The Sending of the Seventy Two

as we jump into Luke chapter 10 what I want us to see this morning is a sense of urgency for the believer now oftentimes when we think of urgency or urgencies of a message my first thought and this week as I was thinking about this my first thought was those who are trying to get to people to tell them about their extended car warranties you ever seen those commercials where people are swimming or diving or you know they're in the midst of a hurricane they have a serious mission to get to the person to give them a message about their car warranties or in one

of my favorite movies and I was talking to Heidi about this last night Sweet Home Alabama I'm not a huge rom-com guy but that is my favorite rom-com movie of all time and you walk through this movie and there's tension and drama of Reese Witherspoon like going back to her Southern Roots and feeling like she needs to stay but at the end of the movie we find this drama of her potentially marrying a man who she was having tension with in regards to should I marry him or should I stay home and and fall back in love with the guy that I originally married and

in comes this lawyer right at the at the peak of their wedding and she's walking down the aisle in comes this lawyer and says Melanie which is her name at that time you were still married and you are a hard woman to get a hold of he was on a mission to give her a message because she had not signed her divorce papers and she could not walk through another wedding or be married to this new guy and for her that was the Revelation I need to make a change and I need to go where my heart is leading me but more importantly for believers

we have a message that is urgent to this world so more important than this lawyer more important than people coming and telling you about your extended car warranty or whatever thought you can have for urgency we have to recognize as Believers in Christ we have an Urgent Message for this world which means we must live on an urgent mission in this life and with the people around us and so what I want us to see this morning as Disciples of Jesus who have an Urgent Message we must live with that urgency we must live with as we'll see in this passage and urgency of the

mission that we have been called to the urgency of the message we have been given and an urgency to the world's response as people will hear and ultimately reject us we still need to have an urgency of sharing with them even in their response so let's jump back into Luke chapter 10 starting in verse 1 and see what Luke has to say about Jesus sending out these 72 disciples Luke writes after this the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go and he said to them the Harvest

is plentiful plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray earnestly to the lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into his Harvest go your way behold I am sending you out as Lambs in the midst of wolves carrying no money bag no knapsacks no sandals and greet no one on the road whatever house you enter first say peace be to this house and if a son of peace is there your peace will rest upon him but if not it will return to you and remain in the same house eating and drinking what they provide for the laborer deserves his wages do not go from

house to house whenever you enter a town and they receive you eat what is set before you heal the sick in it and say to them the kingdom of God has come near to you but whenever you enter a town and say do not res and but whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you go into its streets and say even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you nevertheless know this that the kingdom of God has come near I tell you it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that in

the for those in that town woe to you tourism woe to you bethsaida for if the mighty Works done in you had been done in Tyree or sidon they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and Ashes but it will be more bearable in the Judgment of Tyree and sidon than for you and you Capernaum will you be exalted to Heaven you shall be brought down to Hades the one who hears me the one who hears you hears me and the one who rejects you rejects me and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me this is the word of the Lord

let us go to him in prayer and ask him to reveal more of his message and his grace to us this morning Lord you are gracious and merciful and we thank you for this goodness and Grace that you have given to us as your sons and daughters Lord I ask this morning as we read your word that we would see the urgency that you have given to us in sharing your good news of Jesus Christ that we would have urgency to share with those you have placed around us for the sake of the Gospel encourage us this morning to have joy that even though following

you is costly it's worth it and in this costly sacrifice we can see and are a part of your good works of calling people to yourself Lord what a joy that is to be able to be a part of this work of Salvation that you have called us to it is a humbling reality that we know that you can do this All yourself and yet you invite us into this work Lord give light to this text this morning help us to have ears to hear and wisdom to receive it so that we may trust you as king of our lives and be obedient to the

things that you call us to do as your servant this morning speak through me let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing and acceptable in your sight 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 amen so I want to first talk about the urgency of our mission if you remember from a few weeks ago we left off with Jesus giving three would-be disciples a call to Ministry and a cost to following him telling them to count the cost of what it means to

be a disciple of Christ and these three would-be disciples all had excuses as to why they could not immediately follow Jesus one was for comfort the second one was a delay in his discipleship and the third was to be that he was caught up in the cares of his own life and the cares of the world and Jesus told them to forsake those things to not delay to not be disobedient but to follow him and he calls us to do the same but here's why that call and him telling those would-be disciples the cost of following him here's why it's so important it's because he

immediately sends his disciples who were following him in to a mission an urgent Mission with an Urgent Message and he is telling us as well as those would-be disciples you cannot have your heart divided you cannot be caught up in the cares of the world the Comforts of your own life or wanting to delay your discipleship because we have an Urgent Message and what's interesting is we find In this passage that he doesn't send them alone he sends them out 72 2 by 2. in order to go and share the good news of the kingdom of God now there are many debates as to why

he sent out the 72 or some have even said it's 70 and I don't really want to get into them they are interesting and you can find some fun facts maybe this week as you read about them but what I want us to see the point of why Jesus calls this group of 72 other disciples you'll notice that Luke uses that phrase others because he's pointing out that these aren't necessarily the 12 that he called out he already did that in Luke 9 and sent the 12 out on their mission here he is sending out 72 other disciples showing us that the work of evangelism

is not for the 12 apostles alone but everyone who claims to follow Jesus that means you that means me that means everyone in here today 2 000 years later we have the same mission to go and proclaim the kingdom of God and we see this in verse 1 after the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go there were more towns that needed to know and hear the kingdom of God and that he was coming to them and so he had to send out as he was on

his way to Jerusalem on his way to die on the cross proclaiming the kingdom of God there was more work to be done and Jesus was sending more people with this Urgent Message that he was coming but we also see Jesus sending his disciples two by two what's interesting I've seen commentators say there's multiple reasons of why he would have sent him two by two but the the reality all comes down to the same thing and it's really The Human Experience right it is easy to go and proclaim the gospel a little bit easier when we are going with one another right when we have

encouragement or Comfort or accountability of going with others but what he's also doing is he's also fulfilling the law set in Deuteronomy 19 15. Moses writes this a single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three Witnesses shall a charge be established as we'll see at the end of this passage there is a charge against those who would who would reject the kingdom of God and so what Jesus is saying is in order for us to Proclaim and then for these

people to reject and for any credible witness in order for God to remove himself from them or for them to receive condemnation and judgment we must follow the way in which the scriptures and the law show us the right way is which is having a second set of people or another set of eyes or a witness not just one person proclaiming judgment upon someone else and so Jesus is fulfilling the law here but what we can also draw from this especially with being sent two by two with the encouragement and comfort and accountability is that sharing the gospel is not an individual endeavor it is

supposed to be a community Endeavor that we come alongside one another and share the good news of Jesus Christ and so as a gospel Community as a church this should be our mission it shouldn't just necessarily be just one of us going out and being a great evangelist this is something that all of us should be endeavoring together in this world but here's the issue it's the same today as Jesus gives In this passage there are not enough laborers as Jesus says the Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray earnestly to the lord of the Harvest to send out labors into his

Harvest what's interesting here is that Jesus's first task in this urgent Mission and message he gives to his disciples isn't something that we might do ourselves he tells them to pray for workers now if you're like me and you like systems you like to wait like to think through ways in which people will Garner influence or creating something that might actually work and draw people in that is what you might think Jesus's first thought would be maybe if we just get our message out or maybe if we just have some good social media to send out to people or whatever we might do in regards

to systematizing our discipleship Jesus's first task for those who he's sending out is to pray for workers why does he say that well one of the reasons I think he says that is because he recognizes that the Harvest is work it is important work but it is hard work and it is not often that we step into hard work we need our hearts transformed we need our hearts motivated we need to be encouraged to go and do this work that's why we must remember constantly what Jesus has done for us so that it would inflame our joy to go and fulfill this mission but I

think there's also another reason that we see here of why we must pray for workers and it is because the Harvest is the Lord's and the workers are the Lords and so Jesus calls his disciples to pray for more workers through the lord of the Harvest and we must do the same we must be praying for more missionaries we must be praying from our church planners we must be praying for more believers who are going to share the good news of Jesus Christ who will come alongside us and our work because the promise is still the same the Harvest is plentiful but the workers are

few and so we pray for workers but we pray in confidence and we also go in confidence I want you to see here in verse 1 why we can have a foundation of confidence when it comes to praying and going as the Lord calls us look back at verse 1 the Lord says or Luke says the Lord appointed 72 others and he sent them on ahead of him he appointed and he sent he appointed and he sent where he himself was about to go brothers and sisters if you believe in Christ Jesus as Lord guess what he has appointed you and he has sent you

as first Peter 2 9 tells us you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people of his own possession that you may proclaim the Excellence in him who called you out of the darkness into his marvelous life once you are not a people but now you are God's people once you had not received Mercy but now you have received Mercy if you are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and you hope in the resurrection of life to come he has appointed you he has called you to himself and he has not left you to your own he has given you

a task he has given you a mission he has sent you out this is what he tells us in John 20 21 as he tells the disciples before he leaves as the father has sent me even so I am sending you we are Ascent people and he hasn't sent us to some random place where we are unaware of the people around us he hasn't sent us to a place that he is not sovereignly decreed for us to be it is in his Providence in his Mercy in his grace that he has placed you where you are at your job in your neighborhood in the coffee

shops and the communities that you are constantly in he has placed you there for his glory and the purpose of sharing the kingdom of God it is not some random event it is by his good purposes that you are where you are because you are sent and this also means that you and I we need to be praying for more workers to come come alongside us where we are in order for the gospel to be spread but we can have confidence in praying we can have confidence in going we can have confidence in sharing the kingdom of God is near because the Lord has placed

us where we are now you might think well I took a job here in Indianapolis I bought this house it was all me no if you believe the sovereignty of God you understand that it was his plan for you to be where you are in order for the kingdom to be shared because we have a mission driven by the message of Jesus Christ and we must be like Paul who says in Romans 10 to have beautiful feet I love this passage he says how then will they call on him whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him on whom they

have not heard and how are they to hear without someone someone preaching and how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news Paul here is quoting Isaiah 52 as he talks about someone bringing good news over the Mountainside and in Isaiah as well as Jewish history someone bringing good news over the Mountainside meant that Victory had been won oftentimes these Messengers would come from far-off Wars or battles and what these Messengers were given a task to do is to run quickly to tell the city Victory had been won by

the king so now we can rejoice now if they had lost this messenger would be very slow so what would happen is those who are on the watchtowers would be looking at the feet of The Messengers and if the messenger's feet were quick and happy and a Cadence of we have won then they would tell the city we can Rejoice because Victory Is Ours and so is the same with the beautiful good news of Jesus Christ and how beautiful are those feet who can go into the world and share you can have victory you can have a sense of worth and value and dignity found

in Jesus and Jesus alone come and worship him repent of your sins and believe in him as Lord and savior of your life this is the type of Joyful urgency that Jesus sent his disciples out with and that he sends us into the world with as well worlds yeah world with as well and so we must have an urgency about our mission but we also must have emergency with our message now I I got some of these points from a pastor named Joe Thorne up in Illinois and I want to take them and adapt them and show them the beautiful reality of this passage but

I want us to see first and foremost when we read through what Jesus had to instruct his disciples it all had a foundation of urgency this message has an urgency about it so he starts in verse 3 with this go your way go now there's an urgent tone you must go now and as Jesus leaves his disciples in Matthew 28 with the Great Commission in saying go and make disciples of all Nations we understand that Greek phrases as you are going make disciples there is an urgency that where you are where have you where you've been placed you are to make disciples to share the

good news of Jesus Christ it is not a passive command to go it is an active one as H.P Charles Jr once said God does not call the world to go to the church he calls the church to go to the world this is our mission as we are going we have an urgency to share the good news but there's also some instruction as you're going behold I am sending you out as Lambs in the midst of wolves so what Jesus is doing is preparing his disciples you're going to be in danger you're going to be like a lamb in the midst of wolves so

be prepared for danger be prepared for persecution be prepared for people to be against you because the gospel message is offensive but you also need to be like a lamb in your character you need to be meek and mild and innocent we do not need to be arrogant people we do not need to be strutting around and and causing harm to sharing the gospel message we need to be meek and humble and Mild as we share the good news of Jesus Christ this is our disposition because we follow the great lamb who kept his mouth shut and endured beatings all the way to the cross

another preparation that Jesus gives to his disciples is to carry no money bag no knapsack no sandals and greet no one on the road what Jesus ultimately saying is trust me for provision trust me that I have set up men and people and houses of peace that you can go to and live in and receive fruit the the food that you need from but trust me for your provision don't carry things that will hinder you as you go now if we take this to today's world we are to not accumulate things that are going to hold us as attachments and I'll be the first to

admit I I have a problem with this right when I got married Heidi came in is like you need to get rid of all these shirts and all these socks because I love shirts and I love socks and every single shirt that she brought up I could be like ah but I have attachments to that I can tell you where I got that shirt or why it's so important it's really not important but we have things in our life that we hold on to as attachments and they tend to stick to our hearts but they're not eternal they're not things that we should be focusing

on when it comes to the mission and message of Jesus Christ don't accumulate things that are going to hold your hearts or as Jesus says don't store up treasure here on Earth and what's interesting is Jesus says greet no one now Jesus is not telling them to not be nice or give greetings and salutations or anything like that he's not telling them to be rude clearly they have to talk to people in the cities that they go to what Jesus is saying is do not get distracted you see near East greetings often led to drawn-out conversations hours upon hours it was not necessarily just stopping

and saying hi it was more like a Midwestern goodbye that ended up being two to three hours before you actually leave somebody's house even though you're like well I'm out you say that 12 15 times and you're still at that house Jesus is saying greet no one means do not be distracted you have a singular mission to get to these cities in order to share the message of the Gospel the next next thing he tells his disciples is that whatever house you enter first say peace be to this house and if a son of peace is there your peace will rest upon him but if

not it will return to you and remain in the same house eating and drinking what they provide for the labor deserves his wages do not go from house to house and whenever you enter a town and they receive you eat what is set before you what Jesus is saying here is on your mission Embrace hospitality don't sit there and say no I can do this myself I I can find food on my own no the Lord has provided so embrace the hospitality that is given to you but don't exploit it you see when you come to a town or you come to a home and

you say peace be with you and there is a son of Peace what that meant is that son of Peace didn't necessarily have to be a believer but it was somebody who was okay with their mission and they were welcoming them in their home and they weren't rejecting them or rejecting what they had to say and so they would extend Hospitality to these disciples and so because they were entering into believer or non-believing homes of people who believed in the mission of Jesus oftentimes they might come across people who are giving them food that they could get into arguments with dietary loss and so what

Jesus was trying to say is do not worry about the food in front of you except instead accept their Hospitality except their food that they put before you except what the culture that they have in their home has been brought to you and embrace it for the sake of the Gospel that reminds me when I was in high school I'd go to South America specifically Peru into the Amazon rainforests and the the things that they would say to us every time we went on these mission trips is when food is given to you do not reject it because it is a disgrace and a dishonor

because oftentimes people are making food with their livelihood and so what that meant for me is that we would eat things like guinea pig or the famous story for me is eating a grub worm in the Amazon rainforest because people are offering it and I took that serious we could not reject it but for the sake of the Gospel we must have the same attitude and this is what Jesus is telling his disciples and we must be thinking through when we come into maybe unbelievers homes what we might not do at home maybe we do in their homes in order for the sake of the

Gospel now I will say we don't do sinful things we don't do things that are going against our conscience but there may be things you know maybe we don't drink alcohol at home but in a home of an unbeliever if they're offering you wine because this is a part of their culture it may be a rejection or unhospitable for you to not drink that glass or it might even be food whatever it might be that is not against your conscience or against the scriptures we need to have some freedom in order for the gospel to be spread and for us to embrace the hospitality that

is in front of us but the disciples were also told to not exploit the hospitality found in these cities they were to go to one home and if that home accepted them that meant the city had peace upon them but they were not to go door to door and trying to get more food or get more things and whatever might be given to them by these homes because Jesus did not want them to be comfortable or to get distracted or as many people can do exploit the hospitality of others the next thing he says and often times in the Book of Luke we have found

this to be true he says heal the sick in it and say to them the kingdom of God has come near to you preach and proclaim the gospel and practice compassion and mercy throughout the Gospel of Luke we have seen the healing of the sick has always been coupled with Excuse me the proclamation of the kingdom of God and this shows us that Jesus doesn't just care for our souls even though he does he also cares for the needy and the health and the needs that are around us as believers salvation is for the Lost yes but over and over the scriptures call us to

care for the orphans and widows and those in need and so we must provide as Disciples of Jesus Christ we must provide this compassion and mercy we must be ambassadors of this grace that the kingdom calls people to so it is not just that we live by word that the kingdom of God is near but we also live by deed as the Book of James would tell us yes salvation is found through Jesus alone but we are also called to be a people who show mercy and compassion through our actions through our works through our Deeds because they are always connected so these are the

instructions that Jesus gives to the 72 and he gives them to us as well but as I said earlier they convey one message urgency urgency that these towns hear the kingdom of God is near and they see that the kingdom of God has brought mercy and compassion and peace the Disciples of Jesus including us are not to live distracted or divided lives we must have an urgency with our message just as Jesus called those three would-be disciples and two weeks ago's passage to not delay in their discipleship to not be divided to not be distracted he too tells us the same yet how often do

we live and allow even the good things in our life to distract us or delay us from discipleship Even in our non Even in our relationships with non-believers how many of us have really good friendships with non-believers and we have never gotten to the gospel message I know I have and I know I'm not the only one in here but we have a message and we have a mission and we must live with urgency I'm not saying that we need to slam things down people's throat I'm not saying that we shouldn't share life in the gospel but if we're only sharing life and never the

gospel we are missing the mark we are missing the urgency of our mission and our message as Disciples of Jesus as JC Ryle says about the instructions Jesus gave to his disciples he says they ought to remind us of the necessity of Simplicity and unworldliness in our daily life we must be aware of thinking too much about our meals our furniture our houses and all those many things which concern the life of the body we must strive to live like man whose first thoughts are about the immortal soul and we must Endeavor to pass through this world like men who are not yet at home

and are not over much troubled about the fare they meet with on the road or at the Inn blessed are they who feel like pilgrims and strangers in this life and whose best things are all to come brothers and sisters this life is too short an eternity is too long and we are not we are not God we do not know when someone's time will be up therefore we cannot live divided or distracted lives when it comes to sharing this message of Jesus Christ and that he has brought hope to this world and that it is only through him that our sins can be forgiven

and we can have a right and restored relationship with God this is our mission and this is our message and we have to have urgency in this life but it's also important for us to remember that this world will not understand the good news of Jesus Christ in fact as Paul reminds us there are some that will reject it some that don't see it as a fragrant Aroma but a stench of death but one of the things that we must do when it comes to the urgency of the world's response is to help them understand the bad news in order that they can perceive the

good news that we are proclaiming you see it's not just enough to say Jesus is Lord repent of your sins if people don't know why sin is wrong and who it's offended and where they are going to if they don't repent and this is what Jesus is warning the disciples about when he comes when they come to these cities and reject his message he says whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you go into the streets and say even the dust of our town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you nevertheless know this that the kingdom of God has

come near I tell you it will be more bearable on that day of Sodom than for that town woe to you chores and woe to you baseda for if the mighty Works done in you had been done in Tyree and said on they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and Ashes but it will be more bearable in the Judgment for Tyree and Saturn than for you and you Capernaum you will be will you be exalted in heaven you shall be brought down to Hades the one who hears you hears me and the one who rejects you rejects me and the one who rejects

me rejects the one who sent me what Jesus is saying is if you reject if they reject you they reject me and they reject the one who sent me and the condemnation is on them and yet as disciples we have to understand when these disciples these 72 went out to these cities and towns whenever they were going to preach the good news of Jesus Christ they were messengers of Jesus they were messengers of the king this message and our message today is first and foremost Jesus's message that he brought to Earth and therefore those who reject him those who reject us reject him and they

do so at their own risk at their own peril and nowhere does nowhere in scripture does Jesus make this more clearer than here in this passage that if they reject us they reject the 72 disciples they reject us as disciples they are rejecting him and they're rejecting the father who sent him and Jesus says there is a woe woe to you this is an expression of sadness and regret that these cities would not accept him as Messiah even though they've seen his miracles even though they've seen him proclaim the goodness of the Kingdom even though they've seen him heal the sick and raise people from

the dead they are still rejecting him as we learned a couple weeks ago they were unconvinced that he was the true Messiah and when Jesus speaks of this day that is coming he's referring to that final day of judgment where he will judge and he will render his verdict on everyone who has ever lived and he's saying that some will be pardoned because they have received Everlasting peace through him and yet some who have rejected him will be condemned to Everlasting destruction because they have rejected his call to receive him Jesus makes a sobering comparison here when he talks about judgment for those listening to

his message to those who have heard his disciples who to those who have seen his miracles and his works and yet they have not trusted in him he has compared them to Sodom and Gomorrah now if you know your Old Testament well you know that Sodom was a terrible City and it was terrible because it rejected the Lord and it pursued immorality and what happened God destroyed it with fire in an instant his wrath was poured upon that City and yet Jesus says that those who have seen his goodness and mercy those who have seen his miracles those who have heard him preach on the

kingdom of God and still reject him it will be worse it will be worse for them than the wicked city of Sodom of Tyree of sidon because Tyree site on Sodom they did not have Jesus walking among them but these cities did bethsaida and Capernaum they saw his miracles they saw his signs they saw the proof that he was the Messiah and yet they rejected him and this is the same warning for anybody today and it's why we must have urgency in sharing the bad news so that the good news can be seen we must share the weightiness of people's decisions when they hear about

the message of Jesus Christ we must let them know now I would not Advocate standing on a street corner and telling people that they're going to burn if they don't repent but I do Advocate sharing the whole truth and the whole reality that there is life after this life there is eternity but eternity of Destruction and torment for those who have not trusted in Jesus's Lord and I want to give a challenge to those who are of us in here today who have gone to church our whole life who have heard the good news of the Gospel who have not received him as Lord but

you have had the light of the Gospel shown to you this is what Jesus is saying this is the warning that you are given the more light that has been shown the more that the gospel has been made clearer and yet you reject him the more wrath and the more worse it will be for you than those who have not heard that same gospel and that same light so here is the urgency and here is the warning that we must give and have in our messages in our mission of sharing the kingdom of God now I don't want to close on such a sober note

because I do want to close with this message of joy as J.A meter says Gospel Mission grows out of gospel enjoyment all that we've seen in this passage today all that we've heard through Luke of being sent out as Believers as disciples I pray that you would find comfort and hope and joy in The Lord of the Harvest that he has called you his own and that he has sent you out into this world to be a part of the greatest Redemptive plan ever created he's a God who calls and sends and I pray that you would have joy that he has called you to

this mission and in this enjoyment you would go and tell others the gospel as Martin Luther has once said we are just Beggars trying to tell other Beggars where to find bread Gospel Mission is more than just swaying people from Eternal damnation it is inviting them to the table of Glory where God satisfies their soul and I hope that you know that truth for your own soul this morning and I hope you meditate on it daily but I hope that it also transforms your heart and mind to go and share this good news of Jesus Christ and that we may be the most joy-filled people

that this world has ever known because we have a deep abiding assurance that the king of the universe who has authority over all heaven and all Earth who has commanded us to go and make disciples he is with us and he has promised that the Harvest is plentiful in this wonderful endeavor so brothers and sisters do we have urgency in our mission and do we have urgency in our messages this morning are we praying for more workers are our feet running to Proclaim victory do we have an urgency about what we are sharing and what we believe and do we do it with confidence and

joy because God has appointed us and God has sent us and his word tells us that his church will not be overcome so let us take this Mission and let us take this message seriously and go with urgency one of the tangible ways that we enjoy this gospel message every week is through the means of Grace through communion here we have a picture of what this Amazing Grace looks like in the bread and the juice because it represents Christ's body being broken and his blood being shed and a new covenant being made for his people and all the wrath of God that would be against

our sin against our Rebellion against our unrighteousness has been poured out on Jesus for our sake so we receive this means of Grace with joy as a beautiful reminder of what Christ has done for us but I also want us to remember this isn't just the individual Act of communion but a corporate one it's why we do it together as a body of Believers and it's why we do it every week as We Gather because Christ's blood has made a way for us to be the people of God and I want you to see that as plural people of God who are saved and redeemed

and so we take this communion looking back at who we once were looking around at who God has called and saved and looking forward to where we will be in eternity as we will gather one day as Saints all together so I want to invite you to the table and I'm going to give us some instruction on communion as we go back to our seats and then we are going to worship and celebrate through this means of Grace together so would you come and grab the olives