Abide in the Light

Please turn in your Bibles to 1st John in chapter 2. This is

God's holy and infallible word My little children these things

I write to you so that you may not sin and if anyone sins we have an advocate with the

Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for our powers -only but also for the whole world

Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments

He who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him

But whoever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in him

By this we know that we are in him And he who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked

Brethren, I write no new command to you But an old commandment which you have had from the beginning the old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning and Again a new commandment

I write to you which thing is true in him and in you Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining

He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now

He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him

But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going

Because the darkness has blinded his eyes Please pray with me now.

Oh Lord, I pray that you would cause these your people to walk and Abide in your light.

Oh Lord, we know that this is manifested first in our love for you father son and Holy Spirit But in a very tangible way our love for you is reflected and revealed in our ordinary love for the brethren

Oh Lord, I pray that this virtue would abound more and more in us that our

Orthodoxy would be matched with Orthopraxy and we would be those who are known by their love for one another and ask all this in Jesus name

Amen, please be seated Three points of emphasis.

I'd like you to consider today and the first And you should be able to derive this just from the text itself the

Old Commandment made new the Old Commandment made new

Second the darkness is past and the true light shines

The darkness is past and the true light shines and third the title of the message

Abide in the light Number one the Old Commandment made new number two, the darkness is past and the true light shines

And number three abide in the light Jesus Christ is the light of the world and For us to abide in the light to walk in his ways

We must love as he has loved For us to hate our brother is to walk in darkness

Until now What I was thinking about First John this week

One of the things I thought I would bring in at this point in our time is the person of John the author

And the reason I want to bring up these two Fuller descriptions of who

John the Apostle is is because I have always viewed John in a very idealistic way

He is the disciple whom Jesus loved He is likely the youngest of the disciples he appears to have not been martyred for his faith, and he was held in high regard and esteem in the life of the church

I Like us to look at two quick texts about John one of those a little bit

Indirect and one is very much John the first I'd like us to look at is Matthew chapter 20. You please turn there

The reason I bring this up is because I think of Paul I think

Paul prior to coming to Christ loved being a Pharisee of the Pharisees I Think he took some value in being one of the best scholars in Israel Advancing beyond his companions.

I think that was satisfying to Paul he was a part of The favored some people think the the most favored tribe in Israel the tribe of Benjamins he has all of this pedigree he has some tremendous natural ability and The great diligence of character he has honor he can live in both worlds.

He grows up in Tarsus He understands the Greek world very well, but he himself is the

Jew of Jews Paul counts it all as rubbish He throws all that aside says

I know Christ. So all these other things can be set aside I think of Peter and his brashness and boldness and even arrogance

We get to him as an older man when he's writing his epistles, and he is a much more humble and Very understated man.

He's no longer exalting himself. He lives to exalt Christ So I want to give some backdrop like that for John here today

Let's look at Matthew chapter 20, and I'll begin reading in verse 20 then the mother of Zebedee's sons

Came to him with their with her sons Kneeling down and asking something from him.

I want to point out that the two sons of thunder James and John John is likely the younger brother of James and John the sons of Zebedee Zebedee is apparently a fisherman of some

Note, he is probably one of the wealthier fishermen in the area in the

Sea of Galilee He is a place of honor and significance in The computer and our mothers and our fathers here can relate we want good things for our children

We want them to have a place of honor we want them to succeed in their lives

We want to protect them from trouble We want to we want to groom them in the proper way to direct them on the path that they should go

So Jesus responds to John's mother What do you wish and?

She says to him Grant that these two sons of mine may sit

One on your right hand and the other on the left in your kingdom

Mrs. Zebedee was about honor for her family You and I can be about the honor of our family.

We can want good things for ourselves and our children Sometimes it can be misplaced

It's verse 22 Jesus responds to this request You do not know what you ask.

Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with and They said to him no doubt very eagerly

We are able we want the position of the right and the left hand of you

When you come into your kingdom Oh Christ when you come into your kingdom He says to them you will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give

But it is for those For whom it is prepared by my father Now The sons of Zebedee our author of this epistle, they're kind of put down they're rebuked by Jesus And it's interesting now

There's a bitterness that grows among the ten that are left of the apostles. Look at verse 24

When the ten heard it they were greatly displeased with the two brothers but then

Jesus called them to himself and said I Should pause here

When I preached this a number of years ago, I would came to some conviction that that part of the resentment of the ten in this earlier stage of their discipleship

Is that they too wanted a place of honor? They didn't think of it their mama didn't come lobbying for their position

So the resentment is not this virtuous anger My view it is the ten we're thinking

I would like to have this place of honor This ending fits with our message and it's gonna help us get into it verse 25 says

Jesus called them to himself and said You know that the rulers of the

Gentiles lord it over them and those who are great exercise authority over them

Yet it shall not be so among you Whoever desires to become great among you

Let him be your servant and whoever desires to be first among you.

Let him be your slave Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and To give his life a ransom

For many you can turn optionally if you're gonna be distracted and don't have the discipline don't do it but turn to Luke chapter 9

Again, I want to give you more information about John. I Don't know if he said to his mom

It's not a good idea to go talk to Jesus or did they conspire and say hey, maybe Jesus likes you.

Maybe if you go and talk to him, maybe James and I can have a higher place We think about the idyllic life of John and but we also forget that his brother

James the son of Zebedee The other one was probably the first of the Apostles to be martyred

You see that in the book of Acts so John himself is

Acquainted with sorrows and grief like his Savior and like you and I are the last part of Chapter 9

I'm gonna begin reading in verse 51 The dispute

I should say in verse 46 It's a section again who's going to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven

Jesus responds to them Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives him who sent me

For he who is least among you all will be great The Christian ethic is upside down from the world

We Strategize and we maneuver and we labor for greatness and honor and prominence

If you don't recognize that in yourself you are in self -denial

This is something that has to be mortified in our flesh And I often think of John being the apostle of love

Read Gospels read the epistles. He's the love Apostle verse 51 now came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up That he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem Jesus is now on the path to the cross to the resurrection to the ascension

He's laser focus now. He's moving in the direction His public ministry is out and he's going to now do all of the work of the

Messiah And he sent messengers before his face and as they went they entered a village of the

Samaritans to prepare for him You remember in the story of the one from the woman on the well

There is an expedient way to travel from Galilee to Jerusalem and you go through Samaria Samarians are half -breeds.

They're not really Orthodox. They have strange doctrines They are part of that rebellious northern ten tribes that were dispersed in the time of Solomon verse 53

The Samaritans did not receive him Because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem And when his disciples

James and John the sons of Zebedee Saw this they said

Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did?

I don't think John is yet the apostle of love And this gives me some encouragement because the gospel transforms the lives of Christians We are not yet what we are going to be because of this great work of the

Holy Spirit in us And so when we think and see our lack maybe we should consider the future with some optimism and recognize that God is at work in us and We may be people who want to call down fire from heaven and I gotta tell you part of me and my natural man

I love that. I want to see the Samaritans smoked. I want to see him burnt up to a crisp

Because they reject our God But Jesus corrects

John and he corrects me He says in verse 55 He turned and rebuked them

And said you do not know what manner of spirit you are of For the

Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives But to save them and they went to Another village

Let's go ahead and turn back to our text in first John if you were with me John was a man like us a

Sin nature like ours and God was able to use him in a very mighty way and I believe

John's Chastening by Christ is part of the backdrop. This is I believe how in some ways

John becomes The man that we know him to be Well, let's look at the text again.

We're gonna be looking at verses 7 through 11 The language for us in English is a little bit awkward and there's some redundancy and Well, we should know about the

Hebraic my much like our own languages and traditions in the West there

There's something powerful in repetition John says some of the same things multiple times with slightly different tones

But but there's kind of a simple message that he is grinding out for us here in the first epistle

Look again at verse 7 Brethren The Delphi those brotherly loved ones.

I write no new commandment to you But an old commandment which you have had from the beginning

The old commandment is the word which you heard From the beginning

I have to establish this foundation

I believe in John's gospel and again turn with me if you're able or Just listen

John chapter 13 This is an essential

Christian text Parents have your children memorize a couple of verses in this little section

Adults you too would do well to know this text very intimately the the language the words

You'll know once I begin reading them is very clear to us John chapter 13

This is Part of the explanation of how the old commandment is made new my first point which

I believe John is drawing out in our text beginning at verse 31

So when he had gone out Jesus said now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him if God is glorified in him.

God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him immediately

We beheld his glory. This is something that's very important to John This is something that's in his first chapter and the epistle is very big in his gospel

Verse 33 little children. I shall be with you a little while longer

You will see me and as I said to the Jews where I am going you cannot come so now

I say to you and here it is a New commandment

I give to you That you love one another

I can go throughout the Old Testament law and show you how This command to love one another is

Embedded in the very law of God the second table of the law is love your brother

How is this new? How is the commandment the

Old Commandment that John speaks of in the epistle, how is it made new? he says as I have loved you

That you also love One another The scholars could debate about who their neighbor is

They could argue with Jesus about loving enemies outside the covenant community but now with precision and clarity

Christ himself says the law of love The commandment to love is now amplified

Magnified fully teased out and revealed in my love for you to love one another

That can be done. Maybe at a surface level that could be satisfying to the church the community

But now the standards have been raised You and I are called to love each other

In the way that Christ loves not about you But I feel some conviction.

I Don't love in this way. I look more like James and John in their bad state than I do a

Jesus in his Perfection so walking in his ways abiding in the light

Jesus Really narrows it down and John focuses on that both in this gospel and in our epistle that this in its refined state is

Loving one another as Christ has loved so you and I have some room for growth

And improvement now, let's go back to our text in 1st

John Brethren, I write no new commandment to you verse 7

But an old commandment which you have had from the beginning the old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning

Again a new commandment I write to you that thing which is true and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining when you think about redemptive history there have been some

Dark days in the life of the church. There is a 400 plus period of time before the arrival of John the

Baptist preparing the way there's really in many ways a prophetic silence

And if we look at the world in which Jesus arrives in the incarnation, we see a compromise

Corrupt Judaism and the wickedness of the Romans and the Greeks are legendary

It's almost like a Genesis 9 kind of thing. We read their letters. There's great sexual immorality.

There's horrible things going on sacrifice of children Corruption at the temple

There's a great darkness But now at the arrival of Jesus Christ and this is what we should be thinking of every

Advent season We think about the arrival of Christ The light of Christ now shines in the darkness

Christ has come and he cannot contain the brightness and the light of his glory and he comes now

The darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining

As Mark was talking about the importance this morning of thinking about the cross in light of the resurrection

I Was thinking to myself in light of my text It's important to think of the cross in the light of the resurrection and the ascension

Christ the light has come into the world The the king has retaken ownership and possession of his creatures and his created order

He lives and reigns today The light is shining in this dark world.

This gospel cannot be thwarted. The kingdom cannot be restrained It's going to touch the ends of the earth

And John wants to get this message out and he says but there's an ethic there's a morality that goes with it

The darkness is past and the true light shines

We get this in a cosmic sense and maybe a categorical sense. We can posit it theologically

But we can also see it in a very practical way don't turn there But I think a linchpin verse for this idea if you're taking notes is found in 2nd

Corinthians chapter 4 This is Pauline doctrine Which you see some great synergy between Paul and John here 2nd

Corinthians 4 5 and 6 say this For we preach not ourselves.

I Can tell you I have nothing to say as a preacher I've only got

Christ in his word. If you hear me preaching my stuff. Tell me to get out Paul says

I'm not relying on my Pharisee of Pharisees and tribe of Benjamin stuff here. I preach

Christ and him crucified We're not preaching ourselves, there's a lot of preaching of ourselves going on in the world today

But but true biblical preaching is to preach Christ And Here's this very strong link and we preach

Christ and ourselves your servants for Jesus's sake

So you and I should be tripping and stumbling over each other trying to outdo one another in our love and service to each other

Now here it is for God Creation who

Commanded the light to shine out of darkness Has shined in our hearts

After the darkness there's light the earth is dark and void

And then there's light There's dead and sins and trespasses

There is no communion with God and Then the light of the world and the power of his spirit shines in the heart of his people

The light switch goes on To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Brethren I want to appeal to your reasonable rational logical minds we who have

Christ And are filled with his spirit that the light has shined not only round about us

But in our dark recesses of our hearts if that be true of us

Then then how can we tolerate sin in ourselves as I mentioned a couple of times in recent weeks?

We are Very capable of seeing the sins of the culture and the sins of others, but we must see the sin in ourselves

And put it to death If the light has shined,

I don't know if you've noticed Since the creation of all things that Sun rises every morning the birds chirp in the trees

The plants grow the crops come in. There's a harvest It seems to me if that be true of the created order

How much more so for the new creation? If the light of Christ shines in us his people it would seem that the darkness would be completely and repeatedly

Overtaken and as I've argued already in recent months

We feel as though we can't have victory over sin, and it's just not true

We're not going to be sinlessly perfect But the light always overtakes the darkness so in the grand

Theological the biblical theological stage think about the progression of the church from a place of darkness

Into light we have been conveyed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light we have been set free from the bondage of sin and Made to walk in Christ's righteousness

The darkness Is passing away? The true light is already

Shining I'm not gonna have time to get into this. I don't think with Greater depth I may be able to work it in at another time.

I want to give you a framework for This and partly a part of this has been

I don't know who the original source is But it's been bantered about for some time

I want you to think about how Christ's love and then us as the body of Christ under these four headings first as Heart heart hands and feet

I also want to think about Head and mouth to some degree in relation to this again

I'm not gonna fully do this because it will take too long, but maybe we'll work it in in the coming weeks

How did Christ love this is really the question we're trying to understand if this is the royal law

We're commanded the great imperative is to love as Christ is loved

This is what actually abiding in the light means. This is what it means to walk in his ways

We've got to get to the place where we have a handle and a grip on how did

Christ love? How did he do it I think this heart hands and feet imagery helps us first We have a heart for God Think about Jesus and his absolute submission to the will of God the worship of God he was zealous for God's house

His Affections were guided and directed by love for God in his humanity

He did that perfectly and you and I are called to love in that same way we really love

God our Affections are stirred and kindled by genuine love for God We love his word we love him we love his commands and we learned that if we don't

Love his commands. We can't really say that we love him very challenging concept for us

Second I want to spend some time on this one. You know, it could be more developed. It's gonna be quicker

Hands hearts on fire for God Zealous to keep his word zealous to know his word.

What about our hands? as you know in the ancient world the Most people had occupations the men particularly had occupations that required the labor of their hands

This is a second way. I like us to think about our love for God today our love for Christ to love as Christ is loved

The labor of our hands are consecrated for his service our industriousness creates the increase to support the church and meet the practical needs of the widows and the orphans and that Deficient eschatology we talked about this morning.

The vocation doesn't seem to matter so much missionaries and pastors or The people that have some kingdom significance

That the whole of the Christian life the reason we raise our hands at the doxology

We say to God with the weightiness of all that it implies. Here is my life.

I Belong to you the way I make my living the way I eat the way I survive who

I am as a person I offer to you and worship and adoration The entirety of my being is lifted up our lives and Livelihoods and all that we are belong to him

You remember the famous passage didn't we think about?

The example of Jesus and his instruction those two go hand in hand in Matthew 25 He says for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat

This is not possible without Energetic diligent hands. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.

I was a stranger and you Invited me in I needed clothes and you clothed me.

I was sick and you looked after me I was in prison and you came to visit me

In this book that we're in First John chapter 3 we'll be getting this in a few weeks hereby perceive the love of God because he laid down his life for us and We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren

And I have to pause and ask the question Do you love these people in this room?

Not just your family. We know you love them that way Do you love the people in this room with this kind of love

Christ lays down his life for us We did lay down our lives for the brethren

I'm here to tell you this is a rare and precious commodity on the earth

There is very little of this in the world We don't love each other in this way

We're commanded to it's the best thing for us But you have to acknowledge today that you do not love your brethren in this way

Wouldn't take much for you to leave the church What if I went a little deficient on my post -millennialism?

It's not gonna happen I've became an amillennialist. Would you leave the church because of that? Wouldn't take much to drive you away

Because our commitment is not as strong to one another as it could be 1st

Peter 4 says use hospitality one to another without grudging as Every man has received the gift even so minister one to another as Good stewards of the manifold grace of God Colossians 3 as the elect of God holy and beloved put on tender mercies

Kindness humility meekness long -suffering Bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another if Anyone has a complaint even as Christ forgave you

So you also must do How's your forgiveness?

Do you hold a grudge? Keep a record of wrongs, you know and remember all the slights

Christ has forgiven you of all of your sins So you ought to forgive one another that verse section

Very much echoing the theme of our text says but above all these things put on love

Which is the bond Perfection do nothing through selfish ambition or conceit

But in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself

I think Paul Peter James and John Arrive at this.

I don't think they started there. I Think they arrived here in sanctification

Do you esteem the people in this room better than yourself? Let each of you look out not only for his interests but also for the interests of others

Be kind to one another Ephesians for tender -hearted forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you

How's your kindness? How is your tender heartedness? How is your forgiveness?

2nd Corinthians 1 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the

Father of mercies and God of all comfort Here I want you to listen to this.

This is a very important lesson very underserved in the church today Why do we go through what we go through?

Why do we suffer the way that we suffer? Why do we have these trials that seem to have very little?

Tangible purpose in our understanding. Why does it happen? Scripture gives an answer The God of comfort who comforts us in our tribulation

It seems to have this kingdom growth and building each other up and loving one another end the text again

That we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble

With the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God your trials

May be that you may be better suited to minister to others. It's not just about you maybe about others

Now I have more and certainly this is not an exhaustive list I'll move quickly on this last one 1st

Thessalonians 5 Now exhort you brethren warn those who are unruly

Comfort the faint -hearted Look at the the very spectrum of this.

What kind of man are you fathers and husbands do you? Warn those who are unruly.

Are you willing to stand up for the truth? We warn them in the body. Will you tell another man who's being unruly in the body of the church?

Will you tell them to? repent and turn from their ways Get to have that kind of strength

But also you are to comfort the faint -hearted so the prideful the unruly you pop them

The faint -hearted you lift up you uphold the weak you're characterized by patience with all and You are seeing not only for yourself

But for everyone else in your the church that you have been covenanted to You are to see that no one renders evil for evil

But always pursue what is good both through for yourselves your family

But the text says and for all So we're not living in isolation.

We don't view the church. Hey, it kind of gives me what I like in these particular Distinctives it lines up with I'm thinking

Our love and commitment for one another is much more expansive Maybe than we understand the last thing

I'll just touch on very quickly is the idea of feet and In order to walk as Jesus has walked to walk in the light we have to use our feet and by metaphor, of course, we understand that we visit orphans and widows and their need for We have a duty and an obligation to be the heralds

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news? I think of that passage

I think about The messenger sent from the conquering king and he's running up the hill to Zion To say let's say of David's great exploits and I imagine

The dusty dirty feet of the messenger kicking up the dust I can see it in my mind's eye

I can picture the man running and the dust being kicked up and his feet aren't actually clean

But but the people of God say look how beautiful his feet are They carry the good news of Jesus Christ and his salvation in his kingdom glory they have a great privilege to With our feet with our hands with our hearts our heads our mouths to declare the arrival and the victory and the triumph of the king

Well, I've got one other thing to consider really quickly in verse 10 it says he who loves his brother abides in the light and There is no cause for stumbling in him

If we walk in the light as he is in the light

We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin.

That's earlier in the book but this question of abiding

Staying never leaving. So the light of Christ has shown in our hearts

We've been made alive in Christ. We are at war with sin We are walking in his righteousness.

We are engaged with the whole Person our head our hands our feet our mouths our hearts

But we have to abide We have to stay

It's a drawing from John. I wanted to close From his gospel and I alluded to this last week in John chapter 15, you don't need to turn there

Just listen to this idea of abiding and you and your own on your own power make the connection

Connect the dots of all of these things that we've talked about today John chapter 15.

I Am the true vine My father is the vinedresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and Every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit

If you're being pruned take heart today. You're being made to love God and his people more

That you might bear more fruit You are already clean because of the word which

I have spoken to you and this idea of abiding is very Yohanni and it's very deep in his book in the gospel and in the epistle verse 4

Abide in me We lay hold of Christ.

We grab him by the collar in Love and affection we cling to the hem of his garment and we will never let go

We're like Jacob Wrestling with God and saying I'm not going to leave until you bless me.

That's a Christian life We're abiding in Christ hold on to him

The branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine

Neither can you Unless you abide in me.

I am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and I in you bears much fruit

Without me you can do nothing If anyone does not abide in me he is cast out as a branch and is withered

And they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned think about our text in first John and this verse if you abide in me and My words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you by this

My father is glorified That you bear much fruit So you will be my disciples as the father loved me

Let's pause here for some Intertenitarian theology how much does the father in that perfection love the son?

And how much does the son love the father? It boggles the mind the almost incomprehensibility of the love of God for the persons of the

Trinity but Jesus says That love that the father has of me.

I have shown and I demonstrate I live I have this love for you

Abide in my love if you keep my commandments You will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love

These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full

That's the purpose of John reading writing his epistle The fullness of joy, so I'm saying to you today.

You are wretched sinners. You do not love as you ought to love Repent mortify it put it to death, but that for you that message you should receive as joy

Because your father loves you and he wants you to go in the right direction This is good news for us

We've been made aware of our problems and our deficiencies that we might turn again in Faith to Christ and we will lay hold of him and will cling to him and never again let go

This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you

Greater love has no one than this than to lay down his own life for his friends

Bad guy comes in the back

Several men will shoot him Not heroism basic human dignity

What about the other kind of laying down our lives for each other the crisis you're gonna rise up But what in the ordinary business of life?

Are you gonna love each other? You're gonna lay down your life and your interests for the good of the brethren how many people lay down their interests

Setting aside their interests for the good of the church good of the kingdom You are my friends if you do whatever

I command you No longer do I call you servants for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends

For all things that I heard from my father I have made known to you You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit

And that your fruit should remain That whatever you ask and the father's

Ask the father in my name. He may give to you The grandeur of the section is closed with these things.

I command you That you love one another Jesus Christ is the light of the world

In order to abide in the light to know him with our head in our hearts to walk in his ways

To serve to use our very lives our hands at his disposal we have to love as He has loved we'll have more on this in the coming weeks and First John, let's pray together.

Oh Lord, I want to abide with your people in the light the darkness has an appeal to sinners

Oh Lord, and I pray that that we'd be the saints of the light that we would love the light and flee from darkness and and actually

Expose the unfruitful works of darkness. Oh Lord, we thank you that you have have given us minds and hearts and hands and feet and mouths which with which we can employ in Service to you and worship and praise and adoration but also in love and action

For the brethren Oh Lord I pray that you would cause us to use our heads and our mouths and our hearts and our hands and our feet

To bless your people to support them to come to their aid to comfort them

No, Lord, we know that our own sin is a barrier to our effectiveness

I pray that we would have a renewed zeal to put sin to death that your power might work more freely in us

No, Lord. I pray that today your people would Know what it means to be loved by God to love you in return and to love one another

Oh Lord, we pray for the time together at the table that these truths would become very tangible for us that we would taste and see that you are good, but we would also see that we are part of the body of Christ and we love and Belong to one another and I pray that you give us hearts devoted to one another that we would derive the full benefit of communion with God with you and our communion with our people your people the church