Discerning the Lord's Body

I love you, Jesus. Such a warm welcome. Thank you for that, and such a kind, kind introduction. I thank you for that. I feel like I should stand up here and just sing a few more times. It's all about You, Jesus. It's all about You, Jesus. There's a powerful anointing in this room right now, and I thank God for it. Of course, He responds to our prayer and to our worship, and He has done so tonight.

It just occurred to me there — and I'm in a little bit of a dangerous spot tonight — because I'm a teacher, I'm a notes preacher, and this just isn't doing it that way tonight. So I'm not sure this is going to be much preaching or teaching, but I believe we're going to follow after the Lord and head into a very special moment here in a few moments.

I want to say to this wonderful district, the Apostolic fellowship, particularly the United Pentecostal Church International: we collectively held our breath last week when we heard the news out of your youth camp, and then to watch this wonderful district and your leadership just minister so compassionately and flow in the Spirit — you set the bar very high, and you helped us all, and we commend all of your leadership and the youth camp leadership. Just amazing, and I commend you for that. It's such an honor to be here, and such an honor to stand before you tonight. And we're going to meander our way to the communion moment tonight. And the only thing I can tell you: this will not be a sermon. I apologize.

I want to situate communion in the middle of First Corinthians. This is what teachers do. It's very irritating to the rest of us. This is what teachers do. Preachers — they're amazing. It's like they take a snapshot of a Scripture and then they just hammer that home until that inspiration's so powerful and the Holy Ghost just goes wham! I love that. I'm slightly envious of that. Teachers, they don't do it that way. Teachers, they carry around — do you remember those big old VHS heavy camcorders that we used to have? That's what teachers carry around. They were like zooming in and backing up and panning around, and they just look like a geek. But that's really what I need to do tonight. And I believe the Lord wants to speak to us. Just before you're seated, if you would lift your hands high and your voice higher, and give praise, great praise to the Lord. I love you, Jesus. Yes. Yes. Yes. In Your name I pray. Amen. You may be seated tonight.

Paul spent 18 months of his life in the city of Corinth planting a church. And the church was such a powerful church, spiritually gifted, growing. It was amazing. But after his departure, the church began to develop some issues. And many of the issues were because the church allowed some of the attitudes of their culture to influence their beliefs and their behavior. And so when Paul writes First and Second Corinthians — first of all, anytime there's two epistles with the same name in the New Testament, there's a reason for that. It's because somebody did something stupid between the two. First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, First Thessalonians — it's just somebody did something dumb. And so this church has a lot of issues, because when God's people don't walk in the Spirit, that old carnal nature and this old sinful culture that's around us can influence us. And that's what's sort of the background here. The Corinthians have been influenced by the philosophy of their city.

And the philosophy of their city was the very same as the philosophy of our modern culture. The philosophy was: anything goes. Do whatever feels good to you. Live your truth. That's kind of their philosophy: my life is my business. Or, as they would have said it 2,000 years ago, "All things are lawful for me." That was their culture in the city: I can do whatever I want. And so Paul jumps into the fray — and again, I want to situate the communion moment in the middle of this book — Paul refutes that idea with what I like to call his three ethical laws, and we find them in two verses. So if you've got your Bible or your phone or your iPad or whatever, if you'd take a look at these with me — and the media, I didn't give them anything tonight because I don't know what I'm doing.

First Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 12. Paul says: "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient." "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." So see what he just did there: he quotes this prevailing attitude in their culture, and then he refutes it. You say, "All things are lawful for me"; Paul said, but all things are not expedient. You say, "All things are lawful for me"; but I say, I will not be brought under the power of any. And then another verse, First Corinthians 10 and 23, he repeats one of them, and then he adds another. He quotes the culture again: "All things are lawful for me" — that's what you say in culture — but I say, all things are not expedient. He repeats that one. Then he says this: you say, "All things are lawful for me," but I say, all things edify not.

So these are Paul's three ethical laws, if you will. First of all, he said: is what I do — would that be advisable for my actions? Because although I could act in pretty much any way I want, all things that I would set out to do are not expedient; they're not beneficial. And then he says, secondly — and this is the bigger question, because it's one thing to govern your own actions — but he says: is it beneficial for the body? Because all things edify not. See, especially those of you that lead, and you're in ministry, that are here tonight — and all you saints that help your pastor, and you lead a ministry or you lead a department at your church — you don't just look after you. You're responsible for your impact on other people. You're responsible for your impact on the body of Christ. You're responsible for what you do and how it impacts others in the body. So yeah, all things are lawful, technically. It's okay. But all things edify not. Not everything builds up the body. Not everything matures the body. Not everything grows the body. Not everything edifies the body.

And then he says another question: would this be constructive for my character? Is this going to really — here's what we've got to ask ourselves: if I allow this in my life — forget about the next five minutes or the next five days — what is it going to be like in the next five years? If I allow this in my life, if I allow this in my home, if I allow my kids to do this, where are we going to be in five years? That's the question. And so he said — here's what he says: it may be lawful, but I will not be brought under the power of any. I'm not letting anything in my life or in my ministry that gives up some kind of power to an influence that isn't me or isn't God. I'm not going to surrender that influence.

Now, you say, "Well, yeah, that's ancient history. That's 2,000 years old." And so that was their saying: "All things are lawful." Well, we have similar sayings today. We say things that are very similar; we just phrase them differently, because it keeps us out of trouble. And we say things like, "Well, it's easier to get forgiveness than permission." If you've ever said that, you probably need to go pray again. In the words of your superintendent: pray again. You see, we say those things because really there's something in every one of us that wants to be independent. There's something in every one of us that wants to call the shots. And there's something in every one of us that — we think we are right. We think we've got it all together. We think we've perceived it accurately every single time.

There were many areas in Corinth where this philosophy of "all things are lawful" had done an incredibly damaging work in the church there. Usually when somebody exercised their personal liberty at the expense of the church's unity, that's where it really messed them up. Now, many of the issues that the Corinthians faced don't apply to us today — I'll give you that — but the principles Paul taught them are universal, and they're timeless. I would argue they're even eternal. So we have to be very careful in the 21st century, with all our perks and privileges. We have to be very careful that exercising our liberty doesn't take a hit at the church's unity. That's true in every local church. It's true in our great fellowship. It's true in a wonderful district like this.

And so you can see Paul doing this — and again, I'm meandering here, and I know that, and it's terrible — but Paul is situating the communion service in the midst of all this. He keeps saying things that are technically lawful for the Corinthians to do, but they're not wise. So you could get away with them, but it's not wise. You could technically do it and it not be a sin, but it's just not wise.

One of them is in First Corinthians 8 and verse 9. He said: "It's lawful for you to eat meat that's been sacrificed to idols. It's lawful. I can't pick you apart on that. But if you do it, you could offend a weaker brother." "Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak." So technically it's lawful, but it's just not wise.

And then he takes another crack at it in the next chapter. First Corinthians 9:25: it's lawful for you to do a whole lot of different things that you want to, but just because it's not technically sinful, you could harm yourself. So in 9:25 he says: "Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate" — he's controlled, he's measured, he's maybe even, you'd call him a little cautious — "in all things. And he says, now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown" — they train so they can win the Olympic games or whatever they're doing — "but we are trying to win an incorruptible crown." So if that kind of discipline is good for an athlete in the physical realm, it's a thousandfold more beneficial for us in the spiritual realm. These things are lawful. Nobody's saying it's a sin, but you have to watch your motives, brothers and sisters. "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight" — that's what this is.

And there are many people in Corinth, they're powering up on their individual rights. And so he hits it again in chapter 10. And in chapter 10, verse 33, he said: you know, you can exercise all your rights, and you can talk about your rights, and "it's my right to do that" — but it's just not wise, because you could power up on your rights and you could mess up how we're trying to reach people. First Corinthians 10:33: "Even as I please all men in all things, I don't seek my own profit, but the profit of many — why? — that they might be saved."

Now, I'm a Canadian. I apologize for that. Canadians apologize for everything. Anyway, I'm sorry. So here's the deal: I don't have a vote or a voice in America, but I've observed your wonderful country, and in my opinion, in North America — in my country and yours — the political sphere has never been more polarized or divided. And so can I just offer just an observation? And you can discard this part if you want. But I think we're unwise when we power up in the pulpit and in our services and we attack half of our own country just because it feels good, and we're kind of getting applause from the cheering section. And here's why: I don't believe that we're just trying to reach people that have a Christian mindset or a Christian worldview. This gospel is for whosoever will. And God so loved the whole world that He gave. And so we need to be very careful. And that's the principle right there. You say, "Well, there's nothing wrong with saying that." That's true. It's lawful. But everything that's lawful isn't necessarily wise.

And then he wades into some of our personal stuff, where it gets really, really down where the rubber meets the road. In chapter 11 he hits it again, because they've got ladies in Corinth that have discarded the veil that they wore in their culture, because in Christ there's neither male or female, bond or free, Jew or Gentile. And so they've discarded something that's culturally important in the city of Corinth. And here's what he says — First Corinthians 11 and 13: "Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?" Now, he's about ready to tell them that, ladies, your hair is your covering. We get that: your hair is what God looks at, as your covering. But in Corinth they all wear a different kind of covering. And so what Paul's saying is: why would we offend our whole city before we even have a chance to win them to the Lord? You say that doesn't apply today. I would beg to differ. In every Muslim-dominated nation in the world, when our ladies go into that nation, or those nations, they put on a head covering. Why? Because God expects it? Absolutely not. But because we don't want to offend that culture before we even have a chance to share Jesus with them. And so again, it's lawful. It's technically okay. It's not a sin, but not everything that's lawful is wise.

And then he heads into communion in chapter 11. See, their communion services were different than ours, because when they came together to celebrate the Lord's Supper and remember the Lord's Supper, they would have — we'd call it a feast. And so they would gather, and they would bring food, and it would be a whole meal, with the communion part as part of the meal. We do it different. You all go out to eat after we do communion. So we just do it in a different time. So don't criticize them. We do the same thing. And so they would gather. But here's the problem: some of the members of the church in Corinth, they were wealthy. They came from wealthy families. They had very nice homes. They had all kinds of money. They could bring a huge feast. But there were other people in the church that were poor. They didn't have very much. And so when they came to the service, when they came to observe communion, they didn't have anything. And Paul said, basically: why would you flaunt your wealth? Why would you flaunt your perks and privileges in front of people that don't have it? First Corinthians 11 and 33: "Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, tarry one for another." He's saying: you know, if you've got to have a big feast, why don't you do that at home? And then when we come here, we can just concentrate on us all being equal, and us all being on the same level before the Lord. So again, is it a sin? No, it wouldn't be a sin. It's lawful. It's just not wise. He does this everywhere in First Corinthians.

And he's headed somewhere. And this is why I felt just pushed to situate the communion ceremony tonight in this context, because he's headed toward the body of Christ in chapter 12. He's headed toward spiritual gifts in chapter 12. He's headed toward all the ministries that God puts in His body. And the Corinthians, they had a bad case of just preacher culture. And so some liked Paul, and some liked Apollos, and some liked Peter — Cephas — and some were fans of this one or that one. And they had really built up this culture in Corinth. Is it wrong to have some favorite preacher? Paul would say: probably not. But is it wise for you to talk about that so much that you hurt somebody else's respect for their man of God, for their pastor, for their leader, for the voice that's in their life?

And I thank you so much for the kind introduction tonight, but I need to say this — and I'm not being ungrateful for the kind introduction — but can I just say to Indiana: you are not responsible to submit to some Canadian guy that flies in for three or four days. You are responsible to submit to your pastor, the man of God that stands in the pulpit in your church every single week, and he breaks the bread of life to you. If your pastor has never preached outside of your church, that doesn't validate or invalidate his ministry. He's called to be your pastor.

See, Corinth, it was like, "Oh, Paul — he's the big guy." "No, Apollos. I like him. He's more eloquent than Paul. Paul, his speech is just kind of weird. But Apollos — see, God agrees with me. Apollos, he's eloquent, and he's kind of — you know, I like it when Apollos talks." And: "No, I like Peter, because Peter was the elder. He was the original voice on the day of Pentecost." And see, they had all this competition, and all this business of exalting one ministry above another. And brothers and sisters, that's where Paul's headed when he takes us to the communion table. Because in chapter 12 he says, technically it's okay to have a favorite preacher or a favorite ministry or whatever. It's lawful, but it's not always wise. Here's what he says — First Corinthians 12 and 14. I'm out of my depth, and I'm way above my pay grade, so I'll let Paul talk. First Corinthians 12:14: "For the body is not one member, but it's many members." This is where he's heading when he takes us to the communion table.

We often read what Paul writes — and Paul got it by revelation. He was not a Christian when Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples. Paul was not there. In fact, he was killing Christians, and arresting Christians, and persecuting Christians at that point. And so everything he got about communion, he got by revelation from God. And so when he takes us to the communion table, he is talking about two subjects simultaneously. One is looking back to the crucifixion of Jesus: that Jesus was nailed to a cross, and His blood was shed, and His blood is still sufficient for every sin, for every sickness, for every addiction and bondage, for all of that. His blood is sufficient. So when we celebrate communion, we remember His shed blood, and we remember His broken body. And Paul even tells us in this passage in First Corinthians 11 — the communion service that we talk about — he says in First Corinthians 11 and 29: he that eateth and drinketh this cup unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself. Why? Because he's not discerning the Lord's body. Now, when he says that, you've got to look in two directions. You look back to Calvary — and we've got to respect and honor, and we've got to observe the communion celebration, we have to observe it thinking about the Lord's body, and do that not in an unworthily, disrespectful, irreverent, casual manner. We've got to respect His broken body. But remember, you've got to look two ways, because Paul's about ready to jump into chapter 12 immediately after this. And chapter 12 is not about Jesus' broken body on the cross. Chapter 12 is about the body of Christ that is in the earth. It's in Corinth and Ephesus and Philippi, but it's all over the state of Indiana today. And so Paul is pointing us in two directions. That's why he says: as long as we do this, we are remembering the Lord's death till He come. We're looking in two directions.

So as we celebrate communion together tonight, I am compelled to tell you that we can all power up on our individuality. We can all power up on what God has called us to do, and how He has called us to do it. It distresses me when I see ministers or saints or leaders disrespect each other simply because they do ministry differently, or they preach differently, or they teach differently, or their calling is different. It's supposed to be that way in the body of Christ. The body of Christ is not dysfunctional, and it is not disabled. The body of Christ is powerful in its unity, and powerful in its diversity. If your pastor preaches differently than the pastor across town, you thank God for that, because your pastor was called to minister to you, and to preach to you, and to lead you.

So I'm almost finished here, and we're going to observe communion together. Paul gives us what I would call a spiritual anatomy lesson in chapter 12. And this is what we need to think about every time we observe communion. We observe communion, and we always by default go back to the most important body — the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us, that was bruised for us. He shed blood for us. And that's primary. But Paul is also pointing us in another direction, because the body of Christ still exists. No, it doesn't exist as the man from Galilee who was arrested, and He was whipped, and He was beaten — but it still exists. The body of Christ is in the earth today. He is the head of His body, and we are all members of His body. So Paul said, when we celebrate communion, that we need to be very careful to discern the Lord's body. We need to make sure that we are loving and honoring and respecting the Lord's body, even if they're not cut from the same cloth as you.

He teaches us a spiritual anatomy lesson. I don't have time, nor would I take your time, but here's what he teaches us in chapter 12. Every member of the body is unique. Every member of the body is important. Some members are not very visible. They're not standing in a pulpit and a campground tonight. They're not as visible. But every member is essential to the body. We lost Dorothy Phillips a few years back. Sister Phillips — she was elderly, little wizened-up, hunched-over little lady. She'd had some emotional challenges at one point in her life, and so she just — it just wasn't your typical conversation with Sister Phillips. But that lady was a prayer warrior. When she passed, we immediately felt the impact at Capital Community Church. She left — basically they had very few possessions that would be of any value to anybody else other than their kids. She left two things. She left a tattered global missions map. She taped it back together, because every single day Dorothy Phillips prayed for every single missionary family on the global missions map. Every day of her life, she'd thumb through that thing, and folded it and refolded it, until it was just in tatters. And the other thing she left — her other prize possession — was a little church directory that we'd done years ago. And it had little pictures of the families in the church. And then in the back, she'd written down some of the new members of the church that didn't make the directory. And it was so worn, and it was all bent and all discolored. But every single day she went through the church directory, and she prayed for every single family in our church, every single day.

And I know what we think: "Well, I don't have enough time to do that." Well, I thank God Dorothy Phillips had enough time to do that. See, every member of the body — you may have so many responsibilities for the Lord that I know you couldn't even take the time to thumb through all the pages of a church directory and name every member. You are doing other things. And that's okay, because just the same as we should value Dorothy Phillips, we should value you. And just the same as we should value you, we should value some other ministry that is totally different than the way you process things, and totally different than the manner in which you preach things. I wish you'd lift up your hands and your voice for a moment. I'm almost finished.

You may not feel very visible in the body of Christ, but you are essential. See, your nose and your ears and your eyes — they're prominent. Your lungs and your heart are not prominent, but they're very important. You don't know the precious saints of God that are holding our churches together. They are like bands of love and Holy Ghost power. And they never get an honorable mention, because we don't even know what they're actually doing, but they crawl into a prayer room, or they crawl into a spare bedroom, and they hold up the hands of their pastor. Heaven is going to be the great equalizer and the great eye-opener, because every member of the body, even if they're not visible, they're essential.

We're taught in Paul's anatomy lesson that members of the body, because of this, they should not compete with one another, and they should not compare themselves to one another. Should the eye say to the ear, "Well, I don't have any need of you"? Should the hand say to the foot, "You're not as important as I am"? No member of the body, Paul says, is important alone, but every member is important when we are together. Paul even tells us we should attempt to give honor to the weaker members of the body, and to the sick members of the body, and to those members that are not prominent or visible. And here's what he says — and I'll end here — he says: members of the body that act independently, they create sickness in the body. If you have cells that go rogue, you have a disease coming at you. Members that act independently, they create sickness. But members that are healthy in the body — you know what they do? They always compensate for one another. That's what that crazy limp was about. When you stubbed your toe and broke a foot, or did whatever, you were limping because the other members — your other foot and your other leg — you were compensating for a member of the body that was weak, or hurt, or sick, or injured in some way. And if you're a healthy member of the body, that's what we do. We are not important alone, but we are the apple of God's eye when we are together. We are His body. We are His bride. We are His people. We are His church. And we are united when we think that way.

So I want you to think about communion just a slight bit differently tonight. I want you to situate it in this context. You can be independent. Everybody else around us is. You can do just whatever you please. You can please yourself. You can set out on a course, and you can defend everything you're doing. And some of us — we've been around Pentecost long enough, we can rationalize just about any kind of behavior. And we get irritated when somebody out there does it about our holiness convictions, or somebody else out there does it about some precious doctrine, but sometimes we do that in our actions every day. I said to a wonderful group of people just the other day: we need more in this generation than rules of holiness, or standards of holiness. We need a spirit of holiness to endue the apostolic church, because a standard, somebody can rationalize that away. They can be the unique person. They can get around it in some unique situation. But if we have a spirit of holiness, it guides us.

You see, you can make the case, just like Corinth: "Well, all things are lawful." Paul would wade right in, and he'd argue with you. Yes, all things might be lawful. You could figure out a way to defend that you're acting independently from the rest of the body. But he said: "All things are not expedient. All things are not wise. All things don't edify the body. And furthermore, I refuse to be brought under the power of an independent spirit that's going to sever my connection to the body." Because you are my brother, and you are my sister, and I don't just tolerate you — I have need of you. I don't just put up with you — I love you. I don't just kind of wait until you leave so I can get with the people I really like. No, you are important to me, because you are important to Him.

And that's where Paul is aiming us when he takes us to the communion table. The elders are going to come, and they're going to prepare to give you these emblems. And I think what we'll do tonight — they just gave me liberty, which is probably a dangerous thing — but I'm going to ask the men that are going to serve communion if you'd come. And I think we'll come to the altar tonight. And maybe what we'll do is, we'll come up — I know this is a little bit of walking — but let's come up the aisles, and maybe I can get some of the brethren at each aisle, and we'll come and take the emblem, and then please don't go back to your seat. As many of you as there's room for, if you just come in real close to the altar area all across here, and we're going to take communion together. And as we do, I want you to look in two directions. Yes, we will remember the shed blood and the broken body of Jesus. But don't you ever forget that Paul situates communion in the middle of looking back to Calvary and looking ahead. And we say, well, he looks back to Calvary, and he looks ahead to heaven — "until He comes." And He does, until He comes. But what's in the middle of back at Calvary and until He comes? This is in the middle. We are His body. We are His people. And we are His church.

I apologize to you for not preaching a sermon tonight, but I really, really felt compelled and pushed to situate communion in the middle of this. Would you lift up your hands one more time before we stand? Before we come, would you lift up your hands and lift up your voice? Your voice is the center of spiritual warfare in your life — not your hands, your voice. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." Would you stand reverently in the fear of God and in His presence? Brother St. Clair, why don't we just go ahead and sing something, and let's come and receive these emblems. We're going to partake together. So just receive them, and then stay at the altar if you would. And then we're going to receive communion together. I love You, Jesus. I worship You, God. You don't have to wait to praise Him. Just wait for the communion part. Come in as close as you can once you've received those emblems, and lift up your hands and lift up your voice. And let's worship our way into communion this evening.

As you're coming, just be cautious — or be aware — of the people that are coming behind, and make room for them to get up the aisles. That's wonderful. Thank you. Let's sing: "You're all I want." Let's sing it together. Sing it to Him.

I know you're standing, and I will just be one moment. Around the 1st of March, our little granddaughter, nine years old — a very, very, very serious health situation. They had to airlift her to a children's hospital in a neighboring province, and it was very much touch-and-go. The doctors told my son Matthew — they said, "Mr. Woodward, unfortunately, these are the kinds of viruses that take our children from us." She was so very sick. She was on life support for a few days. No response, no reaction. The anesthesiologist in Fredericton, that monitored her during an emergency surgery before they airlifted her — that lady was the reason Rosie got airlifted, because she said, "I monitor brain activity during surgery, and there was so little brain activity in that little girl. I knew we couldn't do anything here for her." We're so thankful that she did. And there was another little girl, Rosie's age, same viruses, same hospital, same weekend — and her family had a funeral. But Rosalie is on vacation with her mommy and daddy and her brother and sister this week, because God's people prayed. There was such a turnaround in answer to prayer.

Here's what I want to tell you. During that time, those few weeks — I have a love-hate relationship with social media, I really do. But I loved it during those weeks. I started getting these little messages — Facebook, private Messenger; I don't know how they all work; they all come to me, it's just more email — but they all come, and I started getting these messages. Not from preacher friends — I expected those, and received those, and they were so kind; people were praying. Not from missionaries — I know many of them; I was on our global missions board for a dozen years, and I know many of them, and I would have expected that, and we received that. But I started receiving these messages from saints in churches in the Philippines, in Africa — people I've never met, nor will I ever meet this side of heaven, out in some remote little village church somewhere — and they would find me somehow on Facebook and say, "Our whole church is praying for your granddaughter every day." When this body of Christ works like it's supposed to, its coordination is powerful. When it doesn't work like it's supposed to, the awkwardness is painful to see. We're part of something very special, and I thank God for it.

So Paul writes to us: "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you: that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, 'Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you.'" Before you take this emblem, please let me say this to you: His body was broken on the cross so this body wouldn't have to be broken. We remember that His body was broken, and we pledge to Him: this body will never be broken, to the best of our ability. "This do in remembrance of me." Oh, I worship You, Jesus. Let your praise out. Let your adoration out. Let your thankfulness out. Let your gratitude out. Thank you for Your body that was broken. Thank you for Your body that was beaten. Thank you for Your body that was hurt. We're not in a hurry tonight. Please just pray in the Spirit. Do whatever you feel to do. Thank You, God.

"After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, 'This cup is the new testament in my blood.'" He shed His blood — and I'll use a dramatic image here, but I think Paul would concur: He shed His blood so there wouldn't be bloodshed in this body. "This cup is the new testament in my blood. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me." Healing is in this room right now, because of the power of His blood and the sacrifice of His body: physical healing, emotional healing, mental healing, spiritual healing, relational healing.

We usually read these verses before we partake. I'm going to read them after we partake. "For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." Both directions. "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily" — in an irreverent, or callous, or casual manner — "shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself." Why? "Because he hath not discerned the Lord's body" — not that body, or not this body, for this cause: because you don't discern the body. You don't value the body. "Many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." Many have already died.

If we're going to be the 21st-century apostolic church — in principle, and power, and preaching, and every other way — we need to be the 21st-century church in love, and honor, and unity, and diversity, and maturity. So thank you for hearing me out tonight. And I apologize for the condition of the sermon. Right now — brethren with brethren, and ladies with ladies — I'm going to ask you to literally do this. And you would tell your saints to do it, and expect them to. So I'm going to tell you to do it, and expect you to. I want you to go one to another. And if you can't think anything to say, try this: "I love you. I esteem you. I value you." Thank You, Jesus.