord comes, who will bring to light things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.” I believe what he's talking about here in verse five, is you remember how we were talking about some people like Paul better than Apollos and some people liked Apollos better than Paul. And they had actually reached the place where some of them were throwing Peter into the mix. And they're literally going around town celebrating who got baptized by who.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

But you know how everybody wears the baptism t-shirt today? Like, they're not putting I have decided, or that my life has been changed or renewed, born again. No, they were wearing Apollos, Paul, Simon Peter. That's their thing, man. They've been there and got the t-shirt. And I think what he's trying to say, watch the way this is worded. “Then each one will receive his commendation.” It's a key phrase. “Then each one will receive his commendation.” So, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, because the Lord will bring all things to light, even the things that are hidden in darkness, and then each one will receive his commendation. So he's saying, you do not have to worry about trying to figure out who's the greatest. God will settle that when He comes. And now is not the time to be focused on who is the greatest among you. Now's not the time to be trying to settle if Paul is better than Apollos, and if Apollos is better than Simon Peter. It's not the time. There will be a time for that. But trying to do that right now. It is not the time for it. When God comes He's going to show you there’s stuff in some of their hearts you didn't even know was there. Because you, Scripture tells us as in the Book of 1 Samuel, we look at the outside, God looks at the inside. We look at man from the outer perspective, God looks at the heart of man. And that's the thing that God's trying to point out here is like, there'll be a time to decide who's the greatest. We talked about in chapter three, that not all of your works get to go to heaven with you. In chapter three, one of the things that's pointed out to us is that our works will go be tested by the same fire of Hell. And if they don't survive, because they were about a personality, or they were about popularity, they were about anything besides building a church for the name of Jesus, it doesn't go to Heaven with you and you miss your return reward. And Paul's pulling all that back in and he's saying wait a second, there'll be a time for commendation but right now y'all got to stop trying to give the trophies out. Okay. All right.

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Pastor Eric Gilbert

Here's the second rebuke. Do not judge by the wrong standard. Do not judge by the wrong standard. 1 Corinthians 4:6, “I have applied all these things to myself and to Apollos.” What's he saying? He's saying, even among my own heart, I could have got focused on trying to figure out if I was better than Apollos. It’s what the man’s saying. Like I could have spent some time trying to figure out mm I really better than him, or is he really better than me? Like, am I smarter than him, or is he smarter than me? Like, how many degrees does he have and how many degrees do I have. I wonder what's on his resume, and wonder how many recommendations he. Like, he. I’m not doing it either. He said I'm not doing it. Me and Apollos are not playing this game. For your benefit, we're not playing the game. So that you may learn by us to not go beyond what is written. And he’s saying at the end of the day there's only one thing that matters when it comes down to judgment anyway, and that is the Word of God. That the Word of God is ultimately what every judgment has to be based upon. 

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Pastor Eric Gilbert

Let's look at this third one, do not judge by the wrong motive. Do not judge by the wrong motive. 1 Corinthians 4:6, “That you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against the other.” So again, it's that judgment that comes from the heart of comparison, and it’s that judgment that just like they're saying, okay, this one was baptized by Apollos, so that must mean he's a little more elevated than the one who was baptized by Paul. Like, can you follow that for a second? Have you ever noticed how ego can  follow church people sometimes? You ever noticed how some people wear their church t-shirts, the way gangs wear their colors? I can't get no help on a Wednesday night. Like, it's like there's this attitude of elitism, and there's this attitude of we do it better than they do it. And so many times you invite them to your place, just because you think the way you do it is better than the way, okay. That can't be the motive. Like, when we're judging anything, it can't be just so you can be puffed up against other people, whether that's, well, man, our small group, we got smoked sausage. What do you got? Am I telling the truth? Like, we will find the silliest, the silliest stuff to get puffed up about. And it's not the point of what God is calling us to that we would be puffed up in favor of one or the other. So be sure that you don't ever judge out of the wrong motive. Because the motive of these people is that it was not spiritual. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

See, God's ministers are stewards of His truth. And the key test is this. So we're back to that concept of minister alright, I got off on the church thing a little bit. Let's bring it, bring it back home, that God's ministers are stewards of His truth, and here's the key test. Has the minister been faithful to preach in practice the Word of God? At the end of the day, it's not about the oratory skill. At the end of the day, it's not about the leadership gifting. All of those things have their place, right. But when we're really at the end of the day, the only thing that really matters if we're going to follow a minister, or be in relationship with a minister who is having a fatherly type way in our lives, or a being that teacher, being that steward of the ministries of God, does he practice what he preaches? Does he practice what he preaches? And obviously, gotta be preaching the right thing. Amen. So, here's the thing. I think that I don't know if I have one, there we go. Here's what I want to say to you. When you start trying to figure out is a minister of God, or is a minister not of God, all those things. The thing I want to say to you, be sure to test the spirit of the man, but not but do not grieve the Spirit of God. Okay, can we say that again? Test the spirit of the man, but do not grieve the Spirit of God. Come on, let's say it together one more time, test the spirit of the man, but do not grieve the Spirit of God. Okay. So Scripture tells us in 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out in the world.” So we test the spirits. But Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, let all slander be put away from you, be kind to one another, be tenderhearted, be forgiving as Christ forgave you”. And so when we start thinking about how that we're trying to figure out which ministry were to be associated, what is to be expected of the ministers who speak and so into our lives, the thing that I don't think we can miss is that there does have to be a testing of the Spirit of God. In fact, I'd like to go back to that if we can, that there has to be a testing of the Spirit of God, let's go. Excuse me, a testing of the spirit of man. But there are some people who get so focused on trying to judge other people and trying to feel self-righteously correct about whatever determination they make, that I actually think many times they slip into slander. They slip into things that are not of God, and it ultimately winds up just grieving the Holy Spirit of God. Does that make sense to you? And so I just pray that we would never just slip into that kind of trap. That, yeah, we're going to test the spirits. We want to make sure we're following the right path, and we want to make sure we're following the right leadership, and we want to make sure that, you know, maybe you're watching this, and I mean, 3trees is not your home church. And I actually think that's probably the case for a lot of you that are watching tonight. And, you know, thank God that God's given you a church, and he's given you a minister who can sow into your life and speak into your life. And that you can just celebrate the fact that God has put a fatherly type figure in your life, for your church. But when you're looking at other places, and other ministers, and maybe even other ministers that you would consider your peers or laypeople, like you can just really fall prey to just being super harsh, and super sarcastic, and sometimes even slandering in the way that you do that. Jesus Christ himself at one point, when the disciples were trying to point out that Jesus’ ministry was better than somebody else's earthly ministry, he said, are they for us or against us. Because if they're not against us, leave em alone. Like quit, quit, quit picking on everybody. And so I just think that there could be a greater level of unity in the body of Christ, if sometimes we could just get the memo that the way we approach it from time to time actually grieves the Holy Spirit. 

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Pastor Eric Gilbert

Okay, so what I want them to do, I'm going to ask him what they will to just move this TV out of the way, and they're going to come and they're going to kind of move back into the music, and we're going to have a time of communion together. And so I’m gonna ask my wife if she would begin to prepare some communion elements that I could take here in my hand, and lead you guys through it. Hopefully, you've got that, that cracker and juice, or maybe you've been at one of the locations, and you've picked up the communion packets that we have available for you, as you're exiting the facilities. You even can contact us, and we can work out a time to, for you to come by the office and pick those up if you'd like to have some of those for your house to participate in these moments together. And you know, what, what we what we realized in

Scripture is that as often as we partake of communion, we are to bring to remembrance the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? So, we hold this wafer and this cup in our hand, and it can seem so minuscule, and it can seem like such a small thing. But the reason that we do this is super theologically deep, and we won't go into all of that tonight, let's just point out the reality. That every time we do this, we bring to remembrance the death of Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to understand something, Jesus died for something more than a personality cult. Jesus died for something more than people arguing and bickering over just foolishness and things that don't amount to anything of significance. Jesus died, so that He could save humanity from its sin. Thank God, we are saved. Thank God we are saved. And as a part of his church, blood-bought,

paid for with the price of Calvary, we get the chance and we get the privilege to be a part of leading other people to this same revelation of the cross of Jesus. And as they come into the church, and as they become believers, man, I hope that Jesus never has to look at us in bewilderment and say what in the world is up with those people, that the spirit of the world would not rule in our lives. That we would exemplify what it is that the Lord wants to see in and through his people in the earth. He paid for it with his blood, with his life, with his death. Jesus took the bread Jesus blessed the bread, Jesus broke the bread he gave it and said, it represents my body, take and eat. I’m going to ask you to take and eat. 

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Pastor Eric Gilbert

This cup that you hold in your hand, represents the blood of Jesus Christ shed for the remission of sins. Maybe there's sin in your life. Maybe there's shame from previous sin. Maybe there's addictive behavior that you've been wrestling with, come on, take a minute and just pray right here right now. Father, I thank you that you're willing to save us from sin. That Father, even when we have been born again, and we slip up, that your blood is still sufficient to keep wiping the record books clean. Thank you, Lord, that maybe somebody right now is rededicating their life to you. Maybe somebody, God, right now for the very first time is going all-in with you. Maybe even, God, somebody that put their attention on a minister and got really focused on a personality, and then that personality failed. That personality came up short. And they've walked away from a relationship with you, Jesus, out of hurt and pain, and out of the judgment of that person's failure. God I pray today they just put their eyes back on the cross. And that you would become the first and foremost example that they lean to, glean from, and have that relationship with heaven and earth God, heaven and earth. God, restore them. Put them in a great church. God give them a shepherd in their life, minister in their life that once again, they'll be able to take those steps forward. Be Done father in Jesus’ name. I’m going to ask you to take a drink of the cup. Thank you, Lord.