It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Pt 3

Have you ever felt like God's plan at times feels like trouble and trials? Have you ever felt that way? Ever been like: you know, God, I'm trying real hard to be obedient. I'm trying real hard to do all that I feel like you want me to do. But if you would, if you could just make this thing a little easier, I think we'd both be better. I've discovered that often God's plan comes together not despite of trouble, but more often than not, trials and troubles are a part of his plan. But here's what I know: that if you're in the midst of trouble, and you want to know that you are in the position to see what's going on — I have experienced in my own life, that when the, when I'm in the trial, or I'm facing trouble, is it, it's the best seat to see the miracle. It really is. It's, it's the best position to be in. When, when troubles come, our first instinct is to try to look for the exit door, or to pray: God, please deliver me. Get me out of this. I don't want to be here. But what we should be doing is looking for the place, or the stage, where the glory of God is going to be seen in our lives. After all, that's really what Christmas is about. He came in a manger and swaddling clothes, but that was the plan. You and I know that — those of us that have been separated from, from all of this for some 2,000 plus years, we see the cleaned up, sanitized version of the Christmas story. But as we've said many, many times over this past month, that was just not the case. That was not God's plan. His plan was much different. Because his plan is always different. His plan always seems to defy human logic and reason. It always goes counter to our intuition. More often than not, we sit back and scratch our head, and we'll, we'll ask the three-letter word: why? God, why? Why, why is it this way? Why does the plan have to unfold like this? Why couldn't you just let it be easier? Why couldn't it just fall according to how I think it should be? But then I've realized in life, after coming through a few of those trials and struggles and tribulations, that his plan, the perfect plan — if I, if I would just be willing to trust the process. But we get limited in our time, and we get limited in our discomfort and our ability to endure. Sometimes I feel like we often miss the miracle that is there.

If you think about how troubling it was for you — what about Mary and Joseph? We know the circumstances of their life. They were not married, and pregnant, knowing that no one would believe the story of the Angel giving them a prophecy. And if it had not been for that second Angelic visitation, the story would have really ended pretty quick. But thankfully God was still intervening, and got a hold of Joseph as well. But think about what we know from the beginning of their engagement: pregnancy outside of marriage, making a trip to pay taxes, there's no room in the end, having a child in a, in a barn, strangers saying all kind of things about their baby. And almost everyone missed the miracle. Because Miracles come wrapped up, often times, in trials and tribulations. I'm convinced that this is why most of us have missed more than a few miracles in our lifetime. We are running away and praying for deliverance, and the whole time God saying: hang on just a minute, there's a blessing there. Hang on just a minute, I'm using this to do something for you. Hang on just a second, I'm trying to work something out of you. I'm trying to work something into you. And the best plan usually is the one that we didn't come up with. It's the divine plan. Think about this: without his birth, you and I would have no hope. We celebrate what happen, happened there in Bethlehem. However, we might not fully appreciate what all of this looks like on that night before the birth of Jesus. So I feel like what we've been doing for the past several weeks is taking time to slow down, on purpose, and unpack each piece of it, so that we realize that it was a struggle. It wasn't just about a silent night. There was a lot of things that had to be put in place. There was a lot of things that had to come to pass. There was a lot of stuff, stuff that didn't go the way they intended for it to go. But it all brought about the miracle nonetheless. So as we — here on this, this Sunday before Christmas, and we're going to have such a great time with our family and our friends in just a couple of days, and many have already started, and I know several of traveling — we pray that God is with them — but today we're here today, for just a few minutes, before we get to the communion part of this, I want to just maybe unpack a little bit about what really took place there.

Matthew chapter 1, reading verse number 18. It says this: now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: when his mother Mary was the spouse of Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. While he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying: Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. All of us today in this room, all of us that are listening online, every one of us, without exceptions, are sinners. Every one of us. That piece, the knowledge, is very handy. In fact, I think it'd be appropriate this moment — and you can do it without smiling, just turn to your neighbor and say: you're a sinner. Now you need to respond back and say: yes, I am. I wasn't necessarily saying that you were sinning right now. Some of you were a little too happy, just point that out. All of us are sinners, saved by grace. All of us, every one of us. And it is that fact alone that brings so much meaning to that manger that's behind me right there. What it represents is that we're a bunch of Sinners that needed a savior in our life. We need this. And that is why he came. Sometimes people fool themselves into thinking that they're good, or they're not so bad, and, or they don't hurt. They're — they grade themselves on the curve. And compared to all that they know around them: you know, I'm doing pretty good. At least I'm not like so and so. At least Le, I don't do what she did. At least I don't act the way he did. Is it interesting how we feel so much better about ourselves, when we can find someone who's worse off than us? Yeah, how, how that, that person who's a little bit worse off, a little bit the more of a sinner by our terms, there we feel better about: well, I'm okay with that way. But he came. He came to us. People sometimes misunderstand just how important this under — this Revelation — is to them. I, you know, so I say it again: people fool themselves into thinking about this. But what the Bible says is this, in Romans 3:10: as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. What's Paul talking about there? Because he's writing to the church at Rome. He wasn't writing to people that didn't understand who God was. He's pointing out that you and I, we can't qualify ourself. We can't justify why God would do what he did for us. There's none of us that are good. There's none of us that are righteous. There's none of us that fit that, that equation out that is there. Let me repeat: we are all sinners. We all need to repent. We all need saving in our life.

Matthew 1: 21 says this: and she shall bring forth the son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. He shall save his people from their sins. We not only need saving because of sin, but we also need saving from sin. When I think about Sin, I — it's, it's, it's just this, this, this, this black hole. It's just like a — it's like a sinkhole. You ever seen a sinkhole before? You ever watched — you know, I know in Florida, they seem to have sink holes that pop up a lot down there. And theyve got video of these things happening. It always boggles my mind, when it starts out, you know, it's not too big a deal. Somebody recognizes it. Before you know it, it'll swallow cars. It'll swallow houses, to pop into this. And that, that to me, that's, that's a way that you can think about Sin. Is it usually starts out small. Most of the time, it's, it's somewhat small, in comparison to what we typically think about when I say the word sin. But left undone, it becomes a sinkhole that pulls everything in around it. That's why we need to deal with that sin issue in our life. God understood this. He knew that it was going to swallow up everything in its path. Because sin, when it's left unchecked, it will ruin you. It'll ruin families. It'll, it'll ruin relationships. There will be abuse. There'll be murder. There'll be lies. There'll be, there'll be, there'll be addictions that'll happen. And it, it'll cause us to lead lives that we were never intended to live. Why? Because of sin. Because of sin. And our natural inclination seems to be drawn to evil. We're born into sin. But these are only the consequences in this life, and on this Earth. But you read through the word of God, and you realize that there are far more outweighing Everlasting consequences. That are — they are Eternal consequences of sin. And when we realize this — sin also makes God very angry. It upsets him. It's hard to draw any other conclusion, when you read his word, that he's upset when it comes to sin. He doesn't like it. He doesn't like it. With — when we realize this, when we realize the wrath of God against our godlessness and our wickedness, As Romans 1:18 tells us, we need to realize that the wages of our sin is death. Eternal death, death in an everlasting fires of Hell, according to Romans 6:23. But I can't leave it at this. Because the good news of the Gospel is: he came to save sinners like you and I. That's what makes this Christmas story so wonderful, is he came. He didn't leave us to oursel. But he came. He bridged the Gap, as they were singing in that last song we had right there — the song before that one, they were talking about that. I'm, I'm so thankful for the blood of God. I'm so thankful for what he did. I'm so thankful that, that blood covers my sin, and it covers your sin. I'm so thankful that it is there. Anybody else thankful for the Redemption power of the blood of Jesus Christ? Are you thankful for what that means? And that, that I have a hope. I have, have a chance. But that part wouldn't have been there without that manger. He came. He came to save his people from their sins. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the good news: that Jesus saves us from sin. And he does this so that we can live a life that he had intended for us to live. And th shall call his name Jesus, for she — he shall save his people from their sins. That's what salvation really is: to bring death to life. That, that has died, comes back.

When I think about salvation, I think about so many scenarios. But the simplest way I know how to do this would be that, in relation to those of us who have loved ones in our life, or we have — we have children especially — that there are times when our kids do things unknowingly. They, they're not aware always of the life circumstances and situations they find themselves. Sometimes because of their lack of knowledge, getting themselves into trouble. How many of us have, have either experienced it as a parent — we have seen other parents out and about, and the child is running towards danger. Maybe it's in a parking lot, and there's a car coming down the aisle, and the little child is just happy to be in the parking lot, and runs out. And you see the panic and the fear that comes upon a mom or dad's face, or a grandparents face, is they run out real quickly, and they snatch them away from the, from the possible danger that is there. The child usually is surprised by it, or maybe even gets upset, or cries, or maybe, and tries to pull back, and like: let me do my own thing. But they don't realize that they're actually in the process of being saved. That's, that's to me — that's when I think about salvation, as someone who's being snatched out of a life and death circumstance. I'm thankful that he came, wrapped in swaddling clothes. He came in a Manger, so that one day he could die, to take our place. Why? Because we needed someone to snatch us away from Death. To take, take us away from the circumstances. To fight against our own selfish ambition and will. That's what makes Christmas so special. It brings death to life. And th shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin.

When Jesus came into the world, his own people did not want to believe in him as a savior from sin. Give me just a second here. Give me just, just, just 60 seconds to explain what I mean by this. The Jewish people were looking for a savior who would save them not from sin, but would save them from the Captivity that they were in. They were shortsighted. They wanted to be delivered from the Roman rule and power that was there. And when they were hearing all these Messianic prophecies that were being foretold — as, as grandma and great-granddad were telling these stories that had been passed down from generation to generation — they put it in the context of the life that they were living in. And the biggest desire that they had was to be relieved from Roman rule. And as prophecy was being foretold, as prophecy was coming to pass, as all these things that have been put in motion — from the Garden of Eden to where they were — everything that had been perfectly aligned, that was set in motion by God, by Our Redeemer, from the very beginning, was coming to pass. They couldn't even see it, when it stood right in front of them. Why? Because they were so shortsighted into the relief they needed. See, it was their trouble. It was their trial. They were saying: God, get me out of my trouble. Will get me out of my trial. And he was saying: I'm using the trouble. I'm using the trial, on purpose. I'm using it to get your attention. I'm using it to shape you, and to change you, and to mold you, and to make you into what it is you're supposed to be. But you're misunderstanding it. The Messiah, to them, was someone who was going to show up not in a Manger, not born to some poor, impoverished Little Couple in Bethlehem. No, no, no. In their mind, he was going to be triumphant. He was going to come in. He was going to have a vast army with him. And he was going to write the wrong. What wrong? The wrong that was, that, that Rome was in charge. That they were not allowed to do what they wanted to do. They were not living the life that they wanted to live. They were, they were misunderstanding the trial and the trouble they were facing. Because it was in the middle of that set of circumstances — it was in the middle of life not going according to their plan — that the Messiah did come, wrapped in swaddling clothes. They called his name Jesus. And he shall save his people from their sins. But they didn't want saving from sin. They wanted relief in the moment. What I'm afraid in this Christmas time is — more often than not — the people are only wanting relief from the moment, and not a lord of their life. They're only one to relief from the trouble and the trial, the set of circumstances they're dealing with. Whatever the, whatever the relational issue is. Whatever the health issue is. Whatever the financial issue is. Whatever the issue is. They just want: God, deliver me out of this. Deliver me out of — instead of saying: God, Save Me From Myself. I need a savior in my life. If I don't ever have Financial Freedom. If every relationship I have seemingly is broken. But it gets me saved, and I spend eternity with you. That is enough for me. That's not where we are. That's not what get preached in Christianity Today. Is we're always looking for the blessing. We're always looking for the happy. We're chasing our feelings, and we miss that he came wrapped in swaddling clothes, lied in a Manger. That, that was not what the plan was for Humanity's sake. But God said: no, no, there's something more at play. I'm trying to save you from the oncoming death that sin brings. And you're so captivated, and wanting to do what you want to do, that you miss the point. I pray we don't miss the point of Christmas. I pray we don't miss the point, that we need a savior. You shall call his name Jesus, and he shall save his people from their sin. Don't miss the language that is there. You shall call his name Jesus, and he shall save his people from their sin. How amazing is our God. How amazing is it that he recognizes our need, when we can't see it.

As, as we are preparing to take communion this morning — we're going to be asked in just a minute to examine our hearts, to be sure that we trust Jesus Christ as Lord and savior of our life. It's not just knowing the story. It's not just enough to know the information. It's, it's to apply and live it out. There, there's a, there's a whole lot of educated idiots in our world. There's a whole lot of people that have advanced degrees, and they're dumb as bricks. It's not just that you have the information. There's a whole lot of people in Christianity that have the information. They know it. They can recite it. They can recall it. They just don't live it. It's not enough that you to acknowledge that he came. But what are you doing with the gift that he gave? What are you doing with it? Are you treating it like it's common? Where is — and I'm going to get to communion in a minute. But I felt very convicted today, in prayer leading to this moment, to ask the church: what are you doing with what you know? What are you doing with it? What are you doing with the gift that he gave you? Because the gift he gave you is a calling to a higher life. It's a calling to a higher life. It's a calling to not living for S. It's a calling to live after him. He becomes Lord. As I've said many times in this Pulpit: of all of your life, is he truly that today, right now? Jesus is savior. But he will not always be savior. Because there'll come a day when he'll also be judge. Today we know him, in this dispensation of Grace that we live in, we know him as Savior. And I hope that you live in a, in a way that reflects that he is your savior. And it's the reason we celebrate Christmas: because up there came down here. We celebrate because up there came down here. Up there came and walked where you and I walked, lived where you and I lived, experi, experi what you and I experienced. He — all of the emotions, and all of the pains, and all of the sorrows, and all the things that we go through — he experienced all those things with us. Why? So that he can be touched with the feelings of our infirmity. So that when we reach out, he knows what it feels like to be rejected. To be labeled. To be, to be, to be, to have abused, and have someone turn the back, or make fun of, or all those things. He fills all those feelings with us. No one has a savor like we do. But are you living out the life he has for you? And in this service today, we're going to partake in communion. And we have that opportunity. It's afforded to us because up there came down here. Christmas was about up there coming down here. That he robed himself in flesh. He came to where we are.

You may ask — some of you may be asking the question: what is communion? Why are we setting aside of time to do it? To me, these are very good questions. But I think, more than just questions, I think we deserve to have some, some real answers. So my desire is to be brief, but to carefully help you understand why it's important to partake in communion. And I hope that we understand the significance, in the special nature of this, this sacred event that we were, we were about to partake in. That we were remembered the right way. And the best way to get an understanding about communion — it's also referred to as the Lord's Supper — is a start, and a place, in the Scripture. It was first Institute Ed. So for about five minutes, I'm going to give you a little history lesson in scripture, about while we're about to do what we're going to do.

Matthew 26 And1 17: now the first day of the Feast of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him: where will thou that we prepare to eat the Passover? And he said: go into the city to such a man, and say unto him: the master saith, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus, Jesus had appointed them. And they made ready the Passover. Now when the evening was come, he sat down with the 12. And as they did eat, he said: verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him: Lord, is it I? And he answered and said: he that dipthong, as it is written of him. But woe unto that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said: Master, is it I? And he said unto him: thou Hast said. And as they were eating, Jesus Took bread — please listen to these words — Jesus Took bread, and he blessed it, and he break it, and he gave it to his disciples. And he said: take, eat. This is my body. And he took the cup, and he gave thanks, and he gave it to them, saying: drink ye all of it. For this, this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sin. But I say unto 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. And when they had sung A Hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

We see in this story that Jesus, before he's, he's head out for the, for the final betrayal, he's purposely having — not just the Passover meal, but he's, he's, he's instituting something new with them. He's, he's trying to explain to those that are the closest to him, all that this represents, and all that this means. And how something new is in the process of being taken. And there's a new covenant that's about to be entered into. And this Passover was something that they had celebrated before. It went back to the Old Testament, when, when the Israelites were being held captive by Egypt, and Moses had been sent by God to lead the people out of Egypt. Many of you remember the 10 plagues that, that took place, as, as, as Pharaoh was resisting, and God was doing a work that was there. And the last of these, these plagues, is when that, when the death angel would pass through Egypt, and would take the life of the firstborn son of every family. And the only way to escaped this — and Moses was giving instructions to Israel — was they were to take a lamb. Not just any lamb. But the lamb had to be the best. It had to be without spot. It had to be without blemish. And there was, there's a lot of significance in this, that the, that the head of the household was to separate the one that he thought was going to be the sacrificial lamb. And he had to observe it and watch it. Had to make sure — had to give it a, give it, give it some time to pass, to make sure that there was, there was nothing, nothing wrong with it. And then there was a lot that H, that weighed in Balance, when it come to picking this out. Because if this was wrong, then there was going to be the loss of the first son in the house. And they were to take that lamb, and they were, they were to kill it. And they were, they were to prepare it. They were to, they were to eat that meal tonight. But most importantly, they were to take the blood of that lamb, and they were apply it to the doorpost, and of the, of the home that was there. Why? Because when the death angel came through that night, he was looking for the blood to be applied. And when the blood was applied, he would pass over that house to the next one. He was looking, ladies and gentlemen, for obedience. Please don't Mis understand what was taking place. You had to be obedient to the word, and you had to have the blood of applied. You had to be obedient to the word, and you had to have the blood applied. You had to be obedient to the word, and have the blood applied. It wasn't optional. It wasn't just about applying the blood without obedience. And it wasn't just about obedience without the blood. That had to be done together. It's very important. Did you play it out specific? Listen, this is something that you didn't chance. You didn't, you didn't take a chance on. It was, it was something that, that, that those of the heads of the household understood: like, we got to be, we got to be ready. You had — and it was very specific. I'm not going to go into all that. But you can go back and read the account there in the Old Testament. Very detailed about how they had to eat their meal prepared, and they had to eat it with haste, and they didn't leave any of it left over. And they had to apply it all. Because if they didn't do it the right way, something was going to die. The blood had to be applied. He had to be obedient.

Jesus sets with his disciples. We see things that were on the table. And using what was there, he began to prepare his disciples for the crucifixion that was just around the corner. He picks up the bread, and he breaks it. He explains to his disciples that the bread that is broken, that I will too be broken. He picks up the cup, the wine, and explains: this wine is symbolic of my blood, is going to be shed for the sins of all mankind, for the remission of sins. It's in these words that he instituted what is common called as the Lord's Supper, our communion. And today, when we take this communion, when we participate in this, we're doing exactly the same thing that they were doing then. It's a symbolic thing that we are to remember. The bread reminds us of who he was, and that he was broken on the cross for you and I. That he was without sin, but yet he took our place on the cross. The Apostle Peter tells us this in 1 Peter 2: 24: who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness. But whose Stripes you are healed. When we eat the bread and hear that, that, that crunch that's there — I, we kind of jokingly talked about it, respectfully, that when we were in the smaller church — I remember, remember doing it in a small church, and you could almost hear one great crunch, as everybody put that in there. But the same time, it's to remember the breaking of his body for you and I. We need to remember that: that was supposed to be me. That was supposed to be me. He didn't deserve death. I deserve death. You deserve that. But he took our place. He did that willingly, for you and I. The juice reminds us of the blood that was poured from the body of Christ, as he was being broken. The blood of Jesus was shed for the remission — under the cancellation — of your sins in mind. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

I've heard a few people through the years ask questions about understanding the difference in forgiveness and remission. The best way I know how to explain this, and I've used this example many, many times, is: if you invited me over to have a meal at your home, and I spilled something while I was there, on your brand new cream colored carpet. And I apologized immediately. And he was like: that's no big deal, deal, Pastor. It's, it's no big deal, is — you know, it is brand new, and hopefully stainu Guard works. But we're going to, we clean it up. But the thing that I spilled — even though we've cleaned all that we could — it's left a stain that is there. Now you've forgiven me, because I said I'm sorry, and you said I forgive you. But there's still a stain. The remission part is when I send Stanley Carpet Cleaners over to your house, and they walk in with their machines, and they do it all, until there's no stain left. That's remission. Hopefully that makes sense to you. There's asking for forgiveness. First John tells us that if I ask, he's faithful and just to forgive me, and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. We can be forgiven. But the reason we are buried with him in baptism, in the Wonderful Name of Jesus, is for the remission of sins. It removes the stain of sin. Are you thankful for remission? His blood was shed for the remission of sins. There's not, there's not a stain that is even there. That's why it's important that, that he did what he did. Because with — we know in Hebrews 9:22: without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. I'm thankful that he shed his blood. As we enter into a relationship with him, when we drink the juice, we remember the blood of Christ, who takes away my sins.

Historically, there have been three major views. And I say this for a reason, because I know some have struggled with this, because of what is out there. I always try to, my best, to take the time to explain this. There's basically, historically, three different views when it comes to the Lord's Supper. There's trans substantiation, which is those who believe that the bread and the, and the juice become the real flesh and the real blood. Then there's consubstantiation, which means that the presence of the Lord comes to be with us, when we're eating the bread and drinking from the cup. And there's a memorialism, that the bread and the cup are only symbolic reminders of what Jesus Christ did. Now, we do not believe that the bread and Juice literally become the Flesh and Blood. We don't teach trans instantiation here. We believe in taking the Lord's Supper in remembrance. We do this by faith, that the presence of Jesus Christ is with us: consubstantiation. That's what we believe. Because he said in his word: as of, as you do it, do it in remembrance of me. There's, there's the, there's the Leaning, and there's the indication, that you should be doing it. We don't have a prescription for how many times. But it's hard to walk away from the word of, and not say to yourself: well, at least that means more than once. Normally around here, at this church, we usually do communion twice a year. We've been known to do it a few more times, if, if we feel led by, by God to do so. But we usually do it at Easter, and then we do it at Christmas time.

So as we would get ready to partake of the Lord's Supper — everyone should have, have gotten a cup. Did everybody get a cup that was there? I don't — don't do anything yet. Just make sure you got it. Does anybody not have one? If you don't have one, we have some available for you. If you'll just, if you — tell you what: if you don't have one, if you'll just raise your hand, just keep your hand up. I want to make sure everybody gets one of these. Now here's the deal: when it comes, when it comes to this, I'm, I'm not the one, okay, to tell you whether or not you can or you can't take communion. But here's, here's how we believe here, and you can judge on yourself. For those that are under the age of 12, that have not been filled with God's spirit — moms and dad DS — we would ask for you to let your children abstain, if they have not received the Holy Ghost yet. We ask you to abstain from that. That's, that's how we believe. Again, you're the mom and you're the dad. You can make this decision yourself. But this is our recommendation. Now, if they're under the age of 12, and you've been filled with his spirit — and most of our children have been — and by all means, Mom and Dad, please walk with them through this, so that we don't have to have Pastor Michael doing a lot of remitting later, of juice in the floor. That was funny. Please help them with this.

We're going to walk through a time of repentance in just a minute, and I'm going to explain why. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:28, says: but let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. When we do this, when we share in communion in the Lord's supper, we're not just fulfilling a ritual of the church. This time today is to set aside for reflection and self examination. And before we take communion, we're going to spend a little time in prayer. You may saying: why do we do this? Because 1 Corinthians 11:27, the verse before the one I just read you, says: wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. Now, this is not meant to scare you out of not doing this. This is meant to bring in a proper understanding of how much you need to respect what we're doing. This isn't just something you just do, and say: yeah, I did it. But you do it with the right mindset, and have your heart where it needs to be. This is important. We must understand that in reality, none of us are worthy. None of us are worthy to do this. But he came to save his people from their sins. He sat down with his disciples and explained what was about to take place. And he said: look, I want to do something special, and I want you to remember it. Every time you do it, I want you to remember what I did for you. So we're going to take a little time to examine our motives, before moving ahead. Paul basically is saying that if we eat the bread and drink of the cup unworthy, without taking the time to reflect on the seriousness of his AC — actions on the cross — we are entering into the guilt of those who crucified him in the first place. So I'm going to give you an explanation of how you could do this unworthy. Number one: you could have Envy or Strife that's in your heart, according to 1 Corinthians 11:18. Number two: you could see what we're doing here is simply something that's ritualistic, and has no spiritual significance, according to verse 19 of that same chapter. You could be irreverent towards God and towards the church, according to verse two — excuse me, 22. You could disrespect the poor and the needy, by that same verse. You could have unbelief in the significance of Jesus Christ sacrific, for Humanity, according to verse 27 and 30 of chapter 11. You have not repented of your sins, according to 27 through 30 of the chapter 11. Or number seven: you have not examined your life and relationship with Jesus Christ, according to verse 31 and 32 of chapter 11. Those, those are the ways right there. Any of those things, any of those things, will be doing this unworthily. Again I say to you: I'm not the one who can judge whether or not you can participate. However, I think after we spend just a couple of minutes here, reflecting on our own life, asking God to check us, asking him to reveal anything that maybe — maybe sometimes things get a little hidden around the corner, we're not even really aware that it's there. That's, that's what we're going to do here, in this, in this next moment. Is we're going to say: God, please reveal to me anything that may be wrong inside of me. God, I don't want to take this cup on unworthy. I don't, I don't want to do anything, Lord, that would cause you any kind of disrespect.

So let me put this all in a nutshell for us today. The Lord's Supper is a process of looking back at the cross, and the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ on our behalf. Communion is about looking within, as we examine our lives and our actions and our motives, and our spiritual condition, as we, as we go before him in Repentance. It's looking outward. In participating in communion, it helps us put into perspective our need for Jesus Christ as Lord and savior of life. Because no man is an island. We need each other. We need to look out at our Lost World. And we need to understand that they may not even know about the lifechanging, life-saving blood of Jesus Christ. And we look ahead. What I mean by that is: participating in communion helps us look ahead to the return of Jesus Christ, when we will have true communion with him in heaven. So it's prayer time. I want you to stay in your seats. But here's what I want: I'm going to come back — we're not going — we'll get to this, we'll open this after prayer, okay. We're going to spend just a couple of minutes. But I feel it's important that we spend this time wisely. Part of this prayer is you asking God to examine your heart, examine your mind, to make sure that you are right. So if you're comfortable, if you don't mind, just, just close your eyes and bow your heads. Let's just spend the time asking God, God to work on us. Jesus, I love you. God, I'm so thankful that you have joined us today. God, I feel your presence in this room. I pray, Lord, that you would help us examine Our Lives.