Life Through Jesus

As we begin a new year here at Connection, one of the things we like to do is talk a little bit about our vision as a church: life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. Today, we're discussing life through Jesus, so please open with us to Genesis chapter one.

Amen! They sound great. Praise the Lord! God gives wonderful gifts to people. It’s so good to see all of you this morning. Happy 2020! Has anyone else been having a hard time coming out of the holiday fog and into a new year? I have been struggling to restart my brain after that. However, the kids do go back to school tomorrow, so that might help a little bit. God is good, although the kids probably don’t think that’s a good thing. All of them are over there looking depressed, while all the parents are like, "Oh, thank you, Jesus! You’re so good to us!" 2020, amen! Back to school is glorious.

It is a new year, and happy new year to you all! I don’t know, a new decade, a new year—this all seems kind of crazy. I was thinking this last week about where we’ll be going in the Scriptures for the upcoming year. For most of the last ten years, a little more than that, we have been studying the whole of the New Testament, which we finished this last year. That leaves a huge section of the Bible unexplored. We haven’t really spent any time in what’s called the Old Testament, the first two-thirds of the Bible, in the last ten to twelve years.

So this year, in a few weeks, we are going to be diving into the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy and exploring the Scriptures there. We will also break into some of the prophetic books, and I’m really looking forward to that. As I was thinking about this new year, it didn’t even strike me as odd, as this may sound, that it’s a new decade until a few days ago.

Before that, I was wondering how many churches last year or last week heard messages entitled "Hindsight 2020." I kind of think there were probably a lot of them, and I bet there are a whole bunch of churches this week doing messages called "20/20 Vision" because we have to carry on that whole 20/20 thing. As corny as those titles may be, we're not going to talk about that this week.

We are going to partake of communion at the end of our message, and I was struck by the fact that, in hindsight, we look back to the work that Jesus accomplished on the cross. That's what we're remembering when we partake of the bread, which represents His body that was broken for us, and the cup, which represents His blood that was shed for us. We are looking back in hindsight towards what Jesus did on the cross, and that act gives us clarity in the present. It also gives us a vision for a future and a hope.

I mentioned a verse a couple of weeks ago, just before Christmas. We briefly looked at what has become a very well-known, kind of famous verse in Jeremiah's book, Jeremiah 29:11. God is speaking, and He says, "For I know the thoughts I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." If you are a believer in Jesus today, if you're a Christian, then the Scriptures give you a future and a hope, and that's a wonderful thing. All of that is based upon what Jesus accomplished in the past.

So, we are going to partake of communion later on in our service, and that's what we are thinking about—looking back to what He has accomplished. Generally, every single year, I like to begin the year by talking a little bit about who we are as a church and what our vision is. You don't have to have attended Cross-Connection Church for very long to discover what our vision is because, in some way, we mention it pretty much every single week. Pastor Garret or Pastor Mark, whoever is doing the announcements, will generally make the statement that we want to live life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus.

It's right on the front of your bulletin if you have that in your hand. It's there in front of us. Our website is "Life in Connection," and the church's name is Cross-Connection, so we're constantly trying to emphasize this. Not only do we want you to know what this church is about, but our desire is that you would experience and live that vision.

Kind of begs the question: what exactly does that even mean? What does it look like to live that vision?

Well, if you look at the front of your bulletin, where it says that, you'll notice that the words "life" and "through Jesus" are in orange. That's done intentionally because the basis of this connection with God and with one another is life through Jesus.

What we're going to talk about today, as we prepare our hearts for communion, is that aspect of life through Jesus. When you receive life through Jesus, He makes it possible for you to be connected to God, having a vertical relationship with Him, and to be connected with one another, having a horizontal relationship with one another. He unites us together as one. Our desire is that we would experience that connection with God, connection with one another, and then extend that to the world. That's the life in connection with the world, taking that elsewhere. But all of that begins with experiencing life through Jesus.

To set the stage for that, or to really help us grasp what that's all about, I want to go to a familiar passage of Scripture. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand this morning, and one of our ushers will gladly bring you one. We're going to open to the very first book of the Bible. As I've said before, you can open to Genesis chapter 1, the very first book, first page of the Bible. This helps us to set the stage for what this is all about: life through Jesus.

I ask you to stand, as I typically do, when we read the Scriptures at the beginning of our services. As we're going through the Scriptures today, if you have a question about the message, the Christian faith, or just about the world in general, and you'd like answers for those, you can text your questions to the phone number up on the screen. Pastor Mark and I will record a podcast this week answering those questions.

I'm going to jump around a little bit as we go through, but I'll help you follow along with the reading. We're going to start at Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. There it is written: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."

And then God said, "Let us..." I'm sorry, skip down to verse 26. That's what He said. Skip down to 26. I told you I was going to jump around, but my brain's trying to catch up. It's a new year.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

Turn one page to the right to chapter 2. Look at verse 7. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being." The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground, the Lord God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The Tree of Life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Verse 15 of chapter 2 says, "Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and to keep it." The Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die."

And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone." Can I get an amen? "I will make him a helper comparable to him." The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept. He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of man." Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. They were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.

Father, I pray as we open the Scriptures here at the beginning of a new year that You would continue in 2020 the work of transformation that You want to do in each of our hearts and in our minds. That transformation would be evident in the way that we think and in the way that we respond to...

Other people and incidents in our lives would be evidence in the way that we speak and interact with others. It would be evident in the way that we walk day by day. God transforms us so that we would, every single day, take on more of the likeness of Your children. It should be seen that we have Your nature being manifested in us: love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, and self-control. All of these things would become more of the characteristics of our lives in 2020. That's certainly what You are desiring to do. You have predestined us to be conformed into the image of Your sons and daughters, as Romans chapter 8 says.

So, God, would You fulfill that in us? Lord, use Your Word and the working of Your Holy Spirit, even in this moment, as we take time to consider it, to perfect the work that You have begun in us. We can be confident that You, who began a good work in us, will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. We are so grateful that You will accomplish that. So accomplish that in us individually, in us as a church corporately, and cause us as Your people in this world to make an impact by Your grace, by Your Word, and by the gospel. We pray this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You may be seated.

Some of you this last week started a Bible reading plan going through the Scriptures, and for many of you, that may have started in the book of Genesis. What we just read is familiar to you. You just read through this, and it's a familiar story. Even just in our culture, there are certain aspects of it that people know, even if they don't really read the Bible. They have kind of heard it, so they casually know what's going on in this passage.

But this is how the story of the Bible begins, and really, according to what the Bible reveals, this is how the story of humanity begins. This is how God began all things. In the beginning, a good God created a good creation, and in the middle of that creation, He formed what is described as a good garden and placed the first humans into that garden: Adam and Eve. There was something distinct; there was something unique.

About those two individuals that God created from which we believe we have descended, there was something distinct and unique. It's described in Genesis 1:26 that God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness." In Genesis chapter 2, it says He formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life, and humanity became a living being. Some translations say a living soul.

There's something distinct about you; you were created in the image and likeness of God. This means you have a consciousness that is different from the rest of creation, and you have a connection that God created you with to a spiritual realm—a realm that is incorporeal and outside of our senses. This is that sixth sense that some people refer to. We have that because God created us with it, and we have the ability to live in this world, in some small way, in that image. We can take things that God has made and form them into something new.

We have a procreative capacity. God is a creator God; He made you with creative ability. If we look at the world around us, what has started with all of the rudimentary elements, God's work in humanity through common grace has enabled us to create magnificent, amazing, and phenomenal things. I mean, by this time, we should have flying cars. We don't have those yet, but I'm sure Elon Musk will give us that soon.

Now, sometimes when people look at this story with a skeptical eye, there are a lot of people who have different views or opinions on the story of Genesis chapters one and two. Many people in the American Church believe these to be historic events that God brought about, and that there actually were two individuals, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. Maybe that's the view that you have.

There are other Christians who say these are mythological writings or metaphorical. However you may look at it, these things set the basis for reality as we know it. There are those who look at this passage with a skeptical eye and say, "Well, if this is true, and if God did this, then why did He allow for there to be, in the midst of this garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?" If you've been reading through Genesis this last week, you know that this leads us into some challenges and problems, which we'll look at next.

Why did God create as He did? We'll consider that in a moment, but first, we have to recognize point number one on your outline: God's original creation was very good. This is what is given to us in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. In the opening chapter, I believe it's seven times that God says, "It is good." Then, at the very end of the passage, the very last verse of Genesis chapter 1 states, "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good."

God's original creation was very good, but as I alluded to, it didn't stay that way. We know by looking at the world around us that it is not as it once was. In Genesis chapter 3, we see the story of how things came to be as we know them. Genesis 3:1 tells us, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." He said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of the tree of every tree of the garden?'"

The woman responded to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" This is partially correct. Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and that it was desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave it to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened; they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made for themselves coverings.

Previously, at the end of chapter 2, we read that they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed. But now, with the opening of their eyes came an awareness of their nakedness and shame. They tried to cover it. What was united together, the two becoming one flesh, has been disrupted and divided by sin, and shame has come in.

Then verse 8 says they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves.

From the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden, guilt entered their hearts. Their eyes were opened, and shame came. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said, "Where are you?" For some of you, maybe a lot of us this morning, that's a good question: Where are you at this moment? Are you hiding from God, ashamed and filled with guilt? That's the story of our first parents; that's where we find them in Genesis 3.

But the question lingers: Why did God allow for there to even be this tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Why do that in the first place? We could still be living in a perfect creation were it not for the disobedience and sin of Genesis chapter 3. It seems like a valid question: God, why did you put that there in the first place?

I want to suggest to you that God did that because He was constrained by His nature when He created. Some people think that God has zero limitations, but that's not how God is described in the Bible. There are certain limits that God has, and those limits are not necessarily a bad thing. Because God is truth, He cannot lie. You could make the case that God cannot worship; what would He worship? There is nothing greater than Him.

One of the other things we know about God's character, or His actual nature, is found in the book of First John, chapter 4, where we are told that God is love. So, constrained by His nature, God would not create beings made in His image without the capacity for choice. He wouldn't create them in His image and then say, "Now I am forcing you to honor, love, and serve Me."

To create within the constraints of His nature, He created an opportunity to choose not God, to rebel against God. Therefore, we have this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We know the story: Genesis 3 tells us that humanity ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said in Genesis chapter 2, verse 17, "In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die."

Now, Adam and Eve, when they partook of this, didn’t just keel over dead right there. But there was a death that took place—a death, a separation, a division—as shame came into those who had disobeyed.

Previously, there was no shame, and the two that had become one were now separated from one another. There was a death in the form of guilt. There was a vertical connection with God that was severed. Man is now hiding from God, and there is a death that spreads to all of humanity. Romans chapter 5 tells us that through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin. Death spread to all humanity because all sinned. God's command was very clear in Genesis chapter 2, verse 17, and Adam's transgression was very pronounced in Genesis chapter 3.

Point number two on your outline: man's disobedience brought sin, brokenness, and death. God's very good creation was indeed very good, but through the sin of humanity, we have sin, brokenness, and death. This is the predicament; this is the problem that every single one of us was born into. We know this sin, this brokenness, this death. We experience this brokenness very acutely; it affects every single one of us.

As I was saying, even though there are people who are skeptical of the story given to us in Genesis chapters one, two, and three, even if they don't believe this to be valid, true, or substantive, they still recognize the reality that we live in a broken world. You can ask any person, and you probably spent some time with family members over the holidays who are skeptics of the Christian faith. Maybe they once attended church in the past or grew up going to Sunday school, but now they've walked away and are skeptical. They have questions, and perhaps they have read the likes of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, or some other atheistic worldview promoter. There are a lot of atheistic evangelists out there today, and they are skeptical of these things.

However, if you asked them, "Do you think the world is broken?" they would likely agree with you. What's fascinating is that even if they think the world is broken, there is a sense within them that it ought not to be. All of us have that sense, and we all come into contact with the brokenness of this world. For probably most everyone in this room this morning, you can remember when it first occurred to you that things are not as they should be.

I remember when it was for me. It was the summer between fifth and sixth grade when I was first impacted by the reality of the brokenness of this world. It happened when an uncle, whom I didn't even really know and don't think I had ever met, took his own life. He and his family lived in Northern California, and my grandmother was going to drive up there for the funeral. I drove with her, and I went to the funeral. It was the first time that I was really affected by the reality of the brokenness of this world. Part of it was due to the fact that he had a son who was my age, and it affected me even though I had never met the guy before.

Just a few months after that, it hit a second time. I had a friend who sat right next to me in class, and he died suddenly as a result of an accident. It hit me hard. You find yourself in that place where it just doesn't seem right. Have you ever been to a funeral? Have you ever stood by an open gravesite and watched as a casket is lowered down into it? There is something within you that says this is not as it should be. Where does that come from? That sense, that feeling that this is not as it should be, I suggest comes from the fact that there is a recollection deep in our psyche, deep in our hearts, of a world that once was but is no longer. There is a desire for that world.

This brings to mind one of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis. I shared it just a few weeks ago, but it's appropriate again. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, writes, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." Though you may be skeptical of the Christian faith or the words of Scripture, there is within you, whether you want to admit it or not, a desire for a world that does not have death, brokenness, and suffering.

This is why so many people are compelled to go into industries where we minister to the suffering and the brokenness of people. We are drawn to emergency medical services, nursing, or becoming doctors, or whatever it may be. We want to try and alleviate suffering, or we are impacted when we see the images on the news of things going on.

When an earthquake happens in Haiti or tsunamis occur in Japan, we often see tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars given to the Red Cross to alleviate suffering. Why? Because there is a desire within us to alleviate suffering, even for people we do not know, even for those who look differently than us or live differently than us. You don't see this in the animal kingdom. It's not like monkeys and chimps, who are said to be our nearest relatives, go around expressing sympathy for poor elephants in Africa. They don't. But we do. Why? Because there is a sense that things are not as they should be. In hindsight, we somehow remember a world that once was, but it is not that way anymore.

In Scripture, we are given the great promise that we can know that world not only in hindsight but also as a future vision. This promise is introduced at the earliest point in Genesis 3:15, where there is a prophecy given by God regarding the problem brought about by sin in this world.

Point number three on your outline is that God has promised to redeem our sinfulness and restore our brokenness. This is what the Scriptures teach. This is the promise in the story of Scripture. Sometimes, people refer to this as the meta-narrative, the overarching story of the 66 books of the Bible.

What is fascinating about the Bible is that it consists of 66 books written over 1,500 years by 40 different authors in three different languages on three different continents. Yet, there is a cohesive meta-narrative, an overarching story from Genesis to Revelation. This story unfolds in four acts: creation in Genesis 1, the fall in Genesis 3, and then from pretty much Genesis 3 onward to nearly the end of the Bible is the third act, which we are living in right now—the story of redemption. Finally, there is the story of restoration.

Creation, fall, redemption, restoration—this is the work that the Bible speaks of. This is the work that the Bible informs us God is doing. The story begins in a garden.

Genesis ends well. Look with me, if you would, at the very last book of the Bible, Revelation, specifically the second to the last chapter, Revelation chapter 21. Revelation is just that; it’s a revelation, a revealing of a vision that the Apostle John had near the end of his life. God gave him this vision and told him to write down what he saw. We believe he is writing predictively and prophetically about the future.

He writes in Revelation 21, verse 1: "Now I saw a new heaven." You can read that as a renewed heaven or a restored heaven. A new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and also there was no more sea. It was distinctly different.

Then I, John, saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. God is dwelling with humanity again. The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God."

God says, "I will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Isn’t that good news? Does anybody here not wish for that to be true? That there will one day be a day when every tear is wiped away, when there is no sorrow, no crying, no more pain, and no more death? That sounds really good. You don’t have to be a believer; you can be skeptical of the words of this book and still think that sounds good. Who wouldn’t want that?

Then in verse 5, He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." How many of you today want these words to be true and come to pass? If you're not raising your hand, you're not paying attention. Everybody wants that. Turn one page to...

Chapter 22, verse 1: "And he showed me a pure river." John writes of a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its streets, in this heavenly city brought to earth, on either side of the river that proceeded from the throne of God, was the Tree of Life. The last time we saw that was in Genesis 3, which bore twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

There shall be no more curse; the curse of Genesis chapter 3 is gone. But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no more night; they need no lamp or light of the sun, for the Lord gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

The promise of Scripture is this story of restoration, redemption, and restoration. But the question is: how do we get from Genesis 3, the world as we know it, to Revelation 21 and 22, the world as we envision and see it? How do we get there? That's where we're at right now.

To answer that story, go with me to the Gospel of John. The Gospel is about two-thirds of the way through your Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In John chapter 1, we have another accounting, if you will, of the story of the beginning. Genesis chapter 1 states, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," and that's part of the story.

But John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes the rest of the story in John chapter 1, verse 1. He says, "In the beginning was the Word" (capital W), "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He, the Word, is not a thing; He is a person. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him, the Word. Without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

In verse 9 of John chapter 1, it states, "That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world."

The world, he, the light, the Word of God, was in the world, and the world was made through Him. Genesis chapters 1 and 2 tell us that the world did not know Him because they were separated by sin. He came to His own; the Word, the light, became flesh and came into this dark world. He came to His own people. At first, He came from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through the Jewish people.

John 1:11 says, "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who

Upon Him on the cross, being crucified and dying, He who knew no sin—Paul writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21—became sin for you and me, that we might be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He takes your sin, your guilt, your shame, and your brokenness, and He gives to you His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness, and His redemption so we can have life through Jesus.

You don't have to turn there; you can note it down in your notes. In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul writes, "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins." But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ. For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God created beforehand that we should walk in them.

Then he writes in verse 11 of Ephesians chapter 2, "Therefore remember, call to mind and remember that you were once disconnected from God, Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in flesh by hands." At that time, you were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants and promises. You had no hope and were without God in this world.

But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were afar off, separated from God through sin, disconnected from Him, have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.

That He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. Point number five on your outline: Christ gives life and restores us to God and to one another. That's what redemption says, God.

God created a very good creation, as described in Genesis 1. However, man's disobedience brought sin, brokenness, shame, and death to that very good creation. All of us know this well because we live in it every single day. But Jesus came to this world to bring restoration, redemption, grace, forgiveness, and mercy.

For some of you, this good news is not new news. You know this so well that you could share this message yourself. Yet, even though you know it so well, it's good to be reminded. That's part of the reason why we, on a regular basis here at the church, partake of communion. It serves as a reminder: the bread symbolizes Jesus's body broken for us, and the cup represents His blood shed for us for our forgiveness and the remission of sins. This is so that we would remember these things.

For some of you, this may be familiar, while others may be here this morning, having casually looked into these matters. Perhaps this is the first time it has fully made sense to you. If you fully grasp and understand this, I want to suggest that perhaps God is drawing you to put your trust in Him. The Scriptures say in John 1:12, "As many as received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to be called the children of God." To them, He gave life.

I am going to invite the worship team to come back up in just a couple of minutes. Our team will lead us in a song, and the ushers will distribute the bread and the cup. You can take the bread and the cup and hold on to them; we will partake together. It may be that some of you here this morning feel God calling you to put your trust in Him. The Scriptures say in Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. The Scripture also says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

So, I invite you to bow your heads with me in prayer. I will pray, and maybe today is the day for some of you to put your trust in Jesus and receive His grace.

The brokenness of this world creates a deep desire in our hearts for a reality free from that pain, where every tear is wiped away. However, if you have not experienced the redemption of Jesus, you may feel hopeless about that future restoration. God wants you to know the redeeming grace of Jesus.

If that's you this morning and you want to trust in Jesus, I invite you to pray to receive Him. With the mouth, confession is made unto righteousness. Is that you? Would you lift up your hand? Anyone here this morning, please lift your hand high so I can see it.

I praise the Lord and trust that every person here knows Jesus. That is good news! I know sometimes people feel a little uncomfortable when no hands are raised, but that’s a good thing if all of you know Jesus. If you don’t know Jesus, you need to get to know God.

We thank You for Your grace and for the forgiveness that You give to us. Jesus, we can have life through Your name. Once we have life through You, we can experience a restored connection with God, the way You created us to live. We can also enjoy a restored connection with one another within the body of Christ.

God, Your desire in 2020 is that we would take that reality to other people in this broken and chaotic world. Prepare our hearts now as we worship You and partake of communion. We pray in Jesus' name.