1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,520 I want to introduce a friend of mine, you all know him, Mr. Scott McConnell. 2 00:00:06,520 --> 00:00:13,560 We are actually going to extend the Say What series by one week because, very unfortunately, 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:19,640 if you'll be praying for her, Pastor Jen, her aunt, passed away last week, and so they 4 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:24,940 had services yesterday, and so she was actually going to launch a new service, a new series 5 00:00:24,940 --> 00:00:29,320 today called Topographical, which we'll actually end up launching next week. 6 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:30,720 Like I said, we're kind of excited about it. 7 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:34,400 It's a cool little concept that Pastor Jen came up with, and so she was going to launch 8 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:38,680 that today, but since she needed to go home, family comes first in these situations, and 9 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:40,640 so she's going to go do that. 10 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:43,640 I didn't want to kind of steal the thunder and go, well, just give me your notes and 11 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:47,400 I'll kick that off for you instead, and so we're going to kick that off next week. 12 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:52,680 Scott was kind enough to say, hey, I actually have a sermon that I think would fit really 13 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:58,120 well with this Say What concept if you want to tack on one week, and so I said, absolutely, 14 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:02,280 if you guys will welcome Scott McConnell to preach for us today. 15 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:09,200 Hey, Greg, did you set my water back up there? 16 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:11,240 Thank you. 17 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:15,360 Good morning. 18 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:22,960 So this morning, welcome to our friends on camera, those of you who are watching us live 19 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:32,880 or a little bit later, and good morning and hi to my mom. 20 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:34,880 A little bit about me. 21 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:39,720 I kind of might help you understand some things of what I do. 22 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:47,320 In 2015, I had a spinal cord injury, and that affects my blood pressure quite a bit, so 23 00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:52,680 I stayed tilted back in my chair pretty far while I'm speaking so that I don't get light 24 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:54,480 headed. 25 00:01:54,480 --> 00:02:02,200 I also have a very hard time staying warm, so I stay pretty bundled up, and I also take 26 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:09,560 lots of sips of water because I tend to get dry mouth, so I'll just mention that so that 27 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:12,800 you can be aware of that as I'm sharing with you. 28 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:23,760 This morning is a say what Sunday, and where we're going to end up, I tell you where we're 29 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:24,760 going to land. 30 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:30,520 Where we're going to land is talking about communion and the unity that we find through 31 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:38,480 it with Christ and also with each other as a local church, as a group of people right 32 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:40,320 here together. 33 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:46,400 Communion is a sign of our love for each other and our connection with each other. 34 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,440 So that's where we're headed. 35 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:56,920 First, I would love to hear what are some of those favorite verses, stories, or characters? 36 00:02:56,920 --> 00:02:59,960 You can just shout one out if you'd like to share it. 37 00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:00,960 Peter. 38 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:02,440 Peter, okay. 39 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:04,080 And why do you connect with Peter? 40 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:06,080 Why do you like him? 41 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:14,320 I like him because he falls down a lot, but his perseverance and his passion is there. 42 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:19,080 All right, so Robyn shared Peter messes up a lot, but he gets back up, he shows perseverance. 43 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:20,400 That's a great one. 44 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:21,880 Any others from this side? 45 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:23,880 Proverbs 31 woman. 46 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,160 Oh, Proverbs 31 woman, yes. 47 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:32,320 Gives some awesome virtues and some awesome examples of what womanhood can look like and 48 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:34,640 for all of us. 49 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:37,240 I'll do one more. 50 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:44,080 Jeremiah 29 and 11, can you remind us? 51 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,640 Yes all the good stuff. 52 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:55,320 I'm going to quote some scripture today and that's what it's going to sound like. 53 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:57,280 So that's great. 54 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,000 So Jeremiah 29 and 11. 55 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:05,800 I'd like to look at, we're going to look at John today, mainly a main passage from John. 56 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:13,280 And John is one of those books that we get some of our favorite Bible verses from. 57 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,600 Some of the most popular. 58 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:17,720 John 1, 1. 59 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:23,680 In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. 60 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:24,680 Beautiful passage. 61 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:30,840 John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. 62 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:34,760 John 13, I give you a new command. 63 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:38,680 Love one another as I have loved you. 64 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:45,760 And John 6, eat my flesh and drink my blood. 65 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,760 Say what? 66 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:56,720 Yes, you can't be a part of me. 67 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,920 It's not just a suggestion, it's a command in John 6. 68 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:09,320 And so as I was thinking of this say what series, I was like, that's a good one. 69 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:16,880 Because when you like read, you know, one of those Bible tracks, you know, you probably 70 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,520 don't see that one in there. 71 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:28,440 And when you're sharing your favorite Bible verses, you probably don't mention that one. 72 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:34,080 Now sometimes we can ask the question. 73 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:38,120 What was what was the original meaning of this? 74 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,120 Or does Jewish culture help us understand this better? 75 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:47,720 Or maybe there's something in the Greek that makes this clear for us. 76 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,200 This is not one of those passages. 77 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:55,760 The reason we can be sure of that is because the people that are there, it shares with 78 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:57,600 us what they were thinking. 79 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:02,080 And their response was, say what? 80 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:03,640 They were offended by it. 81 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:05,600 They were upset by it. 82 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:12,360 But at the end, a lot of them left and no longer follow Jesus because these words were 83 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,320 so offensive and so strange to them. 84 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,120 How could he say that? 85 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:20,560 How could he say those words? 86 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:27,260 So I'm going to read a little bit more of that passage now. 87 00:06:27,260 --> 00:06:30,480 Talk a little bit more about it and then we'll go from there. 88 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:36,880 John 6 53 through 58. 89 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:39,920 John 6 53 through 58. 90 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:46,120 And let's stand up as is our tradition. 91 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:51,480 Or as Pastor Greg throws in, maybe it's feel like it's especially for me. 92 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:58,960 It makes me feel special as you are able or however it is you're most comfortable. 93 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,120 This is my standing. 94 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:03,840 The chair goes up. 95 00:07:03,840 --> 00:07:06,520 The chair goes down. 96 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:07,880 Verse 53. 97 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:09,680 This is from the NIV. 98 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:16,280 Jesus said to them, very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man 99 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:21,080 and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 100 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:26,160 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise them up 101 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:28,060 at the last day. 102 00:07:28,060 --> 00:07:34,640 For my flesh is real blood food and my blood is real drink. 103 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:40,800 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them. 104 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:47,000 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds 105 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,000 on me will live because of me. 106 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,840 This is the bread that came down from heaven. 107 00:07:53,840 --> 00:08:02,400 Our ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. 108 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,700 And then I'll share with you verse 66. 109 00:08:05,700 --> 00:08:14,660 From this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 110 00:08:14,660 --> 00:08:17,760 You may be seated. 111 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:25,840 Or de-elevate your chair, which is most appropriate to you. 112 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:30,600 These words, first I want to throw in a couple of caveats. 113 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,680 Jesus used a lot of sarcasm, I think. 114 00:08:33,680 --> 00:08:37,320 I think Pastor Greg would agree. 115 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:40,320 He used a lot of hyperbole. 116 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:44,000 So I use that some when I'm preaching as well. 117 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,080 I add a little flavor, if you will. 118 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:53,440 I want to share with you before as I do that, that I take my preparation seriously. 119 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:59,720 I want you to know that I read different commentaries and do different research and different things. 120 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:05,840 So even as I share sarcasm or rephrasing or different things, even though I might incorporate 121 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:10,400 humor, I want you to know at the end of the day that I take where we're going with the 122 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:11,880 scripture very seriously. 123 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:17,920 And if you're ever confused by something I say or wonder did he really mean that, please 124 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:21,120 always feel free to come to me after and ask. 125 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:28,320 I want you to know that because I don't want people to ever leave confused or by something 126 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:35,240 that I've said or upset by it or wondering, is that really what that means? 127 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,360 So I'll throw that in there. 128 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:46,880 Yeah, some really, Pastor Greg sweating a little bit. 129 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:52,440 I was sharing once and I wasn't trying to be controversial, but the lead pastor was 130 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,240 there at the church and I was sharing at the youth group. 131 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,000 So I was taking even a little bit more liberty than usual. 132 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:03,400 I had to be a little edgy and add a little humor and the whole time he was looking behind 133 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:06,200 him at what people were saying and doing. 134 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:07,200 He was so nervous. 135 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:08,200 I felt for the guy. 136 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:13,200 He was squirming in his seat. 137 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,400 It won't be that bad. 138 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,600 Jesus is talking through this passage. 139 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:24,160 Chapter six starts with the beating of the thousands with the fish and loaves. 140 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:27,920 And so people are coming to him and saying, hey, this is exciting. 141 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:29,320 You're able to do miracles. 142 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:33,540 And Jesus is saying, yeah, but it's not about bread. 143 00:10:33,540 --> 00:10:37,200 It's not just about that miracle. 144 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:38,960 This is more. 145 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:45,600 And they said, well, OK, if you say this is more, Moses was able to bring about manna. 146 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:47,700 Can you do that one? 147 00:10:47,700 --> 00:10:49,560 And Jesus said, no, you don't understand. 148 00:10:49,560 --> 00:10:51,960 This isn't about being a prophet. 149 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:54,640 This isn't about doing signs. 150 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:57,520 I am actually sent from the father. 151 00:10:57,520 --> 00:10:59,800 I am the bread of life. 152 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:01,280 And so they questioned that more. 153 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:06,120 And they became upset that he said that he'd come down from heaven. 154 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:11,200 And so I think when we get to this point, there may be some hyperbole involved. 155 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:16,320 And I think sometimes, have you ever just taken what someone's saying to the farthest 156 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,620 possible extreme to make a point? 157 00:11:19,620 --> 00:11:25,800 Like when someone says, you must think I'm dumb to say something like that. 158 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:29,080 Which I've responded before, usually did not very good results. 159 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:30,840 Yes, I think you're dumb. 160 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:34,560 And I think nothing you're saying makes any sense. 161 00:11:34,560 --> 00:11:36,400 So there it is. 162 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:40,520 Not because I actually feel that way, but because I'm trying to stretch it out to say 163 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:41,520 enough. 164 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:46,940 OK, you're at the point you're trying to rebut mine with. 165 00:11:46,940 --> 00:11:49,280 It's going too far. 166 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,520 I think there may have been a flavor of that in here. 167 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:57,200 I think Jesus reached the point where, as he's trying to explain the bread of life, 168 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:03,200 as he's trying to explain his role with the father, he gets to a point where he says, 169 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:08,120 OK, you're going to have to eat my flesh and drink my blood or you don't make it in. 170 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:09,120 Bam. 171 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:10,120 Deal with that. 172 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:15,560 And a lot of them said, OK, we're out. 173 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:20,480 And Jesus did not call them back and say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. 174 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:22,560 He let them go. 175 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:29,080 And then he turned to his 12 disciples and said, are you guys headed home too? 176 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:32,520 He wasn't a great recruiter sometimes. 177 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:34,200 That wasn't what he was going for. 178 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,400 He was looking for followers. 179 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:45,080 But he was not at the booth sitting at the latest prophet convention, handing out brochures, 180 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,400 trying to get people to come over to his. 181 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:50,640 Like he didn't have any swag with him. 182 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,680 Three bags that say I follow Jesus inside. 183 00:12:54,680 --> 00:13:04,160 He liked to push the limits and say, all right, who's still going to hang with me? 184 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:08,880 And so we end up with eat my flesh and drink my blood. 185 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:14,200 Now it's easy to connect this to communion. 186 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:19,040 Because when we get to communion, we talk about the body and blood of Christ. 187 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:21,520 And what do we do with those symbols? 188 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:28,400 We use bread and we use wine or for us, juice, which we could give a great explanation for 189 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:33,360 that if you're if you're curious sometime, I won't get into it here. 190 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:39,080 I'll point you to Pastor Greg, but I'd be happy to talk to you about it, too. 191 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:40,360 You said we did talk about it. 192 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,900 I said, OK, yeah. 193 00:13:43,900 --> 00:13:45,520 Another side step. 194 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:50,240 When I don't have as much time to prepare, which I'm so grateful that Pastor Greg gave 195 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:52,280 me, we take more side steps. 196 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:56,080 We find a few more rabbit holes, but that's OK. 197 00:13:56,080 --> 00:14:00,480 So I need to keep an eye on my time today. 198 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:04,880 Pastor Greg is really about if you have a question about our church or about faith in 199 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:08,440 general, he is so good about meeting with people. 200 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,840 He meets with people in coffee shops. 201 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:14,200 He'll be happy to invite you to his home. 202 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:16,160 He would love to go to your home. 203 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,280 He said he's met with me at the church. 204 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:21,560 I'm somebody with a lot of questions. 205 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:23,200 I love to ask questions. 206 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,420 And this church is like no church I've been to. 207 00:14:27,420 --> 00:14:33,200 We are more open and more accepting of different perspectives and different way of understanding 208 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:35,800 things than any church I've been to. 209 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:41,920 And for that reason, I fit in this church better than any church I've ever been in. 210 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:43,400 And I love that. 211 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:49,680 But that also means that it's fair to ask questions and about what our beliefs are, 212 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:54,720 about what does it mean to be in or out here at the house? 213 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:57,400 And I'll answer that shortly for you. 214 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:02,820 There's a lot more room for you to be in than there is for you to be out. 215 00:15:02,820 --> 00:15:07,560 So if you have any things like that, I encourage you to ask Pastor Greg. 216 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:15,720 He's going to listen, and you're never going to get a rebuttal of why are you asking that 217 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:20,640 or you should already know that or you have to believe like us. 218 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,960 Have you ever heard any of those before? 219 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:28,120 If you've been in a church or you've talked to folks? 220 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:29,800 I certainly have. 221 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:34,880 And for that reason, I've been in churches where I have to keep my mouth shut a lot. 222 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:39,640 And I was okay with that at the time because I feel like that was necessary. 223 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:40,640 It wasn't my role. 224 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:46,680 It wasn't helpful to be sitting in back going, wait a minute. 225 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,440 But at this church, it's okay to do some of that. 226 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:54,400 And I really enjoy that. 227 00:15:54,400 --> 00:16:05,620 So Jesus at the booths trying to recruit people with brochures and swag, sell the transitions 228 00:16:05,620 --> 00:16:10,160 this week. 229 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,960 Jesus turned to the disciples and said, are you guys leaving? 230 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:21,480 And Peter replied and said, where else are we going to go? 231 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:25,960 And again, I'm adding here, but I'm guessing Peter is thinking, Lord, you say some crazy 232 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,200 stuff and it is really hard to follow you sometimes. 233 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:30,520 But we've been around the block. 234 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:35,340 We've looked and there's not a better alternative. 235 00:16:35,340 --> 00:16:36,340 We still trust you. 236 00:16:36,340 --> 00:16:38,360 We'll still follow you. 237 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:41,880 Even when everybody else is turning around because you're saying something about eating 238 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:44,240 your flesh and drinking your blood. 239 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:47,960 Because remember, communion did not exist yet. 240 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:50,200 All right. 241 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:58,220 So when Jesus is preaching here, he wasn't saying this is what communion is about. 242 00:16:58,220 --> 00:16:59,700 He was talking about bread. 243 00:16:59,700 --> 00:17:04,480 He was talking about a miracle that he just given. 244 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:08,440 So when I make a connection to this, to communion, I want to be clear. 245 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:12,600 One this passage isn't just him talking about communion. 246 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:14,920 We're making a connection here. 247 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:19,800 But two, this is a connection that the early church made. 248 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:24,520 After communion, after that was instituted, after that started, people looked back at 249 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:30,280 John's gospel and said, hey, wow, there's a really powerful connection here. 250 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:35,400 And so Jesus was saying in John six, and it's not an easy one to read. 251 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:39,440 We've been talking about how Jesus wasn't trying to make this one easy. 252 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:40,440 Okay. 253 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:42,940 He was throwing something out there. 254 00:17:42,940 --> 00:17:46,360 And so you can read commentaries and here's some different things. 255 00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:50,160 But at the end of the day, I think most are going to agree on this. 256 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:54,500 Jesus is saying you need to buy in fully. 257 00:17:54,500 --> 00:17:59,160 You need to get to the point where I'm a part of your DNA. 258 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:05,160 You need to follow my teachings, even when it's hard and might not fully make sense. 259 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:06,160 Why? 260 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:12,200 Because they're coming from the father and he's doing this to show you his love. 261 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,400 All right. 262 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,680 More than just about accepting hard teachings. 263 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:23,280 It's like a test of do you really like me or not? 264 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:26,120 Say, I love you so much. 265 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:30,640 I need you to stick with me even when it's tough. 266 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:31,640 All right. 267 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:39,360 So this passage, not only about communion, this passage about following Christ, about 268 00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:45,400 following him and putting belief in him to the point where he's in our body and in our 269 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:50,920 blood, but also connected closely to communion. 270 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:55,640 Now the early Romans. 271 00:18:55,640 --> 00:19:02,080 So after communion was instituted, after the early church was rolling to this communion 272 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:06,280 thing and this flesh and blood thing start to make more sense. 273 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:12,500 Not to those who were watching the Christians, as you can imagine, this passage and ones 274 00:19:12,500 --> 00:19:17,000 like it are pretty easy to take out of context. 275 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:22,760 So there was one early Roman writer, his name is Quinn something like a lot of Romans were 276 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:26,960 Quintus, but his name's hard to pronounce. 277 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:35,880 It's like Quintonius, Quintian, Quinceanera, one of those, one of those. 278 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:38,200 So we'll just call him Quinn. 279 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:39,200 All right. 280 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:47,880 And here were his conclusions in writing to someone else about Christianity. 281 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:51,360 They worship the heads of donkeys. 282 00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:55,680 Where he got that, we cannot figure out. 283 00:19:55,680 --> 00:20:00,460 They're a little too friendly with each other and that's put in more vulgar terms. 284 00:20:00,460 --> 00:20:06,240 You can Google Quinn later if you'd like to. 285 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:09,800 And they were cannibals. 286 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:11,320 That's what their meetings were. 287 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:13,720 They had secret symbols. 288 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:22,160 They were lascivious people and they were cannibals. 289 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:24,680 They worshiped donkey heads. 290 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:31,440 And by the way, they followed a guy who was killed on a cross, which was a very even for 291 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:33,520 ways to be executed. 292 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:34,840 It was the worst of the worst. 293 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:39,000 It was reserved for slaves and terrorists. 294 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:43,080 If you were a Roman citizen, you weren't allowed to be killed that way. 295 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:45,360 It was against the law. 296 00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:48,320 It was that bad. 297 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:50,560 So they were very confusing. 298 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:54,880 The early Christians, the Romans had a hard time understanding him. 299 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:59,160 The disciples that were standing there when Jesus said it had a hard time understanding 300 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:00,160 him. 301 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:04,360 Not easy stuff. 302 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:11,720 Now some of us may have found some parts of communion confusing before. 303 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:16,800 Depending on what tradition you come from, depending on what church you come from, maybe 304 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,880 if you're not coming from the church at all. 305 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,080 And I can't give an exhaustive explanation of it. 306 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:27,080 I don't think anybody could one sermon, but we're going to touch on a few areas. 307 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:31,820 And one of the big ones is who can take communion where? 308 00:21:31,820 --> 00:21:37,040 And many of us are probably familiar with one example, not the only example, the Catholic 309 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:40,160 Church being a place where you need to be a member. 310 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:47,760 You need to have participated in catechism in order to take communion there. 311 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:54,000 Now I studied at St. Ambrose for my masters with some awesome Catholic people. 312 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,680 And so if you'd love to talk about Catholic communion and some of the questions, I would 313 00:21:57,680 --> 00:21:59,920 love to talk to you about that. 314 00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:00,920 Very interesting. 315 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:05,680 And they have some great reasons for why they do what they do. 316 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:12,120 But if you're at mass or one of their services and you're not Catholic, it can be a little 317 00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:13,120 awkward. 318 00:22:13,120 --> 00:22:14,440 Everyone else is going up. 319 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:16,040 You're not supposed to. 320 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:17,040 You know that. 321 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:18,480 You should know that. 322 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:22,780 Now my roommates and I went to a Catholic service. 323 00:22:22,780 --> 00:22:23,780 We were not Catholic. 324 00:22:23,780 --> 00:22:26,080 We were evangelical Nazarene. 325 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:29,480 If you're familiar with it to be more specific, but we were encouraged. 326 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,280 It was an assignment for one of our classes. 327 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:34,960 Go to a church from a different tradition. 328 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:37,760 Now there's a Catholic church within walking distance. 329 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:41,780 We lived in campus, so we went to the Catholic Church. 330 00:22:41,780 --> 00:22:46,120 We knew you weren't supposed to go up if you weren't Catholic to take communion. 331 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:50,880 But my three roommates did, and I was horrified. 332 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,840 The first one went up and instead of doing the sign of the cross, he tried to do this 333 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:58,880 before communion, but he ended up doing something like the sign of Zorro. 334 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:05,480 It's kind of something like here, which was probably a dead tell for the priest. 335 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:07,820 They were not supposed to be there. 336 00:23:07,820 --> 00:23:15,200 Now the priest would have had grounds to ask or possibly even just refuse them. 337 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:21,480 But this priest was trying to do the generous thing and just go ahead with it. 338 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:23,800 I think he probably regretted it. 339 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:25,680 Now there's two ways to receive communion. 340 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:31,360 You can either hold your hands folded out or you can put out your tongue and the priest 341 00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:35,920 can put the communion on your tongue. 342 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:43,700 The first one after sign of Zorro, so now we're on the second one, put out his hands. 343 00:23:43,700 --> 00:23:48,560 But then once the priest gave it to him, started walking and going back to his seat. 344 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:49,560 You can't do that. 345 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:53,240 You have to take communion at the altar when the priest gives it to you. 346 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:58,760 So the priest is trying to tell him during the sacred moment, take it, eat it, take the 347 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,820 communion now. 348 00:24:01,820 --> 00:24:04,600 And so he eventually took it. 349 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:10,720 The last one went and he decided he was going to try to go full on. 350 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:11,720 He was going to be brave. 351 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:16,440 He was going to put out his tongue to receive communion on his tongue. 352 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:20,960 But right at the last moment, he freaked out and snatched it out of the priest's hand. 353 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:22,660 You can't do that. 354 00:24:22,660 --> 00:24:26,500 You can't reach out and take the communion out of the priest's hand. 355 00:24:26,500 --> 00:24:28,720 That's not something you're supposed to do. 356 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:29,880 There's symbolism for that. 357 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:31,800 There's tradition for that. 358 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:35,080 And so once again, they broke the rules. 359 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:39,960 So when they came back and sat next to me, I didn't even want to be by them. 360 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,640 And we were walking out and said, what are you guys doing? 361 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:45,480 You know, that was a debacle. 362 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:47,640 Now, nobody said anything to us. 363 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,240 No one chased us out. 364 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:58,880 But it was one example of traditions and communion being a bit confusing. 365 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:04,280 Sometimes you have been in churches, they say any baptized believer, any member of this 366 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:10,680 church, anyone who believes Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, all of those. 367 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:13,800 And then a lot of times people don't explain how to take it. 368 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:15,800 Do you walk down? 369 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:16,800 When are you supposed to take it? 370 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:18,480 Do you take it as soon as you get it? 371 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:24,400 Once you're back in your seat, then sometimes it's that awkward thing where everyone else 372 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:25,560 has already taken it. 373 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:26,560 You don't realize it. 374 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:31,080 So then you're trying to take it like as the service ends and you're hoping nobody's watching 375 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,760 or you've already taken it and you didn't realize you're supposed to wait. 376 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,960 And then you're sitting in your seat and everybody else is taking it. 377 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:39,360 You already took yours. 378 00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:42,480 So I've done like the air drink before. 379 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:46,120 You know, I already took my juice, but then I'm just kind of like, you know, you know, 380 00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:48,920 I'm drinking mine right now, too. 381 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:50,700 We're all doing the same thing. 382 00:25:50,700 --> 00:25:53,240 I know what I'm doing. 383 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,600 So it can be confusing. 384 00:25:55,600 --> 00:26:03,600 Now here at the house, the way we do it is I would describe it and I actually have Pastor 385 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:10,000 Greg leading communion after me, partially so that if I say anything that he's like, 386 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,560 whoa, whoa, whoa, he can clarify it. 387 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:17,640 But I think I've got this broad enough, Pastor Greg. 388 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,880 I think we're I think we're OK. 389 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:30,120 Here at the house, we practice an open communion, meaning that you're able to receive communion 390 00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:35,640 whether you're a part of our church or whether you're part of another church. 391 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:41,400 And we don't give explanations of what you have to believe in order to take it. 392 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:47,640 And if I can speak on that, I think that part of the reason we do that is because it removes 393 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:54,320 barriers for people to receive something that's been an important symbol in the church for 394 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:56,720 2000 years. 395 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,280 So that even if you're part of a tradition, different tradition, even if you have some 396 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:07,520 different beliefs than we do, if you want to participate in communion, you're able to. 397 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,040 Is that fair, Pastor Greg? 398 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:11,480 OK. 399 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:19,240 Now some of our friends from other traditions. 400 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,600 Might see that differently. 401 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,460 They might even view it as too casual of an approach. 402 00:27:25,460 --> 00:27:30,560 And I respect that because communion is a sacred thing. 403 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:37,260 And I think there's value and even having different approaches to communion. 404 00:27:37,260 --> 00:27:41,320 But here in our church, that's how we choose to approach it. 405 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:46,880 And I think it's OK for the church to do things differently and different traditions. 406 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:49,180 Can we amen that day? 407 00:27:49,180 --> 00:27:51,200 We can worship different ways. 408 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:55,480 We can take communion different ways and we can understand it different ways. 409 00:27:55,480 --> 00:28:01,040 But here at the house, we choose to do it in an open way. 410 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:02,200 OK. 411 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:11,640 Now, even in that, we experience unity when we take community communion. 412 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,880 Community, community. 413 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:23,080 But we experience union when we do that. 414 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:30,880 Communion Jesus commanded was a sign not only of our love for him, but of our love of one 415 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:33,760 another. 416 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:35,680 You can't take communion. 417 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:40,560 I think if there's a way of correctly taking communion. 418 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:46,360 We need to be reminded of our love for one another when we take it. 419 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:52,920 Part of Jesus teaching before he gave communion was he washed feet. 420 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,760 And part of that symbol was servant hood. 421 00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:03,120 Part of what we remember when we take communion is servant hood, is humility, is that the 422 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:09,380 Christ that we follow was willing to die for us and we're called to be willing to give 423 00:29:09,380 --> 00:29:13,680 up our lives for one another. 424 00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:15,240 Amen. 425 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:16,860 OK. 426 00:29:16,860 --> 00:29:23,180 So that's where I want our focus on communion to be today. 427 00:29:23,180 --> 00:29:25,260 That we're unified. 428 00:29:25,260 --> 00:29:31,200 That when we take it, it's not only a commitment to Christ, it's a commitment to love the people 429 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:33,640 in this room. 430 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:38,960 And part of what I love is that wherever we take communion in the world, which millions 431 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:46,520 of people around the world today are taking communion, that's beautiful. 432 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:52,120 Is that we love the people around the world that we're in a room with. 433 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:58,280 Even if you're visiting, we hope that you feel Christ's love and unity wherever you 434 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:00,040 are. 435 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:07,120 And I love that even when I'm taking communion as a guest in congregations, I wasn't a part 436 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:13,600 of, I feel a sense of connection with the people in that room because of the unity that 437 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,900 we experience through that. 438 00:30:16,900 --> 00:30:25,640 Do we as a church show that unity, that love toward each other? 439 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:31,040 I would like to share a couple examples. 440 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,920 Spoiler alert, they're not bad things that have happened. 441 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:37,880 They're good things. 442 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:45,040 Someone from this church has helped me move my sprinklers. 443 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:50,520 I've learned that sod is a lot of work. 444 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:53,400 We needed help with sod. 445 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:59,360 Something that small, someone was willing to come and help us move our sprinklers. 446 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:04,440 Someone is willing to come and help me move my van seats. 447 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:11,080 Tough, something that had to be done for us to be able to take our little one to an appointment 448 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:12,920 to Iowa City. 449 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:19,360 Someone else from our church rode with us to Iowa City with a screaming baby so that 450 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:26,000 we could make an MRI as good of an experience for her as it could be. 451 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:32,000 Someone else from our church drove me to Iowa City for an appointment for me and drove me 452 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:33,000 home. 453 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:34,480 You'd hope so, right? 454 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:38,760 You wouldn't want him to leave me there. 455 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:44,000 Someone else from our church drove me to Chicago for an appointment that I wasn't able to go 456 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,520 to myself. 457 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:56,040 Someone else from our church watched our kiddo for four hours yesterday so my wife and I 458 00:31:56,040 --> 00:32:04,040 could go watch The Little Mermaid, which was fun, but it was also special for us. 459 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:11,200 We love watching our Disney movies that we grew up with in the theater together. 460 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:15,720 And then we can critique afterwards what we thought they did or didn't change and what 461 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:18,920 we feel about it. 462 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:26,760 Now as you look around our church, there's not hundreds here. 463 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:34,240 We've been here for 18 months, so almost all of those things have happened in the last 464 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:35,240 year. 465 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:36,240 That's pretty incredible. 466 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:41,480 There's some really beautiful unity in our church. 467 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:45,400 There's some deep connection in our church. 468 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:49,680 We're showing the love of Christ to one another. 469 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:56,560 And I want us to remember as we take Communion today and as we take it each week that we 470 00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:03,280 are united in our love for each other each time we take it. 471 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:10,360 The Spirit gives us strength to serve and love each other every time we take Communion, 472 00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:14,640 every time we're reminded of the love of Christ. 473 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:18,360 Now I love to give homework assignments. 474 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:24,160 Here's the one for this Sunday and then we're done. 475 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:26,600 It's a classic. 476 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:30,000 Ask somebody how you can pray for them this week. 477 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,520 Here in the room. 478 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:40,040 And has anyone ever seen an interview with Robert De Niro? 479 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:46,740 They are terrible. 480 00:33:46,740 --> 00:33:50,520 Because this is how he answers questions. 481 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:52,720 I heard you did a new movie, Robert. 482 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:53,720 How was it? 483 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:56,720 How was working with the director? 484 00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:58,680 Good. 485 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:00,720 And what was it like working with so and so? 486 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,960 Do you have any great stories that you'd like to share? 487 00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:04,960 No. 488 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:08,600 Is there anything you want to tell us about this movie? 489 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,520 It's a good movie. 490 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:13,960 And that's about how an interview with him usually goes. 491 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:18,800 Now even if your conversation with somebody about how can I pray with you this week goes 492 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:25,080 like that, I want you to think of it as a win. 493 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:31,360 It still helps someone realize that you care, that you love them. 494 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:36,640 And so even if you ever had an awkward encounter at church, one time I went and I told someone 495 00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:42,280 to come sit with me and like tried to bring them over and they're like, actually, I'm 496 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,320 sitting with someone else and I know someone who's coming. 497 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:52,080 I'm like, okay, don't sit with me. 498 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:55,640 I like brought, I was like, here, come here. 499 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:57,280 Come over here and sit. 500 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,280 I'm sitting with someone else. 501 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:01,280 Sorry. 502 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:07,800 Even if you do something awkward, something weird, it's okay. 503 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:12,360 Even if the conversation goes like this, this would be a Robert De Niro version of how can 504 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:14,620 I pray for you this week? 505 00:35:14,620 --> 00:35:16,560 How can I pray for you this week? 506 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:19,000 I don't know. 507 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,080 Pray that work goes okay. 508 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:22,320 Okay. 509 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:26,040 Is there anything in particular I can pray for you about your work week? 510 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:27,800 No. 511 00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:32,440 And then if you ask them next week and follow up, how did your week go? 512 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:34,800 It was good. 513 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,280 Great. 514 00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:40,400 We showed love to somebody, right? 515 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:46,120 We built a connection and maybe they would even go so far as to say it was a pretty stressful 516 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:47,120 week. 517 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:51,360 And we say, Hey, I prayed for you. 518 00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:52,360 All right. 519 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:56,020 Simple, basic, showing love for one another. 520 00:35:56,020 --> 00:35:57,920 Are we a loving church? 521 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,680 Yes, we are. 522 00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,320 Are we part of a church that serves each other? 523 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:04,520 Yes. 524 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:08,960 Can we continue to grow in our love and affection for each other? 525 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:09,960 We can't. 526 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:12,720 And I pray that communion helps us to do that. 527 00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:18,320 I'll say a brief prayer and then Pastor Greg can take over. 528 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:26,240 Father, I thank you that it's okay to be confused as we're followers of you. 529 00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:35,440 I thank you that it's okay for us to not know what to do at church sometimes. 530 00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:43,000 I thank you that we have different traditions and that we don't all do things the same. 531 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:49,400 And I thank you that even something as confusing as eat my flesh and drink my blood can bring 532 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:56,520 us to a place of greater unity and better understanding of how much you love us and 533 00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:00,120 how much you want to be a part of our lives. 534 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:03,840 I pray that you would help us to love one another deeper and I pray that you would help 535 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:10,760 us to remember that when we take communion, that's a part of it. 536 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:14,700 We're loving you and one another more deeply. 537 00:37:14,700 --> 00:37:16,440 It's in Jesus name we pray. 538 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,680 Amen.