Marked // Nick Serban IV

MARKED __ Nick Serban IV

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

god, purpose, christ, church, marked, today, talking, salvation, jesus, heaven, lord, ephesians, scripture, gratitude, earth, grateful, trays, praise, verse, heart

Can we turn the house lights off just a little bit. Some of y'all are yawning. So now we're going to wake you up, let's go. You're excited to be in house lord today. If you have your Bibles open up to Ephesians chapter one. And I'm gonna be reading out of a couple different translations this morning. And I was I was studying this, I was talking to one of our board members about this this morning, I love I love taking large kind of batches of Scripture and reading it all together, because you really get the context of what's being said, and especially with with Paul, when he's writing all of these different letters to the Galatians, the Ephesians, all these different churches. He's like the king of run on sentences. He just he starts and he just goes and goes and goes, and we're like, did he even complete the whole thought, right? And then it's funny to me, because I see all the time scriptures posted on like, you know, Instagram and social media. And it's just one little line from this giant, like group of scriptures that Paul wrote, and I'm like, this is completely out of context with what he was saying, right? Anybody else? And it's funny to me, because sometimes we can base our entire faith on one line, and completely neglect the meaning behind it. Because we haven't read the rest of Scripture. I hope that today you are a believer, and I hope that we are a church that actually reads all the gospel, all of the Word of God, and not just cherry pick the verses that make us feel good. And it's funny too, because as we look, even at this chapter, today, I want to, I want to tackle this idea of purpose, which I know is kind of a big thing. And we can we see a lot of like cultural tropes, even especially in Western culture, of finding your purpose, you know, work and work in your dream job, or chase, chase your dreams, find your passions, and it's like this, this push thing, and then it trickles over into the church, right? And we start to say, Oh, I have to be in the area of ministry, that that makes me feel fulfilled in this way, or I have to follow, you know, if my job isn't fulfilling to me, or I don't feel like this is my calling that I'm just not going to do it. Yeah, we're hitting that today. But what's also interesting when you look at this verse, and when you when you focus on just one scripture, we have all of these different concepts that come out of Ephesians. One, and you'll see it here in a minute. But we've got stuff that's talking about predestination, you know, Calvinism versus Arminianism, if any of you are familiar with that, that's the even talks about being once saved, always saved, talks about the prosperity gospel, it talks about God's perfect will versus his permissive will. And this whole purpose driven pressure that is on so many of us. And what hurts my heart many times as a church is when we mix that Western cultural trope of finding your purpose with the church, and we end up feeling disappointed. Constantly. Because I go, I'm just not in my calling. And we, we can live in this place of paralysis, where we're just stuck in the mud, waiting for God, to show us what our purpose is. And I'm here to tell you today that you are marked for His purpose. Each and every one of us are marched before the foundation of the earth, you were marched there was destiny written upon you, and it is not in some job. It's not in some big idea where you have to lead this ministry, or you have to do this or do that it looks completely different than maybe you've thought because again, Western culture has told us that we have to be doing these things. And if you're not happy, doing what you're doing that you must not be in the will of God. So as we read, I want you to kind of take that context in all of this. But before I start, I love this, this quote, by a missionary his name was William Carey. He says, I'm not afraid of failure. I'm afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter. I'm going to say it again. It's so good, right? I'm not afraid of failure. Some of us are afraid of failure. Some of us are, again, are paralyzed in fear of stepping out in faith, because we're afraid we're gonna fail. We're afraid that it's that it's not going to work out. But how many of us are succeeding in life at things that don't even matter? For the kingdom of God? How many of us are doing a great job at something that has no kingdom impact? I'm not here to beat you over the head with that statement. But but some of us today there's going to be a shift that takes place in our hearts and we we recognize and realize I don't need to quit all these things that I'm doing but there is something that needs to be come around, in my in my faith, there's there's a connection that needs to be made between you know what I do and who I am. When it comes to our purpose. Again, today is the day to recognize that you are marked by purpose. Again, you may have been bullied unbeliever for your whole life, and maybe you've forgotten your purpose, or maybe you've never fully recognized your purpose in Christ. Again, you've taken that Western idea, and you think it's got to be this. But I'm here to say, God's got a different story for you. You are marked. And let me just say this too. There are there are many people in the room. And I, I know many of your stories, you've been in ministry before, there are missionaries in the room, there are pastors here in the room, and there's evangelists. There's there's preachers, and let me just say, that's not it. That's not the purpose. That's not the calling again, I've been in many church services and, and camp meetings and services where there's this push, and this pressure, that if you're not in ministry in some capacity, then you must not be serving the Lord. And here's the thing, I love this church, one of the ways I think it's like 70, or 80% of you here in this room actually serve in, in some capacity here in the church, whether it's as an usher as a greeter, or helping with our media team or, or serving with our kids. And that's amazing. It really is. I mean, someone you could preach this message 10 times better than me this morning. And that's amazing. But but at the end of the day, God is has something even greater and better than that for each and every one of us and has nothing to do with the title. All right, now I'm gonna read the Word of God, come on somebody. Ephesians one, again, this is a bunch of Scripture. So I hope you you're with me, but I'm reading out of the Amplified Version. So if it looks a little different, it's because it's amplified somebody, come on. Verse starting in verse three, blessed it and worthy of God be the God worthy of praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. Just as in His love, He shows us in Christ. Again, this is this is pointing to, before the foundations of the world you were chosen, amen. You were actually selected actually selected for himself as his own before the foundation of the world so that we would be holy, that is consecrated, set apart for Him purpose driven and blameless in his sight. In Love. He pre destined and lovingly planned for us to be adopted to himself as his own children, through Jesus Christ in accordance with the kind intention and good pleasure of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace and favor, which he so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved, His Son, Jesus Christ. In Him we have redemption that is our deliverance and salvation through his blood, which paid the penalty for our sin and resulted in the forgiveness and complete pardon of our sin in accordance with the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us in all wisdom and understanding with practical insight. Go to pray you bless this word today. Bless this, this word and bless all the scripture that comes, Lord, let it penetrate our hearts, but speak to us let it challenge us today. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen. So I love this passage, because literally, it's the gospel. Right? That before the foundation of the earth you were chosen, you were destined to join the family of Christ, each and every one of us. And again, I'm not talking about, you know, Calvinistic predestination. You know, God is sovereign, but today, you have free will. You have the ability to make a choice. It's God's desire, his plan before the foundation of the earth was that for each and every one of us to say yes to His Son, Jesus and join his kingdom. Amen. But again, so oftentimes, we make different choices, or we go down different paths, or we decide that this is no longer I'm no longer going to follow the plan of Christ, but I'm going to follow my own plan. But here's, here's what I want. I'm going to talk about three things today that that are going to help us discover that we are marked by purpose and the first thing is this a gratitude for his grace. Listen, we have salvation in Christ Jesus. It's the greatest gift that we can receive from God greater than any miraculous show healing that can take place the fact that we are saved, before we were destined for hell, but now we get to live in glorious eternity with Jesus that is one of the greatest miracles that that any of us could ever say is taking place in our lives. When we say yes to Jesus, we are saved, there is salvation, there is freedom. It's the grace of God, it's again, it's greater than any spiritual, gifting any fruit of the Spirit or supernatural miracle. The fact that, that God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us. Somebody John 316 it up in here. He took our He took our sin on himself, he conquered death, hell and the devil himself so that if we believe in Him, will have everlasting life. Freedom, forgiveness, we are marked by salvation. Is anybody grateful for that today? Come on, somebody shout right now, is anybody grateful for the salvation that we have? But sometimes, sometimes we get caught up in that Christian culture, right? We're fighting the good fight of faith. And we forget to praise God. Some of us now, this could be a whole nother message right here. But some of us are fighting the other children of God, more than we're actually grateful for the fact that we are children of God. Right? Some of us are getting so focused on all this, we're actually pushing people out of the family. Do you not understand that you have been adopted into his family? And we may not all look alike. We may not all sound alike. But if you say yes, and I say yes, we're a part of it. This is so cool. Because Because Paul, you know, is speaking to people that are under a Roman, you know, domination. They're, they're dictators, and they're overseeing everything. And so this church, the Ephesians, they understand this concept of adaption. So well, it was it was very, not so different than it is today. But it was much more common, because there was lots of disease that would come in and could just wipe out an entire community wiped out entire families, and there would just be, maybe a few children left over. And so families would come in almost a benevolent benevolently with charity, and they would adopt the sons and daughters into their family. And they would change their name, from what it was to whatever they decided it to be. And what's even more amazing is that, if that family if they owed any debts to anyone, they were absolved. The debt that they had to pay that they couldn't pay as as children oftentimes was completely taken away, when they came into this new family. Again, their name was changed. There is no trace of them anymore. When you are adopted into the family of Christ, you have a new name. And we have we have salvation of freedom, and no longer are we held by the depths of our past, because our father, who was adopted have said, No, not anymore. I'd taken care of it. And he and even him, he doesn't have to pay the debt. He says, already been paid. What your mind now so we can forget this. At some of us, we want for whatever reason, we want to keep reminding ourselves like No, no, I was this, I used to be that no, you get to be new in Christ today. And we we have to position ourselves in this place of of constant gratitude, because it's so easy for us to get distracted and forget. Charles Spurgeon said this, he said, We are not sitting here, and groaning and crying and fretting and worrying and questioning our own salvation. He has blessed us and therefore we will bless him. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that we just read about. And so now we bless him, and we thank him. Listen to this, if you think little of what God has done for you, you will do very little for him. But if you have a great notion of His great mercy to you, you will be greatly grateful to your gracious God. Let me let me just say this really quick. We talked about this this last week on our on our podcast, going deeper down tonight. And sometimes we think that we have to have this grandiose testimony For us to be grateful, right? You know, I was I was, I was addicted to this or I was homeless or I was going through this thing or my wife left me or or I was fighting this battle or is going through this or I got in the car accident and you know I was far from God it was all these different things right we can we can have, we can have this great story of redemption that took place, I'm not knocking that that's your story today. But But just because he saved you for much. We've all been saved from death and hell. It's not about what he's saved us from on this earth. That's what he's saved this from after this life. We're all in the same boat. So we have to be grateful for that and show that gratitude in our worship. Man, if we're singing a song that that you don't like, or it doesn't make sense, man, just just tell God, how grateful you are for the fact that you're saved. Tell them how grateful you are for the fact that you've been redeemed that you've been made new that you've been adopted. The Scripture is not on the screen, Eric, I apologize. It's Colossians 316. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly, as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or indeed do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him. We have to think more of what God has done for us. We cannot belittle what he's done for us. Without belittling him. We often thank God for the seen blessings, the temporal things, the physical things, the money, but what about the unseen Second Corinthians 418. This was on the screen either I'm sorry, Eric. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. Since what is seen is temporal. The blessings that we receive in this life today, they're all gonna pass away when we pass on to be with the Lord. But what is unseen is eternal. Charles Spurgeon goes on to say this, our thanks are due to God for all temporal blessings. Aren't you thankful? For the temporal blessings? Aren't you thankful for the new car? And the tires that last forever? Aren't you? Aren't you thankful for the promotion? Aren't you thankful for the friends that God has brought around you? Whatever it is, they are more than we deserve? And says, but our thanks ought to go to God in thunders of Hallelujah for spiritual blessings. A new heart is better than a new coat. To feed on Christ is better than to have the best earthly food. To be an air of God is better than being the air of the greatest nobleman. To have God for our portion is blessed, infinitely more blessed than to own broad acres of land. God had, God has blessed us with spiritual blessings. These are the rarest, the richest, the most enduring of all blessings. They are priceless. In value, salvation is priceless. We must show that gratitude in every area of our lives. Listen, when we accept Christ into our lives, a hardest changed, right? It's changed forever allowed to transform. But an outrageous Attitude of Gratitude is the catalyst that moves us forward in our faith, walk and faith journey and sanctification. Because if you are full of gratitude, and gratefulness, there's no room for worry. There's no room for the anxiety. There's no room for the pressures of this world because my cup is full of praise for my king, grateful for salvation. If we are truly saved, why can't we express it more? In our worship, or in our communication outside the walls of this church? Is anybody excited about the fact that you've been saved? But not just here? It's easy to praise them here, because I've got my brothers and sisters in the Lord and we're all praised and right. But how can we take this further? It's gratitude for the unseeable sings of salvation and all spiritual gifts not the seen. If we can't be grateful in our heart for the unseen blessings, do we really deserve the seen ones? This is good. If we have no appreciation for spiritual blessing them We live at the same level as animals. Think about think about it. Animals live only to eat, sleep, entertain themselves, and reproduce. We are made in the image of God. And he has something much higher for us. But yet many of us choose just to live as animals. With no spirit. Number two, we want to find a discover that we are marked by purpose and find that purpose for our lives we have to consecrate our hearts and our life. Going back here Ephesians, one four through five. Just as in His love, He chose us and Christ actually selected us for himself as his own before the foundation of the world so that we would be holy. We were selected, so that we will be holy that we will be consecrated and set apart, purpose driven and blameless in his sight. In love, He predestined and lovingly planned for us again, to be adopted to himself as his own, to consecrate our lives or to be set apart for Him means that we can no longer be part of this world. Which I know is difficult because we're in this world. Sometimes we say this all the time. But what does it mean to to be not of this world? We must now become holy, become holy. We talked about this last week with sanctification, the process of becoming more like Christ. But it's so interesting to me that many times, we think that if we just pray a prayer, and ask Jesus into our lives, that he just like sprinkles, some like fairy dust on us, right? And that everything's gonna be different. Everything's gonna change. But you and I know that that's not what happens. How many of us have habits that are unholy that we refuse to address you've been brought back to life, but you still have the grave clothes on, like we talked about last week. With Lazarus. You have to make a decision. To be consecrated, it doesn't just happen when you enter into the family of God, you must decide to take off the grave clothes. If we want to walk in our God given purpose in life, we must continue to actively become set apart, to decide to break the habits that are not becoming of a believer. But why? Because people are watching you. People are watching me. And so many times, there are people who shout from the rooftops that they are a believer in Christ. And then they go and they beat their brother or they hurt and dishonor their sister. And then the world watches and goes, I want nothing to do with that. We have to understand that the purpose that is marked each and every one of our lives is is not just for us, but it's a mark that the world can see. And if we do not represent that mark, well, there are people who will never be marked because of what they saw in you. I know this is heavy today. But God's desire is for us to live holy. And I'm not saying that you have to be perfect. But we have to show people through discipleship and whether it's from a distance or up close, like Hey, I am on my way to becoming who God has created me to be. I'm never going to get to that place until I'm in heaven. And we talked about this again last week. God's desire is that your new life in Christ would demonstrate to the world what can happen? What can happen when you believe in Jesus? Again, it's not sprinkling on the fairy dust. It's it's a shift in your own heart. It's a decision that you have to make Love this your Ephesians one, verse nine. It says he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Christ. I love that word, the mystery. Now, I don't want a show of hands, but how many of us feel like the purpose of God for our lives? is a mystery. Some of us, when we, when we read the Scripture, we immediately go, what is the mystery? Like what's, what's his, what's his will for my life? And again, let me just say today, that is a western cultural mindset. His will is here. In his word, again, it feels like God has revealed his mysterious will to everybody else except for me, right? Right. Or if I can just figure out His will for my life, then God, I'm gonna do X, Y, Z, whatever it is just I want to know what his will is, right? I want to know what the purpose is. I want to know what the calling is. But again, we conflate that calling with some kind of job or position or ministry, or whatever it is, and God is, is wanting to speak to someone today to show you that that is not the way check us out the answer. Ready, I'm going to tell you what your will what the will for the Lord is for your life right now in verse 10, Ephesians 110 With regard to the fulfillment of the times, that is the end of history, the climax of the ages, to bring all things together in Christ, both things in the heavens, and things in earth. Some of you might not have got this. The mystery of his will, is purposed in Christ. Verse nine, right? With regard to the fulfillment of the times, not just the end times, history, all these things. But the purpose is that we would bring all things together in Christ. Heaven and earth. Come on, buddy. It's a Jericho March somebody hear me on this, this, this great plan, this will for our lives, we often make it so individual. This is about me. What is what is the plan for my life? No, we are in Christ. What is Christ's plan for this world? And where do I fit in to that plan? Because again, when we make it about ourselves, it becomes our plan very quickly. I don't like this, or this doesn't feel good, or I'm not fulfilled in this area. It's not about your fulfillment, it's about his the fulfillment of the ages is that heaven would come to Earth. And it's not it's not just some far off distant thing. It's here and now we've been placed on this earth number three, to bring heaven to earth. In everything we do. All things I can I love this so much because Jesus even when he's speaking to the masses, and the disciples, he's speaking in these parables, and everyone's looking around, like, what is this guy talking about? The mystery of His plan for His kingdom was being revealed to all of us, and all these people and they were completely blinded to it because they're like, Hey, aren't you gonna, like overthrow and bring your kingdom to Earth, you're gonna overthrow the Romans, you're gonna and we're gonna be, you know, serving and sitting with you and, and we're gonna, they had their own idea and their own plan of what Jesus was going to do. And Jesus, again, spoke to the disciples and He revealed these mysteries and when they finally came to grips with the fact that you are the Messiah, you are the Savior of the world, everything began to shift. That's why when we accept Jesus into our lives, the Spirit of God brings his word to life. We can read these parables now and we can see The truth, the mysteries revealed to each and every one of us. I just need to say though it's not a mystery anymore. God desires that you would bring heaven to earth. In everything that you do. Let me just let me just say this too, because I know I know there are people watching that probably need to hear this. This is not some established God's governmental kingdom here on earth and now doctrine. It's wherever I go. In whatever I do, bring heaven into it. Where's Matt was Matt Rogers today, we got to bring heaven into everything that we do. I love this again in Matthew 28. So many of us know this. The scripture in verse 18, Jesus came up and said to them, All authority, all power of absolute rule in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Jesus is speaking. Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations help the people to learn, have me believe in me and obey my words, baptizing them in the name of the Father, than the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you. And know that I'm with you always. It is God's plan revealed that our purpose is to make disciples to bring heaven to earth and bring people into His kingdom. That's it. And any anything else that we try to conflate it out, to conflate it into or grow it into being this grandiose, job description or thing and if it doesn't check all of the boxes, I'm not going to do it. Let me just say to you right now, maybe that's not of God. And maybe that's you. And maybe you have a checklist of all the things that God has to do for you to actually serve Him. Because maybe today we've forgotten to be grateful for the salvation that He's given us. And that's what marks us. I got really quiet in here. Holy Spirit, just speak right now. Holy Spirit, speak to your people. Because God, it is time. It is time for your church to rise up and fulfill the purpose that you've given each and every one of us. Ephesians 111. In him also, we have received an inheritance a destiny, we are claimed by God as his own having been predestined, chosen, appointed beforehand, according to the purpose of him who works everything in agreement with the council and design of His will, His will is that heaven would come to Earth. And we must work within it because we've been predestined to, and we have to stop fighting his will. Because we want something different. Because we want to be fulfilled so that we, who were the first to hope and Christ who first put our confidence in Him as our Lord and Savior, that we would exist to the praise of his glory. Because let me tell you when we get to heaven, we're just going to be praising in his glory. So let's start now. Thank you, Jesus. Verse 13. In Him, you also when you heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and as a result believed in him were stamped when you believed you were stamped, marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, the one promised by Christ as owned and protected by God, you've been stamped. You've been sealed. You've been marked by God with the promise of His Holy Spirit. I love this. We can go on and even read an X one when Jesus said you will receive power when the Holy Spirit Spirit comes upon you, and you'll be my witnesses to the ends of the earth, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, we receive that power. We've been marked by that power when we accept Christ into our lives. So let's walk in it. Let's grow his kingdom. The Holy Spirit, verse 14 is the guarantee, the first installment, the pledge, a foretaste of our inheritance, until the redemption of God's own purchased possession, his believers to the praise of his glory. Remember, we have the Holy Spirit, we have power, but it's not just for us to keep to ourselves we have to decide we have to decide to take the, the secular and make it sacred. I know for for many of you, if you went to a public elementary school, middle school, high school, like me, when you're going through the cafeteria line, they had those really cool trays where everything is cut up into these squares and rectangles, right. And then the very nice lady would put some food into one of the squares, and you'd go down the line until each and every one of the squares had had filled up with whatever the food was, whether it's pizza, and it was so amazing, the pizza was always cut perfectly to fit into the square. Right? The Salsbury steak would just fit perfectly in there. I don't know if it was really steak or not. But hey, it would fit perfectly in the square. The scoop portions of mashed potatoes were perfect into that little corner, the the french fries, all the unhealthy things that you eat in elementary school, middle school, it all fit perfectly within the trays as you went down the line. And I don't know about you, but I would cringe every time the lady would miss and a little piece of the food in one square would dribble over into the other square. Because you knew you were gonna have a whole new eating experience that day, right. But sometimes it's like, ooh, mashed potatoes, and salisbury steak that goes together. Right? That's okay. Lay it on. Like it's okay, if it pours out into this section or the other right. And then sometimes we look at and like this is gonna be gross. This is gonna be weird. I don't even want to eat it. I don't want to touch it. But how many of us in our faith, we separate our secular lives in this perfect little square from the sacred. And if they touch Oh, this is gonna get weird. My walk with Jesus is for Sundays and Wednesdays and my little mornings with my with my coffee and my devotional like, but it can't pour over into my job. Because then it's gonna get weird. It's gonna get a little gross. Maybe it's not gonna taste as good as I'm hoping it to taste. Some of y'all. Let me just say some of y'all just like to mix it all together, because you're like, it's all going to the same place. So it doesn't matter, right? Y'all are crazy. But it's God's desire for each and every one of us to take the sacred things and bring them into what is secular. Which is we can sit and complain here in this church in the pews that the world has just gone down the tubes. My job I got all these unChristian people here around me, I can't change them. I can't do I need a different job? I mean, no, bring heaven into it. Don't be afraid to mix it together and see what God could do with it. And my tastes better than you think. God wants us to bring heaven. We cannot keep things separate. I love this so much. You know, Paul uses this word. It's voc care. It means vocation. When he's talking to the people in the church, many of them work in the marketplace. Some of them work in ministry and he and he uses this word voc care and talking with all of them. It doesn't just mean vocation. It means calling. You're called to the marketplace. You may be called into ministry, whatever it looks like Paul, there's no distinction between the pastor and the person working nine to five, at a call center. For some of us, our work is just a meaningless way to make money, pay our bills, maybe have some fun going on vacation here and there. Maybe we find meaning in it. Maybe we fit Jesus mo job sometimes. You know, maybe you're a doctor, a musician, a contractor, and you volunteer and kids church on Sundays, maybe you're in construction, or you're a landscaper, you work in retail, and you're an usher, or you work on the parking team or security. Maybe you're an insurance adjuster, or an engineer or driver, and you lead a small group, a realtor, a banker, teacher, and athlete and you sit on the worship team, you're a mom, your dad, your grandparent, your your grandmother, and we separate these things in the tray. But God's saying, Get rid of the tray. Because I got a big old plate for you. And it's all gonna mix together, if you're gonna fulfill the purpose that I have for your life. Because you're marked, you're marked with salvation. You're marked with purpose, and destiny. And that purpose is to bring heaven to earth and everything that you do. The secular world. God's desires that it will become sacred. And we are his hands and feet in doing that. Your purpose is greater than your position. Your purpose is for everyone that you come in contact, to come to know Him. And we're marked by it. We're going to receive Communion. If you want to grab the little little cup and juice, I got one right here, thanks. It's kind of funny. And this is really where I want. I feel the Lord is leading us to land. But last night, I didn't really I didn't really see this until this morning when I was thinking about yesterday. But last night, I took my family to Cracker Barrel. And I don't know what happened. I don't know what was going on. But it seemed like they were a little a little rushed. And that I don't know if they forgot about our order. But you know, I've got four, four little kids and my wife were there. And I just, we just ordered them all the same thing because you think, you know, this will be easier if it's just the same thing. They're all getting Wi Fi, we got similar kind of, you know, stuff as well. And, and we kept like, the server would just disappear for like five, you know, seven minutes at a time. And we're just like, What is going on? Where's our food. But there is this lady that kept bringing trays of biscuits out onto her table that I no lie there were like three or four of these these bins of biscuits on our on our table. And she's like, I'm so sorry, your food hasn't gotten here yet. Here's some more biscuits. here's the here's some butter, you can throw me that biscuit I brought this, there were so many biscuits I took like, I took like 17 of them home, I kid you not. They're in a bag bag in my kitchen. And it just it just made me laugh because it started to connect with with communion in my heart. Because when you really go deeper Listen, a month ago when we had community and it was just a powerful moment, powerful experience. And we doubted that we did so much studying on communion. And, and it was again revealed to us that communion was was done almost every time that the church would gather together. And there would be loaves and loaves of bread and and huge, you know, just vessels and bins of wine and people were were drinking and they were you know, again recognizing and honoring the Lord but what's so interesting is when they would break the bread, they would break off a piece for themselves. Right? Then they pass it to the next person. And if they if they ran out they said hey bring more bring more bread. And they keep going and they keep passing it around and I can tell you this that every time that they would end it would very rarely ends where the last person got the last perfect little piece. No, they pulled off. Can I do this? Just enough for themselves. Right but then they'd have all this leftover You know, we, we do this really well here with the juice, and the and the bread and the perfect little cup. It's just enough for one person, try sharing this with the person next to you. It's hard. And sometimes we look at our faith in the same way, we look at our purpose in the same way that this cup, this bread, it's for me it's just for me, it's perfectly made. For me God's plan, his will, his desires for me are perfectly designed for me, and they are, they are. But if we only see this and we don't see that there's more for someone else to join the table. Then we'll just continue on with this faith walk, being just enough for us. And we'll never actually walk into what God has designed us to do. And that's to bring people to the table, because there's so much more. And I have to imagine that the disciples, every time that they would gather together, they would see the bread, they would see the cup that wasn't fully tracking to say there's, there's someone that we still have to reach and bring to the table. And that is my purpose. To bring someone else to the table. Because the biscuits are still coming. They're coming out of hot, they're coming out fresh, but no one's eating them. Because we're full. But there's someone else that needs to come to the table. There's someone else that needs to know the truth. But there's Destiny upon their lives that there's purpose on their lives. And if and if no one goes and tells them they'll never hear. And I'm sorry, I'm getting emotional. You know, my wife and I were were missionaries in Thailand. And this is just so close to my heart. But so many disciples and apostles, they went out to all different corners of the world. They even Thomas even made it all the way to India, and they're still churches that would have been planted that were been around for over 1000 years. Because someone saw that there was more at the table for someone else. And that is why we are marked. That is why we are called this can't just the sketches be for us. This can't just be for us today. From the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread they broke it he handed it to the disciples This is my body broken for you. Will you do this for me? I'm sorry disarray. Would you break it and just throw, throw half of it away and just begin to pray for the last and the people that the need that other half more than we do. Because we already have it. Let's take the bread. We thank you Jesus. We thank you Jesus for your sacrifice. We love gold. We're so grateful for salvation that we have in you Lord God and Lord we thank you for the cup. We thank you for your blood today that we shed for us that we can walk in freedom we can walk and healing today God you are faithful to redeem you are faithful to call your your sons and daughters to fulfill the purpose of sharing this cup with the world though there's someone else that has to drink this cup Lord, I pray today that as we drink this coupler that you would challenge us that you would push us that you would move us to a place where we're maybe someone today feels called to to missions to be on the other side of the world but maybe it's Today, just as brother Kwame shared maybe today there's there's an act of benevolence and the act of obedience that we need to step out into. It doesn't need to look like anything financial, necessarily but today God is calling you to step outside of yourself and share this bread and share this cup with someone else who needs to be a part of this kingdom. Let's partake in the cup today.