I'm gonna need a piano player just to cover up my choking.
It's 136.
I confess to you there are some hymns that I have never liked and this is one of them.
It's called, They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love and I'll do my best to get through
what I have to say and then try to sing it too, which I probably won't.
I have my handkerchief out already.
There are some songs that we teach people and there are other songs that people teach
us and this is one of them.
I don't know why you did this to me.
What?
Don't you get shook up.
You gotta play this.
It's 136.
What?
It's the one that's got three different.
I've never liked this song because it didn't answer any questions for me.
We're one in the Spirit, we're one in the Lord.
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.
Well pray tell, if we're one in the Spirit and one in the Lord, why do we have to pray
that all unity may be restored?
I just never could sing that.
At least not with any conviction.
And yet I know in John 13 35 it says that all men will know you are my disciples if
you have love for one another.
And I know in John 17 Jesus prayed, I ask for all those who believe in me that they
may be one even as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they may also be in us
that the world may believe that thou didst send me.
And so as I went over there my goal was not to teach them American music.
In fact it was the opposite.
I wanted to write down what they had written so that they had a record of it.
But I was meeting with a group of people one afternoon and said to them, how is it that
you people who basically have done nothing together throughout the centuries except cut
each other's heads, suddenly are living together and they got this big smile on their
faces.
Well we have the peace of God in our hearts now.
I said but somehow that doesn't explain to me how all of this history overnight can be
put together so that you can live this peacefully.
Well they said we have one heart, all of us together, just one heart.
And then it began to take on to me a new meaning, what being one in the spirit meant.
It meant having one heart.
And so we talked a while and I said I can understand now there are some 200 of you that
are believers but there are 500 others that aren't believers.
And all these people from other tribes are saying we want to move in with you and you're
saying there isn't any room.
I don't understand that.
Well they said those outside see the miracle of our one heartedness and we have one hearted
heart.
And someone said to me what is the greatest thing that you saw when you went?
And I said the greatest effect on me of this trip was realizing the coldness toward God
of the American church and each other.
And I don't know if I can sing this or not but I'll try.
This is, by the way, keep playing, they never sing of one aspect of the trinity because
they have a trinity.
They speak always of God first, Baba Yo, Father God, and then they'll sing of Tuhang Jesu
or Lord Jesus or sometimes Baba Jesu.
And then they will sing of Hamait Yo, God's Spirit.
And then they speak of Kemotolu, you three.
And sometimes when they sing they will go Baba Yo, Tuhang Jesu, and Hamait Yo, Kemotolu,
the three together.
And so to me it seems that the text, someday our unity may be restored, is indeed restored
if we let God live in us as trinity.
And so these words are not words which I did.
I la la laed through the melody and they made up the words.
Kito li'ain hei munsiyahino Baba Yo Kito li'ain hei munsiyahino Tuhang Jesu
Matawah do dufu Kito hilayon bala Hodi nun Kito li'ain samantali'ain
And that basically says we are one-hearted because of God the Father.
We are one-hearted because of the Lord Jesus.
We are one-hearted because of the Holy Spirit.
Others around us who are not believers but outside of us will see through God's work
in our hearts our one-hearted hearts.
Thanks John.
Ones for all peoples.
I didn't understand that, that's a different language than mine.
And that could be sung in how many languages?
And yet there are many languages that can't be sung because they don't know yet.
As we come to the table tonight let us remember it's ones for all.
Time, sins, and peoples.
And as we partake of these elements there are those little groups scattered here and
there around the world.
There are those who are in prison in some countries.
There are big churches, there are small churches.
There are those who are yellow, there are those who are brown.
And they gather around a table too and maybe it's not exactly the same elements but it's
the same Lord and we partake with them.
This is the Lord's table.
I'd like for us to bow and as we prepare our hearts let's give thanks for the all-sufficient
sacrifice of our Savior that it was once for all time.
Once for all of your sins and mine.
And once for all people.
Let's rejoice in the breath of God's love.
And as we're praying individually I'd like for those serving to join me in the front.
Our Lord we give thanks to you for the bread representing your body sacrificed for us.
As we partake of this loaf we are reminded that your body stretches around the world
and that there are brothers and sisters in Christ that we have never seen and whom if
we saw them we could not understand them but with whom we share one spirit.
We are one-hearted with them because of your gracious work.
Each of us partakes of one piece broken off representing your broken body.
But tonight we are reminded that that piece was broken off of one loaf, one true bread
from heaven.
We give thanks as we partake remembering these things, meditating upon them and rejoicing.
Amen.
Jesus said this is my body which is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
And we read these words in Revelation.
Worthy art thou to take the book and to break its seals for thou was slain and its purchase
for God with thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Lord Jesus as we partake of this cup it is a precious reminder to us of the price of
redemption, the price paid for all people.
And tonight our hearts are heavy with the thought that there are many who have not this
knowledge that the price has been paid and they labor still in darkness, in death, in
lostness, and they have no hope.
There is no oneness of heart with them.
They are eternally lost apart from that message.
As we gather around this table we pray that you will send some from our church to go and
that many who are waiting to go and are seeking to raise support or to meet other qualifications
so that they can will find their needs met so that they can get to that place where you
call them.
We pray that preachers will be sent, that people may hear and believe.
I pray that you will make us world Christians, a people aware of what's happening in our
world and burdened for it, a praying people, lifting up continents and people groups, tribes,
races to you in prayer.
As we partake of this cup we are grateful for that blood.
We partake of it with a commitment in our heart that we might take this message and
bear it to the uttermost parts of the world as you've told us.
Amen.
Jesus said this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
John let's sing right now that fourth verse that you've suggested to the last hymn.
Jesus fill now with thy spirit hearts that full surrender know
that the streams of living water from our inner man may flow
channels only blessed master but with all thy wondrous power
flowing through us thou canst use us every day and every hour.
Amen.
Tonight as you leave there will be an usher at the door.
If you'd like to participate in the elders fund, our benevolent offering, you may do
so and we encourage you and thank you too for your participation in that.
It's been a good Lord's Day.
It's been a beautiful one too hasn't it?
Would you take your hymnal once more and I'd like for us to sing a verse maybe two of 335.
We can sing this also acapella.
This has been going through my mind all day.
It's one of my favorite hymns.
A wonderful savior is Jesus my Lord.
And I want you to notice that the words were written by Fanny Crosby.
Next Sunday night is going to be a very special night because we're going to do an evening
focused on Fanny Crosby, her music and her life.
We have some people in our church who've been preparing a bit of a drama presentation for
you and the whole service is going to focus around that.
Also we have baby dedication, isn't that next week too?
But beyond that, Fanny Crosby is going to be here.
And this is one of the hymns, one of 8,500 poems or hymn verses, hymns that she wrote
in her lifetime.
And I'd like for you to stand please as we sing the first verse and then the fourth.
When clothed in His brightness, transported I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky.
His perfect salvation is wonderful love I'll shout with the millions on high.
He hided my soul in the cleft of the rock That shadows a dry thirsty land.
He hided my life in the depths of His love And covers me there with His hand.
And covers me there with His hand.
Let's bow together.
Lord Jesus, you are a wonderful Savior.
Thank you for loving us so deeply that you sacrificed yourself in this way for us.
And thank you that you live now in heaven ever to intercede on our behalf.
And oh, we praise you that one day we shall see you and with the millions on high sing
that you've been such a wonderful Savior.
Thank you for meeting with us today and enriching our lives with fellowship with you and with
one another.
And as we go out from here to our homes and to our assigned places of ministry and service
this week, we pray that you will make us your channel and fill us with your Spirit.
In Jesus' name we pray these things.
Amen.