Discerning The Body

As we already mentioned, good to have several guests with us and we are glad that you are here. And I'm also thankful for all the faithful saints of God. Welcome to the house of the Lord. looking forward to what God wants to do. Today we're continuing our study of First Corinthians. We are going to be reading in chapter 11. Last week, our youth pastor Peter did an outstanding job of navigating the first half of the chapter. And so today, we're going to look at the remainder of the second half of that.

The passage we're going to read as a text would be will be very familiar if you've attended APC throughout the years. Bishop Willilifford has used this text for our times of communion throughout his pastor and Pastor Brad has continued that tradition. So we're going to look at this passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 in the context of Paul's letter to the Corinth there church there in Corinth and as we do we're going to revisit the purpose of communion as well as receive some guidance on our attitude and what we should bring to these special times.

title this lesson discerning the body. So beginning at chapter 11 verse 23 Paul writes for I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me after the same manner he also took the cup when he had sucked saying this cup is the new testament in my blood this do ye as often often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily 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 drink eateth and drinkketh unworthily eateth and drinkkeeth damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. And for this cause there are many weak and sickly among you and many sleep.

Some churches observe communion every week. There are some that do it monthly, some that do it annually and as some as as we do at random times throughout the year when pastor feels a good time sometimes on special occasions, special services. But but the timing of the service is not nearly as important as the reasoning behind it. to the church at Corenth in the first century. Communion revealed their attitude and their actions toward their brothers and sisters in the Lord. And that's why Paul had to write to them.

Their attitude reveals, and we see it in Paul's writing, their misunderstanding of communion significance and its place and its importance of Lord Jesus sacrifice on the cross. And so communion should be a special time of unity, of reflection, of remembrance, of giving of thanks for what God has done for us. And how we approach that can have really a serious bearing. Paul makes it plain on our lives here on earth. And so it it's apparent from the text we just read. Paul did not use the word communion there in the text.

Yet that is generally the term that we here at APC give it to what many of our churches do. Some call it the Lord's Supper. Some will refer to it as the eukarist. Others will call it mass, call it different things. We do however see the word used in the previous chapter in 1 Corinthians 10:16. Paul wrote, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

For we being many, we're one bread. We're one body because we're all partakers of that one bread." And so the Greek word there translated communion coinia is used four times in our King James translated that way four times in our King James Bible. More often that word is translated fellowship which is the usual inter interpretation. I think people understand it in today's particular charismatic churches will use that term uh that Greek word coinia and they're talking about a fellowship or a unity. And so inherent in that concept of fellowship is this idea of unity.

And it expresses Paul's intent in using this word. Because for a church divided as Corinth, as we have studied in the previous chapters, it was appropriate for Paul to focus on the unity of the church as the spiritual body of Christ. And indeed, unity has long been a hallmark of God's people. It didn't just start in the New Testament, both old and new. Bible talks about being unified. The psalmist wrote in Psalms 133, very familiar to most of us, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity." And then he talks about it's like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down the beard, even Aaron's beard.

He he was talking about the anointing that would fall upon that fell upon Aaron when he was anointed with with oil and type of the spirit. And so he said it's pleasant to dwell in unity because the spirit will testify will be with us when we unify together. So it it's been stated the reason for tremendous revival in some foreign countries is because of unity because we we see great revivals and we hear reports of those. It's because they are unified together. Now biblical unity we understand it's not created or achieved by all religious denominations saying let's all get together in spite of our doctrinal differences as the ecumenical movement would do.

But it comes when we who are sanctified through the truth of the word. Those that have the spirit of God working in their lives and living in holiness and living in righteousness and and come together. That's what biblical unity is about. It's not at any cost. It's not that throw away what you feel and how you believe and whatever and we'll just all unify and come together. It does not mean that. But as the psalmist stated, when when brethren of like precious faith unify and and we come together through the salvation and the anointing will result more than ever before, church, we need to unify one another among the church of believers.

rally around those who believe in the name of Jesus in baptism and baptism in water in his name, the infilling of the Holy Ghost. When we rally around those fundamental doctrines of God's word, that's when God's spirit will move and work. Not when we all just come together and say, "Well, you see it your way, I'll see it mine, you you're going to heaven this way, and I'm going to work it out that way and and bring in all kinds of false doc." That's not what it's about.

It's about coming together in truth and in spirit that Jesus talked about. That's what unity is about. So communion is a time to enjoy our unity as fellow Christians and members of local assemblies. It's a special time when we come together and it it is a blessing, isn't it? When we have those times and we share in that Lord's supper. It's a blessing to remember together what Jesus did for us on Calvary. What a blessing to share the fellowship with one another. And Paul even goes on so far as to attribute that unity.

It is the work of the spirit. So, it's it's different when we come together, not just as something that we're going to partake of, but when the spirit of the Lord is in this place and we share that communion together. In fact, Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 13:14, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion, the fellowship, there's that same Greek word behind there, of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen." We got to have the spirit when we come together.

Amen. We can't just come together and just say, "Well, it's just another social event, another lesson, another church service, another concert, whatever you want to say." We got to have the Holy Ghost. I'm thankful for an apostolic Pentecostal church that believes in the experience of the Holy Ghost and the spirit working in our midst. If we don't have that, church, we don't have anything. We got to have it. We got to keep it. And and so it brings unity when we come together in that spirit.

In fact, in in an ode to unity, Paul writes in Ephesians, endeavoring endeavor. Here's what you need to endeavor. Try your best to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. He said there's one body. Now, this is unity. One spirit as you're called into one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who's above all and through all and in you all. I don't think you can be more unified than that. Fact, unity, unit, one.

coming together as one. And so when we come together in that unity of the spirit, Paul opens the discussion here in this chapter, and we didn't read it, but we'll go back and and look at this portion of scripture. He opens this passage as he begins to talk about communion with a rebuke to those that he is writing to. For those present last week when pastor Peter noted that Paul opened chapter 11, he did so with a commenation to them in just bumped my tablet here in 1 Corinthians 11 and2 he said this now I praise you brethren that word means commend I'm giving you a commenation I praise you brethren that you remember me in all things.

I'm thankful for that. You keep the ordinances. You're doing the things that I delivered to you. And so he gave them this commenation at the beginning of chapter 11. And now he gets down to verse 17 and he says, "Now, in this that I declare." In other words, the next thing I'm getting ready to talk about, I praise you not or I don't commend you. He said, ' Because you come together not for what is better, but you're coming together for the worse. Whenever we observe communion, we need to do it with a right attitude, an attitude of love and respect and in reflection.

If the intent of communion, which it is, is to foster fellowship and to foster unity, which is the better in Corenth. It bred division because of their division. It bred pulling them apart. And so Paul said, "It could have been better. You could have come together in all these little tribes and differences and everything that you have one against another. You could unify. You could come together, but you didn't come for that purpose. You made it worse." And he said, "I can't commend you for that.

I can't praise you for that." In fact, he goes to great length in several of his letters to speak of the unity of the body. And he looks at Corinthians and he finds division. And so he begins to describe it. He said, 'For first of all, in verse 18, when you come together in the church, I hear there be divisions among you. We looked at that earlier in some of the early opening chapters. He gave that same indictment. He talked to them and he and he says this, "I partly believe it.

For there must also be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." What's he saying there? Paul has heard there are divisions among the Corinthians. He had talked about that in the earlier chapters, he's bringing it up again. But unlike his earlier indictment where he just talked about there's divisions and strife among you and he begins to delineate some of those. Here he states he partly believes it and I don't think he disbelieved it but I think he understood that not everyone was causing divisions.

And so when he's saying he partly believe it, he's saying I believe part of you are being divisive. I don't think it's the whole church. That would seem to be the thought because in verse 19, he actually seems to welcome and it's kind of odd. He almost seems to welcome the heresies. And that word maybe better translated the sex or the factions, the different groups, the different ones that were there. Maybe we would say today denominations. I don't know. He said, "I I see all these different heresies, all these different factions, all these different sects, all these different groups coming together." And he said, but here's the thing.

He said, 'There must be these divisions. Now, that's interesting, isn't it? For there must be also heresies among you for this reason, that they which are approved might be manifest or revealed among you. There must be so that the true believers will shine forth. So that the true believers will be revealed or manifest. To those who wonder maybe today why there's so many churches you go down there's church on every corner they're all perhaps this verse could shed some light partly could imply that God always has a true church no matter what situation in what generation the church is always existed and when all these false doctrines alive arise when we look at truth suddenly we say well this church preaches truth and it sets us apart.

heart. That's why we never want to get out of the word of God. You step out of that, you're becoming a sect. You're becoming a denomination. You be this is a Holy Ghost experience that we're a part of, part of the church of God. And so in the next three verses, he begins to explain exactly what was going on. He said when you come together for therefore in one place he said you're not coming together to eat the Lord's supper. You're not having communion if you will.

He said for in eating everyone taketh before other his own supper and one is hungry and another gets drunk. He said what have you not houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in that? No, I praise you not. I can't commend you for that. So, he rebuked them for the divisions among them. It was most likely a division that fell among social lines. And it was expressed in these meals they held in their church services.

And so those that were wealthy and those that had the ability were would come in and they would eat sumptiously. and those that couldn't afford or could not bring something, if you will, they they came in and and and left hungry and and while one was sumptuously eating and drinking and and carrying on, the others were were despised. Paul said, he said, "One eats, takes before another." In other words, he goes first. He wants to make sure and one is hungry. One one leaves with nothing and the other leaves full.

And so he said there's this division and in their zeal to to replicate the event of the last supper, if you will, the Passover meal with the disciples. Each member brought food to the church to eat and this class division resulted. But the intention or what happened was the fellowship was broken. There could be no fellowship when these divisions existed. But if they were not going to share in that true fellowship, Paul said, "If you're going to do that, go home and eat. We didn't come here so you could get full and have a party and push out everybody that wasn't your friends.

That's not what fellowship is. He said, "Have you not homes? Do that somewhere else." He said, "That's not the Lord's table. That's not the Lord's intent. Communion was not a a church potluck. Let's all get together. Bring a dish. If this is what you call fellowship, eat at home." home. And so when we come together for worship and fellowship, and we come together when we do have communion, it's to celebrate what Jesus did for us. It's to edify one another. It's to build one another up.

It's to draw one another closer to each other. It's to worship together in the beauty of holiness. It is a phrase that Paul will use here in a bit. It is to discern the body of Christ. And we'll talk about that in a little bit here. Moreover, when a brother or sister is in need and we share that burden and we share that low, that's the right way to come together. That's what the church is all about. And so, how having pointed out the error of their ways, he next reminds them of what he had previously taught them.

And he tells them again the story of the last supper. And that's the text that we read. and significant I think that Paul who was not a follower of Jesus uh when Jesus was on this earth he was not there at the time of the last supper he was not one of the 12 that was eating there with Jesus but yet some 20 10 20 years later he is writing he said I have received of the Lord that also which I delivered unto you I don't know how he received it of the Lord I don't know if he had it in prayer I don't know if he had it on the road to Damascus I don't know if the Lord spoke spoke through James and Peter and explained it to him.

I don't really know how he received it of the Lord. He doesn't say that. But what he does say is, I delivered it unto you. I told you what happened that night. And so all four of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, tell this story. John provides more of Jesus' words and the stuff that Jesus talked about during that time while the synoptics pick up the other three gospels pick up the story in greater detail. So for about three and a half years, the disciples and Jesus had spent time together most of their time.

And now the end was near was little known to the 12 that the fact that that night was going to be their last with the Lord and this Passover feast. They no doubt celebrated it previous years. It was just another thing that was going to happen in their mind, but had no idea realizing that really another sacrifice was being prepared. The Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, would soon offer his own precious blood for the remission of sins, past, present, and future. Matthew writes, "Now when the evening was come," he says this in Matthew 26:20 was come, he sat down with the 12.

To give a little background, the Jewish Passover contained several different parts. Usually, it opened. When they would go to eat this ma meal, there would be a blessing and a shared drink. And then bread was blessed. It was broken and part of it was set aside and we reserved for after for the meal and part of it to use afterwards and we won't go into all the details but the meal was eaten and then the remaining bread was eating with another shared drink. The details uh and so the details concerning Judas would have occurred somewhere in between before that final eating of the bread.

So when let's look at the story it said as they did eat from Matthew 26 verily Jesus said verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray me John who happened to be sitting closest to Jesus tells us that Peter therefore beckoned to John hey John who's he talking about ask him and so John asks and Jesus answered and said it is he whom I shall give a sop or a piece of bread dipped in in whatever they have were eating he said when I have dipped it and when he dipped it He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon.

Upon handing it to him, Jesus said, "The thing you're going to do, do it quick." And we know the story. Jes Judas immediately got up and he left the group. And so with that division, if you will, gone, the one that was going to try to divide and to separate, when that was gone, then we get to where Jesus, the end of this meal, this communion, this fellowship, this coming together. And so in Matthew 26:26 Jesus it said as they were eating Jesus took the bread.

He blessed it. He broke it. He gave it to the disciples and he said take eat this is my body. He took the cup and gave thanks. Gave it to them saying drink you all of it for this is my the blood of my new testament which is shed for the remission of sins. That was the importance. So important was this meal to the early church. This communion meal as we call it today has been a part of the church throughout history. Let's look now at the significance and what it means to us.

Paul as we said wrote, I delivered that which was delivered to me that the Lord Jesus the same night which is betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it said take eat this is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. Now the Corinthians already knew this story. In fact Paul points that out. I delivered this to you earlier when I was founding your church when I was there uh getting it started. I I delivered it to you, but like so many of us, they needed a reminder.

I know sometimes you've probably heard this story and we've read this over and over and you've heard this text, but we need a reminder. And so he begins with the breaking of bread. Jesus took the bread. He blessed it and then he broke it. And he told them this. This bread was my body that is broken for you. I think it's interesting that he used the present tense there. He didn't say was or will be. He said it is. I think that shows us that in his mind and in God's plan, the dode deed was already done.

There was nothing going to change it. It is broken. He was the lamb, John would write in Revelation, that was slain from the foundations of the world. Doesn't mean it happened back then, but it was God's purpose and it was God's plan. And so Jesus could say, "This is my body which is broken. It's going to happen." Some 600 years earlier, Isaiah had prophesied of of Jesus. He said, "He is despised and rejected of men. He's a man of sorrows. He's acquainted with grief. We hid as if it wore our faces from him.

He was despised. We esteemed him not. He's borne our grief. He's carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. He's talking about brokenness here. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes from that Roman whip, we are healed. Matthew would record the situation. Matthew 27:29, he said, "And when they platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head. They put a reed in his right hand and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying, "Hail, king of the Jews." And then they spit upon him and took the reed out of his hand and smoteed him on the head.

More Isaiah continued in another passage talking about that he had been beaten beyond his so disfigured to where he could hardly be even recognized. Jesus suffered in his body so that we could be cleansed from sin. He was beaten with stripes. He was mocked, beaten with rods, smitten with their hands, buffeted with their fist. He was hanged on a cross of wood, pierced in his side with a spear. What a price he paid for our peace and comfort and our salvation. But not only that, for our communion.

We only partake of the bread. He parttook of the suffering and rejection. We partake of the meal. He parttook of the wrath of ungodly men in order to appease the wrath of God for us. Paul goes on after the same manner he took the cup and when he had sucked he said this cup is the new testament in my blood. This do ye as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Why blood? Because in the Old Testament, we read in Leviticus 17:11, "The life of the flesh is in the blood.

And I have given it upon to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement for the souls. It's the blood that covers. It's the blood that pays the price. It's the blood that would pay in the Old Testament. And ultimately, it was all pointing to the blood of Jesus Christ. It was God's plan before the foundation of the world that blood had to be shed. Why? Life of the flesh is in the blood. The wages of sin is death.

The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death because of sin. We deserve death, church, because of sin. We deserve to die. But Jesus said, "You know what? I'm going to die in your place." Aren't you thankful for the blood that he shed? Doesn't take your blood. It takes his blood and he gave that blood so that we could live free from sin. It was in God's plan before the world. It was also understood that blood of animals could never cleanse us from sin.

It took a sinless man, Jesus Christ, a greater and more per perfect sacrifice. And so Peter would write in 1 Peter 1:18, "For as much as you know, you weren't redeemed. You weren't paid for. You weren't bought back with corruptible things of silver and gold. You couldn't do it with your money. You couldn't do it with the way you lived." And he said, "From your vain conversation or your way of life that you receive from the traditions of your father. So not by trying to live a perfect life." None of those things work.

You can't buy your way in. You can't earn your way in. You can't do it. He said, "But you are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who was verily ford ordained before the foundation of the world. It was already established and he was revealed in these last times for you." Jesus blood was the perfect component of atonement or of payment or of covering. Jesus sacrifice was the perfect sacrifice. And when we come together to observe communion, to observe that fellowship, we remember the price that he paid.

Aren't you thankful for it? Aren't you thankful for what he did for us? That's okay. Go ahead and give him a thanksgiving. Thank you, Lord. I can't earn salvation. I can't get it myself, Lord. I can't do it on my own. But you've already paid the price. You've already made the way. You've already opened it through the blood of Jesus Christ. And in communion, Jesus is not sacrificed again and again. It was a sacrifice one time. The writer of Hebrews tells us one sacrifice. It paid the price of sin.

But what we do is we participate in an observance to remember that sacrifice that took place. In fact, Paul goes on to say it this way. For as often as you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. It's an interesting word there in the in this King James Old English Bible. It says you do shu h e w show forth show forth the Lord's death. The word literally is the word translated a lot of places preach proclaim.

He said so when you do that you're proclaiming the Lord's death until he come. You show you preach the Lord's death. You proclaim the Lord's death. Every time we partake of communion we are preaching the message of the cross. We're saying we still believe it takes this blood to cover sin. We still believe it takes that broken body of Jesus Christ that went in our place to cover our sins. And he said to keep doing it. Preach it until he comes again. Don't stop preaching the cross.

Don't stop talking about the blood of Jesus. Don't take it out of your song books. Don't take it out of your himnels. Don't take it out of the praise choruses you sing. Don't take it out of your Bible. Leave it in there. Leave it in your proclamation. The message of the cross is the greatest message because without it, there is no salvation. We have to have the blood of Jesus Christ on our life. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. No wonder we sang that earlier. He's worthy of our praise.

He's worthy. That's going to be the song we sing in heaven. Worthy is the lamb. You're worthy of our praise. You're worthy of living righteously and living godly and trying to follow after you because you paid the price for us. And then Paul begins to talk about some of the purposes of communion. He said, "Where so who wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and if you drink this cup of the Lord unworthily," that's what these people in Corinth were doing. He said, "You're guilty of the body and the blood of Christ.

Let a man examine himself. Let him eat that bread and drink the cup. For he that eat and drinkkeeth unworthily eateth and drinkkeeth damnation to himself. And here's that phrase, not discerning the Lord's body. Not discerning the Lord body. It seems clear that the Lord associated maybe even his own betrayal that evening of the last supper with an unconcern or an in ill feelings toward one another at the communion table. Here's the thing, and I've stressed this before, but it's so important. There is no communion without community.

If there's not fellowship, if there's not a coming together, you're just drinking the cup and eating the bread for your own benefit. And there is no benefit because you're not discerning the body of Christ. What is he talking about there? He's not talking necessarily. Yes, he is talking about the blood of of the body of Jesus that was broken for us. But more importantly, he is talking about the church which is the body of Christ. He said if you're doing it unworthily and you don't care and you're not doing it in love and fellowship, all those things, you're not you're not understanding this body.

You're not discerning. You're not seeing it what this church is all about. Communion is never about self. I have to wonder if there's even any such thing as communion when you're giving it to an individual apart from I I know sometimes we hear that I went and gave them a final communion or whatever. Well, are you communing? Are you in fellowship? Paul wrote this passage after scolding those that came to these love feasts as they called them only to fill their stomachs. And and he was saying, "You're missing the whole point when it's all about you.

when it's all about what what's in it for me. Examine yourself. We have to ask, am I putting others first? In fact, Paul gives us some insight into this. He said, "For this cause, because of the way you're doing things, many of you are weak and you're sickly and many of you sleep or many of you are dead." That that's some pretty strong words. But he's saying our treatment, what he is saying is our treatment and our attitude toward brothers and sisters in Christ is a serious matter.

Church, we can't cloister ourselves from one another. We can't cloister ourselves from the world. We have to look upon everyone and say, you know, this salvation, this message of the cross that we're preaching, it is for you. The blood will work for you. It will cover your sins. You will be forgiven. You can be set free. You can be on a path to heaven. Apparently the Corinthians suffered sickness and some evidently even death because they could not in discern the importance of a proper relationship in the church.

Said it as we open this church. It's so glad to be a part of the family of God. What are you saying? We have to come together church. It's of grave importance how we treat one another in Christ. With regard to communion, we have to take it in a right attitude. never we're never actually worthy of it. We don't deserve it, but we are granted that worthiness through Jesus Christ. We're covered by his blood and that makes us worthy. There was an old song come out years ago said unworthy, unworthy, a beggar in bondage and alone.

That that's what we are. That's kind of like what Isaiah saw when he saw the heavens and he said Lord I'm unworthy. I I'm can't reach to that. But the song goes on, but he made me worthy. And now by his grace, his mercy has made me his own. Aren't you thankful for the grace and the mercy of God that made the way for you to enter into the presence of the Lord. The Apostle Paul goes on and gives us a few guidelines. First, he said, "So let a man examine himself.

Look at your attitude and look at your spirit in communion times." And I could go to say I know we talked earlier said some people do it every week. Some people have a communion table once a week, once a month, once every special, you know, on feast days or once a year or whenever it might be. Really, it applies to every time we come together. There ought to be a community. There ought to be fellowship and a union together. And so we need to examine ourselves when we come to church.

Is there a divisive, unforgiving spirit? Are we sitting on one side of the church because we don't like somebody on the other side? And I know that's not the case for everybody because we always we're creatures of habit. We pick a seat and you know, we only get upset when somebody gets our seat. But we need to look at it, right? We need to take it biblically. If there's something that's is between you and someone else, go and make it right. Don't go and argue it out.

Go and make it right so that there's community. Discern the body of Christ. Like it or not, you're my brother, you're my sister, right? And so I have to, as Paul said, lay aside sometimes my rights, how I feel about it, and make those connections. Too often instead of trying to work things out, we just try to escape. Sometimes we just change churches altogether. Never solves problems. We need to examine ourselves, make things right right where we are. And then share in that fellowship. You know, as a chorus song used to sing one point, when we all get to heaven, well, I hope we all get to heaven.

But when we all get to heaven, that means that person you don't like is going to be in heaven. And I don't think they're going to let you go up there and say, "Well, you you stay on that side of that crystal sea and I'll go over here." Fellowship, every nation, every kindred, every tongue, every people, Bible says coming together. He said, "Eat of that bread and cup." Now, some people won't refuse communion. They said, you know, I I just not partaking does not take sin away.

It's repentance. And so Paul said, examine yourselves, make things right, and take the communion. Find a way. What you're saying is, I I'm not part of this when you don't take communion. I'm not in fellowship with my brothers and sisters. I'm not in fellowship with the Lord's body when I refuse it. How do we take care of that? We repent. We change our minds. We change our ways and say, "Lord, I want to be a part of what you have." And then we need to be thankful.

Thankful to take communion with an attitude of praise and thanksgiving. And I would have to say it comes two ways. One, we're thankful to Jesus Christ for what he has done for us. You've already expressed some of that in your worship. I'm thankful for it, Lord. Thankful for the blood you shed. Thankful, Lord, for the cross of Calvary. Thankful, Jesus, that you died in my place, gave your blood, your life, that I might live. Thankful for that. But it can't stop there. I'm thankful for my brothers and sisters because that's the body of Christ.

I'm thankful for each and everyone. I'm thankful that God has placed us in this place where we can worship together and we can come together. We can share one another's burdens. We can pray with one another. We can have that fellowship. If you're not thankful for that, if your attitude, well, I'll come, you know, some people take this attitude. I'll come to church and I'll worship God, but I don't care about anything else that goes on there. I don't care about this person. I don't care about that.

I'm just going to worship God, so I'll just shut it all out. That's not communion. You're not discerning the body because it's not just about me and God and nobody else. doesn't work that way. That's not what the church is. And as soon as you take that attitude, you missed what Jesus intended for us. When the Jews end their Passover meal, and they of course we know they have their time of year from their calendar that they do it. They traditionally conclude with these words, "Next year in Jerusalem." There's always a hope that whenever they finish their communion, if they're not able to be there this year, next year, let's try to get to Jerusalem.

Let's What are they saying? Next year, let's unify. Next year, let's go to the city of David, the city that where God's presence is. Let's go. I think when we conclude, we should say next time in heaven. That's our goal. That's what we're living for to be with Jesus in heaven throughout eternity. And not just in a communion service, but every time we come together. Lord, we're Lord, we're we're looking for you to come and we want to unify. We want to be up there. Communion.

It's a time of unity and remembrance and reflection, renewal, rededication, reverence, examination, thanksgiving, respect, all these things. And he said, ' And often do it until I come. So that's the hope and that's the goal. Keep doing it. Stay in communion. Stay loving one another. Stay together in fellowship until he comes and then we'll all get to heaven. When we think of the elements, the bread, the fruit of the vine, we're constantly reminded of that body and blood of Jesus Christ. But we also need to be constantly reminded of our love for one another, our fellowship, and the fact that he's coming back soon.

Let's stand. Easy to just walk away and say, "Well, that was good." And you know, we read from the word of the Lord. We have to have that love for one another. Why don't you lift a hand and just ask God to help you? And if there's anyone that you have grievances with, why don't you begin to pray about that and say, "Lord, help my attitude. Help my spirit to be what you want it to be." Lord, in your name, I pray God that there would be a unity of the spirit throughout this building.

Lord Jesus, that the Holy Ghost that you have placed in our lives will come alive to where we will love one another as you have loved us. that we will discern that body of Christ and understand that we are part of something so much bigger than we are. But if we all find our place in your body and if we all fellowship together and we all Lord do what what you desire. Love one another as you would love Jesus we will be the church that you want us to be in Jesus name.

In Jesus name. Amen.