Teaching About the Law
Jeremy MacDonald · Tidal Church Moncton · July 7, 2024 · Kingdom Citizens series
Jeremy MacDonald looks at Matthew 5:17-20, where Jesus says He came to fulfill the law, not abolish it. The Old Testament law points to a flourishing life and the heart of God, and it calls us to make Jesus our King.
More from Jeremy MacDonald · The Kingdom Citizens series
Topics: Grace, Discipleship, Worship
Transcript
[0:00] So in preparation for this series, we're in week two of a 10 week series on the Sermon on the Mount. This article came out telling the story of something happening down south that really kind of speaks to the question I want us to wrestle with here today. And so I just wanna read you this article, or not the article, but just a kind of a line from this article that's happening in Louisiana. It says this, and again, you can find this online. Perhaps you've heard this. Louisiana and the US has become the first state to require that the 10 Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, which is what? Well, hold on. It's interesting. This is what the governor, this is what the governor says about this. It's very fascinating. Jeff Landry's name, he is the highest in their state.
[0:48] He says, if you wanna respect the rule of law, you've gotta start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses. And so as you read that and you read kind of and hear the conversation that happens online publicly with that, the question that I think is worthwhile kind of contending with or understanding or wrestling with, and the one that we get to go to today is simply this: what do Christians think of the 10 Commandments? And if you're here and you call yourself a Christian, what do you think of the 10 Commandments? And if you're here and you're not a Christian, what do you think Christians should think about the 10 Commandments? And then even maybe just the further question is, what are the 10 Commandments? Because truthfully, if we were put on the spot, I'm not gonna put you on the spot, but if you were a Christian, you were put on the spot and somebody said, what are the 10 Commandments?
[1:39] You would get a couple like, hey, do not murder. That's in there, right? Yeah. And there's like something about lying probably. Yeah, that's right there. And there's a Sabbath one, and you might get a few, but could you go through all of them and should you be able to go through all of them? What are we meant to really think about the 10 Commandments? This series in particular, this message is going to bring us to that very question because it's wrestled with and contended with in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount. And let me just say straight up, as I'm raising kids, I believe deeply in raising my boys, understanding a biblical worldview and a biblical morality. I'm definitely not against that. It's actually kind of funny. My boys, they're eight and six right now. A couple years ago when they were younger, Riker and Archer, and again, just growing up in church, this is maybe just how this kind of thing happens, but they were fighting with each other and my wife and I could hear them as they were fighting and then talking about it afterwards.
[2:38] And so Riker said to Archer, he's like, you weren't being kind. And of course we teach kindness. Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit. Our kids are called to be kind. But then Archer again, thinking about this and about what we're bringing him up with, he quotes Romans and says, yeah, but you repaid evil for evil. And then Riker said, no, you repaid evil for evil. And Chantel and I are like, yeah, yay. I think, or I don't know if we still got worth learning. We're not doing any parenting seminars. In fact, some of the work I do, I get a chance to talk about ministry to ministry leaders. And I did a parents event and I said, I used to be a really, really big expert actually on parenting. I was a youth pastor here for a number of years before I got married and had kids. I was the expert on raising teenagers and kids.
[3:25] I had all the ideas and all of the things. I'm no longer an expert now that I have them. It's just the nature of how things go. But anyways, back to the point, we are gonna do this Kingdom Citizens series. And where this comes from is the idea that in Matthew's gospel account, he records Jesus introducing people to His kingdom and inviting people to participate in this new work that Jesus was bringing to the world. And so He, in the Sermon on the Mount, kind of unveils the values and the system and the way that His people, His kingdom people, are going to be in the world, and He's gonna be their King and what that should look like, and just the nature of calling a kingdom citizens, it's, I find this kind of fascinating.
[4:12] But in those days, the idea of being a citizen of a different place was really common and known because in the first century, Rome was kind of the prevailing structure of power and authority and governance across much of this area, of course. And so for those people though, Rome didn't want their citizens to come back. Rome expected that their citizens would understand Roman values and bring them into all the world and spread the Roman rule. And so the idea of being a kingdom citizen, the kingdom being Jesus's, is this idea that if you would so choose that, being His citizen, is that you're not just anticipating some different place where you go, but that you bring those values to this place.
[5:03] So if your citizenship is in heaven, your dream isn't to go to heaven, your dream is to bring the heaven values and way of being to this place. And this is the calling and this is the idea. And this is why we open up the Sermon on the Mount and we wrestle with what Jesus is inviting us into. And it kind of is pressive, it started by this very simple question. And this kind of distinguishes who in this room, how you're meant to participate in this message. The question is this: is Jesus your King? And if He is, then His rule and His reign and His instruction become your marching orders. But just let's be fair, in a room like this, there's lots of you that would say, no, no, no, I haven't signed up for that. And that's okay. You're here. We're glad you're here. You can explore, you can ask questions.
[5:49] There's even some of you that you've grown up in church and you like church as an idea, but like Jesus being your King and submitting to everything that He would say is like, well, I'm not sure I'm entirely there. Like I just kind of believe in God as an idea and we're glad you're here too. But the question that you should contend with is, is Jesus worth being your King? And as He unveils His kingdom, would you be a part of it? Because it's gonna require so much from you. And it's not just an idea, but it really is commandments and instruction and direction and a whole new way of being. And so the question is less about what do I think and what do you think of the 10 Commandments?
[6:37] The question is, what did Jesus think of the 10 Commandments? Because He actually talks about exactly that. And so in the Sermon on the Mount, if I can show you this little graphic, it shows you a little bit of where we are. The beginning, last week's message, we talked about the Beatitudes and the values and the people that Jesus was bringing His kingdom to and the invitation to be a part of His work. These next few sections, this is where we're gonna spend the bulk of our summer. And throughout this summer, if you would like to go a little bit deeper in the midst of the series, we actually have a devotional book that you can get in the lobby today. It's also available on Amazon. Wherever you're at in the world, you can order this and this will take you through the 10 weeks of our series and allow you to dive a little bit deeper and wrestle and contend with what these words mean for you and for your life.
[7:28] And so, you can grab those. Abby Langel helped compile and write this for us. She's a researcher for us. She's actually a student at Kingswood University, and she did an internship with us this last year in preparing for this series. And so we are in this section at the very start here where Jesus is gonna take the value system that He kind of opens up and talks about in the intro, the Beatitudes, in this invitation. And then He's gonna apply it to a number of case scenarios. And so He starts by taking His kingdom values, this invitation to living righteously. What does that mean in light of what Jesus is inviting us to? And He applies it first to the law and to the prophets, the Torah. And that's where we're gonna start here today. But then in the center section, He'll go to religious practices. If you go back to that slide, the religious practices are in the center, and then there's a number of verses talking about those right relationships.
[8:15] And then He's gonna end with a really firm application and invitation to us all. And this is the structure of the Sermon on the Mount, about 2,400 words. If you spoke it out, it's not gonna take you more than 20, 25 minutes. And this message, this sermon perhaps was given in one shot on a mountain as Matthew brings it to us. But also likely was these core important messages that Jesus brought and taught throughout His ministry. And so this compilation that we're reading here today is not just the one time that Jesus spoke these things. Surely this is the example of what He is inviting us all into. And He starts this section for us today talking about the law and the prophets. And this is what He says in Matthew 5:17.
[9:01] Don't misunderstand why I have come. Jesus talking, don't misunderstand. Why would He say that? Because people were misunderstanding and He knew that people would misunderstand because throughout His ministry, people all the time were confused. It was so different than what they had expected. And I think the misunderstanding can continue to this day. As we unpack and as we look at this, the ideas that Jesus invites us into, even to this day, people in our world, people in this room, people throughout time have misunderstood what is Jesus inviting us to? What is He calling us to? What is He demanding of us? So He says, don't misunderstand, in particular thinking about the law and the prophets.
[9:51] Instead, this is what He says. He says, I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. This explanation is Him kind of articulating all of the Old Testament Scriptures. The Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible is made up of the law of Moses, sometimes referred to as the Torah or the Pentateuch. The first five books of the Bible, the prophets, the major prophets, the minor prophets are another section. And then for Jews, there's the writings, the sacred writings that include the poetry and the other books that are a part of our Old Testament that we have in the Christian Bible in that first section. And so for Jesus, He's just simply saying, I've not come to do away with all of those things. Instead He says this, He says, I have come to accomplish their purpose, in some translations, I've come to fulfill these things.
[10:47] Now, the reason why people would misunderstand or people would have questions is because of what happens next in Jesus's ministry. In fact, what happens is not only does Jesus seem to make this a bit more confusing, but even the other New Testament writers, as they contend and wrestle with what are we meant to do with that Old Testament law, they say things that if you bring all of them together can feel a little bit confusing. And we're just gonna sit with that for a second 'cause it's gonna help us and it's gonna give us some direction, I think, as Jesus followers here in the 21st century. So for example, Jesus in a different Gospel, Mark writing down and keeping track of the account of what Jesus did. He's recording Jesus' words in Mark 7.
[11:33] And this is what he finds, and this is what he records. Jesus speaking says, food doesn't go into your heart. This is a completely different subject, but food doesn't go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. And Mark trying to explain to people what Jesus was talking about because as Jesus was saying these words, He was saying them in a context and trying to make a point. And so Mark writes and explains what He's doing is He's declaring that every kind of food is acceptable in God's eyes, which is very confusing because the law and the prophets, like there were dietary restrictions. Jesus, don't, you know, like if we go back to the Old Testament, God's law, there's like 600 plus laws here that we talk about and we tell people about and that we make sure people follow, and a bunch of them relate to the things that you can eat and that you can't eat.
[12:27] And so what do you mean, Jesus? That some of them, which ones can you clarify? Is lobster? Is shellfish, can we eat that now? We did a message in August of last summer and kind of covered that as a topic because it is something worth contending with. Now the other thing that happens here, because I have a 6-year-old and an 8-year-old, is I think Jesus makes a bathroom joke here. But we can't go too far into that 'cause it's not really the point of all of this. But if you've got young boys at home, Jesus is funny. Okay? So Mark happens, then the New Testament continues on after the resurrection. The New Testament writer, Paul, writing to the church again, trying to understand what to do with the Old Testament, writes things like this to the church in Ephesus, in Ephesians, he says, for Christ Himself has brought peace to us.
[13:16] He united Jews and Gentiles into one people. When in His own body on the cross, He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. And He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations to which if you could go back, you could say, Paul, didn't you read the Sermon on the Mount? Like, can you say that, knowing what Jesus said? Or those two things in conflict, and then, and then the church in Galatia, a similar stream of thought, Paul writing this, he says, let me ask you this one question, did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course, feeling perhaps a bit like a rhetorical question, but I mean, to this day it's kind of a big one.
[14:09] Like, did you receive the Holy Spirit by fully buying in and obeying the 10 Commandments, by following through on all of those 600 laws? Is that what did it for you? And Paul says, of course not. Of course not. In fact, he says, you received the Spirit because you believed the message, you heard about Jesus Christ. And so then we come back to Jesus' words, "No, I came to accomplish their purpose." What does that mean, Jesus? What are we supposed to do with all of this, this body of work that the nation of Israel has built so much on?
[14:56] What are we meant to do? Who are we meant to be? And the commentators write a lot about this because it is so critical. Like, there's a lot at stake when we deal with these kinds of things. There are some laws that require bodily adjustments that you would not want to make later in life. And this was an issue. It's actually in the Scriptures. Do we obey the law? How much are we meant to obey the law? What place does the law have in our world today? What does it mean when Jesus says, "I'm not abolishing any of it"? And so, Don Carson in fact, writing about this particular verse and explains it this way, that could perhaps be helpful for us: "One must not forget, because I think this is something that is easy to miss.
[15:45] I've missed it. And perhaps you have too, the commonplace observation that Torah, the law, fundamentally means instruction rather than legal demand." When he's explaining that, he says this, he says, "Jesus is not engaged there primarily in extending and gnawing or intensifying Old Testament law, but in showing the direction in which it points on the basis of His own authority." So when Jesus wades in, what He's trying to give us is an image and a picture for, and He's gonna illustrate it in the Sermon on the Mount over the next few weeks, is that the law of Moses, those first few books of the Bible where things are unpacked and are somewhat confusing compared to our day to day, they weren't meant to be a law in the way that we think about laws like what you and I would think about.
[16:38] Like when you break the law, if you break the law, you know, if you sped a little bit, like, you know, you break the law, the law in Canada is set up as like a minimum kind of thing. Like yes, there's punishments for the law, but it's not meant to like point you towards like healthy fulfillment and like full human flourishing. Like, nobody downloads the Criminal Code of Canada and says, "If you live your life by this, everything will go well for you," right? Like the law. And this is just how we think about laws. So just recognize that we're talking about kind of two different things, very two different things. The Criminal Code of Canada shows a bare minimum of what life is meant to be. But what Jesus is inviting us into is to see that the story of God is painting a picture of the future, of the restoration that He wants to make in all things.
[17:34] So that your life and my life, if we live in obedience to Him, that we can experience the flourishing and the good life that He has wanted for His creation since the very beginning. This is the nature of the law. It's pointing towards something and it's meant to be something that we wrestle with internally and deal with because it shapes and changes and adjusts our own hearts as we try to understand the heart of God and what He's calling us into, for those of us that call Jesus our King. And so instead of seeing it as like this set of rules that is the baseline for society, instead we're meant to see it as a picture of who God is inviting us to be.
[18:21] And so what we end up experiencing and noticing is that Jesus is about to walk through the law. He's gonna help us understand how even in the Old Testament, the Old Testament laws gave a picture of the future, that the Old Testament laws gave a snapshot of the heart of God. The Old Testament laws reminded the people that they needed something more in order to be the kinds of people that God would have them to be. And this is for me, and this is for you. And listen, the truth is, like, you take any of these kinds of things and you start meditating on them. You take these words of Jesus in this Sermon on the Mount, it starts to reshape and adjust even your own expectations of things and your own expectations of yourself.
[19:06] You realize that as much as you've tried to be a good person, that you always seem to fall short of that, that your greatest regrets are tied up in your own inability to be the kind of person that you just want to be. And so maybe for you, you've found ways to point the finger at the people around you or the circumstances that you've been given or the situations that you've been in the midst of. And yet, you know, deep down the frustrating truth is that you can't seem to be who you even want to be yourself. You can't just make it happen. And so instead, Jesus is gonna help us understand that that's okay, because you don't have to do it by your own power.
[19:52] Instead you have access to a power far beyond yourself. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Instead, we come back to Jesus' words, "I've come to accomplish the law, I've come to fulfill it." And He helps us understand a little bit of what's at stake here. He says this as He continues on, "I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear." And it's kind of a shout out or a throwback to the very beginning of the Scriptures in Genesis 1:1, when God actually creates even the heavens and the earth, this idea that there was a time before the heavens and the earth and before that God still existed. And so the heavens and the earth, although they're all we've ever known, they exist because of the God that we talk about.
[20:39] And so until even they would disappear, not even the smallest detail of God's law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. There's a play on the language a bit in there where He's kind of like saying even the, depending on your translation, the little marks, you know, crossing your T and dotting your I, you know, He says even those little marks won't disappear from God's law until the end, the smallest detail. And so Jesus explains to people, He says this, He says, "If you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you'll be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But anyone who obeys God's laws and teaching and teaches them will be called great."
[21:25] in the kingdom of heaven. But He says, I warn you, unless your righteousness is better, and this is where He takes it and He just flips it. 'Cause He had everybody, like the teachers of the law were like, yeah, like hit them, Jesus, like the law, perfect. We're gonna all follow it. It's the thing, let's make sure everybody knows it. I'm gonna tell everybody they're dirty, rotten sinners and they're evil and they're awful, and like, this is perfect. There's some people that's what they want. There's some of you that's kind of what you want, right? Like, just make sure everybody knows and He, and He says that, but He says, unless, unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven.
[22:19] Now the problem with that is that the Pharisees in those days, this was their full-time job. Like they knew the law inside and out, and their job was to keep the commandments. And you'll see it throughout Jesus' ministry. He'll talk about how the Pharisees, they tithe on like the littlest from their, like the dill or the mint from their herb gardens, like they're so particular not to let any of those laws pass by. And Jesus says, yeah, that's not quite enough. You actually have to go a little bit beyond that. And so everybody in the room is like, well then what hope is there? And we're gonna see in a moment what Jesus is saying. He's gonna explain, hey, you've heard it said this is the law, but I'm gonna call you to something even higher.
[23:09] To which everybody's gonna say, well, what are the chances that that could ever be the case for any of us? And what He's doing here is He's helping us understand that when we take the law and we use it simply as the low bar of what our expectations are for the world around us, that this is gonna be like some kind of civil code for people. We miss out on what Jesus, what God has been trying to do. Don Carson, that commentator, said the same thing. He says, while their multiplicity of regulations would engender a good society, right, hey, if you follow through on these things, you would've a good society. But he says it domesticated the law. This was the experience of people in the first century. They lost the radical demand for absolute holiness demanded by the Scriptures.
[23:58] When you go to the Old Testament, yes, there's some of these things that we will quote or we talk about and that makes sense. And it's not that they're wrong, but if we're not careful, we can domesticate them and lower them down to the standard where we are just checking some religious box. And we're missing the sense that Jesus wants to transform the culture, He wants to transform us, He wants to transform the world. This thing that He wants to do is actually so profound that it should feel to any one of us. Like we come with fear and trembling, knowing that the only way we could be a part of it is if God would actually give us the power to do the things that He's calling us into. And this is the question. This is the thing. This is what He's saying. He says, Matthew chapter 5, verse 17, He says, I came to accomplish their purpose, but what's the purpose?
[24:47] The purpose is for any one of us to see what God would have and to recognize that that is so good that the world would be blessed by it. It's so fascinating when you look at the history of the nation of Israel every step of the way, the reason that they were meant to live out the commandments, the reason that God was there to bless them was so clear. It was explicit. It was so that they could be a blessing to the people around them. They would be the kinds of people that would transform the world into a place where God could say, yes, this is the creation that I've wanted.
[25:36] This is the justice and the mercy and the fairness that I've been hoping for. This is the hope that I've been talking about and inviting you into. And it's why there's so much frustration constantly when you read the prophets in the Old Testament where they get frustrated. The people are, yes, they understand the dietary law. And yes, they've checked the box here or there, but they missed the important parts of justice and mercy and love and care. And so for Jesus, He's come to accomplish the law. And so what are the 10 Commandments through this picture of something so much more profound? They're not a box that we're meant to check. They're not something that you need to set all of the responsibility on for creating a good and moral society because Jesus is inviting us to see something so much larger and so much more profound.
[26:34] And so what happens is that in a room like this, for lots of us, as we step into the Scriptures and as we contend with what they mean for our own journey and our own life, it kind of separates out those that would say, well, I believe in God and I show up and you know, I don't mind singing the songs. They're kind of, you know, it gets me moving. Like it's a good vibe in here. I like that. Like I like that the people are kind of friendly around here, but like you've kind of created your faith experience is just like this. Like I've showed up in church and this is my thing. I believe in God. And that's the extent of it. And when you read these kinds of words and when you wade into the Sermon on the Mount, you realize, no, that's not it. It's not enough. And it and it's not simply about trying to cast a weight on your shoulders, but it's about helping you understand that you've missed the life that God is actually inviting you into.
[27:29] You've missed the flourishing that He's hoping for you, there's something more beyond just I'm believing that there's a God and maybe someday I might have a chance at a life in the hereafter. Instead He's saying, no, I'm accomplishing something great. And if you want to be in My kingdom and I'm your King, you have to submit yourself to what I'm going to invite you into. And so for some people, and for some of you it's maybe something more akin to like restoring an old relationship because it's easy for your faith to become something that's just on the sideline. It's just something easy. And the calling of Jesus is so large that it requires you to restore this connection where you would make Jesus your King and He would put a light onto your path and your whole life would be dictated by whatever He says is just gonna go.
[28:28] And so this morning, in just a moment, we're gonna have this opportunity to take communion together. But before we do, and as the elements will come in just a few minutes, I wonder if for some of you, there's just this reflection that you need to make in your own heart about whether or not Jesus really is the king of your life. Whether you recognize and know how deeply you need Him and your willingness to submit to His authority because He's the one that's fulfilling all of these kinds of things. It's not about just trying to check the box of the 10 Commandments as if that's gonna be the thing that gives you the good life. No, it's about submitting your life to Christ and letting Him shape everything.
[29:14] And He's gonna call you to some incredibly difficult things, but to restore a right relationship with Him and to look to Him. I just think there's probably some folks that need to do that. And at the end of our services, we always have our prayer team here. And so, you know, anytime that you're in our building, anytime you're at one of our services, if you're ever realizing that maybe even for the first time or maybe even for another time, you need to identify Jesus as your king. I just, you need to know we would celebrate that so much because we recognize this is what God's called us to. And so you can make those decisions just in your seat. But we would, I just say like, please, if at any point you wanna, you want to get on a track of looking to Jesus, you gotta come forward, you gotta come talk, you gotta let us pray with you.
[30:04] We got a resource for you. We wanna pray with you because this will change your life and it will change everything. And for those of us that this has been our journey and this has been our life, you just need to know, don't lose sight of Jesus in the midst of all of these things we submit to Him. So what happens is that He takes these practices, and this is even the practice of communion. This, the whole idea of taking the Old Testament and the laws and the prophets and helping us understand what God was trying to do, He did that throughout His ministry. It's why people misunderstood things. In fact, when you think about communion, when we go to that first gathering, that last supper, the first last supper, it was actually surrounding the ancient practice of Passover.
[30:55] In fact, in Matthew 26 we read this example of Jesus, the disciples did as Jesus told them, and prepared the Passover meal there. Passover was this regular routine where the people of God would reflect and appreciate how God passed over them right before they left Egypt and saved and did not kill the firstborn in their homes. And it was this immense moment in the nation of Israel because from that night they were released from slavery and they went on into the wilderness. And so Jesus is in this moment with Passover, it's the one of the most intense religious ceremonies that they would have. And He takes it and He tells this new story, which is, it's easy for us to just kind of breeze past that, but it's intense in that moment.
[31:49] There's a lot of misunderstanding in that moment. There's a lot of, "Jesus, are you saying what we think? You're saying this is what happened?" This is what He said. As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and He blessed it. And then He broke it in pieces and He gave it to the disciples saying, "Take this and eat it, for this is My body." And it's this quote that for years afterwards, people would say, "The Christians are like cannibals." And they would reference the scripture because it's somewhat confusing. "What do you mean, Jesus? This is Your body that we would eat this bread as if we're consuming Your own broken body." And He says, this is the sacrifice. This is essential. This is the lamb of God being sacrificed so that you can be made right so that you can have the power of the Spirit to do the things that I'm calling you to do.
[32:40] And it goes on, not just the bread. He took a cup of wine and He gave thanks to God for it. And He gave it to them and said, "Each of you drink from it. For this is My blood, which confirms the covenant between God and His people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." And this covenant between God and His people is what Jesus came to fulfill. It's the covenant that God had started, the story that He's been writing for thousands of years, wanting desperately for His people to make Him their king. And so as a people, if you've so chosen for Jesus to be your king, we get a chance to celebrate this practice.
[33:26] In a moment, we'll hand you a cup and underneath the cup there's a little piece of bread and there's a little cup of juice. And I'll come back in a moment to, so we can take this together. But as you receive that, I just invite you to reflect on that question. Is Jesus your king? Are you willing to let His word be the light that shows you what your future would be? Would you be willing to give up anything and everything to follow after Him? And what is holding you back? And if you've chosen Jesus as your king, then we participate in this. But if that's not your choice, and if He's not your king, you are always welcomed here. But do not take this communion 'cause this is a remembrance of the sacrifice and an affirmation of what we believe.
[34:20] And this is a chance for those that have made that declaration to make sure that we never forget the reason that we can do any of the things that God invites us to. It's because of His sacrifice. So lemme pray for us. Heavenly Father, Your law is this invitation that is so difficult at times for us to realize how broken and how far from You we really are. And yet in the midst of it, God, 'cause of Your sacrifice, we can look to You as our king. And so I would just pray that in a room like this that Your Spirit might be at work. There might be somebody, might be few people that have felt far from You, maybe some people that have felt fairly broken as of late.
[35:19] And God, I just pray that in these moments that You would meet with them and You would remind them that You love them and You've died for them. And that because of You, we can experience all that You've invited us into. And so would Your Spirit do its work in our midst here in these moments to remind us of who You are and would we keep our eyes fixed on You as our king and Father? Let us as a community be gathered around this and this bread and join with the Christians over the centuries thanking You for what You've done for us.
[36:07] In Jesus' name, amen.