A Message For The Nations
Isaiah 49:1-7
May 5, 2024
If you were with us last Sunday night you know that
We have made a major shift in the message of Isaiah.
Isaiah spent 9 chapters talking to us
About how God was going to deliver His people out of Babylon.
• We learned that God had raised up Cyrus
• Cyrus would free God’s people, send them home, and rebuild their temple without cost.
• We learned all about how God had redeemed them and they were His.
But it was last week when we encountered
That reoccurring stubbornness of the people of Israel.
For when the rubber met the road,
We found out that they didn’t want to leave Babylon.
God called them phonies.
God called them stubborn and obstinate.
God called them treacherous rebels.
And God told them that they were leaving Babylon
Whether they liked it or not.
But it was in verse 16 of chapter 48 that something remarkable happened.
In Isaiah 48:16 the second person of the God-head chimed in.
Isaiah 48:16 “Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, From the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit.”
We know that wasn’t God the Father speaking,
• For it was “the Lord GOD” who “sent Me” the speaker says.
And it wasn’t the Holy Spirit doing the talking
• Since “the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit.”
The only option left is Christ.
JESUS CHIMED IN.
He revealed to these refugees who were hesitating to leave
That this story was about more than just them leaving Babylon.
THIS STORY WAS PROPHETIC IN NATURE.
We already knew that Cyrus was a prophetic type of Christ.
• Both in rescuing refugees
• And in judging Babylon
Now we begin to understand that this story of the return from exile
Was also prophetic about Christ binging His salvation.
This whole story hasn’t just been a history lesson for us.
• This story has been a prophetic picture of the second Cyrus coming to save
His people from their oppressors.
And is this not what Jesus said when He came?
Luke 4:16-21 “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
This whole event was always about Him.
That is why God called Cyrus His “anointed”
Cyrus was a picture of Christ.
Babylon was a picture of the world.
Just as Cyrus came to deliver those slaves from Babylon,
So Christ would come to save us from an evil world.
From this point on in the book of Isaiah we are only talking about Jesus.
Isaiah is leaving the shadow behind and moving on to the substance.
It is no longer about Cyrus, it is only about Jesus Christ.
John wrote that Isaiah saw the glory of Christ.
John 12:41 “These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.”
So from Isaiah 49-66 it is Christ we are going to discuss.
And it begins with an announcement of
THE GLORY AND SCOPE OF HIS SALVATION.
There are 5 points we want to see about Christ in our text this morning.
#1 HE WAS CALLED
Isaiah 49:1
“Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.”
The recipient of this first announcement is clear,
Even if it is a little surprising.
When Christ starts describing His ministry through Isaiah,
He does so by addressing an audience that we did not expect.
Christ does not begin by addressing Israel.
He begins by addressing the “islands”
Whom He calls “you peoples from afar”.
• He begins by addressing Gentiles.
• He begins by addressing the nations.
The reason will become clear as we study through these final 18 chapters,
It is because Christ is speaking from the vantage point of the end.
These 18 chapters will include events like:
• Christ’s coming and incarnation.
• Christ’s rejection and crucifixion.
• God’s hardening and breaking off of Israel.
• Christ’s call to Israel to repent and return.
• God opening Israel’s eyes to return to the Christ they rejected.
• The ultimate millennial glory of Christ’s reign once Israel returns.
We are listening to a Christ
Who could very well be speaking from our day.
You will see that as He speaks
• He already speaks of having come and having been rejected by Israel.
• He will speak to Israel about their current state of rebellion and their need to
repent and return.
JESUS COULD BE PREACHING TODAY.
That makes these final 18 chapters very interesting to me.
Isaiah wrote it 2700 years ago,
But from the vantage point of an eternal Christ who is not bound in time,
It could be the message of today.
THAT MAKES ME WANT TO KNOW IT EVEN MORE!
Christ is speaking to the nations (the Gentiles) here
Because today, that is who is being saved.
ISRAEL HAS REJECTED HIM
And they live under a state of stupor which God poured upon them.
And here is Christ’s message to the Gentile world.
Here is Christ prophesying about Himself to the nations.
“Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.”
THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR.
I am the LORD’S called and appointed Savior.
Jesus says that God “called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.”
When John told us about Christ, there is a word that John liked to use.
John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John liked the word “begotten”
It is a word that speaks only of sons or daughters.
It reminds us that though Christ was born of a woman,
He was in fact the Son of God.
Psalms 2:7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.”
Luke 1:35 “The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”
It is God who begot Him.
It is God who sent Him.
It is even God who named Him.
Matthew 1:21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
What we have here is Christ referencing “The Incarnation”.
• That the second person of the God-head took on human flesh and entered this world as a human.
• He was sent by the Father, through a woman, and under the Law, that He might come to save His people.
And this is Christ’s announcement to the nations.
And Christ tells us to “Listen to Me” and to “pay attention”.
THIS IS IMPORTANT.
I am the One God sent.
I am the Savior God called.
You can abandon every other religion & every other savior
I am the One whom God called and sent into this world.
Luke 2:11 “for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
This is Christ testifying of Himself.
He was called by God.
#2 HE WAS CONCEALED
Isaiah 49:2-3
“He has made My mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me; And He has also made Me a select arrow, He has hidden Me in His quiver. He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory.”
You see the wording in there twice.
Christ refers to Himself as a sword,
• But says that “In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me”
Christ refers to Himself as a select arrow
• But says, “He has hidden Me in His quiver.”
WHAT DOES ALL THAT MEAN?
Isaiah will spell it out for us in a few chapters.
Isaiah 53:1-3 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
He was concealed wasn’t He?
• He was hidden behind a veil of human flesh.
How many times did He work miracles and someone say, “Where did this Guy get this power? We know His parents and His siblings.”
He was God, but God concealed in human flesh.
He didn’t split the heavens in glory and come down.
He didn’t enter on a white horse with the armies of heaven.
Philippians 2:7 “but [He] emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
He was not easily recognizable through physical eyes.
His glory was evident, but not the way we are used to seeing it.
John 1:14, 18 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth…No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
And we understand that.
BUT WHAT DOES THAT SWORD REFERENCE?
“He has made My mouth like a sharp sword”
“He has also made Me a select arrow”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
We know that upon His glorious return that sword will come out of His mouth
And with it He will strike down the nations,
But that’s NOT what He’s talking about here.
So what does He mean that He was “like a sharp sword” or “select arrow”?
Well listen to Jesus:
Matthew 10:34-39 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”
WHAT DID JESUS COME TO DO?
HE CAME TO EXPOSE.
• He came to lay the heart bear.
• He came to reveal the corruption of the heart of man.
Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
The word of God is a person.
“And there is no creature hidden from His sight”
As a double-edged sword He exposed the hearts of men.
John 9:39 “And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”
John 15:20-22 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”
Even at His birth Simeon told Mary:
Luke 2:34-35 “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed— and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
This is Christ explaining His own earthly ministry.
• I was called by God and begotten of Him in My mother’s womb.
• He concealed My glory and hid My majesty
• As He used Me as a sword to expose the hearts of men.
• I was His select arrow to pierce the heart and expose the conscience.
• I came concealed and I came to expose the hearts of men.
And you see this in the responses to Him.
Matthew 7:28-29 “When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”
John 4:29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”
John 7:45-46 “The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.”
You saw that in His ministry didn’t you.
And what is Christ’s point here to the nations?
• I am the called and sent One of God.
• You might not know it by looking at Me,
• But you’d know it by listening to Me.
• I am the Savior.
Called, Concealed
#3 HE WAS CONCERNED
Isaiah 49:4
“But I said, “I have toiled in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity; Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD, And My reward with My God.”
And boy did we see this one too!
As He walked those streets of Galilee and Judea
He was absolutely covered up by crowds that wanted healing
But they wanted nothing to do with the righteousness He was preaching.
AND WE SAW HIS GRIEF.
Luke 19:41-44 “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”
This ministry in which He came to seek and to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel, appeared to have ended in utter failure.
From the Jewish perspective,
The story doesn’t end with Jesus sitting on a throne,
The story ends with Jesus hanging on a cross.
• His people who He came to save rejected Him
• And asked for Him to be crucified
• While they cried out, “We have no king but Caesar!”
It must have looked like a failure of a ministry.
Even after His resurrection and ascension
We find His followers all gathered together in the upper room
And it is a modest 120 people.
THAT DOESN’T SEEM LIKE MANY
For a man who fed the hungry by the thousands, virtually eliminated sickness, leprosy, and demon possession everywhere He went,
And preached relentlessly for 3 years.
From a human perspective it must have felt very futile.
But Christ never stopped, Scripture says He entrusted Himself to God.
“Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD, And My reward with My God.”
1 Peter 2:23 “and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”
And this sums up the ministry of Christ to His people.
He came to His own and His own rejected Him.
John 1:11 “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”
And this is what the Gentiles saw as well.
• The King of Jews was crucified by the Romans.
• The Messiah of Israel was rejected as a heretic and executed.
To an outside world, to a Gentile world, it just looks like a Jewish tragedy.
To an outside world He simply looks like a failure.
But that is why Christ is preaching to Gentiles today.
That is why Christ is preaching to you today.
He is preaching that you might understand
The bigger work that was being accomplished by God.
Don’t let the rejection of Israel fool you.
This was all part of the providential plan of God.
What do you mean?
#4 HE WAS COMMISSIONED
Isaiah 49:5-6
“And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength), He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Here Jesus tells the world exactly what was going on
In the sovereign prerogative of God when Israel rejected Him.
Jesus says, “Yes, I was sent to save the Jews.”
He “formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him.”
That is who I am.
I am Israel’s savior. (And He still is)
But notice that there was another plan involved as well.
(6) “He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation will reach to the end of the earth.”
DID YOU CATCH THAT?
According to the sovereign plan of God,
Simply saving Israel was “too small a thing”!
It was the objective of God to save “the nations”
So that His “salvation will reach to the end of the earth.”
It was too small to simply be the Savior of Israel.
It is God’s plan to be the Savior of the World.
Well how did Israel rejecting Christ work into that plan?
Listen to what Paul says about Israel’s rejection:
Romans 11:11 “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.”
Paul says that God is using their transgression.
Paul says that God is using their rejection of the Messiah.
HOW?
“by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles”
Later in verse 12 Paul says:
Romans 11:12 “… their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles…”
To further understand this, all one has to do is read the book of Acts.
Paul’s ministry in particular reveals this issue over and over.
• He goes to a city
• Enters the synagogue
• Preaches the gospel
• Gets rejected
• And says from now on I’m going to the Gentiles.
To the blaspheming Jews in Pisidian Antioch
Acts 13:46 “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.”
To the blaspheming Jews in Corinth:
Acts 18:6 “But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
To the blaspheming Jews in Rome:
Acts 28:28 “Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen.”
It was the Jewish rejection of Christ
That led to gospel being taken to the Gentiles.
“by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles.”
And so we learn about the coming of Christ
That what may have initially looked like a failure…WASN’T!
God used the rejection of Israel to drive the gospel to the nations.
And this was always the plan!
Isaiah 9:1-3 “But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.”
It was always the plan that Christ would be the light of the world
Even for Gentiles.
It was always the plan that every nation tribe and tongue
Would be gathered around His throne in glory.
And part of the wisdom of this plan was that Israel would reject her King, be broken off, and Gentiles would be grafted in.
That DOES NOT MEAN it’s over for Israel, we’ll see that tonight.
Nor should Gentiles get some sort of inflated ego of our own importance.
Romans 11:17-18 “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.”
And again later:
Romans 11:23-24 “And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?”
But you see how God was using their rejection to save the nations.
He was Called, He was Concealed, He was Concerned, He was Commissioned
#5 HE WILL BE CROWNED
Isaiah 49:7
“Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by the nation, To the Servant of rulers, “Kings will see and arise, Princes will also bow down, Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”
Here is God’s promise to this Christ who came and suffered.
• Here is God’s promise to this One who subjected Himself to ridicule and shame that He might save the world.
“Kings will see and arise, Princes will bow down, Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel has chosen You.”
Paul told the Philippians that “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Every nation will bow to Jesus.
Every king will bow to Jesus.
He is not just the King of Israel,
He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!
That is Christ’s announcement to the nations here.
Do you want to know what Christ would preach if He were to stand in the street today?
THIS IS IT!
• He’d tell the Gentiles that God sent Him into the world as a Savior.
• He’d tell the Gentiles that He was rejected by His own, but that was all part of the plan.
• He’d tell the Gentiles that He came to expose the hearts of men and call them to repentance.
• He’d tell the Gentiles that because of Jewish rejection that it is now the time for Gentiles to be saved.
• He’d tell the Gentiles that one day the whole world will bow to Him.
Look at the very next verse:
Isaiah 49:8 “Thus says the LORD, “In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;”
Do you recognize that verse?
Paul quoted it:
2 Corinthians 6:2 “for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.” Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”
Paul quoted it to say today is the day to be saved.
THAT IS THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST TO THE NATIONS TODAY AS WELL!
The door is open, the time is now.
• Israel is currently in a state of God-ordained stupor and blindness.
• God has hardened their hearts and darkened their understanding.
• God has broken them off that you might be grafted in.
But this is a temporary time.
• One day very soon the pendulum will swing back,
• The fullness of the Gentiles will have come in
• And God will open the floodgate for Israel to return.
But today the message is for you.
Today the offer is for you.
Jesus extends the offer of salvation to you.
This One who was God in human flesh.
• This One who was born of a virgin and born under the Law.
He lived a righteous life that He might fulfill all of God’s righteous commands.
• He earned a righteous standing before God.
But then this Righteous One submitted Himself to death on a cross.
• On that cross He bore the full wrath of God for sins He did not commit.
• He paid the debt of all the sin of all the elect who would ever believe in Him.
Based upon His righteous life and His atoning death
He has all authority to offer you salvation.
AND THE OFFER IS THIS:
• Believe in Him.
• Confess Him as your Lord.
• And you will be saved.
Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
When you place your faith in Him,
God reckons that your sin is imputed to Christ and Christ bears all the punishment for the sin you committed.
When you place your faith in Him,
God reckons His righteousness to be imputed to you and you enjoy all the blessing He has earned.
But you must leave your sin and yield your life to Christ.
He is the Savior of the World.
He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
And this is what WE CELEBRATE HERE THIS MORNING
With the taking of the Lord’s Supper.
We have here two elements, the bread and the juice.
They are NOT going to turn into the body or the blood of Jesus.
• Jesus does not have to come down and enter the elements and suffer again for your sin.
• He suffered one time and that was sufficient.
These elements are symbols.
• The bread symbolizes His body in which He fulfilled the Law of God and perfectly obeyed every command.
• It was in His body that He earned the righteousness that He imputes to us who believe.
• The juice symbolizes His blood which He spilled as a payment for our sin.
• It was through His death that He satisfied God’s wrath on the sin we committed.
We eat the bread and we drink the juice as a symbolic gesture
That what Christ did, He did for me.
I needed His righteousness.
I needed His atoning death.
We do it by faith, we do it in gratitude,
And we do it as an act of worship to the One who saved us.
Even Gentiles.
Ephesians 2:11-13 “Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
For us, this is a holy sacrament.
This is why we also mind how we partake.
Paul said:
1 Corinthians 11:27-32 “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”
We don’t make a mockery of this ordinance, we revere it.
• We do that by examining ourselves.
• We do that through a spirit of repentance.
• We do that in reverence.
• We do that in gratitude.
What we celebrate here today is life and death of Jesus Christ
And that He opened this offer of salvation up even to us.
We praise Him for saving…even me!
We will have a time of preparation and then partake of the table of the Lord.
LORD’S SUPPER
Acts 11:9-18 “But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’ “This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. “And behold, at that moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from Caesarea. “The Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings. These six brethren also went with me and we entered the man’s house. “And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ “Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
• Give bread to Deacons
• Deacon Prayer
• Deacons pass out bread
1 Corinthians 11:23-24 “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
• Take bread
Ephesians 3:4-6 “By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel”
• Give juice to Deacons
• Deacon Prayer
• Deacons pass out juice
1 Corinthians 11:25-26 “In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
• Take juice
• Parting hymn
