Happy Anniversary Jayleigh!

I feel like we have been so busy with work, commitments, responsibilities and holidays that we should do something really big to celebrate our anniversary. What seems right though? We have been out shopping quite a bit lately, so that is not it. We have been eating out a lot lately, so that would not really be a treat, would it.

When we are home together we have been staked out on our assigned pieces of furniture, you crocheting on your glider and me typing away on my laptop on the couch. What if we actually take time to be together? What if we spend time with each other without any separate jobs or distractions? That sounds good to me what do you think?

You are such an amazing woman. You stand on a firm foundation supported by your faith, family, friends, and our growing church family. As strong as you are, facing new challenges everyday, you are still tender and vulnerable. You took great care with both your last hospice patient and her family. Now you have agreed to take on two more patients. I will be beside you with these new cases, but it was still a very courageous thing to do. I know that you are still missing your time with Meg. Your answer to the call to serve is truly inspiring.

We have grown and changed so much in our time together. We have been through so much, it is hard to fathom it all, and yet it hardly seems possible that 19 years have passed since that first Winter Formal that we went to after eating dinner at the village restaurant. Those kids dancing the night away did not have any idea what they would face and do in the years to come. From that night on, I knew that I could love you for the rest of my life, but I did not know how deep that love could grow and what great friends and partners we would become.

If we thought that poem, Anniversary, which was read at our wedding was true thirteen years ago, how much more does it ring true today? Your hand feels so familiar in mine that it as close to me as my own heartbeat, and yet a look from you can still take my breath away. We can sometimes complete each others thoughts, and yet you can still surprise me with just a look. I am so glad that we are sharing this walk down the road of life. I do not know exactly where it is going, but I do know that with God's help we can get through anything and along the way find blessings beyond our wildest imaginations.

Jayleigh, I love you more than words can say, but here I am still dreaming about you!

Rob

When I read this section from James about calling together the elders of the church to pray for you when you are sick, it reminds me a little bit of the Disney movie that was in theaters earlier this year, Cars. It reminds me of Lightning McQueen from Cars. At the beginning of the movie Lightning is only concerned with how great and how fast he is. He thinks that because he is really fast and red and sleek and flashy he can win the Piston Cup on his own and get that big endorsement/sponsorship deal. It is the end of the season and its supposed to be the last race of the season. The race starts and he does fine for a while in the race. In fact he is leading the race. Lightning does not want to pit at all, but he knows that he at least needs fuel to keep running. To save time he does not let his team change his tires through out the whole race. By not taking tires he ensures that he gets back on the track with the lead. He is faster than the rest of the cars in the race and as the laps wind down he is leading the race with no other cars even running on the same lap that he is running. But this is where the trouble starts. His pit crew had continued to try to call him in to get new tires, but Lightning tells them that he does not need them and he is really pretty rude to them. They are so hurt that they leave him there by himself for the rest of the race. Only his faithful hauler remains to help service him. As Lightning starts his last lap one of his warn out old tires pops. He manages to not crash and continues to try to drive around the track and as he struggles to continue each of his other three tires blow out. Now his closest pursuers are gaining on him. With his bare wheels grinding on the pavement and shooting sparks, Lightning McQueen manages to drag his chassis across the finish line in time to score a three way tie with the two other top competitors in the race. Now they have have to have an extra race to break the tie and decide who will win the season championship. It takes the results of that race and the events of the next week for Lightning McQueen to learn that everybody needs the support and help of friends some time.

Lightning eventually gets loaded into his hauler and they head out across the country. Lightning is still pushing. Even though his hauler is tired out Lightning coaxes him into trying to continue to drive straight though across the country to get to the site of the next race. They run into trouble as his hauler is driving very drowsily. They run into a ruff looking gang of tuners, and a hot rod, that harass the hauler and Lightning accidentally gets knocked right out of the trailer. He wakes up to find himself all alone on the highway. He drives around frantically not know where he is and even how to get where he is going. He ends up on a back road and rolls into what looks like a run down abandoned ghost town when he is just about out of gas and is nearly exhausted. He finds that there are still just a handful of die-hards hanging on there. This is where he starts to develop his character. While he is there he learns what it means to be part of a community and to care about other people or cars and even to put other cars’ interests and needs ahead of his own. When Lightning McQueen eventually makes it across the country to the tie breaker race at the end of week, he has learned that it takes help and support from a team to accomplish the greatest challenges. He also learns that winning at any cost may exact too high of a price from those around you.

I do not know about you, but I feel pretty tired these days. As I look around and talk to folks in our congregation I suspect that several of you all feel pretty much the same way. I have been serving this church for about thirteen weeks now. It seems longer, in a good way because we have done several things in that time with the hog roast and outdoor service, VBS, and the potluck and planning Sunday a couple of weeks ago. Then Friday night we had a good turn out and through a special church conference we voted to accept the purchase offer from the Church of Jubilee to purchase the Bennington building. We have been very busy over these past few months. Outside of church the children have gone back to school and those of us that had time off during the summer are back to the everyday grind. As we roll into October our church is continuing to be very busy. Today is the District Conference in Swartz Creek, Monday we have PPRC meeting to complete reports to be submitted 10-days before our church conference. Wednesday we have the Smorgasbord that many of you have already volunteered to prepare food for and help to serve. We have the Ad board meeting on Tuesday the 10th and then our church conference takes place on the 15th. Then to end the month we have the Bazaar on the 28th. It could make you tired just to think about it all.

Is anybody here familiar with the Bill Cosby comedy routine about his mother being sick and tired whenever Bill and his brother Russell would get in trouble with her. It goes something like this, “My mother she would always get on our case about how we would leave messes around the house. She would say, ‘I am just sick and tired of pickin’ up after you. You leave your dirty dishes sitting around and when you just drop your dirty clothes on the floor, do you think that I just enjoy cleaning up after you. I am just sick and tired of being your maid.’” Then Bill says that one time his mother was getting on his case and she started to say, “I am just so sick…” and he interrupted her and said, “and tired!” …. He said that he could not remember anything else that happened that day.

When I read our epistle lesson from James this morning, I read it like that. From the beginning of Chapter 5 verse 13, it goes like this, “Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.” I think that we can count ourselves in each of those categories and probably in both. Then in verse 14, “Are any among you sick.”…”Are any among you sick.” When I read that, I heard in my head, “and tired.” … Are any among you sick and tired? They should call the elders of the church and have them pray over them with oil in the name of the Lord. Verse 15, “The prayer of faith will save the sick (and the tired), and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.”
This is a powerful word for us, repeat…. And continuing through verse 16, “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” …”The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.”

It even lays out some evidence of that fact. Elijah (the prophet) was a human being like us. He was physically no different than you or I. But he was faithful, and that does make him different from some people. He prayed fervently that it might not rain. And what happened. Did it rain? Did it not rain for a couple days or even a couple of weeks? No it says, “and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.” Was that just a coincidence? Was it just a long and severe drought? No because in the end it says, “Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.”

My brothers and sisters in Christ, I tell you this morning that we need to take on the responsibility of praying intentionally and earnestly for each other. We need to be open and honest with each other when we are sick and tired and call on our fellow members of the church to have them pray for us.

What Comes First the Book or the Cover?

Authors of the Bible often look to nature for analogies to express spiritual truth. The book of James, controversial because of it emphasis on “good works,’ is perhaps best understood through the analogy of motion. Just as the winds blow the clouds across the sky, and rustle the leaves in the trees bringing motion to nature, so the presence of faith and the blowing of the Holy Spirit brings motion to the lives of Christians. In our reading this morning James first warns us against judging people by appearances and showing favoritism because of them, and second he teaches that faith without works is dead. These teachings lead me to two questions. First, are these teachings consistent with the rest of the Bible? Second, are these teachings consistent with each other?

Those questions led me to another question. Drawing from what James’ wrote, what comes first the book or the cover? When a person becomes a Christian, new life begins, and inevitably that life must express itself through spiritual motion, or good deeds. In James words, “what good is it if you say you have faith but do not have works?” 2:14.

Movement does not cause life, but it does invariably follow life. It’s a sure sign that life is present. Similarly, genuine faith in Christ should always result in actions that demonstrate faith.
As it was with Jesus’ teachings which we read last week in Mark chapter 8:34-38, in James’ letter he is not teaching us how to become a Christian, but rather how we should live after becoming a Christian. James was a leader of the Christian movement in the headquarters church in Jerusalem. He speaks or writes with authority and he speaks clearly. He gets right to the point and his words come with a punch as he tells Christians how we should act.

It might seem that James’ letter is being overly legalistic in its teachings, but it is apparent that those, to which James was writing, members of the early church, were not even flirting with legalism. They were living at the other extreme, ignoring the laws that God had clearly revealed. James had a simple remedy: James 1:22-25.

Who do we say that Jesus Is?

In our gospel lesson for today Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” and later he asked them, “Who do you say that I am?” This is an important question for people living today, not just for us in this church, but for society in general. Our country has the statement “In God We Trust” printed on our currency, and when we recite the pledge of allegiance we state that our nation is “under God”, but you do not hear much in polite company about Jesus. Who do we say that Jesus is? Does the way that we live our lives say anything to other people about who Jesus is? This scriptural text does more than talk about who Jesus is. It also teaches us about how Jesus lived his life and fulfilled God’s plan to bring salvation to mankind through his ministry, teachings, and sacrifice. Our human nature is to chase after material things. Even as Christians we still have to struggle with those human feelings. If we fall into that thinking we risk getting lost from the ministry that God has planned for us and that could prevent others from seeing Christ in us. If that happens it could hurt God’s plans to reach other non-Christians and minister to them so that they may ask Jesus to come into their hearts and thus gain salvation.

As our Gospel lesson starts, Jesus and his disciples are heading north from Bethsaida toward the region of Caesarea Philippi which is about 25-miles north of the Sea of Galilee. As it is recorded in the book of Mark, this is the beginning of Jesus’ trip that will end up in Jerusalem in about six months leading to Christ’s Passion. This is the beginning of a new phase of Jesus ministry to his disciples. Up until now he had made only veiled references to his true nature and mission with very vague references to the plan including his sacrifice for the world. From this point forward Jesus will teach more openly to his disciples about his true nature as the Son of God and about his death and resurrection. As Jesus was traveling a long with his disciples he asked them, “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples answered that some say John the Baptist, the prophet that had baptized Jesus and had been executed not that long before this account would have happened. Others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets. If this were true than our Christian religion would be pretty pointless wouldn’t it? If this were true than Jesus would have simply been a wise teacher perhaps, but still just a man that lived some two thousand years ago and died and was physically laid to rest in a grave.

Of course this is the not the right answer. So next Jesus asks, “What about you? Who do you say that I am?” Peter speaks up here and responds that, “You are the Messiah.” In studying this part of the scripture for today in a handful of Bible commentaries, I learned a couple of things, Peter was the spokesman for the disciples. He was not afraid to open his mouth, although it sometimes was followed by the insertion of his foot. It is likely that what Peter said was probably what at least some of the other disciples were thinking. When I read Peter’s confession of Christ, I want to read it with an exclamation mark, boldly proclaiming that Jesus is the Savior of all mankind, but that is not how it is printed in any of my bibles. He says this in a declarative statement. It looks like he thought that Jesus was the Christ or the Messiah. In accounts of this from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Peter adds, the Son of the Living God. But as this conversation and lesson proceeds it seems that Peter’s mind was not on a spiritual messiah, but rather on an earthly one. After this Jesus sternly warns them not to tell anyone about him. The commentaries that I use have a couple of different thoughts about this. Perhaps it was because Jesus was not ready to establish an earthly kingdom, because the plan was for him to first establish a heavenly one. Maybe it was because Jesus did not want them to politicize his role as Messiah.

Then Jesus begins to teach the disciples that the “Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this. This comes in sharp contrast to Peter’s declaration of Jesus as the Christ. It also marks a new stage in the disciples training. In the first half of Mark, references to Jesus’ true nature are veiled and predictions of his death are given in vague terms. After this Jesus speaks openly and clearly about both topics. He wanted the disciples to know that, although his enemies carrying out these evil actions would think that they were winning, his suffering and death were part of the plan. They were things that must happen to fufill the plan of salvation. Jesus must suffer and die as part of God’s plan. Jesus suffers out of obedience to God. As both true God and true Man, this was probably difficult for Jesus. As a person of the triune God, he was all powerful and immortal. He did not have to submit himself to death. As a human being dealing with temptations he did not relish the thought of his suffering and crucifixion. Jesus’ prayers at Gethsemane show that, but even in Gethsemane he prayed, “Father not my will but yours be done. As a leader and teacher of many people he could have started an uprising against the Romans and against the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law. As true God, his victory would have been assured, but that was not part of the plan. That would not have saved a single person’s soul from the penalty for sin, eternal death, eternal separation from God’s presence. Jesus teaches the disciples about his coming death repeatedly because he wants them to know that this is the way that it has to be.

We have come to Peter’s rebuke of Jesus. Remember what I said about Peter’s willingness to open his mouth and then insert his foot. Well here we go. The NIB says that Peter treats Jesus’ prophecy about his death and resurrection as the words of one possessed who must be exorcised. It is like he thought Jesus was mad when he predicted his death. It is as if Peter is saying, “What are you nuts, you cannot die and be the Messiah. You are supposed to be overthrowing the Romans and straightening out the Jewish religion and getting everybody here back on the right path.” Peter’s rebuke was similar to the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness by Satan, but this time Satan used one of Jesus’ closest disciples. Peter’s objections to this teaching are a foreshadowing of his denials of Christ after Jesus betrayed. They are a reflection of his own fear of suffering.

When Jesus turns his back to Peter to look at the rest of the disciples to rebuke him it was probably a message not just for Peter but for the rest of the twelve as well. Satan has just used one of his disciples to be a stumbling block to him. The other disciples may have been tempted to say the same thing at this time or later while they were following Jesus. Satan would succeed in leading Judas astray to become Jesus’ betrayer. Jesus is trying to caution them all against this temptation. Peter’s mind was running contrary to God’s plan and he needed to be corrected immediately and clearly. Peter’s was savoring earthly things. Part of sermon preparation includes reviewing the scripture in different translations of the Bible to see how things are stated in different terms. In the King James Version the words are different and to me the meaning comes out stronger. (Read Mark 8:33 from KJV Bible) It seems that Peter was thinking expectantly about Jesus establishing his kingdom in Israel and with Jesus as the messiah then they would not have to submit to Roman rule or all of the rules of the Pharisees.
The previous portions of our sermon scripture have only held indirect lessons for us. For example, that the disciples were human like us and flawed in the understanding of Jesus and like us they were sinful and could be led astray. The remainder of this scripture about Jesus teachings is either aimed at both the disciples and the rest of us or just right, square directly at us.

Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples. This is different from what we would read in the preceding chapters of Mark. In those accounts of Jesus ministry the crowd are coming after Jesus and at times Jesus is trying to move away from them. On some previous occasions Jesus had tried to call the disciples away with him so that he could teach them in private, but these lessons are for all of them and all of us. Jesus teaches the crowd and his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Over the past several weeks as we were studying in the book of John chapter 6, when Jesus was teaching the Jews after the feeding of the 5000 part of the conflict and debate there was related to this very concept. The people wanted Jesus to provide for them, for their daily physical needs, and they said, if he did that as a sign to them, then they would follow him or believe in him. Jesus is telling the people here that if they want to be followers of God and of Christ than they must not think of themselves first. They must put God first and take up whatever burden or task that God would set before them if they truly want to be Christians.

This runs counter to what we hear most of the time from our culture, not just based on what Americans value, but on what man values. The world teaches us through the media that we should be comfortable and have what we want. Like I talked about last week, commercials want us to believe that owning the latest computer, or a big screen plasma high definition TV, the right vehicle, or a cell phone/digital planner/video game/mp3 player with a built in camera is what we really need in life, or better yet all of the above, but that is not so. Even as Christians it is our human nature to seek comfort and avoid sacrifice, but material things will not save our souls. As both humans and Christians the danger lies in concluding that suffering and self-sacrifice are always undesirable.

In the record of the life of Joseph, the one that had the coat of many colors, not Jesus’ step-dad, Joseph had to endure much suffering and much self-sacrifice for the first thirty plus years of his life before God’s plan was revealed and he was able to help his family, his people survive a great famine. Only then did he know why his life had gone they way it did, but he had kept the faith all along the way. He had taken up his cross and followed Jesus thousands of years before Jesus ever physically lived on this earth. When I was graduating from college with my Associate’s degree in computer programming, I was not very mature in my Christian faith. I wanted to get out of my minimum wage job and get into the big money jobs that I kept hearing about in the news and reading about in magazines. I wanted to get married and buy a house and watch the dough roll in as I did my technical work. This was not God’s plan for my life. God kept me at my minimum wage job for another four years while he started to show me and teach me that he had other work for me to do. He continued to teach me that even as I finally did change jobs almost ten years ago. Through nine years of job insecurity, riding economic ebbs and flows and feeling the pressure from corporate plans to off shore work to developing countries where labor is cheap, God has taught me to trust in him not my job. He also continued to help me grow stronger, like a spotter working with a weightlifter, while I carried my burdens like my health issues and followed my path that would lead to ministry. Of course the secret here is that when we trust in God, he really does the heavy lifting. When we are struggling to find the right job or the right doctor and treatment for ourselves or our children, it may be that God has another plan for our lives then what we have envisioned. It is not God’s wish that we would needlessly suffer. If we ask him to work according to his will we might not get to a quick solution, but he will help us to reach the right resolution and ultimately when we follow Jesus we will reach the best destination.

Next Jesus teaches us, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” The person that is devoted to physical life will miss eternal life. Amassing a fortune in worldly goods will do nothing to save your soul. It does not do a person any good to earn and love only material things, if that person dies and does not have Christ in his heart he is lost and he cannot take his possessions with him. He also cannot trade all of those earthly riches to buy eternal life. The person that is devoted to Christ is willing to lose his physical life and so he gains true life, spiritual life. Jesus’ teaching about this is not a description of the way of salvation, but of the philosophy of life for the disciple.

In the last part of our scriptural text Jesus says, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation…”This lesson about people being ashamed to stand up for Jesus contrasts with the one about believers having a willingness to lose their live for Jesus’ sake and for the sake of the Gospel. This reminds me of myself. Even as I started to work my way into ministry through increased service in the church and lay speaking training, I kept very quiet about it at work. I did not want my pursuit of the ministry to make me a target either for ridicule at work or a target for lay-off. When I finally decided to share my faith and work toward the ministry with my co-workers and even my leaders I was able to draw a closer connection with other Christians in my workplace. It gave me new opportunities to minister to other people. It may not always be part of God’s plan for me or for some one else, but so far each time I have been bold about my faith and call to ministry in the workplace, God has continued to preserve and prosper me in my job. To be ashamed is to deny Christ in the hour of trial rather than own him even at the risk of death. Denial is taking one’s stand with the sinful generation. Jesus uses the term adulterous in this case in a spiritual sense to describe unfaithfulness to God. When our Lord Jesus Christ comes as Judge he will disown those who have disowned him.

When I first studied this scripture as my chosen text for my sermon for License to Preach school, I thought that it would be easy to preach on because it says so much about what it means to be a Christian. Then I was pretty intimidated because so much of it is a direct record of Jesus speaking and teaching, and what could I, a simple and limited man add to that. But the lesson for the people living at the time that Jesus was on earth and for people today is this. Applying these teachings of Jesus to our lives may not make us rich according to the world’s values, but it will lead us to a spiritually rewarding life of service through which God will bless us spiritually in eternal life.

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

Our sermon text this morning takes us back into the book of John chapter 6. This began with the feeding of the 5000 and the Jews wanting to make Jesus their king, Later it continued with Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee to meet his disciples as they attempted to cross over to the other side of the stormy sea, and finally when we left this series a couple of weeks ago the Jews were arguing with Jesus about his teachings especially what he was teaching about himself.

When I read today’s scripture I wonder if this record is an example of a way that God might harden the hearts of those that do not want to believe in Jesus’ teachings. I think that Jesus’ statement to the Jews about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, does two things. It shows that Jesus is teaching about spiritual things and that the Jews were thinking about worldly things.

When Jesus tells the Jews that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood if they want to live forever, that would seem to go very much against Jewish law that was handed down by God. Even from a clean or kosher animal the Jews would not consume blood. The blood of an animal could be offered as part of a sacrifice to God, for instance as part of a burnt offering, but to drink it, that would be, well sacrilegious.

In Leviticus 17:10-11 it reads “If anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood, and will cut that person off from the people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement.”

Eating the flesh of a person and drinking his blood would then be a very sinful thing to do, something abhorrent to God under the old laws of the Old Testament covenant between God and his chosen people. We understand that when Jesus says this he is talking in spiritual terms that those that believe in him and accept him as their savior from sin and the devil will be taking into them his body and blood for the salvation of their eternal souls. Later Jesus would institute the sacrament of communion for his disciples and his church to use to share in his body and blood spiritually.

This emphasizes that Jesus was talking about spiritual things, spiritual life through the sharing in his blood that would be shed for the atonement of all sins, and sharing in Jesus’ body which would be the Christian church universal, the body of believers.

The Jews that were debating with Jesus had their minds on earthly physical things. They wanted a king that could fill their physical bodies and sustain their physical lives. They wanted an earthly king and an earthly kingdom. But Jesus tried to teach them that those that have only earthly bread to eat may be filled for today and yet die tomorrow. For the believers in Christ that shared spiritually in the body and blood of Jesus, they would never die, but they would live forever with Jesus in heaven.

Jesus refers to himself as the Bread of Life six times in the sixth chapter of the book of John. In John 6:33 he says, “For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” John 6:35 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” And still the Jews would not believe, in John 6:41 it says, “Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that cam down from heaven.’ They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say that, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Their hearts were hardened against Jesus’ words. Jesus tries again to teach them about his true nature in John 6:47-51 “Very truly, I tell you whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors are the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

This lesson is very fitting for a communion Sunday. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary summarizes Jesus’ message from John 6 verses 51-58 well: “The Eucharistic food and drink are physically bread and wine, spiritually the Flesh and Blood of the Son of man: the true food and drink because they effect the sacred union of the Son of God with those who believe on him, and thus communicate eternal life and guarantee immortality. The union of the Father and the Son is thereby extended to embrace the believers also. As the Father communicates life to the Son, so the Son communicates life to those who feed on Him, and will bestow on them immortality.”
The promises that we hear and see in the media everyday from commercial advertisers are at worst false and at best just examples of fleeting gratification. The Jews that Jesus was teaching by the Sea of Galilee were grasping for fleeting gratification from Jesus and by association they were asking for that from God. “Give us bread to eat” they were saying because God had sent their ancestors manna from heaven when they were traveling through the desert. However that bread from heaven did not save the souls of those ancestors, and although Jesus could have provided the Jews of his day with all of the bread and fish that they could eat everyday for the rest of their lives, that also would not have saved their souls. The only true hope of salvation that the Israelites in the desert had was the same promise that Jesus was making to the Jews that were standing in front of him at that village by the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and it is the same promise that God makes to us today. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, and spiritually partake of his blood shed in atonement for our sins and share in the fellowship of the body of Christ, then we will have eternal life. Our spirits will never be separated from God and we will never be hungry or thirsty again. Amen.