Luke chapter 13 this morning. We're celebrating the Lord's Table today, as you will see, prior to coming to the Lord's Table. I had a message that was prepared and ready to go. Mark Swarton knows this because he prepared it for me, so do not tell anybody what it's about, all right? Mark always sees the messages ahead of time. But it changed my mind. I changed my mind because I would like to talk for a few moments about the events of last week. That's what people are talking about. Many, many people are talking about these things and I'm speaking about the three shootings that occurred last week and the huge amounts of media coverage that those have had and discussions that have been had amongst people about those. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then perhaps this brief explanation will help to catch you up. There were two shootings earlier in the week of African American men. one in St. Paul, Minnesota, and then one in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In the day of our cell phones, these quickly became seen by hundreds of thousands of people and were on news stations, all of them. Shockingly, at the end of the week, as many of you know, even if you were not really privy to the first two, there were five police officers who were killed in Dallas, Texas. The president has spoken about these things. It has gone all over the place. It's shocking. It's sad. It's heavy. Large numbers of people have viewed these very graphic videos. All of this is in the same week that the FBI director, James Comey, declared that Hillary Clinton did indeed break the law, but apparently did not intend to break the law. This particular issue is not just gasoline on a fire, it's like throwing a match into a gasoline tanker. Apparently, if you are, and I'm not saying this in a snide way, I'm just saying this just subjectively now, if you are rich and powerful and white in this country, there are exceptions for you. My intent for this sermon, and it will be a sermon this morning, is not to have a Christian view of the news. That's not what we're doing here. That's not what church is about. My desire is to have the Bible inform and shape the minds and the hearts of Christians. Now, I'm not assuming that you're not shaped that way, but speak for myself, I need to be shaped and anchored and not assume because I'm a Bible believer that I think right about everything. My talk today is not in response to wrong thinking that I've heard from you. I intentionally did not go on Facebook yesterday so that you would not think, well, did he read what I put and is he saying that? I don't know what you put there as of yesterday and those various conversations, though I did see earlier in the week some discussions, but I did not read them fully. I was just too busy getting back in here. My passion, this is my passion, my passion is for a healthy church that lives and works and walks and loves in our community. That's my passion. That's what I'm talking from this morning. that we would not be reactionary Christians. Again, I'm not reacting to seeing somebody reacting. I'm not doing that. But there's been a lot of reaction to what we've seen this last week. We would not simply be reactionary Christians. That we would spout an opinion whenever someone has a loud enough and a persuasive enough platform, and they have the center stage, And then we react. This could be some item on the news. I mean, we get news all the time. We get, I mean, cable news, news, news, news. It's news all the time. It could be to something you saw on a friend's Facebook page and you react. It could be a conversation with a strongly opinionated person at work or at the diner. You ever met anybody strongly opinionated at the diner? The world needs, I'm convinced of this and I believe you are too, the world needs Bible-saturated, gospel-living people. Not people with an opinion, there's lots of those. The communities where you live and where you work need Bible-saturated, gospel-living people. That's what they need. The generation behind us needs to hear how we think with the Bible, and not just sort of barfing about opinions about things, okay? You know, that's not maybe the clean, precision word to use, but that's kind of what it is. And we all do this. You hear something, just barfing an opinion about something, that you would check your thinking with the Bible. I have three points to this sermon. I want to talk about current events, the pulpit, politics, and the church. It's not directly related to last week, but it's giving me an opportunity to at least address this subject. Then I want to talk about two clear points, two points that should be clear to us. And then I want to talk about our hope, thirdly. First of all, current events, the pulpit, politics, and the church. What did Jesus do with current events? He had current events. He lived in a current time. He lived. He was a person. I want to talk about how and when we talk about current events and politics in the pulpit. It is not uncommon that Some people believe that politics and current events should be talked about more in the pulpit. I'm not talking about any of you having come to me. It's common, but what I'm saying is this is not a new thing, okay? In Acts chapter 1, at the ascension of Jesus Christ, so he's been crucified, he's resurrected, this is the ascension passage. What do the disciples want to know? They want to know, in Acts chapter 1, when He is going to restore the kingdom to Israel. That's a politically charged question. When are we going to be out from under the Romans? Jesus' response to that was for them to be witnesses by the power of the Spirit in Jerusalem, in Judea, in the regions beyond. It is not that political interests or current events should never be talked about. However, we must maintain, and I maintain, that the pulpit cannot be a Christian news program. Here's an example of Jesus addressing a current event, Luke chapter 13. There were present at that season some who told him about the Galileans. So he's receiving a news item, newsworthy item. Some who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. This is a shocking, this is a Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, everybody's picking that up if there were news in that day. Because these Jewish people who were so particular about blood and how blood was dealt with, Pilate had a reputation before he encountered Jesus. And his reputation was he was not careful with the concerns of these religiously astute Jewish people. And so he's mingling blood. It's offensive. It's horrid. It's racial. It's bad. Jesus answered and said to them, do you suppose that the Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things? And maybe somebody had given that opinion. Maybe when they told Jesus, they said, Jesus, I'm wondering, were these people really bad? Because to think that a bad thing happened because a person did a bad thing is not uncommon thinking. Something happens to us, God, why did you do this? What did I sin? You know, this kind of thing. Maybe somebody brought that up to him. And so his question is, do you suppose that these were worse sinners than others? That this happened to them? So he doesn't even address Pilate. He's addressing the sinful condition of the people. And then he simply says, no, that's not it. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. That's not, I mean, in their minds, really helpful because they had a question about Pilate, they had a question, you're not addressing our concerns, Jesus. He was addressing a deeper concern, their sinful condition. And then he brings up another event, verse 4, or those 18, on whom the tower of Siloam fell, current event. That tower killed them. Do you think they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Sometimes we read that and we think, you know, Jesus was kind of an insensitive guy at times. No, he was a man on a mission. And the mission was more than just addressing things that are going on at the moment, but the deeper condition of the human heart. They weren't expecting that response. They were probably expecting to know his thoughts about Pilate, Roman government, oppression of Jewish people, and the desecration of their sacred practices. His answer? Repent. Again, I'm not saying that addressing some event is wrong, but we must not lose focus in keeping eternity in view that there is a judgment day coming, and so the minutes that we have to address these things must be chosen carefully. One Old Testament example, in Nehemiah chapter 8, the wall was finished. Nehemiah's wall was finished. How will the people know what to do now? They had been operating a certain way, and so the wall is finished. What would they do? And in Nehemiah chapter 8, Ezra the scribe and Nehemiah the architect to put this all together, gather the people together, and it says, so they read distinctly, the word distinctly means paragraph by paragraph, from the book, the law of God, and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. What a great verse about preaching. And it says in verse 12, and the people went their way to eat and drink and send portions and rejoiced greatly because they understood the words that were declared to them. It was not a lecture about what to do about the regions outside. They addressed the law of God, the word of God, what they had at that time. What people need most is an understanding of the word. They need the word. In Acts chapter six passage, we've come to many times when in the early church, there were these pressures in the early church. And one of the pressures was you had not only Jews now, but you had Greeks who were part of the church. And there were Grecian widows that were not having their needs met, not getting food and not being taken care of, not getting groceries. Probably some little widow lady said, I would like Peter to visit me. And so the institution of those who are commissioned to help do spiritual work and meet spiritual needs in the context of the early church, deacons were established so that the word and prayer could remain central to the body of Christ. Expositional preaching is the means of shaping our hearts and minds with the truth. I'm not on current events yet. I'm just speaking about how, you know, sometimes people get, well, how are we going to know what to think about this? How are we going to know? I want to tell you that wherever you're at, whether you're here, you go to another place, you need to look for a church that preaches the truth, and for a church that preaches the truth expositionally, because in expositional preaching, preaching through books of the Bible, chapter by chapter, seeing verses in their context, we preach the exciting parts of the Bible, the exciting verses of the Bible, and we preach through the difficult parts of the Bible, and we see how it relates, and when that happens, it is training and forming our hearts and minds with God's thoughts as God gave them. We see the flow of Bible thought and not flitting here and there at the whim of the preacher or at the whim of the culture in responding to what's going on. Just a small factoid, whether it may be of interest to you or not, we follow expositional preaching here. We preach through books. I'm in between studies right now. Up to this point in the year, July 10th, 2016, since January to this time, I've preached 10 topical messages. I was actually shocked to see that. Two and a half months, next week will be another topical message. Two and a half, almost three months, almost half the year I've preached topical messages. I don't think it's been for the detriment of the church. I think that it's been helpful, but we do do expositional preaching here, I would like to say, most of the time. Can I make one other comment before we move on to events? The current culture, our current culture, has actually aided Christianity in one chief way. We are seeing marginal Christianity melting away. Apathetic, convenient Christianity is being confronted with the realities of an increasingly anti-God society. We used to say, and when I say we, I mean me, even in my preaching life, we used to say that America was a pluralistic society with our beliefs. Pluralistic means beliefs coexisting. That you could be a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Catholic, and that those beliefs coexist within our country. Maybe you've even seen the bumper sticker, coexist. Coexistence is no longer a reality in our country. This is not just melting, this is being hacked away forcefully. Bible-held beliefs of Christians are now labeled bigoted and hate speech. That's not coexistence. That's a different country. There will be times of seeing events, current events, from a biblical perspective, but expositional preaching the Word is the primary means of ministry from this pulpit. Now, two clear points. Two clear points about events, current events. Someone told me yesterday when I was, and I've queried different people about this message just to, so I wasn't thinking in my own head. And one of those conversations somebody said, so you're going to try not to step on a landmine. Yes, yes I am. Each Sunday I would hope to not step on a landmine, but especially here. But this is one of those messages where I think an honest attempt people can, respect that, particularly as we attempt to align ourselves closely with Scripture. But here are two clear points. These are points that I believe we should all agree upon. If you would like to turn to Romans chapter 13, Here's point number one that we should all agree upon because it is a clear scriptural truth. We should and must support those in authority, which includes chiefly law enforcement. We should and must support those in authority. I think you understand why I'm saying this because so much is said about police when things like the events of last week occur. Here is a clear biblical teaching. We should and must support those in authority. Verse 1, I mean, it's like expansive. It doesn't say, let every Christian. It says, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. There is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God. Those who resist will bring judgment on themselves, for rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have the praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore, you must be subject, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for there God's minister is attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Now, that passage is clear about honoring and respecting and obeying authority. Now, I think we're sometimes quick to go to the exceptions. Well, what if the authorities are doing wrong? I just want to point out, I want to point out, here is a clear biblical teaching and Paul does not break in every verse to go to the exceptions. You know, let every soul be subject to governing authorities. But you know there are going to be some really tough governments, and in those cases, do this, this, and this, okay? We're reading one passage, there are other parts of the Bible, there are other things that inform this, but what I'm pointing out, simply and clearly, is that this passage says we have, as citizens, in communities, responsibilities to those authorities. Think about the context in the writing of Romans chapter 13. Think about the context of this. This is the government that crucified Jesus. This is the government that executed Paul. This is the government that persecuted Christians. So Paul is saying within that context, though he had not been obviously killed yet, but he had been jailed, that within that context to give honor to these people. I think it should be clear, and I think one of the things that I've heard over the last week is I have a concern for my children. Children growing up within this culture, what's going to happen with my kids? Well, I'll tell you one thing that should be clear now with our children is that we obey, respect, speak respectfully about those in authority, and I'm speaking specifically here now about law enforcement. Someone may say, well, there are bad police. My response is there are bad preachers. There are bad doctors. There are bad athletes. The problem, you know, if there's a bad doctor, I don't say, well, I don't trust all doctors. If there are bad preachers, I don't say, well, I'm just not going to church because all preachers are bad. The problem is the human heart. That's the problem. There are problems with all of us. And I'm not trying to flatten the whole issue out. Again, this is part of trying not to maybe step on a landmine. I'm going to clear passages of Scripture that are talking about the fact that we must honor and we must take care of those in authority, those in law enforcement. We should support them and be thankful for them. We cannot get away from this phrase in verse 6, they are God's ministers. You have taken great care of me and my family. Someone told me this morning as we were walking in something that just, I felt the emotions start welling up. He said, I'm praying, we're praying for you, and I want you to know I'm praying for all your kids. One of the things that has been difficult for us is having one kid where all the energy goes into. We have three other kids. I appreciated that. Caring for us in just ways, different ways. You care for us as a minister of God. This passage says these people, these law enforcement are God's ministers. They are ministers for good. We should, members of Bethel Baptist Church, care for them, speak respectfully to them. That's something upon which we must all agree. Here's a second truth that I believe is clear from Scripture that I believe we must all agree upon. Human life matters. All lives matter. Black lives matter. Police lives matter. The lives of the unborn matter. Why does it matter? Why does it matter? It matters because of a biblical truth set out in the book of Genesis that we are created in the image of God. That's why it matters. That's why it matters. I want to talk probably in the area I'm most uncomfortable with. I can go to Romans 13 and I can talk, hey, that's a clear passage. Here's an area that I'm uncomfortable with, but hopefully you will see this as an honest attempt to be helpful to our church. And again, I'm not talking here today so that you can watch your news better, okay? What I'm talking to, I'm talking as a pastor to a local church to Christian people about our church, our community, our children, the Bible, how to think. And if we are not intentional about these things, because of the press of so much, the chances of our children's minds, our minds being formed by all kinds of voices, the voice that should be the loudest is the voice of God through His Word. So that's my chief concern here. So in taking a step in this direction, let me say I'm uncomfortable about what I'm about ready to say, but I've written these things down and would offer you to speak back to me afterwards or at a different time about these things. I think the tone of church today for a primarily white church is different than the tone of a primarily Bible-believing black church. I am not, in saying what I'm about to say, trying to be Mr. Racial Peacemaker. You know, there's some white people who do that, they speak in such a way they're trying to be seen as sort of, you know, peacemaker. That's not the way I'm trying to speak here. I'm merely giving some thoughts as a pastor to a congregation. I don't know if you watched, and I'm not suggesting that you watch video of these things, you have to be very careful. You certainly do not, if you have children, do not want to say, hey, I want to teach you something, let's watch this video. I don't know if you watched the video of the woman who was a girlfriend of the man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as she was holding a press conference to talk about him, and their son was standing next to them. It is heart-wrenching. It is beyond the ability to watch without being affected, having children. I'm just asking this for you to think about this in your mind, because I am talking to a primarily white congregation. Should that matter? Should I try to understand the point of view that's being made? Am I quickly dismissive? Do I just hear certain things and just quickly dismiss? Now, I recognize it seems like you ought to say whenever you talk about this, this is an ongoing investigation, so I'm not giving a comment. I don't know what the truth of what really happened. All I'm doing is responding and talking to church people, congregation, about our church living in this day. Proverbs 18.13 says, he who answers a matter before he hears it, it's folly and shame to him. Luke 6.31 says, and just as you would want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. I wonder if something, at the bare minimum, because of the premium of human life, all lives, I wonder at the bare minimum if we shouldn't resolve to think to ourselves, I need to listen to someone of a different ethnicity and seek to understand that viewpoint. Now, there's two things I know, okay, I know. Number one, I know that I don't know what it is like to grow up in the United States of America as a black man. I am never going to know that because that's not my life. I have lived in primarily white, middle class, areas. I've went to a school, high school like that, a public high school. That's my existence, okay? I speak from that perspective. I have always considered myself not a prejudiced person. I mean, our family was like that. I mean, I don't remember any kind of strong statements about ethnicities or anything like that in the home. As a matter of fact, I heard a lot of things about fairness and that sort of thing. However, I recognize that when I say something, it is from the perspective from which I came. And so therefore, there are things that I have said that are unintentional, that I don't even know about, that are insensitive, and even racially slanted. I know that. Now, you know, places I've been, everybody's been either not wanting to say something or, but occasionally, you know, I'll think about it and I'll be like, I wonder how that was heard. I wonder how that was, that came across. Here's something else I know. And you may disagree with me on this. This is my perspective, and I think I have good reason to believe this. White evangelicals, which is what we are, most of us, have not done a good job of understanding issues of racial tension. One of the markers of that is I've spent most of my life in church since I was nine years old, And I would say in nearly all of the churches I've been in, none of them, with the few exceptions of when I've been to a major metropolis like New York City, few exceptions, all of them have been primarily white, and as what we would consider to be Bible-believing, independent Baptist churches, We have not done a good job at understanding some of these issues. And this is not the first time I've thought this or the first time I've said it. It's the first time I've said it this way in a church. We have not done a good job amongst our preachers of even planting churches in African-American areas. We have done a very poor job of reaching cities and areas of cities where people need church. What I'm saying under this point, and I gave two clear points, one is that we ought to be thinking and helping our children to think about the support, the respect, the love for law enforcement. God forbid that we would be the kind of people that would be tearing down. I was driving through Quaker Town yesterday and I saw a couple of police officers and one was white and one was black and they were working with somebody and I drove by and I was thinking to myself, I wonder what they're thinking. I wonder what they're thinking in light of all of this. I wonder, you know, they've got to show up. They've got to do a job. They're helping and they want to come home just like everybody else wants to come home. We ought to support that. I also believe that we ought to believe that all lives matter and that as a result of being created in the image of God, being able to have a conversation with someone of a different ethnicity and not quickly be dismissive. I'm going to say this because I know that probably some of you have thought this, and I'm not imposing it on you, I'm saying it personally, but I'm just saying this is the kind of thing that I think we have to be very careful of. When I hear in the past, when I've heard an African American talk about slavery, I've thought in the back of my mind, they just need to get over that. Not in a mean way, but just, come on, we're living today. It's not that way. Those thoughts, which ultimately come out in actions, are not helpful, and I think we have to retrain our thinking and think biblically about listening, understanding. I think sometimes we think if we listen to someone, we're afraid if they say something that's wrong, they might think that we think it's okay. Listen, most of you are so ingrained in Bible truth, I don't think you need to worry about that. I think what we need to worry about are being people who make judgments before we listen. Final point before we celebrate the Lord's Table, and I think it's a good day to celebrate the Lord's Table because the Lord's Table is a together activity. Our hope, this is our hope, our hope, folks, is the gospel. Our hope is the gospel. Our world is broken. It's broken. I mean, we see that. It is broken. The only way to fix that world is the gospel. That's the only way to fix that world. I cannot change Dallas. I cannot change Chicago. I cannot change Washington. I can, here's what I can do, I can claim, and this is what you need to do, you can, I can claim passages of scripture. and live those passages in your church, in your family, in your community. Again, my passion, and I believe the passion of many of you, is for a healthy church which lives and works and walks and loves within our community. Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Galatians 3.28 says, Here there is not Greek or Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave-free, but Christ is all and in all." We experience some great racial tensions today, tensions in the United States. Folks, are we that removed from the New Testament to understand the tensions that existed in the first century world and the circumstances under which these Bible writers were writing? I mean, you have a Jew and a Gentile sitting in the church, and it's the first time a Jewish person has ever been near a Gentile person, and all they can think inside of their head is, unclean, unclean, unclean. These teachings were revolutionary. They were not just a simple, oh, I get it. I can be friends with this guy now. Hey, man, come here, let me hug you. There was conscience training that had to be done in the first century. Romans 14, that we spent four messages on several months ago. Our Paul getting into the nitty-gritty of Jews and Gentiles in Rome, sitting in churches together, and how they were offending each other and doing these things. What's the hope? The hope is the gospel of Jesus Christ makes this possible. Not determination, not just grit your teeth and love that guy. It's the gospel. Ephesians chapter 2 is probably one of the strongest passages in the New Testament. The power of the gospel to reconcile, because the greatest tension that ever existed was between us and God. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11 says, therefore, remember, remember this Ephesians. So now you have primarily, I mean folks, Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome. three biggest metropolitan cities in the New Testament world, vile, filthy practices going on in those cities. People were being saved out of those cultures. Now you have a church in Ephesus where you have all these Gentile people were saved. Paul says, remember that you, remember, once Gentiles in the flesh, You were called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands. There was even a name for you people called the uncircumcision. They're unclean. That at that time you were without Christ. You were aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel. Here's this privileged group over here, but you were a foreigner. That's who you were. You were strangers from covenants of promise. These people were promised all these things, but you people didn't have those promises. You had no hope without God. But now, I mean, you can, I mean, I can imagine somebody reading that letter in Ephesus, and I mean, he's reading it with expression. He's not monotone. He's reading that letter, maybe even as a Gentile person, And he's pausing, he's emotion well up, he's wondering if he should read the next phrase. But when he gets to this point, there is explosive praise and joy, if not outwardly, in the hearts of people as they were thinking about being without God in the world. Do you think there were people sitting in that church in Ephesus that had come to Christ who still had relatives who were without Christ? Absolutely. who had relatives who had passed away without Christ, and so they're thinking about all of that, and here's what he says, you had no hope without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus. You who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made both one. He has broken down the middle wall of separation, There's a separation between Gentiles and Jews. He broke that down. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of the commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace. And that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and he preached peace to you who were far off and those who were near. For through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Now therefore you are no longer strangers, foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. in whom you also being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." That's the power of the gospel to reconcile. I mean, in the New Testament world, there wasn't a greater divide than what these people experienced with worldly Gentiles and outwardly practicing religious Jewish people. There's also the mystery of the gospel revealed in Ephesians 3 verses 7 through 10 This is the mystery He goes on in chapter 3 and he says there is a mystery that was in the Old Testament and the mystery was You've got all these people but but the promises rest with these people the Jewish people and But somehow God's going to make a way for that message to go to all people, that God loves all people. It was a mystery. They saw through dark shadows, but it's revealed in the New Testament and it's in Christ that he brings Jew and Gentile together. But the point I want to make about Ephesians chapter three is he says, and that is going to be most clearly seen in a place. Ephesians chapter 3 says that that place is the church. It's the church. The place where it is on display, not just for the community, not just for us, but it is on display for principalities. That literally there's an unseen realm that looks at what this place is doing and sees whether these group of people, how we're going to love one another. That's a mystery. John 13, 35, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another. Romans 13, 8, passage right after the passage about respecting authority, owe no man anything except to love each other. And in verse 9, love your neighbor as yourself. Romans 13 and verse 12 says, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness. Let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. That's how lost people live. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. So there's the message. I wanted, as I thought about these things, one of the things that's been building in my heart, I was actually going to preach a message today on prayer, but one of the things that, and I will preach that message, one of the things I want to do is I want us to respond to this message. And so this evening, we're going to pray about some of these things, okay? We're going to pray about our law enforcement. We're going to pray about our community. I don't want to just talk about being a healthy church in this community. I want to pray about it and I want to see the power of God explode us in a way that only the Spirit of God can do by taking control of this place. Let's pray. Father, as we celebrate your table now, I pray that you would use these feeble words, planned though yet halting at some points to help us as a church body to first of all love you and Then to love one another if all the commandment if all the Commandments hang on these two to love the Lord our God and then to love one another as ourselves I Think we have our marching orders for this church and so Lord we give this message to you asking you that as we come to the Lord's table and and we celebrate this together, that we would repent of areas where perhaps it's in our own minds we have been insensitive and harsh, non-supportive of authority. God, I pray that you would give us grace, humility, the peace that is spoken about in Ephesians chapter 2, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.