In this weeks sermon, Pastor Mike Moses reminds us of mission to honor God by making disciples of Jesus in a spirit of love for God and others, and to remember to keep this mission the main thing.
Harvest Detroit West
Sunday Sermon - Matthew 28:18-20 - "Make Disciples of Jesus”
(upbeat music) - Today's sermon is brought to us by Pastor Mike Moses. We hope that you are uplifted and encouraged by this wonderful sermon. - I've invited you to turn to Matthew 28. We will focus on verses 18 through 20 and a message titled, "Make Disciples of Jesus." Now, if you have been with our church for at least a few years, I will tell you upfront that this is a message you have heard before. And by the way, if you plan on continuing with this church for the next few years, I'm pretty sure this is a message you will hear again. Because this is a passage of scripture that we as a church will and must return to from time to time because we must remember this specific passage. We must continue to be guided by this specific passage because this passage contains for us as a church our God-given mission. And may we never forget our God-given mission to make disciples. Now, if you've been through our membership class or if you've looked through our paperwork as a church, you will recognize the mission statement that we're gonna put up on the screen for you right now. This is the mission statement of Harvest Bible Church. To honor God through the fulfillment of the great commission found in Matthew 28, in the spirit of the great commandment found in Matthew 22. Now Matthew 22 explains that the great commandment is love first for God and then for our neighbors. And Matthew 28, as we will see this morning, the great commission is to make disciples of Jesus. So we could really reword and simplify our mission statement in this way. And we'll put another alternate mission statement that fills in the blanks here, so to speak, to honor God by making disciples of Jesus in a spirit of love for God and others. This is to be our central focus as a church. This should be what we are passionate about, what drives us forward year after year. I'm sure there are things that you are passionate about in your personal life. I'm sure there are things that you get excited about that your friends would say, oh yeah, so-and-so. Don't start a conversation with him about that because he will monologue for an hour, okay? Are there things in your life that you could monologue about for an hour or more with no notes, just because you have focused so much about the thing as a passion of your life? Those of you that know me well, know that apart from God in his word, I have really two passions that I could talk about for hours and hours, and that is the sport of soccer and the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. On either of those topics, I could go on and on about them. I'm passionate about those things. If you are passionate about something, not only are you excited about it, but you have a desire to draw others into that passion along with you, is this correct? If you love a certain book, you want others to read it so that you may discuss it with them. If you love a certain sport or a TV show, you want others to watch it along with you and experience the excitement that you have in that thing. If you love a certain food, you want others to try it. If you love a particular place, you want others to experience that place as well. And for all of us, regardless of our personalities and our personal hobbies and passions, for all of us, as blood-bought believers in Jesus, our number one passion should be Jesus Christ. He wants to be our primary passion individually and collectively, and he wants that passion to drive us, to tell other people about him and to help them grow as his disciples. So that's the purpose of this passage today, and to show us that Jesus' priority for his church is to make disciples of him. Number one, we will see contained in this great commission, the assurance of Jesus' power for making disciples, and that is found in the phrase in verse 18, "All authority." Now, Jesus speaks these words immediately following his death on the cross, his sacrificial death, to pay for our sins and to triumph over the works of Satan. And then, of course, his resurrection, three days later, triumphing over death itself and guaranteeing eternity for every believer. What victory there was in Jesus' cross in his resurrection and immediately following those history-altering events, Jesus came, verse 18, and says to his disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to who, to me, to Jesus, the Son of God, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords." What gives us the right to walk up to people and to exhort them, to believe in Jesus Christ and to give their lives for him? What gives me that right? Jesus gives me that right. He has all authority and he has authorized me and you to compel people to believe in him and to give their lives to him. This is based upon his inherent authority. If you work for a company such as Amazon, for example, let's just say you work in one of the Amazon warehouses in our area, you are not allowed, if you're hungry, to just walk up to one of the vending machines in the break room and take a baseball bat and smash the glass and grab a Milky Way bar. You are not authorized to do that. In fact, if you do so, you will probably lose your job and maybe give it into even more trouble beyond that. But if the multi-billion dollar president of Amazon happens to be visiting your warehouse and says I'm hungry, I want a Milky Way bar, go fetch one for me, then you have every right to use whatever means necessary to get into that vending machine and grab a Milky Way bar for him. Hopefully you can find a less destructive way of doing that baseball bat. But I hope you understand my point. If someone like Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, authorizes something, then we have every right and obligation to do so. Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth and has authorized the church to make disciples. And this has all kinds of implications, by the way, in all kinds of directions. But one implication, which has really come to the forefront in the last handful of years here, is that this truth has great implications for the relationship between human governments and the church of Jesus. Human governments whom Romans 13 calls God's servants. Those governments do not have the right to prohibit legitimate disciple making activities. Do we understand that implication of this principle? Human governments do not have the authority to prohibit legitimate make disciple making activities of the church. Now that doesn't mean it's a free for all, by the way. We certainly can't break God's commands in order to make disciples. For example, we shouldn't break into people's homes in the middle of the night to force a gospel tract into their hands, okay? It's not a free for all, but legitimate disciple making activities must be provided space for by human governments. We are blessed to live in a nation where we have freedom to assemble for worship. We're blessed to live in a nation where we have freedom of speech. I hope we understand that those freedoms are not given to us by human governments, but rather a properly functioning human government will recognize that God given freedom and space for the church to participate in legitimate disciple making activities. It's based on Jesus' authorities. He is Lord of heaven and earth, and he commands us to make disciples of all nations. And this leads to point number two, which is that purpose to make disciples. This is the heart of the Great Commission here in verse 19 and the beginning of verse 20. Notice it with me. A verse 19 of Matthew 28 says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Now, there's a lot going on in this verse and a half, a lot of rich truth that we will explore in detail, but know that the main command, the main verb in these verses is found at the beginning, toward the beginning of verse 19, and that is the command to make disciples. That is the main activity of the Great Commission. Everything else in these verses relates to this central idea of making disciples for Jesus. Now, where are we to make disciples? Well, that is answered here in verse 19. All nations. There are faith was never designed to be regional or parochial. It has been intended from the very beginning to be a global faith because Jesus is Lord and Savior of all the earth. And his gospel is meant to go to every nation. God designed it this way from the very beginning, even going all the way back to Genesis 12, verse three, in the Abrahamic covenant. When God came to Abram at the time and made him some promises, one of those promises was that in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And this promise has been fulfilled in Jesus. The Messiah, the Messiah, not only of the Jews, but of the Gentile nations as well. And this is why, by the way, global missions must be a priority for every local church because we are instructed to make disciples of all nations. Now, we know that it would not be possible as one modest sized local church to directly have influenced in every single nation, 200 some nations around this world. But we are obligated to reach out to some nations as we are able, even as we trust other good, Bible believing local churches are reaching out to other nations. And so collectively, as local churches, we may reach out to every nation with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope that you are staying familiar with the missions efforts that we have as a church because this is not just something for our missions committee to be thinking about or our elders to be thinking about. This is something that each and every one of us should take ownership of an active partnership in. It's why we've created this missions wall in the front hallway for you to see every week as you come and as you go so that you can actually stop and take those newsletters and take them home and price specifically for these missionaries that we support. By God's grace, we support missionaries in Spain and Central Asia and Southwest Asia in the Middle East and North Africa and other places around the globe. As a church over the years, we have been very blessed to be able to send short-term mission teams all over the globe to St. Vincent and Norway and Congo and Barbados and Liberia and Haiti and Saudi Arabia and even just this past summer to Spain and Bangladesh and those trips will continue. Why? Because we must make disciples of all nations, amen? And I hope each and every one of you feels the partnership of that and ownership in that 10% of all general fund giving is directed toward missions efforts because this must be a priority. But even of course, as we prioritize, those nations around the globe and specifically those nations that have not yet heard, let us not neglect making disciples of our own nation. Because yes, as we know, we are surrounded by churches and surrounded by believers, but we're also surrounded by a lot of people who don't yet believe in Jesus and who are not following him with their lives. And so we must continue to make disciples here in our own nation as well, in our own community as well. This is greatly needed. So that's where we make disciples of all nations including our own. How are we to make disciples? Well, again, this verse answers that. It's really a two-stage process, disciple making and that is baptizing as verse 19 continues and teaching verse 20, baptizing and teaching the two stages of making disciples. Now, baptizing mentioned here in verse 19 refers to the initial conversion of an individual. It is a one-time thing, okay? There is only one time that a person is genuinely saved, brought from spiritual death to spiritual life. It happens once as the gospel is given from the word of God and a person responds in faith, trusting in Christ, trusting in his work through his death and his resurrection and rests upon that work for their forgiveness and for their eternity. And someone is saved. That is intended to be immediately followed up by baptism, which serves as a public profession of that faith and a public identification with Jesus. That's all contained and implied within this term, baptizing them. And I want you to notice as well right here in verse 19 the doctrinal nature of conversion. In other words, we're not just asking people to believe in anything or just any version of Jesus. We are asking them to believe in the Trinitarian God. Don't miss this in verse 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Right here in this verse, you can see the three-in-one nature of God, the Trinity. Notice it again, baptizing them in the name singular of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. One God in three persons. This doctrine is at the heart of the Great Commission. And so we want to make new disciples who trust in Jesus and worship the triune God. Each and every one of us should be engaging in this. As you reach out to someone who doesn't know Jesus and you say, "Hey, why don't you come to church with me "this next Sunday?" You're gonna hear about Jesus Christ and his gospel. Or right there in your mission field, you open your mouth to tell them of what Jesus has done for them, right there in your workplace, in your neighborhood, in your family gathering. That is your mission field. And the Spirit can empower you to open your mouth and give that life-changing message of salvation. So that's the initial stage of conversion, referenced there in the word baptizing, but there's a second stage of disciple making as well. And this is found at the beginning of verse 20, notice, and teaching them to observe all that I, Jesus, has commanded you. Now, that's not a one-time event, okay? In fact, work with me here. How long would it take for a person to be taught all the things that Jesus commanded, all the things that Jesus exemplified, all of the scriptures that Jesus pointed to in the remainder of the New Testament, all the scriptures that Jesus endorsed in the totality of the Old Testament, and all of the implications for all of those scriptures to every stage of life. How long does that take? It takes a lifetime, right? That is a process that never ends until the day we are face-to-face with the Lord. So there is an initial stage that is a one-time event of conversion, and the testimony of that through baptism, but then there is a lifetime of teaching to observe all that Christ has commanded. And this is why, as a church, we must be a church that teaches the word. This is why on Sunday morning we are committed to verse by verse teaching through the pages of scriptures so that you may know and follow the whole council of God. But not only on Sunday mornings, we have Bible-based small groups and Bible-based children's ministries and Bible-based youth ministries and Bible classes that are offered in so much more because we want to know these things that Jesus taught and endorsed throughout the word of God. But notice that the head knowledge is only the beginning part of it. What does Jesus say here in verse 20? Teaching them to observe all that he has commanded. And so we don't want a knowledge that stops in the brain. We want a knowledge that moves throughout life so that we may not just know but observe what has been commanded for us to do, lest we become stagnant. You've heard me use the example before of a sponge. A sponge is a very helpful tool for cleaning dishes or the floor or whatever it is that needs to be cleaned. A sponge takes in water and then is squeezed out in that process of cleaning and being productive. But what happens to a sponge that takes in water but is not squeezed out in productive use? That sponge full of water is gonna sit by the side of this sink and become moldy and is going to become stinky. And rather than making items cleaner, it's gonna make items worse if you try to use it. Why? Because it took in but it never put forth. And we as Christians, if we are constantly taking in the knowledge of God from the word, yes, that is a good and essential thing but it is meant to be used. We are not meant to be individuals who take in, take in, take in and become moldy and stinky because we're not actually following the word and using the word to go and serve other people and bring the gospel to other people. May we be those yes who take in but also put forth observing what Christ has commanded so that we may be people who not only know the Bible more and more but respond by worshiping Jesus and walking with Jesus alongside others and working for Jesus to bless others and witnessing of Jesus so that new disciples may be made. This is our calling as disciples of Jesus. And by the way, part of what we teach those we are discipling is to make more disciples who will make more disciples and who will make more disciples. Your discipleship of someone is not complete until that disciple is equipped to disciple more. This is how the work of Jesus is perpetuated from generation to generation. I love second Timothy 2-2, which contains this idea in a nutshell. The Apostle Paul says to his protege Timothy, "What you have heard from me "in the presence of many witnesses, "you entrust to faithful men "who will be able to teach others also "for generations of disciple making "implied in that one verse." This is our calling. Some of you have taken the time to trace your genealogy. I know there are a lot of websites available now that you can do that through and you can find out a lot about your ancestors and if you've done that, you know how fascinating it is to find out where these people lived and what they did with their lives and perhaps even related to someone in the past who was well known or notable for some reason. I remember years ago, I had a great aunt who did some genealogy for our family and she determined that my great, great seven times grandfather was a chief of the Mohawk tribe. I thought that was just the coolest thing to find out and in fact, I tried to leverage that as a kid to convince my mom to let me wear a Mohawk and I was not persuasive. She did not allow that despite our rich Mohawk heritage and nowadays I couldn't grow a Mohawk if I even wanted to. But even more fascinating than a physical genealogy and ancestry, far more important is to recognize that you and I each have a spiritual ancestry. Who was it that led you to Jesus Christ? Thank God for that person and know that there was a person who led that person to Jesus Christ. And in the previous generation, there was another person who led that person to Jesus Christ, going all the way back to Jesus himself. Now look forward, are you gonna have some spiritual grandkids? Don't be spiritually childless, each and every one of us has the opportunity to make a disciple who can make a disciple and be a part of this glorious mission that perpetuates throughout the church age until our Lord returns. And let us always recognize as a church, these two stages of discipleship, both the conversion stage and the lifelong teaching stage. Both of these must be priorities for us as a church. There are churches that tend to prioritize one or the other. There are churches that are very good at continually encouraging outreach and evangelism and seeing new souls brought to Jesus Christ and baptized, but they don't put a whole lot of focus into bringing those disciples to maturity. On the other hand, you have churches that are filled with rich and deep teaching and sound doctrine and things for the spiritually mature, but they have forgotten to reach out and make new disciples of the lost around them. We must prioritize both. This is our mandate from Jesus. We don't have a right to choose as a church what our main focus should be. Jesus has already decided that for us and has made it very clear for us right here in this text. Making disciples of Jesus is the central purpose around which everything else in our church must revolve. We have to keep the main thing, the main thing. And we must also be very aware of all of the ways that we collectively could potentially get off mission. There are a lot of churches that mean well in the beginning, but over the course of time, they get off mission. And I don't think churches usually get off mission because they are pursuing bad things. I think more often churches get off mission because they are pursuing good things, but they fail to center those good things around the main thing which is making disciples of Jesus. I've used the illustration before of planets orbiting a sun. The center of our solar system is the sun, right? And the planets that orbit the sun, find their gravity, find their orbit, find their center properly around that sun. And all those planets are good. But if they fail to orbit around the sun, there's gonna be chaos, right? And the sun, so to speak, the center of our solar system must be Jesus Christ and making disciples of Him. Everything else should be a planet orbiting that with Jesus at the central. All of the ministries that we have as a church, all of the events that we plan and promote, all of the efforts that we make, all of the seminars and classes that may be offered must all revolve around the center, making disciples of Jesus. The various fellowship opportunities that there are, the building projects that we engage in, Christian education, engaging the culture, advocating for righteousness in the public square. These are all very good things that Christians can and should do, but they must always revolve around our mission of making disciples of Jesus. And be aware that there can be a subtle shift when one of those orbiting planets becomes primary and seeks to pull what should be central to orbit around it. And if that happens, there will be chaos. And every planet will spiral around out of control because what was meant to be central is no longer central. If a particular ministry or event or cause, even a good cause ever replaces Jesus as the center, that's how we get off mission. And this is especially important for us to remember this because of the state of our world today. It's unsettling, isn't it? You look around you, you see things rapidly changing pressures, rising for Christians that we would not have anticipated even 20 years ago. And I do believe Christians are called to be salt and light in a culture, meaning we should be aware of what's going on, we are informed, we are discerning how to best honor God, even in a rapidly shifting culture that we should make a difference for Jesus in the world around us as Christians, amen? But we must never allow what is going on in the world to set our agenda as a church. It is highly important that no matter what is going on in the world around us, that as a church, our central mission remains always making disciples of Jesus. See, there are a lot of community organizations that can do a lot of good things and impact the world around us temporarily for good. But the church of Jesus is able to do something utterly unique, something that not only impacts people's lives, but their eternal destinies. And that is making disciples of Jesus through his gospel. Who else has the privilege of doing that? But us Christians. And if Christians don't do that, who else will? See, over the past couple of thousand years, since Jesus ascended to heaven and promised to return, there have been some pretty difficult seasons in this world. Empires have risen and fallen, but still the church of Jesus has endured. Violent wars have torn through this world, including two terrible world wars within the past century and still the church of Jesus endures. Natural disasters and plagues have swept through the world, considered the bubonic plague of the 14th century that killed 33% of Europe. One out of every three people in Europe were killed by this plague and yet still the church of Jesus endured. Even as wicked humans in powerful places have done their worst to do the work of Satan and disrupt the work of God. Totalitarian dictators and slave traders, sex traffickers and abortion doctors have done their worst and still the church of Jesus endures. Why? Because along the way, there have been enough Christians who locked into the long game of making disciples who resisted the temptation to let current events shape their agenda and remained committed to the agenda that Jesus has given his church to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples so that no matter what challenges arise, generation to generation, there may be quality disciples who endure whatever Satan throws our way and perpetuate the faith into the future. May we be locked into our mission. And be part of perpetuating the faith of Jesus to another generation. And this is why, by the way, because of all the pressures around us and all the ways that Satan seeks to discourage and even persecute God's people, that is why it is important that we make quality disciples of Jesus Christ. To be far less concerned about quantity and far more concerned about quality, discipleship that lasts and perpetuates. Have you ever heard someone use the phrase they don't make things like they used to? Usually be moaning some machine or piece of equipment or appliance that just didn't last as long as they used to last back in the day when they seemed to put a little more care and a little more quality into those products. I have experienced this for the past 10 years with dishwasher after dishwasher after dishwasher after dishwasher. Since we moved into our current home 10 years ago, I have gone through three or four dishwashers. They just don't last. Now, to be fair, I don't buy like the really high-end dishwashers, okay? But even the low-end dishwashers cost enough money that they should last several years, wouldn't you agree? And yet in every case, they seem to last two or three years and something falls apart and something breaks that's really too expensive to replace. And you might as well just get another one because they just don't make those things like they used to. So what about our church? Is this the kind of church with quality discipleship that will last that will endure over the course of time? See, it's possible to make a church look nice and big and shiny and appealing, but is it built to last? That is the important question. Quality over quantity. Now, we are not opposed as a church to growing numerically if that is God's will for us, but our focus must never be on the quantity of disciples. It must be on the quality of discipleship. We must always prioritize church health over church growth. See, it is really, really easy for churches to focus on numbers because that's what's easier to see in a moment. And it's exciting to be a part of numbers. I know I am not immune to that temptation. I know the temptation to make pragmatic decisions based on growing the numbers or to measure our success according to how the numbers are doing. But 100 years from now, our success as a church won't be determined by how many people came into this room on Sundays or how big the offerings were or how many ministries we could offer or how full the calendar was with so many events. Our success, 100 years from now, will be measured by one question, did we make quality disciples of Jesus who could make quality disciples of Jesus? That's our mission. That's our central calling as a church. And our passage closes number three with one more encouraging word from Jesus. Not only do we know his power, all authority, but he also assures us of his presence, his continual presence with us. Notice the end of verse 20. Jesus says, "And behold, I am with you always "to the end of the age." So how long is the church of Jesus meant to carry on this great commission of making disciples till the end of the age, until Jesus returns? So how much longer will that be? I don't know. And if anyone tells you they know for sure, then you should not trust them because no one knows the day or the hour. It's been 2,000 years and counting. For all I know, it could be another 2,000 years. I hope not. I hope he comes within my lifetime. I'd be just fine with him coming today. That would be great, but either way, whether there's much more to go in this age or whether it's about to wrap up, Jesus promises to be with us to the end. And what a blessing this is, because even though our mission is clear, our mission is not easy. Making disciples of Jesus can be difficult. It requires a lot of patience. It can be very discouraging at times. And you can bet that Satan will arouse all of the powers of hell to oppose us as best he can. But if God is for us, who can be against us? And he assures us that he will be with us through it all all the way to the end of the age. Boy, there is nothing quite like the presence of a strong and comforting individual when you are in a fearful situation. I remember as a kid, I never wanted to go down into the basement alone. Can anyone relate to that from when they were kids or even now, like basements, or they're scary places, they're weird places. They smell funny. We had boxes stacked everywhere. I had no idea what was in those boxes. I had no idea as a kid going down in that basement, even with the light on. If there was something scary lurking around the corner, just running to pounce upon me. And so it was with trepidation and trembling that I would walk through the basement when I was by myself. But do you know what I wasn't afraid to be in the basement? When someone was with me. If my mom or dad was with me, if a big brother was with me, I would walk down into that basement with absolutely no fear. I guess I figured that if there was some scary thing lurking in a corner, that they could worry about it. And I wouldn't have to. Either way, the presence of a strong and comforting individual made all the difference in that fearful context. And this is why we should cling to this promise of Jesus. I will be with you at every moment. He is with us. He has surrounded us with his people. He has equipped us with his word. His ear is open to our prayers. And so when you pass through the waters, remember that he will be with you. When you pass through the floods, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be consumed because he will be with us just as he was with his people in days of old. As they walked through the Red Sea, a wall of water on either side. The mightiest armies of the day pursuing them with spears and chariots. God was with them. When those three men refused to bow to the idol under great pressure and they were thrown into the fiery furnace. They weren't alone. There was a fourth like them, like the son of God. He was with his people and he will be with us. He encouraged by this. Going with the power of Jesus and the presence of Jesus, we make disciples. This is our mission. This is our central purpose. This is our God-given calling. Jesus is the agenda. And if we ever, in years to come, God forbid, come to the place as a church where we are doing a bunch of good things, but we are no longer making disciples, we might as well shut the whole place down. Because God does not intend for us to be a country club. God does not intend for us to be just another community organization. God does not intend for us to all bring our causes and our preferences and our agendas and tack Jesus onto them. No, Jesus is the agenda. And for years and years to come, may that be true of harvest Bible church. He is the agenda. And he is the agenda because he is our savior. Do you remember how lost you were without him? Do you remember what would have been your eternal destination? Had he not stepped in to save the day? Had he not rescued you by his undeserved grace and mercy? Where would you be? Jesus is our agenda because Jesus is our savior. We owe him everything. Jesus, the perfect Son of God, became man, so that he could live the perfect life that you and I have absolutely failed to live. And then he went to a cross and he hung there, tormented, bleeding, bearing the wrath of God that should have fallen on us. He was there in our place as our substitute, as a sacrifice so that you and I could be forgiven. And he rose from the grave so that anyone on this globe who will place their faith in him will have forgiveness and eternal life. What a wonderful savior he is. And on that basis, how could we not as individuals and as a church commit to making him our agenda? Father, we thank you for the work of your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you that you have not only done the incredible work of forgiving our sins and giving us a place within your family and a home in heaven, but that you have also, through your son and your spirit, built your church to be a context whereby we may grow and serve whereby we may be discipled and make disciples. What wisdom, Lord? It is in this plan to make disciples through your church. May this always be our agenda. May we be true to this great commission that your son gave all those years ago. May we cling to your promise to be with us in this calling until the end of the age. And Father, even as we move into a time of communion, and as we take the bread and we take the cup to remember and memorialize the sacrifice of your son on our behalf. Lord, I pray for anyone in this room today who has not placed their faith in Jesus Christ, that today would be the day of salvation so that they may join us around the communion table and to celebrate with those who are saved, the work of Jesus on our behalf. Lord, today, right there in their seats, they would call out to you for salvation, knowing that you hear their every thought, that they would acknowledge to you their guilt, their need of you, the many ways that they have fallen short of your calling and commands in our lives. But Lord, that they would recognize what Jesus did through His cross and through His resurrection, that they would place their faith in Him and in Him alone for their salvation. There are no works that we could do to earn your salvation. There are no ceremonies that we could perform in order to earn your favor. It is through Jesus and Jesus alone. And I pray that there would be some here today who would trust in Jesus Christ for the very first time and begin this wonderful, wonderful process of being made into a disciple of Jesus. Lord, as we share in this table as well, may you unite us and focus us, even as through the Apostle Paul and his letter to the Corinthians, you had to rebuke a certain church for coming to the table, but being divided and fractious with others in the body of Christ. Lord, if there is any situation like that in this place, we pray that there would be repentance and unity. And you rebuked your people as well for not focusing upon the cross of Jesus around the table. Lord, if that is true of anyone, may you focus their minds and hearts so that whether they have been saved for five minutes or for five decades, they would be reminded of what you did for us on that cross. And we pray these things, in Jesus' name, amen. - If you want any more information about our church, you can visit our website, harvestsattroitwest.org. (gentle music)