Peter's Confession and the Cross of Christ

we doing this morning great good my name is Josh I'm one of the pastors here at the district church at this time we'll go ahead and dismiss all of our three to five-year-olds to the little District and while they're leaving some of them I want to give some announcements for us going on through the month of June and July so for all of our ladies our women's breakfast is actually going to be on hold or postponed throughout the summer so June and July we're going to take a break and have some rest for those who are hosting and those who are leading and then coming

back in August like most of our Ministries including our community groups we will kick back off so be on the lookout for Angel's update on that but be aware June and July we will not have any women's breakfast and then we are back on for Monon Mondays on Monday tomorrow where some of our women are meeting to fellowship and exercise getting to know each other Miranda Mills is the one putting this on and so if you'd like more information you can see her but she will be meeting in the Kroger parking lot off of 86th 86th Street at 9 30 on Monday mornings and so

if you'd like more information come see me I'll point you to Miranda and we can get you hooked up for that and then our discipleship for women has started last Friday so if you'd like more information on what it looks like to be a faithful discipleship or disciple of Jesus Heidi is leading that my wife and you guys can still join and sign up for that because we've only jumped into one week and so feel free for more information come again see me look at our app you can sign up there and then finally June 22nd at 6 30 our second Nations night will be

facilitated by The Parkers at the Wright's house in Carmel and we will be speaking to and getting some more information from our church plant as well as missionary down in Dominican Republic Manuel Sanchez if you guys have been here for long enough he actually came a few years ago and preached to us before we sent him off to the Dominican Republic and so we want to hear from him what God is doing in their church as well as maybe if you have questions what it looks like to be a missionary and a church planner in a different country and so all of that again is

on our email if you are not receiving those come see me or come see the hunters who are back from Italy and enjoying their time here right and so you guys can talk to them or me we'll get you signed up and so if you have your Bibles go ahead and open to Luke chapter nine we're jumping into verse 18 through 22. up until this point as you guys are moving towards this passage or looking in in God's word um up until this point what Luke has been doing for us is kind of giving us small glimpses of who Jesus truly is um and if

we look through the lens of his disciples slowly they are beginning to see who this man is who has power and authority over all creation who can heal the sick raise people from the dead we get to come into an intimate conversation today clarifying who this Jesus is and so this is the passage that we are jumping off into today now as you're again moving towards Luke chapter 9 verses 18 through 22 I would just kind of want to give you a little bit of insight as we are seeing this clarification happen so growing up some of my favorite books to read and even going

back to now I love to read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Classics Sherlock Holmes anybody like me reading those books maybe you like the movies better I prefer Benedict cumberbatches versus Robert Downey Jr but that's beside the point so Sherlock Holmes is this fictional Consulting detective who lives in an Infamous apartment of 221B on Baker Street and he uses his deductive reasoning investigative science and really observation along with witty banter and sarcasm to solve crimes that even the greatest detective of the Scotland Yard cannot find and one of the reasons that I love these stories and even shows similar to Sherlock Holmes is because what Sir

Arthur Conan Doyle does and what many great authors and directors and creators do is they create This Magnificent storyline that brings mystery and suspense to where we long for the revelation of the conclusion and Sherlock Holmes in his stories is often showing us through his observation and through his deductive reasoning how he's able to figure out the crimes as well as who the culprit is and it leaves you with a longing as these stories go on of clarity of this mystery finally being resolved anybody else love those types of suspense and Mysteries yeah well as good as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is or as good

as the favorite movie or author that you follow or watch or read Luke inspired by the holy spirit is better we see this in the Gospel of Luke as he is writing to Theophilus through the lens of the disciples that they have a similar experience to us as we're reading these mystery novels that slowly they are gaining Clarity on who this Jesus is and up until this point Luke has been writing this narrative asking this question who is this man we saw in chapter 8 as Jesus calmed the storms what did the disciples ask who is this man that can calm the storms that has

power and authority over nature Throughout the chapter you can see that question being asked who has this power to heal diseases to raise people from the dead to remove demons who is this man Luke even asked this as we read in the feeding of the five thousand now even though it's not explicitly stated you're supposed to continue to ask this question throughout the story who is this man and really you could make the argument that Luke has implicitly asked this question since the beginning of the book as he is trying to show Theophilus why you should have certainty in who Jesus claims he is but

like a good Sherlock Holmes novel the answer of who he is comes slowly progressively and and and eventually becomes crystal clear and this is where we are today in our passage today we see for the first time Jesus revealing to his disciples and really to us who he is and why he came and then next week we're going to take a look at the cost of following this Jesus and yet without Supernatural revelation of who he is and why he came the disciples as well as us cannot truly know him and we cannot Faithfully follow him as he calls us to so my main question

that we have to answer this morning is who do you say he is who do you say he is so let's let's read together Luke's revelation of Jesus and why he came to die starting in verse 18. now it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him and he asked them who do the crowds say that I am and he answered John the Baptist but others say Elijah and others one of the prophets of old has risen then he said to them but who do you say that I am and Peter answered the Christ of God and he strictly charged and

commanded them to tell this to no one saying the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised this is God's word for us this morning let us go to him and ask him to reveal more of who he is and how we can know him truly Lord You Are Holy and good and righteous and full of grace the question that Jesus poses to his disciples this morning Lord you're still asking us who do you say that I am May our hearts be stirred up to answer

this rightly that you Jesus are the Messiah the one who came to to save Sinners Like Us give light O Lord to our text today help us have eyes to see and ears to hear the wisdom of your word so that we may know you truly as king and that we may have certainty in the things that you have taught us about yourself as your servant this morning speak through me let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your style O Lord my rock and my redeemer it is for your glory and our joy that we praise you

this morning in Jesus name amen so as we just read this morning the author of Luke gives us a intimate conversation between Jesus and his disciples and we contrast that from last week because if we remember Jesus feeding the 5000 what happened when he tried to take the disciples away to rest even grieving the death of his cousin John the Baptist we see the crowd coming after him and so what Luke is trying to do is compare and contrast these two situations last week in Jesus's compassion he welcomed the crowd because he saw them as a sheep without a shepherd but he didn't just welcome

them he taught them he healed them and he fed them miraculously revealing something about himself without even saying it that he is the messiah he is the Son of God who came to deliver his people again we see even in that Miracle Luke asking who is this man but we find today Jesus is alone with his disciples no crowds nobody around him just him and the twelve and as he's praying and he ends his prayer which is significant and I want us to see why in a moment Luke gives us access to a question Jesus gives to his disciples look back at verse 18. now

it happened that as they were praying alone the disciples were with him and he asked them who does the crowd say that I am we should know that this question is significant and for two reasons one this is the first time that Jesus is actually asking his disciples who he is this is the first time that Jesus is actually asking this question to anyone who am I who does the crowd say that I am and eventually who do you say that I am but did you catch this Jesus is all Jesus was praying before he asks this question to his disciples this is significant throughout

the Gospel of Luke because every time Jesus is alone praying whether with his disciples or alone by himself something significant follows this is why I love that we read through books of the Bible because then you can begin to see themes and narratives and repetition that's happening you can as a reader be on the edge of your seat because if Jesus is praying something big is about to happen we see this at his baptism in Luke 3. in the wilderness before he began to preach in Luke 4 before he chooses the twelve we see him praying in Luke 6 and the most famous prayer that

we should all know in Luke 22 where he's in the garden asking the Lord to pass the cup but now here in Luke 9 we see Jesus praying and asking a question Luke doesn't tell us what he prayed I do have a thought that based on Peter's response I Think Jesus is asking the Lord to reveal more of who he is and I'll show you why in a moment but what we do know is that Luke is going to follow Jesus's prayer with a significant announcement and it might be easy for us to recognize or it might be easy for us to kind of put

this down as this announcement isn't so significant because maybe we've read this story before or maybe we are familiar with the gospel story but you have to again put yourself in the shoes of the disciples they've been walking with Jesus for 18 months now and Jesus has not articulated who he is he's shown them through Miracles he's shown them from healing people with diseases raising people from the dead but he has not asked nor has he said who he is and yet here in this intimate conversation we get a confession from Peter and an approval from The Lord of who he is and not only

that we also get a reason why Jesus came but here we also see a shift a dramatic shift in Jesus's Ministry moving from Miracles to teaching as he prepares his disciples for what is to come in Jerusalem everything from this point on is about getting to the cross and we see Jesus making this significant shift beginning with prayer now this morning it might be easy for us to have an application that says something like this if Jesus is praying before a significant shift in his life and Ministry how much more should we be praying right how many times have you might have heard that question

but how many of us have become better prayers because of guilt not me yeah but if we're honest how many of us do in fact want to be better at prayer anyone just a couple of us okay all of us so here's my encouragement from this text and we'll move on to this important conversation between Jesus and the twelve as pastor Joe Thorne says Jesus shows us that in prayer it is that prayer is essential to our lives much like working out prayer is essential to our lives and when we neglect it it has a negative effect on all of us on the whole of

Who We Are it has a negative effect on our thoughts our emotions our decisions much like working out it is essential to our lives and now you may be thinking well Jesus Is God so of course he's going to be good at prayer right but I hope what you've been seeing through the Book of Luke is that we get an access of Jesus's life to see that he is fully man he's not just fully God he is fully man and so what that means is that he must be dependent upon the father for his ministry to continue and this is what prayer demonstrates pendants dependence

upon the father and how often are we living lives in our own strength in our own minds in our own works not practicing dependence upon the father how often are we forfeiting peace and trying to live a life as if God isn't there we may not say it but our actions will prove it prayer is an act of dependence and it demonstrates that we are weak and frail as the word calls we are like dust and it is in Jesus we get an example of someone who is dependent upon the father in prayer and it's something that we can imitate and we can imitate because

the same spirit that helped Jesus in his ministry now lives in us that's the word of God tells us the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is now alive in us and so the life of Jesus we can imitate but also we can have hope because even in the Sin of prayerlessness Jesus's righteousness for those who have trusted in him has been imputed to us and so even though we fail we can confess that failure run to the father knowing that he has forgiven us in Christ and try to imitate Jesus's life Jesus's dependency should encourage us to imitate him and run to

the father in prayer and so we see in prayer following following Jesus's prayer is this question an important question not only for the disciples but also for us today and here's how the disciples answer they answered John the Baptist so Jesus asked who does the crowd say that I am and they said John the Baptist but others say Elijah and others that one of the prophets of old has risen and then he said to them who do you say that I am what's interesting about this inflection in the Greek this you is an emphatic you Jesus is saying who do you say that I am

it's not just some random question it is a serious matter of the heart who do you say that I am and Peter rightly answers the Christ of God and Jesus strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one if you remember from a couple weeks ago this same question was posed by Herod verses 7 through 9 of chapter 9 says now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening all that Jesus was doing and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead remember Herod was the one to put him to death and so

Herod asked who is this man some say he's a prophet raised from the dead some say that he's Elijah that has appeared others say that he's John the Baptist and so here we have Herod asking the same question and we now have the disciples answering very similar to those who the crowd said he was and what's interesting about the crowd is we walk through the Book of Luke what we see is that every time he uses this phrase the crowds those who are following Jesus those who are answering that Jesus is a prophet of old or John the Baptist or Elijah raising from the dead

what Luke is trying to paint a picture of is people who are uncommitted to following Jesus we see this in John 6 John's parallel passage of Jesus feeding the five thousand Jesus tells them on the second day that they come back to find more food he says you're seeking me not because of my signs but because you got your fill of bread they were only committed because of physical provisions the healings the feedings the welcoming these people were uncommitted to Jesus and yet they saw him and saw what he did saw his miracles and yet they could only convince themselves that he might be a

prophet that he might be someone who has come back from the dead what commentaries would tell us about their answers is that the crowds thought Jesus was the Forerunner of the Messiah by giving this answer of John the Baptist and Elijah what they were saying was he was the one before the one to come they were unconvinced that Jesus was in fact the Messiah the deliverer the one who would come to save Sinners Like Us none of them saw him as Messiah and yet Peter speaking for the disciples has a response that is astonishing this is the first time that we see in the Book

of Luke a human recognizing and saying this is Jesus God's Messiah the only time that we've seen this answer is actually from a demon in Luke 8 no other time has a human said this in Luke's gospel and while his answer is correct what we see throughout the rest of the book is that it is not fully comprehended so you see as we walk through the Book of Luke we'll see that the disciples are still learning they haven't fully realized who this Messiah is and why he came which is what Jesus will explain to them in a moment it isn't fully realized until Jesus resurrects

as he's walking on the road to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24 he meets two disciples and they still needed clarity so Jesus tells them about all the prophets and how it pointed to him and then he comes to the disciples in the upper room and shows them he is the true Messiah this is significant and I think I think for those of us who are in here I want to encourage you if you haven't put your faith or trust fully in Jesus because you're still trying to get questions answered look at the disciples and not fully comprehending or not fully realizing who Jesus is they

still make the right Proclamation that you are the Christ and I will follow you and you can do the same but think about this for a moment this is why it is so significant and so important because when we look at this narrative right in Luke chapter 8 we see that Jesus calms the storm as the disciples are freaking out and when he does they ask a question who is this man that can calm the storms that has power and authority over nature how did they go from fearful disciples in the boat wondering who Jesus was and how he could calm the storms to now

rightly proclaiming that he is Christ of God how do they do that has to come supernaturally look at Matthew's gospel of this same question Jesus said to the disciples who do you say that I am and Simon Peter replied you are the Christ the son of the Living God and Jesus answered him blessed are you Simon barjona for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven Peter's answer comes only through Supernatural Revelation it wasn't because of the Miracles it wasn't because of his teaching it wasn't because of all that Jesus has done it was because the father

chose to reveal who the son was to Peter and the disciples and much like us today this is the same our true knowledge of who Jesus is while sometimes incomplete only comes through Supernatural revelation of the father through the power of the holy spirit it's what we call regeneration you find this in John 3 when Nicodemus asks Jesus what must you do to be saved he says You must be born again you see it's not just enough to know who Jesus is we need our hearts and Minds transformed we need to be made alive because sin has made us dead and as RC Sproul so

wonderfully puts it regeneration is something that is accomplished by God and God Alone a dead man cannot save himself from the dead we are not just drowning at the bottom of the ocean and Jesus throws a life jacket to help bring us up no it is Jesus going to the bottom of the ocean bringing our dead bodies up to the shore breathing new life and making us alive again that we are saved and it is only through Supernatural Revelation from the father through the son by the power of the holy spirit that we can be made alive and truly know who this Jesus is it

is the supernatural work of the father and as we've seen throughout Luke Jesus does something very interesting Jesus immediately tells the disciples don't tell anyone he charges the disciples to not say anything and this is why because the disciples needed to be taught why he came Look what Jesus says in verses 21 and 22 why the purpose of him coming in and incarnating and putting on flesh as the son of God Jesus strictly charges and commands them to tell this to no one saying the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed

and on the third day be raised you see while Peter's Revelation and confession is absolutely true it's important for us to understand the Dynamics and the context of Jerusalem at that time you see for the Jews they had been searching for and longing for and waiting for 400 years for a messiah to come for one to free them of their oppression and yet they misunderstood how and who the Messiah would be they misunderstood what he would do when he came see I believe one of the reasons why Jesus commanded the disciples to not share who he was is because people thought this Messiah was going

to come and bring them freedom and not Freedom how we think right now freedom from oppression of Rome put them back into power as a great nation this is again why John 6 after Jesus feeds the five thousand John writes perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him King Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself you see the crowds would have sought physical freedom from oppression they would have seen Jesus's Miracles and thought he has the power to overthrow Rome but Jesus tells his disciples this is not why I came I did come for freedom I

did come to set the captives free to heal those who are sick to bring back the Lost but not in a way that you think I have come to die and to resurrect from the grave three days later bringing this freedom now imagine if you were the disciples in that moment imagine you got it right you have said you are the Christ of God and Jesus who you've been following for a year and a half says you are right but don't say anything because I have to die and I have to resurrect they would have been rejoicing at first and then what despair distress what

do you mean that you have to die Tim killer makes a great Point here not only for the disciples but also for us as well Jesus is saying if I liberate you from Rome what are you going to do about your guilt your emptiness your spiritual nakedness you're desperately trying to prove yourself what are you going to do about the fact that your real slavery is to sin and your identity crisis within you that's why I left what Jordan said this morning how often we can find our identity in other things as John Calvin would remind us our hearts are idle factories it is so

easy to take things that God has given us as good gifts and make them into idols and find our identity in them and Jesus tells the disciples as well as us today that we have a slavery far deeper than this world and we need a payment to be freed from that slavery from that bondage this is why Jesus came to be rejected to suffer to die and to resurrect and I love I love what Jesus says here is that I must be crucified and I must resurrect three days later there is certainty that he's giving the disciples just as certain as I must much Must

Die so certain am I that I'm going to raise from the these two things are going hand in hand he's trying to teach the disciples that this will happen that you can have hope and none of this is by accident this is what the prophet Isaiah foretold in chapter 53 when he says this and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed for he grew up like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground he had no form or Majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him he was despised and rejected by men

a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief and is one from whom men hid their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we have seen him stricken Smitten by God and afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and by his wounds we are healed this was the plan of God all along to redeem his people through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ through his life substitutionary death and Resurrection Sinners would now be offered salvation lost would

be reconciled to the father those who are sick would be healed but it only comes through death and this is the reality this is the reality that the disciples needed to understand this is the reality for us today Jesus is the Messiah Peter is correct he is the Christ of God the deliverer the one who came to save Sinners Like Us and bring freedom but not physical freedom spiritual freedom because that is our deepest need it is not physical it is not Financial it is not relational there's nothing that we can do there's nothing that we can earn that will bring Salvation to us because

we are sinners separated from the father and not in right relationship with him and it is only through the work of Jesus Christ that we can find Freedom that we can be restored that we can be reconciled back to the father and it is through his resurrection that sin and death are then defeated and he offers this free gift of Grace to those who adhere and believe Ephesians 2 8 and 9 tells us this for by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is a gift of God not ever not as a result of work so that

no man can boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them while this free gift of Grace is offered through Christ's life death and Resurrection I want you to hear this this morning it is costly it is costly because someone had to die and as Paul tells us in this passage and as we will read next week it is costly to follow Jesus because we have to deny self we have to bear our own cross but hear me this morning this costly Grace gives you freedom in eternity as well as here

on Earth when we submit ourselves to Jesus we are free from putting our identity in anything this world has to offer free from trying to as Jordan said this morning trying to find satisfaction from other things because our cup is filled we are free by faith and obedience to Jesus and his call to follow him the question that Jesus asks is one that we must answer today and really every day who do you say that I am see back in verses seven and nine Herod asking this question getting an answer is unconvinced the ruler of the known world is unconvinced by The Miracles and the

teachings of this man Jesus Christ we also see the crowds in this story and their opinion of who Jesus is a prophet returned John the Baptist raising from the dead and they're uncommitted this crowd that saw Jesus feed them this crowd that has seen healings seen people being raised from the dead and yet they are still uncommitted and we have Peter and the disciples standing opposed to Herod standing opposed to the opinions of the many in the crowd Proclaim that Jesus is God that he is the Christ even with their understanding being incomplete they are convicted that Jesus is the Christ of God and they

Proclaim it and this is what believers do they stand up boldly in the interest of truth of who Jesus is what he has come to do and how he has called us to live even when it's not popular you see the disciples were right and I love what Warren weirsby tells us from this passage the crowds had opinions but disciples have conviction and this is how we are to live with the conviction that Jesus calls us to follow him even when it's not popular as Disciples of Jesus even when opinions go against what the scriptures have to say we have to be faithful to him

many people today have opinions of who Jesus is the Muslims think he's a great prophet Mormons don't think that Jesus's crucifixion was sufficient for salvation and that he was a created separate God similar to a brother of Satan many think that Jesus was just a good activist against the political realm or against the Pharisees and Sadducees of that day he was the original Rebel some look at him as a genie who you only go to when you need help or you need something provided for you some look at him as a lawyer that only go to him when they need help getting out of trouble

like a get out of jail free card some look at him very similar to other historical leaders throughout history it's just a good and moral man NY Even in our churches today look at Jesus as a lenient grandparent that just lets you get away with whatever you want because of Grace Jesus is not any of these things Jesus as Peter rightly puts it is the Christ of God he is the greater prophet he is the greater priest he is the Greater King he's the deliverer Messiah savior Lord and he came to save sinners like you and me and he calls us to follow him and

it'll be obedient to his commands so my question to you this morning again is who do you say Jesus is he Lord over your life or not at all because he can only be one or the other for the believer in here this morning our answer to that question who Jesus is should be like Peter's that he is the Christ of God and our witness to the world is that Jesus's death and Resurrection will always be our answer as Peter I'm sorry as Paul says in First Corinthians 1 23 we preach Christ crucified this is what we Proclaim to the world this is what we

answer of who Jesus is and we bear witness to his death because of what it has done for us in freeing us from our bondage of sin and we bear witness to his resurrection because it's there that we see he had Authority and victory over sin and death and because the spirit who has been imputed to us or given to us now lives and resides in those who believe we have that same power we have that same Authority we have that same Victory to fight and put to death sin and the Flesh and whatever this world throws at us the same power that raised Jesus

from the dead now lives in us and we must live in that power so what is your life and what does your word say in answering the question who is Jesus does the way you speak does the way you act does the way you live your words and your works your faith and your actions do they reflect this truth do you love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and do you love your neighbor as yourself or do your words and works reflect more of what the world says about Jesus do you speak of him with your lips but not

live it with your life do you not live a life of worship and for the unbeliever in here the question is also asked to you who do you say Jesus is he just a good teacher a moral activist someone who you call when you're in need now we can argue some of the things in Scripture that don't give us answers right how did Jesus feed the five thousand did Jonah actually get swallowed by a big fish how did the sun stay more than 24 hours in the sky we can talk about those for days but with scripture asks us to answer and Jesus himself asks

us to answer is who do you say I am who do you say Jesus is because Jesus answers it he tells us that he is the only way the only truth and the only way to eternal life through the father It Is by trusting in Him that you can receive the Forgiveness of your sins where you can find true joy and true satisfaction and hope in this life and Life to Come so cure me it is important that you get this question right because your soul depends on it one of the tangible ways that we celebrate each week in answering this question who Jesus is

and the freedom that we have been given as Believers is by partaking in communion as Paul tells us in Romans 8 1 there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because Jesus lived a life that we could never live he died a sinner's death that we so rightly deserved and he resurrected three days later sealing our election of Sons and Daughters of God and we are now free in him we Are Made Alive in him and it's because of this reality when we come to the table when we come to communion we can celebrate what Jesus has done for us

the body representing the breaking the bread representing his body being broken his blood being shed we are reminded in drinking the juice and in this our sins have been covered and the Covenant that God has made with us in Christ is now sealed so when God looks upon you and looks upon me he no longer sees the sin that you once committed and lived in he now sees a son he now sees a daughter he is now pleased in you and you can live and celebrate in that reality so every week when you come to this table I hope that you're thinking about that I

hope that you are celebrating that truth that reality that you are a son and daughter of God and he is pleased in you he Delights in you how often have we walked through life and lived in church where we don't actually live in that reality that God Delights in you because you are his children so this morning as you come to the table I hope that that is something that you can celebrate in that you are God's children because of Jesus's work of dying and death and raising from the grave that he took on our unrighteousness and gave us his righteousness where we can walk

in Freedom and we as the scriptures say are now spotless and clean so I want to invite you to the table so I'm going to grab the elements and then I'm going to lead us in communion this morning before we take communion I want to instruct us through the words of scripture whenever we come to the table we are supposed to have a heart of examination yes we celebrate what Christ has done but we examine Our Lives examine if there is still sin that we have not repented of because we recognize that that can hinder our relationship with the father and the Son and the

Holy Spirit it doesn't remove our relationship it just puts a barrier in which we need to repent so that our relationship can flow freely as well what we see in scripture is that we are examine our relationships with one another that if there is a need for repentance or a need to go to a brother or sister in Christ the scriptures say go to them before you take this because what communion is doing for the church is it's showing us who the body of Christ is it's encouraging us to be reconciled because we have been reconciled to the father and the word also encourages us

to examine our hearts that if we are not Believers that we would trust in Jesus and refrain from this partaking of communion because this is an act of Celebration for what Jesus has done for us and if you have not put your faith and trust in him I would encourage you to come talk to me and we can share I can share this good news of Jesus Christ and what he's done in the death and resurrection of his life so I'm going to give us some time to examine ourselves and then we're going to take communion together and continue to celebrate and worship what Jesus

has done for us