Feasts! (Exodus 23:14-17)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chet I'm one of the pastors here grab your Bibles go to Exodus chapter 23. we're working our way through the book of Exodus and we're studying Exodus and we're trying to as we go through ask what does this mean for Christians how do we learn from this how does this point us to Jesus what how can we grow as God's people as we study this and we're going to look at a section in Exodus today that I think would be pretty easy to read.
If you were reading through the book of Exodus on your own I think it'd be pretty easy to read and not give it much thought and just keep right on moving but I think that it's very interesting that while God is giving the law and training this nation is what it looks like to follow him that he gives them what we're going to look at today this past week I was assaulted there's a person in my community group named Parker Bramlett and after our group met he was talking to us a handful of people had left and there's only a few of us left and he was talking to us about he's got a fight.
Coming up he's been practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and so I said you want to show me what you got which he he agreed to so quickly uh it seemed as if he had been wanting to beat me up for some time and so he went into my backyard and uh you know scoped out the spot and then he told me a few things about how we were supposed to start and then we rolled which is what it's called it's not called wrestling it's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu you roll.
And so we rolled and there were a couple of times where it was very evident if you were watching us that one of us had been practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and one of us had been watching TV on his couch at one point I did something I kind of shot in to grab him and he he leapt on to me and I had two thoughts pretty quickly one was oh no he was very prepared for me to do that the second thought was I cannot breathe.
And so uh it was it was over pretty quickly that evening I was sitting on the couch holding my neck going back and forth like this after he had left I was like I hope I'm gonna be able to move my head tomorrow and my sweet wife I was sitting you know over there and she's looking at me and she said something and this is a paraphrase I don't remember exact words but it was something along the lines of you're dumb and this was your fault um the things that we practice the things that we rehearse the things that we repeat become the things that are ingrained in us that become the things that are.
A part of us become the things that stick with us the things in your life that you're best at are the things that you've rehearsed they're the things that you've practiced they're the things that you've repeated the things that you've done over and over again and some things are mundane tasks that you've repeated over and over again some of these are bigger things but I mean I I'm willing to bet there are some of you that still remember a poem that you learned in middle school.
But it was because you had to say it in front of everybody some of you still know lines from plays that you were in in high school some of you still know plays from sports that you were in that you practice you repeated them over and over and over again and we're going to see that God on a very zoomed out level for the nation of Israel gives them things that they're going to repeat he gives them things that they're going to rehearse.
So that they'll remember and so that they'll become a part of who they are he builds in practices for them commands practices of them to build into them who they are as a people and that's we're going to look at this morning so let's pray and then we'll we'll jump into the text together God we're thankful that you rescued a people out of slavery or that you taught them what it meant to belong to you and we're thankful that as we study that we get to.
See that you've done that all over again gloriously through Christ that you've rescued a people for yourself out of slavery and that you're at work and teaching us what it means to belong to you so may we grow in that together this morning in humility and worship to your glory amen Exodus chapter 23 we're going to start in verse 14. now we're going to look at verse 14 it's starting at about verse 10 as he's finishing up some of the regulations of the law where he's telling them this is how you'll act this is how you'll handle things this is what you do.
If someone steals this is what you do someone murders he reiterates the Sabbath which is a weekly practice of rest and in it he talks about you're going to rest so you might be refreshed and so he builds in this pattern of rest for them every week which is significant when you consider that these were slaves that God is adopting them and teaching them what life is going to look like as they belong to him and as slaves they used to belong to Pharaoh they used to belong to the Egyptians and their value came from their productivity.
But God says no you belong to me now and you're going to rest you're going to have normal patterns of healthiness it's almost as if you considered someone who was adopted out of a very difficult situation into a home where there was peace where there was Joy where there was going to be food today and food tomorrow and the parents are teaching them no that's you don't have to stick that in your pocket you don't have to hide these things from us you don't have to act this way anymore this situation is different and that's some of what God's doing with the people of Israel he's saying no no this is how we're going to.
Act because you're in a better situation because you belong to me now and so as he's doing that he says this verse 14. three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me now in the Old Testament there's two Hebrew words that are translated feast and the best way I could think to think of it is is there's like a lowercase f feast and a capital letter F Feast so there's Feast which means eat a lot have a feast.
So this is the Book of Esther uh aha Suarez has a feast then Esther holds a feast it just means we're going to eat a lot then there's the capital F Feast which is these the man did holidays and so these include the idea lowercase f feasting but they're bigger in this word here when it's used as always referring to these specific ones that God has commanded so three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me you shall keep the Feast of unleavened bread as I commanded you you shall eat unleavened bread.
For seven days at the appointed time in the month of a bib for in it in that month you came out of Egypt None Shall appear before me empty-handed you shall keep the Feast of harvest of the first fruits of your labor of what you sow in the field you shall keep the Feast of in gathering at the end of the year when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor three times in the year shall all your males appear before the.
Lord God okay a couple of things on this as a whole and then we're going to walk back through what each one of these was about three times the entire nation of Israel stops and holds feasts but these were feasts where they had to gather these are the pilgrim feasts they had to go from wherever they were to where the Tabernacle was or eventually where the temple was so all productivity stopped and all the males had to show up now there's a couple reasons why it's all the males one is the males LED In Worship in their civil society and in the household.
So he's saying y'all are going to lead in this as well which is a part of all of those things you're going to lead your family well you're going to lead the nation well you're going to lead in worship well you're going to lead well in all of you are going to present yourselves before me this did not exclude females they were invited but there was an invitation for females and an obligation for males just some practical things men don't get pregnant or nurse children.
And so there would have been times where it would have been very difficult for women to be able to travel and do this but we do see that all families at times would Worship in this way we see that throughout the Old Testament we see it with Jesus's family his family was there so it's an invitation to females but an obligation for males the other thing that goes along with this all males will appear is that they will have no defense of their Nation.
If you read through the Old Testament they were consistently losing land losing cities reclaiming land reclaiming cities and there's a promise in Exodus 34 where he says you're going to appear before me and no Nation will covet your land during this time because it would make a lot of sense if you were someone who hated the Israelites and you knew three times out of the Year all the men are going to be gone for about three weeks they've all got to travel into Jerusalem they've got to hold a feast.
For a week they're going to be there then they're going to have to come on back that would be the time to attack them and God says I want you to trust me that I'll protect you that ultimately you're going to live out you're going to embody that your protection comes from me anyway I need you to trust me that your protection comes from me not from you you're all going to appear and so three times they had week-long Feasts now most of us have jobs where we might get two weeks of vacation three weeks of vacation maybe over time you build it up this was built into the nation of Israel that they were.
Not just going to have vacation they were going to have Feasts worshipful celebrations for weeks at a time and this is just the three Pilgrim ones they had other ones that they would have to celebrate throughout the year these are the ones that had to all show up together that God built into them this pattern of worship and celebration so let's look at what each one of these was doing as they were rehearsing and remembering what God had done for them and who he was.
So go back to verse 15. you shall keep the Feast of unleavened bread as I commanded you you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the months of abib for in it you came out of Egypt None Shall appear before me empty-handed okay so this is the Feast of unleavened bread or it's also called Passover and this is a remembrance Feast the reason that's their first month of the year is because it's the month that he rescued them out of Egypt.
So they're going to hold a feast that's going to celebrate what God has done for them at the Passover judgment was coming on Egypt and the people of Israel were told you're going to take a lamb had to meet certain specifications had to be without blemish had to be a certain age and you're going to sacrifice this lamb and you're going to paint your door with the blood of the Lamb and you're going to stay in your house and when judgment comes by it's going to pass over you.
Because the blood will stand between you and judgment and it'll keep you safe but if you don't do this if there's no blood between you and judgment you will receive judgment and it was at this time that very night that when this happened that God rescued them out of slavery and he says you're going to gather as a nation forever and celebrate you've been rescued out of slavery and that judgment passed over you and they had certain parts that went along with that they ate unleavened bread.
Because they didn't have time for it to rise they made the bread but they didn't have time for it to rise so they had to go ahead and cook it they had to eat it quickly so when they would eat this some of the practices they had meant that if anyone asked why are we doing this which if you have children they ask why are we doing this why are we sacrificing a lamb why are we eating unleavened bread why are we having to go how long are we going to be there are we there yet all of these kind of questions and they had answers the reason we eat unleavened bread the reason we.
Sacrifice a lamb which might be different from some of our holidays why are we bringing a tree inside of our house because it's Christmas okay but why are we putting lights on it I already told you it's Christmas yeah but why hey eat some candy and shut up like we might need to grow a little bit and some of the practices we have but they had reasons behind all of the things they were reenacting and that was that feast and we're told that they celebrated it in.
Second chronicles and a couple of the things that they said was that they celebrated it with great gladness and that the priests and the Levites were daily singing with all their might which I don't know if you've ever done that sung with all your might but it's actually one of the most wonderful things about being a human and if you're ever singing with all your might in the light of the Lord it's excellent and that's what they were doing verse 16 the.
Second one they had you shall keep the Feast of harvest of the first fruits of your labor of what you sow in the field all right so this Feast of harvest is kind of a two-part Feast they had the Feast of first fruits that would actually take place during the Passover feast and what they did was with their barley and grain Harvest you were not allowed to to eat any of the barley or grain Harvest any of the new barley or grain until you had.
First brought together as a nation the first bit of barley and grain and presented it to the Lord they actually would take the first Sheaf of grain and wave it to the Lord and then they would sacrifice his food offerings to the Lord before they were able to eat any of it now if you've been waiting a long time for your barley and your grain to show up and the first bit of it shows up you're going to be tempted to eat that or to save that you're probably not going to be super tempted to devote all of that to the.
Lord but the reason they did was because they were saying this is a down payment this is a promise that God's the one who provides for us that he's the one who's in charge of the Harvest that the rest of this stuff will grow won't get blighted won't get eaten won't get locusts won't get stormed won't get knocked down that the rest of this will actually will have a harvest and so they would bring this and it was a down payment in faith that.
God was going to provide for them and so they did that and then seven weeks or 50 days later they had what was called the Feast of Weeks because it was seven weeks or Pentecost because it was 50 days same thing so the Feast of Weeks the Feast of the first fruit and the Feast of Pentecost is all the same thing then they would get together and celebrate and eat and worship together for a week and they would have all these sacrifices that were going on that were sin sacrifices and sin offerings and food offerings and they would celebrate that the wheat and the barley that they.
First waived that God had fulfilled his promise and they would celebrate together at Pentecost it's actually also Pentecost is the same time when the law is given that was actually seven weeks after the first Passover God gives the law and then every year they're going to celebrate that God provides for them both at the Feast of the Harvest which would be Feast of first fruits to Feast of Weeks or Pentecost in Deuteronomy for the Feast of Weeks and for the Feast of the end Gathering they're commanded to Rejoice which I think is very helpful.
Because if you're reading some of these you might would ask what's the tone how are we supposed to approach God and he says Hey in this house that you've been adopted into we're going to celebrate and the things that you would celebrate anyway like our Harvest has come in I'm going to celebrate with you we're going to celebrate together and Delight together in provision and protection and guidance back half of verse 16 you shall keep the Feast of in gathering at the end of the year you shall keep the Feast of in-gathering at the end of the year.
When you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor so this was olives and grapes and it was the end of the harvest season so it's not the end of their calendar year but it's the end of the Harvest year and so at the very end of the Harvest year they're going to have another week-long feast and this became it's the Feast of end Gathering but also because they rebel against God I don't want to ruin the rest of Exodus.
For you but they rebel against God and then they have to wander in the wilderness for 40 years it also becomes the Feast of booths or Tabernacles which would be like the Feast of tents they they go stay in tents they camp out for a week together to remember that in the in gathering and in their wandering in the wilderness that God provides for them so they rehearse and reenact as a nation for a week that God is the one who provides.
God is the one who protects and so they as a whole people yearly weeks at a time had to rehearse over and over again had to remember over and over again our God rescued Us From Slavery Our God pays for our sin our God is the one who provides for us so we can trust him that he'll take care of us our God is the one who protects us and gives us all good things we celebrate and rejoice with our God and they did this over and over and over and over again.
God specifically commands to them this is what it's going to look like as you all belong to me now we're Christians so what do we do with that first we don't have to practice the Feast of Passover or in gathering or first fruits or booths we don't practice those things we don't have to do that as a people who belong to Jesus there's specifically that kind of question what do Christians do with the law is asked repeatedly in the New Testament.
Because it was a bunch of Jewish people who the Christ came out of the Jewish people and it was a bunch of Jewish people who were then seeing that Gentiles to non-jewish peoples were becoming Christians and so they were asking hey what do we do with the law because the Holy Spirit's rescuing people they're believing in Jesus what do we do with the law in Acts 15 they get together and they have a whole big meeting that says what do we do with the law do these people have to submit to circumcision do they have to submit to the law of Moses Peter at one point stands up and says why would we put on.
Them first of all the Holy Spirit has already redeemed them and already given them Faith why would we put on them something that we and our fathers could not stand under the weight of we believe that they'll be saved by the grace of Christ just as we are and so the law is fulfilled by Christ but does not come to us in full force and we talked about that two weeks ago we talked about it some in part last week we'll probably keep saying it as we go through the book of Exodus.
So it's fulfilled for us so what do we do with this Paul actually says this in Colossians is he's talking to people he's talking to a Church that had Gentile Believers and Jewish Believers and they're dealing with some of how do we work this out what does it mean to follow Christ who is the Messiah he's the Jewish Messiah but are we supposed to still follow the law Paul says this in verse 16. therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Now that therefore is coming after it's coming in conclusion you can go read Colossians 2 it's coming in conclusion to a big argument he's making which is the mystery has been revealed the mystery is Christ that all of it is in Christ and so as we try to follow him he's what it's about and so he says with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath basically with regard to the Jewish calendar no one passes judgment on you with regard to this these these practices that.
God put in place are a shadow of the things to come but the substance belongs to Christ they were ultimately meant to be markers that prepared and pointed to Jesus that's what they are so let's talk for a second about the substance of these belonging to Christ and then we'll just talk about how do we get to as Christians respond to what it looks like for us to remember and to rehearse what it looks like for us to belong to Jesus.
So Jesus is crucified on the Passover Corinthians tells us he is our Passover Lamb he's the blood that covers Us covers our household stands in between us and death stands in between us in judgment he is the sacrifice for the people of God there is no other one to come it is Christ he's the high priest he's the sacrifice he's the one who has rescued us he is our Passover we're also told that he is the first fruits that this idea of.
First fruits is used three times in the New Testament where they're just taking you know that concept of first fruits here's how this applies to us we're told that Jesus is the first fruits of the Resurrection meaning that we can look at him and know because he rose will rise we're also told that the Holy Spirit at work in you now as a Christian is the first fruits of what's going to ultimately happen that he's going to rescue and redeem and make you whole completely we're also told that the new Believers in the Church at the.
First century were the first fruits of us that they were a promise of what was to come that more people were going to be rescued by Jesus so they just take this idea of first fruits and keep saying that's fulfilled that's applied that's at work and Spirit comes at Pentecost 50 days after Passover so where the law came and was written on tablets of stone and ultimately I don't want to give too much away three thousand people are going to die in Rebellion the spirit Falls written on hearts and three thousand people are Made Alive.
God is fulfilling his work through the cross through the calendar through Pentecost and he is fulfilling and being the substance of these in Christ and then in the Feast of booths we get to trust God where we are right now that he's going to get us home that he's going to provide for us that he's going to make it we're going to make it to the promised land and then the in gathering we we believe that he's the one who ultimately provides all good things.
For us that the substance belongs to Jesus that our story is a bigger story a better story and that we belong under that so what are you rehearsing Christians aren't given a calendar we're not even given in the Old Testament a full Jewish calendar so we're not meant to follow this we're not told we have to follow these festivals we aren't given any holidays whenever anybody's like people have before said to me you know Jesus probably wasn't even born on the 25th it's like good you have just proven nothing according to the Bible.
Because it doesn't tell us so the odds are if you I mean probably good there's 364 other days you know so good you did it like we don't we're not told that we have to practice any of these we're not told that we we can we're not commanded to we're commanded to practice what we practice in faith we're commanded to practice what we practice and joy and Delight we're commanded to be people who are under this story and rehearse this story.
So let's just take a second and consider what are you practicing what are you rehearsing let's think about your day I want to tell y'all something about my day every single day I'm a full-grown man yes sometimes I get beat up in my backyard but I'm a full-grown man and every day I get all tuckered out and I need to eat and I need to sleep or I'm going to be pretty grumpy every day I stayed up one time for 24 hours straight and I hated it is the worst we had a son at the end of the day and that was fine.
But it was a long day every time in college people are like we're going to pull an all-nighter I'm like I'm not if I'm dumb at 10 o'clock at night I'm just going to be dumb at nine in the morning I'm not staying up for this you have to sleep you have to eat and you rehearse this over and over again and in those moments do you remember your strength isn't found in you your hope isn't found in you your provision is brought to you by.
God your protection is brought to you by God and that you get to live under a bigger story and a better family every day you think things every day and all of us are mentally rehearsing things and some of you are mentally rehearsing things that are contrary to the Gospel you are over and over again in your head you would tell me if I asked you do you belong to Jesus you would say yes and I would say are you sure and you would say yes.
And then you would leave and in your head you would say things to yourself like I'm a failure I'm the worst no one loves me I'm going to ruin everything I mess everything up I'm unloved I shouldn't show up they don't want me there that's not the Gospel what are you rehearsing are you speaking and acting as if you belong to Jesus as if you have a better story as if you've been brought into a better family let's think about week to week what's your life.
Look like what are the things that you're practicing over a given month do you have rhythms of rest or you remind yourself I'm not a slave and my value doesn't come from my production and in that some of you really need to be challenged in that you need to realize I'm supposed to stop I'm supposed to sit and be refreshed before the Lord in worship also he says six days shall you labor and on the seventh you will rest so in a given week do you work are you productive do you spend most of your time just trying to rest trying to be lazy or do you use the talents and the abilities that.
God has given you to bless and to care for those around you in honor to God and then worshiped him are you consistently daily or weekly praying reading your Bible rehearsing those things in how you follow the Lord You've gathered here for worship is this a part of you delighting in Jesus and him rescuing you so that we stand up and say Jesus is better than everything else you actually are participating in that do you sing with all your might do you get swept up in Delight of the.
Lord do you come here to rejoice in him to be refreshed among your Church family are you a part of a community group is that a weekly thing for you do you participate walk in life with them this is one of the reasons why we talk about we believe that we want to give good news before we give good advice it's easy for Christians to hang out with each other for you to say you have something going on and then we all become like blog posts or Tick Tock videos about five steps to being a better whatever here's here's 10 steps to dealing with a with a dumb boss and we just give each other.
A bunch of information but what can happen while that may be helpful and while your Tick Tock video might have been excellent we can inadvertently communicate to someone that their hope is them but that's not the story that's not the hope that's not what we've gotten swept up in because of the glory of Christ so we want to give good news not we give good news not good advice we give good news before good advice so that we can Frame Up why we would walk in wisdom why we would do these things and how we actually get to live in in relationship to Christ.
But do you contribute do you participate do you love your community group is your community group just there for you or are you actually walking in life with them what's your weekly stuff look like what's your look we don't have most of us don't have a harvest maybe of tomatoes but most of us don't live Harvest to harvest we live paycheck to paycheck do you practice first fruits do you remind yourself that God is the one who provides ultimately for you do you take the time to surrender things to him in delight and in worship and in promise that he's going to keep this coming that he's going to ultimately provide everything you need that's.
One of the things that he means when he says let nobody appear before me empty-handed we're told later that people are supposed to do it based off of their means but everybody's supposed to show up with something so do you walk in generosity and submission to the Lord rehearsing for yourself that he's ultimately who provides for you not the job you have not the health you have but your king who's good what is your week to week month to month look like one of the week to week month to month things that we practice as a Church family and these are two of the practices given to the Church.
For us to rehearse baptism and communion where we remind ourselves of our real story that Jesus Christ rescues us we got to celebrate baptism a couple of times over the past few weeks and one of my favorite things is to get to talk to them and say there's a reason why you don't baptize yourself there's a reason why you go backwards you're being buried in death and then you get to rise again with Christ and we're standing for that as a Church to help represent that you didn't do this.
But that Jesus does this we practice this together and celebrate this together and delight and rejoice in this together when we take communion it's a tangible reminder that Jesus was real and he really died for you and you really needed him to there are times when you're taking communion and we we dip it quite often it's running on your fingers I want you to remember his blood really ran his body was really broken and it was really what was needed for you and it really happened and you are covered by the work of Christ one of the reasons we practice that regularly is.
Because you will not outgrow your need for the Gospel you will not level up so that you can Delight in not needing Jesus but we will walk as people humbly consistently reminding ourselves Christ paid for me I needed him to and he did I'm covered by him just as they practice at Passover that we remember our Passover Lamb what are the things you do yearly what are the rhythms built into your calendar and what are they celebrating I think we need to think about what holidays do we celebrate how do I approach vacation how do we celebrate them how do we reenact.
For ourselves and for our co-workers and our neighbors and our children what this is really about what does this look like I I got a couple ideas for you when you look forward to vacation is there a way for you to remember that this is a worshipful Delight that you have that your value doesn't come from your production and your provision doesn't come from your job but that you get to stop and rest and Delight in the Lord when we celebrate Good Friday and Easter do you actually worship in that do you actually consider in that what that is do you pause during that to think and to Rejoice.
Well and to celebrate well and to be solemn well as we Delight in the Lord we celebrate things like Thanksgiving which Christians ought to be the best at if we're going to celebrate it because we have way more to be thankful for we have a way better story than the edited one that we've learned in elementary school we got a way better one we have a better country I love this country but I've got a better one the most excited our Church should be shouldn't be Fourth of July yes we should all buy fireworks yeah.
But that shouldn't be all the things about we should get to worship and Delight in the Lord in ways that we get to celebrate if you're going to celebrate a thing celebrate as a Christian and remind yourself and remind your family this is what this gets to look like and this is why this matters so I've tried to think through that some for Christmas um one of the things I do with my boys is which I tried to Think Through how can I help them.
Remember this how can we reenact some things and so one of the things we do on Christmas Eve is I'll tell them that God made the world and they made it wonderful and he made Adam and Eve and we sinned and when we send death and destruction entered the world and I cut off all the lights and I say it was terrible it was dark it was scary and for a moment everything was lost but God made a promise and all light a match or a grill lighter or whatever and I'll light a candle and I'll say.
For the longest time there was just a promise a promise the death won't win that sin won't win that one day there's going to be a son who crushes the enemy's head but that's all they have it's a promise and there were prophets who reminded them of the promise and then Jesus was born and light into the world and I'll tell a little bit of the story I have a really bright light that I'll shine and I'll say the glory of the angels are there and everybody freaked out and they said hosanna in the highest we'll talk through some of that.
Jesus was born and then I'll say and because of Jesus he have that bright flashlight I say he brought light into the world and then ultimately everything gets undone and we turn all the lights on and then I say because he did this life is sweet so we're about to eat some candy he his coming was a down payment on the better things to come the ultimate fulfillment of all God's promises so we're going to open one gift and we're going to celebrate.
So we dance usually to The Strife is over by citizens I'm sure it'll change at some point but that's a really good worshipful song it's got some good dancing Vibes to it but that's to help my sons remember what this is about we try to rehearse this and so all I would say is what are you celebrating and how are you celebrating what are you rehearsing how are you practicing we don't have an in gathering we do have tax season are you just annoyed do you ever take the time to.
Look and see how much God's provided for you that year what if Christians started taking some of their tax return to have a big meal and celebrate and Delight in the Lord and provided for them all year long and to worship that he's going to do it again what if we took some of our tax return and walked it out in generosity to those around us so that we could remember what this ultimately mattered why we're here what God's doing what.
If we were the best at celebrating because we have the most to celebrate what if we consistently rehearsed for ourselves the Gospel so that it was what was in our mind and how we acted and how we lived so that we would be people who delighted in the Lord there aren't a bunch of rules on how we're supposed to practice baptism we're supposed to practice communion you can celebrate Christmas or not with or without a tree or not I think you should we should Delight in the fact that.
Jesus came you should celebrate the Incarnation but I you can have gifts no gifts you can be Holly Jolly or not there's no rules on that but this is the command that I think should govern for all of us how this works first Corinthians 10 31. so Paul's talking about this practices what do we do and how do we live out this together whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God so may we be people who sing loud who celebrate and rejoice.
Well who rehearse and remember the glory of God in Christ all the days of our lives let's pray oh God we thank you that we have something to celebrate that you redeem Sinners that you are our Passover Lamb that you are the first fruit of the Resurrection that we have a hope that lasts Beyond this life and as we follow you in our daily normal simple grind may we remember that you're the one who provides you're the one who protects you're the one who redeems you're the one who's given us a Promised Land you're the one who gives us hope.
For a future you're the one who's washed us clean that we are not covered by our sin or our shame or what has been done to us but we are marked by what has been done for us in Jesus and may we worship and may we celebrate and may we sing and may we delight and may we when we mourn may we mourn as those who have hope to the glory of God in Christ for your blessed name and your glory amen the band's going to come back up we're going to sing we have a few more songs than normal.
So that we might sing and celebrate we're going to take communion together and in that we're going to rehearse and remember that I am a sinner in need of a sacrifice but praise be to God that Christ came and covered me and this isn't about my work or my labor or my Worth or my value or my morals but it's about what Jesus has done so I want you to take a moment I want you to consider what are you rehearsing some of us maybe need to repent.
Because we've been living and practicing in so many ways like Jesus isn't King and our story isn't good I want you to take a moment and then when you're ready I want you to take communion and rehearse and reenact what has happened for you in Christ if you are not a Christian communion is not for you we're delighted that you're here and we want you to know Jesus we don't want you to rehearse and practice something that isn't true for you yet.
But you are welcome to come to him and say I need salvation I need hope I need forgiveness and he freely gives it because he came to rescue a broken people to himself so we would invite you to come to Christ and to trust him with your life so in a moment when you're ready we'll take communion there's a gluten-free communion back there and then we're going to sing together as a people who have something to celebrate.