The Moody Church Live

[Music] [Music] see what comes [Music] for every daughter and every son [Music] for everyone who fears [Music] [Music] [Music] and all the earth [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] see what god has [Music] oh god hear what god is [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] see what god has done see what god has [Music] i'm so glad you're here today for those of us those of you joining us online we're glad you're here too sing along join us in singing we've been looking into the psalms these four weeks and we've been really challenged and encouraged in the psalms amen this series called songs for life our singing today comes from the psalms that was just psalm 66 and we'll sing more this morning let's thank the lord for his strength and for his mercy this morning lord only you can satisfy us only you you've worked in our lives in the past we celebrate these wonderful things and now we come expecting today knowing that you are still working and able to transform lives work in our hearts even today that's what we come here for today and we come to be satisfied only in you we thank you in jesus name amen let me teach you this course about the everlasting love of [Music] [Applause] god it shall never be my song so set free more than life to me [Music] how so great for us [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] god [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] let's say [Music] is [Music] us [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] amen does that resonate with your heart this morning let's sing now from psalm 25 [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] show me your ways and teach me your past you are [Music] that's why my eyes [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] to you are [Music] [Music] is [Music] teach me [Applause] [Music] is oh [Music] [Music] [Music] remember [Music] according to your love remember me according to your love for you [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] so the grace of god has reached for me and pulled me from the raging sea and i am safe on this [Music] his strength will help me scare me [Music] [Applause] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] he will not leave [Music] me [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] to god must be [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen amen doesn't that encourage you let's pray our father indeed you are our salvation apart from you we are completely lost we are alone bearing the weight of our own sin for all eternity but because of jesus you have saved us we thank you and we praise you in his name amen amen please be seated have you ever felt alone even in a church this size with all these seats and so forth sometimes we do right so we want to help you get connected more into moody church so we have a connection center that's in the lobby over there uh right after the service you can go talk to our team you can uh check out the connection center online we also have connect cards and the seat back in front of you as well as online we would love to help you if you've got a spiritual question you have a prayer request something that we can do to help you in your walk with the lord getting more connected here at moody church we would love to do that well this is an opportunity now for us to worship the lord through the giving of our gifts as you know here in sanctuary we don't pass the plates anymore we do have offering boxes in the throughout the church building you can give safely online you can text to give there's a lot of different ways to do it but we always like to emphasize not how you give but why you give and in luke 12 34 it says where your treasure is there will your heart be also when we invest in god's kingdom through our time treasure and our talents our hearts become more in in tune with what god is doing our desires grow for that so sometimes you feel like the things of the lord i know they're important but i can't tell you that's where my heart is begin to invest financially in your time all the gifts that god has given to you and you will find your heart for eternal things and for god growing so i want to encourage you along those lines well as you've been hearing us say we are better together and this fall our goal is that everyone everyone i guess say everyone who is at all physically possible to join a community or a small group we want you in one it really is so important i mean as pastor philip has said many times we need each other and i think the longer that i've walked with the lord and been in the church i realized more and more just the wisdom of god in putting together god's people even the people that find us annoying or that we might find annoying we actually need one another that's how we grow in the fruit of the spirit if everyone was amazing just like we are it wouldn't push us to be patient or long-suffering and so our communities and our small groups enable us to to rub shoulders with god's people to encourage them and be encouraged and so if you're already in a group but you haven't registered for that group yet please do so online or you can go into the lobby today and do it at one of the kiosks there very very important now we have a new church database and some of you are really excited about that the other 98 percent of you couldn't care less but it's important a new thank you for the two percent there that plotted a new database yeah wow all right maybe it's four percent of you that really care here's why that's actually important because you're probably thinking i don't i don't need more homework i'm trying to keep up on laundry now you've given me an assignment i've got to go to the website i got to create an account i get it i did like four loads of laundry yesterday karma's out of town i have a lot of pink t-shirts if any guys need any um the reason it's important is because we we need to shepherd uh one another well we need to know who's in the groups right if you ever sit down at your dinner table and you talk to your spouse and you go someone's missing i don't know who but didn't somebody used to sit there a little short guys blonde hair you'd want to know who that child is especially if they're your child so we want to love one another we want to serve one another if you're in the hospital if you're sick or something like that we want to care for you so please go to the website fill out a a new account for us that's also how you're going to do your giving in the future to give online but it'll help us to shepherd one another well so please take care of that two weeks from today is what we call celebration sunday we begin with a baptism at the lake 8 a.m it's amazing if you've never been you got to go wonderful encouraging time then we come back for 10 am worship service and in that service we have an installation service for pastor phillip we are finally officially installing him as our new senior pastor he is so excited because he'll begin to get paid that following week then after the morning worship service we have what we call moody fest it's a church-wide picnic over in lincoln park there's music there's food there's games there's ponies there's ice cream all kinds of great stuff and it's just a wonderful time for us to get together and enjoy the fellowship that we have and so i just want to make you aware of that write that down it's going to be a great great sunday a lot for us to pray for right i want to pray for pastor eric targe who will be bringing god's word together this morning but so many other things we need to lift before the lord so let's pray our heavenly father we have sung this morning of your goodness and your sovereignty we can't even begin to comprehend this morning just how majestic and glorious you are the god who created the universe by simply speaking it into existence and sustains it by the word of your power and yet who knows each one of us individually perfectly you know everything that we've ever done everything we've ever thought you know the future you know our needs and the fact that our deepest need is jesus and you have made him available to all who will receive him and so father we come before you this morning with grateful hearts but also with needy ones each one of us facing difficult and different circumstances that we need your grace for we need the mind of christ and so we yield ourselves to you father confessing the fact that we don't always long to know you better we don't always obey we don't always put ourselves first or last we put ourselves first far too often father sometimes we lack compassion we lack self-control we lack love and so we pray father for your forgiveness which is freely offered to us because of jesus but we pray that you'd open our eyes even more to your greatness and your goodness and give us a hunger and thirst for righteousness and a knowledge of god help us to be instruments of grace and love and compassion in our families and our neighborhoods in this city and beyond help us father to be a generous people in all respects and father we commit our brother pastor eric to you this morning speak to us through him through his preparation the work you've done in his heart through your spirit this week bless us encourage us rebuke and correct us we pray for your glory and our eternal good in jesus name amen we'd like to read for you from one of the songs for life psalm 63 would you please stand for the reading of god's holy word o god you are my god earnestly i seek you my soul thirsts for you my flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water so have looked upon you in the sanctuary beholding your power and glory because your steadfast love is better than life my lips will praise you so i will bless your name as bless you as long as i live in your name i will lift up my hands my soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips when i remember you upon my bed and meditate on you in the watches of night for you have been my help and in the shadow of your wings i will sing for joy my soul clings to you your right hand upholds me do you long for god like that are you satisfied with him only like that i'd like to teach you this song from psalm 19. you have been [Music] placed in god before you formed [Music] and soon our lives turn back [Music] before the day has passed [Music] satisfy us with your love sing that with me [Music] s when the sun comes up [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] uh [Music] [Music] us [Music] teach us the lord to number our days on earth [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus christ [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is us [Music] [Music] when the sun comes [Music] i lord our hearts are so forgetful so prone to wander as we sing so unwilling to follow our shepherd [Music] seeking after idols in all kinds of places and all kinds of things but lord we pray today that our desire might be for you because you alone can satisfy us we pray in jesus name amen thank you so blessed to be able to gather together and sing together i i love i love that we've been able to take four weeks to look at the the music of the bible because music has this wonderful way of connecting to our souls connecting to our emotions i don't know about you but on a warm day as i am driving home on lakeshore drive if it is beautiful out i love to lower my windows turn up the volume and blast some billy joel that's that's my soul that that that's what connects with me uh maybe for you it's different on a relaxed day or an exhausted day uh it's taylor swift or bruno mars chuck berry or patty labelle maybe lauren daigle or steven curtis chapman some music helps us to to relax rejoice and and other music can be deeply therapeutic that's the the kind of song we're going to be looking at today in our series songs of life a therapeutic song you know right before the pandemic started i was struggling with some severe back pain couldn't move couldn't hug it was really awful uh and my doctor prescribed for prescribed something for me that i was really excited about he said eric i'm gonna send you for a therapeutic massage now i i heard that and my face lit up i was smiling big and the doctor recognized that i clearly didn't understand something so he wanted to dissuade me of any false notions he said eric just so you know therapeutic means healing not relaxing now just a couple weeks later when i went for for this procedure it only took two minutes for words to begin to come to mind that i did not know were in my vocabulary as this man began to to push and need areas under my shoulder blades that i didn't know existed gibberish pleads came from my mouth to to ask him to stop it was not relaxing but it was healing and i was desperate for healing so i took the therapy psalm 42 that's our psalm this morning you can open up there is is written from the perspective of someone who is desperate for spiritual healing desperate to to be delivered from their their spiritual despair this morning we're gonna seek to do some therapy for desperate souls i don't think though this is how we've we've often looked at at psalm 42 right i mean if you look there with me psalm 42 verse 1 it begins as a deer pants for flowing streams so pants my soul for you oh god and we've we've seen this verse in many ways we've seen it plastered onto coffee mugs knit into throw pillows with a a tranquil scene of a docile deer gently lapping at a river in an enchanted forest but that's not the picture that our psalmist is painting this is no docile deer the deer that the psalmist is painting is panting in this psalm the deer is is frantic and dehydrated searching for some means of sustenance that's the the image the writer wants to use to communicate his spiritual state maybe you've been here you felt like this in your spiritual life like your prayers are bouncing off of some glass ceiling your bible reading is just coming up empty feels like wasted time you're craving some experience of god but right now you're dry and empty my friends i want you to know that you are not the first people to feel this way if that's you know god's people have have felt this from time to time throughout history the old testament prophet elijah cried out in his despair in first kings 19 he said i have had enough lord take my life we we had the the text read for us earlier in psalm 63 by king david when he said o god you are my god earnestly i seek you my soul thirsts for you my flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water from the famous 19th century preacher charles spurgeon to mother teresa god's people have battled despair it's it's not a marker of spiritual immaturity it's part of life in a broken world and it seems this is what our psalmist is experiencing i mean again look at verse 2 he says my soul thirsts for god for the living god when shall i come and appear before god some of you have a footnote in your bibles that says that another way that could be translated is when shall i yield and see the face of god what he's saying is when can i just be done with this life and move on to the next verse three his tears have been his food day and night have you been there do you do you know someone who has the stresses of everyday life have gotten to be so much the loneliness is overwhelming you've lost your appetite no one understands you all joy feels as though it's been robbed in in june of this past year psychiatric services teamed up with the united states census bureau and found that 40 percent of americans reported symptoms of depression and anxiety this past year and more than a quarter of those said that they lacked any mental health support no place to turn many many hid this from their friends and family listen i get it it may not be you today today might be a billy joel day for you but at some point we all face moments like this and statistically right now it's those around you your friends your family your neighbors so whether it's you or or someone that you are called to love i want us to see today that the way forward for those who are desperate like the deer the way toward soul-sustaining water is found in jesus would you look at verse 4 with me the psalmist says these things i remember as i pour out my soul how i would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of god with glad shouts and songs of praise a multitude keeping festival you see after he processes his present predicament searching for for water and spiritual desperation the psalmist shifts to thinking about the past this isn't how things have always been he used to be full of joy singing praise he wasn't searching for god he was in the house of god the psalmist is remembering that he was most joyful in god when he was with the community of god don't don't miss the point that he's making look down at the text he talks about being with the throng the large crowds a multitude he says you see throughout history god has chosen to meet his people in worshipful community for the israelites he made himself known in the temple where his chosen people would gather for festival the gathering was was key for the israelites to have a fresh experience of god and the psalmist experienced god in that place now i know we don't have a temple to gather in today so so how do we today sing psalm 42 with any sincerity friends in jesus we have the joyful presence of god through his body the church the worshipful community of jesus water for desperate souls is found in the community of jesus if you have been struggling to experience the presence of christ there is no better place than to look to his body the church that's the purpose of the body metaphor that that paul is using in romans 12 when he says as christ's body that we are supposed to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep we are called to love one another in this way now listen i know this is difficult because depression by its very nature is isolating depression causes us to withdraw from the world and the withdraw withdrawal only causes greater depression it's a vicious cycle right we we decide to be alone because we feel alone and then we feel alone because we are alone but we have a choice in these moments regarding how we relate to the past again look at the psalm he says these things i remember he's remembering and he could either let the past serve as an anchor causing him to reminisce about the good old days or it can serve as a rudder pushing him toward loving and joyful community once again are you desperate find healing water in the community of jesus be present in the community of god are you withdrawing it's time to make a change i understand everyone's situation is different but if you're able and ready i want to challenge you today no matter where you are online in person to take just a step if you're sitting in the same row week after week and never speaking to anyone sneaking out during the closing song join a community if it's too much to be a part of a large group join a small group if it would be medically unwise for you to come to a group in person join a zoom group but friends you need somebody we need to be together we need to be in community remember the first thing that god ever said was not good in this universe was loneliness it is not good that a person should be alone we were made for one another and in christ we are part of one another so that we might know and experience him more fully are you thirsting for the presence of god find water for your parched soul in the community of jesus and gather our psalmist continues look at verse 5 with me he says why are you cast down o my soul and why are you in turmoil within me we'll stop there for just a second there was a british pastor late british pastor named d martin lloyd jones who makes a wonderful point about this verse in a book that he wrote called spiritual depression he said have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself you see our our psalmist here is taking a break from constantly listening to himself his soul was playing a broken record that's saying turmoil turmoil turmoil over and over again in his head they say to me all day long where is your god where is your god where is your god we we do this right that girl that that said something to you in the fifth grade that comment you overheard in the hall that you're pretty sure was about you that attack or insult that that cut deep because there's a part of you that believes it's it's true i don't know about you but i've i've got an internal record playing in my head that that goes over and over again the record sings the same song eric you're not good enough eric you're just not good enough do you have one of those playing in your head too yourself is condemning you on loop we try all sorts of things to help with this right we we try distracting ourselves with netflix and hulu and disney plus ignoring it or self-medicating to drown it out but once that distraction is gone and the self-medicating wears off the record is just as loud as ever friends what we need to do is treat that record like the awkward voicemail you just left press three erase and re-record that's what our psalmist does he does not allow his soul to have the last word he sings a new song to himself look at verse six my soul is cast down within me therefore i remember you from the land of jordan and of hermann from mount mazar deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls all your breakers and your waves have gone over me by day the lord commands his steadfast love and at night his song is with me a prayer to the god of my life i love this section because uh the psalmist is not just preaching false things to himself no he's he's very much based in reality i mean look how he starts he starts by admitting listen my soul is cast down but it doesn't end there he says therefore therefore i'm going to do something about it he recognizes in verse 7 that he feels as though waves are coming over him he he can't catch a break he is overwhelmed but he's saying still even with all of life's woes he can sing a better song to his soul than his soul can sing to him i remember you from the land of jordan and of hermann from mount mazar by day the lord commands his steadfast love and at night his song is with me a prayer to the god of my life i see our psalmist sings water to his desperate soul with the promises of god the promise that that god is present the promise that he is loved listen if your soul is speaking to you all kinds of discouraging words today know that water for desperate souls is found in the promises of jesus you see these promises here in this text are are for the israelites as god's chosen people they could depend on it that god loved them that god was with them and through christ we also can take hold of these promises if you're a follower of jesus the lord commands his steadfast love toward you for those who are in christ the promise in romans 8 38 is that nothing can separate us from the love of god in christ jesus not death not life not angels not demons nothing will separate us friends preach his love to yourself the psalmist goes on to say if you look he says at night his song is with me and you know i never actually understood what what that verse meant i read it over and over again but i never really grasped the full meaning i think until my daughter came along when she and my son were born i wrote each of them a little lullaby for cece my daughter the the song starts with her name cecilia magdalena and then it goes on to explain how much i love her and she was having trouble when she was around one years old she uh was really struggling to to sleep at night and so we decided that we were going to play this song for her on the baby monitor on loop on those nights when she was crying desperate for our presence afraid of the darkness and the shadows at her window when her song came on the baby monitor cecilia magdalena she knew i was watching her she knew that even when she couldn't see me that i could see her and loved her and almost every time when we put it on when she hear the song she would rest her head and go to sleep now there have been nights over the past three and a half years when the baby monitor wasn't working just right the wi-fi was was off and so we couldn't play this song and it was so annoying but i wanted to know like is my daughter asleep and so i would put my my ear to her door and and occasionally i would hear her singing to herself she was singing the promise of her daddy to herself in the night friends this is what we must do this is our promise in christ god sings over us with his loving presence we need to sing it to ourselves the prophet zephaniah echoes this saying that god sings over his people he says the lord your god is in your midst a mighty one who will save he will rejoice over you with gladness he will quiet you by his love he will exalt over you with loud singing [Music] if if you're a follower of christ jesus's promise to you in matthew 28 20 is the same i am with you always to the end of the age even when you feel alone he's there watching psalm 56 8 says you have kept count of my tossings in the night you've collected my tears in your bottle he is not ambivalent to our suffering he stands over us with tender love friends we need to preach these promises to our souls water for desperate souls is found in the community of jesus that we need to gather into it's found in the promises of jesus that we need to preach and sing to ourselves and water for desperate souls is found in the cry of jesus that we must echo look with me at verse 9 verse 9 the psalmist says i say to god my rock why have you forgotten me why do i go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy as with a deadly wound in my bones my adversaries taunt me while they say to me all the day long where is your god when i had just come on staff years ago to the moody church i had a gentleman in my office who was struggling with severe depression and had just recently been diagnosed with a a physical disability that was affecting his mobility and he was struggling toward the end of our our time together that day he said to me said pastor eric i don't know if this is right but i'm just so angry at god i want to yell at him is that okay now i'm going to be honest with you just as i was honest with him i told him i don't know but can i get back to you and so we made an appointment for the next week and i i was searching and trying to understand i didn't want to say no but i didn't want to say yes and i i found somewhere this this helpful advice from pastor in minneapolis named john piper he said it is never right to be angry with god but it is always wrong if you are angry with god not to tell him do you hear what he's saying he's saying we're never in the right when we're angry with god never does god look at us in our anger and say oop you're right my bad no we we're never in the right when we're angry at him but we're always in the wrong when we conceal our anger in hypocrisy god wants us to cry out to him to share our confusion with him to speak our frustrations with him god wants an authentic relationship with his people and this is what this psalm leads us to look at the verse why have you forgotten me the psalmist says why and i know it feels really weird right to ask god why for some reason many of us in the church have have gotten into our heads that a marker of spiritual maturity is to no longer have questions it's a marker of spiritual maturity that that we face suffering and difficulties and just grin and bear it but if that were so i don't believe god would have put these words in the song book of israel he gave them these words so that they might feel the freedom to sing their frustrations out to him quite a few times i've heard people say oh you shouldn't ask god why who are we to question god don't ask why they say they say rather ask what what god do you want to teach me now hear me it's okay to ask god what he wants to teach you that's good but equally if not more important is it that we ask why why are things not the way they're supposed to be why do i not feel your presence going to god with these questions is called lament and it's a holy exercise when we ask god why we're not simply asking a question what we're doing is proclaiming the brokenness of this world and the belief that god did not intend it to be this way when we don't ask why what we're doing is telling ourselves and the world around us that brokenness is a natural part of life but it's not when we're confronted with brokenness we need to stop saying well that's life it's not life it's death and it should be lamented even jesus himself recites a lament song in psalm 22 as he's hanging on the cross he cries out my god my god why have you forsaken me in doing so he serves as an example for us to echo now i know there's there's a difference between jesus's lament and ours on the cross jesus actually was forsaken so that we might be accepted but similarly on the cross jesus cried out so that we might be heard in our cries he lamented so that god might hear our laments when you drink the water of jesus's lament asking why you remind yourself and others that god created something so much better this is not life but true life is available in jesus water for desperate souls is is found in the community of jesus so gather it's found in the promises of jesus so preach and sing them to yourself it's found in the cry of jesus so ask and lament and one last place i want us to to see this morning water for the desperate soul is found in the hope of jesus look at the last verse with me would you verse 11 the psalmist says why are you cast down o my soul and why are you in turmoil within me hope in god for i shall again praise him my salvation and my god this is the chorus of the song it repeats twice you saw it before first the the questioning of his soul and then the command to his soul hope in god for i shall again praise him now i don't want us to to miss what's being said here the psalmist does not say hope in god and praise him anyway the chorus says i shall again do you hear that do you see it circle it underline it i shall again he's saying i believe in the day when praise will once again be on my lips you see often in the church we have these two unhelpful tendencies when we're not wanting to praise we either try to be right or we try to be real when we we try to be right we basically take the mentality of fake it till you make it we sing praise to god with our lips hoping that our mind and heart will catch up now sometimes this works but often when we come face to face with our troubles again the praise disappears the other option is we try to be real we tell ourselves hey listen i'm just going to be real but what that really means is we're going to opt out we say we'll we'll come to praise when we feel like it but right now we're just going to do our own thing and what we end up doing is withdrawing from our relationship with god we withdraw from christ's body in the church and begin to give god the cold shoulder with the exception of a few requests now and then but our psalm here shows us a third way the way that our psalmist takes is hope he's not praising god in this moment he has no hallelujah and he's not faking it but he's not opting out either instead he is worshiping god through hope i shall again praise him he looks forward to the day when a psalm 40 says god will put a new song of praise in his mouth the psalmist is is desperate to praise him but life right now is hard the dark cloud of despair is overshadowing all of god's praiseworthy attributes in these moments if you're there don't fake it and don't opt out instead hold out and sing hope now let me clarify i'm i'm not talking about hope like you're hoping you'll win the lottery that's desire not hope hope in the bible is synonymous with expectation the writer of psalm 42 hopes in the day that he will praise god again and by hoping he means that he looks forward to the day when it'll actually happen you see too often we're ready to accept and adapt but hope is not satisfaction with the way things are hope is not getting used to it hope is not accepting brokenness as the new normal no hope is willing the willingness to raise your expectations of what the peace and joy of god its presence will be gathering with the expectation to meet him preaching to yourself his promises that are yours crying to him and believing he hears and holding out hope that joy will be restored now i know holding out hope when your soul is cast down can can feel pretty foolish that internal record will mock you right and you wonder what what can hope even do in the classic book don quixote by miguel cervantes there's this scene where alonso a guy who loses his mind becomes a night errand in order to restore chivalry uh is is mocked by by people and he's mocked endlessly throughout the story but there's this one scene where someone begins to mock him for his hope and in this moment alonso regains lucidity and speaks perhaps the most profound line in the entirety of the story he asks am i to surrender hope this may be madness too much sanity may be madness and maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it ought to be did you did you hear alonzo's profound truth maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it ought to be is your soul desperate for water turn to the hope of jesus the hope that christ will make life as it ought to be and not as it is this is the hope that that christ followers have as it says in in revelation 21 that he will undo every sad thing he will wipe away every tear from our eyes death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things will have passed away are you panting for god like a deer for the water let your thirst be quenched in jesus gathering in his community preaching to your soul his promises lamenting alongside his cry and anticipating the hope he brings are you desperate have you tried way after way of finding rest only to be disappointed again and again look to jesus in the gospel of john chapter 4 there's a famous story of a samaritan woman with a cast down soul in turmoil who comes to a well at midday thirsting for water withdrawn and isolated from society feeling the depth of her sin internal and external voices calling to her saying where is your god i see no god in your life and then god spoke to her jesus spoke to her and offered himself living water water that quenches our eternal thirst are you as the desperate panting deer searching for the water friends jesus is the water turn to him drink from him and live would you pray with me oh father we are desperate souls living in a world that is but not as it ought to be draw us to yourself remind us of your promises meet us lord through your truth through your son jesus and quench our thirst we pray in jesus name amen [Applause] do you stand as we respond to these things about to celebrate communion together if you got it without the elements to step out into the lobby real quick and join us again let's sing will wait for you i will wait for you [Music] in darkest places [Music] foreign [Music] yet for forgiveness i will wait for you i will wait for your [Music] i will wait for you should it wait for you to satisfy [Music] [Music] emerging from [Music] i will wait for you sure [Music] and god himself [Music] [Music] i will wait for you i [Music] till my soul satisfied [Music] i will wait for you i will wait for you [Music] i is wait for you i will wait for you through the storm and through the night i will wait for you surely [Music] amen it is our happy privilege this morning to celebrate the lord's supper if you are participating at home you can get the elements ready i think one of the beautiful things about celebrating the lord's supper together is that we're doing it individually but we are also doing it corporately not just those of us in the sanctuary but those of you at home and not only that but all believers all followers of the lord jesus christ worldwide it unites us together as followers of christ it's jesus's teaching about who he was and what he came to do and our affirmation of that our embrace of jesus and the gospel that makes us one and so on the screen will be this affirmation of faith i encourage you as we read together to think about what these truths are that jesus taught us that will bring us safely home to heaven i believe in god the father almighty the creator of heaven and earth and in jesus christ his only son our lord who was conceived of the holy spirit born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate was crucified died and was buried the third day he arose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of god the father almighty whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead i believe in the holy spirit god's holy church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and life everlasting amen please be seated the bible says that when we celebrate the lord's supper we are proclaiming the lord's death until he comes we are not merely proclaiming that he died we are proclaiming why he died and for whom he died and we are saying that jesus died on the cross for my sins he died in my place which is why the bible warns us against partaking of the lord's supper in an unworthy manner and we do that when we don't know the lord personally or when we don't take our sin the sin that sends him to the cross seriously and so if you're not a follower of the lord jesus christ this morning or if there is sin in your life that you're not dealing with i would urge you don't participate in the moment of silent prayer we have to come in just a moment just pray ask the lord for forgiveness ask the lord to work in your heart to open your eyes to see who jesus is you know i think that communion sunday should be the sunday every month where more relationships are reconciled in the church than any other day because we come before the lord in humbleness and in brokenness over our sin and he deals with us and out of joy and a desire to obey him we go to one another we ask for forgiveness we extend forgiveness we need to pray and after a moment of prayer we're just talking with the lord and dealing with our sin as he leads us to and thanking jesus for what he did elder reg rowden will close that time with a prayer for the bread and the cup let's pray okay [Music] lord we think of this very solemn occasion as we gather as your people lord we reminded of the past the present in the future as we think about the past lord we think about how your son came down from the splendor of heaven lord came to this earth as a humble servant lord and shed his blood lord as we think of the cup we think of your blood and how you are the perfect worthy sacrifice who lived the perfect sinful life to redeem us with your blood for we know without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins lord we think about the bread in your body which was broken for us lord we think about the present as we look at ourselves we know that we are unworthy to approach your throne but yet positionally lord we know that because of you we're able to pro to come before you boldly positionally you see us through your son lord we thank you so much for that and lord finally we look to the future look lord we look to the one day when you will come back you will be here you will be recognized as king of kings in the lord of lords lord we thank you for that as we partake these elements for christ's sake amen [Music] you take the community pack with the bread on top and peel back the seal on the night he was betrayed jesus took bread and after giving thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me [Music] [Music] [Music] and in the same way after supper jesus took the cup saying this cup is a new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me [Music] lasting god before [Music] all your goodness [Music] would you stand cause we see [Music] on jesus [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] when the sun comes up [Music] yes [Music] satisfies [Music] us with [Music] amen it's been good to be together hasn't it the word of god has been preached pastor eric thank you so much for that message now our job is to respond however it is that the lord is leading you we have prayer partners up front they're available online on the phone as well they would love to pray with you whatever the lord is dealing with you in your heart please respond don't let this opportunity go by you can go to our connection center in the lobby there fill out a connect card again we're here to help you grow in your walk with the lord i want to encourage you along those lines just couple reminders before we go we have our fall launch better together if you haven't signed up for a group yet please do so today either in the lobby or online next sunday pastor phil begins a new series through the book of philippians called back to basics and together we're going to find out how we can grow together in our relationship with the lord and we have a a special blessing for those of you who are here phys physically we'll have guide books through the book of philippians it'll be available at all the main entrances so make sure you pick up yours before you get here and then finally as you heard last sunday for michelle we need more awana volunteers to start awana on september 15th michelle's gonna be on the second floor right now you can find her there or you can go online and and volunteer we really need you our children need community as well we want to begin strong so please prayerfully consider that let's pray our heavenly father it was your design to gather your people in the church and to give gifts to those who can proclaim your word faithfully and who can lead us in worship and can pray for us and encourage us you've given us everything we need to follow you faithfully and i just thank you for that father for those here who are discouraged who are depressed i pray that they would seek jesus the only one who can satisfy father empower us to do that encourage us through one another be glorified in our lives we pray in jesus name amen amen god bless you have a good week [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The Moody Church

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Id: VIciVWqj408

Length: 89min 59sec (5399 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021