Thank you for the testimonies. Thank you for Sister Sarah can draw spiritual lessons from a clogged sink and it is so true. It is the blockages and repentance is not such a condemning word. It doesn’t have to be. It’s just allowing the flow of God to resume. And so it’s a liberating word to me.
And Brother Andre, you know, we go way back and it just reminds me because God is putting it on my heart to be a little bit more evangelistic. There are Andres out there who are precious and lost and just got done so much in Andres’ life over those years. And since we’ve known him, he could not be doing what he’s doing at Nvidia and SIGGRAPH without the trials of Caltech, which is very difficult. But it was God appointed. God had many spiritual reasons as well.
So just as a FYI to the folks here, we’re going to try. We’re going to try to evangelize, starting with one another. We want to do some host some events at our house by age group, by families. So under high school, so junior high and below, we’ll have that gathering of kids and families. We’ll have high school and above college. We’ll try to do that. We’ll try it once and see how it goes. And it is it is a ministry to the children. But also, I’m praying it can be ministry to the parents. It can be outreach to friends. Maybe that’s what we need to just get us thinking beyond our own needs and eventually all of Culver City or whatever the Lord has in store for us.
So that’s hopefully that’s going to happen soon. I think Jeremiah is going to be spearheading a lot of this. If you could pray for him, he asked to be helpful in this. So I’m not putting a burden on him, but just to say that he has a heart. He for whatever reason he wants, he wants us to grow. He wants us to be a large church, which I think is a commendable thing. So if you could just be on the lookout, we’ll be sending out some emails.
OK, so if you could turn with me to John 6, we’ll be reading verses throughout John 6 only today. John 6, and I will start at the at the end of the chapter, John 6:66, which is an ominous verse with three sixes in it. And it actually fits the verse. After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, do you want to go away as well? And Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. Jesus answered them. Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil. He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he one of the twelve was going to betray him.
“After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.’ He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.” (John 6:66-71)
Let’s pray.
Father, we thank you for all that you’ve been teaching to us about our identity as children of God, as priests of God. We are the church. We don’t go to church. We are the church. We pray that you would give us more understanding and revelation of what you want primarily from us, what kind of work you want primarily from us. We pray that you would help us to get the order right so that when things get busier, we will not lose our center. So Father, we ask that you would speak now during this time. In Jesus’ name, we pray.
The past two weeks, we’ve been talking about the Old Testament tabernacle and how it relates to all of us as New Covenant believers. I think two weeks ago, we said we are the church. We don’t go to the church. That’s central to who we are. And from there, we started looking at the tabernacle and all the pieces of it and how it points to Jesus and prayer and communion. Last week was about living in communion as worshipers. Today, this chapter is all about bread. It actually will match. If you recall, there are things in the holy places that speak to Jesus’ identity as the bread of life.
The first 14 verses, it’s about Jesus feeding 5,000 men, so 10,000, 15,000 people. It’s a sizable group. From there, Jesus, in John 5, was in Jerusalem at the Pool of Bethesda. That’s kind of north of the Sea of Galilee. Then he sailed south over the Sea of Galilee toward Tiberias. That’s where we pick up in chapter 6.
Starting in verse 22, it speaks of this crowd looking for Jesus. The reason is clear. Their motive is very clear. They just want more food. Jesus and the crowd were in the north, they went south, to the southern part of Sea of Galilee, where Tiberias is. Jesus is not there anymore. Jesus had actually sailed back up north toward Capernaum. This crowd, seeing that Jesus was no longer there, they’re following him, they’re sailing north and they find him again in this chapter.
And it says in verse, actually even before I get there, if you’re a church leader, and that there is a crowd gathering because their needs are being met. To me, this is what most pastors would be thrilled about. Like we’ve gathered 15,000 people, then we should develop, build this large structure and keep on inviting them to this very location because this isn’t this what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to grow and we’re supposed to reach more people.
Many pastors, seeing Jesus’s behavior would be bewildered, like why are you leaving them? Why are you hard to find? Why are you going away? And so Jesus is very deliberate there, he says in verse 25. And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.”
“And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, ‘Rabbi, when did You come here?’ Jesus answered them and said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.'” (John 6:25-26)
Jesus sees the heart of the members in this crowd. Their motive is clear to Jesus because He sees the hearts of men and they just want their stomachs to be filled. The why of your life is so critical. Like many people, they don’t really search the motives and the why behind what they do.
It gets confusing because they think it’s all for God. But if you drill down to the level of motives, like when it comes down to it, people want things other than God at a church. They want their kids to get a good Christian education. And if you were to really dig deep into the hearts of the parents, they’re not really interested for anything spiritual except for my boys, they need to grow up, my girl has to grow up believing in God and their focus, their energy is there. And that’s the motive.
Or for us who are middle aged, it may become clear. The reason why we love church so much is not God, it’s we want friends. Really it just comes down to friends. If we were just honest, many people, we would see the why behind what we do is that we just want people to go on trips with and share meals with and have memories with because our kids are gone and so we can’t do that anymore. And it’s just me and my spouse and my spouse is boring or familiar. I want to do something new and so let’s spice things up and let me have a small group, let me go on fishing trips with my buddies.
And we should do things and that is the heart of many people in God’s church. It’s the why of coming to church. Why are we here? And Jesus is showing very clearly if your why is off, He is not interested. He’s not going to stay in one location and just cater to your needs which are not in line with what He’s after.
So we should just take notice that this is how Jesus did church. So we’re not trying to build something to meet people’s needs to get bigger and bigger. Jesus didn’t do church this way and so we should take our cues from Him.
And then it says in verse 27, do not labor for the food which perishes but for the food which endures to everlasting life which the Son of Man will give you because God the Father has set His seal on Him. Then they said to Him, what shall we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to him, this is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.
“Do not labor for the food which perishes but for the food which endures to everlasting life which the Son of Man will give you because God the Father has set His seal on Him. Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.'” (John 6:27-29)
Jesus is saying don’t labor for the food and Jesus is defining what work is. And clearly it says it’s belief but let me put it another way. The work of God is worship. I think that’s the heart of what He’s saying here. That’s the kind of worshippers the Father’s looking for. That is the Old Testament tabernacle. That is what Jesus did by allowing His body to be broken and His blood shed and the church was birthed.
All of this is so that we enter the holiest places and we start having communion with the Lord, with Jesus and God the Father by the Spirit of God. And so the work that we’re doing at church is not setting up things and soup kitchen, although I hope we do some of that work as well. As the Lord compels us, as He inspires us, He gives us a strategy of who to reach, how to reach them. I pray that kind of work also will happen but we can’t get the order wrong. The work clearly here, the primary work is worship slash belief.
And communion is a time when our faith in Jesus grows. When you get alone with the Lord and you’re just fellowshipping with Him, that’s when your faith and my faith grows. It says in verse 30, therefore they said to Him, what sign will You perform then that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. And then Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you Moses, did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out for I have come down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.
“Therefore they said to Him, ‘What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ Then they said to Him, ‘Lord, give us this bread always.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.'” (John 6:30-38)
When somebody is not interested in Jesus, they will turn the tables and they will ask Jesus questions. And clearly they are not listening to what Jesus is saying, they are just trying to test Him. And so Jesus said, here is the work. And they said, well, what work are You going to do? They are not really listening. They are not interested in what Jesus has to say. And that is the first sign of unbelief. It is like Jesus’ words are clear. You should ask for clarity on what He said, not like trying to answer your question. Like what sign will You give me? What work will You do? That is what the crowd is doing.
Communion is a time when your faith and my faith grows. But there is a prerequisite in verse 38. It says, for I have come down from heaven not to do My will but the will of Him who sent Me. And the Old Testament tabernacle from east to west, from left to right, if you are looking at a diagram from the top, Jesus is the way in. And the first thing you do is there is an altar where you sacrifice animals. And then from there is the laver, this basin where you wash yourselves. And both of them symbolize surrender.
The Christian life doesn’t start until we say, not my will, but Your will be done. I surrender my life. My will doesn’t matter anymore. I die to that. So Andre, he might not want to do SIGGRAPH conference, but if the Lord tells him, he has no choice. He is doing it out of obedience to the Lord as best as he perceives the will of God. And that gets into how surrendered are we. Because if we are not surrendered, we are not asking the right questions. It is like we are the crowd. We are asking the wrong questions. We are saying, give me this, show me this, show me the works, give me the sign, give me something that I am looking for. Jesus is saying, did you hear what I said? I am trying to explain who I am. Shouldn’t you come to Me? Shouldn’t we commune? Shouldn’t we fellowship? The crowd is not interested.
So if you are not getting what Jesus is saying, the whole time you don’t understand communion and you are complaining. Because Jesus is not giving you what you want. The first step is we offer ourselves on the altar of absolute surrender. That is what the laver symbolizes. It is our baptism. We die to ourselves. So whatever society says, whatever your parents says, whatever you want, it doesn’t matter anymore. So surrender is critical. We can’t even go into the holy places and really commune and fellowship properly until we are surrendered.
And then it says in verse 35, not only surrender absolutely, there is a promise of absolutely being satisfied in Jesus. In verse 35, he who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'” (John 6:35)
That is just who we are as a new covenant believer who is learning to go into the holy places and fellowship with God. This is who we are becoming absolutely satisfied with Jesus. And that is why we commune with Him. That is the activity we look forward to the most. After we surrender our lives and say not my will, Your will be done, then we go into the holy places and we start fellowshiping with this altar of incense which symbolizes a prayer of the saints and the table of showbread which is all about the bread. Jesus is there.
Then there is a seven stemmed menorah, the lamp stand, filled with oil, filled with the Holy Spirit, perfectly filled with the Holy Spirit and the light of Jesus there. And we are in the presence of Jesus, communing with Him, offering our prayers to Him. And the veil is no longer there because Jesus allowed His body to be broken and now we have access to the Father and at some point we will explain what is in this ark of the covenant, why is there hidden manna there. And so at some point I think the Lord will show us and give us an opportunity to explain that as well.
But the first step is communion and it is absolute surrender. That is the prerequisite. Then you put your absolute faith in Jesus and as a byproduct is you are absolutely satisfied in Jesus. And if you are doing that, then you are doing the work of God. And if you are that kind of person, wouldn’t God put that kind of person to some real work for the kingdom? Somebody who understands this is the most qualified to work for the kingdom.
If we don’t understand this and we start working, what are we going to produce? A mixed bag of fruit, discipleship that is half way, we are reproducing our half way sanctified selves and other people, it is going to be utterly frustrating and maybe only partially fruitful. And so God is telling us we must get this order right. We must get this work right. It is worship, it is communion, it is absolute surrender, absolute faith and being satisfied absolutely in Jesus.
The question remains what is absolute faith? In verses 41 and 51 the Jews complain, they murmur among themselves saying who is this Jesus? He is saying He is from heaven. I know Him, I grew up with Him. I know His father Joseph, I know His mother Mary, He is not from heaven. I know the town He came from, Nazareth and they are just dismissing Him.
Jesus is familiar to them and even to people who go to church, Jesus is familiar. He is somewhat boring. It is much more exciting to talk about ministry. It is much more exciting to see the numbers grow. It is much more exciting to do missions and to do these things. And Jesus is like an afterthought, you just tack on to the end of a service as we close.
This kind of complaint and murmuring about what Jesus is saying is reminiscent of the Israelites in the wilderness, isn’t it? When they had this incredible signs and wonders of God, they are brought out of Pharaoh’s grip across the Red Sea and now they are supposed to march victoriously in a short amount of time into the promised land and yet they get stuck. And because of this grumbling, because of this constant testing of the Lord, they die in the wilderness never reaching Sabbath rest and God says, will these people ever enter my rest? Never. They are not the kind of believers I am looking for. You can tell by the grumbling, by the murmuring and this crowd is no different. The Jews in particular who are murmuring and complaining, they are exactly the kind of people that God references in Hebrews and in Exodus. And then in verse 48, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever and the bread that I shall give is my flesh which I shall give for the life of the world.
“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever and the bread that I shall give is my flesh which I shall give for the life of the world.” (John 6:48-51)
And then He goes into more details about what He’s talking about here. Flesh, blood, you must eat, you must drink. And the Jews hear this talk and it sounds so barbaric, so cannibalistic, so like what is He talking about? It doesn’t make sense.
And it comes into view, this Lord’s Supper that we end our service with. And there’s so many views about it. And it goes into who is allowed to participate in the Lord’s Supper. That is one contentious topic of debate. The other one is how often should we do it? And you have just a wide gamut of responses.
Catholics probably have among the Christian church, Catholics have probably the highest view of it, which I think we should learn this part from the Catholics. They have a high view of the Lord’s Supper. But the problem is they block access to the table. If you’re not a Catholic, you’re not allowed to partake. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed that. If you go to a Catholic church, you’re not allowed to partake in the Lord’s Supper if you’re not a Catholic, which communicates to me we’re different religions because I thought we’re brothers. I thought we’re sisters. I thought this is the body and the blood of Jesus. And you’re saying that because I don’t identify myself as a Catholic, you’re going to block access to this? Oh, you don’t see me as a fellow brother? I thought we’re the same. I thought we’re serving the same Jesus. I guess we’re different.
You have even Protestants who say, well, I will block access only to members of this particular local church because only I can vet you out as a pastor. And if you’re a newcomer, I don’t know you. You might say you’re a believer, but I haven’t interviewed you. I haven’t vetted you out, so I can’t give you access. This is closed. So similar to the Catholics in a Protestant setting, you’re not allowed to come.
And then you have on the far extreme such a low view of the Lord’s Supper that we never observe hardly, maybe once a year, Good Friday. But it’s such a low view because it’s just a memorial. Because Jesus says, I understand, he says in 1 Corinthians 11, you do this in remembrance of me. But if you look at John 6, he says, this is my body. This is my blood. He doesn’t say it’s a memorial, it’s symbolic. No, he says literally. And that’s why the crowd is so horrified by what he’s saying. It just doesn’t make sense to them.
And so this Lord’s Supper, if you wonder why do we observe it every single week, because you have a Catholic view, very high. You have Lutherans somewhat in the middle. It’s not the body and blood literally, but Jesus is present there in a mysterious way. And then you have the Baptist who think this is almost nothing, maybe once a year.
Our church, we have a high view of the Lord’s Supper. When Jesus says, this is my body, this is my blood, I take those words literally. And he also says, when you eat and you drink of it, you’re abiding in me. And to me, this is maybe the most tangible expression of Jesus you will ever experience in life. I don’t know how many people can say, Jesus literally showed up one day and he called me by name and I got saved. I don’t know how many people have that testimony. I think it’s rare. Maybe people like Apostle Paul have that kind of a testimony. If you’re called to some kind of apostolic ministry, I can see why Jesus might visit you even today in that kind of a supernatural way. But for most people, we don’t interact with Jesus in that kind of a tangible, visible, even audible way. To me, this is probably the closest we get to because you’re actually holding His body. You’re actually drinking His cup and the body senses it.
And Jesus says, in this act, I’m abiding in you. I’m coming into you, you’re in Christ and we’re becoming part of one another. It is something we can’t fully understand. But the reason why at our church we observe it every week is because this is what we believe about a high view, high view of the Lord’s Supper. And all are welcome. It is not me to judge whether you are a Christ follower or not. If you say I’m a Christ follower, you’re welcome to the table.
I’m not going to block you even if you’re a stranger. Even if you’re a little kid, I’m not going to say, well, how much of Jesus do you know? Have you shared your testimony? I don’t know if you can have all the check boxes of the Apostles’ Creed. Who am I? Because Jesus said, let the children come. The children’s faith is something that as adults we should ascribe to. We should want to imitate the simplicity of their faith, the innocence that they have. They have much more to show us than we have to show to them.
And so why would we block access to anybody? So that’s why we observe the Lord’s Supper in the way that we do. But the Lord’s Supper, did you ever wonder why it’s called communion? It’s because you’re actually worshiping, communing, communing with, fellowshipping with Jesus. He’s coming into you. He says, I am abiding in you in this act. This is my body. This is my blood. This is life itself. You must do this. You must do this.
And I wonder in the body of Christ, people who don’t do this, I wonder how anemic and weak spiritually they become. Like if you could only eat one meal a year, would you even be alive? You’d be dead. Communion, this is a time when our faith in Jesus grows. It says in verse 60, therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, this is a hard saying. Who can understand it when Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this? He said to them, does this offend you?
“Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can understand it?’ When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, ‘Does this offend you?'” (John 6:60-61)
I’ll just be honest. There’s many things in scripture that are hard to understand. At initial reading, it is hard to understand. And most people, they just gloss over it. But for me, it’s like if I see something I don’t understand, I get stuck on it. I ask questions. I sit on it.
It’s just hard to understand many things. And not just what Jesus says, but there’s just many situations and seasons of life that are hard to understand. There’s many trials that happen in your life that are hard to understand. And all of these hard things are opportunities that maybe you and I get offended. Because I thought God loves me. Why is He speaking about cannibalism? I don’t understand. Why is He not answering my prayers according to my timetable? Why is He like all these things that I want? Maybe I don’t need it, but I just want it. Just driven by self-centeredness. Maybe God is not even wanting to give me these things, but I just keep asking. And life just seems unfair. Life just seems hard. Why am I going through this trial? No one else is going through this trial. And so just by going through hard things in life, not just Jesus saying things, but even us going through a hard life. These are opportunities either for our faith to grow or for us to get offended.
And when you get offended, these are signs that we need to backtrack. Are we surrendered? Do we understand what a believer is? We are baptized. We’re dead. There should be no offense. There should be no reaction. There should be no this turmoil within us. Because we go back to the beginning. How does my discipleship start? Before I enter into communion, I die to myself.
From there, verse 66 that we read, many disciples are falling away. And then Jesus asks the 12, do you also want to go away? And the reason why Peter is the leader among the 12 is because he voices on behalf of the 12. He says in verse 68, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
“Then Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'” (John 6:68-69)
This is what absolute faith sounds like. The people who get offended, the people who are not dead to themselves, when they go through a hard time, a confusing time, when Jesus says something that’s hard, they might not leave church, but in their heart, there’s an offense. And they look for an answer. And the answer they look for is not Jesus. Their answer is, I need this other thing because I’m not satisfied with Jesus.
It shows how not having absolute faith, it translates to a life that is not satisfied. It just bleeds into that. When you’re not surrendered, it just bleeds into this glass half empty, just not satisfied, always lacking, always something that you’re burdened by, always something that if I just had this, then I would be satisfied. It’s not true. It’s not true. Our satisfaction is in Jesus, regardless of what is happening.
And Jesus, and Peter says it, this is what faith sounds like. I have nowhere to go but You, Jesus. I’m not looking to my friends to bail me out. I’m not looking to my spouse to complete me. I’m not looking to my kids to be saved so that I feel like I did good parenting. I’m not, I’m trying my best, but I’m not looking to these things because if you look to these things, you’ll always be offended. You’ll always be unsatisfied. You’ll always have a complaint.
And it’s so critical. This is what absolute faith sounds like. Jesus, you’re it. I have nowhere else to turn to. Let me just commune with You. Let me worship. Let me fellowship with You. Let me stay close to You. Let me follow You. Let me live life like You.
Like Jesus, He didn’t lay down His life on the cross. He laid down His life from day one. The fact that He did carpentry for 30 years and He was a nobody. He did this because He was surrendered. And so Jesus shows us the way. He shows at the very beginning He surrenders. For a Christian, at the very beginning we surrender. And public declaration, obedience, step one is baptism. I am dead. Now I’m alive in Christ. Now we follow Jesus into the holy places. Jesus opened up heaven for us. We have a throne room in heaven that we have direct access to God the Father. And Jesus is the one who paved the way. Now we follow in His footsteps.
Peter says this is what absolute faith looks like, sounds like. To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Jesus, You’re it. I go to You. Absolute surrender leads to this type of absolute faith. And the byproduct is you’re absolutely satisfied in Jesus.
This is how we prepared as a church to reach the world. I pray we will reach the world. I pray that we will fill up this place and it is going to be too small. We’re going to have to go to a bigger place or we do virtual. We go online. However the Lord leads us, I pray we would be very diligent serving the Lord.
But we must not replace ministry in a church with this more fundamental work, which is worship, communion, surrender, faith, satisfied in Jesus.
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, forgive us for being so similar to this crowd, for having wrong motives. We just want our stomach filled. We just want things from You. We get offended when things don’t go our way. We don’t have absolute faith. We don’t trust You. We’re not satisfied in You. We’re not surrendered to You. No wonder we don’t understand communion.
We repent, Lord. We want to start over in this moment. We want to absolutely surrender our lives, go into this Old Testament sanctuary and tabernacle where we surrender and we get baptized and we say that we are dead to ourselves and we’re raised in the newness of life and now communion begins, the work begins. It is in our prayer closet. It is in secret. This is how we prepare to be workers in a harvest field that is ripe.
Father, we thank You for giving us fundamental truth. Thank You for giving us a reminder of why we end every service with the Lord’s Supper. It may never become routine. It may never become just a ritual that’s empty. But Lord, this is such a meaningful communion and experiencing and encountering of Jesus directly through our five senses.
So thank You, Lord, that You give us this type of tangible expression of communion. Lord, we want to go deeper. We want to go into the holiest place, Ark of the Covenant, hidden manna. Aaron’s rods, the tablets. Lord, I pray You continue to give us understanding. Thank You for all that You’re teaching us. We pray that You minister to us, encounter us as we close this service. In Jesus’ name, Amen.