The Greatest Commandment - Part 3

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these well said teacher.

The man replied, you are right in saying that God is one and there's no other but him to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. When Jesus saw that the, that , that he had answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God and from them on, no one dared asked him any more questions.

So this is the last week and this passage actually this is the last week and the gospel of Mark, even though , uh , Mark has some more chapters to it, this is as far as we're going to get next week , uh , is going to be a unique week and unique Sunday.

We will , uh, we will, first of all, we will meet our lead teaching pastor, the candidate, not a , not in person, he won't be here in person, but uh , you will meet him by video next week, but next week even more importantly, we will after a long break, we will corporately celebrate the Lord's supper. And I'll have more to say about that.

And in just a minute here, the following week, the November the 24th already mentioned the meeting that night, but that morning, that is candidating weekend and our candidate and his wife and family will be here from Wednesday night, the Wednesday night, gathering dinner through Sunday night. So on Sunday morning he will be preaching in both services.

You'll have an opportunity both on Sunday morning, but at various times through those days to be able to meet him and interact with him and come to know him , uh, more about him. So that would be a wonderful weekend. By the way, if you have, if you have people, friends of central who maybe it's been some time and they're wondering what God's doing, it would be a wonderful Sunday to invite them to.

Uh , I, we believe that the, the say the search team and the elder board, that this is the culmination of, of all our prayers that , that the Lord has , uh, has answered our prayers. Not that the future of central rests on one, man forbid, God forbid, but in terms of raising up who God is going to use in a significant way in this next season of Central's life. So we'd encourage you to invite your friends following Thanksgiving.

We'll be doing a special short Christmas series a the angels of Christmas, not going to be worshiping the angels, but going to be looking at what was it, what's the message of Christmas that God spoke through the angel, the angels who spoke to Mary, the angel who spoke to Joseph and the angel who appeared, the angels who appeared and spoke to the shepherds.

If you have family members, if you have friends who it's been a long time since they've been in church, they're wondering, you know, what is Christmas really all about? It would be a wonderful short series to invite them to here to really focus them on the true meaning of Christmas, but back to where we are as we finish up the gospel of Mark here and chapter 12 and we finish up this focus on verses 28 through 34 really it all boils down to what we've looked at the last two weeks.

The greatest commandment Jesus gives us in verse 30 and the second greatest commandment that he gives us in verse 31 the greatest commandment, really the way you could look at it, is what is at the center of God's will as as God brings us to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and we become members of his family, children in his family, members of Christ's kingdom. What is it that God cares about more than anything, as he leaves us on this earth until our death or until Christ returns?

Whichever happens first, it could be all boiled down. Jesus says to this the first greatest commandment, and he's he's quoting from the old Testament. Deuteronomy six five here. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind and all of your strength. And by the way, this is not possible for us to even begin to do this until we come into a saving knowledge of, of Jesus Christ.

Until Christ does that work in our hearts of crucifying the old self of bringing the life, the new man, the new woman, as the spirit begins to work in us as we are saved by, by the atoning work, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Until that happens, not only is it impossible for us to love God in this way, but we don't even naturally have the desire to love God and this way.

But as he brings you and me into a saving knowledge through Jesus Christ, this is, this becomes at the center of his will . He wants us to grow increasingly in our love for him, our love for him with all of our heart, that decision center of our life with all of our soul, that emotional part of us with all of our mind, the intellectual part of us and with all of our strength, all that we are and all that we have and all that we bring to him.

But then the second greatest commandment, the second is this. Jesus says in verse 31 you shall love your neighbor as yourself and here again, he's quoting from the old Testament, Leviticus 1918 you shall love your neighbor as yourself and then he folds these two together into one indissoluble unity. With that last statement, there is no other commandment greater than these. You want to know the essence of God's will for you as he saves you.

Jesus says it is this love God increasingly love your neighbor. Increasingly as we looked at last week, neighbor Jesus has broadened that out. And Luke chapter 10 to anyone that God brings along in your path, who is a need that someone that God puts in your sphere of influence, but neighbor is also uniquely from the context of Likud . Leviticus 1918 neighbor is uniquely those who are part of your community of faith.

The apostle Paul reminds us of this in Galatians six 10 let us do good to all men and women. Yeah. Anybody that God brings into your sphere is a neighbor and you're to love them, do good to them, but then he adds, especially to those who are of the household of faith, especially in other words, those who are part of your community, your local church, those that God brings into your church body, those are uniquely and especially your neighbor that you are to love as yourself.

Well, how does this apply to even what we're doing next week, next Sunday? Lord willing, we will be celebrating the Lord's supper. And um , these two commandments are extremely relevant to the Lord supper. When we come to the Lord's table, first of all, in the Lord's supper, we remember our love for God. We remember through taking of the elements are our love for God. I think of Romans five, eight, God demonstrates his love for us and that why we were yet sinners.

Christ died for we come to the table. We take those elements and what is it that Jesus says do this in remembrance of me. We remember the immense love of God for us, a love that was extended to us when we not only did not love God, but we had no interest in loving God. And how is God's love for us supremely demonstrated while we were yet sinners, we weren't righteous, we weren't worthy, we weren't deserving while we were in that state . Christ died for us.

And as we take the bread and we take the cup, that's what we remember.

We remember that God, while we were still enemies with him, sent his son the , the the son of God, fully God who took on humanity, who walked through this life, suffering everything that we suffer, who ultimately in going to the cross suffered what we will never have to suffer, suffered torture, suffered humiliation, suffered the separation from his father, suffered the wrath of his father for all my sin and all your sin poured out upon him.

And we remember in taking those elements that he did this as a demonstration of God's love towards us and the Lord supper. We remember the love of God for us and we remember in response our love for God, but secondly in the Lord supper . We also remember the second greatest commandment. We remember our love for our neighbor. Again, for all of those that God brings in our path, but especially those who belong to those that Jesus calls his body are our family of believers.

Our local church, and this is many places in scripture, but I love the image in first Corinthians 10 17 of communion of the Lord supper because there is one bread or one loaf of bread. Really Paul is saying, here we who are many are one body because we all partake of the one bread, the one loaf and at that time when Jesus introduced the Lord's supper and an in the early churches, they practiced it. They did what we can't practically do here. They passed around.

They had one low from which they all partake per took. I don't know if you've ever had the opportunity to do that. Maybe in a small church, maybe in a small group setting where we're the people you're with, take the Lord's supper and there is one loaf of bread, a small church that Cindy and I attended for some time in Jacksonville. They were able to do that just because of how small the church was.

The , there was one loaf of bread, and as you came forward to take of the Lord supper, a piece was broken off and and given to you. And so you knew not only that you were taking that as a symbol of Christ body, but you were taking it from the same that every other person in that room was taking it from, and there was a unique way in which that reminded us. We're not individuals, we're not lone Rangers coming to take the Lord's supper together, know where we're all one body.

We all belong to one body, and that is seen, that is symbolized and taking those pieces of bread from the one loaf, especially in our individualistic culture, we need to be reminded of that. We need to be reminded that as Christians, we're not individuals. We make up one body. We make up one family. We need to be reminded. That's even who we are as a local church.

Not that we are exclusive of any other believers, any, any other place, but that in God providential, he bringing us to be part of central church. We as central church, we are one lo flea are one body and there is something unique that needs to be recognized in that. I love what Charley drew says. We , we refer ourselves, we talk about going to church but, but he reminds us churches not in event churches, people, churches, people whom God calls us to love.

And then in very important sense, it is an involuntary community. Think about that for a minute. It's an involuntary community, meaning we don't choose our brothers or sisters. God does. However you came about coming to central, whether you grew up at central, whether you've come more recently at central, God drew you to this church body. God, God keeps you here. Uh , if you're here, but God drew everybody else here as well. And think about the reality of that.

That means we are mixed together with people who, if we were outside of church just in our own human understanding and thinking about things, we might not necessarily choose to spend time with those people. We have different personalities. We come from different places in life we might not associate with each other and certain out of out in the world, but God does this drawing work and makes us into an involuntary community.

He is the one that brings us together and that is a picture really ultimately of what we will one day. See when we stand around the throne and we worship Jesus Christ forever and eternity, we will see that we're not all alike and race or gender or socioeconomic class or generational group that he has saved. He has drawn and saved people from every nation, every race, every ethnic group, every gender.

He's brought that huge diversity together to make up his kingdom and in recognizing that, that teaches us really what it is to love our neighbor as ourself. It is easy for you and I to love our neighbor who maybe is the same race as us or the same gender as a Sur from the same socioeconomic classes as us or has the same kind of background as us. It is more challenging.

It is more stretching to be brought together with people who are very different from us and that's how God working through his sanctifying work of his Holy spirit grows us in our ability to love our neighbor as ourself by bringing us together with people who are very different than us into that involuntary community.

When we come around the table next Sunday, that's what will be represented where people from every background, where people from, any, any every group that you could think of out in the world. We're very different from each other and yet we come together to partake of one loaf as near as we can as we can symbolize that with how we do communion here.

You know, some of you may have been wondering, you know when we , it's been a long time since we've taken communion corporately, we do offer it every Sunday morning in the hospitality room for those who want it. But as far as corporately, well , you have to go all the way back a little over a year ago to September of 2018 to get to the last time we took communion together. And that is not because we've forgotten it. And I want to now explain to you why we have waited until now to do that.

And , and I would do it by saying biblically, we are told, we are taught that there are times when individually and corporately we should abstain from taking the Lord's supper. There are times when individually you or I may come when to church, when the Lord's supper is being served and because of what's going on in our life and the Holy Spirit's work in our life, we should abstain. We should pass it by.

But there are also times corporately where a church through its leadership, as its leadership, seeks the will of God. Discerns you know what? Because of what's going on in the church right now, we should wait. This is not the right time to symbolize that we are one body. And that's really where I want to probe this morning and spend the remainder of the time. When is it that we should abstain individually or corporately from taking the Lord's supper?

We see this principle in first Corinthians 11 you know first Corinthians 11 half the chapter is dedicated to God through Paul teaching about the Lord's supper. W we read only a very short portion of that chapter when we're actually serving communion, but there is a lot more to it and here is one of those principles in verse 27 when you think about that question, when should we abstain?

Paul says, if we eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an [inaudible] worthy manner, we will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Let me take that last phrase first.

Sinning against the body and blood of the Lord profaning what it is, disrespecting what Christ did, treating it as if it is insignificant, but the more concerning phrase, the phrase that I think we really need to wrestle through individually and corporately is what is it to take that bread and the cup in an unworthy manner?

Now, you may be tempted to think, well, well that means when I look back over the last 24 hours of my life or I look back over the last week or the last month or however far you want to go back, I think of what I've done, I think of the sin in my life. What I'm still wrestling with. I know I'm saved, but I'm still wrestling in these areas. I am unworthy to come before the Lord's table. Well, here's both the bad news and the good news. All right?

If that is what unworthy means, we might as well pack the communion, the Lord's supper elements away forever because there's not one of us who can come worthy before the table. He is worthy. We are needy and as long as we are putting our confidence in Christ's worthiness and his sinlessness and his perfect righteousness, that is what counts. That's what the table even reminds us of, so there is no way that you are, I can get ourselves to a state of being worthy.

Having our lives cleaned up enough that if that's what it means, we're able to take of the Lord's supper. Yes, it is true. There is a kernel of truth in that fallacy that that if I'd come and I have areas of sin in my life that I'm not willing to give up than I am what the Bible calls unrepentant, that's a very dangerous place to be and I should not take it, but this is communicating something more about taking it in an unworthy manner.

There is also an aspect here of loving our neighbors that Paul speaks more to two verses later in verse 29 for anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord, that is the person who eats or drinks judgment on himself or that is the church body that eats and drinks judgment on itself. Again, what is it, the body of the Lord here that that Paul is speaking about, recognizing I'll take you back. It's not on the screen but to what was just up on the screen a few minutes earlier.

First Corinthians 1117 that image of we all take of one loaf of bread. Why? Because we are all one body.

The body of Christ, the corporate body of Christ, all those that he is saved and brought into his church and Paul is saying here actually the Lord is saying through Paul here, if we do not recognize that spiritual reality, if we do not recognize that we are all connected with each other through the saving work of Jesus Christ, if we do not recognize that our commonality and and him being worthy and us being needy and us being saved through our Christ is done, that that is more deeper, that is

more essential than our race or our socioeconomic status or our gender or our background. If we do not recognize it , that is what we have deepest in common. We risk taking the Lord supper and an unworthy manner. How does it happen that if we fail to recognize this, we may take it in an unworthy manner? I think there are many ways, but the the , the way that concerns me the most is what we see in the Corinthian church.

Why Paul was writing this chapter, the Corinthian church should like offer century churches had it significant issues. That is somewhat relieving to me that there is no church without issues and God is more concerned about how a church works through its issues than the absence of issues, which on the side of heaven is an impossibility.

But if I had to sum up the issues of the Corinthian church, if you read through that whole first letter of Paul to the Corinthian church, I could say it with this simply by saying this, they were a divided church. There was division about their loyalty to spiritual leaders. There was a division about their giftedness and their talents or what they thought was their giftedness and their talents.

There was, there was division about how they viewed certain spiritual situations, disciplinary situations, how they should be handled, but preeminently there was socioeconomic division. There was, there was those who, who had more, who are, who are wealthy, who are at a higher place in society, who look down on those who, who had less and were at a lower place in society. And that division was seen preeminently when they came to celebrate the Lord's supper together.

We don't know all the detail, but we do know this. There is a way that, that those who had more , uh, separated themselves off from those who had less, even in taking the Lord's supper, and they excluded those who had left and taking the Lord's supper. So what they were doing and taking of the Lord supper brought to the surface, brought out as a symptom the essence of divided hearts within that church.

And Paul says in verse and chapter 11, verse 18, when you come together as a church, I see, I hear there are divisions among you. They says, verse 20, therefore it is not the Lord's supper. You eat. If you come, he says, in other words, and you come.

And even though you may eat those elements, even though you may go through the motions of celebrating the Lord's supper, when you do so with the divisions that are among you, when you do so in such a marked way, dividing yourself off from other people in the church body, he says, you may think you're taking the Lord's supper but you're just going through the motions. This is not an act of worship that you are observing.

The apostle Paul says, when we think about the divisions that were going on in the Corinthian church, they would lead us in any church that we're at, not just central to think about divisions that are churches dealt with.

And here I'm pleased to say that over the past year the elders here at central have have um, had been seeking the Lord's will and how we work through divisions have been leading the church and working through divisions, divisions between, between leadership and those who are not in leadership divisions between those who are here and those who have left divisions between those who are here, who are Bo all within the church body.

And there has been a growing heart among our leadership that you know what? We want to go after. We want to be peacemakers. We want to pursue bringing divided people together, both people who are outside of our church and people who are within our church. We want to resolve, we want to seek reconciliation where we're differences exist, even between leadership and those not in leadership. And are we through it perfectly? Uh , are we all done with it?

No, by no means, but it's going in the right direction and I see the right heart among your leaders to continue to pursue reconciliation. There's much work to be done, but I could say that in any church that there is much work of reconciliation to be done. I would say what's most encouraging to me and what I've been able to tell your next lead teaching pastor is there's a heart for it and it's growing. And I see it trickling down from the leadership, even into the congregation.

And that that's very heartening. That's very encouraging when I think about the future and what God wants to do here. And so it's with that consciousness that , that we say it's right and it's time to come together and celebrate the Lord's supper and that symbolism of what it means. And again, that does not mean we're through it all perfectly.

We will never be on the side of heaven, but because there's a spirit and a desire to go that direction increasingly is right and appropriate to come together on a regular basis and celebrate the Lord's supper. So that's corporately. But in these last few minutes that I have, let me, let me make it individual.

Let me bring it down from what leadership is doing to what the Lord would have you do as we prepare to celebrate the Lord's supper next Sunday, each of you have the opportunity to follow the Lord's teaching, to follow the lead and example of the elders here at this church. And that is part of what the Lord through Paul exhorts us to do, to properly prepare ourselves to come to the Lord's table. Before we come to the Lord's table, there is a work Paul teaches of preparation that we need to do.

First Corinthians 1128 each of you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. What does that mean? You know when we, when we do communion regularly and especially if we're not real conscious of it, we put people in a situation where that examination exhortation is, you know, for those 30 seconds between when we start passing out the elements and when we asked you to take them. And I'm not saying that can't be used for self-examination, but I think Paul has something.

I think the Lord has something much bigger than that. I think there's a reason why the Lord even put it on my heart, preach about it this week and then serve it next week so that we have a whole week, each of us individually and corporately, we have a whole week to examine ourselves, to prepare ourselves before we come back next Sunday and take the Lord's supper. Think of self-examination most simply through the lens of the first and second greatest commandment.

There's an opportunity as you anticipate coming back here next week to celebrate the Lord's supper, to examine where you are in light of the first commandment, because of God's work in my life, because of the Spirit's work in my life. Am I growing in my love for the Lord? Do I love the Lord more and more with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind and all my strength than I did the last time I came to the Lord supper?

There's an opportunity to examine where we stand with the Lord and how much of ourselves are we giving to him. There's also an opportunity to examine ourselves in light of the second greatest commandment as the result of Christ work in me, his sanctifying work in me by his spirit. Am I growing in my love for my neighbor, not measured by the people that I like, my closest friends, not measured by the people that I like me.

But when I think about how I relate to other people in the body of Christ, those who are very from me, is there evidence that I am growing in my ability to love people, even challenging people to love, even people that there has been a certain level of being uncomfortable, even maybe division with. There's an opportunity for self-examination . Maybe you find the prayer helpful as I do in Psalm 139 of self-examination .

Search me O God and know my heart, know what's going on in the command center of my life. Test me and know my anxious thoughts, examine Lord what I'm thinking and what I'm processing. See if there be any offensive way in me. In other words, by the work of your Holy spirit convict me of what I need to feel and what I need to think and what I need to do in response and out of that conviction lead me to confession, confession to you, but maybe confession to others who I've distanced myself from.

And out of that confession lead me to take steps of repentance that would ultimately lead to reconciliation. The example of the Corinthian church reminds us to pay special attention in our self examination to division. And again in talking about division, I do not in any way want to communicate that there is something unique uniquely deep about the division in central church. There is division and in every church that I've ever been a part of, and I don't think I'm the common denominator there.

I read about the churches in the early, in the early first century, the churches that we have in the epistles and there's levels of division in every one of those churches, but every church is called to pay spit special attention to what is going on in their body, what is going on among them individually and corporately that divides them, but the symptoms of division include not just where there's actual outright conflict, where people are fighting and arguing.

It includes, and maybe this is even more prevalent when we distance ourselves from people we disagree with or don't like. When we would draw from relationships that we're not comfortable in. If you look at where we fall on the spectrum of when there is conflict, when there is tension, do do I, do I get in their face and fight or do I withdraw relationally? Most of us lean towards the side of withdrawing is there.

We ask thinking of the Corinthian church and and the Lord leading us through that, is there anyone who has distanced themselves from me because of something that I have done? I think that's the first question we can ask as we use the week to examine ourselves. Is there people in the body of Christ here at central who um, they have withdrawn from me, they have pulled back and relationship from me.

And as I think about why that is, the spirit brings to mind, you know, well they've been hurt by something that you have done. They have been, they have been offended by something that I have done. They have been, they've felt sinned against by something I have done. And the test here is not whether I think I legitimately did anything to hurt or offend or sin against them. The test is do I detect that somebody has withdrawn because they feel hurt or offended or sinned against by me?

And that's what Jesus addresses. And Matthew five if you are offering your gift at the altar and there while you are coming to worship, why you are coming to the Lord's table. In this case, you remember the spirit brings to your mind that your brother has something against you. The spirit brings to your mind, gee, that person has pulled back from me. That person is avoiding me. That person is not comfortable around me and the spirit.

As you begin to meditate on that and pray through, that brings to mind maybe words that you said or actions that you took or actions that you failed to take or something maybe that was even misunderstood and the spirit brings that to your consciousness. That's the situation that Jesus is speaking about here. What do you do with that? What do you do with that as you come to the Lord's table, he goes on to say in verse 24 leave your gift there in front of the alter .

In other words, do not even proceed with that act of worship. Don't yet take the elements of the Lord's supper first. Go take the initiative, attempt to deal with the matter immediately. Go. Don't wait for them and seek to be reconciled. Seek to be reconciled with your brother. Then come and offer your gift as you spend this week and self examination and you , you honestly ask the Lord, Lord, I am ready to be convicted.

Bring to my mind anything where there is a brother or sister and this church body who, who has distanced themselves from me, who I know. There's something there. Bring it to more clarity what it is that that may be distancing them and then Lord lead me in what to do. How do I reach out to that person? How do I go? Don't don't give into that that that thought, Oh , uh , you know, if they were really offended or really hurt, you know they should come to me.

That is, that is, that is the opposite of what Jesus says here, isn't it? Jesus says we are to take the initiative even though they're the one that may feel hurt. Jesus says we are to go. Even though we may not think we have done anything wrong, where the spirit brings to mind a distanced relationship, a withdrawn relationship, we are to go and we are to do it before we come to the alter , before we come and take the Lord's supper. What about the other side of the coin?

What if it's not so much that , um , you become aware that someone may be hurt or offended by you? What if you're the one who you feel that you have been offended by someone you feel you have been hurt by someone, something may have said or done. You may even see it as they have sinned against you in some way. What is it that you are to do in order to prepare to come to the Lord's table?

Jesus addresses the other side of the coin in Matthew 18 verse 15 if your brother, or we could say in this case, your sister sins against you, hurts you, offends you as you perceive it, go and show him his fault again. Do you notice where the initiative is? It's not that well. They should know. They should realize that they hurt me. They should realize that those words were offensive to me. They should recognize what I see as sin against me and they should come to me.

Know where to take the initiative. We are to go where to go just between the two of us. We're not to draw other people in. We're not to go to somebody who is not part of the issue between us relationally or to go to that person individually and were to , Jesus says , show him his fault. Where to bring to his or her attention. Brother, sister, this is what you said. This is what you did.

You know I , I don't know clearly if it is sin, I certainly don't know what was in your heart, but it hurt me or it offended me or otherwise adversely impacted me and we need to talk through this. I need to understand why you did what you did. I need you to hear how this impacted me and how this hurt me. We need to resolve this. We need to work this through. We're giving you that opportunity this week.

That's why this sermon today and the Lord's supper next week, you have an opportunity, a unique opportunity, each one of us for self-examination and as you honestly open up before the Lord, Psalm 139 search me, O Lord know my heart, test my mind.

The Holy spirit will honor that and will bring to attention relationships again, whether it's the other person who feels hurt and offended or whether it's that person you feel has hurt or offended you and you have the opportunity to go and yes, the initiative is on you. The initiative is on each one of us to go as the Holy spirit brings that to mind.

If I was going to sum it all up in one principle , one succinct principle, here's the principle that I hope the spirit won't let you forget all through this week, in order to recognize the body as we come to the Lord's table, we must pursue

That person made one no more relationship with me, that that doesn't stop me from, I need to take that step. I need to initiate. I am called to do all that I can. You are called to do all that you can to pursue peace where the spirit brings to your mind a divided relationship, a distance relationship. I love what Gill Rendell says when I think about this working out in a church body like central church or any other church, real community.

What we really desire here at central church, what I pray is the future of central church. Real community is created by working through disagreements. Notice he does not say by the absence of disagreement, we will disagree, but real community is created by working through disagreements, not by going around them. What you're so tempting to do and not by denying that they are real.

Let's be honest and admit when God in his Providence brings us all together with all of our differences, there will be. There are and there will continue to be disagreements. And what grows us in our love and makes us the body is when we work through those disagreements rather than denying that they're there or avoiding them. So let me leave you with this. As we look forward to next week to coming to the Lord's table. What do you need to do to prepare for the Lord's supper?

What do need to do to live at peace with everyone? What would the spirit lead you to do? What do you need to do to pursue peace? If you honestly ask in prayer for God to, to uh , show you what , what you need to see , um, he will do that. He will lead you and the steps that you need to take. Let's seek peace. Let's be people who seek peace as we come together as one body symbolize by the one loaf. Let's pray.

Lord, you are beginning a new chapter here at central church, but it is , I've already said that chapter does not hinge on who the next lead teaching pastor is. He will just be one , um , important piece, one important part that you use in , in what you want to do in leading this church forward into the future , uh , until Christ returns.

And actually more essential than, than anybody's giftedness in the pulpit or leadership abilities is what is happening among the body as we see ourselves increasingly as all parts of one body. And we deal with disagreements. And we deal with division in a way that first of all, acknowledges your truth. And secondly, is, is ultimately healing to the body.

There is more work to be done, Lord, there will always be more work to be done on this side of heaven, but make us make these brothers and sisters who have become dear to me, make these, this, this, a group, a church of reconciliation, committed to pursuing one body, reconciled with each other, working through disagreements, becoming stronger because of them. I pray, Lord, that this would be true and truer, truer, and truer of central.

Not just because it's your will, but because of the light and the example it will be to the community and the world around us. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.