Utah Pastor: What Is The "One True Church"?

Ephesians 1

I invite you to open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians. The book of Ephesians, chapter 1. We will be out of Romans again one more week. Obviously, our typical practice is to just work through texts in the Bible, books of the Bible, verse by verse, and then preach a text the next week, pick up the next one, and then and then go from there. This week we will consider the topic of the true church. I won't be doing a full exposition of Ephesians 1. We'll be jumping around from place to place, but that is the topic for this morning. So look at Ephesians chapter 1 beginning in verse 15 and follow along with me through verse 23.

Ephesians 1 beginning in verse 15. The Apostle Paul writes these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and seated him at the right hand of God in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Do you belong to the true church? What is the true church? These are common questions not only in our own cultural and religious context but I think these questions have become a bit more prominent in our religious landscape over the past 5 to 10 years. It is by no means a new question. It is a question that the New Testament itself prompts us to ask. Jesus himself said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." Jesus made a promise that his church, his people will endure throughout history and into the coming age.

He will build his church. And he has been keeping that promise for the last 2,000 years. There have been false teachers and false churches along the way. The apostles warned believers in their letters to protect the gospel to discern truth from error to cast out wolves from among the flock. In the first few centuries of the early church, the early church had to combat various heresies. One of them was various forms of gnostic teaching who claimed a higher spirituality and denied that Jesus had come in the flesh and believed themselves to be the true people of God. Oh, in the fifth century, fourth and fifth centuries, you had the Donatist controversy.

And what exactly was a true church was part of that controversy. Was it a visibly pure church? And Augustine wrestled with that controversy as he thought about the nature of the church. And of course during the time of the reformation, the question of what are the marks of the true church came into even sharper focus. At a time when the Roman Catholic Church claimed apostolic succession, the reformers recognized that the Roman Catholic Church had distorted apostolic doctrine. Could a church rightly re be regarded as the true church if they had strayed from the apostolic gospel? The reformers recognized that what the church needs to do is go back to the scriptures.

The cry of the reformation was add fontest to the source. go back to the Bible in the original languages and see what has God revealed and how are we to submit to the authority of holy scripture. And in scripture you find a certain faithful guide for discovering the distinguishing characteristics of the true church. reformers persuasively demonstrated, I think, that the Bible teaches that where you have the right preaching of the gospel, the administration of the ordinances, and the practice of church discipline, you have the biblical criteria necessary for a true church. So, I want to read to you a section from the Belgic Confession of 1561.

Romans 8

It's a confession that was born out of the Reformation. And in article 29, the Belgic Confession addresses the topic of the true church. Listen to what it says. You can look up the scripture references in your own time if you want to pursue this for more deep study. The Belgian confession says, "We believe that we ought diligently and circumspectly to discern from the word of God which is the true church. Since all sects which are in the world assume to themselves the name of the church, the marks by which the true church is known are these. If the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein, if she maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as instituted by Christ, if church discipline is exercised in punishing of sin, in short, if all these things are managed according to the pure word of God, all things contrary thereto rejected, and Jesus Christ acknowledged as the only head of the church, hereby the true church may certainly be known from which no man has a right to separate himself.

Let me keep going. With respect to those who are members of the church, they may be known by the marks of Christians, namely by faith. And when they have received Jesus Christ, the only savior, they avoid sin, follow after righteousness, love the true God and their neighbor, neither turn aside to the right or left, and crucify the flesh with the works thereof. Sounds like Romans 8. But this is not to be understood as if there did not remain in them great infirmities. But they fight against them through the spirit all the days of their life, continually taking their refuge in the blood, death, passion, and obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom they have the remissions of sins through faith in him.

One more section. As for the false church, she ascribes more power and authority to herself and her ordinances than the word of God, and will not submit herself to the yoke of Christ. Neither does she administer the sacraments as appointed by Christ in his word, but adds to and takes from them as she thinks proper. She rely more upon men than upon Christ, and persecutes those who live according to the word of God. And rebuke her for her errors, covetousness, and idolatry. These two churches are easily known and distinguished from one another. That last statement is bold and true. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is easily known and distinguished from false churches.

God's word is clear. The Holy Spirit is no skeptic. Now, since the time of the Reformation, we now have many Protestant denominations. Some evangelicals are looking around at all the Protestant denominations and other churches that try to reinvent themselves on a regular basis and they're questioning Protestantism altogether. Some are even turning to Rome for the answer. They not only want to escape, sadly the triviality that characterizes much of modern evangelical churches, they want to identify with a form of Christianity that seems to be more historical and longlasting. The true church is the one that at least claims to be the oldest.

Of course, the questions about the true church are relevant to our context as well. It's a topic of conversation with many of our friends and neighbors. Now, with all this discussion about the true church, some have argued that people are suffering from what has been labeled as ecclesial anxiety. Ecclesial anxiety. Ecclesial anxiety is the fear of not belonging to the true church. But it's more than that. Ecclesial anxiety is a way of characterizing the person who is constantly trying to find the perfect church, the true church. Now don't get me wrong, we should be concerned that we belong to the true church.

But as one author has said, the problem is that people want to find their assurance in their ecclesial identity rather than in the head of the church himself. As we gather for our first Sunday in this new location, at this moment of our history as a local church, it seems fitting that we would take a moment to consider what constitutes a true church. What does the Bible say? And how can we be faithful to that biblical vision? Now, not surprisingly to you, I think the reformers were right. The marks of a true church are the right preaching of the gospel, the administration of the ordinances, and the practice of church discipline.

Psalm 110 · Psalm 8

And where you have those marks, you have a true church. Now, for the sake of time, I'm only going to address one of them. The right preaching of the gospel. But the right preaching of the gospel necessitates that the church be committed to the word of God. And if we are going to be committed to the word of God, then we should recognize that the Bible teaches that Jesus is the head of the church. And that's my first point. Jesus is the head of the church. So turn your eyes again to Ephesians chapter 1, pick up in verse 22. And he put all things under his feet. That's Christ's feet. And gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Now Paul is talking here about the authority of the resurrected Christ. That language of headship here in Ephesians communicates a position of authority. Jesus is the head over all things. Back up to verse 19. These verses are part of Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. Verse 19, he's praying that they would know what is the immeasurable greatness of God's power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might. That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church. The risen Christ reigns on the highest throne in the cosmos over all things. Psalm 110 and Psalm 8 are both alluded to in this text. I would encourage you to go read those Psalms and ask yourself how they've been fulfilled in the risen and reigning Christ, the Davidic Messiah, the Lord of heaven and earth. Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and earth belongs to me." He's the head, the ruler, the authority. I was telling my New Testament class last week that I listened to this conversation between an atheist, Alex Okconor, and popular psychologist Jordan Peterson.

And in the course of their conversation, this atheist, Alex Okconor, asked Jordan Peterson if Jesus rose from the dead. And he was kind of squishy and wouldn't really answer the question. And so he pressed him and said, "If there was a camera there, a Panasonic camera, if you could take one back in history and stand there next to the tomb on the third day, what would that camera have recorded? What would be present on that camera? Would it show someone rising from the dead?" And and Jordan Peterson says, "Yes, I I think it would." And Alex Okconor says to him, "Then why are you so hesitant to just come out and say that?" And he said, "Because I have no idea what it means." Well, let me tell you, beloved, what it means that Jesus has risen from the dead.

It means he is Lord over all. It means he has power over life and death. It means he has defeated death and gives eternal life, resurrection life to everyone who believes in him. It means he's inaugurated the work of new creation. It means he has commenced the age of the spirit. It means all of God's saving promises anticipated in the Old Testament find their yes and amen in Christ. It means everything he ever said about himself is true. It means he's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, possessing all authority in heaven and on earth. It means there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

That's what it means. Jesus the risen savior rules over all. He is the head of the church. He guides the church, sanctifies the church, disciplines the church, leads the church. He governs his people. Let me just make an application here. If Jesus is the head of the church, the risen and reigning Christ, then you can rest assured that the true church, the people of God, the body of Christ will never vanish from the earth. As Jesus said, "The gates of hell will not prevail against my church." Guess what? He's strong enough to keep that promise and he is doing so no how no matter how strong the forces of secularism may appear.

Ephesians 2

The head of the church is the king of kings enthroned in heaven and he will preserve his people to the very end. The survival of the church does not depend on you. Praise God. And it does not depend on me. Praise God. Jesus will build his church. and he has been doing so ever since he ascended to heaven. Another application, if Jesus is the head of the church, then we are called to submit to his rule and his reign. Sometimes pastors and even church members can make their preferences and their desires supreme. We should do ministry this way or worship this way or polity this way because this is what we think is best.

Brothers and sisters, the church does not belong to us. We are called to ask what is Christ's will for our church? And that brings me to the second point. How does Jesus rule his church? How do we know his will for our lives as members of his church? Second point, Jesus rules the church through his word. He rules the church through his word. A true church is governed by the authority of scriptures. The reformers were right to argue that the true church is managed by and governed by the word of God. All scripture is breathed out by the spirit of Christ. When we read the Bible, we are reading the revelation of Christ.

The church is the people that submits to Christ, the king, by submitting to his word. His word is limited to the old and new testaments. Anything outside of that is not the word of God. And this is clear from scripture itself. The Old Testament is a covenantal document for a people where God revealed himself and his law and made promises to them. The New Testament reveals the fulfillment of those promises in God's climactic revelation which is the Lord Jesus Christ. So that there is no need for more revelation because Jesus has ushered in the last days and the apostles unpack what that revelation is in Christ for us.

So that Hebrews can say at many times and in many ways in times past God spoke by the fathers and by the prophets. But in these last days, in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. The apex of revelation. All of God's saving promises find their yes and amen in him. So that we need no ongoing revelation because God has given us his final word. As I like to say, just to make it a little more in your face, God has nothing more to say to you. He has nothing more to say to you than what he has said in his word. Notice how Paul talks about the church in Ephesians 2 18-20. You can flip over there if you are still in Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:es 18-20 talking to the church. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. What is the foundation on which the church is built? The apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus being the cornerstone. Now, even if prophets there is a reference to New Testament prophets and it seems that that is the case, notice that they are part of a foundation with the apostles.

Do you rebuild a foundation in every generation? No. As the apostles were unfolding the mystery of Christ and there were these prophets unfolding the mystery of Christ, scripture was being written, we don't need in every age apostles and prophets to give us new revelation that is intended to be part of a foundation. You don't build the building and then on the 10th floor build another foundation. Right? The foundation has been laid. We have the fullness of scripture. The church is built on that foundation. And so I would just encourage you with a couple of applications here. Number one, the word of God is sufficient to determine whether or not a church is a true church.

2 Timothy 3:14

The word of God is sufficient. You don't need to embrace some kind of mysticism to figure it out. People will say, "Look, you have all these opinions and all of these denominations. So how can you know which church is true? I need to ask God for some kind of confirmation for him to give it to me. But I would just ask you, is that how the apostles taught people to discern truth from error? Yes, James tells us to ask for wisdom and God gives wisdom. But you know what that is in the context of talking about trials and suffering. When James says, "Ask for wisdom," he's saying, "May God give you wisdom so that you know he's good when you're suffering severe trials." It's not about discerning truth from error.

When the apostles teach us how to discern truth from error, what do they tell us to do? Go back to the scriptures. Study the scriptures. When Paul was writing to Timothy, he said, "Look, Timothy, there are people out there, deceivers, who are deceiving and being deceived." But then he says this in 2 Timothy 3:14-16. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from who you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Timothy, what should you do with all this deception? You've been learning the Bible from your childhood. It's profitable. It's clear. It will guide you. Go back to the scriptures. Second application here. Solos scriptura. The doctrine of solos scriptura is and always will be a key doctrine that protects the church from drifting towards apostasy. Solos scriptura is the doctrine that the bible alone is our highest authority and the only infallible rule of faith and practice. The Bible is uniquely and only God's word. But people might start to think this way. Well, the Bible can't be understood by lay people.

We have all these different interpretations. Maybe we need a magisterium, a sort of ruling class of Bible teachers and scholars to interpret the Bible for us. And whatever they say, go. Brothers and sisters, let me just remind you that pastors, yes, they are Christ's gift to the church. And he gifts people with different abilities. But even pastors and councils and popes and priests are fallible. See, the problem enters when we start to place the authority of a magisterium or a tradition or a pope or a prophet or a council on par with scriptural authority. Just as lay people can er in their theology, so can theologians, pastors, bishops, teachers, and popes.

Right? But if their teachings are subject to the scrutiny of scripture, then you have the ability to reform the church. But where the traditions of men are solidified in the church and put on par with scripture, you have an unreformable church. You see what I'm saying? Solos scriptura is necessary. Even the best of teachers, scholars, confessions must be subject to the ultimate authority of scripture. That doesn't mean creeds and confessions carry no authority. I mean, you know, we regularly will use the nyine creed, for example, in our corporate worship to confess what we believe and what the church has believed for 1700 years about the trinity.

That is an authoritative document, but it is still subject to the authority of scripture. Scripture is the highest authority, the only infallible authority. But don't churches have disagreements? Well, yes, they do. And the best expression of those disagreements are because those churches believe in the authority of God's word. They are going to the Bible to submit themselves to what scripture teaches and to align their consciences with the truth of scripture. You know, in evangelicalism, Protestantism, we can focus a lot on our differences and debate about those over secondary and tertiary matters.

Holy Spirit

But isn't it incredible how much unity there is throughout the centuries for what Christians believe? It's amazing. It's a testimony to the lordship of Christ. We believe in the eternality of God, the trinitarian nature of God, the hipposatic union, Christ as the divine and man, son of God, the exclusivity of Christ for salvation, the falleness of our humanity, the atoning death of Christ on the cross. also the sufficiency of his blood to cleanse our sins, the resurrection of Christ in history, the ascension of Christ into heaven, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the spirit's work of regeneration, justification by faith alone, the second coming, the final judgment, the hope of resurrection, life, and a new creation.

Christians have been proclaiming these things in unity for centuries. They're revealed in the Bible with clarity. breathtaking clarity. Do Christians have disputes over points of theology? Yes, but they're within the framework of orthodoxy. That's because the church submits to the authority of God's word. Isn't this a gift, brothers and sisters? We should thank God that he has given us his revelation outside of us and any individual person. We have an objective revelation in a book so that when people come along saying all these different things that they speak on behalf of God in God's kindness, we can go to the book and test it.

Is that not such a gift that you just have to be carried along by the opinions of others and this person said this or this person claims this and this person claims this. We can be like the Bereans and search the scriptures to see if these things are so. And you should do that with what I say. Be good to bring your Bible. He's going through Romans is what he's saying what's in the text. I believe you can understand it. And if you have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit illumines our minds to submit to scripture. The Bible is clear. Oh, the Bible is clear. Well, that brings me to the third point. The right preaching of the gospel is an essential mark of a true church.

No gospel, no church. No biblical gospel, no church. The gospel is a necessary mark of a true church. Not just a healthy church, a true church where you have a distortion of the gospel. You may have a religious organization, but you do not have a true church. When Jesus asked Peter, "Who are people saying that I am?" Well, Elijah, one of the prophets, Jeremiah, they're wrong. Who do you say that I am, Peter? You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. That is a true gospel confession.

And then is that gospel confession, that apostolic gospel that is the foundation on which the church is built. If you distort the gospel, you are building on a different foundation. Remember the seriousness of Paul's warning to the Galatians. I read this to you last week. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. Lighten up, Paul. Wow. Fire and brimstone preaching here. No, don't lighten up because heaven and hell are at stake.

Right? Heaven and hell are at stake. The gospel must be preached with clarity, defended, articulated, upheld. No gospel, no church. So, let's just ask the question, what is the biblical gospel? What is the biblical gospel? You know what? You could answer that question quite simply. You could simply say Jesus Christ, the son of God, died for sinners and rose from the dead so that they could have eternal life through him. But since we're asking the question in the context of what is a true church, let's unpack it a little more. The gospel is good news for defiled sinners. And that's all of us. We are all sinners because we are born in Adam.

You see, God created the world and all it contains. But he himself is unccreated. He is eternal. He has life in himself. He is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. And he made mankind in his own image to reflect his authority in the world. Adam was the first man and head of the human race. God gave Adam a command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But Adam disobeyed God's command and broke God's law. And because Adam was the head of the human race, when Adam sinned, we all sinned in Adam. His corruption and sin is imputed to all his posterity. When Adam sinned, death entered the world.

Not just physical death, but spiritual death. so that all humanity is born outside of the garden. Born in sin, born with a sinful nature that is inclined to evil. We are all sinners by nature and by choice. And deep down, we know this to be true. We know the feelings of guilt. We know the feelings of guilt because we have a conscience calibrated by a moral standard that is outside of us. We know we have sinned against a holy God. And we have done so over and over and over. But God in his great mercy did not abandon the human race to sin and judgment. He preserved for himself a people and from that people brought forth a Messiah, a savior, a redeemer.

And that Messiah is God himself, the second person of the Trinity, the divine son of God. The eternal son of God entered into his creation and took on flesh. He was born of a virgin, a descendant of David. During his earthly life, he never sinned. He was tempted and ne never yielded to the temptation. Satan even confronted him in the wilderness. But unlike Adam, this last Adam, the Lord Jesus did not yield. He did not like the first Adam grasp for equality with God but took the form of a servant and he obeyed God in life always. He learned obedience through what he suffered and he took his vicarious obedient life to the cross.

Jesus the Messiah willingly laid down his life as a substitute for sinners. He willingly endured the cross under the judgment of God for sins not his own. God made him who knew no sin to be sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. The first Adam brought death, but the last Adam brought forgiveness and righteousness. Jesus then rose from the dead. He conquered death and Satan and sin through his obedient life and death. He walked out of the grave to usher in all of God's saving promises. He ascended to heaven and will come again to judge the living and the dead. And this is good news for sinners like you and me because we can be saved by believing in Christ.

Sinners like you and me are justified before a righteous and holy God by faith alone in Christ alone. There's nothing to add to his work, nothing to subtract from it. His death is sufficient. His righteousness is sufficient. And the good gift of God is to give us this salvation as a gift of his grace. God justifies the ungodly through faith in Christ. Just as Adam's sin was imputed to us, so now the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us by faith in Christ. The righteousness that you will need, oh sinner, the righteousness that you will need to stand before a holy God on the last day is the righteousness that you have right now through faith in Christ.

Because it is not your righteousness, but it is the righteousness of Christ credited to you. You will never be regarded by God as more righteous than he regards you right now because your righteousness is in him. Is this not good news? Is this not the biblical gospel? So that Paul would say to the Philippians that one thing he wants is to be found in Christ, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. Or that he would write to the Ephesians in chapter 2:es 8-10, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing.

Lord Jesus Christ

It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. This is the gospel, friends. God saves sinners by his grace through faith alone in Christ alone. An organization that strays from the gospel may call themselves a church, but they are not a true church. So, let me make a few more applications in closing. The best thing the best thing about Christ Covenant Church is the thing that makes us entirely ununique. Is that a word? Ununique. It is. Now the best thing about Christ's covenant church is what makes us not unique.

And that thing is the gospel that we share in common with all other believers and true churches throughout history and around the world. That is the best thing about our church. I was telling a group of pastors not too long ago, maybe I shared this here, I can't remember, that I uh years ago, I had to read these books on leadership for pastors about what church leaders need to do. And I was told in one of the books that I need to figure out what is the one thing that makes your church unique. Find that one thing. And they gave me all these examples of churches who had these all the real cool unique things.

And I was trying so hard to figure out, well, what is it that makes us unique? and I couldn't think of anything. Now, maybe at the time we did have an old horse barn that was being used as a youth building. So, you know, maybe we could have marketed that church unique. Send your kids to meet in the barn. I eventually came to the realization that only not only do I not care what makes our church unique, I don't want to think about it anymore. What I care about the most is the thing that makes our church entirely not unique from all other true churches. And that thing is the gospel. That's what I want our church to be known for, to uphold, to defend, to proclaim, to preach, to teach, to stand on, to preach Christ and all of Christ, and unpack the implications of the gospel for our lives.

Beloved, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only institution on planet earth that has been entrusted with the gospel message. Hold that up as the crown jewel. Forget all the other stuff that comes and goes. Not all the other stuff. Some of you know that on the top of my list moving into this building was to get a cross on the steeple. If there was one thing that I wanted to happen, I I just wanted to get a cross on the steeple because of what that cross symbolizes about who we are. And I'm so thankful that brother Eric was able to assist me while I did all the hard work of getting that cross on this seagull.

He was a little scared up there. If you've seen the video, but I calmed him down. So, watch the video video. You'll see one of us clutching the basket for dear life and the other one just climbing around and out of it like nothing. I'm thankful I had an assistant. I wanted the cross up there because of what it represents and what it should represent. The true church, like every other true church, desires to know nothing but Christ and him crucified. That the true church would say with the Apostle Paul, "Far be it for me to boast except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ by which I have been crucified to the world and the world has been crucified to me." Second, lastly, and we'll close.

If there are any ecclesially ecclesially anxious people here, maybe here you're concerned about whether or not you have the true church. Let me encourage you to find your assurance first and foremost in the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is primary. Believe in him. Repent of your sins. Submit your life to him. Trust in him. Jesus alone saves. Jesus alone saves. A church cannot save you. As much as I have emphasized over the years and we do emphasize the necessity and importance of church membership and serving the church and participating in the ordinance ordinances and not forsaking the assembly, we must still remember that Jesus and Jesus alone saves his people by his grace.

There's a serious problem if someone claims to believe in Jesus and could care less about the church. Is the spirit of Christ really at work in their heart? But salvation is not a gift of the church. Salvation is a gift of the Lord Jesus Christ by his spirit to be received by faith. And when you have that salvation, you will want to be at a church that preaches the gospel. Let's be that kind of church. Let's pray. Oh, gracious God, with so much confusion out in the world with so many people claiming to be the true church and all these different messages. Thank you that you have not left us to ourselves to simply figure it out, but you have given us a certain infallible sure revelation in the word of God.

Lord, may we as your people always come back again and again and again to search the scriptures, to submit to them, and to seek to obey all that you have commanded us. As we move into this time of participating in the Lord's supper, oh God, may you nourish and strengthen us by your spirit through our faith in Christ. in whose name we pray.