Celebrations of Thanksgiving in Canada date back to 1578, when the European settlers came to Canada and they cultivated the land and they had this bountiful harvest and they were absolutely thrilled and one of the ships, Chaplains, a man by the name of Robert Woodfall, actually gave a sermon to the settlers that year. And he really exhorted them to give thanks to God for all the bountiful blessings that they had and enjoyed. And as a result, it seemed to start as a tradition. But this is something that really surprised me.
In 1957, the Parliament of Canada declared an observance of the second Monday of October as a day of general thanksgiving to the Almighty God for the blessings that we enjoy in the dominion of Canada. The Parliament of Canada actually legislated that we give thanks unto the Almighty God. We've come a long way since. But that was in 1957.
So we got some pretty good strong roots. Got a question for you all this morning. What are you thankful for? Just think about this, all the things that you have.
I know that we live in a world that's really frustrating right now and a lot of challenges and a lot of perplexity. And as we look forward to the future, probably a lot of uncertainty. But what are you thankful for today? Today.
Just think about all the blessings that you have and everything that you enjoy. And ask yourself as you maybe have Turkey dinner this weekend, what am I really thankful for? Well, I love this verse that I thought about this morning, Psalm 100 and verse four. We are exhorted as a people of God to enter his gates with thanksgiving into his courts with praise.
And that's why I love the fact that we gather here together and we sing praise unto the Lord. And we enjoy these hymns because it's really offering thanksgiving unto the Lord. The Lord is good and his mercy endures unto all generations. That's a promise from God.
And so we have a lot to be thankful for this morning. You know, the scripture says, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. So are you thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God who came from heaven into this world to die in a cross for you, to shed his blood for you, to give his body for you so that you could be redeemed and you could be having a home in heaven for all eternity and actually have eternal security. There's many things to be thankful for today.
I'd like to introduce my subject by reading from three portions of scripture. So if you've got a Bible, turn to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26. We're gonna start reading at verse 20.
Matthew 26 and verse 20. Now when the evening was come, he sat down with the 12 and as they did eat, he said, Verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceedingly sorrowful and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dipeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.
The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, who betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, thou hast said.
And while they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it unto them, saying, drink ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New Testament for the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission, the forgiveness of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth at the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
Turn over to the Gospel of Luke in chapter 22, Luke 22, and we're gonna read verse 14. And when the hour was come, he sat down and the 12 apostles with him and he said unto them, with desire, I have desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat of it until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves.
For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread and he gave thanks and he broke it and gave it unto them, saying, this is my body, which is given for you, this do or do this in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new testament, the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. And I wanna read one other portion in 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
We've just read the historical account of what the Lord Jesus did in the upper room, just before his crucifixion. And Paul now elaborates on the doctrine, the teaching of the Lord's Supper, what it really truly means. So 1 Corinthians 11, we're gonna read up verse 23. Paul says, for I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night that he was being betrayed, he took bread.
And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said unto them, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup. And when he had stopped saying, this cup is the new covenant, the new testament in my blood, do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show or you proclaim the Lord's death until he come.
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread or drink this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unwirly, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep.
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. Trust that the Lord will bless the reading of his word. I want to share with you today the subject of the Lord's Supper.
It's something that we do here in Northbrook every Sunday morning. Maybe you've really never thought about why we do it, what the scripture teaches about it, or the real significance of it. And so today I would like to take that historical event and make it live in our minds so that we truly understand what it was all about and what it represents. It was a very significant celebration.
And that's what it is. Folks, the Lord's Supper is a celebration. It is a celebration of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a celebration of the victory of the cross, which is something that every believer should have this incredible enjoyment and really should be enthusiastic.
About celebrating the Lord's Supper. Now, in the portion of scripture that we have read, Jesus said four significant things. I have them listed here. First thing he said was, do this in remembrance of me.
Second thing he said is, this bread is my body. Now, not literally, it is symbolic. We're gonna develop that in a second. This bread is my body.
And really what he was saying is that it was given for us. His body was given for us. He also said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. A covenant, we're gonna develop that today.
And then he said, by doing this, you proclaim the Lord's death until he come. In the portions that we read today, he said twice, I will not partake of the fruit of the vine until I partake of it with you in my Father's kingdom. What a day it is that we are looking forward to the kingdom of God when we will sit down with the Lord Jesus and we will truly celebrate in a way that we're limited to do today. I wanna say this, the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrection is the ultimate fulfillment of all the Old Testament types, all the Old Testament prophecies and all the Old Testament pictures.
It is the climax of history, a very well-known apologist used to say he puts meaning into history. The cross and resurrection is the entire climax of human history, everything before pointed forward to the day when God himself would visit this planet in the person of his son, Jesus Christ, and make atonement for sin and everything in the future. We will always look back to that incredible moment when Jesus died on the cross was buried and rose again. Folks, those of us that are saved by the grace of God, we will sing through the ages of eternity to come unto him that loved us, washed us from our sins in his own blood, where did that take place at the cross?
Could I start by asking every one of you here today? Have you been to the cross? I don't mean physically. I mean in a deep personal spiritual manner, has the cross affected your life to understand the deep immense truth of the cross?
Jesus died for me. You know, we used to sing this little chorus, it's beautiful, down from the glory of the Savior came, down to the cross and the death of shame, gazing in wonder. I there exclaim, Jesus died for me. Simple, it's the most profound truth you can experience.
Have you been to the cross? I hope you have. You know, at the Lord's Supper, we celebrate the greatest accomplishment in history. We celebrate redemption.
We celebrate the forgiveness of our sins. And we actually come together in a public way to proclaim the Lord's death. Do you know that that word proclaim is a very interesting word? In the King James, I think it says show the Lord's death.
You might be reading a version on your lap today that says proclaim. You know that word literally means it means preach. We preach the Lord's death. I was interested to note that in the book of the Acts, that same word is translated preach over 11 times when Paul and others went into city streets and they preached the gospel.
They went into synagogues and they preached the gospel. They sat with Jewish authorities and they preached Christ. That's what we do when we celebrate the Lord's Supper. We gather together to recall, to publicly announce, to have glory in the cross.
And the Lord's Supper is a very precious time. Perhaps you miss it often. You know, those of us who are saved, it's a thrill to come together and to be together to remember the Lord, to celebrate his victory at the cross, to enjoy fellowship, participation with the Lord Jesus at the Lord's Supper. Could I just encourage every one of you here today?
If you are a true believer in the Lord Jesus, come to the Lord's Supper. Come and enjoy this public celebration of his death, burial and resurrection, his victory at the cross. On this historic night, the Lord Jesus transformed the celebration of Passover to the Lord's Supper. And incidentally, he is the central anti-type of both feasts.
The Passover was all pointing forward to the Paschal Lamb. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord's Supper is the celebration of his body that was given, his blood that was shed, his redemption that he purchased, and it all speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the central theme of both Passover and the Lord's Supper.
But in order for you to understand and maybe get a little bit of insight into what happened that night, I'd like to give you an order of events, as I've researched them, as what happened at a traditional Passover celebration. Okay, the first thing that happened was the Passover Lamb was killed. Do you know what time the Passover Lamb was to be killed? Josephus actually writes this in his history.
That Jewish tradition was the Passover Lamb was to be killed at three o'clock. What time did the Lord Jesus die? Three o'clock. That was the celebration of the evening sacrifice.
At three o'clock, the Passover Lamb was killed. Second thing that happened was at the appointed time, the household would sit down together, and they would partake of the first cup of red wine. Do you know what that cup is called in Hebrew tradition? It's called the cup of thanksgiving.
It's actually one of the reasons that I wanted to share this message with you today. Because Jewish tradition said that the very first cup in Passover was the cup of thanksgiving. And the next thing that happened was there was a ceremonial washing. And so symbolically, this Jewish tradition of ceremonial washing where they would wash their hands and wash their feet, it pointed to a spiritual and moral cleansing.
You know what's interesting about that? Is that the Lord Jesus said, if I wash you not, you have no part with me. And we just read in 1 Corinthians 11, let a man examine himself and so let him eat. And so there's a strong connection between these points as I go through them, a ceremonial washing.
The next thing was the eating of bitter herbs. And it was symbolic of the bondage and bitterness of Egypt. And then there was the drinking of the second cup. And it was named the cup of deliverance.
And at that time, the leader of the household would start to rehearse all the events that happened in Egypt as he would recite for the entire household what happened when God delivered his people out of Egypt. Next, they would sing the Hallel. You know what the Hallel is? It's Psalm 113 to Psalm 118.
And so they would literally as a household, they would sit down and they would sing this praise onto the Lord as they went through those Psalms. And then the rose lamb would be brought out. And here's what's interesting to me. The leader of the household would actually tear apart the rose lamb and he would give it to each one in the household.
Do you see the imagery? The rose lamb is being torn apart by the leader of the household and he's giving it to everyone that's sitting at the table. And then there was the third cup. And it was called the cup of blessing.
I don't know if that rings a bell with you or not, but Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 16 about the cup of blessing. This is significant because in Jewish tradition, they named that third cup, the cup of blessing. And it was drank as a symbol of a coming salvation. They were looking for a coming Messiah.
And it was called the cup of blessing. And Paul said that he received this from the Lord. And he said, this cup of blessing that we take, is it not the communion? Is it not the fellowship of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ?
And so essentially the Lord Jesus turned that third cup into a cup of remembrance that was a new covenant with his blood. And then the fourth cup in Jewish tradition was called the cup of praise. And it was a celebration of Israel being Jehovah's chosen people. So as you go through those Jewish traditions, you see a lot of crossover.
You see a lot of teaching that is connected to the new covenant that we are part of. Jesus transformed this Passover celebration into the Lord's Supper. Now let me stop and say this. The Lord's Supper is for all believers.
All believers are invited to come to the Lord's Supper. In my personal opinion, I see nowhere in the Bible that people that are believers, that are following the Lord and not living in positive sin, cannot partake of the Lord's Supper. All believers are invited to partake of the Lord's Supper. But there's a prerequisite where you should come with a prepared heart.
You should come with confessed sin. You would judge yourself so that you wouldn't be judged and you were invited to come. Come to the Lord's Supper and enjoy the fellowship of the Lord's people and the Lord himself. Really what I want to speak to you about today is three headings.
And I've listed the Lord's Supper under three headings and I want to develop this for you. The Lord's Supper is first and foremost, it is a time of remembrance. The Lord's Supper speaks of a covenant relationship that every believer has with the Lord. And thirdly, the Lord's Supper is an expression of unity.
That's what the scripture teaches. When we come to celebrate the Lord's Supper, it is an expression of unity in the body of Christ, a time of remembrance. You know, I was thinking about this yesterday and I just think, isn't our memory a wonderful gift that God has given us? The human mind.
Just stop and think about the great gift that every one of you and I have when it comes to memory. God has given to the human mind the ability to store, retain and retrieve information. That's amazing. And so these men that sat in the upper room with the Lord, they were amazed at what had happened.
They retained it, they restored it, they recalled it, and they wrote it down. And we have the Bible in our hand today. Some of these men wrote 30 years after the event actually happened. But with perfect recollection, they recited word for word what the Lord Jesus had said.
The human memory is an amazing gift that God has given us. What do you use your mind for? An amazing gift that God has given us? What fills your mind?
What fills my mind? If you go about your day, there's a lot of things that you gotta do. One of the greatest things that God has given us is the memory that we can actually read the scriptures and recall the events of history, and particularly about the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are invited, I say invited, to come meet with the Lord every Sunday morning and remember Him.
That is the greatest memory that could ever occupy the human mind, the memory of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, when we come on Sunday, we have this little cup because of COVID and all the issues that we've had. I mean, it's all, it really is, it's a symbol. And it speaks of things that are critically important.
Before COVID, we had a loaf of bread. And we had individual cups that are given on a tray and they go around. And so the Lord's Supper is a time of remembrance. What are these symbols?
Just that, they're symbols. They are visual reminders of His love for us. And so as we gather on a Sunday morning and we have these emblems, we have a visual reminder that the Lord Jesus loved me and He gave Himself for me. They are symbolic, they are metaphorical, they are not literal.
This is not the literal body of Christ. This is not the literal blood of Christ. It is a symbol to remind us of that. And I believe that as those apostles sat in that room, none of them would have taken away that the words that the Lord said, He meant this is literally my body or this is literally my blood.
They wouldn't have taken that away. They would have looked at it as a symbol. You know, when we come to remember the Lord, what do we do? We meditate.
We recall the events of the cross. We worship. It is the time for us to literally pour out our hearts in thanksgiving unto God for what He has done for us. It is a time of remembrance.
You know, there's a sense in which it's very personal. And there's also a sense in which it is collective. When we come on a Sunday morning and we think about who the Lord Jesus is, what He has done for us, we have a personal identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. We can each individual believer identify with this.
That on the cross, Jesus bore my sin. My sin. I gotta tell ya, I'm not thinking about your sin. I don't even know what your sin is, but I know what my sins are.
I know all the things that I have committed my whole entire life. And yet when I come here to remember the Lord at the Lord's Supper, I recall the fact that Jesus bore my sins in His own body on the tree. Could I ask every one of you today, do you get that? Do you understand that you have a personal connection with the Lord Jesus Christ?
That when He died on that cross, 2000 years before you were ever born, He knew every sin that you'd ever committed. He knew every sin that you ever would commit. And what do we say when we come? I love this.
We take words like this on our hearts and we say, rise my soul, behold to Jesus. Jesus fills my wandering eyes. See Him now in glory seated where your sins know more can rise. And then we sing, all my sins were laid upon Him.
Jesus bore them on the tree. God who knew them laid them on Him. And believing I go free. There's nothing better than to be free from your sin, to be free from your guilt, to know that you're cleansed.
You are united to Christ. And when we come to the Lord's Supper, we celebrate this. You know, I would say this, we also influence one another at the Lord's Supper. You know, sometimes I'm thinking about something and I'm enjoying it.
And somebody gets up and actually quotes the very same things that I'm thinking about. Maybe somebody gets up and gives up to Him that I just was about to give up. You know what, we all influence each other. A brother gets up and he shares from his heart, worship and praise.
And it actually connects with me. And I feel, yeah, I really enjoyed that. I want to share my worship. And so we connect and we influence one another.
Brother, can I just exhort you all today? Come to the Lord's Supper, filled with praise, filled with adoration for God and get up and share it. We all need to enjoy it. It's wonderful.
I mean, I'm thrilled every time I hear Bob worship. He's been on the road a long time. He knows God. And he's thrilled with this wonderful note of appreciation.
I love listening to David Hanson, a very intellectual mind of understanding things. I don't have that. We're all different. Who do you make it up?
He reads Philippians four, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Do you know what that does? It drills me, connects with me.
Brother, let me exhort you all today. Come to the Lord's Supper with a note of praise, something that you've been enjoying and get up and share it. Because it warms the spiritual fire within every one of our souls. We all personally identify with Christ, but collectively we influence each other.
You influence me and I influence you. And we're all thrilled and we benefit when brethren come with a prepared heart and they stand up and they worship God. I just want to encourage all of you come with a prepared heart and share, share. Okay, so it's a time of remembrance.
It's a covenant relationship. Jesus said, this blood, my blood, is the blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. I look up the word covenant. Do you know what a covenant is?
Covenant is a binding agreement, sometimes called a contract, between two parties, especially for the performance of some action and often it is sealed with blood. That's super interesting. Because there are eight covenants in scripture. You can look at them all.
A lot of them were broken. A lot of them were tarnished because of human failure. But this is called the new covenant. And that night when Jesus sat in the upper room with his own disciples and he knew that he was about to go to the cross, he instituted this feast and he said, this is the new covenant.
This is a covenant relationship. It is a binding agreement. What is the covenant that I have with Christ? You know, simply put, I would say this.
When I come here on a Sunday morning and I partake of that cup, essentially I am saying this. I am his and he is mine, forever and forever. Praise God. The Bible teaches we have been bought with a price.
1 Corinthians 6 says, you are not your own. Your body is not your own. Be very careful what you do with your body. Because it is the Lord's.
We've been bought with this price. The price of precious blood. You're not your own. You've been bought.
And when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that connection is sealed. Ephesians 1 and 14, upon believing you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. That connection is made by blood. And everyone that comes here at the Lord's day morning and partakes of that emblem is essentially saying, I am in a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ.
It is an unconditional covenant. I'm so thankful for that. Because I could do some foolish things in my life. And wouldn't it be terrible if I could break that covenant by my own sin?
No, this is an unconditional covenant that God has sealed, bought with precious blood redeemed. And so what do we do? We come here on Sunday morning and we sing. I will sing of my Redeemer and his love to me who purchased me by his blood.
We've been purchased. We're in a covenant relationship. You know, that covenant was actually prophesied in Jeremiah 31 and in Ezekiel chapter 36. He said, I will give them a new covenant and a new heart.
And they will know my ways and they will follow me and I will dwell in them. And I will remove that heart of stone and I will put in them a heart of flesh. The very moment that you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you were changed. Whether you knew it or not, you were changed.
The old man crucified, the old heart gone. You're born of God. You're a new creation. And Jesus came to give you that new covenant.
Hebrews chapter eight speaks a lot about the new covenant. You could read it at your leisure. It's a new covenant that is referred to as a better covenant, a better covenant. It is an unbreakable covenant.
It is a covenant of the promise of the forgiveness of your sins by the precious blood of Christ. It points forward to a kingdom that I am part of. I wanna say this, I believe with conviction and I believe very firmly that the kingdom of God is going to come to this earth in a literal sense. That Jesus Christ is going to set up his kingdom and he's gonna reign on the earth for a thousand years.
And that new Jerusalem is gonna come down out of heaven. And all the redeemed of all the earth, of every generation will be part of that kingdom in a literal sense and we will worship God together. And Jesus made this promise. He sat in the upper room that night, he was about to be crucified and he said this.
He said, I'm gonna take this cup. And he said, I'm gonna partake of the fruit of the vine for the last time until. Catch that word, until. This covenant is pointing forward to a day when Christ will reign on the earth and you will reign with him.
And in that kingdom, you will partake of this cup, the fruit of the vine with the Lord Jesus Christ in celebration of his honor. That's amazing. It is a covenant relationship that I am part of and that you are part of. It's also an expression of unity.
You know, there's a lot of division. And the last couple of years have really wrought a lot of havoc in relationships, in churches, in homes, even in marriages. Because of differences of opinions about how we handle this pandemic and government imposed restrictions and how we deal with these things. And I would just say this, it's probably not gonna get easier.
There's gonna be more and more challenges, but if there's one thing that God desires in the household of faith, in the family of God, it is unity. Unity. Maybe one of our greatest needs right now is the church of God, it's unity. You know what God said in Psalm 133?
How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Folks, every single Sunday morning that we come and we partake of these emblems, we are expressing unity. Unity in the body of Christ, we are one. 1 Corinthians 10, 16 and 17 says this, we being many are one, one body.
And it is expressed in communion. You know, that's why the visual symbol of a loaf of bread is beautiful. Because it is one loaf. And when it is broken, it symbolizes the body of Jesus Christ that was broken, open, but still one symbol.
And then it's passed around and each one of us partake. And we take our portion and we take it in remembrance of the Lord, but yet we are all united in Him. You know, God desires that there is no schism in the body. This is something that I'm very convicted about.
Because of my personal past experience. In John chapter 17, the Lord Jesus said, several times, at least twice He said it. He said, Father, I will, that all those who believe in me, may be one as we are one. Why?
So that the world may know that you have sent me. I gotta tell you something. We go out on the street and we preach the gospel. And people that are not saved will say, well, what denomination are you?
And we say, does it really matter? Well, this person says this. This person says this. This person goes here.
This person, you know what? The church of God, it is the Lord's desire that we would be united, that we would be one. One in heart, one in mind, and one in the spiritual body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He also says again in verse 23.
He says, Father, my desire is that they all may be one, that they may be made perfect, complete in one. Every assembly that gathers like this in local capacity is a representation of that one body. First Corinthians 12, I believe teaches that. You know, every single person in this assembly is valuable and is needed.
Every single person, regardless of your gift or how you participate or what your role is. Every single person in this assembly is valuable to God and is necessary. And God's desire is that we would all be one. If one member suffer, all members suffer.
If one member rejoices, all rejoice. If someone here has a baby, let's rejoice. If someone here is sick, let's rally around them. If someone here is dying, let's pray for them.
Let's all be one. Let us be united. And the Lord's Supper is the expression of this one unity. You know, Ephesians 2 and verse 15 says this.
That there is one new man. They had issues in first generation Christianity because they had Jews and Gentiles and they didn't see things I'd die. That's why you had Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council. There were issues, big issues.
Paul writes to Ephesians and he says, that middle wall of partition is gone. We are all one, one in Christ. He writes in Galatians that there's neither Jew nor Gentile, male, female, bond or free. We're all one in Christ.
Can you capture this unity? This unity is critical for our impact on a dying world. This unity is critical for the testimony of the gospel. This unity is critical for the preservation of saints.
This unity is absolutely essential. And so every Sunday morning, when we come to partake of the Lord's Supper, we are expressing this unity. Romans 12 and four says, we are one body, many members. 1 Corinthians 12 and 27 says, we are body of Christ.
So we need to express that in the way that we function in a church. All right, I got three practical questions and I'm done. The Lord's Supper, how should I come? How should I come to the Lord's Supper?
Well, I believe that we should all come with a prepared heart. You know, life is busy. Sometimes you roll out of bed at nine o'clock. You haven't had breakfast.
You haven't read your Bible. And you roll in here like I did this morning late. And it's hard because there are pressing obligations. You're juggling family.
You got work obligations. You got lots of stuff to do. But I speak to myself, first God wants us to come with a prepared heart, a prepared heart. God wants us to come having confessed our sins in self judgment.
If you're like me, you're gonna get to file as you go through the week. Maybe you're gonna see something that you shouldn't see. Maybe you're gonna say something that you shouldn't say. Maybe you're gonna act in a way that you should never act.
You need to examine yourself. And before we come to celebrate the Lord's Supper, we need to judge ourselves. What a promise is this. If a man judges himself, he will not be judged by God.
I take comfort in that. Because I don't wanna be judged by God. I know that I'm a child of God. I know God loves me.
He chastens every son that is one of his. But if we judge ourselves, then we will not be judged. That's a very good promise. We should come with our sins confessed in self judgment.
And we should be focused on the enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Christ. And can I say this? We should be willing to share. You know what brother?
You have some sweet meditations that I can benefit from if you get up and share. And maybe hopefully I have some things that are beneficial to you as well. And so that's how we interact as fellowship. In God's assembly, we should function.
And we should come prepared to share. The Lord's Supper is a time of remembrance. It's a covenant relationship. It is an expression of unity.
And it is all about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not about one man. We don't even have a pastor here. You know what?
We're all the same. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is the head of the church? The Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the one who deserves all the glory and all the dominion and all the power. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And we have this incredible, incredible opportunity to come together and collectively get on our feet and praise the God of heaven. And so I wanna finish today by singing Him of the ages.
And I wanna stand and worship God together with you. I wanna say this, I'm thrilled to be part of this assembly. I love it here. This is my home church.
And God willing, this is where I will be until the rapture or until the Lord takes me home. And I want to connect with every one of you. We all need to be part of each other's lives. And we need to encourage one another and build each other up as we worship today, glorifying God.
Happy Thanksgiving. Let's close in prayer and then we'll sing on Him. Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus. We acknowledge that He is the one that everyone deserves and should be the one to worship throughout all the ages of every time and every generation.
And we thank you Lord that we have found our identity in Christ. We thank you that He loved us, that He gave His body and He shed His blood that our sins could be forgiven. And we have been united to you and we are united to one another. And so I just pray that as we leave this place today, we would be all encouraged and built up in our holy faith and that we would worship together.
And not only right now, but this evening Lord, to come together as saints and to unite our voices in singing and worshiping God for all of the good things that you've given us. We thank you for the Lord Jesus and commit this day to you in His own worthy and precious name. Amen.