September Communion Service

you foreign you you foreign praise the lord he worship the lord come on bless his name honor him magnify him lift him up god is wonderful god is worthy to be praised we're so glad that we could be here we're supposed to be outside for driving service but the rain said otherwise but we know that god has blessed us to be able to do this virtually we're surrounding each other with our faith we're coming together on our devices believing god together that faith transcends time and space we believe like the centurion that lord if you would just send your word that word can go into that house we're believing this evening that god is going to send his word right where you are where healing deliverance breakthrough can happen in your life please do us a favor and share at this time and let somebody know that we're on we honor the presence of god again we're here live on sunday night 6 p.m uh thanking god that we can still come together in this format trusting and believing get your elements out uh your bread and your juice and we're going to trust and believe that as you take this meal from the worship through the word that god will begin to move in your life we're getting ready to pray getting ready to believe god with you and for you trust god and ask the holy spirit to come on us like he did with mary just like he did in genesis 1 covering the waters in the darkness and just like the holy spirit comes on the bread and causes an incarnation of change to happen we're going to believe god that the holy spirit will overshadow you and tonight you'll be just like mary and say lord be it unto me according to your word and when she said that jesus was formed inside of her that holy thing was conceived in her when she was willing to accept the reality of the supernatural possibilities of god as we take communion we're going to pray and believe that the holy spirit will overshadow those elements as we take in christ christ will be formed in us that the holy spirit will begin a transformation process this evening we've seen him do it before and he can do it again come on let's pray father we thank you for who you are you told us not to pray like the heathens like praying in a way that we don't know you or you don't know us but lord you told us to pray to our father to pray with the mindset that he already knows that we have neither what we have need of you told us in your word to pray like our father has been searching us and knows us intimately and prayer is not a new thing but prayer is just a reminder to the father it's not telling him stuff that he doesn't know but just a reminder of those things that he does and father we thank you that we can come to you now we appreciate you that when we pray we're going to sound just like jesus thank you lord that we pray according to your will you hear us and you said in your word that you will grant us of our petitions you said that you would be close to us you said that you would never leave us nor forsake us you said in your word that you would be with us always you said in your word that the fullness of the godhead dwells inside of jesus and that same jesus dwells in us thank you for dwelling inside of us in us around us and through us we don't have to ask you to show up because you're already here but we do ask for a manifestation of your presence a manifestation of your power we believe in your supernatural power this evening the father everybody that's watching this evening you will let your power fall on them now holy spirit overshadow us just like you did creation in genesis 1 and just like you did with mary and we say those words be it unto us according to your word let your kingdom come let your will be done in us as it is in heaven holy spirit do what eyes have not seen and ears have not heard you said it's not by might nor by power but it's by your spirit says the lord birth something new in us this evening holy spirit have your way bless the worship and the word save somebody tonight heal somebody tonight release life health and strength we trust you now and we pray this in jesus name amen god bless you all please share worship god believe god brother felton is coming with some worship [Music] [Music] though the storms keep on raising in my life though sometimes it's hard to tell the night from day still that hope lies within is reassured [Music] as i keep my eyes upon the distant shore i know he'll lead me safely to that blessed place [Music] but if the storm don't cease and if the wind [Music] keeps on blowing in my life my soul has been [Music] though the storm keep on raging in my life [Music] and sometimes it's hard to tell the night from day [Music] still that hope that lies within is reassured as i keep my eyes upon the distant shore i know he'll lead me safely to that blessing place he had prepared [Music] don't cease [Music] and [Music] my soul has been [Music] [Music] i realize that sometimes in this life we're gonna be tossed by the waves and the currents that seem so fierce but in the world of god i've got an anchor that keeps me steadfast unmovable despite the tide but here the storm cease and just in case the wind keeps on blowing in my life my [Music] is [Music] he [Music] my [Music] [Music] i shall not sway because he hold me back the darker day the clouds in the sky i know it's all right but jesus is [Music] my soul my soul has been hankered in love [Music] praise the lord brother felt real always does what he does and does it well like no one other yeah bless the lord for it thank our musicians once again for doing such a phenomenal job doing our communion celebration yeah yeah had to make a pinch hitting yeah last minute last minute i didn't expect you back the rain yeah this is what it is god said we're gonna come inside today yeah that's the law yes god's good anyway yeah all righty um let's rock and roll we got some things to work through we want to take our time through certain parts okay just in case there's some new information for people and uh we want you to really be open to what god is going to say to us this evening because um we have to attack something a mindset my mind hopefully will start a positive change let's go to first corinthians 11 and we're going to look at verse 24 and we're going to jump down to 28 through 30. first corinthians 11 verse 24 then we're going to go down to 28 through 30. now um he says when he had given thanks he break it and said take eat this is he didn't say it's like nope or you know imaginative this is yes my body yes so when we see the bread we're supposed to see the body of christ right which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me let's jump down to uh verse 28 okay but let a man examine himself and let him eat of that bread drink of the cup read that edith and drinketh unworthily and eat unworthy ethan drink a damnation to himself why not discerning the lord's body yeah for this cause many are weak and sickly among you in many sleep many have lost strength yep become sick and some have even died how serious god's takes not discerning discerning the lord's body yeah now we're going to pick up where we left off at last month okay and just some quick review sacraments you hear that term sacramental yeah sacraments um there are signs absolutely that accomplish what the sign signifies so a sacrament is a sign that accomplishes what the sign signifies break that down for us so god is moving in the sign okay so if the sign of baptism represents cleansing right when you go down in the water okay god is actually cleansing you in that moment also okay so it's not just me getting in some water because if that was the case every time you took a bath you get cleaned up something supernatural happens yes in the moment okay because god is moving to do what the sign signifies so he's doing what the sign represents so when jesus says this is my body he's showing us that we're yes eating a cracker or some bread but in reality we're partaking of christ right because god is doing what the sign represents we're eating christ we're taking him in so what you are inspiring us to do is a shift in the way we think and approach community yes so you're seeing this could be suggesting that it has been reduced to a wafer and some and a cup when actually it's a sacrament which represents what god desires to perform yes okay yes so i'm coming not for that i'm coming to communion for the move of god yes because i want the sign to do what it's supposed to absolutely so if the blood washes us when we drink of the cup right we really want god to wash us in that moment absolutely so so i know this is a lot of orthodox theology but it's biblical come on so so it's doing it so we have to see so so paul in first corinthians 11 he's showing us that the body of christ it's not just the meal because when we went over it last week yeah the con excuse me the context of this is how we treat each other in first corinthians 11. absolutely so not only is the bread the body of christ we are the body christ the body of christ so now how i approach the meal is important and how we approach each other is important okay because if i see you as the body of christ yeah i'm careful how i treat you i discern i discern the lord's body absolutely so is this also with us taking in the bread and if the bread is the sacrament that symbolizes uh an accomplishment or god moving does that bread taking in and that wine taken also signify the indwelling of christ in us the presence of god in us absolutely yes okay so that's why um a lot of denial you see they'll call it the host presence absolutely because a host embodies something and you're hosting something so it's the host meal right so christ comes in the meal so we take in the bread we take in christ and when we take in each other yeah we're supposed to take in christ fellowship right there fellowship yes sir and something you've been talking about with the social media piece is what are we showing to the world are people taking in christ when they interact with us so so i think we would treat each other better when we see the jesus in each other because in acts 9 paul was persecuting the church right he was killing christians yeah putting him in jail yeah and jesus did not say to paul we went over this last month why are you persecuting them why are you persecuting me yes sir because if you're messing with them you're messing with me absolutely so we are the body of christ and we are god's church now here it is okay what is the church the church is the greek word ecclesia right it's not just the called out ones but it also means the gathering or the assembling yeah of the people of god okay when you look up this word in the greek the nature and purpose of this word is emphasized more than a location purpose purpose so meaning why we come together okay is more important than where okay we come together okay it doesn't say you know location's not important it's just talking about the purpose of why we come okay is the most important so uh-oh whether we gather in the building when we open or when we have driving service outside the coming together is the most important thing right not where we come together so watch this so god has blessed us with a place to come together so i love how he makes it convenient but he's saying don't forsake the assembling because once again not only have the elements of communion been reduced in their significance through tradition but where we the assembling itself is not just a natural gathering the assembling itself is a coming together of his body yes and perhaps we would be more enthusiastic well maybe the flip side of that maybe the fact that we're not more enthusiastic about it is because we're not discerning when the body comes together we're looking at it as a natural coming together and not that spiritual thing that's happening yep yeah okay and that's why the word focuses on the intent or the reason that yeah why we're doing why we're doing okay the spiritual spiritual reason why we do it so the god is calling us to the assembly and we shouldn't forsake the assembly together no matter where it is right so whether we're inside or outdoors or outdoors yes sir uh-oh which means saturday should be a little more filled up oh yeah because the it's not about it's about the assembly yeah so god is trying to take us out of how we want to do church into how he sees church wow which is communal and not individual yes sir it's going to be tight in here for a little bit okay just stay with us so so so god's trying to shape why we come to church and that's what we're going to talk about we come together for a purpose we assemble for a reason the purpose is to reveal and realize the church what i mean by that reveal and realize the church we come together to reveal the physical body of christ so when we're together if people walk into the church they see the physical yeah they're supposed to see the physical body of christ okay and realize realizing watch this so we come to reveal the physical body of the church and realize or experience why the church was created okay so when we come we're showing the world we're the body of christ absolutely and then the body of christ experiences why the church was created in the first place okay which means i don't come just to hear my favorite song or i don't come just to hear the favorite message i come so i can experience why god created the church in the first place my mind because the purpose is important so we come to become what we're baptized in okay to represent to represent that okay to the world that we are the bible in the body of christ there you go all right we're setting you up for something y'all so we don't come for our own individual needs you're messing with us i know you mess with me we don't come to get my deliverance oh my healing my breakthrough cause god is not uh you correct me from wrong here come on now all through scripture god's not calling a person he's calling a people yes sir and he may use a person to call those people yes sir but as we said earlier moses is a part of the yes sir go ahead i know you could no go here this is wonderful so so when we come for the whole god starts moving on the individuals so do you think that um the dilemma for the contemporary church is that we somewhere in our consciousness we have not shifted entirely away from that the church is just a physical place if we understood that this is the light sitting on a hill a city that we gather in so that the kingdom of god is represented when the body of christ comes together with the fullness of christ being available to us because if if the sacraments represent the move of god then the assembling in the right mindset represents a move of god okay because if it's true of the body it's also true of the body so we would be more excited if we had this expectation of breakthrough healing and deliverance because we are absolutely becoming at that moment what the lord died for in the first place yes okay yes okay so so so we have to shift our mindset and unfortunately it's in some of our gospel music you know a lot of it is about my healing my this my that yeah when god wants to start doing some corporate moves because again he's always calling and using and moving a people that's why the hymns are so powerful yes it's always our collective yes sir okay so let just in case you don't think we got no bible let's go to matthew 14. they matthew 14. okay and this is just one of a few scriptures that jesus does this matthew 14. let's look at verse 13. matthew 14 13 it says when jesus heard of it talking about john the death of john the baptist he departed thence by shipping to a desert place apart and when the people had heard thereof they followed him on foot out of the city my mind and watch this without them having to ask for it all they did was showed up as a company of people jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them and he healed their sick wow all they did was come together jesus saw them had compassion and start they didn't ask and say lord can you heal us the move of god happened the move of god happened when the people came seeking jesus so the response from heaven when we come together what heaven would like to do is respond with the supernatural absolutely and here's the so we become a sign yeah oh yeah good that accomplishes what it's yes sir be cool oh my goodness and notice from the text y'all they didn't come seeking they came seeking him yes sir imagine that every church in the world came to the building focused on that focused on him yeah let's all come together not focus on getting our what we need but focus on him let's chase jesus let's worship him god will start doing stuff that you didn't even ask for so it's not merely a social event it's a spiritual event yes and perhaps focus or the purpose for which we're coming is not allowing god to do as many miracles as he would like to do yes how can we say this we're coming with a knife and a fork to church ready to receive yeah but are we coming to give to god worship honor adoration well if you're gonna say that we got it we got to talk about something we talked about this morning and that is has the focus of ministry become the flesh or the soul and not the spirit because all you have to do for the flesh and the soul is excite it yes so we are in danger of having soulish worship because if if the if the fruit of our worship does not move us closer to god then worship has failed praise has failed preaching has failed so we have to be careful that we are not validating a move of god based on the reaction of people's flesh and their soul absolutely because when the spirit is touched the move of god is the proper response from heaven yep and jesus did is what you've been saying this past year a demonstrated miracles absolutely people could see folks getting healed in the moment they were measurable they were measured they were measurable perfect put him in here on the bed he walked out on his own that's measurable measurable yes sir so and watch this the bible says they followed him they chased him one of the things i love about our church as structured as we are if god moves we let him linger yeah so it's not what time it is let's go let's let god do what he wants to do in this moment and watch this it's gonna hurt some folks if you gotta stay a little later for god to do it rather than it's one o'clock ain't service over yet if god is still you're moving to start something i'm not i'm not for unnecessary long church no no but when god is moving and it's necessary you shouldn't feel an urgency to leave when the move of god is happening but perhaps the problem is discernment of the lord's movement perhaps we're not aware of this is a window that god has opened for us and all of us need to look into it yes yep okay let's go to genesis 18 man just just in case so um if i say this i might get ahead great so so is the lack of participation nationally in communion because we do not understand the significance of the moment that god has ordained it to be yes so we really are looking for a move of god but perhaps miss his visitation because every time we partake of the meal we're partaking of his presence but i know that's not most people's focus if they haven't been taught that yeah yeah so it is it is not that we are chastising anyone tonight the bible says how shall you believe in whom you have not heard and how shall they hear unless a preacher tell them so this is about informing the people of god so they can believe and watch this and shift from what for many is a social event with spiritual overtones to a spiritual event with social overtones yeah yep okay genesis 18 verse 14. just one more example oh excuse your old testament example come on man now this is when god shows up to abraham and sarah and they start talking saying look we know you're old you're going to have a baby sarah laughs verse 14 god says is anything too hard or too wonderful for the lord yeah watch the wording here at the time appointed i will return unto thee according to the time of life and sarah shall have a son now this this phrase time appointed yes sir is the time when god calls his people together for worship to reveal his will my mind say it again it's when god calls his people together for worship to reveal his will it's the same word for an assembly yeah a festival or a convocation yes sir at an appointed time yes sir so when god chooses to call his people together god starts to move so he says at the appointed time when the assembling a time of assembly that i call you're going to have this baby oh pastor nick you just explained why two-thirds of every congregation comes to church late yeah they don't discern that the appointed time is a time when god wants to meet with them yep that's so god cannot produce in the congregation nor in the individuals what he desires to produce because once again we're not discerning the divine moment that the holy ghost has called the church together yep man so so this is beautiful thank you he's beautiful here's the thing y'all watch this abraham and sarah were coming together before with no results but when god called them for an appointed time yeah an appointed assembly this time when i call you to come together you're gonna bear some fruit at the appointed time i know it didn't happen last week the week before but just keep on coming to the appointed time and watch god move in your life because when i call you together i get in the business in the assembly so the coming together is supposed to produce results the appointed time and the barrenness of the past is overcome in that moment yes what was ever broken in the past is healed or fixed or made to work in that moment yes sir so so anytime we're called together anytime the body is called on to display its unity god's response is to do something miraculous and unexpected absolutely and if we knew this we would run the church like you said on time because why we're not coming for no frivolous reason we're like the people in matthew we're coming seeking jesus that's why you can enter his gates with thanksgiving yep get into courts with praise and be thankful yes sir and the people jesus wanted to be by himself and the people were like ah jesus you're not going we're not gonna let you get away you're not messing this up they went where he was they stalked they stalked him yeah cause they just wanted to be around him yeah and if you read the rest of it after he healed them he did the feeding of the five thousand in the same chapter absolutely two miracles from seeking him in the moment in that moment in that moment healing and provision so the church is about the assembly yep it's a sign of a deeper meaning it's a sign if it's a sign it means it's sacramental yes sir so coming to church is sacramental it's sacred lord have mercy it's not casual it's not casual god wouldn't ask us to come together just for something casual no it's sacred i want to do something i want you seek me i want to do some stuff imagine he's telling you to overcome whatever you see as the inconvenience of the invitation so when service is being held god is inviting us to a move of god absolutely absolutely oh my goodness oh my goodness the sacraments oh my goodness are signs that accomplish what it signifies yes sir so if coming to church is sacramental it means we come together focused on accomplishing what the church signifies yeah god is giving us now through this teaching a mindset for assembling okay so whenever we come to church our mind has to be i'm coming to be a part of the body i'm coming to realize or experience why god created the church and that that is this teaching is going to address when the hebrew writer says forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is as some have reasoned that it's not important that it's not spiritual that it it's not necessary but we can't be more responsive to an invitation to a reception than we are to a move of god yes and perhaps we're coming first off let's give everybody a break not knowing yes yeah not knowing not knowing yeah but not even discerning that something spiritual god wants to do for us for me because he heals the everybody in the crowd gets what they need when he feeds the 5 000 everyone's need is addressed on the level of their hunger yes sir yes because some had more some had less but they all had what they had they needed and all it took was a little child-like faith to sacrifice the seed called the lads lunch and everybody yeah gets it yep yeah yeah you're right we're not trying to be harsh we're just trying to teach you give some knowledge going back to something you've said for years we're responsible for atmosphere absolutely when they came to seek jesus jesus did not create the atmosphere their faith is coming together absolutely created the atmosphere for him to do what he has to do absolutely and it fits with the fact that he's the the bible says the earth has been given to mankind that means this is our jurisdiction of operation that means he could set the atmosphere but now that he's given us authority in the atmosphere it's our responsibility so and along that responsibility comes the ability to discern when god wants to do something supernatural for us so now we have placed assembling together as if it's not necessary in a relationship with god and then wonder why there's no profound moves of god in our lives yes i know you got the phone calls i got them we're just saying this just put it out here when the church was closed i got calls the ones that weren't coming wished when they needed it i wished it was a yes sir and maybe god is trying to remind us in the season when the churches have been closed the importance of coming how precious it is especially when you need it when the world is stressing you out you want to be around the people you want to find the secret place yes yes so what does the church signify we're going to go through the rest next month um number one the body of christ okay we fulfill the mystical union of individuals becoming one okay let's go to first corinthians 12. first corinthians 12. and we're going to look at verse 12. first corinthians 12 12. first corinthians 12 12. we're going to look at 12 and 13. it says for as the body is one all of us are one and have many members just like you have one body in different parts yes sir and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is christ you've got hands feet legs all that make up one body yeah so also is christ for by one spirit we all we we all baptized into one are all baptized into one body whether it be jew or gentile bond or free we've been all made to drink into one spirit yeah so the body of christ is individuals becoming one god sees his church as a body so when we come together again it's not about the individual it's about the whole right scripturally y'all worship is communal real worship is done in community that's right yes we can worship alone but it's more powerful together and we can go through scripture from genesis to revelation how god created a worship community yeah so yeah i can be at my house if i need to worship god at home because you know i don't i don't think i see any pictures in the bible that halo individual worship in heaven the community of heaven is praising and worshiping god yep yep because where two or three are gathered together down here yeah he is in the list yeah so you know not saying that you know you might have a worship moment you sit home watch tv something break out yeah but it's more powerful together because it's supposed to be in a community supposed to be corporate corporate so when we come to church we come to fulfill the mystical union that we're all one whether you're jew you're greek bond free white black dis that or other which means heaven has to look like noah's ark i mean there are churches look at noah's ark a little bit of everything in the art that's right all dwelling together that's right in the same building that's right so for the body of christ yeah next thing we're the bride of christ it's gonna be ephesians 5. okay and while we're turning there i think the the theme of unity as it relates to power is part of what we're talking about today yeah yeah so so it doesn't matter i don't want somebody to get discouraged because you know denominational separation um people worshiping differently in different places we don't have to solve a national problem how we solve the national problem is to solve the local problem so make sure that where we're having church where you're because you're not a part of our church where you are fellowshipping that you are in a place or part of a place where the church when it comes together comes with a mission yes comes with a strategy comes with an anticipation comes focused on i'm going to assemble today because jesus is going to show up and do what he promised to do sir so when that happens pastor nick does that take the struggle out of receiving oh yeah because we're coming because when you read in matthew i think it was he simply saw the crowd he just went and started moving compassion start moving yeah we because they were coming chasing him anticipating him moving on and pressing on him they were panting after panting yes sir yearning for him imagine he came to church like that yearning to experience god just wanting to be with him thirsty in need of water yes yes sir and when you got him all the stuff just starts breaking out around the room because the people are seeking after god and in that context it is not so much and nothing's wrong with alcohol yeah but what i what's always excited me was when people come up afterwards i got healed during this part of the service i got delivered during this part of the service because because in the collective in the unity god sees the opportunity to move and and watch this the maturity levels of the people is not the most important thing the focus of the people yes it's the most important yeah focus on him so we're the body of christ we're the bride of christ yes sir all right let's kind of come around the mountain now exchange 5 25 okay husbands love your wives even as christ also loved the church and gave himself for it okay so paul's using the husband and wife example of christ in the church example he's the husband we are the bride right 26 that he may sanctify it now you know he's using spiritual language here because human beings will have the ability to sanctify somebody else right and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word so we're the word is sacramental because when the word is going forth we're being cleaned by the water of the word yep so just coming for the worship but not the word you're missing the cleansing in that moment or coming for the word not to worship you're missing you're missing the moment he says 27 that he might present it to himself a glorious church not have a spot or wrinkle or any such thing that should be holy and without blemish so the bible gives us the picture that the church is the bride of christ yeah so you can't love god and hate the church you can't love jesus and hate the church because you're loving the head but not loving the body yes yes and even though the body has issues is what we have and we got to love the body because if i'm oh lord say it if i'm complaining about the body that i'm a part of yes sir that's an indication not just of them but also absolutely absolutely because if you've got a stomach ache your whole body feels well one is elevated yep one is lowered with another so there's the unity concept again we're the body of christ with that which represents the move of god on earth we are to be the corporate structure that represents the kingdom of god so the government of god this will be represented in god's church yes yes okay y'all hold on stay with us here now my mind a part of the relationship with the groom to the bride in scripture is surrounded by food absolutely let's go to matthew 26 matthew 26 and you'll see this principle run throughout scripture matthew 26 look at verse 27. now you know we've been teaching like this on communion for over a year i bet you people didn't think there was that much to it i didn't think it was just i ain't gonna go sit there hold you okay i'm learning as we're going through these things man this is amazing i mean it's something matthew 26 verse 26 low i come yeah in the volume in the volume of the book you cannot escape you can't escape it we at matthew 26 26 okay as they were eating jesus took bread blessed it break it gave disciples to take again this is my body took the cup gave thanks gave it to them saying drink all of it for this is my brother the new testament he said for you for many for the remission of sins pastor nick he's standing there telling them this is my body yes i need you to get this yeah this is me yes because i need you in a spiritual mindset so i can do in you what i desire to do yep because he's getting ready to leave oh so he leaves them something visible yeah yes so when they see this they see him yes they think about it remember remember yeah 29 but i'm saying to you i will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until the day when i drink it new with you in my father's kingdom so jesus is preparing them for a future meal that he's going to have with them but he says until then take communion take the eucharist so communion is a prophetic meal and the holy ghost is catering the media yes yes the holy ghost is the caterer oh my goodness right the field prophesies the marriage supper of the lamb yes sir let's go to revelations 19 revelation 19. revelation 19. revelation 19 and let's look at verse number uh six okay revelation 19 6. he says and i heard as with a voice of a great multitude as voice of many waters as the voice of many thunderings saying alleluia for the lord god omnipotent reigneth again there's that many voices not one individual yeah corporate he says let us us us be glad yes sir and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife have made herself ready the church has made herself ready ready prepared for this marriage right and oh and to her was granted that she would be arrayed and fine linen clean and white for the fine linen is what the is the righteousness of the sound and he saith unto me right blessed are are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the lamb yes sir and he said that to me these are the true sayings of god which means that there's going to come a time in the future when we're going to eat a meal in the presence of jesus himself yes sir we'll move from the sign to the reality yes sir but until then we eat this prophetically yes sir to celebrate the time when we actually absolutely physically wonderful which tells us something uh oh y'all the church yeah and the meal were never meant to be separate the two go hand absolutely and hand but we've separated separated they're supposed to go together i was talking to someone and there are actually churches that i know of personally that there really is no corporate prayer i found that to be amazing that there are no alter moments for deliverance and healing it almost has been in some places reduced to a natural moment rather than a spiritual one so stay with me a second so we have an altar call and what used to amaze me we don't have this problem here much in them but what used to amaze me is we would call an altar call and i would look out and two-thirds of the people would still be sitting in their seats but as the church learned and as they matured i saw more and more people coming to the altar discerning the lord's body discerning his presence in the moment and designing desiring to dine in the moment to dwell in the moment to experience the moment yeah so part of this is a matter of people not knowing yeah but the other part is a problem of people knowing and deciding what's not necessary according to the word of god yeah we've we've reduced god to our comfort absolutely rather than coming up absolutely you know absolutely right we reason our way out of it yeah yeah so the church and the meal were never meant to be separated first corinthians 11 okay verse 18. first corinthians 11 18. got it uh first of all when you come together in the ecclesia yeah in the church i hear that there be divisions among you and i partly believe it got it so paul is saying when you come together you're coming to the assembly you're coming together because verse 17 says you're not coming for the better you're coming for the worst you hit the wrong purpose and when you come to the assembly when you come to the calling i hear that a division is among you and then he starts laying out this whole principle about how to take the communion meal wow because the ecclesia the assembly must come together to partake in the lord's supper but isn't it more about attitude than anything how are you taking it the mindset the purpose the mind yeah the purpose for coming together he's reminding them why they should be coming together because so he's telling us to come with a sacramental mindset to fulfill the purpose of the church and the moment of the meal yeah we're supposed to be united around the meal so when we have communion the people of god should be coming together okay let me go to first i'm going to save let me say just to build this up the meal is the place right where the body practices oneness around one bread yes sir and one cup central focus central focus yes sir let's look at first corinthians 10 17 and we're almost done y'all y'all stay with us first corinthians 10 17. for we being many are one bread and one body why for we are all partakers of that one bread that's right he's calling us bread which makes sense he's the bread yeah so we're not totally convinced of our own identity in him yeah he's calling us one bread amazing to participate around one bread so we have the assembly becomes one bread around one meal my my mind so if someone doesn't participate in the meeting they're practicing a disconnection yes sir the body of christ is supposed to partake in the body of christ that's what paul is saying yeah let's go to john 6 and we'll be done john 6 53. john 6 53 [Applause] last scripture we're done john 6 53 okay and this will lead into us taking communion praying believing god then said then jesus said unto them verily verily i say unto you except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you so if we're not participating in the meal he's saying if you're not willing to participate in eating me you can't have me whoso eateth my flesh drinketh my blood hath eternal life and i will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed he that eateth my flesh drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and i in him so there is a hosting a mutual coming together yeah i'm eating to take jesus in yeah as the living father has sent me and i live by the father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me right this is that bread which came down from heaven not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead but he that eateth his bread shall live forever my mind jesus is talking in sacramental terms yeah that if you eat of me and drink of me you partake of me and he's not saying you're not alive he's saying you don't have his life yes pastor nick do you understand what you're saying it's hard to be a real christian and not take communion it's impossible according to jesus come on now it's impossible according to jesus the church for years you can't say i love jesus and not do communion yup the church for years from its inception yeah always believe that if you don't participate in the meal you're not a part of the body you're disconnecting yourself from real life my mind go ahead we've reduced salvation down to just say a prayer and that's it with salvation's a journey that can start with a prayer but salvation is a journey where i choose to partake in christ i think the problem is when we repent we don't realize that we have opened the door to the supernatural to the kingdom and that and that uh continued repentance keeps the door open that we get engaged in the supernatural by declaring christ as savior and declaring that he has saved us so in the context the proper reaction to that is to want to commune with him and if we have not done that then we have seen our salvation as an event and not a lifestyle yep yep because with taking communion he says you receive my life with his life comes healing yeah deliverance abundant life blessing forgiveness so when we come together we assemble as one body to become his body seated in heavenly places in christ jesus above all principalities and powers yeah man not just for a few of us but all of the body receives life what are we trying to say when we come together with a corporate mindset we'll start seeing god move corporately more and more my mind as you participate in the meal because the bride and the meal in scripture are usually always together absolutely and to not partake in the meal means you can't be a part of the bride my mind so when jesus says you come and receive life that's healing that's all of him everything that comes with him so when i take communion that's how deliverance and healing starts breaking out because i'm not just eating a cracker and drinking some juice i'm taking in christ but here's here's a dilemma for the modern church many churches have placed communion as an unwanted necessity making it a part of something else rather than giving it the special place it should be so we we attach it on to a service so we don't hold people more than 10 minutes because if you have a separate one not in our church if you have a separate one people won't come because most of us have not been taught the significance of that particular service and the divine possibilities that are available to god's people when we come it is really not about just you know snapping that wafer yeah and drinking a little juice that's part of the revelation if you will or the move of god that we should anticipate when we come to communion so healing's available breakthrough's available prosperity's available you name it imagine the excitement we would come the faith that we would come with if we know i'm going to communion tonight and when as i pray for my brother who's ill or my mother who's not doing well i'm expecting god to move in that situation yeah yeah so we run to the meal yeah partake of it and watch god move as though we're hungry as we're hungry yep so it's it's we come together for that so god wants to give us all life and it comes through participating with them abiding and sharing with them and before we really move on to the rest you need to give the lord your life it's a great night i mean this was all evangelical yeah all through it oh yeah walking with him coming into a relationship coming as a part of the community of faith if you need to be saved you need to give the lord your life if you want to make that connection to him tonight is a great night to come on in and make this connection to jesus christ to see yeah so just like he said you could be alive but you don't have his life don't have his life our parents give us our physical life god gives us spiritual life his life that more abundant more abundant life yeah that eternal life parents give us temporary life god gives us eternal life yes sir it's a great night to connect to eternal life and eternal life doesn't begin when you die and go to heaven eternal life starts the moment you start walking with him eternal life comes in you as you partake of his lifestyle lifestyle come on and join the journey jesus walks by disciples says hey y'all follow me and you'll become he invites them on a journey with him and heaven is the culmination of the journey yes psalm 23 is a journey to the lord's house but i gotta walk with the shepherd till i get to his house walk with him doesn't matter your lifestyle before this moment the bible says whosoever shall call upon him shall be saved whosoever has done whatsoever if you just come to him you can be saved this evening come on give your life to the lord come by faith believing that jesus can save you your transformation can begin this evening if you need to rededicate your life you walked away from god you disconnected it's a great night to come back into the assembly you thought you can do it without church and most people that i know who thought they could do it without church they said i'm not coming to church tomorrow i was going to worship at home all of them end up in the backslidden conditions oh yeah because you can't can't do it by yourself you can't do it by yourself it goes hand in hand no salvation is not called it's god calling us to a community not me getting saved that's it yeah come on back rededicate your life to the lord come back to the community of believers are we imperfect yes but we serve the perfect one yeah and we strive for perfection so come on there's a bunch of hypocrites in church join the club because everybody everybody yeah you know has our hypocrites in some way shape or form and nobody is everything they should be nobody nobody so come on uh join a bunch of flawed people rededicate your life to the lord and uh make that commitment you wanna need to be saved or dedicate your life put your name in the comments section someone from our team is there a link is actually in there also you can click on that and tonight you can make that decision if you want to connect to the church connect the bethlehem church or transformation church in new jersey whether you're distant or you're local we'd love for you to be a part of this body this is a part of this assembly this ecclesia come on and re connect to this church it matters where you go to church before god created a person he created a place and adam didn't have a choice god just put him there that's all i don't think you can pick a good church out of the yellow you know the yellow pages you know you come to him yeah god calls you to a place yeah and everything you need is in that place if you would learn to tend till it and work it yeah come on in connect to this church if you're distant we have a virtual church called our connections church and uh even when we open that'll continue to have that keep on going still be an ongoing relationship come on and make that connection this evening for the first time need to be saved we dedicate your life church home make that connection while you're doing that we're getting ready to give yeah don't log off because we're going to say a healing prayer deliverance prayer as we take the meal sure you want to be here for the worship because we're believing god that this evening as we take him in we're going to take in the life of christ so as always we sow during this time there there is no communion without the sacrifice of christ jesus the man of god sacrifices something precious which is his life and because of that the harvest of his sacrifice is the body of christ so he understood his responsibility for setting in action that which he wanted to receive he wanted us as his body it is nothing more than the seed principle to sacrifice with expectation that what the seed has been assigned to do will reveal itself in my life the bible says the word is seed it's time now go to the icon sow your seed make it precious make it sacrificial what is that pastor something you'd rather keep for yourself something you had dedicated to something else it can't be something that you don't feel wouldn't release it has to be something that matters to you go to the icon so you see and watch god move yeah all right so get your elements out we want to take this and we're going to pray and we're going to believe god together so jesus says didn't say it was like my body says it is my body the holy spirit coming upon this this host bread the presence of god in it sacrament sacrament yes it's doing what it signifies yes sir the bible says he broke it and his broken body makes us whole fake then the same thing with the cup it washes us it cleanses us get ready for god to wash you and clean you as you drink it take it drink all of this father we thank you for this time we appreciate you for this moment we thank you for what you've taught us we appreciate you now because we have received your presence we have received you in the meal and father we pray that your life your deliverance your healing your breakthrough power will come on your people start it from the inside out when we took it in by faith we've received all of you the god that heals the god that delivers the god that helps the god that fills every empty place we receive it now we believe it we expect it we trust you we worship you now we glorify you now holy spirit do what the sign signifies and bring healing into the life of everybody that partook of this meal we thank you for the life that's come we praise you now and we believe you in jesus name amen if you receive that worship him right now glorify him right now come on fellas worship him right now oh yes jesus [Music] yes jesus love me oh yes jesus he loves me [Music] [Music] tells me so [Music] tells me so [Music] you

Channel: Bethany Baptist Church

Views: 133

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Bethany, baptist, church, David Evans

Id: e_EDKsKYb2M

Length: 74min 5sec (4445 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021