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Amen. So in just a few moments we're gonna partake of an ordinance of

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humility, a foot washing service, a Lord's Supper communion service, but both of

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those things if you're reading through the Gospels, John 13 or in the other

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three Gospels, those events were just a few hours before the cross. They led to

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the cross. So just hours later in the moments of crucifixion, Jesus is recorded

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on the cross as saying seven different things. They're kind of referred to as the

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seven sayings of the cross. And so for our communion short message today and

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in the future as we have communion, we're gonna kind of go through these seven

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different sayings. So the first one is found in Luke chapter 23. So Luke chapter

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23. We find Jesus on the cross and this is the first saying of the cross. So I'll

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read it again what we had for our Scripture time. Luke 23 and verse 32. It

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says, there were also two others, criminals, led with him to be put to

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death. So here we have Jesus beaten and bloodied, tired from a night of trials

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as he had been taken from the Garden of Gethsemane and led from court to court.

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And now he is let out as a common criminal. The Christ is a criminal. The

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Savior is one who is soon to see the cross. And there's other criminals with

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him and he's just one of the group, just one of those that was let out to be

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executed. And then verse 33. When they had come to the place called Calvary, also

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known as Golgotha or the place of the skull, it's got different things it's

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known as. There they crucified him and the criminals one on the right hand and

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the other on the left. It says there they crucified him. That's just one word in our

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Bible. We've seen it portrayed. We've seen artists paint the pictures. We've seen

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perhaps the SonRise service at Southern. We've seen it on a screen, some

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retelling or some passion play of that event being portrayed, being acted out.

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But for the people in that day, it was not anything being acted. It was not a

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portrayal. It was something that was part of their routine. It was it was vivid

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because that word crucify had images that they associated with it, had sights

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and sounds, it had smells associated with it. It was torture and it involved real

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life and real death. And so for anyone reading it in that day, they could

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picture something that they had walked by, something that they could seen, that

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they had seen for themselves. And then we come to verse 34, the first saying of

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the cross. It says, then Jesus said, Father forgive them for they do not know what

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they do. The very first word there is father, a term of relationship. But

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perhaps even more than that, perhaps it is a term that is a reminder of Jesus's

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teaching. If you remember when the disciples saw Jesus during a time of

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prayer, they came to him and they said, Lord teach us to pray. And it's in

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response to that question that Jesus shared with them what we know as the

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Lord's Prayer, which of course we could all recite and it begins with our our

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father. And so here in Jesus's painful situation, in this most awful situation,

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being crucified, surrounded by criminals, Jesus is driven to pray. What do we do

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when we're having our most awful day, when we're having our most awful

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situation? Are we driven to pray? Are we driven perhaps away from God? In Jesus's

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worst-case scenario, his action was to pray. And then there's another couple

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words we see in this statement, kind of repeated, at least the idea. It says, Father

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forgive them for they do not know what they do, what they are doing. Them and

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they, you know, grammatically, if you think back to some English class you've had at

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some point, they is third person. So it means somebody else and it's plural. So it

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means a group of somebody else, a group of others. So as we read this text, we

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could consider just who is in this group of others. Who is the they in

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this statement? Well you can look at the scene that's there in your mind's eye.

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There's soldiers and centurions, hardened men used to battle, used to death, and

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they are in the act, at that moment, in the act of causing physical pain, of

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causing harm to someone else. That's not a job that most people have today, but

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their job, their role, was to cause pain, to even cause death. And so they were

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whipping and nailing and mocking, but they were just doing their job, you could

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say. But we could back that scene up a little bit. Who is the they? And we could

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picture Pilate giving into a mob, giving into political pressure as they cried

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out, crucify him, crucify him. But Pilate is agreeing to that, go ahead and

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crucify him, but I'm gonna wash my hands of this situation. I'm not to blame for

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this, that's what you are going to do. I am washing my hands of this. You could go

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back a little further to an earlier scene. The leaders of the temple, the

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Pharisees, trying to entrap Jesus, trying to trick him, doing everything they could

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to maintain their religious power, trying to silence this radical rabbi. And then

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there's a crowd of people, this crowd that's all around, who in just a few

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days transitioned from Palm Sunday where they said, blessed is he who comes in the

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name of the Lord. And now less than a week later, they are the ones shouting,

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crucify him, crucify him. Then there's Judas, one of the 12 disciples who Jesus

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had just washed his feet a little bit before, and now Judas is leading soldiers

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to the garden with the jingle of 30 pieces of silver in his money bag. And

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Jesus says, forgive them. It's easy to find a bunch of thems in this story, but

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in reality we can't just look back to that story, but we need to look forward

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from that story, look forward to our day in history, to our week in history, look

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forward to our life. We can recognize that Jesus's death was not just a legal

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event, it was not just a political event, but it was a spiritual act in the

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conflict of this world, an act that took place because of your sin and because of

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my sin. That's why Jesus was on the cross. Jesus was in pain because of me.

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Jesus said they don't know what they are doing. There's a group of soldiers just

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doing their job. There's a group of priests protecting their turf. There's

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Pilate making a political choice. There's a mob that's just kind of following the

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crowd, and then there's today, and we make mistakes. And often we choose

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something away from the right choice, and sometimes even we choose something that

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that we know is wrong as we give in to the temptations of this world, as we give

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into the addictions of life and the power of pleasure. But thankfully there's

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another word here, and it's the most powerful word in this first saying of

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Jesus on the cross because Jesus is not just praying, he's not just talking about

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a group of others, but he's asking for something. He says forgive them. If you

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were to look up that word forgive in the dictionary, it would say something like

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to cease to feel resentment towards, or to pardon, or to cancel a debt. And so

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Jesus says, Father forgive them. Forgive this group of people that is causing me

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physical pain because I am enduring this physical pain so that I can bear their

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spiritual sin so that they can be forgiven. And there's verse after verse

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that we could look at, but just a few to remind ourselves. Romans 6

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verse 23, it says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God, the free

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gift of God, is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. 1st John 1 9,

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another one that you've likely memorized at some point in your life, 1st John 1

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9, if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and

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to to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's why Jesus is on the

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cross. That's why Jesus says forgive them because if we confess his response is to

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forgive and to cleanse. And then I want to look at one more in Romans chapter 5.

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Romans chapter 5 verse 8, you could have learned this one but I want to read it.

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Romans 5 verse 8, it says but God demonstrates his own love toward us. This

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is how God shows how much he loves us. God demonstrates his own love toward us

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in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Jesus didn't say if

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you make it to this goal then I'll think about loving you. If you cross this

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finish line then I'll forgive you. It says while we were still sinners Christ

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died for us. As Jesus was being crucified, in the act of being crucified, he said

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forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. Jesus forgave that group

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of them and we can know that that includes us as well as those that were

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causing the cross, causing Jesus to die on that cross. And that's what communion

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is all about. To remember a sacrifice that was made as Jesus took a Passover

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supper and he injected new meaning into it and he took some bread and he broke

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it and said this is my body that's broken for you and he took some juice

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and he poured it out and said this is my this is my blood that's poured out for

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you and he he injected new meaning into those symbols and so we are able to

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participate in that today. In John chapter 13 Jesus took a basin and he took

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a towel and he washed the feet of his disciples. And you remember this story

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that was the servants job they're walking on dirty roads they're dirty and

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Jesus got down in the role of a servant and begun to do that. And at least one of

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the disciples Peter said whoa no no no no no no Jesus you can't you can't do

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that and Jesus said if I don't do this then you don't have a part with me and

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so Peter said well in that case pour it on me don't you know cleanse me dump it

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on me wash me all the way and Jesus said well we don't need to do that because

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you've already been cleansed you've already been baptized you've already

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accepted a Savior that's coming and so I only need to do this and that's where

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Jesus said you should do speaking to his disciples you should do as I have done

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for you and that's why every so often as a church we go through this there's

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nothing magical about bread and juice there's nothing magical about water

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that's washing the feet but it's a symbol that Jesus has asked us to

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participate in. And so in just a moment we're gonna we're gonna break off into

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different places and so you need to correct me if I'm if I get this wrong

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but I think that the men are going up to the fellowship hall ladies are gonna

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go to the youth room and then if you would like to participate as a couple

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you can go to the primary room I think I got that correct at least that's what I

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wrote down and so we will go and participate in that and and just

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remember Jesus is the creator of the world and he was willing to humble

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himself and be a servant and that's what that is about just serving someone else

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in the way that Jesus has served us. Let's bow our heads for a prayer. Dear God

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as you were on that cross enduring pain bearing our sins you said father forgive

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them you've given us an example you've given us a way to remember that beyond

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just hearing words being spoken you've given us a physical action that can help

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instill your grace into our mind. So Lord be with us as we go from this room as we

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return and just a little bit and and help this to be a meaningful worship

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time as we remember all the blessings you have poured out in your name we pray

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amen. I do want to say as Seventh-day Adventists we practice what we would

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call open communion so anyone who has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior

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is invited to participate with us and so men may go upstairs women to the youth

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room and couples if you would like to participate together may go to the

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primary room so we'll be back here in just a few moments. So it was a Passover

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night as they had done for hundreds of years and thousands of years the people

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of Israel ate a meal to remember a deliverance to remember a time when they

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were captives in Egypt and by the miracles of God they were set free and

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year by year they remembered that but on this particular Passover night as Jesus

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and his disciples gathered together Jesus took that meal and instead of

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looking back to a Passover deliverance event a thousand years before he

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proclaimed he declared that in the future we would be looking back to the

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ultimate deliverance event the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and so that's what

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we are gathered here today to remember the broken body of Jesus the spilled

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out blood of Jesus and we're told in Isaiah that by his wounds we are healed

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as Jesus said father forgive them he's proclaiming that each one of us are

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forgiven that were cleansed by the blood of Jesus and so I just invite you guys

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to in just a moment to remain seated and we will kneel for prayer but I want to

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read from 1st Corinthians chapter 11 where it says Paul writes he says for I

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have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord

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Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had

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given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for

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you do this in remembrance of me in the same manner he also took the cup after

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supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood this do as often as

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you drink it in remembrance of me but please remain seated and we will kneel

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and pray at this time

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dear Lord heavenly father we thank you for this opportunity to take part in

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this communion service dear Lord we ask you to please bless and sacrifice this

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bread that that we're about to take dear Lord and help us to take this in

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remembrance of your body dear Lord and that you are the bread of life and we do

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this in the name of the Son amen dear Lord we know that greater love has no

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man than this then to lay down his life for another we see in your sacrifice in

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the unending love that is symbolized in the wine and so let us let that not be

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lost on us as we partake in this in this symbol today in Jesus name we pray amen