COMMUNION

 

COMMUNION

I Cor. 11:23-29

While we may call it by different names, experience it in different ways, and vary in how often we do it, I believe that on of the reasons why church is important is that we, take the time to remember the broken body and shed blood of Christ together.

It is important for us to remember the body of Christ and how it was broken for us. John 1:1-5, 14 tells us that God came to earth in human form. The Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt for a while amongst us. When we eat of the bread (wafers, etc.), we are acknowledging the earthly life of our Lord and the price Jesus paid for our salvation. Isaiah 53.

The cup represents the shed blood of Christ on the cross for our salvation. Heb. 9:11-14 We are reminded that without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins. In Leviticus we are reminded over and over again that the blood is the life flow of the living. If there is no flowing blood, life is ended. Jesus allowed His blood to flow from Calvary so that we can be forgiven for our sins.

When we pass the bread, we are acknowledging together that our salvation comes from the Lord. Ps. 103:1-9 It reminds us that we are so blessed by God to be a part of His family, to be recipients of His healing touch on our lives. Jesus is our life and He alone can satisfy our souls.

When we pass the cup, we are remembering together that God remembers our sins no more when we are forgiven through Christ. Ps. 103:10-18 God in His mercy and grace gives us new hearts. The old us passes away and the new us begins. II Cor. 5:17

Communion unites the body of Christ together in a way that nothing else can. The focus is solely on Christ and what He did for us at Calvary. We are drawn closer to Him as we linger in the presence of God’s amazing grace and love for us.

Communion is a vital part of our faith walk. When we faithfully attend church, we get to participate in this amazing worship experience; it won’t save you, but it will draw you closer to the Lord in ways you will not be able to experience otherwise.

CHURCH: WHY BOTHER? 2

 

CHURCH: WHY BOTHER? 2

Heb. 10:19-25

One of the reasons why we should go to church and be actively involved in it is for food. In fact, it should be the main reason why we go to church. If you don’t go to church hungry, you won’t be fed. Spending less than an hour alone with God during the week will starve one’s soul to death. Being in church should be the smorgasbord. Whatever we may feed our souls during the week is merely appetizers. Our soul’s longing should be to be fed spiritual food in church. If you are not fed from God’s Word in the church you attend, change churches!

We should expect to be fed from God’s Word and settle for nothing less. Read Nehemiah 8:1-8 when the Israelites gathered together to hear God’s Word read and explained for six hours. In chapter 9:1-3, we see the Word being expounded for twelve hours. Shame on us when we murmur and complain when preachers preach for too long these days.

We should ask the Lord to feed us as we stand beneath the cross. Beneath the cross of Jesus we must stand. He is the only way we will ever stand before God. He alone is truth and life for our souls. We need Jesus; every moment of every day, we need Jesus. He alone is our wisdom, righteousness, and holiness from God. I Cor. 1:30 People try to invent all kinds of other ways to get us to God, but there is none. We cannot ever be good enough apart from Christ to make it into heaven. Feast on the riches of God’s grace that flows from Calvary and never be satisfied.

We should ask the Lord to feed us in church so we can make it through another week of life. Life is full of many highs and lows. We seem to manage well in the high times of life, but the low times often throw us for a loop. We go to church for food and fuel for our souls so we can face life in a positive way.

We also go to church for fellowship. We need to be led into fellowship with God. 22-23 If being close to God is happening in your church, then you need to look for a church where it is. We need to be in fellowship with other believers. 24-25 We must be with those who are living out their faith in daily life. We need to know that we are not alone in our struggles. We need to be encouraged and inspired to continue to live by faith. We need to experience the genuine love of Christ flowing amongst His people. We need to mutually support and learn from each other. We need to know that there is no such thing as a perfect child of God, that we all are works in progress as we prepare to leave this life to go and be with the Lord.

CHURCH: WHY BOTHER?

 

CHURCH: WHY BOTHER?

Heb. 10:19-25

People come up with all sorts of reasons why they don’t go to church. They point to problems with the pastor, the people who attend there, the programs, etc. The people who go to church aren’t perfect, so they figure they can do just as well without it. While people attend church for a wide variety of reasons, I want to focus on the faith of church people and how it helps them to be better versions of themselves.

A Bible preaching and teaching church helps people to know how to integrate faith into their daily living. Any church that fails to do this, is merely a social club for sinners.

Faith enables us to come before God with confidence. 19 We have confidence because we know through faith that Jesus is the way to God, and we don’t have anything to fear when we approach God.

Faith enables us to know the love of God and just how much He loves us. We know God loves us because He knows us better than anyone else ever could. He knows us inside and out. He knows what we are like when we are all alone and when we are at our worst. He knows us by name and has every hair on our head numbered. Yet, in spite of knowing us so well, He became human flesh and went to the cross to die for our sins. God loves us just as we are. He doesn’t demand anything of us in order to be loved by Him. He loves us and will never stop loving us for He is love.

We learn about faith in church that unfolds for us the workings of the Holy Spirit. We discover that the Spirit is constantly at work in us to make us a holy people, a people after God’s own heart. We discover the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit as He guides us into all truth. We learn from the Spirit as we read, study, and meditate on God’s Word. We are inspired by the Spirit as we gather with other believers in public worship. He moves our souls through the songs we sing, testimonies shared, communion, preaching, teaching, and even offerings that we offer to the Lord.

In church, we actively observe and experience the living Christ.

KEYS TO CHRISTIAN LIVING 3

 

KEYS TO CHRISTIAN LIVING 3

Col. 3:3-4 For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your real life is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. NLT

If we are going to live a Christian life, we must set our lives on things above. This means first of all that we must die to ourselves. In order to die to self, we must surrender our lives over to Christ. We must give up our sinful living and ask the Lord to forgive us for our sins. We must surrender to Him our selfish desires. The sooner we Taccept the fact that life doesn’t revolve around us, the sooner we will be able to live for Christ. We must surrender to Christ our self-righteousness. We can never do enough or . be good enough on our own to be made righteous before God. Jesus alone is our righteousness, our holiness from God. I Cor. 1:30

To die to self means we let Jesus be Lord of our lives. We yield to Him our wills and ways. We let Him change whatever needs to be changed in us. We let Him be our guide. We let Him determine what is best for us and cooperate with Him as He works in us. We strive to be like Jesus, to be salt and light in the world.

Before we can live in glory with Jesus, we must die. Glory is the radiance of God’s presence. When we die to self, we should radiate the presence of God. How much do you radiate Christ in you? Do others see that Christ lives in you? You cannot live like the world does and be a reflection of Christ in the world. You will radiate what you put into your soul. Also, you will never radiate more than what you put into your soul.

Does your church radiate the glory of Christ? Can others from outside your church family tell that Jesus is present when they join you for worship? Can others tell that those in your church family love each other? If not, what do you need to do in order to radiate the glory of Christ in you and your church? Do you let the Word of God change you? Do you pray together? Do you strive to honor and glorify Christ and not self?

If Christ is living in us, we will light up the part of the world we live in.

KEYS TO CHRISTIAN LIVING 2

 

KEYS TO CHRISTIAN LIVING 2

Col. 3:2 Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. NLT

Have you ever thought much about what you think about during the day? Thousands of things flow through our minds daily. What captivates your thoughts the most? Are your thoughts rooted on earthly things, or do you think a lot about God and your relationship with Him? Be honest. If you are like most people, God probably is not very high on your list of things you think about.

Are you earthly-minded? If you are living only for what the world has to offer, you are earthly-minded. The things of earth are a natural part of our lives, but if they are how we measure our worth, we are earthly-minded. We need to take an honest look at what we focus on. It is a good indicator of our true relationship with Christ.

Are you heavenly-minded? A heavenly-minded person has a grateful heart. He does not take for granted life’s blessings. He is thankful for the way God has molded his life and the people in it. He is thankful for Christ’s forgiveness of his sins and lives like it. He is grateful for the patience of God with him. He lives with an attitude of gratitude every day of his life.

A heavenly-minded person lives above the circumstances of life and not under them. He knows God is in control and whatever he is going through will work out for his good. He does not waver in his trust in God.

A heavenly-minded person lives to please the Lord, not man. We live in a world full of people-pleasers. Most people will do whatever they can to be liked. Being thought of as a good person is important to most. Being good at what he does so others will be impressed drives many. Yet, it is far more important to please God than man. It is God alone whom we will answer to on Judgment Day. We strive to please those whom we love, and if we love the Lord, we will strive to please Him.

A heavenly-minded person is more concerned about holiness than quality of life. Holiness is not an option, it’s an absolute necessity if we are going to make it into heaven. Without it, no one can see God, no one can enter into God’s presence. God is holy and demands us to be holy. The only way we can be made holy is by letting Jesus be our Savior and Lord.

KEYS TO CHRISTIAN LIVING

 

KEYS TO CHRISTIAN LIVING

Col. 3:1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. NLT

We must set our hearts on things above. What does this mean in our daily lives? One of the things it means is that we are to passionately love God. Matt. 22:37 That is, we are to love God with all of our being—body, mind, and soul. In order to do that, we must consciously include God in our daily living. We find the time each day to feed our souls with His presence. We observe His handiwork and thank Him for it. We feed on God’s Word and spend time in prayer. We thank Him often for His blessings. We spend time daily talking to Him. In other words, we stay engaged with the Lord throughout our daily living. Phil. 4:8

. must consciously seek after God in our daily lives. Ps. 42:1 Do we long for God’s presence daily? Do we purposely pursue God until He is near?

We must passionately love others. Matt. 22:38 We cannot passionately love God without passionately loving others. If we love others, we will deliberately strive to help one another grow in relationship with God. This means, we will pray for them and with them. We will praise them when they do things well. We will participate in their growing process by teaching them what we have learned, listening to them as they seek answers for their questions, and partner with them as we are able as they serve the Lord.

We must passionately seek to help the lost come to a saving knowledge of Christ. This means that we must pray for them, pursue them, and preach to them. Pray for them that when they hear the Gospel message that their hearts will be open to it and accept it. Pray for those witnessing to them that they will have boldness and present the Word with love and clarity. When we have opportunity, we must go into the world and pursue them. We must do our part and share the Gospel with the lost by telling them our story, how the Lord has changed us.

Set your heart on things above. God is not willing that anyone should perish and neither should we be.

DISCOVERING GOD'S WILL 2

 

DISCOVERING GOD’S WILL 2

John 4:31-38

It is God’s will to seek and save all who are lost. II Pet. 3:8-9 We must never forget this awesome truth. Anyone who has not come to Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins is lost. This means that most people you know or rub shoulders with in life are lost. Most people think they are good enough for heaven, but they are lost. In fact, we live in a world where most people don’t know they are lost. Many claim to be spiritual, but without Jesus, they are lost. Most are so lost they don’t even care to know or hear about Jesus.

God wants us to see what He sees. (35) He sees a people who are ready to be saved. They are tired of the empty lives they are living. They are tired living meaningless and hopeless lives. They long for someone to show them by their lives that faith in Christ works.

God wants us to see a people whose time is running out. He wants us to know that this is an urgent matter. Every day draws us closer to the return of Christ. There will soon come a day in which it will be very hard for a person to be saved. And salvation will come at a great cost.

God wants us to see the urgent need to pray for the lost. Pray for the lost. Pray for God to raise up laborers for the harvest field. Go if you can, but if you can’t, pray.

It is God’s will that we do what we can do. What can we do? Some of us can preach the Word. II Tim. 4:2-5 If you can’t preach, perhaps you can teach. Deut. 6 If you can’t preach or teach, perhaps you can take the Word with you wherever you go. Is. 6:8 One of the things all of us must do is live the Word. I Cor. 11:1 Jesus commanded us to go into the world and make disciples. Matt. 28:19-20 Making disciples means that we take an invested interested in others and help them to grow in faith. The Apostle John gave us a great example to follow in I John 1:1-6. We need to share with others our story. Just tell them what Jesus has done for you, the difference He makes in your life.

It is God’s will that the church prepare the world for Christ’s coming. Who will go to heaven with us because we did God’s will for us? Who will not be in heaven with us because we failed to do God’s will for us?

No matter what God has gifted to do, do your very best at it. The eternal life of so many are at stake. Time is running out. You may be someone’s very last hope of being saved. Don’t let someone go to hell because you failed to do God’s will for you.