The Wide, Wild World

Sermon Summary:

We gather at the table today not just to share a meal, but to participate in something profoundly sacred—a celebration that connects us across time, culture, and geography. The Lord’s Supper is more than ritual; it’s a proclamation of the gospel itself. Through the simple elements of bread and juice, we declare that Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live, died the death we deserved, and offers us forgiveness and new life. But this message also comes with a sobering question: who is missing from this table? The Great Commission from Acts 1:8 reminds us that we are called to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. What seemed impossible for 120 Jewish followers 2,000 years ago has become our reality—the gospel has reached us. Yet our work isn’t finished. We face the same barriers they did: ethnic prejudice, geographical distance, political boundaries, and religious differences. But empowered by the same Holy Spirit that transformed Peter from a denier to a martyr, we too can invite others to this table. The beauty of polycentrism—mission happening everywhere, from everywhere, to everyone—shows us that we’re not alone in this calling. Whether it’s a family member, a neighbor, or someone across the globe, we each have people the Lord is leading us to invite to experience the grace we’ve received.

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Sermon Points:

Key Takeaways:

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• Meals were highly significant in Jesus’ ministry as times of teaching, affirmation, and building relationships
• Jesus shared his final commission with 120 followers despite numerous barriers (ethnic, geographical, political, and religious)
• The disciples, empowered by the Holy Spirit, overcame their weaknesses and took the gospel to the ends of the earth
• The Lord’s Supper is both a celebration and a proclamation of Christ’s death until He comes
• Modern missions embrace “polycentrism” – the understanding that mission centers exist everywhere, not just in Western nations
• Every believer has been commissioned to be a witness and to invite others to the table of communion with Christ
• The church must identify who is missing from the table: family members, neighbors, and unreached nations
• Unity in the global body of Christ transcends language and cultural barriers

Scripture Reference:

• Acts 1:6-8 (primary focus)
• Luke 5 (Jesus eating with Matthew and tax collectors)
• John 21 (Jesus cooking breakfast for disciples and teaching about fishing and feeding)
• 1 Corinthians 11 (institution of the Lord’s Supper)
• John 17 (Jesus’ prayer for unity)
• Hebrews (reference to God preparing a body for the Son)

Stories:

• Personal story about contrasting meal experiences: the pastor’s casual, loud family meals versus his wife’s formal family dinners, culminating in the humorous fruitcake incident with Mamaw Faulkner
• The little boy whose five loaves and two fish fed 5,000 people
• The woman who anointed Jesus with expensive nard during a meal
• Historical account of Miss Vera Huff, a single schoolteacher who left over a million dollars to First Baptist Arlington in the 1970s
• The transformation of Simon Peter from denying Christ to being crucified upside down in Rome
• Thomas taking the gospel to India
• Matthew taking the gospel to Ethiopia
• Andrew taking the gospel to Greece
• The 120 disciples who received the Great Commission facing 200 million people on earth with limited resources
• Contemporary example of the church’s ministry in Spain led by an Egyptian church, with Arabic and Spanish-speaking congregations

Sermon Transcript

So as we’re receiving the offering, I want to ask you a question. What are meals like at your house? I’m looking at some of y’all with little kids. I can only imagine what it’s like at your house. When I was growing up in our house, our meals. There were special times. My mother was a fellowship or so.

Meal time was the time for us to visit. My dad was an eater.

So he came to the table to eat. He wasn’t that interested in fellowship. He was fine for us to have it. But we were a very active, family when it came to eating meals together. We reached across the table and grabbed the salt and the pepper, and we spilled drinks. And, if you had a napkin, that was fine if you didn’t have one.

All good. I had two older brothers. A lot of times my nephews were over. So if you saw something on their plate that looked better than what was on your plate. We felt like the Lord was leading them to share with us. It was a good. It was just a good discipline for everybody. Messy. Fun. Loud. So when I met Cindy in college, she was living with her grandmother on her mother son, and I was so grateful that that family was just like ours.

Hug and laugh. And we shared meals reach across the table, all those kinds of things. Everything’s good. And then it came time for me to meet Cindy’s father’s family, and it was Christmas dinner. So Cindy warned me it will be different. You might want to wear a jacket. So I did. We got there to Mama Faulkner’s house and came time for dinner with her name.

I said, how will I know where to sit? She said, oh, you’ll know their name. Plates at the seat. So I sit down. There was more silverware on that table than I had ever seen in my entire life. I wasn’t sure what to use or what not to use. And Cindy told me no hugging and no reaching you.

You ask politely for anything you might need. So I was on my best behavior until we got to the end of the meal and mama, Falconer said. And now it’s time for my world famous fruitcake. Now y’all all know nobody eats fruitcake, right? There’s no. Have you ever met anybody hate fruit eating fruitcake? We buy fruitcake every year at Christmas and send it to other people.

That’s what you do because you don’t know what to get them for Christmas, you know? So just send them a fruitcake. It’s a nice gesture. And so they came to serve to me, and I just said, all due respect, mama, I don’t eat fruitcake. She said, you don’t eat fruitcake. No, I said no, ma’am. Do you ever have fruitcake in your home?

I said, yes, ma’am. She said, and y’all don’t eat it. I said, no, ma’am. We use it as a doorstop in our house. So.

It got really quiet. And then Mama Fortner just busted out laughing, and I started hugging her. Turned out she was a hugger. Just nobody ever hugged her before, so it worked out. We, everything was good but meals. It’s interesting how meals are with everybody. Do you know when Jesus was alive? Meals were incredibly significant. If you shared a meal with someone in Jesus day, it meant that you were affirming the person who invited you to the meal when you shared a meal with him.

It also meant if you were invited to share the meal, they were affirming you. And so when you came to the table in the New Testament era, it meant something. You know, the Bible tells us a lot about the meals that Jesus shared in the Gospel of Luke. There are at least ten examples of Jesus sharing a meal with someone, and throughout the rest of the Gospels, Matthew and Mark and John as well.

We have examples of Jesus being at the table. We learn a lot from Jesus when he’s at the table in the New Testament. Y’all may remember in Luke five, Jesus had invited Matthew to follow him. And then the Bible says, Jesus went to Matthew’s house and ate with him. Now y’all remember Matthew’s job. Remember, Matthew was a tax collector.

And so while Jesus was eating in Matthew’s home with Matthew’s friends who are also tax collectors, the Pharisees stood outside and peered in the window and they all applauded. They said, what a great role model Jesus is.

Now you know what the Bible says. They asked Jesus and his followers, why? Why are you eating with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus said, well, I came for those who were sick, not for the healthy. One time Jesus was sharing a meal and in a person’s home, and a lady came in and she took an alabaster vial, and she broke it open, and she poured the nard and anointed him.

Remember that story? And they chided her, why would you be wasting all of this? And Jesus taught them a lesson about her sacrifice. Can you imagine the little boy that had lunch with him one day? Five loaves and two fish. And Jesus took that lunch and fed 5000. You remember that story? Can you imagine if that little boy’s parents weren’t with him when he got home that day?

He ran home and said, Mom and Dad, you’re not going to believe what happened to that lunch you packed me today. Unforgettable meal. So it shouldn’t surprise me. Then, on the very last night of the life of Jesus, he shares a meal with his followers. And in that meal on that Thursday evening, Jesus taught us. He instructed us.

He taught us theology. He taught us eschatology. In fact, we we even have named that meal after him. He’s our Lord. And so what do we call that meal? The Lord’s supper. We’re going to share that meal here in just a moment. And then, not only that, not only did Jesus instruct his disciples and us on that Thursday night.

Later, Jesus was crucified, resurrected from the dead. And then when you when you read the last page in John’s gospel, John 21, the disciples have gone fishing and they’re out in the lake fishing. They look on the shore and guess who they see on the shore? Jesus, you remember what he was doing cooking lunch? It turns out the resurrected Jesus was hungry.

Okay, now that blows my mind a little bit. I’ll have to be honest with you. I have to think about that. But he was preparing a meal and the disciples caught this massive catch a fish. They come ashore, Simon Peter jumps in the water, swims ashore, and Jesus teaches them another valuable lesson. John 21. He talks to them about fishing and about feeding.

He teaches them a lesson. A lesson about evangelism. Well, that great catch a fish. He had called them to be fishers of men, and then he taught them about feeding. He said to Simon Peter, feed my sheep. And so in that final lesson from Jesus, there at that particular setting, at a meal, Jesus reminded us all that people need to be saved and they need to be shepherded.

And he challenged his disciples to do just that. So here’s what I want us to do this morning. We’re going to we’re going to share in this meal together. So I’m going to figuratively invite you to this table. And here in a few moments, we’re going to share together in what we call the Lord’s Supper. You’re familiar with it.

And also today, as you heard from Luke, you heard from Ashley. Today is the beginning of a special month in our church’s life. You know, I’ve been your pastor now for over 24 years. Historically, we’ve called this month Missions Month, but we’ve changed that. We’re now referring to it as engagement month. And the reason we’ve chosen to do that is because we want to highlight the fact that every one of us has been called to engage people with the gospel somehow.

And we want to invite you to that engagement. And we believe it’s an incredible invitation. You know, our church historically has been known as a very missional church. In fact, these flowers that are here in front of this table today, they are in honor and memory of Miss Vera Huff. Miss Vera Huff was, a single school teacher here in our community for many, many years.

And when she died, she left her estate to first members of Arlington. First person to ever actually do that. And she left our church a little over $1 million back in the 1970s. You know, back then, $1 million was it was $1 million, you know. Turns out it still is. As a matter of fact, speaking of $1 million, Friday, a group of us were able to gather in Mission Arlington’s office, and Tillie and I signed the final paperwork where we actually finally have transferred the property to Mission Metroplex.

And they gave us $1 million for that property. And we’re putting it in our foundation. So can we say, praise God for that? And we’re thankful.

And that mission is going to continue to to work, as we all know. But we’ve decided to use the word engagement. In fact, our team, we’re now calling them our engagement team. Kurt Grice leads that team Kurt sitting right here. And he actually invented that team. Ashley is our global engagement. Minister and Luke, our local engagement minister there on that team, Katie Hodges from my staff from the pastoral side of the house is on that team.

Sarah personally, as well. And, on that team, mostly I kind of dip in and out, you know, but I’m a part of it. And that particular team, they’re trying to guide us as we try to determine the best way to engage the gospel as a church. And so we begin the journey today. You’ve seen all the flags out in all of our welcome areas.

Just highlighting the fact that God has called us from our neighbors to the nations. So with that said, I want us to begin our conversation today looking at a very famous mission’s engagement text as found in acts one. So if you’ve got your copy of the New Testament, I’d like you to look at it with me. I’ve entitled it The Wide Wild World.

And so if you look at acts one, we’ll start in verse six where the Bible says. Then they gathered around him and they asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it’s not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Now let me set the context for this particular passage. The earthly ministry of Jesus was concluding. These were his final instructions prior to his ascension. Now, United Baptists, we don’t make much of the ascension of Jesus. We don’t usually talk about it very much, but it was a signal event. In fact, the movement that our church has joined in re evangelizing North America, we’ve given it the name ascent.

And many of us in this, on our staff and, and in our church family are involved in this new movement. And the imagery is profound. On the one hand, when you make your way to Jerusalem to worship God, there was always an ascent involved to be in his presence. But also, that name calls to mind the fact that after the ascension of Jesus, we’ve been given a responsibility.

We’ve been commissioned by him to take the gospel to the world. And so these folks here in this very text, as Luke tells the story in acts one, they have been eyewitnesses to some incredible events over the last 40 days. They had spent a tumultuous week together in Jerusalem. Jesus was betrayed. He was then handed over to the Romans.

He was crucified. And then he was resurrected from the dead. And he appeared to numerous people over 40 days. It’s it’s an unprecedented time in human history. Jesus Christ is the only human being who has ever been resurrected from the dead. It’s never happened before. It hasn’t happened since. Other people have been raised from the dead. But Jesus was resurrected from the dead to never die again.

It’s never happened before. It hasn’t happened since. It’s in our future. But it has yet to happen to another human being. And so these disciples have witnessed this, and they’re amazed. At this point, they’re perplexed. They’re impressed. They’re emboldened. In fact, if you look at verse six, they asked Jesus a very important question. Here’s what they say to Jesus, Lord, is it finally your time?

And Jesus turns right around and says, no, actually, it’s your time. You say they thought, is it your time finally to be crowned the King of Israel? Is is is this the end? And Jesus said, no, actually, it’s the beginning. It’s your time now. And he’s about to leave a very, very pivotal time in history. But before he left, he did something profound.

He handed his followers his commission. And that’s what I want us to think about this morning. Jesus commissioned his followers to be his witnesses in the wild, wild world. The gospel was not to be contained in Israel, but was to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth. Now when Jesus spoke these words, there were 120 of them.

They were all Jews. They had never traveled outside of Israel. They were very limited in their resources. When Jesus shared this commission, as best we can tell, there were about 200 million people alive on planet Earth, 120 Jews who had converted to Christ and were his followers. What a monumental commissioning for such a small group of people!

Can you imagine? In fact, I’m pretty sure when they heard it, they were probably encouraged. Jesus said, you’re going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem. Okay. We can do that, actually, in all of Judea. We can do that even in Samaria. Okay, it’s a stretch, but we can do it. And in the uttermost parts of the world.

Wonder what that means? So if curtain were there that day, I can imagine me looking at Kurt and saying, how far is the uttermost? I wonder how long it takes to get there. Well, what those disciples knew. Maybe they didn’t know, but I think they probably knew there were a lot of barriers between them and the ends of the earth.

There were obviously ethnic barriers. There were going to be other people who weren’t Jews, that they were going to share this message with. There were geographical barriers. How are you going to get to the ends of the earth from Jerusalem? How is that going to happen? There were political boundaries all kinds of political issues existed in those days.

There were religious barriers. How are they going to overcome all the various religious claims in the ancient world? Well, what I would contend is you and I face, 2000 years later, the very same challenges. You and I are living in a wild, wild world. How are we going to do what Jesus has challenged us to do? Because we face those same barriers, ethnic barriers.

There’s still prejudice that exists in the lives of God’s people, and sometimes we’re not quite sure that other people are worthy of the gospel. There are geographical barriers. How are we going to get to the ends of the earth? The political barriers, they’re religious barriers. We face the very same thing. But guess what happened? This 120, the script, 120 people.

You know what they did? They went to work and they started sharing the gospel. You know, they weren’t perfect. They weren’t. But if you read the book of acts, just just the just this first group of them, they started making their way across the ancient world. Now, sometimes it was beyond their control. Sometimes they did it because they were persecuted, but sometimes they did it strategically.

But guess what happened? Eventually they took the gospel to the ends of the earth. You know where America was when Jesus spoke these words? We were the uttermost. But guess what? The gospel has gotten all the way to this. Well, if you go back to that Thursday night when Jesus first instituted what you and I call the Lord’s Supper, he was at the table with these disciples.

Can you imagine Jesus knowing that he’s about to be crucified and he’s about to be ascended to the father and he’s about to take all that he has built? His whole teachings about the Kingdom of God and this commission to take the gospel, the whole world. And he’s going to hand it to this, this group of these 12 guys.

What do y’all think Jesus was thinking? Do you think he was looking at them going, seriously? God? I mean, I’m going to leave and give it to these guys. One of them is going to quit tonight. You know, and this is the group, I mean, Simon Peter sitting right here. And Lord, don’t you know he’s going to deny that he even knows me.

And there’s Thomas, Tom, I’m I’m going to be resurrected from the dead. And he’s not even going to believe it. No, I don’t think Jesus was thinking that. I think Jesus had a lot of confidence in those men, because he knew he was going to give them the Holy Spirit. And then what this text is when the Holy Spirit comes on you and oh, Simon Peter.

Yeah, he’s going to deny to a little girl that he doesn’t know Jesus later that night. But you know what he’s going to do once he’s filled with the Spirit of God, he’s going to boldly proclaim the gospel in one day. He’s going to be crucified upside down in the capital city of the world, in Rome itself.

No, Thomas, he’s going to take the gospel to India and share the good news of Jesus in Asia. Matthew. He’s going to take the gospel to Ethiopia. Follow on the heels of the Ethiopian eunuch. Take the gospel to Africa, Andrew. He’s going to take the gospel to Greece into Europe. And these faithful apostles are literally going to obey Jesus, and they’re going to be his witnesses.

And you know what the Greek word from witnesses material? We get our word martyr for that word. These men are going to be martyred for the most part as they shared the good news. But here you and I are, 2000 years later, we’ve got the same commission. The same calling, and we’re still supposed to be bringing people to the table.

That was the challenge from Jesus. Bring people to this table. Bring them together here at this table. Let’s gather in communion, and then we will proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. That’s what the Bible says. And so when Jesus told us, as you go, proclaim, proclaim the kingdom of heaven, well, that’s one of the things we do when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

We proclaim the kingdom of God. So I want to invite you to do that today. Everybody’s invited. And you know what we call this? We call this a celebration. It’s the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Well, here’s what I would say about the celebration. Jesus has invited everyone to the table. But I want to ask you a question this morning.

Who’s missing?

Some of us in this room today, we have family members that are still missing from this table. We’ve got neighbors who are still missing from this table. There are nations filled with people who are missing from this table. It’s our responsibility to invite them. And I wonder who it is that the Lord is leading you to invite to this table.

So here’s what I want to do this morning. I want us to experience a celebration of unity as the global body of Christ, and learn a valuable lesson symbolically about our understanding of the calling of God on our church during this season, in the era of missions, we call it poly centrism. What that means is there’s not just one center of mission.

You know, as Westerners, we’ve always thought the center of mission is in Europe and in America. We’re the ones who send. But what we’ve discovered is that’s not really the case. The center of missions is everywhere because people everywhere are sending believers everywhere to everyone. We’re all in this together. And so I’m going to invite two members of our church to help us understand this symbolically this morning.

So, Pastor Raymond, when you come join me on the platform, when Pastor Sergio, will you do as well? This is Pastor Raymond Massad, and, he, and his wife, Ida are members of our church. And so they can have a seat here. And pastor Sergio, he and his wife, Dora are also members of our church. So I’m gonna ask you, man, to sit with me today, and, we’re going to participate in a very unique celebration of the Lord’s Supper, hopefully symbolically representing the Polish centric approach to mission, but also to communicate the global community of Christ.

Raymond and his wife, Ida. They are from Lebanon. And so his heart language is Arabic. And, he now serves not only in an Arabic ministry here. Sharing the gospel. He also is a chaplain, a hospital chaplain, in Mansfield. And he and his wife are very faithful members of our church pastor Sergio and his wife Dora is here as well.

He and his wife, Dora, from Mexico. And, he has been a pastor. He has been the president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas. And now he works for Texas Baptist. He’s the leader of the new Jak2 movement. And these folks are all members of our church. And so today, when Raymond shares in a moment in Arabic, I’ll share in English, Pastor Raymond, I mean Pastor Sergio, share in Spanish.

Those three languages represent 2.5 billion people on planet Earth.

There are millions of Christians who are going to worship today in Arabic and Spanish and English, going to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, just like we’re going to be. But there are millions who won’t because they hadn’t been invited. But also, I want you to be captured today by the beauty of what God’s called us to do as a church, because we have a ministry in Spain, a global center, there, and we’re not in charge of it.

The folks who lead that ministry are from a church in Egypt, from the majority world. It’s an African led ministry. We’ve just joined them and they planted an Arabic church and Spanish speaking church. And so we have two families who live there who are ours, who work for us. And every week they gather and they worship in Arabic and in English and in Spanish.

So as a church, let’s join them today and experience some of what they experience every week. And so we’re going to begin and ask Pastor Raymond, he’s going to actually share with us in Arabic. We’ll plate we’ll place the English translation on the screen for you about the meaning of the bread that will be receiving here in a few moments, that actually just the meaning of the gospel.

So, Pastor Raymond, would you share that with us in Arabic? Thank you, Pastor.

Pastor Raymond’s Text in English

The Significance of the Bread in the Lord’s Supper

“And He took a bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave to them saying ‘This is My body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me’” (Luke 22:19)

And, is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? …. 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body; for we all share the one loaf. (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

and He gave thanks, He broke it (the bread) and said, “(Take and eat) This is My body, which is (broken) for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24)

NOTES

When our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper, He was gathered with His disciples in the upper room to celebrate the Passover. As we know, bread and wine were two of the key elements in this sacred Jewish feast. On that holy night, Jesus transformed this ancient celebration by giving it new and eternal meaning—first to His disciples, and through them, to His Church throughout all generations, even to this day. Scripture tells us that Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying that it was His Body.

We may then ask: What is the significance of the bread? And why did Jesus present the bread before the wine? There is a profound lesson for us in this order. In Hebrews 10:5 we read that the Father prepared a body for the Son for His earthly mission. Though Jesus was in very nature God, He humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. If Christ had not taken on human form, we would never have fully known the heart of God—His infinite love, mercy, and grace. Christ came to accomplish what the first Adam failed to do. The first Adam sinned and fell short of the glory of God; and through him, all humanity fell short as well. But Christ, the last Adam, lived a life fully pleasing to the Father. Three times in His earthly ministry, a voice came from heaven declaring, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” In His human body, Jesus lived the holy and righteous life of God—and He triumphed. Was He tempted as we are? Yes, yet He remained without sin. Let us consider three significant aspects of the bread, which represents the body of Christ: 1. Sharing in the Life of Christ Jesus offers us His body so that we might live the life of God as He lived it—in truth, that He might live that life through us. This is a sacred privilege: to represent Him before all people. When we partake of the bread, we are declaring before God our desire and commitment to live His life each day.

2. Unity with Christ and with One Another Jesus gave us His body that we might be united with Him and with each other. “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.” (1 Corinthians 10:16–17) Just as the members of one body live in harmony, so we are called to live in peace with God and with one another. This unity was the very heart of Christ’s prayer for His disciples—that they might be one, even as He and the Father are one. 3. Fellowship with Christ Through the bread, Jesus invites us into deep fellowship with Himself. We identify with Him in His suffering, His obedience, and His joy. “What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.” (1 John 1:3–4) Therefore, as we come to the Lord’s Table and partake of the bread—the body of Christ—let us heed the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to examine ourselves. Let us come before our Savior with reverence and gratitude, declaring our desire to live His life, to walk in unity, and to proclaim Him as Lord and Redeemer to all the world.

Thank you, Pastor Raymond. Sharing that theology with us about the bread.

Pastor Sergio, can you share the meaning of the juice? In your heart language as well, brother.

Pastor Sergio’s Text in English’

Thank you, Sergio and Raymond.

I want to ask our deacons and ministers to come and take their places. If the if if they would, to the table and they are going to distribute the elements to you. You don’t have to be a member of First Baptist Arlington. We just ask that you know the Lord and you have been baptized into your church as a believer, and you’re welcome to share with us.

When the deacons distribute the elements, you’ll notice that in the tray there will be two cups stacked, one on top of the other. Just take one of those stacks. One will have the bread, will have the juice. There will be, gluten free bread available in the middle of each tray, if that’s what you so desire or need today.

But, and then after everyone is served, Pastor Raymond and Pastor Sergio will guide us through receiving the elements. But let’s pause and pray and ask God’s blessing upon these elements and upon us as we receive them. Let’s pray together, our father in heaven. We’re grateful this day for this celebration where we recognize our need for you.

We acknowledge that we’re sinners in need of forgiveness and grace. And Lord, we know that our salvation and our forgiveness has come at a great cost. The very body and blood, blood of our Lord. This bread symbolizes his body in which he lived the perfect life and offered up himself as a sacrifice for our sin. This juice symbolizes for us his blood shed on the cross for our sin, and this table symbolizes for us the communion that we enjoy in our life with you and with one another.

So we pray now your blessings on this bread, this fruit of the vine upon us, as we will receive it in.

We would invite you to our Welcome Home Center through these doors in my right to your left, we have staff members there to greet you. If you’re a guest, we’d invite you to come as well and let us greet you. But as we go today, let’s join together in this commissioning and I’ll invite you to read this responsibly out loud.

I’ll read the part of the leader, and you read the congregation part out loud together, and it will be our benediction and our commissioning. Jesus said, as you go proclaim this message, the kingdom of heaven has come near. There are people in our families who need to know the good news about the Kingdom of Heaven. Now you realized there are people in our neighborhoods who need to know the good news about the Kingdom of Heaven.

As you know, there are people among the nations who need to know the good news about the Kingdom of heaven. And we know that there are people missing from the table who need to know the good news about the Kingdom of heaven. We place. Amen. May you be filled with the Spirit of God, empowered to proclaim the Good News about the Kingdom of God.

As you go, proclaim. God bless you and you’re dismissed.