Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Well, good morning, church.
[00:00:04] Happy Sunday.
[00:00:06] My name is Darren Gruitt. I'm one of the ministry directors here, and it's my privilege to give the message. Today our beloved pastor, Pastor Craig, is in Canada visiting his dear mom, and we're very thankful that he's had a chance to get away. So we are here to continue in worship as we listen to God's word. One other quick thing. I just want to say to all the men in here, happy Father's day to all of you. Whether you're a dad or have kids or not, each of you has been a person of influence to those around you. And I will tell you that there are men in here who have been like a father figure to me. My dad passed seven and a half years ago, so I'm very grateful for men who have stepped into my life and been able to act as a father to me and help me in so many ways. So happy Father's day to all of you.
[00:01:05] We've been working through these different feasts in the book of Leviticus, and it's been very exciting to see how they relate to things in the New Testament. And the one today was really interesting for me personally, thinking about what it is that God wants to do in and through us.
[00:01:28] The feast today that we're looking at is called the feast of weeks.
[00:01:33] We first find it in Exodus chapter 34. In verse 22, it says, God told the Israelites, you shall celebrate the feast of weeks. That is the first fruits of the wheat harvest.
[00:01:47] So what is the feast of weeks? It doesn't give much description there, but Leviticus does. So if you look at Leviticus 23, it says, you shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering, there shall be seven complete sabbaths.
[00:02:08] You shall count 50 days to the day after the 7th Sabbath. Then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. They shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as firstfruits to the Lord. So the reason it's called the feast of weeks is because they were to count off these seven weeks until they got to the 50th day, and then they were to celebrate this. And the celebration was to be about God's harvest and what he had done for them.
[00:02:41] In other words, it was to honor the fact that God had done something that they could not do themselves. It was about watching God do more than they could do on their own and celebrating the kind of harvest that he's capable of.
[00:02:59] The Israelites could go out and sow all the seed they wanted, just like you and I. We could plant a garden if you want, but you can't make the seed grow on your own. That depends on God. The point of this feast was to honor God and remember the fact that he was the one who had actually caused all of the growth. And that's because God loves to show his power.
[00:03:23] He loves to show what only he can do because it brings him glory. Could you imagine the Israelites going out and planting all this seed and they have this abundant harvest, and then they sit back and say, wow, look at what I did.
[00:03:38] God wanted them to know that it wasn't because of what they'd done, it was because of what he had done. He was the one who had caused the growth and brought about this abundance and this harvest in their lives.
[00:03:57] This feast continues into the New Testament. We look at the book of acts in acts chapter two, and this is very, very interesting. In acts chapter two, it says that when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues, as of fire, appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, it doesn't use the word feast of weeks there. It uses the word Pentecost. Pentecost means 50, it means 50th. It's referring to the exact same feast. They had been celebrating this for centuries, over and over and over again.
[00:04:47] And now here on this day, something different happened. God sent the Holy Spirit.
[00:04:56] This was not by accident, by the way. It wasn't as if God said, boy, I need to find a date that's good to send the holy spirit. The feast of weeks is coming up. Let's just pick that. No, it wasn't like that at all. Actually, God had planned this out already. In acts chapter one, verse eight, Jesus had foretold this. He said, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
[00:05:21] When God first instituted the feast of weeks way back in the Old Testament, his intention was always to use it to send the Holy Spirit.
[00:05:33] And it occurred so that God's people could see, could do more than they could do on their own, and so that they could celebrate the kind of harvest that he was capable of. The same thing as in the Old Testament. God wanted to do something in them that they couldn't do on their own. But the difference was, this time it wasn't going to be a harvest. Of grain. It was going to be a harvest of people.
[00:06:02] The grain was fine in the Old Testament, but that was just a shadow of what God was going to do later when he sent the Holy Spirit and enabled them to do far more than they could possibly imagine. And so we see here something very important, and that is that the spirit wasn't given just for the sake of the spirit himself. The spirit was given for the sake of the harvest.
[00:06:28] God didn't just send the Holy Spirit out just to have him there, any more than he sent Jesus just to be there. He sent Jesus to be an offering for sin who died for us and rose again. He sent the spirit then so that we could have a harvest, something we couldn't do on our own.
[00:06:48] So when we think about the work of the Holy Spirit then and the harvest that he wants to bring about in us, a good place to look is Romans chapter eight. And this is where we're going to park today. So if you want to look there, we'll spend our time here in Romans chapter eight. Let me pray really quick as we get into this then.
[00:07:09] Father, we're so grateful that you have done something so amazing through Jesus, that he died for our sins and rose again. And now through the Holy Spirit, you want to reap a harvest and show us something that we can't do on our own.
[00:07:25] As we listen to you speak to us through the word today, help us to honor you for what it is that you're doing, which only you can do. Open our ears to receive the message in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:07:40] So we find ourselves at Romans chapter eight. And Romans chapter eight opens by saying this, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free from those has set you free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.
[00:08:11] Goes on to say then that he would send the spirit. See, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
[00:08:26] So God sent the Holy Spirit for the same reason, so that he could do in us and through us what only he could do, so that we could see God do more than we could do on our own and celebrate the kind of harvest that only he is capable of.
[00:08:46] There are three distinct things that come out of romans eight in terms of what it is that God does in us in terms of what the Holy Spirit does in terms of a harvest. And these are things that we can't do on our own. It requires his help. And the first one is that the spirit helps us to obey God.
[00:09:11] The spirit helps us to obey God. Again, look at verses three and four.
[00:09:18] It says, God condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
[00:09:34] We could not keep the law on our own.
[00:09:37] The Old Testament and all the laws that God gave never kept people righteous. All the law could do was set a standard of what was right and condemn us when we disobeyed.
[00:09:51] But now, through the Holy Spirit, we actually have the ability to do what it is that God wants on our own. We can't produce the fruit of obedience. We may want to, we may have good intentions, we may have a lot of desire, but willpower alone is not enough to do what God wants.
[00:10:15] But when we walk by the spirit, he helps us to do the right thing.
[00:10:21] And it goes back to that picture we often hear in scripture of being tethered to the spirit, being tied to him, keeping in step with him and walking with him. And when we walk with the spirit, we are able to do what it is that God wants us to do.
[00:10:39] He goes on to say in verses six and eight, six to eight, for the mindset on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the spirit is life and peace. Because the mindset on the flesh is hostile toward God. For it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
[00:11:03] That's a sobering statement that when we are in the flesh, we cannot do what it is that God wants us to do.
[00:11:14] We have no capacity to please him on our own.
[00:11:19] And that might be a little hard for us. I mean, it's easy to see when we're in some depraved state how we're not pleasing God. But even people that are morally righteous outwardly cannot please God because they're still in the flesh.
[00:11:35] I often think of this example, speed limits, as a case in point. Speed limits don't actually prevent people from speeding because people still speed anyway.
[00:11:47] The speed limit tells you what's right and it sets a standard for what we should do.
[00:11:54] And when that's not met, when we speed and we get a ticket, it condemns us right in so many ways it doesn't actually keep us from doing what's wrong.
[00:12:11] And by the way, lots of people follow the speed limit, but in their hearts they would speed if they could, if they thought they could get away with it.
[00:12:20] And that's where the spirit works. He can actually change the desires of our heart so that we not only can please God, but that we actually want to please God.
[00:12:33] So the spirit helps us to do the right thing. The spirit is not like pharaoh in the Old Testament. You remember when God sent Moses to release the Israelites and pharaoh got very angry and so he punished the Israelites and he told them that they would then have to make bricks without straw, but he still wanted them to keep making bricks, right?
[00:12:56] He just wasn't going to give them the straw anymore. God is not like that. God doesn't say, here, here's what I want you to do now go figure it out on your own. Good luck. No. He sends us the Holy Spirit so that we can actually do the thing that he wants us to do.
[00:13:14] He provides for us the help we need so that we can be pleasing to God.
[00:13:21] He gives us what we need.
[00:13:25] So when we live in obedience to God, the fact is, it's not because of us, it's because of him. When we do the right thing, it's because the Holy Spirit is helping us to do the right thing. On the other hand, when we sin in our disobedience, that's on us. It's not because the Holy Spirit isn't there. It's not because the Holy Spirit isn't willing. It's because we're ignoring his help and not asking for it.
[00:13:56] The Holy Spirit is right there with us, in us all the time.
[00:14:00] He's eager to help and he wants to help. But quite honestly, sometimes I kind of feel like, just stay over there. I want to do my own thing.
[00:14:11] God is very eager to help us. He gives us what we need so that we can do what it is he wants. So the first harvest of the Holy Spirit is the fruit of obedience. That's something that we can't produce on our own, but God can.
[00:14:29] The second thing that the Holy Spirit does for us is he assures us that we are God's children. And I love this, especially on Father's day, because we're thinking about parents and relationships. And I know that some of us, I don't know what your relationship was like with your dad. Maybe you didn't have a good relationship with your dad. Some of us maybe didn't know our dads or whatever, but we have this amazing thing here that God has done for us in taking us as his own children. It says here in Romans eight, starting in verse 14. It says, for all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba. Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
[00:15:29] I love that it says that all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. Of course that means children. It doesn't strictly mean sons, sons, daughters, children. But it's significant that it uses that phrase sons of God, because it reminds us of Jesus Christ, the son of God.
[00:15:50] And as God loves his own son, he has now adopted us, and now we are exactly the same. He sees us now as his own children.
[00:16:04] That's really good news for us because quite honestly, our human relationships don't always work out really well.
[00:16:11] Sometimes our human fathers let us down and disappoint us. I know as a father myself, I am a big disappointment. Disappointment many times.
[00:16:20] This is very comforting to know that God has taken us to be his own children.
[00:16:27] And even though God has taken us to be his children, just like children, sometimes we are still disobedient.
[00:16:35] And it causes us to wonder whether or not we actually still belong to him. Sin always leads to doubt.
[00:16:45] Sin causes us to wonder whether we actually are his. The Holy Spirit's job is to remind us of our unconditional adoption into God's family. We don't get kicked out of the family because we sin.
[00:17:03] He's disappointed, he's sad, but he doesn't get rid of us. He doesn't kick us out.
[00:17:10] And here we have this great promise that the word of God confirms our status here. It says in this passage that the spirit testifies to this.
[00:17:22] The spirit gives us what we need right here in the word and tells us and assures us we belong to him, and reminds us that God sees us now exactly the way he sees Jesus.
[00:17:38] And that's hard to believe sometimes, because in our sin and our brokenness, I know for myself I don't think God sees me as very good at all.
[00:17:49] And this is very comforting to know.
[00:17:52] The Holy Spirit's job is to remind us of this status that we can't lose. And this is a harvest as well. It's the second harvest assurance that we are God's children.
[00:18:07] It's good news to know that God loves us with that kind of love that he doesn't let us go. Just because we mess up.
[00:18:17] My daughter doesn't stop being my daughter. Just because she sins, just because she disappoints me. She's still my daughter. We are still God's children.
[00:18:28] Even when we aren't acting like it.
[00:18:34] There's another harvest the Holy Spirit brings about in our lives.
[00:18:39] And this is the harvest of the Spirit's intercession. It's that the spirit intercedes for us. And keeps us secure all the way to glory.
[00:18:51] The spirit is working to make sure. That what God started in us. Gets carried on all the way to completion.
[00:19:00] He doesn't drop the ball and bring us halfway there.
[00:19:05] God has assured us that he's going to bring it all the way.
[00:19:10] So we see here in verses 26 to 27. It says. Likewise. The spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought. But the spirit himself intercedes for us. With groanings too deep for words.
[00:19:28] And he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit. Because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. He says that we don't know how to pray.
[00:19:42] I pondered that for a little bit. How is it that I don't know how to pray? I thought I knew how to pray. I pray all the time.
[00:19:51] But I think what the spirit is getting at here. What the word is saying. Is that our weakness is our flesh. And because of that, it causes us to doubt God. And it makes us wonder whether or not he's actually going to hear us.
[00:20:08] And we don't always come to him when we need help. As I said earlier in my struggle with sin.
[00:20:16] Because of this fear that can come over me. Sometimes I think God might not want to take me back. Maybe I've just done one too many bad things.
[00:20:29] And the weakness here is that I don't pray then.
[00:20:33] And I don't come to him and ask him for help. And that's exactly the thing that I need the most when I'm struggling.
[00:20:41] I'm reminded of Judas Iscariot in the Bible. When Judas betrayed Jesus.
[00:20:47] He felt a lot of remorse. Later, he felt so bad, he tried to return the money to the Pharisees. And of course, they didn't care. And Judas was so distraught that he went out and he hanged himself.
[00:21:04] He couldn't deal with the weight, what he had done.
[00:21:09] The problem was he shouldn't have gone back to the Pharisees. He needed to go back to Jesus. And Jesus would have forgiven him. Because Jesus loves to forgive.
[00:21:23] In my worst moments.
[00:21:26] The worst thing I can do then is to stay away from God. That's exactly the moment I need to come to him.
[00:21:34] But the weakness is that I don't want to.
[00:21:38] But here's the good news, is that the spirit continues to plead for us in our weakness, even when we aren't asking for help. Isn't that incredible to think about it? I mean, here we are going on with our day to day lives, struggling however we will. And yet the spirit, no matter what, continues to intercede with these groanings that are too deep for words.
[00:22:02] He's on our side and his desire is to see us do God's will.
[00:22:08] He loves to see us do God's will, and he never gives up on us, even when we want to give up on ourselves.
[00:22:17] He constantly is pleading for us before the father and interceding on our behalf to bring about something wonderful so that we can do what it is God wants us to do.
[00:22:30] The passage goes on to say, verses 28 to 30, that we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew. He also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
[00:23:01] It goes on then to say that these he predestined he also called, and these whom he called he also justified. These whom he justified. There it is. He also glorified.
[00:23:17] The good here that God is working out is to make us like Jesus Christ.
[00:23:22] The good that God wants to bring about in our lives is to conform us to the image of his son. Now that conforming process is not always, it doesn't always feel good. Let's just say, right? I mean, if we're like a lump of clay sometimes, you know, I kind of get dried out and it takes a lot of pressure and force. That doesn't always feel good, but it is for my good, because what the Lord is doing is conforming me and making me more and more like Jesus Christ. That's what he's doing in us.
[00:23:57] And the goal of our salvation is not so that we can keep on sinning, but so that we can be like Jesus, be like the one who saved us. That's why the spirit comes again, not just to be there, but to do something and reap this harvest in us.
[00:24:15] And I love the fact that it says at the end here, it says, he also glorified them. He's talking to these believers in Rome, and he doesn't say that. Well, look, you've been predestined and called and justified, and you will be glorified. He says these, he has glorified.
[00:24:36] Why? Because from God's point of view, certain to happen. There's no doubt in his mind about it. The only doubt is in my mind, but not in God's mind.
[00:24:47] So the purpose of this, of what's happening, is very clear to God. And we may wonder whether or not it's actually going to happen. We might be going through our day to day lives and wondering, boy, I'm really messing up a lot. I'm not sure God still wants me. I'm not sure I'm actually going to make it all the way.
[00:25:05] But the Holy Spirit isn't giving up on us, and he is determined to work in us and plead for us and intercede for us until we get all the way there.
[00:25:16] He's not going to give up on us, not even for a moment.
[00:25:21] And we can be certain of the Holy Spirit's work in us because of what the Bible says elsewhere in Ephesians. I love this. In Ephesians, chapter one, verses 13 to 14, it says this, that in him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.
[00:25:54] The Holy Spirit guarantees our future glory.
[00:26:01] In the old days, some of you may not remember this. When you wanted to buy something, sometimes you had to put it on layaway. I'm probably dating myself here, but basically you'd go in and you put down a little money, and that money meant that you were going to get the thing later, but you wanted them to hold it for you. It's kind of like a down payment, like when you buy a house or a car.
[00:26:22] That's what the Holy Spirit is. He's like God's down payment, promising us that the rest is coming.
[00:26:30] He's given us the Holy Spirit so that we can be assured that what he has started is going to carry on and he's not going to drop the ball.
[00:26:39] God's going to bring us to glory for sure, even if days come when we don't feel like it, or we think we've messed up so bad God doesn't want us anymore, or we think that we're no longer worthy to be called his children.
[00:26:53] The Holy Spirit hasn't given up.
[00:26:57] We go back to romans in verses 35.
[00:27:01] We have this incredible ending here, which I absolutely love this. He says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
[00:27:11] Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
[00:27:23] For I'm convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing in creation can separate us from God's love because the Holy Spirit in us is guaranteeing that it's going to remain.
[00:27:53] Nothing can put a wedge there between us.
[00:27:56] We could write a whole book on all the things that can't separate us from God.
[00:28:02] Depression can't separate us from the love of God.
[00:28:05] People making fun of us for our faith cannot separate us from the love of God. God.
[00:28:11] Our struggles cannot separate us from the love of God.
[00:28:16] The things that we wrestle with day to day, like financial security, worrying about our children and all those things, cannot separate us from the love of God, because nothing can separate us from his love.
[00:28:31] The Holy Spirit is going to guarantee that that always remains true. That's why Jesus promised that he wouldn't just be with us, but that he would be in us.
[00:28:45] We cannot have a more intimate relationship with God than we already do. The Holy Spirit in us is so amazing.
[00:28:53] And God wants to remind us again and again that he loves us with this everlasting love.
[00:29:01] And he's not going to let us go.
[00:29:04] He's not going to make us go away.
[00:29:09] And no matter how difficult it is, and no matter how hard it is, and no matter how we feel today, and no matter what we're facing, we can be assured of the fact that God, who started this work, is going to finish it. So the third harvest of the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation.
[00:29:30] None of those things can be brought about on our own. It has to come from God.
[00:29:37] So we see a loop here and we talk about the feast of weeks. We thinking about in the Old Testament, the fact that God provides a harvest for his people and they watch him produce more than they could create on their own.
[00:29:52] And then Pentecost comes and God gives the Holy Spirit and he comes to produce spiritual fruit which we cannot create on our own.
[00:30:04] And it's very significant because we're reminded that in the same way that the Israelites couldn't guarantee that grain was going to grow, God works in us to make sure that we can produce fruit that we can't grow on our own either.
[00:30:24] So what?
[00:30:26] Number one, I think it's important to remember to plant some seeds. By spending time with God in his word and with his people, the Israelites could see an abundant harvest by God, but they still had to go out and plant seeds.
[00:30:46] That was up to them. God would make it grow.
[00:30:50] God would give them an abundance, but they had to plant those seeds. The principal ways that God works through us is through his word and with his people.
[00:31:02] How can we know that we belong to God? How can we have an assurance of faith? How can we know that God's going to keep us to glory? How can we produce obedience?
[00:31:16] It's through the word of God. Why? Because the Holy Spirit inspired that word. The Holy Spirit in us works through the word to produce that kind of fruit. We can't produce much fruit if the word of God isn't there.
[00:31:31] So just like the Israelites scattering seed, we have to plant seed, too. And that seed is planted by spending time with God, and then we don't have to start big. It's remarkable when you think about it. Seeds start out very small, don't they? I don't know if there's any gardeners I know Diane is a gardener and plants a lot of things, and some others.
[00:31:55] I don't really plant things, but we all know they start out very small. Seeds are very small, but they grow into something very large. It doesn't take very much. Maybe it just means spending a few minutes more in God's word each day. If you're not spending any time at all, devote to spending five minutes a day in God's word. See what God can do. He can bring about a growth that you can't even imagine.
[00:32:20] It doesn't take very much.
[00:32:23] Also, spending time with God's people is important for me. Being here on Sundays is so vital to my spiritual growth. Before the service, Christopher and I, we were talking about.
[00:32:35] I talk about setup a lot, but for me, yeah, because I like it. And the reason I love it. Maybe not early on, I didn't like it, but I love it now. Because God uses that time to work in me. It has become a moment of spiritual growth for me, an extension of my worship here on Sunday morning, that seed that I planted, well, it was almost five years ago when I just decided to join the setup team. I just joined because, well, it looked like they needed help and I needed something to do.
[00:33:10] I had no idea what God was going to do in me. It has increased friendships in this church that are amazing with guys that love Jesus so much, people that have helped me to be accountable, and it's produced a joy in me that wasn't there before. This is not natural for me to get up early on a Sunday morning to come here and set up stuff, but I've come to love it.
[00:33:39] That's a fruit of the Holy Spirit. That wasn't me, but I had to plant the seed by getting involved.
[00:33:46] I don't know what that might look like for you. Whatever that seed is of involvement, maybe it's getting involved in a community group. Maybe it's a decision to become a member. Maybe it's a decision to get baptized or to find a new way to serve or something.
[00:34:01] But whatever it is, I can guarantee this, that if you plant that seed, God is going to bring about an amazing harvest, something that you can't even imagine.
[00:34:13] So think about planting some seeds there. Number two, remember this spiritual fruit, just like physical fruit, is a product that begins and ends with God.
[00:34:26] Again, just think about that seed being sown, right? Israelites could plant all they want. Only God can make it grow.
[00:34:35] And the same thing is true in us. We cannot produce obedience on our own. The reason I fail so many times is because I try to produce obedience on my own, of my own willpower. I think I can just kind of get through it.
[00:34:53] It is not possible. I fail every single time. The Holy Spirit enables us to please God. That's his fruit in our lives. I can take no credit for that at all.
[00:35:04] If I'm pleasing to God, it's because of him. It has nothing to do with me.
[00:35:11] The Holy Spirit reminds us that we are children of God.
[00:35:15] That has to come about through him and this assurance, by believing the promises that he has listed in his word, by believing that we can be assured, yes, I belong to him, and he's going to bring us all the way we belong to him forever.
[00:35:32] Nothing will ever separate us from the love of God. This is the fruit of the spirit.
[00:35:40] This is the harvest he wants to bring about in our lives.
[00:35:44] And it's remarkable to think about it because, quite honestly, these are things that I can struggle with from time to time.
[00:35:54] Spiritual fruit comes from the Lord. What is God going to work in your life today? What is the harvest that he wants to bring about?
[00:36:04] What are the seeds that might need to be planted for him to bring about that harvest?
[00:36:10] Be assured of this. God loves you, and he sent Jesus Christ to die for your sins, raised him again, and all who believe in him now have eternal life.
[00:36:24] And the fruit of the Holy Spirit, now is the things that we've talked about today to bring us all the way to glory, no matter what happens between now and then. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we're so grateful for what you have done through the Holy Spirit. For us, it's remarkable to think about the fact that the things that you want to do in us are things that we can't do on our own.
[00:36:54] I'm humbled by the fact that obedience isn't something that I can produce without your help. I've tried it so many times and failed.
[00:37:04] We need the assurance of knowing that we belong to you and we'll never, ever, ever fall away from you.
[00:37:12] God, I need to spend so much more time with you.
[00:37:16] Help me to make that decision and commit to spending time with the word of God more. Spending time with God's people. People more.
[00:37:27] And plant those seeds that will produce a harvest that is well beyond anything we can ask or imagine.
[00:37:35] God, we thank you because you've been so good to us, sending your one and only son, Jesus, who died for our sins and rose again. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.
[00:37:47] So we come to communion now. It's fitting that communion is the next part of our worship. When we think about the fruit and the harvest that God wants to bring about, communion is a chance for us to reflect on what God is doing in our lives and what maybe he's already done.
[00:38:07] So in a moment, that's what we're going to do. The way we do communion here is like this. In a few moments, the worship team is going to come up and they'll start singing. And when they do, if you would make your way to either side, there's some tables there and you can grab a couple of cups. The bottom cup has a cracker and the top cup has some juice. And take it back to your seat and remain standing.
[00:38:32] And then I'll come back up, I'll read a passage of scripture, and we will all eat and drink together and celebrate what God has done. And remember the harvest that he's brought about in Jesus Christ. Christ for us. And for those of you online, always please get whatever it is you've got on hand. It could be crackers, could be bread, juice, soda pop.
[00:38:57] It's important to remember that those things are symbols. The bread represents Jesus body.
[00:39:03] His body, which hung on a cross for us.
[00:39:07] And that juice, that little cup of juice that we drink, reminds us of his blood.
[00:39:14] And I can tell you this, the blood that he poured out was a lot more than that little cup.
[00:39:19] And it was poured out so that we could be forgiven of our sin.
[00:39:25] That's how much he loves us and that's why he doesn't let us go.
[00:39:31] That's why he sends the Holy Spirit to help us. So that even in our struggles with sin or questions and doubts we have, so that we can be assured that he loves us that much. God didn't send his son for nothing. He's not going to let you go.
[00:39:49] But at this moment, whatever God has spoken to you this morning, I don't know what it might be. Would you just take a moment of silence? Reflect on that, think about what it is that God may want to bring about in your life as far as a harvest and bring it to him. And think about how you can plant seeds. Would you do that now? Momentarily.
[00:40:29] Father in heaven, we're so grateful for Jesus whom you gave for our sake, sins, sending him as an offering for sin.
[00:40:39] What the law couldn't do was save us.
[00:40:43] But you did it through Jesus Christ, redeeming us from the power of sin and death, rescuing us from the domain of darkness, transferring us now into your kingdom.
[00:40:55] And not only that, God, but you don't leave us alone.
[00:41:00] You send your holy spirit to be with us so that now we can fulfill the requirements of the law, we can live obediently to you, and we can be assured that we are your children and belong to you forever.
[00:41:15] God, you gave an amazing show of your love in Jesus, and it reminds us of how much you desire us to. To be with you.
[00:41:28] And you sent the Holy Spirit so that we can have that assurance.
[00:41:33] God, would you work in each of us now and bless this time of communion, as we reflect even more deeply on what it is that you've done for us through Jesus Christ, our Lord. In his name we pray.
[00:41:44] Amen.
