I want to start in First Corinthians, chapter 11, verse twenty three, and I'm going to read this to you from the English standard version of the Bible in it. And then what I want to do is I want to share with you the word of God. The Bible says faith comes from hearing and hearing from God's word. So as you hear God's word today, faith is going to rise in your life. Faith is going to grow in your heart. And then we're going to activate our faith by taking communion together and experience the benefits or the miracles of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Now, there's a really before I get to this verse, in First Corinthians 11, I'm just reminded of a verse in Leviticus, chapter 17, verse 11, and it says this The life of the flesh is in the blood. The life of the flesh is in the blood. And so if you don't have any blood in your body, you're going to die. Right? The life of the flesh is in the blood are life flows through our blood. The life of the flesh is in the blood. Now, remember that Jesus came to this earth as God in the flesh, right, Emmanuel God with us or God in the flesh. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And the word became flesh and blood. Right. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. So Jesus is God's flesh. When He came to the Earth, he's God's flesh. And where where does the where does the life of the flesh flow through? The life of the flesh is in the blood. And so when Jesus came to the earth, the only way that Jesus could get God's life into our lives and God's life into this Earth is through shedding his blood. Since the life of the flesh is in the blood, Jesus blood had to be shed so that God's life could flow into our lives and God's life could flow into this earth. Does this make sense? So far so. So Jesus couldn't just come to the Earth and then die some any, any old way. He had his blood had to be shed because by shedding his blood, God's life flowed through his blood. God's healing, God's forgiveness, God's miracle power. So the blood of Jesus is not just a symbol. The blood of Jesus is how the life of God flows into our lives. So that's why Jesus said, if you want if you want a part of me, you've got to eat my flesh and drink my blood. He was saying, because that's where the life is. That's how we're going to experience the life of God. So when we take communion, we're eating his flesh, we're drinking his blood, we're receiving his life. So whatever his life consists of, when we partake of it in communion, our life begins to partake of what his life is made of. His life is made of love. We're partaking of his love. His life is made of of health. We're partaking of his healing and his health. His life, his life is made up of mercy. We're partaking of his mercy. His life is is this flows with blessing. We're partaking of his blessing. Whatever he is, we are partaking of it when we take communion. Does that make sense? So the life of the flesh is in the blood. So when Jesus blood was shed, God's life was made available to us. And when his blood washed away our sins, his life came into our life and we were born again. And now it's no longer I who live right, Paul said in Galatians two twenty. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. So now I'm. I'm living God's life through me. God's life is living through me. So I'm not really it's not it's Christianity. It's not really us living for God as much as us living from God. God lives inside of us in his life is flowing through us. So when we speak God's word, God's life is flowing out of us. When we pray for the sick, God's healing is flowing out of us. When we when we forgive people, God's forgiveness is flowing out of our out of our lives. You see, God's life is now in us. And every time we take communion, we're we're activating that life. We're plugging in to God's power. And I just I wanted you to see that from a a different point of view than just sort of taking the ritual of communion. I don't want us to take communion as a ritual or just as a religious tradition. But I want you to experience the power that comes through the body and blood of Jesus Christ. So that's why I got you in First Corinthians, chapter 11, verse twenty three four. I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it in. He said, this is my body, which is for you. Now, this is a way this is one of the ways to experience God's break through power in your life is that even in the night that he was betrayed, it was the very night he was being betrayed. And what do we see him doing? Crying and complaining about being betrayed? No whining about being a victim because he's being betrayed? No. What do we see Jesus doing in the night? He's being betrayed. We see him taking the bread and giving God thanks for taking the bread and giving God thinks this is a great lesson for each of us to learn is that no matter what is happening in our lives, we should take the bread and give God thanks. We should take communion and give God thanks. We should give God thanks. Even in the very night we're being betrayed, sometimes your health might betray you. Sometimes a loved one might betray you. Sometimes your mind might betray you. Your emotions might betray you. Your finances might betray you. But what we need to do is no matter what night it is, especially if it's a night where you're being betrayed, especially, it's a night when you're when you're struggling and there's some things that are trying to overwhelm your soul. Give God thanks and take communion. There's something powerful. Sometimes we're just waiting for a life of peace before we sit at the table. But we have to realize that God wants us to have peace in the midst of the storm. He said he'll prepare a table for us in the presence of our enemies. We're waiting for all our enemies to scatter before we have peace. And God is saying no. He's saying take communion in the presence of your enemies. Eat at the table in the presence of your enemies. Praise God in the presence of your enemies. Praise God for what Jesus did on the cross. Because no matter what your enemy is, no matter what is coming against you, what God has done for you is far greater than what anyone can do against you. God is going to undo or outdo whatever somebody else did, and God is going to undo or outdo whatever you did. God is going to undo or outdo whatever the devil did, because that's how good God is a man. So as we get ready to take communion, Jesus said he said he gave thanks and he broke the bread and he said, This is my body, which is for you to do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way he took the cup and after supper he said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So there he he takes the limits off of how often we can do this, because he leaves it up to us as often as you do it, do it in remembrance of him. So when we take communion, we're not supposed to remember our sins. We're supposed to remember him. We're not supposed to remember our pain. We're supposed to remember his healing. We're not supposed to remember our fears of sister. Remember our faith in him. It's in other words, we're supposed to remember what he did on the cross. We're not supposed to focus on what we've done. We're supposed to focus on how he did what we did. Whatever you did, God has out done it and God has overcome it and God has paid the price for it. So we're looking to the cross. Every time we take communion, we're remembering what Jesus did. That's why I wanted to spend some time teaching you about it, because I don't want you to just do it as a ritual and get nothing out of it. I want you to do it the way God says to, because it's going to release power in your life, because every time people took a meal in the Bible, there was something major that happened. They took a meal in the presence of their enemies and they had peace in the presence of their enemies. Jesus, the Bible says two of his disciples took bread together with Jesus, not recognizing him. And as soon as he broke the bread, they recognized him. They they became aware of his presence. He was with them the whole time, but they became aware of his presence when they took communion. So Jesus already paid for our sins and paid for our healing and paid to set us free from the curse of the law. But when we take communion, we are we're realizing or we're recognizing what he did. We're activating the power of God that's inside of us and the power of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Everything he did for us is free. He paid for it already. But when we take communion, we're activating and putting a demand on it. And we're we're we're releasing the power that is on the inside of on the inside of us when we're born again. Well, it's like the woman with the issue of blood. Remember, she was bleeding for twelve years in the Bible. And it says she said to herself, if I just touch the hem of his garment, I will be made. Well, I will be healed. If I just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made well. And she pressed through the crowd and she grabbed his garment. Right. She grabbed his his tunic or his his. All his prayer shawl, she grabbed the the edges of it, the witches, which represented the law, was being fulfilled in Christ, and she she grabbed the edges of his robe, the tassels of his robe, and it's called the wings of his robe. And interestingly, if you go over to if you go over to Malachi, chapter four, verse two, we'll see what his wings carry. She grabbed the wings of his robe. And in Malachi, Chapter four, if you guys can put that up verse to it says, But you who fear my name, the son of righteousness, shall arise with healing in its wings. So this is talking about the wings of Jesus garments, the wings of Jesus. Jesus is the son of righteousness. And he he rises with healing in his wings. So that's what she was envisioning, that when she touched the hem of his garment, healing was going to flow. And the Bible says she touched him. She touched him of his garment. And immediately the blood, her issue of blood that was 12 years long dried up. Remember that it dried up immediately and healing flowed and Jesus felt power leave his body. And he had to turn to his disciples and said, who touched me? And they said, there's crown. They said there's crowds of hundreds, thousands of people all around you. Many people have touched you. He said, no, somebody touched me. Somebody touched me with their faith and my body touched them with its power. Somebody touched me with their faith. And God has touched them with his power, because when we touched God with our faith, he touches us with his power. And they had she had touched the hem of his garment and healing flowed. And Jesus didn't even know who it was that God healed. That's why he said who touched me, because he's trying to tell us the power of God permanently resides in Christ. The power of God permanently resides in Christ. So when somebody touched that power, when somebody put a demand on that power, the supply of power was released. When she touched it and she she became the benefactor of the healing miracle of Jesus Christ, not because he just decided, I think I'll heal her, but because she plugged into the power. She plugged into the power. She plugged into the power. Now, here me the power was always there. Right. But she plugged into it and the power got released into her body. And when we take communion, it's like plugging in to God's power. And when we take communion, it's like it's like putting the electric cord into the outlet and releasing the power that the electricity carries or the building is carrying from the power plant to the to the electrical part of the building through that electrical those electrical boxes into whatever you plug in to the outlet. You understand how that works, right? There's the plug. The electric cord that you're plugging in is not what what causes the power to exist. The power already exists. The electric cord is simply the conduit for the power to flow from the power company or the power source into the appliance that you're plugging into it. So in the same way, by Jesus dying on the cross, he made available the power of forgiveness, the power of healing, the power of blessing and deliverance from the curse and freedom from addictions and freedom from loneliness, depression and fear and all of the things that the devil brought and all the things that sin brought. Jesus died for all of those things, and the power is readily available to us. All we got to do is access the power. All we have to do is plug into the power. And there are several ways to do that in the Bible. When we speak God's word, we're plugging into the power. When we lay hands on the sick, we're plugging into the power. And when we take communion, we are plugging in to the power of God. So I want you to be expecting today that at the end of this service, when we take communion together, you are going to that communion is going to become your electric cord from the power of heaven and the power of the cross to show up and electrocute sickness and electrocute fear and electrocute depression and electrocute worry and anxiety and and and addictions and whatever it is you're struggling with, man, expect the power to flow when you plug in. Nobody plugs their toaster in and then goes out to eat. Come on. Are you here in this? You plug the toaster in because you're expecting to place a demand on the power source to flow in through that toaster into your bagel that you then butter and you enjoy because you are expecting power to flow because you know, the power is there. And I'm here to tell you, the power is there from the cross. Jesus died on the cross. That's how the power came. The cross is the power of God. The Bible says, listen to me in first, Chris. Chapter two, Chapter one, it says, The the cross is the power of God, the cross is the power of God. But how do we plug into the cross? We plug into it by receiving communion. And we plug in to the power that flows through the cross, Jesus paid for it. Now we're simply receiving it by plugging in to the power, just like she did when she touched the hem of his garment. Now, notice, this verse goes on to say, in the same way he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. He says as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. Now, it's interesting word he uses here. You proclaim the Lord's death. He doesn't say you mourn the Lord's death or you weep over the Lord's death or, you know, you're sad about the Lord's death. How can we be sad about his death? Because if he didn't die, we can't live. If he didn't die, we can't be forgiven. If he didn't die, we can't be we can't have a bridge to heaven. If he didn't die, we can't have a relationship with God. If he didn't die, we can't go to the cross or we can't go to the throne of his grace. If he didn't go to the cross, we can't go to the throne of his grace. So his death is something not to mourn, but something to celebrate. And so when he says every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you're proclaiming the Lord's death or you are you are celebrating the Lord's death, you are declaring the Lord's death, you are enforcing the Lord's death into your life. You're enforcing God's life through his blood, into your life. Does this make sense? So far? Every time we take communion, he said as often as you do it. So how how how often can we do this? As often as we choose. As often as we want. Now we do it in church once a month. We used to do it every Sunday. And we might come back to a time where we do that. But it became more of a, you know, how easy it is to become to treat it like a ritual. And so we do it once a month, but we do it at home more than that. And we do you know, you can do it between you and the Lord and you can just take some bread and some grape juice or wine and just go to the Lord and just say, Lord, I'm I'm proclaiming your death. I'm proclaiming that you died for my healing. So I'm receiving when I eat this bread and drink this cup, I'm receiving healing, man. When I eat this bread and drink this cup, I'm receiving your blessing. I'm receiving a turn around. I'm receiving a breakthrough. I'm receiving the miracle that I need. You see, we have got to get away from religious thinking, which is we just going through the motions. Hey, look, when you said with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, you didn't make him Lord. He already was Lord. What you did when you when you proclaimed him as Lord, you plugged into the power of his salvation because it says if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. You were saved. You weren't just praying some religious prayer. You were tapping into the power of salvation the moment you declared Jesus as Lord and you believe that God raised him from the dead, you were plugging into the power. Right. And so in the same way. And when you come up for prayer, we lay hands on you. You're plugging into God's power. We're not laying hands on you just as a dedication to the Lord. We're laying hands on you because we expect that if you lay hands on the sick, they shall recover. So we're tapping in or plugging into the power. And in the same way, when we take communion together today, we're not just having a ceremony here. We're not having a ritual here. We are plugging in to God's power and the supply of God's power will flow through that bread and through that cup to the degree that you expect it to make to the degree that you expect it to. If you if you go, I'm going to eat this bread and drink this cup. But it's just because I'm hungry. I'm not really expecting anything. I'm just in fact, give me another piece. What could I get a couple of extra pieces because we break them up really small. We got to give up. We got to make them a little bigger to really be able to chew on it. But then you'd be spitting on the back of people's heads. We're going about time when we're ready to take the cup. Right. But so but seriously, we have to realize that we're not doing this. We're not doing this as a ceremony. We're not doing this as a ritual. But if you don't expect anything to happen, you're going to get what you don't expect. Yeah, I'm not. I'm expecting nothing. So you're going to get nothing. But if you're expecting what the death what Jesus died for, to begin to show up in your life, then you are actually releasing God's power into your body and into your mind and into your situation. And I would run out of time to read you all the testimonies of people that have taken communion with us, people that have been addicted to drugs. They took communion and they were free. People that have been lonely, depressed. They took communion. They were set free grief and sorrow. They took communion and they were and the sorrow left them. But it wasn't because we just were passing out communion elements and people just took it as a ridge, as a religion. It was because we explained what the word of God says. The life is in the blood. The life is in the blood. The life is in the blood. So when you drink this blood of Jesus cup of communion, you are releasing God's life into your body and you are causing whatever the DNA components of his blood have in them to be activated into your system and the blood of Jesus, which carries healing in it, begins to release healing DNA in your body, the blood of Jesus, which carries which which carries grace and mercy. And it is releasing grace and mercy into your life, the blood of Jesus, which brings joy which he he walked enjoy the blood of Jesus is releasing the joy of the Lord into your life and driving of fear and negativity and depression out. That's how powerful his body and blood is. So when we eat the bread and drink the cup, we need to eat it in in. We need to eat it in a way that is where our where our faith sees it as equal to the worthiness of his. Death and his body and blood, in other words, we need when we eat the bread and drink the cup, we need to be thinking about what did Jesus pay for on the cross and whatever he paid for. That's what I'm about to drink. Whatever he paid for, that's what I'm about to eat, whatever he paid for, that's what I'm about to receive. And I'm activating my faith in one way. You could say, remember how James said Faith without works is dead? Well, that doesn't mean that we're saved by our religious actions. But what it means is our faith, if we have real faith, is always accompanied with an action, a step of faith. Right. Peter said, Jesus, if that's you walking on the water, command me to come out there. And so Jesus said, come. And what did Peter do? He got out of the boat and he started walking on the water. That was his action. That's where his works. Faith without works was dead. If he would have stayed in the boat, he would have never walked on the water. But he acted on what God said and a miracle happened. So when Jesus said go wash in the pool of Siloam to the blindman, if he would have said no, I just believe I just believe that that, you know, whatever you said, I just believe it. It's true. Whatever he says, we need to believe it. But if we believe it, it is going to persuade us into some act of obedience to what he just said. When God told Noah to build the ark, like we talked about last week, when God told Noah to build the ark, Noah could have went by the trees, the acacia wood, and he could have just worshiped the wood. He could have worshiped the trees. And God, an ark is coming. An ark is coming. But no, he had to cut down the wood. He had to you know, he size it up. He had to put the pieces together, just like God said. He acted on what God said. And that's when a miracle happened. When we act on what God says, miracles will happen. So when God says as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you're proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes. Well, he hasn't returned yet. So we need to keep proclaiming what he died for, keep proclaiming what he paid for, keep proclaiming what he gave us when he gave us his son Jesus. God gave us all things pertaining to life and godliness. And we need to be proclaiming that his death was enough for your salvation. His death was enough for your healing. His death was enough for your blessing. His death was enough for God's favor to show up in your life. Are you with me still? So now let's see some of these miracles that happen when we take communion so that we begin to experience God's power in our lives. And let's plug in to the power and let's go let's go to Genesis Chapter fourteen, real quick, Genesis Chapter fourteen. And let's look at some of the miracles that come. Through taking communion and we're going to look at the example for for the next few minutes and then we'll take communion together. We're going to look at the example of Abraham when Abraham comes back from a battle in Genesis 14, the high priest is waiting for him. The high priest's name is Melchizedek. He was without father, without mother, without geneology. We know that this melchizedek represents Jesus Christ and Abraham represents us because we're the seed of Abraham. So stick with me for a few moments and watch what happens here in Genesis Chapter 14. If you look at verse 18, we see Melchizedek King of Salem brings out bread and wine. Sounds like a communion service, doesn't it? He brings out the bread in the wine, and he's the king of Salem. He was the priest of God most high. So this man represents Jesus and notice what he's called king of Salem. Now, I don't know what you think of when you hear the word Salem, but what I think of when I used to hear the word Salem was a pack of cigarets. How many know what I'm talking about? But then I then I learned what the Bible actually means by this word. Salem It is the Hebrew word shalom, which means peace, the peace of God, where nothing is missing and nothing is broken. It's having peace with God and it's having the peace of God. So the bread and the first miracle that I want to share with you here, the first miracle of communion, the first miracle that happens when we eat the bread and drink the cup, the bread and the wine. The first miracle is that we activate God's peace in our lives. We activate God's peace, God's Salem or God's shalom. We activate God's peace in our lives. So peace enters into the scene. The moment we eat the bread and drink the cup, we're releasing God's peace in our lives. So a miracle of peace flow. So if your heart has been disturbed, if your heart has been distressed, if your heart has been discouraged, if you're if you're at unrest and you're lacking peace, we want to go back to the death of Jesus and activate the power of God that he paid for through the cross. How do we activate the power of the cross? We take communion. One of the ways is we take communion. And what happens? The first thing that happens is peace flows like a river. I know there have been times where I've taken communion in the midst of fear and confusion, in the midst of not being sure what I'm supposed to do, in the midst of things around me and things even in me not being settled. And as soon as I took communion, a peace came over me. What was that? It was the king of peace entering in on the scene. It was me saying, even though I don't feel any peace, I'm going to walk by faith and accept and proclaim that the cross is enough to give me peace. The cross is enough to give me calm. The cross is enough to settle me down. The cross is enough to to to pacify my anger. The cross is enough to to to silence all the voices that are telling me that I'm not going to make it or telling me that God's not with me. I have the peace of knowing that Jesus is the one that brought the bread in the wine. Jesus is the one that is serving me this communion. Jesus is the one that has given me his body and his blood. I'm not making that happen. He already made that happen. I'm simply plugging in to the power that he made happen on the cross peace, the peace of God, the peace of God. Secondly. Notice what happens next is this piece flows like a river and God blesses. Melchizedek blesses Abraham and says he blessed him in verse 19 and said, Blessed and I'm from the amplified Bible, says blessed, favored with blessings made, blissful and joyful be Abraham by God, most high possessor and maker of heaven and earth. Boy, this is a miracle that you ought to cling to. Maybe you grew up depressed. Maybe you are a person who doesn't. It's not easy for you to be happy and to have joy. And it takes a lot for you to really have this sense of of bliss and joy when you know what you should expect. Starting today, when you take communion, you're activating the power God, you're plugging into the power of joy, the power of happiness, the power of God's blessing to make blissful and joyful. You see those words to make blissful and joyful. How many people in life are searching for bliss? They're searching for happiness. They're searching for joy. They're trying to find it in anything, any one that they can find it in. And he's saying he brings that with him through his body and through his blood. He brings the joy. He brings the bliss. He brings the happiness. He brings the blessing. The second miracle of communion is the miracle of happiness and the blessing of God and the joy and bliss of a relationship with God. God doesn't want us to be walking around like Christianity is a funeral procession. God wants us to be walking around like Christianity is a wedding celebration. It's a wedding between you and the Lord. It's a marriage between you and Jesus. No matter how great or how average or how bad your marriage may be or the marriage you grew up with at home with your parents or whatever marriage you experienced, no matter what it is good, bad, ugly or great. There's something much better that God has for you than what you're trying to extract from that marriage, and that is the marriage bliss. Of being in communion with Jesus. The bliss and happiness and the joy of being in relationship with him and knowing that. Melchizedek, the king of peace, has come to bring you the bread and the wine and and the miracle of the miracle of that piece in the miracle of this of this happiness and joy is yours. It's yours. He paid for it on the cross. Let's activate it by plug it into the power of it when we take communion. All right. Number three is found in the next verse and verse. Or if you go down to excuse me, chapter fifteen, verse one, The Next Miracle of Communion. It says After these things. Chapter 15. Verse one of Genesis. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in avision after what things? What is he talking about here? After these things. After what things? After Abraham and Melchizedek just took communion. After they ate and drank the bread and the wine. After these things, the word of the Lord came to him in a vision. So I want you to see that the next miracle that's going to happen when you take communion is you can expect to receive answers from God. You can expect to receive words from God. You can expect to receive God's vision for your life, God's answers for your life, God's wisdom for your life. The word of the Lord represents his answers. It represents his wisdom. It represents his his his vision and purpose for your life. And notice what it says. After they took communion, the word of God came to the right word at the right time, came on the heels of communion. And I want to encourage you as we take the bread and the and the cup today, I want you to expect the answers that you need. Who's got a question that needs an answer? Who's got a knotty problem that needs to be unwound? Who's got something going on in your life where you need a word from God? You need clarity and answer wisdom, direction, vision. God wants to give that to you the moment you take communion. We need this. We need to take communion, look up, expecting peace to flow like a river, expecting the joy and the happiness of God to flow like a river, and expecting answers from heaven to show up in your life. You say you mean we're getting God to do all those things when we take communion? No, we're not getting God to do all those things. Jesus died on the cross to provide all those things. When we take communion, we're simply plugging in to what Jesus already did. You see, we're plugging into the power. We're activating, we're flipping the switch on. We're flipping the switch of God's power on. Everybody say flip the switch, plug into the power. That's what you're doing by taking communion. What happens next, he says, Fearnot, God, says Fearnot Abraham, Fearnot Abraham. Well, this is a great blessing and this is a great miracle of taking communion, is it delivers us from fear. It delivers us from fear. What a powerful miracle. He said, fear not. The next thing that happens when you take communion is the body and the blood of Jesus releases his power to drive fear out of your life. To drive fear out of your life, so if you're being hindered in your life by fear or depression. Or other negative emotions, those fearful emotions are going to leave your life. When you take communion. Are you ready for this? A fourth or fifth miracle is also found in verse one here in Genesis 15, verse one after these things, the word of the Lord said came to Abraham division saying, Fearnot Abraham, I'm your shield, I'm your shield. Here's the next miracle of communion is God is our shield. The shield represents two things in the Bible. No. One, it represents a shield, represents protection. So God is going to release his divine protection in our lives. I can't tell you how many stories that have come to me from people that have taken communion with us, studied about the power in the blood of Jesus, and they were in accidents where they walked away without a scratch. They were in accidents where they they escaped death. They escaped what should have been a certain death. One guy got hit head on by a car that jumped out of the other opposite direction and into his direction, hit him head on. And the unfortunately, the guy that that jumped over and hit him, that person, I don't think made it. But the guy who did survive, he looked over after the survival and what he was listening to, he told us about this. He was listen to our series on the power and the protection of the blood of Jesus. The power and the protection of the blood of Jesus, and he walked away without a scratch, and I'm not saying that the other person deserved something bad to happen. I'm not saying that that God wasn't God's power wasn't available to help that person, but maybe that maybe maybe that person didn't know about God's power. Maybe that person didn't know about the blood of Jesus and he didn't and didn't know about what God provides for us through the cross. We have to remember God's people perished because of a lack of knowledge. That's why we come to church and learn God's word to find out what belongs to us in Christ and how to activate God's power in our lives. Amen. He's your shield, so the next miracle is the miracle of God's protection, but a shield also represents something else in the Bible. It represents favor gods throughout Psalm five. Verse 12 says God surrounds the righteous with Favre like a shield. So that shield represents God's favor as well. So when we take communion, we we are activating God's favor in our lives. Doors to open that no man can close things to happen for us that we didn't deserve. Where God does things that you say, well, that's not very fair for you to get that or for that person to get that. But God's favor isn't fair because his death wasn't fair. He didn't deserve to die. And we don't deserve his blessing. He didn't deserve to become sin and we didn't deserve to become righteous. But God, in a way, he's in a way he's unfair in that sense. But it all adds up. If you add it all up, it ends up being fair because whatever Jesus takes from us, he gives us what he has and takes from us what we had. He takes our sin and gives us his righteousness. He takes our sickness and gives us his healing. He takes our sorrow and gives us his joy. He takes our curse and gives us his blessing. That's what he does through the cross. That's what we're celebrating when we take communion. Whoo! Are you hearing this? It's not fair, but it wasn't fair for him to have to take all that and it's not fair for us to receive what we don't deserve, but that's what the grace of God in the favor of God is all about. So wake up every day expecting these miracles and expecting this favor and expecting this grace. And as we wrap this up, we're going to begin to pass out communion elements right now at this time. And we're going to just receive communion together. But let me show you one more thing here in this passage. And he says, For I am your shield and the amplified says, I am your abundant compensation and your your reward shall be exceedingly great. I'm your abundant compensation and your reward shall be exceedingly great. Notice what he says there. What does he mean when he says, I'm going to be your abundant compensation and you're your reward shall be exceedingly great. He's saying that God is going to miraculously provide for you whatever it is that you need, he's going to miraculously provide for you. I know that you might be going through something right now and you're like, I don't know how I'm going to I don't know how I'm going to take care of this. I don't know how this need is going to get met. Well, when we take communion, we're going to plug into the power, the miracle power of God's provision. You say, man, I need a door to open in my life that well, when we take me, we're going to plug into the power of God's favor. Showing up in your life, are we paying the price for that favor? No, Jesus paid the price for it. We're simply plugging into the power of it. He paid the price for it. We're plugging into the power of it. I know there are people here right now that you're disturbed in your heart, you're unsettled about things. Maybe those things are internal. Maybe those things are caused by somebody else. Maybe those things are demonic attacks against your peace. But God wants to flood your soul with peace. And the peace is in his body and it's in his blood. I know sometimes we think and we hope, but I hope his I hope his peace and I hope his his I hope his peace and I hope his his you know, this this prince of peace will show up in my life. No, he's already shown up. We're plugging into the power of his piece the moment we take communion, if you're watching by webcast. So I want you to take a moment if you can grab some grape juice and some bread, some wine, some cooking wine, if that's all you have. Did I say cookie wine or cooking? I meant cooking wine. I don't know if anybody likes wine with your cookies, but cooking, if that's all you have, grab whatever you have. Grab some grape juice if you have some and get some bread, a cracker, something that you can take communion with us. And we're going to celebrate the power and we're going to plug into the power of God and. God wants your needs to be met. God wants you to have peace that you don't feel right now, and it's in the blood. So it's in God's life. God's life carries peace. But it's God's blood that carries his life. So when we drink this cup representing his blood. We're drinking his peace, his favor, his answers. His deliverance from fear, his healing power, God's power to heal you is in his life and his life. Flows through his blood. You know, we get communion testimonies a lot because we talk about this topic. And this person said, Dear Pastor, during a recent recent communion service, you taught us about the supernatural effects of taking communion and that Jesus body was broken, his blood was shed for our healing. Prior to this, I thought, well, if the anointing is on the inside of me already, what good is communion going to add? But as I partook of the body and blood of Jesus, something miraculously happened. The fluid I had in my ears as a result of allergies and sinus infections completely cleared up. I had anxiety and heart palpitations. They completely stopped. As soon as I took communion, I had rest, I had peace. And now I'm going to take communion on a regular basis because I know it works. Now, this is a one example of thousands of miracles that we've received, testimonies of miracles that people have received by taking communion not as a ceremony, not as a ritual, but as activation of God's power, plugging into the power. I want everybody to walk out of here knowing that we're not creating the power. The power is already there, just like your electric cord doesn't create the power or the electricity. The electricity was already there, but we're tapping into that electricity. We're plugging into that power. That's what we do when we take communion. And this person said, Dear Pastor, I was healed from a mass on my kidney. After watching your broadcasts on communion, the doctor had literally just called me and told me that there was a mass on my kidney. And at the same time, you were on TV saying to take communion for whatever our need was. Well, my need at that moment was healing. So throughout the broadcast, you indicated how we were about to take communion together to get the elements ready. I ran downstairs. I got some fruit punch and some bread. So anybody here? Fruit punch and bread, that's what this person took. Maybe some Hawaiian punch is all you got. Go crack that can open and and get get some get some faith rolling. She said I ran down stairs, got some fruit punch and bread. I took communion with you in faith for my healing. When it was all said and done, I went back for a follow up test and there was no mass found on my kidney. It was completely gone. The two technicians were wondering why I was even there. Thank God for his healing hand and his healing power. Amen. Dear Pastor, after I took communion with you on Sunday, on a Sunday via live stream, I felt I had all for years. All my life, I felt fear, negative emotions, grief and depression. But when I took communion with you, I felt the burden of my former fear and negative emotions, grief and depression lifted off of me. I feel so much lighter in my soul. God knew that what you had to say was so important for me to hear and to experience his presence that God made a way for me to see you at the right time. Thank you for guiding me and your communion program to receive this truly amazing spiritual enlightenment, to receive the power of God. Remember, and I've got more testimonies here, but we're out of time, so I don't want to go through more of them. I want your testimony to be the next testimony. I want your miracle to be the next miracle. So I want us to stand together at this time. We're going to take communion together. And as we get ready to receive communion, I want to just I want to encourage you to be expecting to see miracles happen in an atmosphere of expectation. We're not making we're not creating the power. We're plugging into the power. We're not causing God to release his power. He already has released his power. We're simply touching the helm of his garment. We're simply activating the power that the cross has already paid for. Jesus paid for it on the cross. We're plugging into it by taking communion together. So maybe you have cancer. You brought cancer with you today. Will the cross is going to sweep it away. The blood of Jesus is going to sweep it out of you. Maybe you brought guilt with you. The blood of Jesus is going to sweep away your guilt. Maybe you brought fear with you. The blood of Jesus is going to sweep away your fears. Maybe you brought some other form of sickness or disease. Will the blood of Jesus is going to sweep that stuff out of your life and sweep it out of your body and sweep it out of your emotions and sweep it out of your mind? Maybe you brought depression with you, the blood of Jesus going to sweep away that depression and the body of Jesus is going to bring joy with it. Remember that he took our sickness and our grief and our sorrows on the cross so that by his stripes we could be healed. Maybe you grew up with parents and grandparents that passed down heart disease from one generation to the next. And you're just a moment away from your own heart attack thinking that it's going to be passed down or high cholesterol or or high blood pressure or diabetes or some other sickness. Well, I got news for you. The blood of Jesus has interrupted the flow of the blood of your parents and the blood of Jesus has become your new royal blood line that you are now related to Jesus. You are now a part of his bloodline. You're now part of the royal family of God. And now you need to expect whatever is in his body to flow into your body, whatever is in his life to flow into your life. He had the peace that passes all understanding. Expect that today he had the favor of God. So he walked through the crowds and nobody could touch him until he was ready to lay his life down. He had freedom from fear. There was nothing he was afraid of, nobody that he was afraid of. He could say anything, believe anything, trust God for anything. And that's what lives inside of you. And that's what you're tapping into and plugging in to today. Oh, yes. We're not here to live our normal average lives. We're here to experience the life of God because his life is carried in his blood and we're about to drink his blood and eat his body and receive the power of his life into our lives and see our lives dramatically changed. Through the power of expectation, are you expecting today the greatest miracle of all is the miracle of salvation? So if you're not saved here, if you're not absolutely sure that you're going to go to heaven when you die, I want you to be sure. Pray this out loud with me and everybody pray with us. And those of you that are watching as well, pray this with us. Heavenly Father, I invite Jesus Christ into my life as my savior and Lord. I believe Jesus died for my sins. And rose from the dead from this moment forward, I'm a child of God. My sins are forgiven, washed away through the blood of Jesus. Now, I want you to do something if you prayed, that meant you prayed that prayer for the first time to be saved, to accept Jesus Christ, your savior and Lord, I'm going to count to three. And on the count of three, I'm going to ask you to lift up your hand on the count of three. One, two, three. Quickly put your hand up. You prayed that prayer to be saved, to accept Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord put you put your hand up. Now you're receiving Jesus Christ, Savior, Lord, God bless you. Who else with these precious people. God bless you. Who else? Maybe you're watching by webcast. God bless you. Come on, let's give the Lord. Well, let's praise him out loud with our voice anyway, since our hands are full. Right. Come on. Let's praise him with our. Let's praise him with our voice. Right. We can't clap our hands right now because man's grape juice would be flying everywhere and we'll have to redo the seats. We're already redoing the walls outside, as you could see in the lobby, and making some improvements. We don't want to have to redo everything else inside of here, but God bless you. Every one of you who pray to accept Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, you are now a child of God and you're in the family of God. And on your way, I'll just mention it to one of our team members or come up to the altar and we'll give you this book. Is our gift to help you grow in your relationship with God in the next steps. But you can also take the next step right now by receiving the power of God through communion. Are you ready to receive? I want you to think about what is it you need today is at peace. Is it favor is it freedom from fear? Is it healing? Jesus paid for it all, but I want you to activate it as we take communion together. Pray this with me and say in the name of Jesus. When I take communion, I am plugging into the power of God, the life of God flows through the blood of Jesus. When I eat this bread and drink this cup. I am activating the power of healing, the power of blessing, the power of joy, the power of peace. I'm plugging in to the miracle of freedom from fear. The miracle of God's abundance, God's provision, God's protection and God's favor for my life. It was already paid for. And I'm plugging into the power of it in Jesus name, let's receive the body of the Lord Jesus Christ together. You watching as well? And now I proclaim over you that everything Jesus died for. And it's already yours in Christ is going to begin to show up because you are plugging into his power and activating your faith by receiving. His precious body and his blood by faith, celebrating and proclaiming his death until he comes, let's receive the cup of blessing today. Come on, let's just worship him for a moment. Thank you. Come on, let's just worship him for a moment and thank him. Father, thank you for your blood. Thank you for the blood of Jesus. Thank you for the body of Jesus. Thank you. That by your stripes were healed. Thank you. That you became a curse for us. The curse is one that hangs on a tree. Lord, let your miracle power begin to show up in people's lives today. Let them be marked so that they will remember this day forever. That this was the day they began to plug in to the power of your miracles in Jesus name. Say I'm expecting. I'm expecting the miracles of communion to begin to flow in my life today. In Jesus name. Amen. Well, God bless you. Thank you for being here. You are dismissed. Come to the altar if you need prayer for anything else at all. Fellowship in the lobby and bring a friend to church with you next Sunday and Wednesday. We're going to Bible study at 7:00 p.m.. Can't wait to see you then. God bless you guys. You're the best. We'll see you then. Go walk in God's power and expect.
