In this sermon, the speaker encourages the congregation to gather in small groups and pray for one another. He emphasizes the importance of unity in the body of Christ and the need to love one another. The speaker shares his personal struggles as a pastor and his desire to see his church grow. He also mentions attending a conference on seeker-sensitive churches and being impressed by their methods, but realizing that his own church was not experiencing the same growth.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Wow, he is a living man, we will serve him, wow, he is a living man, wow, he is a living man, we will serve him, we don't want to be seated in the name of Jesus in this place. Let us welcome our Lord and King. You are worthy of praise. You are worthy of praise. The servant of God, Gary Wilkerson. We can welcome him. It is a real privilege for me to welcome the servant of God, the blessed God. Many of you in this room are pastors, and on a regular basis you share with your congregation the Lord's Supper. You take the cup and the bread, you pray over it and you present it to your congregation. You partake of it yourself. It is one of the most precious times in the body of Christ. Don't you understand that there's a real sense of the presence of God when we have communion? There's very few times where I've shared in the Lord's Supper without first knowing and feeling God's presence. We are always so thankful for what He's done for us. And Paul says this, in verse 24, when he'd given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup in the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let him examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. Now as Paul is teaching the church about the Lord's table, it's in the context of many chapters in this book. He is speaking here about the body of Christ. He's speaking about the believers coming together. He's talking about the unity that's in Christ Jesus. You don't have to turn there, but in chapter 10, verse 17, it says, For we, though many, are one bread and one body. We all partake of that one bread. When he's speaking of this body and this bread and this cup, he's not thinking just exclusively of the man Christ Jesus, but he's thinking of all of us together coming into communion with Christ. So as you study these passages, chapter 10, chapter 11, chapter 12, chapter 13, it's basically one subject he's talking about, and it's the body of Christ and how we function together. It's the church of Jesus Christ, which the Father loves so much, and how that body functions together. And Jesus begins to speak here about the cup, and he says, This cup is the new covenant. Now I've done a lot of study on what the new covenant is. I've done a lot of study on the new covenant. And there's much theological doctrine about the new covenant. There are many schools of thought. Some say the covenant means this. Others say, No, it doesn't mean that, it means this. There are whole denominations based on certain aspects of the new covenant. There are various issues wrapped around the theme of the new covenant, and it can get very complicated at times, but Jesus makes it very clear, it's not just a theology. It's not just a doctrine. It's not just a denominational issue. It's not just for scholars. What he does with his best friends and his brothers is takes a cup in his hand, and he looks at that cup, and he tells his friends, It's not a theological issue. It's not just a doctrine. It's not just a dead doctrine. This cup is life. This is my covenant. It's right here in this blood. It's the blood of Christ. It represents life. It's not just theology. It's not all that complicated. It's life. Jesus says, Look at this cup. You want to know what the new covenant is all about? You'll find it right here in this small cup. It's the blood of Jesus Christ. There is power in the blood of Jesus. There is cleansing in the blood of Jesus. There is sanctification in the blood of Jesus. There is peace in the blood of Jesus. There is healing in the blood of Jesus. When Jesus holds this cup up to his brothers, he says, This is the centerpiece. This is what it's all about. This is my covenant with you. This is my love for you. This is what makes peace with God. This is the greatest power on the earth. My covenant with you. Now, every time we take communion in church, we come to a very dangerous moment. I grew up in church. Well, not literally. I didn't really grow up in the church. I grew up at home, but I attended church a lot. We were in church so much, it felt like I grew up in church. And every so often, our pastor would present to us the Lord's table, the communion. And I thought it was such a wonderful time, except for a couple of things. He began to speak about drinking this cup or eating this bread in an unworthy manner. He says we should examine ourselves. And then he used these very strange words that really scared me. It says if you do this the wrong way, if you don't examine yourself, if there's sin in your life, it says here, if you don't examine yourself, because of this, many of you are weak, many of you are sick, and many of you sleep. Some translations say many of you are dead, others say sleep. Now, for a little 10-year-old boy, that's a scary thing. I said, wow, this communion thing is really serious. I better really examine my heart. And they would start passing around the communion elements. And I'd start getting scared, because I remembered at school that week that I borrowed a pencil from my teacher's desk, and I didn't give it back to her. And I was thinking, oh no, I stole the pencil. And the cup is already in my hand. And I don't have time to get the pencil back. And if I drink this cup, I'm going to get killed. It says here many are sleeping. And so many times when I go to church, I always get sleepy. Sometimes I even fall asleep. It must be because I'm drinking in an unworthy manner. I used to be so afraid to take communion. I would think about the pretty girl I looked at too long in school. And I began to get worried about communion. I used to know what Sundays the pastor was going to be giving communion. And I would see them start bringing up the cup and the bread. And I'd turn to my mom, who I was sitting next to. I'd say, Mom, I have to go to the bathroom really bad. And I'd try to walk out of the back of the church. So I didn't have to take communion. Because communion scared me. Because I knew how sleepy I would get in church. And that must have meant I was a sinner. And so I was afraid to take the cup. I didn't want to die. This sounded like such serious business. I didn't want to bring any of my friends to church. Because they were worse than I was. I knew they'd be dead for sure. But I began to study this as I got older. And I realized Paul said something here. Jesus is saying something here to us. There is an unworthy manner to partake of this cup. But it's a little bit different than we think. Yes, Jesus is concerned whether we steal or not. He's concerned when our eye looks in the wrong places. But Paul says when we come to communion we examine ourselves and then it says so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. It's not a warning not to drink and eat. It's just a moment to look at our hearts. And to receive and thank God for His cleansing. What could be a worthy manner to drink the cup and eat the bread? Is it your perfection? Have you done everything perfectly? Do you not drink communion and eat communion if you've done something wrong that week? Or what if you've sinned and forgot about it and didn't repent that week? And the Bible preaches strong against sin. And we need from our pulpits more strong preaching against sin. But Paul is speaking of something different here. He's not talking about stealing. He's not talking here about alcoholism totally. That's a part of it. But what he's saying here, look at verse 29. Whoever eats in an unworthy manner drinks judgment to himself and then he gives the real reason because he's not discerning the Lord's body. Let me say that again so I have your attention. The thing we really need to examine when we come before the Lord and thank Him for His new covenant is how we are viewing how we are relating to the body of Christ around us. How we are loving our brothers and sisters. How the Catholics are loving the Baptists. How the Baptists are loving the Pentecostals. How the Charismatics are loving the Pentecostals. When we come together Paul says there's an unworthy manner to do this. And he's not thinking about a kid who stole a pencil. He's thinking of this church and this building and how we discern the body of one another how we love one another how we are unified together in Christ how Jesus calls us to love one another how He says it's by our love for one another that the world will know that Christ is Lord. And when we come to take communion we are called to examine our hearts and the question Jesus is asking you is not how perfect you are did you do everything right but the question He really wants to know is how well do you love. Love is the centerpiece of the Gospel. It is what Jesus gives to His bride. His great love for us calls us to love one another. One of my great joys in traveling over these last few months was to be in a country recently and the Archbishop of the Lutheran Church was sitting down with the Bishop of the Pentecostal Church and they didn't know each other they had never had any fellowship together and they spent time together at our conference they heard each other's testimony and they began to enjoy each other's company and it was a great joy to hear them talk one day over lunch the first lunch they'd ever had together and the Archbishop of the Lutheran Church said to the Pentecostal Bishop I'm so glad to be with you here today I didn't know you knew Christ like you did I thought all you Pentecostals were crazy I thought all you did was jump around and spin in circles but I see Jesus in you I see the Spirit of the Living God in you and I'm blessed and I'm proud to call you my brother the Pentecostal Bishop looked to the Lutheran and said the same for me I didn't even think you were a Christian I thought you were just religious I thought you were in a dead state church and all you did was give chants just speaking creeds but now I know you and I've heard your testimony and I see Jesus in your heart and I'm glad today to call you my brother oh what a great joy to hear these brothers discerning the body of Christ properly now I'm not saying everyone who calls themselves a Christian is our brother there are wolves among us there are false doctrines in our church there are things we need to separate ourselves from there are places we can't unify with I was at a pastor's meeting one time about 30 pastors in New York City gathered together and it just didn't feel right it was all on the surface they were very superficial everybody was being nice and pleasant to one another there was fellowship taking place but it wasn't around the true Jesus Christ and they asked one of the elderly black pastors from New York City to get up and share a few words they said challenge us about being in unity with one another and they made a mistake by asking him to speak because he got up and he preached a powerful preaching he was on fire and he said the kind of unity you're talking about is not the kind of unity I want because you're talking about just having a nice lunch together putting on a show of unity you're just talking about an ecumenical unity but you're not talking about being brothers with one another you're not talking about laying down your lives for one another you're not talking about sacrificing all for Jesus Christ he said turn around and he turned to John 17 and in John 17 it says Lord make them one and all this talk about being one says I can't do that with you because some of you in this place aren't even one with Jesus yet and I want to invite you today to get right with Jesus because if you don't get right with Jesus I can't be right with you and we can't be one until you're one with Him and he said before John 17 21 calls us into unity even before that in John 17 17 Jesus Christ sanctified them in truth he said we have to be sanctified we need to be the holy body of Christ we need to know Jesus to walk in Jesus to be holy in Jesus and until we have John 17 17 we'll never have John 17 21 first comes Jesus then comes unity and there is much unity built around a false ideal just to look good to put on a good front but Jesus's unity is different he holds up the cup he says it's wrapped around this it's centered in this my blood and that's what he's saying here that's the worthy way to partake of the new covenant and if we're not doing that we're doing it in an unworthy manner now I want to speak of two ways that we don't take of the cup and eat of the bread in a worthy manner you see the communion passage doesn't stop in Corinthians 11 it goes on into chapter 12 as well and the scripture says still speaking about the body of Christ here about the family of God, his church and there are two ways the body of Christ doesn't discern each other in a worthy manner and it's these two ways that makes the church sick and sleepy lethargic, lifeless the first one, chapter 12 verse 15 look there with me if the foot should say because I am not a hand I am not of the body is it therefore not of the body the first way to come in an unworthy manner to the body of Christ is to begin to say to yourself I'm not worthy I'm not like other people I don't belong in the body a man or woman who has been bought by the blood of Jesus who has come to the foot of the cross who has entered through baptism who is in love with Jesus and they come into the body and they say I'm not worthy I'm no good what they're doing is discerning the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner Jesus told Peter don't call what I've made clean unclean when Jesus has made you clean when He's washed you when He cleansed you you need to tell yourself you need to have that godly confession I'm clean, I'm clean, I'm holy I'm worthy by the blood of the Lamb by the cross of Jesus Christ I'm not worthy because of my works I'm not worthy because I was perfect this week I'm worthy because of Jesus but many people come into the body and just like this because I'm not the hand therefore I don't belong because I'm not the beautiful part I don't belong and we begin to compare ourselves to others oh I don't pray as much as that sister I don't preach like that powerful preacher and we compare ourselves and by doing so we begin to say to ourselves we don't belong in the body and there are many people in the church who are wounded and broken because you don't feel like you're belonging you don't feel like you're special in God's eyes you don't feel like you have the call of God on your life but Jesus is saying you belong because of the cup of His new covenant I spent many years worrying about this issue I didn't really feel like I belonged in leadership I told you the other day I wanted to build a church of 20,000 people I had this great ambition but I noticed something was happening in my church we had a great start, we grew very fast within the first few years we had 300 or 400 people many new believers but after that it just plateaued it just stopped growing I got worried about this I told my father in New York City his church keeps growing Bill Heibel's church in Chicago it keeps growing the church in Australia called Hillsong, it keeps growing churches all over the world are growing but nothing is happening in my church and I hated to go to conferences because I had no good testimonies all my pastor friends would come to the conference and they would say our church grew by 100 people this year we baptized 50 new converts we planted 6 new churches we built a 2,000 seat auditorium our admissions budget doubled this year and I heard all these stories and I had no good news I lost 20 people this year I can barely pay the bills I'm tired of going to church it's pretty bad news when the pastor of the church doesn't even like the church he's attending anymore you know something's wrong it was hard to get up on Sunday mornings I was tired and weary I began to wonder why God wasn't blessing me so somebody told me about a conference so I went to a conference in Chicago and it was about being a seeker sensitive church it has a certain methodology of doing church and I was so impressed by these methods they did church so well the music was just perfect and the presentations were wonderful the auditorium was fantastic and they gave tremendous seminars on how to do church and how to grow your church and how to go to the next plateau oh, and I was so excited and I got all the notes and I bought all the tapes they had and I bought all the books that they had and I had to buy an extra suitcase just to carry everything home and I got home to my church and I called my elders and my staff together and I am so excited you can't believe what I've just found we're going to have to change our church totally we've been doing all this Pentecostal stuff and that's been scaring the sinners out there in the world so we need to be more quiet and be more presentable and do a nice skit every Sunday a nice drama every Sunday and so we trained all our people how to do church like this they got all excited and so we were going to launch this new style of ministry so bring all your non-Christian friends because they're going to love the way we do church now but there's a problem all the people in our church have been Christians for many years now they got so involved in the church everybody they knew was a Christian now so they had very few non-Christian friends so they didn't have anybody to invite so it was the same people now we had an evangelistic service but it was all Christians in the crowd and the Christians didn't want an evangelistic service so they started leaving my church looking for a church that was deeper so I said this must not be the right way for us it worked for that church they're doing a mighty work but it didn't work for me but I don't give up easy I was determined to make this church grow so I heard about another conference and this one was even broader the one was just talking mainly about evangelism but this one was talking about a purpose driven church so there's a big church in California and they have a powerful book called The Purpose Driven Church so I went to their conferences and I learned about this kind of church and I said no wonder our church isn't growing we weren't doing it the right way first we were doing that Pentecostal thing then we were doing that evangelistic thing but now we need to be purpose driven so I took all the notes and I bought all their tapes and I bought all their books and I took them home in my suitcase and I got home from that conference and I called my elders and my staff together I said brothers we've been doing it all wrong we thought it was secret sensitive but it needs to be purpose driven and here's the books and the tapes learn how to do church this way change everything up because this is the way we're doing church now and we were so excited and we changed our whole strategy and our church didn't grow and more people left they said we're getting confusing so I didn't give up though I was a determined pastor I was going to reach my goal so I went to another conference this one I went all the way to England for I heard about the Alpha Course so I went to the Alpha Course and I took all the notes and I bought all the books and I brought home the tapes and when I got home I was even trying to use an English accent my staff and my elders I called them together I said we need to stop our Tuesday night prayer meeting because this is the best thing I've ever seen we're going to start being Alpha Church and we started our Alpha Program and Alpha is a wonderful course thousands and thousands of people are being saved we started it in our church and very few people came only a handful were saved we kept trying it and trying it and for our church it just didn't work so I didn't give up I went to another conference this one was a Holy Spirit conference because I was getting tired of methods so this one talked about the wind of the Spirit and you can fall down and you can laugh and I went back to my church gave them all the tapes all the books here's how we do church and our church was so confused people were looking at me they said we don't know what kind of church we are are we Baptist or are we Pentecostal are we Alpha or are we Seeker Sensitive are we Purpose Driven or are we Holiness just choose one anyone is fine we don't care which one you choose but just find one and stick with it we are tired of changing every time you go to a conference you come back and give us all these tapes and we have to change everything and it's not working you're not growing whether it's the wind of the Spirit or a new course that's taking place one day my elders came to me they said Pastor we need to speak to you we love you so much you're a wonderful pastor but we have one favor to ask you we'll do anything for you we'll give you a raise we'll buy you a new car anything you want just promise us this you won't go to any more conferences because they knew they had a pastor who was saying this very thing that Paul was saying because I'm not like Bill Hybels because I'm not like the leaders of that Alpha Course because I'm not like the one who wrote Purpose Driven Church because I'm not like them I'm not worthy to be in the body my church isn't valuable to God we're not special in God's eyes and my friends I want to tell you today that's an unworthy manner to partake in the body of Christ every church of Jesus Christ is special in His eyes every church of Jesus Christ has a divine plan and you can't borrow someone else's plan you can't take something else from somebody else you can't take your foot and turn it into a hand and some churches look more like a hand and some more like the foot and we need to be more thankful about where Jesus has put us whether it's a small church in the countryside or a large church in an urban area whether it's a church that's reaching many lost people or whether it's a church that is strong in discipleship God has a special purpose for your church a plan for you that you can't get from anybody else you can only get it from Jesus Amen but it took me a while to learn that and I was getting depressed I was getting discouraged I wanted to quit I hated to get up on Sunday mornings and go to church because I wanted to pastor this ideal church this church of 20,000 people and here was my small church and it got me depressed and discouraged I wanted greater testimonies I wanted stories to tell when I went to the conferences and I was so depressed so ready to give up but without my elders' permission I went to one more conference and this conference was beautiful it was wonderful it had this beautiful choir probably 200 voices or maybe 300 voices in the choir some of the most excellent preaching I've ever heard in my life and I started to pray and I started to get excited and I said maybe this is the way I've got to build a big choir and I'll work on being the best preacher I can be and with good music and good preaching we can reach our city for Christ but then I remembered nothing works I've tried everything and I started thinking about this conference trying to have a choir like that they had more people in their choir than I had in my whole church so if I wanted to build a choir like that everybody in my church would have to stand behind me and have nobody to preach to I'd have to turn around and preach to the choir and I just said God is not going to work it's not the different programs it's not the different styles of doing church it's me I'm the one who's messed up I'm the one who's unworthy I'm not qualified I can't do this I can't lead well I can't preach well I'm too confused I don't know what I'm doing it's not working and I'm ready to give up and I went back to my hotel room and I said God it's these guys who know how to put on these great shows it's these eloquent preachers it's these gifted leaders they're the ones you use mightily but you're not using me you've left me alone and I started to get not only depressed but I started to get angry at God I was so angry at Him you passed me by God you poured out your blessing on others and I've been praying and I've been weeping I've been on my face before you and I've tried everything but you're not blessing me and I remembered as a child singing this beautiful song pass me not O gentle Savior hear my humble cry while on others thou art falling do not pass me by and I said to Jesus Jesus you've deceived me you tricked me you called me into ministry and then you didn't give me the power to do it and I feel like you've deceived me you passed me by my one cry to you has been as you're falling on others do not pass me by but you passed me you've overlooked me and then I began to even wonder this if you passed me by is it because you don't really love me maybe I'm not really loved by you and I fell on my face on the carpet of that hotel room and I began to weep and I began to weep and weep and weep the tears in my eyes crying almost to the top of my voice I've become an Esau to you God Jacob you have loved other churches you have loved but me you have hated I'm an Esau to you what do you have to do with me what do you want from me why did you call me why don't you leave me alone let me just go get a job somewhere else because I can't go another day doing this work without sensing your power I said Jesus I give up and it was at that moment that the Holy Spirit began to speak to me He began to do a new work in me He said Gary it's not because I hate you I haven't lifted my hand of blessing from you but I have withheld the blessing I've withheld that great outpouring because something had to come out of your heart the selfishness the self-ambition the pride the clever schemes of man looking to others to get your methodology not trusting in me not listening to me it's not because I hate you it's because I love you so much and because I love you I am willing to wound you there will be scars in your body scars in your soul but when they heal you'll be strong you'll be holy and you'll trust in me and there'll be new life in you and you won't say you're unworthy He said I don't hate you I love you and I felt the love of God and I went back to my church and I had no tapes I had no books, I had no staff meeting I just started praying I started crying out to God I started seeking His face my church began to change people began to be added to the church there was a new clarity of vision people were being saved like never before when I was a child I had a call from God it was from Isaiah 49 He says you'll not only minister to Jacob but you'll also be a light to the nations and during that depressed time I thought I was never going to be able to speak to anybody I thought I'd never have any real ministry but then God broke my heart and I no longer cared about that I no longer cared about those things take your church to 20,000 take your notoriety and your fame and fortune take your success because I no longer care about those things I want the fullness of Jesus I don't have to go to every conference to get some new wind of the Spirit or some new methodology I hear from Jesus He speaks to me because I'm His son and He loves me and I can learn things from many different people but most of all I learn from Jesus He speaks His love over you He speaks direction for your ministry He pours out His Spirit in your ministry and God changed my life I was totally a new man and it wasn't but a few months later my father called me he said, son, what's happened to you? I used to get your sermon tapes and you were always preaching different kinds of things but I hear something different in your voice there's something new in your preaching there's some life now that I've never sensed before he said, what happened to you? I said, two things number one, God broke me He totally broke me He took out the ambition of my agendas and He raised me up with one desire not to please man but to please the Father in Heaven to do what Jesus says to speak to one person or ten people or ten thousand people my goal is not success my goal is obedience my father said, I recognize something different in you and I want to ask you something I'm doing pastors conferences all over the world I'm speaking to tens of thousands of pastors and leaders and I said, yeah, I heard about that, I'm very excited for you and he said, I'm looking for somebody to travel with me I need an associate and I thought he was calling me to ask my assistant pastor who is a great Bible teacher my father used to brag about his sermons all the time so I thought he was calling to ask my associate to travel with him but my father said this I see what God is doing in your life I see a new brokenness and there are pastors all over the world who went through what you went through they've tried every strategy they've been to every conference and when it's all said and done they're depressed and discouraged and I think you have a word for them and I want you to travel with me I want you to be my associate I want you to travel around the world with me and preach this gospel and I said yes and I got off the phone and I knelt down and I said, I remember that hotel room where I cried out I'm so unworthy do you hate me and now I was on my face again and this surprises me I've finally given up I have no more desires no more ambitions no more big schemes or dreams of my own and finally now that I've given up you're blessing me dreams are coming true things that I never imagined my friends I want to invite you today to lay down your own agendas your own plans your own schemes I want you to lay down all those desires to build something for yourself Jesus' disciples came to Him and said to Him is this the day that you're going to restore the Kingdom of Israel what they were asking Him is this when you're going to build up our ministries is this when we get to sit on the throne is this when we get to rule in Israel and Jesus says to them it's not for you that's not my plan for you this is not the time for that but I have something else for you brothers and sisters your ambitions your self-made plans your striving and your sweating in the ministry you're asking God for big things for yourself Jesus has an answer to your prayer He says it's not for you that's not for you but He says, but I have this for you that you shall receive power to be filled with the Holy Spirit there's a new power coming there's a new love for the body not just using people to meet your goals to tell your stories but now loving them truly loving the body of Christ and that's the worthy way to live your life I don't even have time to go into the second issue I told you there were two things you'll have to wait till we come back for the second one because I believe the Holy Spirit is saying we need to close now and I want to invite you to stand I'm not hurrying the Holy Spirit He has all day with us but I believe we spoke to the issue of the heart I believe this is where many of us are some of you in this place today in just a minute I'm going to ask you to come out of your seats there's going to be no music playing and I don't care who looks at you in many altar calls people say bow your head and close your eyes but I want to speak to men and women today who are so desperate for God so ready for a change that if I were to say to you every head up every eye staring at you you might be the only one at this altar but that you're so desperate for God you'll say I don't care who looks I'm going to run to this altar because I'm ready for a change I need God I don't need a new conference I don't need a new strategy I need Jesus to change my heart to break me and to change me and to fill me and give me a new calling that I'd obey Him now, right now, step out of your seat stand here in the front if you could stand, make more room for others and come a closer some of you are already going to be beginning to sense that same spirit that I had that weeping spirit that cry in your soul because you're wondering do you love me God? have you really called me? I feel so unworthy so unprepared so unrighteous so useless to you but I want your touch Jesus I want your love Jesus I want to obey you Jesus let that cry come up out of your soul don't hide your feelings from Him know exactly how you feel even let your anger out tell Him, God I'm angry because if this is ministry I don't want it I've got to change I need something new ask Him, tell Him what's in your heart right now He's not going to pass you by while on others thou art falling He's not going to pass you by Jesus, we thank you Jesus for your covenant with us you hold out that cup you say it's for us you make us worthy it's because of you Jesus not because of my gifts not because of my talents not because of how big my ministry is but it's about how big you are in my heart Jesus hallelujah hallelujah more Jesus we need more of you Jesus thank you God could you look at me for just a moment those of you that have come forward put your hands down just for a moment please how many of you that have stepped forward here coming into this conference you were saying I was just about to give up I felt so unworthy so discouraged, so depressed I was just about ready to give up let me see your hand if that's you let me pray especially for you Jesus, in the name of Jesus in the Father, in the Son, in the Holy Spirit right now we pray supernaturally that you would touch the issue of the heart there will be no surrender the only thing we give up is our sense of unworthiness because we repent of our life away from you we are coming to you Jesus we are trusting in you Jesus that you will touch our life that you will touch our ministry that you will speak to the deepest parts of our heart and give us a refreshing a renewing of our passion for you Jesus our new focus is not just on what we do for you but on who you are Jesus Jesus there are many in this room who have felt unworthy are broken hearted ready to give up speak to them today tell them Jesus they are not unclean, they are not useless but you are called God says to you I have plans for you to bless you to strengthen you to multiply you to raise you up as a man or woman of God who has a different spirit there will be no worldly spirit in you no selfish ambition you will live for the glory of Jesus bless that now Jesus bless that work now Jesus increase it now Jesus confirm it now Jesus make it a reality Jesus speak to us Christ tell us that we are special in your eyes that we have a unique call on our life that we don't have to be like anybody else we are following Jesus you are leading us Jesus we thank you give the Lord a clap offering he is speaking hallelujah bless you Jesus glory to your name Jesus glory to your name Jesus hallelujah thank you Jesus bless you God bless you God I want to ask you to do me a favor would you some of you are being so deeply touched by God I want to ask you to take the next 5 to 10 minutes you might have to spread out a little bit maybe a few of you might in just a moment go back to your seats in a moment maybe a few of you might go back to your seats but I want you to get in circles of 3 maybe no more than 4 people no more than 4 please I want them to be small groups because today we have been talking about the body of Christ that we are one in Christ in a worthy manner that we love one another I want you to pray for one another that Jesus would become our all in all and that he would bless our lives and our ministry even in the sides here and in the back if you could spread out here in the front a little bit spread out to the sides and towards the back get right now in a circle of 2 or 3 or 4 you can join hands if you would like to and each one of you in the circle go around the circle and pray out loud and pray that God would do this new work in us and that would change this nation it would be a nation in love with Jesus it would be a nation in love with Jesus and a nation in love with one another Amen