Come Away with Christ | Mark 6:30-32 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

Many Sundays let me put it this way. Almost every Saturday night, I feel like the next day is Christmas for many reasons, and one of those reasons is I am eager to preach the word. And even there as I'm singing with you, I I feel that excitement, and I pray, and I ask the Lord to help. But there are also many Sundays, including this one, where I just wish we can keep singing. We will continue to sing, but for now, we will go to the word of God.

And so meet me in Mark chapter six as we look at three simple verses today. Mark six, and maybe they're in verse 30. My goal today is to invite the willing heart to take the time and to sit before this text and to stare at the snapshot of the Lord Jesus Christ long enough that you would be able to comprehend on some level the mindfulness, the compassion, and the gentleness of Jesus. And that your heart would be more convinced and more compelled regarding such qualities in the savior than ever before. My hope and my prayer is that these lingering observations over these three verses would stimulate higher exaltations of Christ in your life and in mine.

That with every minute that passes by through the word of God this afternoon, the Lord himself would be elevated in our affections, elevated in our meditations, and eventually elevated in our imitations by his power and by his grace. If you're wondering what the topic of this sermon will be, if you're wondering what will dominate this presentation, it's very simple. It's very clear. It's very plain. It's Jesus Christ.

There is no greater subject than him. He is the golden thread that weaves through the holy scriptures. He is the bedrock that every narrative, every story, every Psalm, every proverb, every prophecy, every epistle is built on. It's Christ. It's the Lord Jesus.

The son of the living God. The treasure of the father, and the object of our adoration. The great apostle said something and it is no wonder in Colossians two three that Christ in whom is hidden all all all what? The treasures of wisdom and knowledge. That wonderful apostle also said in Romans sixteen twenty five, now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel, and get this, and the preaching of Jesus Christ.

Did you catch it? There is a strength that is reserved for and imparted to the saints who are willing to give their ear to the preaching of the man, Jesus Christ. There's something powerful about Christ being heralded. Christ being expounded. Christ being discovered.

Just Christ. Just Jesus. And what do we have before us today that will help us? Know this strength that Paul speaks of. Let's read together.

In verse 30 in Mark six, the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat. Lord, may you bless us with the strength that your servant Paul spoke of as we simply behold the glory of your son. In Jesus name, amen.

The Holy Spirit has just finished concluding a flashback concerning John the Baptist's martyrdom. The gruesome execution that he experienced under the filthy hands of Herod and Herodias. And after giving us a very detailed account, he now brings us back to real time and reminds us that the disciples were sent out by Jesus on their first evangelistic campaign and apparently, they came back successful. They came back with a completed mission. And for the first time in the gospel of Mark, in verse 30, the disciples are referred to as the apostles.

And that's very fitting because these disciples fulfill the very meaning of that word. The word apostle simply means one who is sent out. Or you can expound upon that definition, one who is sent out with orders. And these men faithfully fulfilled exactly that. They were given a commission.

They were given orders and they went out and they came back satisfying what Christ had asked of them. But these apostles did not just go out. They did just not fulfill what the desires of their master was. No. We read here that they knew instinctively to come back to Jesus.

To return to Jesus. A transitional comment here that's worthy of greater meditation. Something that offers us more than just an awareness that they were indeed faithful in what Jesus told them to do. Here we have some kind of a model. Here we have some kind of a a brilliant example of the steps that we should follow in in our service.

Here we have some kind of a balance, a principle for us when it comes to serving God and I pray that you wanna serve him. I pray that you are serving him. And what is that exactly? These disciples who were committed to activity for Christ at the same time did not lose sight of their fellowship and their accountability to Christ. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many people, many laborers in the kingdom of God today.

They understand their assignment. They've they've been able to successfully identify the gifts that they have been given by God. They know the holy orders according to the word and they give their strength to observing exactly what has been given to us in this sacred blueprint. And yet at the same time, they rarely report to the one who commissioned them in the first place. Not these men.

What these disciples are demonstrating here in this one occasion is what every believer should endeavor to make a holy habit and that is to know a dependency upon the Lord. And dependency upon the Lord is communicated through communion with the Lord. No matter where he sends you, no matter what you do for his name, you and I must have a conviction of continually and regularly bringing before him our successes, our concerns, our worries, our fears, our confusion, or especially your ideas and your plans. And at the same time, we must not fail to come before him regularly to give him his due praise. To bring and to spread before his feet our anxieties and to express our faith in him for our tomorrows.

Come to Christ. Come to him regularly. In the midst of serving him, don't lose sight of that. Wherever he sends you, think of yourself as someone with a rope around your waist and that rope is held in the hands of the savior and he, through messages like this, tugs on you to remind you the source of all of this. And not to go too far and not to go too long without returning to him and looking at him and speaking to him and telling him all that you've done and saying all that you have taught and expressing exactly what it is that is going about in your life especially as you live under the banner of glorifying him.

The disciples did this more than once. Disciples did this again when they were sent out on another mission, this time with dozens more, namely the 72. And in Luke 10, we see a little closer look at what this kind of dance of service and accountability to Christ looks like. Can I show it to you in Luke ten seventeen? In Luke ten seventeen, it says that the 72 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.

They return with joy. There are many dangers ahead for the servant of Christ. There are many hazardous things. There are many warnings. There are many challenges.

But can I tell you something? No matter how difficult it may seem, no matter what kind of things we see in the word of God concerning being hated for his namesake and being despised for righteousness and persecution from our family and the difficult choices in order to express our consecration to the Lord, it's a joyful thing to serve him. It's a joy filled thing to serve him. They return with joy after serving him. And if you're not experiencing that joy, not saying that you will not know difficulty, but if you don't have joy, you maybe are doing it wrong.

Maybe for the wrong reason. And they come to Jesus again. What a thing to imitate, to remain connected to Christ. Not just when you are in need, but also in your triumphs, in your accomplishments, with trophies that have been placed in your hand, with crowns that have been placed on your brow. Where do you bring those things?

Do you put them on the shelf of your self confidence? Do you put them in a glass casing for you to look at to give you some worth? Or do you bring them to the feet of Jesus and give him the glory that is due his name? They come to him with joy and we see that in this place of serving but also fellowshipping, of going but also coming. We see what Christ is willing to give in principle in return for the one who knows how to come before him.

Look in what we see here in Luke 10 again. If you scroll down after verse 17, what Jesus says to them in verse 18 and in verse 19. It says here, and he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you. I see revelation there.

Greater revelation. I saw Satan fall down like lightning from heaven. Oh, there's a revelation of the authority of Christ, of the glory of Christ, of the strength of Christ. But more than just Christ's authority, there is this reassurance to the disciples of the authority that he's given them. Of the promises that belong to them.

The tailor made graces that belong to them. And this is what you can expect when you come to Christ, greater revelation of him, greater assurances of his promises for you as his child. He is faithful to do that, and you need that. I need that. I was reading Psalm one nineteen this week.

I'm in the book of Psalms. You heard me say that last time. And when I was reading Psalm one nineteen, that chap I'm so familiar with that chapter. Many of us are. Very familiar phraseologies and truths about the glories of the word of God, but there was something.

Is it a surprise? There was something that I saw and oh, did it stir me and it's still stirring me now. Go to Psalm one nineteen. I have to share it with you. I'm sorry.

Verse 96. I just want I want you to believe that when you take time for the Lord, he will honor that, and he will meet you in one way or another. And in Psalm one nineteen verse 96, oh this blessed me. This is this is a commentary about the word of God, And this is what the psalmist says, I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad. What a verse.

What is he saying here? Well, in the realm of all creation, no matter what terrain you entertain, if you're in the realm of nature, if if you go to the arts, if you go to the sciences, if you look at clever inventions, if you study scientific discoveries, if you peek into the complexities and the joys of languages, All these things have their limits. All these things have their limits in their brilliance, in their exhilaration, in their stimulation. But the psalmist says the word of God is exceedingly broad. Exceedingly broad.

It has no borders. There are no dimensions. Climb as high as you will. You will not find a ceiling. Dive as deep as possible.

You will not find a bottom. When you come to the word of God unlike the objects of this life though the author is the creator that we worship, realize this, you cannot exhaust its excellencies. You cannot say I've reached the point of complete revelation and application. No. It's never ending.

It is never ending in its supply of awe. It humbles you. It teaches you. It comforts you. It makes you wiser than your teachers.

It brings light to your path. It whispers wisdom and it never ends. Oh, your commandment is exceedingly broad. Christ, when you come to him, he'll give you he'll give you revelation. He'll give you assurance.

He'll remind you of promises, But we see him even granting more to the one who makes that habit and that practice of coming to him. Not just serving him. Not just doing things in his name, but sitting before him, coming to him. Look at verse 20 of Luke chapter 10. What does he say?

Something that you and I are very familiar with. He says here after telling about their authority, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. When you come to the word of God, when you come before the presence of God, yes, there will be revelation. Yes, he will grant you some assurance, but he also in his love bring correction. And he'll realign your thinking.

You see they had this joy, but Christ saw that it was a misguided joy or that there was a a priority issue here in the object of their joy. And he gently reminds them, the ultimate thing is my grace. Not what you do, not how you perform, but what I have done. Let that be the supremacy of your delight. And listen, if you I'm I'm saying this because it's true.

If you do not I'm talking to the servant of the Lord. If you do not make it a regular practice to come before him when I mean before, I mean his word, his presence, and the simplicity of silence and devotion to him, then you can be misguided in your priorities, even in your service to him. You can lose sight of what really matters. You can begin to be tempted to put your joy in the authority he has given you instead of who he is and what he's done in your behalf. So we see a wisdom here.

We some see something wonderful. These are more than just transitional comments in the gospels. If carefully interpreted, there is wonderful instructions for the saints. And one might object to these kind of applications with these verses and say, brother, you are you are trying to pull something out of a time in church history, time in redemptive history that doesn't apply. They had access to Jesus.

They could come to him at any time. He was physically there. To which I would respond, do you think they were any less dependent upon Christ after he ascended into heaven? Oh, there's so many examples of that. May I give you one?

In acts 15, when the elders came together to speak and to converse and to come to a conclusion about how these gentiles who believe in this Jewish messiah, how how should they live? What Jewish laws apply to them? And there was debate. There was back and forth. And finally, there there was a settlement.

There was clear direction. And I love what the letter says, the letters that these elders and leaders wrote to the gentiles. And and this is the part that I wanna draw to your attention. In acts fifteen twenty eight, it reads in that letter, quote, for it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements and then they spell out those requirements. But did you see that?

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. Yeah, I get it. This this is this is a clear indication that these distinct representatives of Christ, the apostles, had access to divine revelation and direct access to the Lord to have what is necessary to lay the foundations of the doctrine of the church. I get it, but can you feel the familiarity and the intimacy of that statement? It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us as though the Lord was in their midst and was numbered among them.

As though the Lord was present, so present in that vital crucial council meeting. As though the Lord graciously was given access by these apostles. They had access to him with such immediacy and availability, and he was willing to bring a comforting conclusion to this difficult time for the church. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, indicating that they consulted them, indicating that in that room filled with saints, they did not fail to turn to their God and to seek him and to ask of him and they received something from him. Is he any different today?

I'm not speaking about him giving you more revelation to the word of God. That's a different spirit speaking to you. I'm speaking about how he is there and he can speak and he can guide and he can lead and he can illuminate. Surely he is the same. Surely he is the same.

He is with us now. He is with you at all times. And this is one of the great thrills of our faith. We're coming to celebrate today and this is one of the great thrills of our faith. Yes, the gospel, but who is our God?

What kind of God is he? Can I tell you what kind of God he is? He is a personal God. He is an approachable God. And more than that, he is a God who is acquainted with each of us.

He's acquainted with each of us and that is what you see in Mark six. In Mark six, when these men came to tell him all that they had done and taught, Jesus said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. What care? What attention? What love?

What sympathy? What understanding? You know what I love about that? This was Jesus' idea. This retreat to rest was not a protest from the disciples after a long journey out preaching saying, Lord, we've been we've been working really hard.

We need some kind of a vacation here. Can you can you work something up? Because we need a few days to just kick back and relax. That that's not what these disciples this was the Lord Jesus who looked at his men and after they've given him the account of their service, he says, come. Let's go now.

Let's rest. Why? Because he knew that they needed rest. There's no indication that these men expressed that need or that desire, and I think that's by design. It's to show us that the Lord was aware of something that perhaps they were not even aware of themselves.

And the Lord gave them what perhaps they did not know they needed. He knew what his servants needed and he provided exactly what was needed. That's Christ. He he he just doesn't send you off to do things and then says, I'll see you on judgement day to give you your grade. He he's there observing and watching and as as as long as we are close to him, we are safest.

And as long as we are close to him, we will know his presence in this way. I thought to myself looking at this, you know, when we think about the omniscience of God, when when you even hear that, the very word demands awe. Right? On the omniscience, the the the doctrine of God being all knowing. And usually what comes and what springs forth in the imagination is the massive implications of that ability.

God knows all things. And when we just even begin to entertain what that looks like, we usually can't get beyond his perfect awareness of the future and his ability to solve every mystery and matter known to man. And all of that is true. God knowing all things, Christ knowing what was happening in the lives of their dis of his disciples. And beyond all of that should demand such amazement of the the depth and the breadth of that kind of characteristic.

Just like the other omni characteristics of God. But you know what? The Holy Spirit helped David recognize something about the omni omniscience of God rather. And what he realized about the omniscience of God is that it was not just something that was so grand and powerful and beyond what we can contemplate. It was deeply personal and individually applicable.

You know the text that I'm per perhaps referring to, Psalm one thirty nine. Psalm one thirty nine, the plain reading of it alone can melt the heart. Let me read it to you and then let me show you some things about it. What does David say as the Holy Spirit rooted over his mind and showed him something, just something about the mind of God? Well, this is it.

Oh, Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways even before a word is on my tongue. Behold, oh Lord, you know it altogether.

You hem me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Generally, it is not a comforting thought to know that somebody is watching you all the time.

It's not usually a comforting thought to know that somebody is evaluating and watching your every move. And I agree, that's disturbing. It really depends who's doing it and why they're doing it. And when it comes to understanding how God investigates, there is an element of that that should cause a fear of God to arise in the heart of a rebel or a hypocrite to reconsider their ways. And yet David, when when this download comes to him, he understands that this aspect of who God is is worthy of wonder and admiration.

This is something that he's enjoying as much as he is perplexed by. He is enjoying it. He's writing about it. He's he's writing a song to it. And again, I just read it and it's clear.

It's obvious but when you just take the time to really pick it apart and see what this really implies, oh, your heart would be stirred even more. Let me give you a couple of examples. Look back at verse three of the Psalm. He says, you search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. You know the word search there is not the same word as search in the Hebrew as verse one.

He says in verse one, oh Lord, you have searched me. But that's not the same word. Now our Hebrew speaking pastor here is gonna confirm that later on, to me at least. The word for search here in verse three is the Hebrew word zara. A word that is associated in that is winnowing.

You know, the process of taking grain mixed with chaff and to throw it up into the air so that some kind of wind would gust through it and remove the chaff so that grain, the the substance of desire remains. And that is what David is using here. When he says that, he says, you search out my path. You are winnowing. You are casting off certain things.

You are removing certain things about my path and when I when I lay down. Why that word? Why bring that here at this point? What is he trying to say? Well, I believe this is what he is trying to say.

That in some way when the Lord looks at you and the Lord's knowledge of you is so precise, so true, so perfect that he is able to distinguish in you that which is false and that which is true. He is able to evaluate you to such a degree that he can make a distinction between the insincere and the sincere, the genuine and the disingenuine. He's able with x-ray vision to know the truest of your motives, the deepest parts of your thoughts. You may be able to fool your pastors. You may be able to fool your wife.

You may be able to trick your parents. You may be able to put on a smile and convince the church or the crowds or your employees. You may be able with your introvert tendencies to pull away from those who are closest to you, but this God will scrutinize you. He carefully examines you and it takes him no effort to do so. Saying brother, that's kinda scary not if you think of it in the right way.

David is saying your knowledge so penetrates whatever shell I think is shielding me and you are able to grasp my true substance. You know it all. And yet, you still wanna walk with me. You still wanna provide for me. You still wanna lead me.

You still wanna fellowship with me. You still wanna use me. Be honest. If some people, even the closest people knew you knew, just 10% of your deepest hearts or your deepest thoughts, they might want nothing to do with you. But not this God.

He considers it all. Your imaginations, every passing thought, every sigh, every idea, everything that is there in your heart in the middle of the night. And then you see this in verse five. What does he say in verse five? You hem me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me.

You hem me in. Something about surrounding, there's something here about protection. Yes, it's it's an the idea of the omnipresence of God, but it's more than just the presence of God surrounding me. Remember the context you're leading up to this point. It's the knowledge of God that surrounds me.

Every area of who I am, every thoughtless step, every every word that that I don't have intention to mean something, every plan, every idea, every everything that goes by the quarter of my mind, all of that, you're there. You're just there. I never I never make you surprised and I can't hide from you. And what's so brilliant about verse five is that he goes from the mind of God to the hand of God. And you lay your hand upon me.

Think about that. You lay your hand upon me. The idea of your hand, his hand being upon us implies personal interaction. You see, you need to understand that part if you're gonna understand the omniscience of God because if you just hear the doctrine of the omniscience of God, you might be tempted to think that all God is is some divine supercomputer with a massive database that has no affection tied to or connected to the knowledge he possesses. He's not just somebody who has surveillance cameras in every corner of the universe and sits in some box somewhere in the heavens.

No. The very knowledge, the great knowledge of God even with you. Yes. You son of Adam. You son and daughter of a fallen parent.

Fallen parents. Redeemed in Christ. Yes. Even that knowledge of all your brokenness and your inconsistencies, it doesn't distance God from you. It draws him to you and it makes him extend his hand upon you.

That protection, that provision, that chastisement when it's necessary. That concealing of you is all provided as a result of what he knows about you. Everything about you and yet still he comes to you and he commits to you. And ultimately, we see that in Jesus Christ that he comes into the world with all that he knows about us. And he recruits and he calls for people to come to him and when there's disciples that do come to him, he displays his shepherd heart and he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.

He's so real. You and I can praise God this afternoon that we don't worship a cruel and insensitive, unfeeling taskmaster. As much as he is concerned about how we serve him, he is concerned about the servants. And he looks at you, not just what you do but at you, and he cares. And in his providence, he knows what to bring, what to remove, what to add, what to subtract.

He gets your attention. He he tries to get your attention when you do veer off and in in many ways he communicates to us primarily, yes, through his word. He's just a glorious master who deeply cares about us. You know, it's amazing how you forget some things. I'm 31 and I forget things And I heard it doesn't get easier as you get older.

But I was reading this late last night, I was looking over this and I was just trying to, you know, it's very hard for preachers, have mercy on preachers, To try to get up before people and to even attempt to communicate the excellencies of Christ is such a wearisome task. I don't know of one true faithful preacher who who attempts to preach on Christ and walks off the pulpit satisfied. Satisfied, yes, in trying to be faithful to the text, but never satisfied in attempting to try to color his glories with words and with passion and with emotion and more importantly by the power of the Holy Spirit. I was looking at this, I was thinking about just the Lord, just Jesus, beyond doctrine, him personally. And this this came to mind and would you know it, I forgot it and it came to mind.

That's why it's good to journal some things. Your brain will forget, but paper doesn't. And this is what came to mind many years ago just walking with the Lord, and I'll end with this testimony before we break bread together. I remember those first first few months, that first year and a half. So busy.

So wonderfully busy. No no complaints. So wonderfully preoccupied with the things of Christ. So I had school, had work, but Fridays was youth night. Fridays was youth night with some of the young adults where we we helped lead the youth.

And Saturday, Saturday was evangelism night. It was prayer, worship and we would go out and then Sunday we had church. Church not at 1PM, in the morning, 10AM. No, 11AM. 11AM.

And then Sunday night, young adults meeting till late into the night and then fellowship afterwards and then restart. Heaven on earth those days. Heaven on earth. And I remember that going week after week after week and I began to realize I'm human and I actually need to eat and I need good sleep. And so I was beginning to feel the weight, not of the difficulties of it, not of the displeasures of it, no.

It was the most enjoyable thing. You could not convince me to do anything else on a weekend. There was a band of brothers and sisters who felt the same way. And what began to happen was because of wise people in my life, older people who observed my life, One in particular reached out and said, brother, it's wonderful, it's great, but just consider how this might work out in the long term. And I began to even feel that weariness.

And I would begin to talk to the Lord about it and I had to I had to take a city bus to take the subway to take the street train just to get to the internship for the week. And so this friend advised me. He just gave me biblical principles of rest. And not rest in the way you and I understand rest, to go on a vacation somewhere for you know, it's amazing that you go on vacation thinking you need a break. You come back from vacation.

You need a vacation from your vacation. Because true rest true rest comes from Christ. You're gonna go on vacation, that's fine. Go on vacation with Jesus and not from Jesus. And so the true rest true rest, there's a place for physical repose.

I get it. Don't hear me wrong here. And I just began to talk to it talk to it about about these things to the Lord. I would just walk to the bus. I remember walking to the bus and just in my heart with my backpack, just talking to the Lord.

Talking to the Lord about it. Lord, this this is where I'm at. This is what I'm feeling. I have a wise brother who's speaking into my life and telling me just to get a different kind of rhythm going on and and it was challenging to me because usually when you hear about people taking a break from serving the Lord, they're usually not even really doing anything for the Lord. They they wanna take a break from worldly pursuits.

They barely attend church. They're not part of any ministry, and yet they wanna take a break. I'm aware of that. And I I don't see serving Christ as a difficult thing, but just like in Mark six, we're human. He remembers that we're dusting but flesh.

Just praying to the Lord about it. And it wasn't a one time prayer, it was a few days praying and even going to the next week praying about this, praying about this. Lord, I wanna serve you. I wanna do this for you, but how do I go about this? One day I'm walking to the bus.

When I got on that bus, it was the same bus at the same time. I would always sit in the same seat. If you take me to Etobicoke, Ontario now, I can tell you where I sat on that city bus. It's right there so clear in my mind. And there I am, the same prayer is being prayed.

Trying to understand this, wanting to serve the Lord but wanting to know his will in even serving him. And as I get on the bus, which was usually empty at that time of the day, I went up and I climbed the back of that bus where it was elevated and I sat in my chair and when I looked down on my seat, I saw a pamphlet. And when I looked at the pamphlet, I was stunned. Because on that pamphlet it said, Sabbath, biblical principles for rest. I looked around.

There was nobody around. I picked that pamphlet up. I made sure it wasn't some weird thing. Is Seventh day Adventist kinda teaching about the Sabbath or anything like that? So, no.

This is sound. This is clear. Put it down and I took a picture of it and I sent it to the person who's been speaking to me for for days and weeks and all he sent back was something on the lines of, God is loud. The bus took off and I sat there looking at this. You can interpret this however you want.

I thought to myself, you know me. You know me. You search me and you know me. You know my going. You know my coming.

You know where I sit on the bus. You know what I say on my way to the bus. You care. You don't just cross your arms in the heavens and look down and say, you're gonna actually even peep these kind of prayers to me. You know what I did for you?

You better get busier. You're a gentle shepherd. I just began to praise God on that bus. And I put that away and I think it's somewhere. I don't know where it is.

If I find it, maybe I'll show some of you. Show and tell. He's so real. He's so close. You're saying, yeah, but but you're a ministry and and you're a pastor.

No. I was 22 years old finishing my advertising degree, barely able to make spaghetti for lunch, not knowing what tomorrow holds, not knowing what I'm gonna do with my degree, not knowing where I'm gonna live, not knowing what I'm gonna not knowing anything other than this is the word I wanna live for him and love him. And in that place in my life, the Lord in some providential way just gave me a nudge, I believe. Again, you can interpret it how you want. But I'm here to tell you more than my testimony, more than any authority, this word you can trust.

And this word, wherever you see of Christ, even that little glimpse where he says come away, I know what you need. I'll lead you. I'll guide you. I'm here with you. Even when I send you out, don't forget to come to me.

Don't forget to open your heart to me. From time to time, I'm sure in many ways, he'll remind you. He'll reveal himself to you. He'll instruct you. He'll correct you.

And he'll make you fall in love with him more and more. Lord, we do thank you. And we ask, Lord, that this afternoon we would simply relish in the revelation of the personal Christ. And Lord, as we prepare to partake in this meal, help us remember that your ultimate act of love, the very thing that started it all was the cross. You died for us.

You bled for us so that you can have us. Pray for the weary heart, The heart that is weary for natural reasons. Lord, pray that this time together would have just given fresh strength to serve you with greater zeal and passion. I pray for the weary heart who is wearied by sin, who does not know you, who does not know how you can make our burden light. Your yoke is easy.

I pray, Lord, with my brothers and sisters for the sinner to find that Sabbath rest in Jesus Christ. And Lord, we pray that our hearts would be clean as we come to this table, that you would not be grieved by our motives. You who know all things. Lord, we can always find something that makes us unworthy but for a conscience unrepentant sin, show us, Lord, what we need to do before we eat and drink. Would you be blessed?

Would you be blessed as we remember you? Faithfully, soundly, and with worship. We look to you now in Thanksgiving. Amen. Let's stand and worship the Lord.

What are we singing about? We're singing about the truth of the gospel. We're singing about what he has done for us on that night when Jesus was betrayed, when Jesus knew what he was gonna suffer, when Jesus knew the agonies of the cross, we're told there that they sang a hymn. They sang a hymn. Listen.

How can someone sing knowing what they are about to suffer? And I think there's a principle there for us. You can sing while you suffer. Why? Because He's worthy of your song.

Sing of his grace. Sing of his glories because he is worthy.