In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the day that Jesus left his friends. He begins by reading from Matthew chapter 26, where Jesus shares the Last Supper with his disciples. Jesus takes bread, blesses it, and gives it to his disciples, saying it is his body. He also takes the cup, gives thanks, and tells them to drink from it, as it represents his blood shed for the remission of sins. Jesus then predicts that his disciples will be offended because of him that night, and Peter confidently declares that he will never be offended. However, Jesus tells Peter that he will deny him three times before the rooster crows. The sermon emphasizes the importance of understanding and experiencing the significance of Jesus' sacrifice and the need for humility and dependence on God.

Matthew chapter 26, please, if you'll go there in your Bibles, Matthew chapter 26. I'd like to talk to you today about the day that Jesus left his friends. The day that Jesus left his friends. Now, Father, I thank you with all my heart. God Almighty, God Almighty, we simply praise you for your grace, the anointing of your Holy Spirit, how you make this word live, you make it understood, and then you bring it to life inside of us. It's all about you, Jesus. Everything is about you. It all points to you. It all emanates from you. All life comes from you, and all life has to return to you. Thank you, Lord, for your willingness to work with us in our frailties, our struggles, in the seasons where we don't understand even the working of your hand. Thank you for your willingness to endure us. Thank you for partnering with us to represent you on the face of the earth. God Almighty, Lord, help me to convey this truth. Help us to hear it, to respond to it, to understand it. Lord, it has to be understood and it has to be experienced. And I'm asking you, Lord, to cover me and give me strength, and that you would appear and your voice might be heard. Father, I thank you for this with all my heart. In Jesus' mighty name. Matthew chapter 26, beginning at verse 26. The day that Jesus left his friends. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it, and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Then said Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said to him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. And likewise also said all the disciples. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and said unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, that would be James and John, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then he said unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Tarry ye here and watch with me. And he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep, and said unto Peter, What, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And he went away again the second time and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them. Verse 44. Those are the words I'm going to focus on in a moment. And he left them. And went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to his disciples and said unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Behold, he's at hand that doth betray me. Now, the Bible clearly exhorts us to assemble together and encourage one another. And I don't know about you, but I am really thankful for friends and fellowship in the body of Jesus Christ. I'm thankful that we can come here this morning, over 100 nations represented. We can gather together. And I know that we're scattered throughout the city and the various areas throughout the country. But we can come together Sunday morning and we can encourage one another. And how difficult it would be if we didn't have this, this fellowship. And we're supposed to fellowship even in greater measure, the Bible says, as we see the day of the Lord. That means the day of the Lord's return drawing nearer. We need to encourage one another. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25. The writer says, Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much more, as you see the day approaching. Encouraging one another to continue loving, to continue giving, to continue trusting, and to do good. Not forsaking the assembling, no matter how difficult that may be for us at some point, perhaps collectively, and of course always individually. Exhorting one another, and more so. Diligently encouraging one another. Diligently having something to say that might lift somebody's burden, even if it's only a momentary thing, and just keep each other moving forward until that day when Christ comes for us. Now I've enjoyed many wonderful moments of friendship over the years. As I was preparing this, I was actually writing this out in Ireland and I was thinking of all the people I've known over the years, the bonds, the prayer meetings, the things that we've done together. There have been some wonderful, wonderful bonds and moments of friendship. But over the course of the years, I have found that there is one place to which God calls me, where I must make the journey, and it seems like I must make it alone. Now I want you to really give me your best here, because we all have to understand this, especially in the day we're living in now. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15 tells us that Jesus Christ fully understands and fully feels our struggles and our weaknesses. The scripture says, He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Now I want you to remember today that He was fully God, but also fully man. Now the God side of Jesus Christ could not be tempted. James chapter 1, verse 13 says that God cannot be tempted, and neither tempts He any man. But the man side of Him could be tempted. I want you to think about that. Now you and I, in some measure, have, we have the spirit of God within us. We have the victory already resident within our earthly bodies to give us the power to be representatives of Christ in the earth in a manner that we could never do or hope to do in our own strength. And that part of God within us, as it is, cannot be tempted. But you and I, in these earthen vessels, are given to temptation just as Christ was, given to being tested, tried, proven, stretched. And yet we have the understanding in our hearts that He was, and that gives me comfort. I don't know about you, but everything I have to go through, Jesus Christ went through, and He is familiar with my struggles, and He's familiar with your struggles, because He had to go through it. Folks, He was either tested in all points, or He wasn't. That's either true or it's a lie. That means you can't go through anything that Christ was not tempted with, and yet He did not succumb because of the presence of God, of course, within Him. He did not succumb to the temptation. And He went through and sits at the right hand of all authority and power, and gives us an open invitation to come to the throne of grace, which is not when things are going well, as marvelous as it is to go there when we feel strong, but when we need help, and to come in unashamedly, because He understands our struggles, He understands our failings, but it's at that throne where we find the strength of God to be what we could never be in our own strength. Now, in our opening text, as we began to read, we see fellowship around a table, and around this table, Jesus is openly declaring His intent to obey the calling of His Father, regardless of the personal cost. It's not hidden. He's telling His disciples, in a sense, as you see this bread broken, I'm going to be broken for you. As you see, and not only for you, but of course for all people who would turn to God through Christ. And as you see this juice poured out, my blood is going to be spilled upon the ground for the redemption of all humanity. And I'm sure many of us have done that. We've declared among our friends our desire to obey God to the fullest that He has for our lives. Have you ever gone to an altar? Have you ever prayed that in your prayer life? Oh God, take me the full journey. Use my life for Your glory. Make me into what You want me to be in this earth. And do you ever find yourself screaming after praying a prayer like that about six months later? God, what are you doing to me? And the Lord says, well I'm just answering your prayer. You prayed that. And you said, I want to take up my cross and follow Jesus. So that's what you're doing. And you're not going to, you don't just theologically take up your cross. There has to be a practical in-working and out-working of that. There has to be somewhat of an understanding as well as just, we would love to just go to a Bible study and then just be absolutely sanctified. Holy, given to God after reading a verse of scripture. Well God bless you. If that was your experience, it's certainly not been mine. I'm sure we've all had friends. As in verse 35 it says, Peter said to him, Though I should die with you, yet I will not deny you. Likewise said also all the disciples. And I'm sure we've all had friends who promised to stay with us and finish the journey together. We're in this together. We're going over the finish line together. We're going to walk this together. I can't help but wonder in that context, and that's what it is on my part. It's amusing. It's something I'm personally thinking about. Was Jesus tempted to lean on his friends for this final and most pivotal part of his earthly journey? Now remember he was tested in all points like as we are. Now in chapter 26 and verse 37, now he's going into that final moment as it is where he's about to be commissioned to be given for all the sins of humanity. And he took with him into this place of prayer, Peter and James and John. Now this was his inner circle. And it was arguably his closest friends at the time on this earth. Now they had seen his transformation. They had been brought into places for example when he raised a young girl from the dead. They had seen the power of God. They knew who he was. He had been explaining to them clearly what his journey was. Fully God, don't forget, but also fully man. And when he went into the garden of Gethsemane, he took his three inner circle friends with him into that garden. And he shared with them the agony of his heart. In verse 38 he said, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry here and watch with me. In other words, he asked for their support. I'm going into a time of intense agony. And I need you to be with me. I need your support. I need your prayer. I need your help. You promised in verse, I didn't say verse 35 because there were no verses then, but you promised me that you would not deny me. You promised me that you would stand with me even unto death. You promised me that no matter how difficult it got, you would not walk away from me. And now I need you. I just feel in my heart, this is something worth thinking about because he was tested in all points. There are places that God is calling us to go into individually and we lean on our friends. But there is a verse in the Bible that says, Cursed is he that leans on the arm of flesh. Flesh will always fail. As wonderful as fellowship is, as wonderful as the promises that I have made to people and they've made to me are, we don't have the capability of keeping those promises. We don't have the capability sometimes of being what God calls us to be when we don't understand the moment. We're all built of the same frail cloth as it is. But they were not at a place in their spiritual journey where they could either share or understand what he was asking them to do. He came out from his first foray as it is a little farther into the garden where he was in such agony that one of the writers tells us that the sweat was dripping as drops of blood. And he was so in agony because of what he needed to do. And I find this very interesting because he gets up and he goes back to his inner circle as it is. He's looking for strength from his father. It's the only place that true strength can come from. But he gets up and he goes back to his disciples and finds them asleep and says to Peter, what could you not watch with me for one hour? Do you think maybe that he could have been tempted to be disillusioned or even bitter with his friends and say to Peter, James, and John, after all the time I've given you, and have poured my heart and life into you for over three years, could you not have given me one hour when I needed you the most? Coming back as it is. Going in, knowing in a sense his only source of strength. We theologically know our only source of strength is in God, but we have a tendency, all of us, to come back and lean on people. We run into a crisis and we go into the prayer closet and we're not even halfway through our prayers and we're on the telephone calling somebody up, looking for counsel, looking for advice, only to find out that person is more concerned about the meal they're preparing for the next night than the crisis that we're going through. And there's a temptation in the heart to get bitter when we're looking in a dual place. We're looking for strength from God, but we're looking for strength from people that only God can give us. There is a place that only God can take any of us to go there. You'll understand this in a minute. In verses 42 and 43, the scripture says, He went away again the second time and prayed, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came again and found them asleep, for their eyes were heavy. I see this as the last backwards look from the Son of God for the help of man. He comes back a second time. You wonder, why wouldn't he just stay there and pray? Why does he keep getting up and coming back? Because he's looking, I feel, he's just simply looking for help. He's looking for companionship. He's looking for strength, where strength can't come from. And he finds them asleep, and it's only my opinion, but I believe that God the Father had put them to sleep. For the strength of God alone could take him on this last and final step of his journey. There's a place that only God can take you. And I'm not talking about us collectively, I'm talking about you individually, and me individually. There's a place where flesh can't go. There are seasons, there's times in our life, there's a point as it is of maturity where God calls each son and each daughter of his kingdom into their own Gethsemane, and nobody else can understand that, and nobody else can help you there. People can offer words, but generally speaking, you'll find most people asleep because it's not their moment, it's not their time. Jesus was about to be given for all men, and he had said at the last supper, I won't be sharing this moment with you again until we drink it together as it is in my Father's kingdom. Now the Father's kingdom came after the cross. The kingdom of God is already here. I'm about to be given, but you don't understand how. You can't walk that path yet. It's not your time yet, but there is a time when you and I will be walking together, and we will both be given as it is. The strength of God will be given to you to be given. And verse 44 says, he left them and went away again and prayed the third time saying the same words. He left them. There is a point. You know, if you and I spend our whole lives looking to people, we'll be disappointed. Now there is a point where God calls us to something beyond what any friend can give you. It says he left them, and in verse 45 tells us, he returned, he said to them, sleep on now. He's not looking for strength from them, but he returns with the strength of God in himself for them. The last part of the journey is where you and I are called to be fully given for all people in spite of their response to us. Nobody can take you there but God. Nobody can give you the strength to go to that place but God himself. Nobody has the power to go there but God. Nobody can undergird you in that place but God. To the place where you're not, you come back, he comes back the third time. He's not indifferent. He's not angry. He's not bitter. He's not pushing away. Actually the fellowship is going to be sweeter. You want to know what real sweet fellowship is in the church of Jesus Christ? It's when I'm not looking for anything from you and you're not looking for anything from me, but we are both given to each other. That's the sweetest fellowship there is. He said, I won't be able to, we won't drink of this until we drink it anew in the Father's kingdom because you're not able to do this. You've not gone on this part of the journey yet. There's no flesh can go there. Absolutely none. It's only God can give us the power. It's a place where God may use even friends to wound you so that you and I may return in the power of the Spirit to become a blessing to all. Let me say that again. It's a place where God may even use your friends to wound you so that you can return in the power of the Spirit. There's a specific tree in Israel that bears wonderful amounts of fruit, but sometimes it starts bearing less than it should. You and I in our natural compassion, we'd start reading manuals about how to encourage this tree, how to go around the root system, how to put certain types of fertilizer around it to help it to grow and to bear more fruit, and yet the true vineyard keeper, he comes with a huge machete in his hand and he just literally hacks that thing full swing on the side and makes it bleed. And the sap within it starts to bleed out. And that tree only has two choices at that point. It either goes down deep to find water or it dies. And most of the trees go down deep, and eventually the wound heals. And it finds itself in a root system now of drawing water from depths that casual trees and ordinary trees can't go. If you want to go into this garden, if you want to go to this place of being given for all men, may I lovingly tell you that you will not escape the classroom of being wounded. There's no way of escaping it. People you trusted in will fall short. That wounds, the scripture says, of a friend are faithful. If we believe as Paul said in Romans 8, 28, and 29, we know that all things work together for good to those that love God and those that are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Well, that means he charted a path to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Simply put, those who believed in Jesus Christ, those of us who are called according to his purpose, he charted a path for you that you're going to be conformed to the image of the son of God. That he's going to be the firstborn among many brethren. Now, if we believe this, then we must also believe Proverbs 27, 6 that says faithful are the wounds of a friend. Faithful. Did you know that God will even assign people to wound you? To get your roots to go down deeper? To fail you? To fall short of what you think friendship should be? Did you understand that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose? We spend so much time rehearsing wounds of the past and thinking about what others have done or what they've not done, and we fail to understand that God is the author of these things. And God will allow these things to come in our lives so that our roots will begin to go down deep, that we may honor the Father, as Jesus said, by bearing much fruit for him in his kingdom. That we don't come back aloof from men, we don't come back resenting people, we don't come back distanced from people, we don't come back as a lone ranger in the Christian church, we come back given by the power of God for all men. Even your enemies. Remember Jesus said himself, None that father has given me are going to perish except the son of perdition, pre-chosen to wound him, pre-chosen to betray him. It was part of the plan of God. Go back to the scripture, it says, For those he knew would come to him, he also charted a path that they would be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. How many people fail at this point? How many people get saved, walk with God, go to Bible studies, embrace the scriptures, love to sing the hymns of Zion, but fail and fall right at the finish line? Because this kingdom is all about being given for people. It's all about a God who is good to the unthankful and the unholy, who sends rain on the just and on the unjust. We're called to represent him in the earth. And so how do we represent him in the earth if we don't carry the heart of God within us? How do we find the heart of God if we don't have to go down deep to get the heart of God? How are we going to make a difference in a generation that is increasingly becoming lawless, casting off everything that is holy and godly? How will we ever make a difference unless we have been empowered by God Almighty himself to come back and whether or not it's ever reciprocated to be given to all people? Do you know that you are God's love offering to the world? The only reason he left you here is because he loves this world. And the reason he left you and I here is because we're to be a representation of the Christ who went to a cross. That part of God that could have turned back given the excuse, but didn't turn back. Genesis 50-20, Joseph said to his brothers, But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day and to save much people alive. Don't think he got there easily. I'm not suggesting this is a battle where somebody just snaps their fingers and you slap your forehead and say, Oh, why didn't I see that? No, you've got to get through the wounding. You've got to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You've got to get through the betrayal. When Joseph's brothers, after all those years, finally show up with their hat in hand at the place where God had put him in charge of provision, when the scripture says he went back into the room and wept, I don't think it was just a 10-minute thing. It may have been a day, it may have been two days. I think he went through the battle of his life wondering, What do I owe these people? Why do I even want to be good to them for what they did to me? For the betrayal they brought into my life. But I'm telling you, it's only God can take you to the place of saying, Come, bring your cattle. Come, bring your families. I'll put you in the best of the land and we'll nurture you and look after you. You thought that what you were doing to me was evil, but God allowed it and intended it for good that many people may be saved alive. God Almighty, would you help us to understand these things? Would you bring us to a point, Lord, where we go beyond the grievances of man, beyond the lists of things that have been done wrong, beyond harboring and nurturing in our minds the failures of humanity. Would you help us, God, to get beyond these things and strengthen us by the power of the Holy Spirit? You think of Moses for a moment, setting out to deliver his own brethren, only to be, in a sense, betrayed by them when they made it known what he had done. And he thought in his heart, they would understand what it is that God sent me to do. 40 years of loneliness, 40 years of wandering, 40 years of living in the backside of the desert, finally called by a holy God. Don't think for two seconds he didn't have to go through those thoughts. Do I really want to go back? Is it really worth it? Is the journey worth it? All of these are types of the cross and everything that's in the cross is a type of what you and I are called to be as the church of Jesus Christ. To be brought that last stage of the journey where we are given because the work of God is to be given for people. That is the work of God in the earth. There is no other work. It's not about ministry. It's not about how well we sing. It's not about gathering people together and forming something we call the church and keeping it all in house. No, the work of God is for you and I to be given for all people, all cultures, all races, all classes, everywhere. And let me tell you today, I can't go there in my own strength and neither can you. There is a point. Encourage me as you will. And I could encourage you as I will, but there is a point where I'll fall asleep in your trial. There is a point where you'll lean on me and I just don't have anything to give you. There is a point where you have to leave off and I have to leave off this reliance on flesh and move into that place. It's just a small journey from where many of you are today. Just a small step. One more step. But it doesn't mean you leave your friends behind. It means you come back and you're more committed to them than ever before. Just remember now, he was going to have to endure betrayal and fleeing and running and fearfulness, but God took him in the strength that only God can give to a place where he could come into an upper room where they had all these betrayers and cowards had gathered and just say, peace, peace to you. A place of being fully given. Standing on the shore when his own disciples had gone back fishing even though the command was clear and in John 21 they had been given the great measure of the Holy Spirit because it says he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. And what do they do? They go back fishing. And so he ends up on the shore baking bread, cooking fish, calling the men, talking about love. I really believe with all my heart that it's time today for many that are here to leave behind those moments where people you needed failed you. Whether it's parents in your youth, a marriage partner that walked out, church that failed you, spiritual leaders that you look to to find out that they weren't honest or you were deceived by them. And to get beyond it and press in and find the strength that only God can give to be given for all people. And you come back with no longer a list of grievances but a heart that says, slap my face if you will, but by the power of God I shall be given for all people. Put me in jail, laugh me out of the workplace, but God has given me the strength to be given. There is a time when we have to leave our friends for just a moment and find the strength that can only come from God. I have seen over the years as a Christian person and as a pastor, so many people never get beyond that point. They still sit in the church but if you dig down deep they have an inner grievance against people that has shut them off from the work of God. They can still sing the songs, they can still clap their hands, they can still say praise the Lord as long as the other person is about five feet away. Their fellowship becomes selective, they start seeking out people, the whole thing is seeking out people that they feel won't hurt them again and don't realize how far short of the glory of God they have fallen. I feel the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart to challenge you, to challenge myself, my own heart to go beyond now anything we've ever known before. This is why we're going to go to communion now after hearing this word. When Jesus took the bread and broke it and said, take eat. This is my body which is broken for you. This is due in remembrance of me. And after that he took the cup and he said, drink all of it. This is the new covenant, the new testament in my blood which is shed for the forgiveness of many. And then in Corinthians he said, as long as you eat this cup and eat this bread and drink this cup, you're showing the Lord's death. And the easier way to understand that, as long as this is your reason for fellowship with God, you show the reason that God became a man and died on a cross. You are a visible demonstration of the heart of God for fallen humanity until he comes. God give us the grace to go this next, what is it, a hundred feet? What was the distance from leaning on people to coming back in the power of God? Just a hundred feet and it's just at the end of the journey. And I shudder to think what may have happened had Christ not made that last trip for the strength of his father. If there was any measure of leaning on man still in him, you can't help but wonder standing nailed to a cross with the power to come down, should he will it. His friends having forsaken him, Peter having denied him, the Pharisees mocking him, the Roman soldiers treating him cruelly. You can't help but wonder if there's any measure left in him of leaning on anything other than God at this moment. Would he have simply just come down and walked away? And would our redemption not be? God forbid that you and I in this hour of time that we're living in should stop in the last hundred feet. That last moment where the Holy Spirit is calling us deeper and farther to a place that normal men and natural men can't go. You can't go there and I can't go there. Only God can take us there where we are fully given for all people. We come back to experience a fellowship that is sweeter because it's not necessarily I have fellowship with you because I'm looking to draw from you. I would receive what you can give. But if you can't give anything I'll still be there. That's the fellowship of Christ. That's the sweet wine that he was talking about that he was going to drink with these disciples in his father's kingdom. And they would all know it because they would be walking with the same Christ that was given to them and empowered them to be given for men and women and children of their generation. They suffered as he had suffered. They endured abuse. They endured all of the verbiage that came against them. But they had in them the same power because they were willing to walk that same distance of ground. That's why Jesus said to Peter Do you love me? Do you love me Peter? Do you love me? Do you love the image of God? Do you love the work of God? Do you love the person of Jesus Christ? Do you love the truth that stands before you? Do you love the thought of being given for all people even when they are short of what your expectation of them is? Then he said feed my sheep and feed my lambs. What I'm speaking to you this morning is probably one of the deeper most profound truths that God has ever been ministering to my heart in years. And he's talking to me about that last hundred feet. Where all thought of escape is gone. All thought of my own comfort is gone. All thought of finishing out this life the way I think it should finish is gone. All thought of gravitating to places where everybody thinks you're wonderful is gone. But that place is simply being given for people. Whether or not it comes back. Whether or not it's reciprocated. And that's a place my friend I know you and I can't go without the power of the Holy Spirit. We can't possibly go there. But in God's power we can. With men this is impossible but not with God. For with God all things are possible. It can be done. We have to have this at the central core of why we are a church body if we're going to survive and make a difference in this city. A city that's marching in its streets and celebrating what God clearly says is wrong. We have to be given for all people. Only God can give that strength. We're going to come to the Lord's table in just a moment. But I want to ask you a question. I'm not going to give an altar call today. I simply want to ask you a question before we go to the Lord's table. How many here can understand this message and can agree that I'm at a moment in my life where I need to leave behind the moments where people that I've needed have failed me. And I need to press in to find the strength that only God can give me to be given for all people. If that's you today, would you simply just stand wherever you are. Just stand up. We're going to pray together first. Now Lord, you see you see those who have come to their feet and perhaps there's others who don't need to. But God Almighty, I'm asking you we're asking you today as a church that as we partake of this communion that something supernatural happen in our hearts. All we can do is agree with truth but you have to make it happen Lord. We don't have the strength to do this but Jesus you do. And so as a church we come to the throne of grace to find help in our time of need. Lord take us that extra hundred feet. Take us that one step beyond where flesh can go. And give us the strength of your Holy Spirit to be able to be given for this generation. In whatever that means to each of us individually. Starting in our homes and with our children our wives and husbands in the workplace, in our neighborhoods. And especially in the church. Help us Lord to lay down the list of grievances that we so readily take up and seem so incapable of letting go. Help us Lord Jesus Christ to win this battle today. Father we thank you. We praise you in Jesus mighty name. If you'd be seated again the ushers are going to come and they're going to distribute the bread and the juice. I'd like to ask every one of you to just hold it in your hand then we're going to partake of it together. No wonder Jesus said unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you. You can only go so far but it does fall short of the full measure of what life in Christ can be and is supposed to be. You know it's in moments like these that ministries are born. Gifts are given. Callings are made and received. It's truly in these kinds of moments that fellowship can become so sweet. It's something that's that can't be found other than in Christ. It can't be found in any effort to love one another even in our most sincere moments we can't even touch what God can do and the kind of fellowship we can have with another. It's much sweeter than that which comes when we have to lean on each other all the time. I'm not suggesting in this message that there are not moments where we can't encourage one another or exhort one another to move forward or to love or to good works but there is that work of God that can only come from the Holy Spirit. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped saying this cup is the new testament in my blood this do ye as oft as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the Lord's death till he comes. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord we believe today that this is attainable if it wasn't it wouldn't be in your word. We believe that we can be a people so filled with the love and the compassion of God that we can be given for our generation. We believe it because of your strength and your victory. Father we thank you for it with all our hearts in Jesus name. If you pass the cup please to the end of the aisle. Be picked up momentarily and always disposed of at the end of every communion service here at Times Square Church. Thanks be to God. I want you to turn to the person on your left and on your right and just say to them go the last hundred feet and love me. We got a victory song I'm sure to close with today. Before we do though I don't do this very often and I'm not ever somebody that runs a church on a dream or anything like that. But I had a dream in Ireland that was so profound I just want to share it with you. We were in church and it was service time we were worshipping and we were dancing on the platform. Young and old children were with us we were all holding hands and I guess it speaks to me something of a unity. And suddenly a leak sprung on the platform somewhere behind the piano over here just about as thick as a pencil and it was shooting about 10 feet in the air. Not 10 inches rather not 10 feet. And so I thought oh goodness we broke a pipe underneath so I called Earl Stocker on my cell phone said Earl get down here quickly there's a broken pipe downstairs. And so we're still worshipping but as we're worshipping the water is starting to flow more and more and more out of this thing. And Earl comes up and he says and John Morales was with him and said it's not coming from a pipe it's coming out of the ground underneath the church. And folks by the time they got up it was now a river it was like a crystal clear water that was just flowing and we ran outside and it was flowing all over the place this crystal clear water throughout the streets and we were laughing and there was a guest speaker here that Sunday and I said turned to him and I said actually it was Pastor Claude Hood and I said to him it looks like you're not going home this week and he said no it looks like I'm not going home the presence of God was everywhere and I have to believe that it was just short but it was just so profound it was just so real that I almost want to invite some kids and old folks up here and let's just give it a shot and just see so I think what we could do just for five minutes is stand up and we're going to give God a shout of glory in this house and we're going to believe God for a great victory hallelujah hallelujah to the Lamb of God thank you Jesus