[SPEAKER_00]: Well, good morning, everyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: great to hear you having conversations with each other, feel free to go out and grab a coffee after the service and continue those conversations.
[SPEAKER_00]: My name's Linda Bailey and part of the Ministry team here at one and it is a real privilege to be sharing with you around our as in heaven the Lord's prayer sermon series at the moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well this is me now but this was me in primary
[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't want to be friends with me in primary school, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, look at that cool kid.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I loved life, I had a great family, I enjoyed school.
[SPEAKER_00]: But one of the things I loved the most when I was in primary school was going to Halls Gap for ESA camps.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I grew up in a church where there was only one other family with children our age in their church.
[SPEAKER_00]: So going to an essay camp where there were other kids and other Christians and the leaders were so encouraging and also I just I loved nearly everything about these camps.
[SPEAKER_00]: The only thing I didn't love about this camp was it was based in the Grand Pians therefore every year we would climb the pinnacle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now if you've never been to the Grand Pians there are some incredible hikes there within this nature reserve there are sandstone mountains and the pinnacle true to its word is a very tall hike you have to take.
[SPEAKER_00]: and, you know, as hard as it is to believe, I wasn't into exercise.
[SPEAKER_00]: I only played sport because everyone else did.
[SPEAKER_00]: My cheeks would go bright red.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd be all sweaty and gross.
[SPEAKER_00]: My lung capacity was next to nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the whole way up the pinnacle.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would just be complaining and thinking it was the worst thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, one time, one year, I remember
[SPEAKER_00]: Even though it was like only a few years ago, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But I remember the whole way up the pinnacle.
[SPEAKER_00]: All I was thinking was when I get back down, I am going to find the coldest can of solo, and I'm going to do just what that guy on the ad told me to do, and I'm going to slam it down fast.
[SPEAKER_00]: The whole way up, all I could think about,
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, let me pause that story there and I will come back to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: As we have already mentioned, we are in a series looking at the Lord's prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Tim started the series.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you haven't heard the previous two sermons, I encourage you to go back and listen to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: He started the series, looking at how the Lord's prayer teachers us to pray, and how we can quite simply and easily pray to God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only that, but last week, he looked at the word father within this prayer that Jesus starts this prayer with.
[SPEAKER_00]: Father, this intimacy, this father figured dad that we can come to, who loves us and adores us like a child and how we can speak to him in prayer just like we can, the best kind of father that we can imagine.
[SPEAKER_00]: And today, I'm going to, we're going very slowly through the Lord's Prayer, I'm going to look at this concept of heaven, our Father in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: And explore this idea of when we are praying, and we pray to our Father in heaven, what does that actually mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: So what do you think of when you think of heaven?
[SPEAKER_00]: Every person here has had a different upbringing, different teachings, and probably has different understandings of what heaven truly means.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you grew up in kids' church like I did, maybe you think of the pearly gates and the streets of gold and all the jewels that we hear explained and described in Revelation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I always found that a little bit sterile because you know, I wasn't really into like golden jewels and things like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's such a limited perspective.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you think more about the Garden of Eden.
[SPEAKER_00]: This place described to us in Genesis.
[SPEAKER_00]: where people were in harmony with each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: People were in harmony with all the animals and with creation.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even most importantly, they were in harmony with God and would commune with God on a regular basis.
[SPEAKER_00]: This, for me, I go, well, so many people connect with God when they're in nature or when they're with their favourite pets or their favourite people like there are things that we experience this wonder of God's creation when we're in these types of places.
[SPEAKER_00]: But really,
[SPEAKER_00]: Our understanding of heaven is always going to be limited by our human understanding.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to acknowledge that there is a level of mystery.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a level of our understanding that is limited to all that God is.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if we boil it down to heaven and what our understanding of heaven is, really heaven is anywhere where God rules and reigns.
[SPEAKER_00]: Heaven is where God is at the head, where His character and His values are what everyone experiences.
[SPEAKER_00]: In Psalm 11 it says, the Lord is in His holy temple.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord is on His heavenly throne.
[SPEAKER_00]: He observes everyone on earth, His eyes examine them.
[SPEAKER_00]: All throughout Scripture we read of the wonder and the might and the glory.
[SPEAKER_00]: of who God is in heaven because he sits on the throne.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lauren read a passage to us from another Psalm to start our service today, reminding us of the wonder and the glory of God, when he is on the throne, he has all power, all majesty, all glory is his.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is no one greater than him.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when we pray, our Father in heaven,
[SPEAKER_00]: We are positioning him on the throne.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are saying that you are the one in power.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are putting ourselves under his control that is justice and gracious and love and mercy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It complements the father that Tim was talking about last week in the intimacy and the love that a father has for a child.
[SPEAKER_00]: and balances it with the power and the authority that God has as he sits on the throne.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we say, our father in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, I love my best friend.
[SPEAKER_00]: My best friend is great.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I'm going through troubles, I might call her up, or you know, problem shared is a problem halved.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's funny, she's wise, she's compassionate.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when I'm going through difficult times,
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't pray to my best friend because she is human just like me.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, when I am going through trials, when life seems too much, when there is too much for me to consider and for me to carry, I go to my father in heaven because he is on the throne and he is powerful and he has the majesty and the glory and he can do greater than anyone else on this earth can do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as Jesus was teaching us, the Lord's prayer is reminding us that we don't just have a earthly father in God that we can go to, but we have a father who sits on the throne, who flung the stars into the sky, who made all things and still has that power and that authority that we can come to.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when we pray,
[SPEAKER_00]: Our prayers aren't just to someone who might listen or has a slight amount of power.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, we are praying to the God who created the universe and he still sits on the throne in power and glory.
[SPEAKER_00]: Isaiah 40 says, do not know, have you not heard the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the God that we can pray to.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the power and the authority that we have behind us every time we come to Him in prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: How great news is that for us?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because life is challenging.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know life on this earth can be challenging and comes with great trials, whether it's our health, all the things that Roger prayed for in our pastoral prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: We pray because we wanna uphold our people in need to our Father in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: who can heal, who can bring breakthrough, who can divide the waters, who can move mountains, who can bring down the walls, that is who we are praying to, when we say our Father in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's not the only time that heaven is mentioned in the Lord's prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's mentioned this second time on earth as it is in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now let's keep in mind that when we say heaven, we often think of the place that we go when no longer in this world.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we die, there is another place that God has installed with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said, truly I tell you, when he was on the cross and he spoke to the criminal beside him, he said, today you will be with me and paradise.
[SPEAKER_00]: When he's talking to his disciples, he's saying, my father's house has many rooms.
[SPEAKER_00]: If that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
[SPEAKER_00]: In doing so, Jesus is reminding us that death is not the end.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a whole greater than this world, that our God who is on the throne has greater power than what this earth holds and that what our death will be and that there is something greater for us from this world to the next.
[SPEAKER_00]: However,
[SPEAKER_00]: If that is all we think about, if we only consider heaven with the place that we are going to go once we die, then we are missing the whole point of the Lord's prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, we're missing the whole point of why Jesus came here on earth and we are missing the whole point of the entire gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, let's go back to 10-year-old Linda climbing up the pinnacle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where all she wanted was for it all to be over and for her to get her sweet can of soft drink at the end.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you know the grandparents is I am going to declare it one of the most beautiful places on our earth?
[SPEAKER_00]: It is so stunning.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can still see koalas in trees.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are kangaroos hopping around.
[SPEAKER_00]: that the bird life is incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: The trees and all the flowers that grow in the springtime are stunning.
[SPEAKER_00]: These sandstone mountains are incredible as we see their formations.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you get to the top and you look across at all that God has made, like it is stunning and you can't help but stand and be in awe of our incredible creator.
[SPEAKER_00]: how much I was missing out on, as an immature, stubborn little girl who all I wanted was a soft drink at the end.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I missed all the beauty and the wonder of what the pinnacle had for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so often, if all we think about with heaven is the place that we are going to go when we die, then we are missing out on how God can move in wonder and majesty and power here on earth before we even get to the end.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, when Jesus came to earth, when He came, He was baptized by John the Baptist.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then he went into the desert for 40 days.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was tempted by the evil one who reminded Jesus that he has power and authority here on earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he invited Jesus into that by bowing down to him and receiving some of that power and authority that he already has.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus rejected that, and as he came out and started ministering, this is what he said, repent, turn around, he's saying to the people, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.
[SPEAKER_00]: These words for Bill, you to you, Jesus says it over and over, in fact, we had a whole series in January looking at how the kingdom of heaven
[SPEAKER_00]: comes near.
[SPEAKER_00]: How Jesus declared the kingdom of heaven is near.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't say the kingdom of heaven is waiting for you when you pass.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, it has come near.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is here.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have access to it right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have to wait until we pass and when we pray on earth as it is in heaven, Lord, we are inviting that kingdom of heaven here for us today.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is what we are invited into.
[SPEAKER_00]: Darrell Johnson, an awesome preacher, pastor, and writer from Canada says this, to pray the Lord's prayer is to participate in Heaven's invasion of the earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: To pray the Lord's prayer is to participate in a revolution of huge proportions.
[SPEAKER_00]: O Father,
[SPEAKER_00]: Your name is hallowed in heaven, hallowed on earth in me, in my family, in this city.
[SPEAKER_00]: A father, your kingdom has come in heaven, cause it to come on earth in my house, in my neighborhood, in this country.
[SPEAKER_00]: A father, your will is done in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: Make it be done on earth in my workplace.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the workplaces in Vancouver and Seattle and Dallas and Mexico City and Tokyo and Baghdad and Calcutta and Nairobi and Melbourne, of further your name be, Halode, your kingdom come, your will be done on Main Street and Wall Street and Colored Street and Surry Road as it is in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can see that that to pray that, the Lord's Prayer is to engage in a cosmic act
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the power that we pray when we pray the Lord's prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not that our reward will be at the end when we have endured the hardship of this earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: We will receive our reward.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, Jesus is saying, heaven is coming near.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's already in our grasp, it is already here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever we declare that God is on our throne, that He has the power, that He has the authority, that is where God is on the throne and heaven is right here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you wonder, what does that look like?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes when we experience just look at the news, it is hard to see what heaven on earth is truly like.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, as we've mentioned, the Lord's Prayer is within a whole sermon on the Mount.
[SPEAKER_00]: preaching and teaching that Jesus gave on a regular blood basis.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just read through Matthew 5 to 7 and had a look at what does it look like to have heaven here on earth?
[SPEAKER_00]: These were just some of my notes.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's comfort, equality, mercy, understanding, peace, justice, rejoicing obedience forgiveness, healed relationships, honesty, fidelity, commitment, love.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, how great do these things sound, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But the thing is, they sound great to you because you have already experienced them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe not in its completeness.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have this in all film for film and we won't until Jesus comes again, but we can see glimpses.
[SPEAKER_00]: Heaven can still be here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever we experience this comfort, this mercy, peace, justice, love, forgiveness, all of these things.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Jesus teaches us to pray your kingdom come, you'll be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not offering us an escape route to somewhere else.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's inviting us into a present reality where Heaven's values, peace and justice can reshape how we live now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was the ultimate example of how we were to do this.
[SPEAKER_00]: and he invites us and he encourages us to join with him in bringing heaven to earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is going to be a fulfillment of this.
[SPEAKER_00]: We read about it and Jesus talks about it, the new creation.
[SPEAKER_00]: With Jesus' second coming, the world, the new earth and the new heaven, it will be perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: It will hold all of these things without the pain and the grief and the sin and the struggles that we have here on earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: It will be perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: But in the meantime, he is inviting us in to that new creation now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Heaven is near.
[SPEAKER_00]: The kingdom of God is already at hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: In two Corinthians 5, 17, it says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.
[SPEAKER_00]: The old has gone and the new is here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when we pray your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven, we are praying that our lives will reflect this new earth, will reflect the new creation, right here where we are, and what we say and what we do in the values that we put forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tim Keller says, prayer is not just asking for things, it's aligning ourselves with the reality that God's kingdom is already here, breaking into the present age.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we pray, york kingdom come, we're not making something happen, we're inviting what's already true in heaven to become visible on earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is how called, that is our purpose.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when Jesus came and highlighted that to us, when Jesus came bringing that new creation to Earth, He totally changed and revolutionized how we can approach our Father, how we can pray, how we can live life.
[SPEAKER_00]: To do that, I'm gonna dive a little bit into history and how people used to approach God before Jesus was here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Many of you, if you've read any of the Old Testament, you might know this already.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there was the tabernacle that the Israelites would go to.
[SPEAKER_00]: This tent that we have an image of of how it's described.
[SPEAKER_00]: A tent of meaning where people would come into the presence of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: was positioned and the nation would be able to come into God's presence through the tabernacle and then when Solomon became king, he built this temple where God's presence and the arc of the covenant was put and that's where people would come.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now people knew that to come into the incredible presence of their holy God, they couldn't just enter in themselves
[SPEAKER_00]: where people would sacrifice either a bird or a lamb, and it was thought that that animal would take the place of the punishment that we should have because of the sin and the wrongdoing in our lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it would create this space for us in our humility and in our forgiveness that we could then enter into the tabernacle of the temple
[SPEAKER_00]: Now when Jesus came on earth, we read in Matthew Mark and Luke three of the Gospels of Jesus' life.
[SPEAKER_00]: We read the nativity story with Mary and Joseph and going to Bethlehem.
[SPEAKER_00]: But in the Gospel of John he tells it slightly differently.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he explains Jesus coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: He calls Jesus the word, logos.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, the word was in the beginning.
[SPEAKER_00]: The word was with God and the word was God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in John 14 it says, and the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
[SPEAKER_00]: This word dwelling actually means tent.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some people see are the sum interpretations you may have heard.
[SPEAKER_00]: The word became flesh and pitched his tent among us.
[SPEAKER_00]: This word actually means tabanackel.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the word for tabanackel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus came and was the tabanackel for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: God with flesh on now is the tabernacle, not in one position for only one nation to access, but he moved around and took the presence of God with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus took it even further.
[SPEAKER_00]: People didn't come to Jesus and sacrifice their birds or the lamb before Him to before coming into His presence.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was willing to be that sacrifice.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just for one person but for all of humanity.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was willing to be the sacrifice for all people so that
[SPEAKER_00]: all of us access the forgiveness, the punishment that he took on in our place so that we can all come into the presence of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: John went on and wrote when John saw Jesus coming toward him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see how Jesus coming here on earth
[SPEAKER_00]: And now, we don't have to sacrifice animals, we don't have to go to a certain place, but he brought heaven here so that no matter where you are, that you can come into the presence of this holy righteous, powerful, majestic God.
[SPEAKER_00]: As we read the Lord's prayer in the intro to it, says, but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen, then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
[SPEAKER_00]: These words will revel loosely to the Israelites at the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: To the Jews who understood this sacrifice and going to a certain place.
[SPEAKER_00]: She says to the Miss Samaritan woman, no longer will you need to go to the mountain to pray, but you can access.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can access our father who loves us and cares for us like a loved, beloved child.
[SPEAKER_00]: who sits on the throne in heaven and has all power and all authority on heaven and earth, we can access him any moment of any day wherever you are and whatever is going on in your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: What great news that is?
[SPEAKER_00]: For you and for me, as we go through our life,
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus totally changed the way that we have access to God who loves us, who wants the best for us and has all power in heaven and on earth behind us.
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to watch what you pray because you have the most powerful thing behind you when you do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So what does that mean for us?
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said, the kingdom is near.
[SPEAKER_00]: He invites us to be part of that, in the values that we have, how we speak, how we live.
[SPEAKER_00]: But boy, that can be challenging, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And all the pressures of this world are upon us when we struggle when there are challenges when a crisis occurs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought of it a little bit like, I am an Australian, all right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I was born in Australia to two immigrant parents, but I was born here, I grew up in Australia.
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, I grew up in the culture of Australia, all right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So whenever I go overseas, I take that
[SPEAKER_00]: When I go overseas, I still queue in the right way by joining the end of the line and waiting until my turn.
[SPEAKER_00]: Apparently, that's an Australian thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, does it happen in all cultures?
[SPEAKER_00]: I am Australian, wherever I go, I will wear a hat and sunscreen, because I'm so used to the powerful sun that we have here in Australia.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you can spot the Aussies when you go overseas.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're usually the ones, hopefully not just in acupers, but in sun smart hats.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I go overseas, I take my accent with me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can remember going overseas and saying to someone, how are you going today?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, what did you just say?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think what did I say?
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, how are you going today?
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, I thought you said, how are you going to die?
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought you said, how are you going to die?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not what I heard, but it's what they heard, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I take my words, I take my actions, I take my culture with me wherever I go.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we are so embedded in our faith in Jesus Christ, if we are committed to come to Him every day, to learn more about Him, understand how He lived, what He said, how He responded, the actions that He had towards others.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then it will become so much a part of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: It will be our actions, our accent, our words, our values as we move throughout this earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: We will bring his kingdom here on earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we don't do it alone.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have to go about it on our own.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus doesn't just say, I've brought the kingdom here.
[SPEAKER_00]: The kingdom is here now off you go and you do it too.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have the power of heaven behind us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, as he after his death and his resurrection, he says to his disciples, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me what a great proclamation from what the evil one was telling him in the desert.
[SPEAKER_00]: that no longer does the evil one have authority over our earth, but Jesus also has power and authority in heaven on earth has been given to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, He commands us go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you and surely.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus doesn't bring His kingdom here on earth and say to us, I've shown you now you do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is with us every step of the way.
[SPEAKER_00]: As we learn more about Him, as we enter into His presence, as we pray to Him, he is with us and helps us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only that, but through this prayer, he reminds us that we have the power of prayer to pray to our Father in heaven, to pray to the one who is on the throne who has power and authority and might and can do all things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is with us always.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have access to our Father who is in heaven and on the throne.
[SPEAKER_00]: but he sent his Holy Spirit to.
[SPEAKER_00]: As he says in John 14, the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and more remind you everything I have said to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you are anything like me, it is challenging to bring heaven near.
[SPEAKER_00]: to enter into that new creation that Jesus started, and to try and have pockets of heaven here on earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we have the glory of Jesus Christ with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have the power of our Father in heaven behind us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we have the Holy Spirit within us teaching us and prompting us
[SPEAKER_00]: to be more like Christ in everything that we can do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when we are obedient, when we take on that invitation that Jesus gives to us, there we can experience heaven on earth, just as Jesus showed us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so as we come into a time of communion,
[SPEAKER_00]: that Jesus tabernacleed amongst us, that He was the ultimate sacrifice, that His body was broken as we eat the biscuit, that His blood was shed as we take the juice.
[SPEAKER_00]: as the ultimate act of sacrifice, so that we can enter into God's presence and we have access to our Father in heaven every moment of every day.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, as you come to communion, everyone is invited.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you stand with Christ and believe He is your Lord and Savior, you're welcome to come forward at the time to take the bread and drink the juice.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as you do so, in light of our Lord's prayer, in light of praying, our Father in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe this is a time for you to be reminded of the forgiveness that is on offer for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: and that there is nothing stopping you from accessing our Father in Heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe this is a chance for you to recommit that invitation that Jesus makes.
[SPEAKER_00]: As you come forward, it's a symbolic way of you stepping forward into the invitation that Jesus gives to us,
[SPEAKER_00]: and to do all that we can in our words and our actions to bring heaven here on earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: Will you pray with me?
[SPEAKER_00]: Our Father in heaven, we are humbled that you would love us so much, that you would send Jesus to earth, to be your presence amongst us.
[SPEAKER_00]: and to open the door for an access for us to you that is as close as a child to a father.
[SPEAKER_00]: As we come into this time of communion, may we be reminded of the incredible sacrifice that you made Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And may it be a challenge for us as we step towards the table.
[SPEAKER_00]: May we step towards the new creation that you have for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we may be reminded that you invite us in our words and our deeds to bring heaven here on earth just as you did.
[SPEAKER_00]: We pray this in your mighty name, Amen.
[SPEAKER_00]: The ashes will be down the aisles.
[SPEAKER_00]: They will instruct your row when you can come forward and take the biscuit and the juice.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're in these aisles, you've got these two smaller tables.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're in the wider aisles, come forward to the side under the cross and receive the biscuit and the juice.
[SPEAKER_00]: The band are going to play as we have this time.
[SPEAKER_00]: They may even sing the final song, they'll begin singing it just over you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Take your time with communion and then at the end we'll all sing together and sing.