1 Peter 3:8-10 Called to be a Blessing

You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. Good to see y 'all.

Good to be here in church. Amen. Yeah. So I am

Bill Smith, easy name to remember, hopefully. I have the privilege of serving at Youth for Christ.

I've been serving there for the last almost 35 years now, and Recast is one of my supporting churches, and so thank you all for helping me do what

I do. This morning I was at the Juvenile Home Dune Chapel, and I did a message on Barabbas of all people.

How about that? Barabbas set free by Jesus. I almost feel like preaching that one right now, but I got something else in mind for y 'all here.

So, you know, we need the church, and the world needs the church.

We are called to be a blessing. You can see that up on the board.

In 1978, I was 20 years old, and I was very lost, and I was trapped in alcohol and drug addictions, and really at the end of my rope, so to speak.

A friend of mine came to Christ, and he was going to a little Baptist church, and he invited me to come to that church, and I'm telling you,

I was fearful. You know, not only did

I not go to church, but it was a Baptist church, and I didn't know what to expect, and he was doing all he could to get me there.

He's like, finally, he's like, Bill, you won't believe all the cute girls there. I'm like, okay,

John, I'll come, and you know, I came, and I wasn't dressed like everybody else. That was back in the day, you know, 78, when more people dressed up for church, you know, were casual.

I like that, and I walked into that church not knowing what to expect, and I was loved from the time

I walked in. People reached out, introduced themselves. Yeah, I was dressed different.

I had long hair. I was lost. Didn't know Jesus, but those people, they loved me, and they welcomed me, and when

John asked, you want to come next week? I said, yeah, I want to come, and I learned the story of Jesus, and asked him to come into my life.

That same little church helped disciple me and get me rooted and grounded in God's Word.

I'm so thankful for the church. The church is to be a beacon of hope in this dark world, and I want to say right now that the world needs the church more than ever before, and we, church, need each other more than ever before.

We live in a troubled world, don't we? In a lot of respects, a depressing world.

You know, I keep up on the news, and it does, it makes me sad, and sometimes to the point of, it's depressing of what's happening in our world, and last year was tough, wasn't it?

Okay, not being able to meet together, that was strange, and hopefully it helped us understand how much we need each other, because it's good to be together.

In 2020, drug overdoses hit an all -time high in our nation.

Alcoholism has soared. An average of 132 suicides a day in the

United States of America. Isn't that awful? Yeah, we live in some troubled times.

People are confused of what to believe, and here we are, the church, with the beautiful truth of Jesus.

In the world, they need the church so much. They need us. We're the church, not this building, of course, and we as individuals and as the church, as children of God, we are called to be a blessing, and I want you to see the scripture with me.

Our text for today, if you go ahead and open your word to 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 8.

We'll start in verse 8. You know,

I think this world is ripe for the gospel. You know, Jesus said in his day that the fields were white unto harvest, and people are feeling hopeless about the future, and they're looking for hope, and here we have the hope, don't we?

Amen. Starting in verse 8 of chapter 3 of 1 Peter, finally all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind, speaking to the church, speaking to us.

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing for this you were called that you may obtain a blessing for whoever desires to love life and see good days.

Let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.

Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it, for the eyes of the

Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Back to verse 8. Do not repay evil for evil, reviling for reviling.

In other words, people speak nasty to you, don't speak nasty back. What are we supposed to speak back?

But on the contrary, blessing for to this you were called, to this church, to this brothers and sisters, we are called to be a blessing.

A blessing to one another, a blessing to our families, a blessing to our friends, a blessing to our workplace, a blessing to our school.

We as believers are called to be a blessing. And so let's take an honest look at ourselves and ask ourselves, am

I being a blessing? And we'll kind of explore that this morning as we dig into God's word and I'm excited to share this message with you all.

I'd like to pray with you and then we'll have a time of worship together.

Heavenly Father, just thank you so much that in your wisdom, you ordain the church.

In your mercy and your grace, you sent us your son, Jesus. That we can be your sons and daughters now through the work of the cross and have this beautiful relationship with you.

And it says in your word that you're seeking to conform us to the image of your son. And what a beautiful person, the most beautiful person that ever walked this earth,

Jesus. And just like he was a blessing everywhere he went, you want us also to be a blessing,

Lord. And you know we all struggle and we get discouraged. And I know that discouragement is a mighty tool of the enemy.

I pray that you would show us that today. I pray that you would show us the power of encouragement.

And I pray that you will bless this church family of recast and churches throughout this nation and the world to be that beacon of light and hope to a lost world.

To bring the good news of Jesus to those who are hopeless, Lord. But not really hopeless because you're the ultimate hope and you love all people and you can change any life.

We thank you for that. So we just pray you'd meet with us this morning in a special way.

Bless every individual, every family here, those who couldn't be here this morning. Lord, just please work in all our lives helping us to know you in deeper ways and to be that blessing in this dark world.

In Jesus' holy name, amen. So thankful that the Lord died on that cross for our sins.

Thinking of Barabbas still, I can't get him out of my mind, you know. It's a little, this obscure guy that was slated to be executed the day that Jesus was on trial with Pontius Pilate.

And Jesus ended up dying on the cross that was met for Barabbas and Barabbas was set free.

And you know Barabbas in the Hebrew, it means son of Abba. I thought that was really interesting that the son of God died for Barabbas so that Barabbas could be the son of Abba.

Isn't that beautiful? To be children of God. How blessed we are as the church and you know blessed to be brothers and sisters.

And you know I spoke in the introduction how much this world needs the church today.

What dark times that we live in and you know sadly the church as a whole seems to be faltering.

Not shining as that beacon maybe that it was meant to be. And I pray that our church shines brightly here in Matawan and continues to shine brighter and brighter bringing hope to the lost.

And you know there's many reasons why we struggle as a church and as children of God.

I struggle. I'm kind of prone to melancholy. I don't know anybody else here you know kind of have that tendency.

I do. But thank Jesus. You know he's the author of joy and life.

And he lifts me out of that. But I think John 10 .10

really kind of describes what's going on. And Jesus said this. He said the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy.

And of course that's Satan. And Satan wants to keep us from shining in this dark world doesn't he?

He wants us to keep our mouth shut about Jesus. And if he can just get that he's got a victory there.

If we're not willing to open our mouth for Jesus. And you know one of the tools that he uses.

I think we all experience it. Well I'm going to tell you a story about Satan's garage sale.

Anybody ever heard of Satan's garage sale? Of course this is a make -believe story obviously you know.

Because I don't think Satan is having any garage sales. But we all like garage sales don't we? Some of us do.

Or used to. But anyway enough of that. By the way Don thank you so much for this opportunity to speak the word.

And thank you so much for what you do. I don't know if you're sitting out. There you are. What you do for us every

Sunday. And we are all looking forward to next week.

And you bring the word. And just really really appreciate it. And you know being a person who puts together messages.

There's a lot of work that goes into that. And sometimes man they come hard. You know you just don't.

You're trying to get that inspiration. And Sunday's coming. And you don't want to disappoint anyone.

But thank you Don. I just wanted to say thank you for what you do for us. All right so Satan he had a garage sale.

He advertised that he was selling off many of his tools. And he put on display some of his best items.

Many demons showed up to see just what the devil was getting rid of that day. They came from all around to see what they could purchase to improve their shameful skills.

Each tool sold almost as quickly as it was placed on the display tables. Satan had carefully marked the price upon each tool.

Anger 100 dollars. Resentment 400. Hatred 600. Etc. etc.

Anger was selling fairly low. So common. So plain. So effective. Greed brought a big price.

And pride drove bids to high levels. Multiple copies of the jealousy tool were hot items.

Lust as always was at a bargain basement price. There were tools that would make it easy to tear others down for the use as stepping stones.

Some lenses for magnifying one's own importance. And if you look through them the other way they could be used to belittle others.

There was an assortment of gardening implements to help one's pride grow by leaps and bounds.

The rake of scorn. The shovel of jealousy. Along with tools of gossip and backbiting of selfishness and apathy.

All were pleasing to the eye and came complete with fabulous promises and guarantees of prosperity.

One visitor as he browsed noticed two well -worn nondescript tools on a table in one corner.

He found it curious that these tools had no price tags. When he asked Satan why, Satan just laughed and said, well that's because I use them so much.

If they weren't so plain looking people might see them for what they are. This seemed to please the old man.

He snatched up the tools and held them to his chest with a glint in his eye. He asked the devil, how much for these?

I'm sorry those tools aren't for sale, the devil replied. Without hesitation the man said,

I'll pay you any amount. The devil narrowed his eyes and hissed, I told you those tools are not for sale nor will

I ever sell them. They're the most useful tools I own. Without them I wouldn't be half as effective in my work.

With those tools alone I can accomplish my every task. Now good day sir. Disappointed the man looked once more at the tools then slowly placed them back on the table in the corner.

With almost a whisper he said to the devil, if I can't buy them could you at least tell me their names.

A slow and wicked grin grew across the devil's face. Satan pointed to the two tools and said, you see that one's doubt and that one's discouragement and those will work when nothing else will.

The devil continued, they are more useful to me than any of the others. When I can't bring down my victims with the rest of my tools

I use doubt and discouragement. With these tools alone I can accomplish my every task.

Perplexed the old man wondered out loud what's so special about those tools. Nothing paralyzes a person.

Nothing stops someone in their tracks like discouragement and doubt resulting in hopelessness.

Discouragement and doubt are no respecters of person. They keep the unemployed unemployed, the homeless homeless, the sick sick.

They can even draw down the most powerful ministry to its knees. When overcome with discouragement and doubt that leads to hopelessness, persons cannot pray, they cannot worship, and they become a victim of their own environment.

Discouragement and doubt drain their victims of courage, vision, faith, expectation, and the will to make a difference in the kingdom of God.

If I can get people discouraged and full of doubt then I have successfully neutralized them.

They are then left with only enough energy to feel hopeless and sorry for themselves. We all know the power of discouragement right?

To the point where I don't feel like getting out of bed. You know as I said we live in a world full of discouragement.

You want to get depressed? Turn on the news right? Okay get on the internet. Look at what's going on in our world and satan uses this powerful tool to scourge

God's people. He is a thief and he wants to steal your faith, your courage, your vision, your expectation, and your will to make a difference in the kingdom of God.

I know how discouragement can cause us to even isolate and not want to be around other people when we need other people more than ever in our lives and we need the

Lord more than ever in our lives. Well he has a tool of discouragement but we have a mighty tool as believers.

We have the tool of God -inspired encouragement and that is a mighty mighty tool.

Think about this for a minute that you can be a tool of encouragement or you can be a tool of discouragement and let's be honest we've all spoken words that after we walked away the person that we spoke to was discouraged because of what came out of our mouths.

But hopefully we've experienced the blessing of being able to encourage someone and bring them some words of life.

Well God calls us church, he calls us his people to be tools of encouragement.

I want you to turn with me to 1st Thessalonians 5 .11. This is

God's word to the church. He says, therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing.

And this is a commandment. God is telling us this is something that we must do.

You know I looked into that word commandment in one of my studies and one of the descriptions was a divine prescription.

I like that okay. God's commands are for our good. They're to help us be healthy because God wants us to be healthy.

He wants us to be a healthy church and he says encourage one another. And this this word encouraged in the

Greek is two words put together. The first word means to call and then the second word means to come near.

And it's the idea of coming alongside someone with the purpose and intention of encouraging them, of bringing words of life to them.

First thing I want to say from that is that this shows us how much we need one another.

I need you. I need your prayers. We need each other's prayers.

We need each other. We need to be in community. We need to be seeking to be tools of encouragement.

If we don't come together, well I had this picture in my mind as I was thinking about this okay.

Think about what happens to a log when you pull it out of the campfire. You pull it off by itself.

It flames for a little bit and then it starts to smolder and eventually it goes out right.

And you know the we're kind of like that. We need each other to get to you know stay on fire for the

Lord. Hopefully we can we can get on fire for the Lord. We need believers like that today who will shine that light brightly.

Not like that that log pulled off by itself. Do you know anybody who's an encourager?

That you feel differently when they walk away. Right? You feel you feel encouraged.

You feel lifted up. We also know the other kind of person who instead of being an encourager they're they're kind of a curse.

Because they just bring heartache and strife and grief and and discouragement.

You know certainly we we don't want to be that that kind of people. Look at it.

Therefore encourage one another. Build one another up just as you are doing.

This word build up it's the greek word for building houses. For constructing.

And you know we are all a work in progress aren't we? Huh? I've got a long way to go.

I don't know about you. And I certainly need building up in the faith. And you know we come together.

We learn the word of God. We pray for each other. And that building up can can take place. But sadly we know what it feels like to be torn down by someone as well.

I want you to look at Proverbs 18 21 with me if you will. Proverbs 18 21.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue. What?

My tongue is powerful? It can be powerful to bring death.

And it can be powerful to bring life. There are power in our words.

What we say to other people. We've experienced that in our lives.

The the word Hebrew word for death here is natural death or violent.

And then figuratively it speaks of a pestilence or ruin. So words can be like a pestilence can't they?

You know you get that that germ that bad germ and it gets in your body and you start feeling sick right?

Okay words can be that way too. What we allow in our mind in our heart they can begin to eat away at us and begin to make us sick.

Words have literally brought death to people. They've led others to ruin.

I remember my best friend trying to convince me that doing drugs was cool.

And I'm like no I'm good I'm not gonna do drugs. Well I was so deceived because I was already doing a drug which was smoking weed.

I was already doing drugs by smoking weed because it's the THC in the weed that makes you high.

It's a drug. And he's doing his best and he breaks it in half and oh it'll make you feel so good you know.

I did some you know it was oh it was so good. And you know what he convinced me to believe that lie.

And that opened up such a dark door in my life and took me down such a dark path and brought me to the place where I was having suicidal thoughts in my life.

I would think about how I could do it but thank God I never acted upon it.

Words can bring death to hopes and dreams. Oh you could never do that. What you start a bible study you lead a small group or oh no you you and we can dash people's hopes and dreams.

They brought death to relationships haven't they? Harsh words can easily sour a relationship so quickly by what we say.

And they have brought death to churches. Words have. That little baptist church that I told you about that I was so blessed by.

That church no longer lives. It went into non -existence and it started with people talking behind each other's backs and speaking not healthy words.

Yes our words can be like a pestilence and bring ruin. That old childhood saying sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me.

You guys know that one? You probably said it when you were a kid. Did you ever say that when you were a kid? I did you know somebody calling me names.

But it's just not true because words do hurt don't they? They sure do.

But it said where our words can bring life. That we can speak life -giving words especially when we're sharing the truth of God and we're bringing the truth of God in what we're speaking.

They can bring life to someone. Words that have literally saved lives.

People who were on the brink of suicide and someone was able to come alongside them and speak words of life and truth and hope and that person is alive today because someone had the courage to speak up and spend time with them.

Our words can be life -giving. I want to look just for a moment what the

Bible has to say about our speech okay. I remember when

I first read this verse when I came to Christ I had some unsavory words that I had picked up you know some of them from my own dad you know he could cost like a sailor as they say and I knew that I needed to change the way

I talk and I was reading the word and I came across Ephesians 4 .29 check that out with me

Ephesians 4 .29 let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths but only such as good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.

This clearly instructs us that nothing bad should come out of our mouths as believers.

No gossip, no tearing others down, no complaining, no lies, no harsh words.

God says don't let anything corrupt come out of your mouth and I read that and I'm like oh

Lord help me the way I talk help me to stop saying these words that aren't good and the

Lord changed my speech. I don't talk like that anymore. I thank him for that.

He did give me a new tongue like the prophecy says. He wants to give us those new tongues of life to speak life to one another, to speak life to our spouses, to our children, to our siblings, to speak life to our co -workers, to our friends, to fellow students at school, to speak words of life and not corrupt words.

This verse is telling us that we need to be proactive in speaking good words.

We need to be intentional about it seeking to encourage one another.

Thumper on the classic Bambi said if you don't got nothing good to say don't say nothing at all.

Right? Wasn't that Thumper who said that? Yeah? Okay. I thought that's where it came from.

That's pretty pretty good advice I would say. Ephesians 4 29 look at it again.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth but only such as good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.

Now it says it's interesting that it says words that fit the occasion. So something that might be good to say at one time might not be good to say at that time.

Words that fit the occasion. So it's being it's being thoughtful but I want to say this it's being prayerful about what you say to someone.

That you're actually seeking the leading of the Holy Spirit in conversations with people.

I remember when I was a furnace repairman I used to pray Lord open the door so that I can share

Jesus with this person. And I would be praying that as I was speaking with them.

And the Lord would often just have a really sweet lead -in for me to say something about Jesus.

Because I was thinking that and I was praying that. There have been so many times in my ministry when

I've been talking to someone and they're sharing something difficult. Something's really hard and you say oh what what can you say to that right?

Sometimes there's just no words. And I've said Lord prayed in my heart

Lord what should I say to this person? How should I respond to them? And the

Lord brings the right words to say. Or he brings a verse to mind to share and just hey what can

I share with you one of my favorite verses? It's about God's amazing love. And then to speak those words of life.

Words that fit the occasion. Seeking to be intentional.

Seeking to be spirit led in our conversations. Check out

Colossians chapter 4 verse 6. One more on on the words that we speak.

Colossians 4 6. Let your speech always be gracious seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

That's interesting isn't it? Are we supposed to carry salt shakers around with us or what what does that that mean?

I like the way that the New King James reads translates this verse.

Let your speech always be with grace. Because that word gracious that's the word for grace.

God's amazing grace. I'm probably saying it wrong in the

Greek. And it speaks of God's divine favor. It speaks of God's undeserved love and it speaks of the divine influence upon one's heart.

That's God's grace. When his grace is working in you he's doing something in you to help you to come to him.

And it says that we are to speak with grace. How do how do we do this then? If grace is from God then we need to be walking in union with God.

We need to be in rightness with God. It's always oh man I learned this early on in my walk with Christ.

If I'm not right with him nothing else is really right. Like I learned that with my wife.

Like I can't be a good husband without Jesus. And then we had kids and then I learned it with my kids. I can't be a good dad without the

Lord. Right? I get angry. I'm self -centered apart from him.

But when my heart is right with him I'm a different person. I'm that new creation.

His spirit is working in me and then his spirit can work through me.

You know seasoned with salt. Okay? You ever eat food and you're like okay where's the salt shaker?

This food needs something. Right? It needs some seasoning. And it's kind of like that you know the

Holy Spirit is the salt. And I'm walking in the spirit.

I'm seeking to walk in that rightness with God. And now he can do something through me.

And he can give me a boldness that I normally don't have to bring the

Lord up. Which is often awkward when you're trying to bring the Lord up out of the blue so to speak.

Right? Or to speak some words that you know you need to speak. And it's so often not to speak them.

Right? It's just easier to keep your mouth shut. Like I'm not going to get into this you know.

And you know I appreciate people that speak what's on their mind. Now we need to do that in love for sure.

Because you can certainly do it the wrong way. But just speaking that truth when it's needed.

Okay so now we're going to get to our text on the screen.

Let's go to 1 Peter where we started out. And I want to look at verse 9 again.

Verse 9 of 1 Peter chapter 3. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling.

But on the contrary blessing. For to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing.

For this you were called. Clearly it says to be a blessing. Okay? We are to be blessings to our family.

Blessings to our friends. Blessings to our neighbors. Blessings to our co -workers. Blessings to strangers.

And this Greek word for blessing again is two words put together.

You meaning good and logos meaning word. And in John 1 .1 Jesus is called the word.

He's called the logos. And when Jesus is called the word it's speaking of Jesus as the divine expression.

And so this word is it says to be a good divine expression.

To be a good example of a Jesus follower. Of a

Christian. I don't want to be that that guy that people say if if that's what a

Christian is I don't want to be one. And you know I've heard that and I'm sure I'm sure you have as well.

We are called to be a good word to one another. To speak those words of life.

To how much we need that. You know how you doing? Fine. When we're not doing so fine are we?

Sometimes. You know and in that sensitivity of the Holy Spirit it may not be like oh

I can tell you're not fine. You know and you're just getting ready to go out of church. And you're probably not going to have any deep conversation right then and there.

But to say hey man you know I'd love to grab a coffee with you this week. You know because you're sensing something that maybe this person needs some encouragement.

This happens when we purposely seek to be used of God in other people's lives. Isn't that beautiful that God wants to use you in other people's lives.

He wants to use you in me. It doesn't matter how old you are. Okay. He wants you to be that divine expression.

Speaking those words of grace. Seasoned with salt. Again this happens only when my heart is right with the

Father. It's not something that I have from my own strength.

You know in Peter we are also called in 1 Peter 2 .5 we're called a holy priesthood.

And in 2 .9 we are called a royal priesthood. That's talking about God's people.

This means that we are to represent the most high God to the people around us.

That we are all to be ministers not just our pastor or our elders or our children workers.

We're all called to be ministers. God calls us all to be this royal priesthood.

This divine expression. So what's it mean to be a blessing?

I've got two scriptures I want to share. Psalm 118 verse 26. 118 verse 26.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the

Lord. In Jesus name Father I come help me to be a blessing.

In Jesus name I enter into my friend's house. Help me be a blessing. In Jesus name

I'm coming home to my wife Lord. Help me to be a blessing. In Jesus name

Lord help me to be a blessing to my child right now because I want to not be a blessing.

In Jesus name. In Colossians 3 .17 it says whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the

Lord Jesus. All in his name. You do something in his name.

That means you're connected to him and you're doing it according to his will and you're seeking his leading in it.

And it says that we should be seeking that in all that we do. Saint Francis said this prayer and he taught it to his followers probably close to 800 years ago.

It goes like this. Lord make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love.

Where there is injury let me sow pardon. Where there is friction let me sow union. Where there is air let me sow truth.

Where there is doubt let me sow faith. Where there is despair let me sow hope. Where there is darkness let me sow light.

Where there is sadness let me sow joy. Oh divine master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console.

To be understood as to understand. To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

I think that's a pretty good prayer isn't it? That's a prayer. Lord help me to be a blessing.

Help me to speak those words of life. And just in closing a couple thoughts here as far as being that blessing.

One of the main ways I can bless people is by praying for them. I can't tell you how many times where someone just simply said

Bill can I pray for you? I'm like yes please I need it.

The young people I work with can I pray for you? Tough young men. Yeah would you please?

And they're blessed by it. Or to ask someone is there something I can be praying for you this week?

And then to be faithful in bringing that before the throne of grace. Because God works and moves in powerful ways.

Praying for people can be a powerful way to bless someone. Now you know it's not always appropriate to pray for somebody right there on the spot.

But sometimes it is. But man I wouldn't be standing here today

I'm confident of that if people haven't hadn't been praying for me all these years. I wouldn't be up here preaching the word.

I'm sure of that. We can bless others through our prayers.

We can bless others by speaking the truth of God with them. Sharing encouraging verses as is appropriate.

Sharing words of encouragement. Text a simple text can be powerful.

Hey man I was thinking of you today you know and I brought you before the throne of grace and you know

God gave me showed me this verse this morning it's super encouraging and text it to him. Shoot it off.

You have no idea what that might do in that person's life at that moment. A simple text.

Get old -fashioned. Send a card in the mail. Cheryl and I just celebrated 40 years of marriage and we got some old -fashioned cards in the mail that were handwritten.

You're like oh whoa that's fun to get right? It's not a bill. Okay surprise someone and write them an encouragement note.

Do it the old -fashioned way you know. There's something about it you know. Texts are cool.

Emails are going out of date but you know we still email don't we? That's another another way you can do it.

And just the blessing of a simple thank you is powerful. Hey thank you for taking care of my baby so I could be in the service.

I really appreciate that. Thank you for what you you know thank you for getting that coffee ready for us.

You know expressing appreciation is powerful. To recognize what someone is doing and then to show that gratitude it's a blessing you know.

That simple thank you. Oh thank you. Right? Let's be a blessing.

Oh man how our world needs it today. Don't doesn't it? How our church needs it today.

How our family needs that encouragement. We are to be ambassadors of hope in reconciliation and God wants to shine through us.

And the enemy is seeking to quench that through discouragement you know. And don't don't let him keep you down.

You you call someone ask him to pray for you. Hey you open up God's book and you tell him how you feel and man that's powerful.

He can he can lift you up out of that as you pour out your heart to him because he loves you so much and wants to encourage you and lift you up and build you up in the faith.

Let's counter satan's tool of discouragement by being blessings of encouragement.

Let's be let's be intentional about blessing and encouraging one another amen amen.

Well the the ultimate blessing of course is knowing God and Jesus paid for that on the cross and one of the ways that we remember that every week here at Recast is through communion.

The night that Jesus was betrayed at that last supper he took that bread and he broke it and he said this is my body broken for you and he took that cup and he said this cup represents my blood the blood of the new covenant shed for you.

And it's our time just to be grateful for what Jesus did for us. It's our time to be reminded of how much he loves us that he made such a sacrifice is that and it's a time really for me it's it's kind of a time of confession even and to say

Lord I need you forgive me I haven't done so well this week maybe

I need to name some things to God but it's it's it's a time between you and God as you take that cracker and you take that juice and you're recognizing that Jesus died for you.

Just like he took the cross that Barabbas was going to die on he took our place and died for us that that is beautiful he loves you.

This this is meant for believers and so if you're a believer in Jesus he's in your life the tables are in the back corners just the way we do it is just walk out grab it if you're new bring it to your seat and then quietly partake of it that way and and then they will lead us in in some songs.

So let me pray and then we'll we'll partake of communion. Lord just thank you so much what you did for us so that we could have that ultimate blessing of being children of God to be able to say

Abba Father and have that kind of close relationship through your broken body through your shed blood we thank you

Jesus. We thank you Father for your great love and giving us your son and for this reminder and Lord I pray that we could all know that blessing of being your children and I pray that you will help us this week to be intentional about seeking to be a blessing you said called to be a blessing help us

Lord to speak those words of life and truth and just thank you for your word of life and truth and thank you for this time of communion and just our time together this morning.