1 Corinthians 12:12

When I mention to people that I'm a junior high pastor, a lot of times they have that initial reaction of, "Oh, junior high. I don't know." You can sense their hesitation, often accompanied by comments like, "That's a tough age." Many people have told me, "I couldn't do that. That's just not for me."

The thing is, I love that age bracket. It's comical and really fun to see how they grow up. They come into my group out of the children's ministry as fifth graders, having just graduated. When they enter my group as sixth graders, they are still very much children. In those three years, they experience puberty and transition from being children to young adults. It's such a radical difference and change, and it's really exciting.

There are also some really funny moments that happen during this time. I wanted to share a couple of things I have actually had to say to junior hires during events. As far as I can remember, here are some of the things I've had to say:

"Please stop sucking on the back of that chair." This was an actual event during the service. In another instance, I had to tell the same kid, "You're two knuckles deep. You're going to hurt yourself. Please pull your finger out of your nose."

Another memorable moment was when I had to say, "Blow that out. It's still on fire." That was a recent one. And probably my favorite: "Dude, you can't throw rocks at a bald eagle." The family may or may not have been there to hear that last one. No eagles were harmed; it's all good. He missed and wasn't aiming at them, but it still led to a conversation with a ranger.

Junior hires are wild, crazy, and goofy, and I love it. You really see this transformation from childhood to young adulthood.

They go into my class just squirrely. You can't get them to put their hands down. "Oh, I got to go to the bathroom." "Oh, what about this? What about that?" It's just like, "Oh, hang on." Last service was the first time that I actually got through an entire set of notes because I didn't have somebody going, "Wait, hang on. Wait, stop." They're really fun, and it's a radical reformation or change.

There's a bit of a bummer, though. When they start to become young adults and realize who they are in the Lord, they step into the high school group. Now, Jason is a stellar high school pastor, and he does a fantastic job with the high schoolers. However, I don't get to be part of that group that sees them really enter into a stage of maturity.

I know some of you are thinking, "Oh, I don't know, high schoolers. That still doesn't seem very mature." Believe it or not, it's intense. It's really cool to see the kind of maturity that comes out of high schoolers—spiritual maturity in the way that they walk and operate with the Lord. But I don't get to see that firsthand. I have to watch it from a distance and see kids that I still love and care about grow up in a different group.

The thing is, it's not my role in the body. If I were to step on Jason's toes and say, "Step out of the way, I'm going to come in here and keep serving these kids," I'd be stepping on somebody else's toes, and that's not appropriate. The Lord has called me to junior high ministry, and I'm very blessed to be there. The Lord has called Jason to high school ministry, and he does a great job there. My role in the body is not to see them through high school; my job is to take care of them in junior high ministry.

That can be challenging, but at the same time, that's a lot of what we're talking about today. So if you wouldn't mind, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. If you don't have a Bible, you can throw up your hand. The ushers are in the back; they can get you one. If you guys wouldn't mind standing with me, we will be in verse 12 of chapter 12. It says, "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."

For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each of them as He chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor. Our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require.

But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now, you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.

Let's pray. Father, as we get into Your Word, as we start to dig in, thank You for this opportunity. Thank You for this chance to read Your Word. Thank You that we get to read it together, that we get to study it together, and learn, as a body, how to better operate the way that You've called us to. And so, Lord, would You give us ears to hear? Would You give me the words to speak? We just give You this time now. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Yeah, be seated, please. So, just to give you kind of a heads up, I'm going to be going through a handful of verses, and we're going to be going through them kind of quickly. So, if you're the page warrior and you want to try to flip back and forth as fast as you can, have at it. But this is going to be the main bulk of the text, so if you just want to kind of hang out right here, you're welcome to do that as well. I'm going to read all this stuff to you.

So, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is where we're going to be hanging out primarily. Verse 12 again, now into verse 27.

Now, you are the body of Christ individually and members of it. Though there are many of us, there are lots of people in this church. There is a service before you and a service after you. There are all kinds of people that come in and out of this church. Beyond that, there are churches all over meeting right now. Though we are many, we are one. We all create together one body, one organism that the Lord has placed together.

Romans 12, verses 4 and 5, reiterate the same thing: "For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function. So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another." So, point number one in your outline is that we are the body of Christ. We are the body of Christ.

We are starting off with a very simple point. It's very straightforward. That's typically how I teach in the junior high room; I start with a very simple point and then kind of move on from there. But it's a point that we can't neglect. It is a foundational principle and one of the parts of our vision statement here at the church: we live life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. This is what we are living out here in the church, hopefully every single day.

Yes, it is a simple point, but there is a purpose why Christ has called us to be a body and didn't just save us and say, "Okay, great, you're saved. You've been given my grace. Now go out. I'll be with you, and good luck. I'll be there, but, you know, you're on your own." He hasn't called us to do that.

Have any of you ever had discrepancies with other people? I know that's only a few of us, but some of us have had discrepancies. It might be at work, it might be at church, or who knows? You could be in your car driving; that happens a lot. It is much easier to operate in life without having to deal with other people at times. There is a bumper sticker that says, "The more people I meet, the more I like my dog."

I think a lot of us have had days where we've been there. But the Lord called us together to be a body. He didn't say, "Go out, good luck, Lone Ranger, do your own thing, and I'll be with you." He said, "Go out, I'll be with you, but don't neglect the gathering of one another."

So we look to Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25. It says, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. And all the more, as you see the day drawing near."

Proverbs 27, verse 17 states, "As iron sharpens iron, so man sharpens the countenance of his friend." We are called to be a body. We are called to be joined together because we stir up one another to love and good works. We encourage one another. We sharpen one another. These are things that don't happen unless you are with a body of believers.

Now, yes, get in your prayer closet. Go have time with the Lord. Absolutely, those are vital things. But we also need to meet together. We don't just need to be a member alone; we need to be a body of Christ, stirring up one another. That's very simply just encouraging one another in love and good works to continue fighting the good fight and to continue doing the things that we need to be doing.

I've been hanging out in the back before, and you see people coming up. You know, someone might say, "Oh man, rough day," and hugs happen, and all that kind of stuff. We encourage one another. We love one another. But also, we sharpen one another. This one is a little bit more challenging in the body, where you have somebody that you trust, someone you know and love. They come up and say, "You know, I really need to put you in check with this. There's an issue in your life. You're not living out the way that you should. This is what the Bible says you should be doing, and this is what you're doing. These two things don't match up."

You take this to them out of love. It's grating. The way that you sharpen metal is with a harder, more abrasive metal. The way that you sharpen iron is by taking it to a grinder, sticking it to the grinder, and allowing it to grind off metal and sharpen it, doing exactly what it needs to do.

But it hurts. It's challenging. If any of you have ever been tradesmen or worked with metal at all, you know that if you stick a piece of metal to the grinder, it throws off hot shards. I was working on a piece of metal, and hot bits were flying all over my arm. It hurts. After you're done, it's like, oh man, it burns. I have kind of pansy arms, so some of you might say it doesn't bother you, but what are you going to do?

Now, it's a challenging process, but it's part of being the body of Christ. Though we are many, we are one body together. We are drawn together. We operate together, and we encourage and love each other. We challenge each other in godly and loving ways.

We're going to be back in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, but let's go back up to verse 4. It says, "And so we step into point number two: we each have our role in the body of Christ." Though we each operate as individuals in the body of Christ, we are still doing it through the same Spirit. The many members, those many things, operate through the same Spirit.

You have a whole list of what you could be doing or what you might be doing, and these are the things that the Lord has given you to do. Still, as the many members, we make up one body. I value my hand being attached to my body. If my hand is not attached to my body, it's a bad day.

The members of the body are diverse; I've got a pinky and I've got a foot. They're two very different members, and they're about as far apart as you can get. Yet, they are still part of one body, grouped together despite their different functions. My hands are doing very different things than my feet. My feet keep me from going on the floor, while my hands give my feet a workout. Many members, one body. We each have our role in the body.

Now, we're not just talking about you all operating here at the church. There are people with various roles. I'm up here teaching, while a whole group of men back there are ushering. We have a video guy in the next room recording the service to send out to television. Broadcasting and all that kind of stuff is happening, and we have children's ministry as well. People are doing all kinds of things throughout the church. These are all valuable parts of ministry, and you might be a part of them in other services.

However, there are further reaches in the body beyond just that. What about your workplace? I don't have the freedom or liberty to go to your workplace, but you have been placed there. That is where part of the body goes, and it might very well be part of your mission field. You might have an actual mission field. All of these are reaches and parts of the body that operate in different functions. When you go to work, you're on mission.

We talked about doing the Ronald McDonald House, which is not part of our job, but it is a mission field we want to be part of. Alternatively, you might want to work with the Alternatives Women's Center. You can join and lock arms with them, serving and operating in the mission field they are involved in. That is another part and member of the body.

Another way we operate as members in the body might be through clubs or sports that you're part of. I know a guy who loves to play Frisbee golf, which I call frolf. I’m not sure if that’s the official name, but he enjoys the sport. He plays independently, going out to parks. What he does is bring his bag and find a crew of three who wouldn’t mind a fourth, and he plays a round of 18 with them.

Now, what he does is, while he's out there, he has decided that this is his exercise. This is his time to relax and get away from work. He works in an office, so he goes out and finds an outdoor place where he can be with people. As he's out there, he develops a relationship. He starts talking with them and hangs out with them over the course of 18 holes. By the time he finishes, he has developed a relationship with them, and his desire, his goal, is to minister to them and share the love of Christ with them. This is another reach in the body of Christ. All of these things are valuable members in the body of Christ. These are the ways that the Lord has placed you and the things He has given you to operate in and to be His body.

I began to consider also what the role of the church is here, why we come to a building, and what the point of all that is. A little bit of my schooling came into play as I considered this. I thought, you know, the church makes me think of a heart. The heart has one function and does basically two things with that. We won't get too technical here. Basically, you have a left heart and a right heart. The left side pumps blood out to the body. It gets blood in from the lungs that is oxygenated and has all the good stuff, pumping it out to every far-reaching part of the body. The blood then drops off the oxygen, the nutrients, and the things that are good. The body puts back in carbon dioxide and other things that don't belong there, toxins, garbage, and so on. This sends it back over to the right heart.

The right heart then sends it to the lungs. The lungs take that garbage, that carbon dioxide, and the things that your body doesn't need, and reintroduce oxygen and other things that your body needs. The process starts over again. It goes back to the left heart, then back to the right heart. It's just a pumping station. The heart does not give the oxygenation; it just pumps in and out.

So, you come here week in and week out. You hear teaching, we preach, we disciple, and we send out. This is a left heart action. You come in, and Miles has been praying over his message. I see him regularly in his office, praying over and pouring over the Word so that he can stand here before you and give you something that the Lord has really shared with him.

It's life. It's life being breathed into you. It's a left heart action because what He's doing is giving you what the Lord has given Him and is just basically saying, "Here you go." Then, He sends you back out. You go out to the far reaches, wherever that might be—your work, your clubs, wherever the Lord has placed you. You pour out everything that you've received from the Lord. You're operating and sharing exactly what the world needs. You're pouring out light, salt, and goodness to the world.

A lot of times, you come back and it feels like, "Man," and you plop down in the chair, thinking, "It's been a long week." You come forward, and we get a chance to pray for you. I've had this really long week, and I sat down with somebody who lost their wife. Oh man, it was brutal. I sat with them for like two hours after work and prayed for them. They're doing better, but you know, I'm still going through it with them. We get to pray for you. That burden, that thing you've been carrying for the week, you get to lay it at the feet of the Lord. We can help you, work with you, and give you biblical counseling in that. It's about getting rid of the garbage, the stuff you're carrying on your back, laying it down, refreshing, and then going back out.

This is a pumping station. I hope that doesn't sound crass or weird. You come in, drop off the garbage, drop off the week, get renewed, refilled, and then are sent back out.

Verse 14: "For in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body. Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink one Spirit." That wasn't 14. This is 14: "For the body does not consist of one member, but of many." I want to look again to the body as an example.

This may be something that happens to me more often, but have you ever, out of the corner of your eye, seen something coming towards you, careening towards your face? You just catch it out of the corner of your eye, and you're like, "Oh." Now, junior high pastor...

That happens to me rather frequently. When something comes at you, your body reacts instinctively. It doesn't just brace for impact; if you have enough time, you see something approaching and instantly look. Your eyes send signals to your brain, which then sends out the call for help. Your hands come up, your torso twists back, and your legs and feet engage, preparing for impact.

As all of this happens, it may seem like a slow-motion sequence, but in reality, it all occurs in an instant. When the impact hits, you brace yourself. It's not just your eyes that react; your entire body comes together to defend itself. The hands work with the eyes, which coordinate with the torso, legs, and feet. Everything unites to brace for impact. The body is defending itself, and though it has many members—fingers, toes, and other separate parts—it operates as one.

As I reflected on this imagery, I began to think about the offensive aspect as well, because we fight a spiritual battle. We do not fight a battle of flesh and blood; rather, we contend against principalities and powers. Again, considering the example of the body, if you've ever seen a boxer throw a punch, you know it is a skillful act. The arm doesn't just extend and swing forward sloppily. When a boxer throws a punch and lands it effectively, the whole body is engaged.

It's not just the arm; it starts with the arm, but the torso twists, the legs contribute, the eyes lock on, and the breathing steadies. When you observe this in slow motion, you see all the members of the body operating together, though many, as one. The same principle applies to defense. We, as a body, though many, operate as one, defending one another and going on the offense in the name of the Lord. We are not fighting physical battles but taking the gospel out and engaging in the spiritual war that we have been called to.

If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as He chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts yet one body. If you don't do your role in the body of Christ, if the hand decides, "You know what? I'm not a foot. I'm out. I'm done. I don't want to do it. I don't want to be part of the body anymore," then that same thing that's careening towards your face—your eyes are going to say, "I don't care if you're not a foot, do your job. I need your help."

If the hand decides, "I'm not going to do my job," you get hit in the face, and that's not fun. I can tell you from firsthand experience that just because you're not a pastor or just because you're not someone who seems more important, or someone that you would look at and say, "Oh, look at what they do," it doesn't mean that your role in the body isn't vital or critical.

You look at what the eye does and you go, "Oh wow, look at the eye and all that it does." Well, the eye is kind of useless if it gets injured.

Going back to the people at your workplace, I don't have the freedom to walk into your workplace. If you work at Jack in the Box, or if you work in public works, or if you work in a hospital, I don't have the freedom to walk in and say, "Hey guys, I want to tell you all about Jesus today." If I come behind the counter at Jack in the Box, the manager is going to come out and say, "Get out from behind the counter. You're not health certified; you can't be here. You need to go."

Even if I stand in front of the counter and start talking to the person at the register, saying, "Are you going to order?" and I say, "No, give me 20 minutes and then I'll order. I want to tell you all about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," it's like, "I appreciate that you care about my soul and everything, but I've got 20 people behind you, and I need to start pushing burgers. So if you could just order and get out of the way." I don't have the freedom.

To do that, consider the example of locked doors. Some of you work in hospitals, in back areas that I don't have access to, but you do. You work hard, put in your hours, and your boss is happy with you. You sit down on your ten-minute break, and one of your co-workers sits across from you. You can see that they have tears in the corners of their eyes, and you ask, "Are you okay?" They respond, "I've had a really rough week," and start pouring their heart out.

In that moment, you might think, "Hang on, let me get my pastor on the phone." But that's not your job. You, the body of Christ, have been placed there by the Lord. The Lord has given you that task. You are now the pastor overseeing this situation. You are the one who gets to say, "I'm really sorry all that's happening. Can I pray for you?" That is a critical role, a vital role in the body.

In 1 Corinthians 12:21, it says, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.'" On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. The parts of the body that we think are less honorable, we bestow greater honor upon. Our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require.

How many of you have thought about your aortic valve today? What about your coronary sinus? Most people don't think about these relatively obscure parts of their body. However, every single one of you is using them right now. Even if they have malfunctioned at some point, you may have an artificial one in there that is functioning right now and keeping you alive.

The aortic valve, for instance, is the valve that stops blood from going backward into the heart. If that valve didn't exist, the blood would go out, but it would also flow back into the heart, causing serious issues.

Then it would come back in, and then it would go back out. It goes nowhere, so you're not getting a functional system. The blood the heart pumps, and as it starts to reverse, the valve closes, and the pressure keeps things going. Then the heart pumps again, and it stops the blood from coming back. Well, that's the function of your aortic valve.

One of my professors was sitting down at lunch with a few engineers, and for some reason, the aortic valve came up in their conversation. The engineers were looking at the pressures that the aortic valve was stopping, and as they examined those pressures, they said, "This doesn't make any sense with how small that valve is." It's just a fleshy little valve; it shouldn't be able to operate at the pressures and capacities that it's operating at. They were saying this should be a failed system. Why is it, and how is it, that this works?

Enter the coronary sinus. All the coronary sinus is, is basically a little cup-shaped area where the aortic valve flaps open and kind of hides away in there. As the blood rushes past, it just does its thing, and then it closes.

Now, your heart beats at anywhere over 60 beats a minute normally. Most of us in here are probably running at around 70 beats a minute, even just sitting here. That's more than one beat a second. If you think about that poor little valve, it goes whack, whack, whack, back and forth. The coronary sinus, as your valve opens and then starts to shut, creates this suction that's just enough to keep it from going boom, boom. It's a dampener. It opens, creates a suction, and then gently shuts, locking in place.

If that didn't operate, none of us in here would be alive. It would fail after about 15 years or something like that; I forget the exact number. But it's part of what helps our body to operate. Now, you can say, "Well, I have no need of you," but none of us in here thought about the coronary sinus.

None of us in here thought, "Well, that's an important member." If you had heard it on the street, you might have thought, "I don't know what they're talking about." However, it's part of your body that helps it run fully and operationally. If it failed, the whole body would fail. For one member to say, "I have no need of you" is dangerous. Our bodies are intricate; they operate as one, and they do best when they do just that.

In 1 Corinthians 12:24b, it says, "But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together."

The colon is not a dignified part of the body, and I will not be going into the processes of what it does. However, it is a part of our body that, if it's not running properly, causes the whole body to know it. Your whole body is in agony if that one part isn't working. By its very job, the colon receives honor because of the role it plays. It is considered a dishonorable part, but it is given honor by the job that it does. This may sound like a weird point, but the Lord gives honor even to those that seem dishonorable so that there be no division in the body.

In 1 Corinthians 1:10, I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no division among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

Point number three on your outline: God hates division among His body. God hates division among His body. He doesn't say He hates things very often, and so when He does, I like to make sure we pay attention.

I am listening and being very careful not to do those things. Proverbs chapter 6, verse 12 states, "A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, and points with his finger. With a perverted heart, he devises evil continually, sowing discord. Therefore, calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment, he will be broken beyond healing."

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among the brothers.

I would like to point out first the imagery that this proverb writer uses: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among the brethren. This is a body that is dysfunctional; it is in discord.

Now, why does it matter? Why is it that God hates discord among the brothers? There is something that you have probably heard of, generally called ischemia in the body. The terms that we typically use for that are heart attack, stroke, leg arterial disease, and pulmonary embolus. You have probably heard at least some of those terms. All of those things represent division, holding blood from getting to a member of the body.

What that does is it clots and divides, keeping healthy things from getting to where they need to be. The reason that it is so destructive is that it kills tissue. I have done a lot of cardiac scans where they have had a heart attack. You go in there and do the scan to see what part of the heart wall has died after a heart attack and to see what part is functioning. Some people's hearts can go down in ejection fraction; they can be pushing 50 to 75% less blood after a heart attack, which is huge. This is because of a blockage, a division from the things that the body needs getting to the part.

That needs it. That's what division is in the body of Christ. When you need something and you're divided, you're getting stuck in the middle of a bunch of stuff, and you're blocked. That member is not receiving what it needs. Christ died for His church, and it's understandable that He would hate for it to be destroyed, especially from within. Division means death to a member, and that's never a good thing.

So how do we avoid divisiveness? Colossians 3:12-15 states, "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you are called in one body. And be thankful."

Additionally, Romans 12:9-21 says, "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in tribulation; be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all."

Finally, it concludes with, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." That's not just how we avoid division; that's how we are called to live as a body. If you're sitting there thinking, "Okay, I kind of know my role, but what do I do in the body of Christ?" that's it right there. Those are a couple of verses, a handful of verses that lay it out for you: Colossians 3:12-15 and Romans 12:9-21. They list how to live.

A life with the body of Christ. Why are we talking about being a body today? It's because we're taking communion.

1 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 14 to 17 says, "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we partake of the one bread."

I would like to invite the ushers and the worship team to come on up because we're going to be passing out the elements pretty soon here. As we take communion today, we want to remember Jesus. We remember His life, His death, and His resurrection. We remember that He died for our sins and that He died for us to be united as one body. It is by Him that we are here today, and it is by Him that we have the privilege of being able to take communion.

So, I invite you to join us as we go before the Lord and sing praises to Him. Let us reflect on the significance of His death and the different aspects of Christianity that allow us to share in this moment together.