Empty Hands

All right. Well, again, welcome to Hope Lowertown. I'm glad you're able to be here. My name is Brian. If I haven't had a chance to meet you, I'd love to be able to do that at some point. Today we are in week 34 of the Gospel of Mark. And a lot of times, maybe if you've been going to church for a while, you might take a little break and do a Mother's Day sermon. We're not doing that. There might be elements here. We're gonna be talking about some kids. So there it is. There's the connection. That's really about it. Really. Just want to keep walking through the Gospel of Mark. And so if you're here for the first time, I just want to catch up by introducing you to the very first verse of Mark. Because this is what it's all about. This is what Mark is doing. He's saying, this is the beginning. This is the good news, or what we would use the word. Gospel. Gospel just means good news. This is the good news about Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the. The anointed one, the one that the world has been waiting for, the son of God. And Mark is gonna say, this is who Jesus is. Jesus is fully God and he's fully man. And he puts him on full display. I used full three times in one sentence. Imagine that. And he's just gonna say, this is who Jesus is. Look at him. He's amazing. And I want you to see who he is and worship him because he's worthy of worship. He's the only one worthy of worship as we're gonna see again today. And at chapter nine a couple chapters ago, that we see this turn from Christ. The Gospel of Luke says that he sets his face towards Jerusalem and we're gonna see that again today, that he's on his way to Jerusalem knowing that he's going to be executed. He knows that. And he says that two times. He's already said it to his disciples. I'm going to be handed over. I'm gonna be executed. I'm gonna be buried, but I'm gonna raise again from the dead. And. And his disciples are always like, okay, good for you, Jesus. But I'm kind of a big deal, right? And it's like, no, this isn't about you. This is about a suffering servant, and it's about you being disciples. And have you really weighed the cost of what it means to be a follower of me? Back in 2002? This is a picture of the Edmonton mall. Anyone ever been up There to Edmonton, Canada. They've got a giant mall, which it's about the same square footage as the Mall of America, but they have more like things to do. Less stores, I guess you could say fewer stores. And so there's a ton of things that you can do there. You can go in the one submarine that Canada owns there in the mall that I think was a gift from the United States from one of our old ones. And you can get in it and goes underwater. And there's this huge indoor water park. Okay. As you can see. And so this was back a long time ago. In 2002, my high school football team, we went to Canada for a missions trip and we put a roof on somebody's house. Why? No idea. Bunch of high schoolers doing. We don't know what we're doing. One of our guys fell through the roof. And I remember our youth pastor was like, nobody walk over here. The wood's rotten. And I mean, the guy just, boom. I mean, he couldn't, I mean, not even a half second later fell through the spot that he said, don't do it. That same guy, his name was Nathan Fisher. That blue slide, it's kind of hard to see, but not the long one, the one right in the middle. It's one of those toilet bowl. Once, right, you go down this thing and then it loops you around and then you eventually go into the middle and it plunks you down. And he was a big guy. He was one of our offensive linemen. And he didn't tell anyone that he didn't know how to swim, right? So when you do these kinds of things, you go around this thing and then you drop, you know, about 10ft into about a 10 foot pool. And we're all sitting there, I mean, not all, but a bunch of us were waiting for each other to come down the slide. And sure enough, he comes out and boom. And he just sinks. He did not float. He just sank like a rock. And we're all laughing and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, somebody help him, right? Like somebody go get, go get our friend. And, and, and they did, they jumped in and they, they were able to rescue him. He was fine for, for that day. It was right after 9 11. He got tackled by the security guards. He like just walked into Canada and they were like, you can't do that anymore. This guy just all week was. Something was going on with him. Put a nail through his hand when we were roofing. Just, just very accident prone, in case you couldn't tell good old Nathan. And the whole point that I'm trying to make is I love this picture of lifeguard got someone in a full nelson. I'm sure there's a reason why he's doing that, protecting his neck or something. But this is not Nathan. This was just some random picture of a lifeguard training in a safely in a pool. And the whole thing, the whole point I'm trying to make, that everyone knows that when you see somebody who's drowning and a lifeguard comes out and they're trying to save them, if you've ever been in that situation, what you're supposed to do is do nothing. You're supposed to lay there limp so that the lifeguard can do their job. And it goes against every single natural instinct. Because what do you want to do? You want to grab onto anything, you're going to pull anyone under that as long as you can stay up and get air. And that's exactly what we're not supposed to do when it comes to Jesus. The lifeguard can't help, it becomes dangerous to them. The one that needs help needs to again go against their natural instinct and put themselves completely, fully into the hands and into the safety of the lifeguard in order to be able to save them. And so the title for today's sermon is Just Empty Hands. And we're gonna be looking at that passage that John just read, Mark, chapter 10, 13 through 31. I wanna give a little bit of context, so let me go back to chapter nine. Because for a while now Jesus has had little children around him. He's using them as an example, as a positive example. These children were disposable. And because it's mothers, they all spare you the historical details and proof that literally children could just be tossed out. I can't afford them. There's a Roman soldier who's writing to his wife and it's just like if it's a female, just toss it out. When this child is born. We can't even begin to fathom this today. And yet Jesus is saying these dispendable, disposable humans are what the kingdom of God is like. And he says, for he was teaching his disciples as Jesus saying to them, the Son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. And they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise. But they did not understand the saying because they were too afraid to ask him. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house, he asked them what were you discussing on the way. But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the 12. And he said to them, if any would be first, he must be last and servant of all. And he took a child and he put him in the midst of them and asked them. And taking him in his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. And whoever receives me receives not. Sorry, whoever receives not me, but not him who sent me. So I want to look now at this passage and just three points. The accepted, the affluent, or affluent. And the answer in Mark, chapter 10, 13. So let's look at this, starting in verse 13 says, and they were bringing children. If you have your Bible with you and you open, maybe a different translation. This is the ESV that we've been using for the Gospel of Mark. Normally we use niv, but we've been using ESV for gospel here. And he says the word children there. And your translation might say little children. And that's a good word for it. This means like babies. This means very small infants. Not just a child, but these are small little children. In Luke chapter 18, the same word is translated as babies. That's what this is. So adults, parents are bringing their babies, their helpless little infants to Jesus that he might touch them. And the disciples rebuked them. This has happened now a few times where somebody's doing something the disciples don't like. This guy's casting out demonstration. And they're like, hey, don't be doing that. Only we are allowed to do that. We're the in crowd. You're not allowed to do. You don't have permission to cast out demons. And Jesus is like, what are you doing? He does that in my name. Let him do that. And same. The parents are coming saying, jesus, bless our little babies. And they go and they rebuke them. Get out of here. Don't put those stinky, nasty, snotty kids next to the Messiah. We don't do that. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, right? This word indignant means to be aroused, to anger, right? It's somebody who vents their displeasure, not just broods on. It doesn't just, ah, man, when you guys do that, it makes me so angry that he actually is going to express his indignation. Who, why? Why does he become indignant and express his anger towards them? He says, let the children, same word, let the babies come to me. Do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. The object of a person's indignation says a lot about that person, right? The things that people get worked up about, get angry about, reveals a lot about them. What is it that we typically maybe get upset about? Maybe it's the Wild or the. Or the Timberwolves losing a game, right? Wow, man, I'm gonna get really worked up about that. The stinking refs cost us that. That's goaltending. Again and again and again and again, I get angry about it. How about driving on the highway? Guilty as charged, right? This is my indignation revealing its ugly head. That's what I get. That's. That's all. That's an injustice. You cut me off. You don't know how to drive. The gas pedals on the right. How many times have I said that My kids are in the gas pedals on the right. Yeah, it is. That's where it is. That's what makes you go. But with Jesus, we see something completely different. Different. His displeasure. He reveals his compassion and defense for the helpless and the vulnerable and the powerless. And he says, this is how you need to receive me. You need to recognize your helplessness, your hopelessness, your powerlessness in this. You need to imagine yourself like a toddler in a pool with his parent, just clinging to mom and dad. There's just nothing they can do other than hold on for dear life. Unless they went to that weird, like, Foss school of swimming. They just chuck babies into the pool. That ruins the illustration. So let's not think about that. Edwards, James Edwards says this in the story. Children are not blessed for their virtues, but for what they lack. You hear that? They're not being blessed for something that they bring to Jesus. They're being blessed for what they lack. They come only as they are. Small, powerless, without sophistication, as the overlooked and disposed of society. And again, he means that quite literally. To receive the kingdom of God as a child is to receive it as one who has no credits, no clout, no claims. A little child has absolutely nothing to bring. And whatever a child receives, he or she receives by grace on the basis of sheer neediness rather than any merit inherent. Inherent of himself or herself. And Jesus says, such is the kingdom of God. This is what the kingdom of God looks like. Somebody who comes to me and says, I got nothing to offer. I'm not even a good person. Which we're going to see here. So move this on to the affluent. This morning I actually went back and forth to at least two times. I changed it to the afflicted, and then I went back to affluent. And I was going to change it back and I was like, ah, it's kind of annoying to keep changing this back and forth. So I left it with the affluent. But because the point here is we're going to see and Jesus is going to talk about money here. But the point here isn't the money. That's not the point. It is. It is for this guy. And maybe it is for you, right? Maybe your thing that's holding you back, that's not allowing you to relax and not allowing you to cling to Jesus is money. Maybe that is the thing. But I think for so many people, it's a cornucopia of things. I haven't used that word in a while. It's a lot of things bundled together. It's not just maybe one thing. So let's get into this because I think afflicted may be a better term for this because it's not just about wealth here. Maybe it's affluence in something else. Maybe I'm affluent in my knowledge or just my love for other people and whatever it may be. And let's just get into this verse 17, as he was setting out on his journey again, this is Mark saying he still is going to Jerusalem. He still has in mind his death and execution and burial and resurrection. Jesus knows these things are about to happen. He's already said it twice. He's gonna say it again next week. And he says, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, there's an eagerness here in this gentleman. And he says, good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? This inheritance here, maybe there's a little bit of entitlement from this guy that he is wealthy. If you look at kind of in the title and in your books, it might say rich young ruler or whatever, right? There's some reason why he's gained his wealth. Maybe he's done it independently, or maybe he inherited, inherited it and it was passed down. And so he's using that same language of, I got this money, all right? My old man died and I got all of his things. How do I get all of those things for eternity too? And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. This guy is asking the right question. How do I inherit eternal life? And this might sound a little confusing. Why does Jesus say this? Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Is he saying, well, I'm not God, so let's, you know, don't call me good, or what's going on here? One thing, and I'll spare you the quotes from the Mishnah again, I know I do that too often. But a good teacher that was. There was. Rabbis did not allow people to call them good teacher that this was a very common phrase and even response to someone who would say that, would call someone else or as a Jewish teacher, good, that they would say, no, no, I'm not good. Because they were afraid of being blasphemous or equating themselves with God. And so there's a little bit of that background going on. But one thing is that we've already seen multiple times in the Gospel of Mark is that he's not ready. He's not at Jerusalem yet. And so he doesn't want people to equate him with God or with the Messiah. When it does happen, when people say, you're the Messiah, you're God, he's like, quiet down. Don't tell anybody yet, right? Not yet. I've still got some things that I gotta do. And one being, I have to get to Jerusalem. That's where I've gotta be executed. Not out here in the wilderness, in Galilee. I need to get to the city. I need to get there on Passover. There's so many things that are going to happen in that moment, and it needs to happen then, not now. And if word gets out that I'm claiming to be the Messiah, I'll be stoned in the wilderness, not executed in the city. So maybe that's part of it. There wasn't really a lot of clarity. But one thing that I think might be helpful is that there could be a little bit of a probing question here of Jesus saying, why do you call me good? There's a different way, and it's kind of. It's inconclusive in the Greek. Why do you call me good? No one is good except the one true God. Right. That could be a way that he is asking that. It would be an accurate translation if you put it that way. But is he asking this young man, why do you call me good? Why are you specifically saying me? Are you equating me with God? That could be one way that we could read that as well. But either way, he posed that question, and then he continues and he says, you know, the commandments, do not commit murder. Do not Commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness. Then he says, do not defraud. And another way that you could read that is do not defraud the poor. Do not defraud those who are under your payment or your payroll, which is not one of the Ten Commandments. So Jesus isn't just listing the Ten Commandments here. And then he says, honor your father and mother. And he said to him, teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth. I remember when I used to study this or read this, I'd go like, ha, ha. This is almost humorous, right? There's no way you can actually do these things. And then as I actually started reading my Bible, I realized that this is an actual possibility. This is a possible statement. It is possible to obey the law or think that you've obeyed the law, because following the rules is possible. And actually, when it is black and white, the way the Old Testament is laid out, it can feel kind of easy, and it can feel like, man, I've obeyed these rules. And I actually am a pretty. A pretty good person. Because what's built into the law and the rules is the sacrificial system. The system was never put up to say, you need to be perfect. The system was, when you fail, here is a sacrifice that's going to atone for your sin. And that when you follow these rules, then you're good. But it was never about the rule following. It was always about faith. Faith in the promises of God. Let's look at that. How do we see this? Is this possible? Well, we see this in Deuteronomy, chapter 30. For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you. Neither is it far off. Hey, we can do this. Moses is going to then go on and say, it is not in heaven that you should say, who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it. Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say, who will go over the sea and bring it to us that we may hear and do. Was possible to live under the law and yet still miss the faith, still miss the whole point of the rule and the law that God gave. And someone can just become a rule follower rather than a follower of Yahweh. Someone who has their faith in the rules or the system and the laws rather than faith in the God who gave the laws. They're very different. The Apostle Paul is gonna make this explicit by quoting those exact verses in Deuteronomy. This is from Romans, chapter 10. Looked at this a couple years ago. For Moses writes about the righteousness. Righteousness is just my. My right standing, my goodness before God. So when you hear someone say something like, yeah, me and the big guy upstairs, we're okay. That's their idea of righteousness, my standing with God, I'm good, I'm okay. For Moses writes about your standing with God that is based on the law, following the rules, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. You wanna live by the rules? You're gonna die by the rules, and it's never gonna suffice. But the righteousness, the based on faith says, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. What does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. It is all about faith. It's always been the point. It's not about the rules or being better than others. That. What is that phrase? Or that if you're with your friends in the woods and you're being chased by a bear, you just have to be faster than your friend. Right? You don't have to outrun the bear. You just gotta outrun your buddy and then you're safe. And a lot of times we do that, we compare ourselves with other people and we go, well, I'm better than them, right? I'm at least outrunning them. So in God's eyes, I'm okay, I'm good. My righteousness is better than their righteousness. So I'm good. That's the law. That's legalism. That's self righteousness, or thinking that my good just needs to outweigh my bad. I'm a pretty good person. Yeah, Yeah. I screw up every once in a while. I sin, if you want to call it that. But relatively, I'm a good person. And that my goodness is better than my badness, that's law. And Paul says, it doesn't work that way. He says it even more explicitly, summarizing the passage I just read in Galatians, chapter five. You wanna live by the laws? You wanna do that? Go ahead. But when you do that, you are severed from Christ. You who would be justified, made right, made righteous by the law. You have fallen away from grace. There's no grace anymore. You think you can earn it? You think you can do it? You can be a good person, Go ahead. It's not gonna happen. It's never been about that. It's always been about faith. And when you take the faith away from it, when you take Christ out of it, you fall away from grace. So I ask you, have you been striving for a right relationship with God? Say, I've been looking. The answer's here. How do we know that Jesus is right here saying, I'm here with open arms, I'm a lifeguard jumping in after you and I want to save you like man. How do we know that, though? Well, let's look at the passage again from Today, back to 21. Jesus, looking at him, loved him. He loves them. Jesus loves those who seek after him. He loves the skeptic, he loves the seeker. And if that's you today, you are loved. In comparison to these disciples. He's indignant with them, but he loves the skeptic. He loves someone who's questioning and asks questions and is curious about who he really is. He loves him. And he says to him, you lack one thing. Go and sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Come, follow me. Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Again, this is not a sermon about affluence. It's a sermon about the heart, discernment, about this guy's posture. How do we know this? This is how we know. Jesus says this. You lack one thing. I want all of us this morning to hear Jesus saying this to us today. You lack one thing. Because either Jesus is bad at math or he's trying to teach something here that's a little bit deeper. Why? Because what does he do? He says, you lack one thing, but then he gives him three things. He says, you've done everything right, you followed the rules, but it's not enough. The one thing cannot be bought with your money. It cannot be earned with your self righteousness and rule following, you lack one thing. But I'm gonna list three things for you to do, and that is to sell all you have, give to the poor, and then follow me. What does that mean? He says you lack one thing that tells him to do three things. He's saying you lack one thing and that is me. You lack the Messiah, you lack the Savior, and right now your hands are so full of your own self righteousness and your money that you're unwilling to give those things up in order to grab onto me. You can't do it. I mean, I'm sure this didn't happen and this just popped in my head, so you can fact check me, but I doubt this happened. But you could imagine someone sinking in the Atlantic Ocean after the. After the Titanic. And they're, like, holding onto their. I don't know, silverware, right? And their silverware is dragging them under, right? It's in a suitcase and it's pulling them down. And Jesus. Lifeboat comes up and it's like, get in. They're like, no, I gotta hold onto my stuff. Jesus said, you gotta let go of that in order to be saved. You have to do that. And yet we hold onto things so tightly. We have no room for Christ. And our hands are full and we're thrashing around, and we need Jesus to save him. We're gonna sing here in a few minutes a song. And I always forget the title of it, but part of the. One of the lyrics that always sticks out to me and I have a hard time singing it. This is the phrase, if thou should call me to resign, that which I prize most was never mine. Thy will be done. That's a hard phrase. That's this. You lack one thing. What is the thing that I have held onto so tightly? I think of the movie Signs. Do you remember this? This is Mel Gibson's playing a priest or some kind of pastor. His wife dies tragically, and now he's got his son who's dying in his arms while I'm getting choked up over signs. I didn't see this coming. And his son is dying in his arms. He's having an asthma attack, and he can't breathe. And this former pastor looks up and he's yelling at God. He says, don't you touch him. Don't you think about taking him away from me. If thou should call me to resign, that which I prize most. Twas, never mind. Thy will be done. Can we say that? What do you have in your hands that you're unwilling to give or to surrender in order to cling to Jesus? What is in your hands that's not allowing you to fully surrender? What's that one thing that we're clinging to besides Jesus? This is the cost of ongoing discipleship. This is what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Christ. Maybe it's a possession. Maybe it's wealthy. Most likely it's something like safety or comfort. A relationship, or a relationship you have, or one you wish you had. Maybe it's an idea of who God is or how we can all get to God. Or maybe it's an idea of tolerance or love. These are all things that we can cling to besides Christ. Last point here is the answer. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples were amazed. But Jesus said to the gam children, how difficult is it to enter the kingdom of God? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. This is hyperbole. Sometimes. I don't know where this came from, but someone said it's some kind of gate in the wall. There was this little gate called the eye of the Needle. And a camel, they'd take its packs off and it would have to get down and squeeze through the eye of the needle. That's just false. That's not true. That's not a thing. It's not historically. There they have found the walls of Jerusalem. There is no gate called the Eye of the Needle. Never was. There is also. Some people would say, well, the rope. There was a rope that was called a camel, and it was this thick rope. And you couldn't really get it through the eye of a needle. No. Jesus is saying it is as difficult for a wealthy individual for a camel, this huge, large mammal, to go through the eye of a needle. Hyperbole, he said, it's impossible, but it's not with God. He's making a point here. So the problem here isn't money. The problem is clinging to something or someone. Well, maybe it. Maybe. Maybe it is money. Not saying it's not money, but it could be clinging to someone or something for safety, comfort or purpose that was never meant to satisfy. Only Christ can do that. Only Christ can fulfill. And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, who then can be saved? And Jesus says, with man, it's impossible, but with God, all things are possible. He gives the answer. Jesus says, you try to save yourself when you're drowning and you're going to lose yourself, you're gonna die. You let go. You must let go of what you trust in and let God save you. And again, it goes against every natural instinct. Maybe they'd be helpless as babies that need saving. And then Peter says to him, see, we've left everything and followed you. Right? We've done this. We've already done this. Right, we left everything. We're following you. Right? Right. Right. We're doing this. A call to discipleship involves a cost of discipleship. We've already seen this in chapter one, verse 16 through 20 that we see. Fishermen must leave their Nets and their boats. We see tax collectors leave their tax collectors and their wealth. We see Peter, who has a false conception of what the Messiah is and who Jesus is. Even Jesus, you got to leave that behind. That's not who I am. It might be something physical, but it might be something conceptual. So in conclusion, gospel conclusion that we have this morning, are you willing to resign that which you prized most, that was never yours to begin with? It doesn't mean you will resign. It doesn't mean that God's gonna take this thing from you. That's not who God is. God is loving and he cares for you, and he only wants what's best for you. And so when something is taken, if I do need to resign something, then it's God saying, this is what is best for you. Because I love you, because you are my child. This is not just some vindictive God. Just, ha, ha. How much pain can I put this person through? This is no. I love you. And I want you to be the best version of you. And the best version of you is to fully accept me and my son. And you can't do it with that thing. Are we willing to. To resign that which you prize most that was never yours? You might say, like Peter, I've given so much. When will it ever be enough? That's the whole point of the cross, is Jesus says, it was enough when I said it was enough. It's finished. I did it already. I accomplished all of this already for you. But we try to keep splashing around and saving ourselves or making our lives more comfortable rather than looking at Jesus. And I didn't mean to skip over this. Cause it might be a little confusing. Jesus says, truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel, who does not receive a hundredfold. Now, in this time, this might be a verse that people might say, yeah, see, if you give to Jesus, he's gonna give you back a hundredfold. That's not what he's getting at here. He's saying, there are people, there are some of you in this room even, who might say, no, I'm a follower of Jesus. And it's cost me relationships, it's cost me friendships, it's cost me my family, it's cost me maybe even an inheritance. Physical. Jesus says, there's so much more. How much more do we gain? I have gained in this room, brothers and sisters. I've gained friends. Not just for this time. This lifetime, but for the next. And Jesus says, but it might involve persecutions. Following me isn't just going to be rainbows and sunshine and butterflies. This comes with persecutions. But in the age to come, eternal life, that's what it's all about. And yet we still try to splash around and save ourselves. Jesus has paid it all. We are gonna have a time of communion. We do this every week at Lowertown. And so if you're a follower of Jesus, I would love for you to take these elements with us. The cracker that represents the body of Christ that's broken for us, the juice that represents his blood that was shed for us. And we take these things in full surrender. It's not our. It doesn't represent our bodies. It doesn't represent our blood. It represents the blood and the body of Christ. It's his sacrifice, and that's what we have to cling to. If you're a follower of Jesus, I'd love for you to take these elements. You don't need to be a member of this church or any church for that matter. But if you say, yes, that Jesus, that's the one I'm clinging to. I struggle. I struggle with trying to grab onto things. I struggle with not being willing to give something up. I don't know what I would think if that thing was taken from me. But I want to be able to like Christ and follow his example. Say thy will be done. Let me pray. And then we'll have a time of communion and worship together through song. Father, thank you just for our time to look at this passage in Mark, to look at this man who so many of us can see ourselves, that we just are unwilling to give that thing up because. Because it just costs too much that we're unwilling to let go of that thing, that way of thinking or that possession. Because it just means so much to me. God, would we repent of that? Those of us who have been followers of you for a long time, that there's still things in our heart that we cling to, Would we repent of that? Would we open our hands? Would we cling to you? That you can save us continually? God, we love you. And I just pray that as we take these elements, you'd receive honor and glory. You are worthy of all worship and all praise. And it's in your name, in Jesus name, in the name of Christ, that we pray. Amen.