Okay, hey, I've been excited to share this
and I pray to God I can get
this across the right way.
God has taught me so much in the
last month or two.
I feel like I'm on another level.
I feel like I'm so excited about the
future because I just feel like there's like
nothing in store for me but greater and
greater intimacy with God.
I've been having these times where I'm just
like in tears rejoicing over God, just enjoying
his presence, and I'm just so wanting that
for the church.
And I'm like, God, you're teaching me so
many things now, and as many of you
know, we're moving at the end of February,
and I'm going, God, why now?
Like, I got to make sure we get
this.
I want to make sure the church gets
this.
Like, this is this is so big, so
huge, so good.
You see, you know how, like, when you
read the Bible, like all your life, there
are always little things that you just go,
I don't quite get that, but I'm sure
I'll figure it out one day.
You know, and you just kind of put
it aside, and there's a lot of those,
right?
Where there's just verses here and there, and
you go, that sure sounds like this, and
that sure sounds like that.
Even some of these prayers for healing, like
we just talked about, like, where you go,
gosh, it seems like it's when the elders
get together, and when they pray, and that
prayer faith does heal, and so I don't
get it.
How come sometimes, and how come sometimes, like
you said, in the Bible, you've got people
like Timothy, and he's sick, and Paul doesn't
just heal him.
He says, hey, take some wine for your
stomach, and he's like, ah, I'm not supposed
to drink wine.
You know, it's all these things, and you
know, Epaphroditus, you know, where Paul left him,
and he was about to die, and you
go, wait, but then there's other times he
could just heal people, and I don't get
it.
There's other times you go, well, maybe it's
their lack of faith, but then you go,
no, no, Peter and John walked by that
beggar, and he was looking for money, and
then they heal him.
He wasn't even trying, you know, and you
go, that's just not, I don't get some
of these things.
There are certain things that we just, oh
God, I don't, that's why when the disciples
saw that that man born blind, they're like,
hey, whose fault is it, Jesus?
Because I've got this figured out, and I
know it's always someone's fault, so was it
his fault?
Was it his sin?
But he was born blind.
Did he do something in the womb?
You know, what did he, what is the
deal?
Like, they're, because they thought they had him
figured out.
They go, well, it must be his parents'
sin, because he wasn't born to sin, so
it must be his parents', and Jesus explains
to them, he goes, hey, it wasn't his
sin, it wasn't his parents' sin, it was
for the glory of God, and then Jesus
heals him.
Okay, okay, so, and then we want to
make that a rule for everything, and it's
like, no, no, no, I mean, you just
see, I don't know what he's gonna do.
I've heard of people that, you know, just
like you received that gift of tongues when
you're praying to be healed, I've heard of
other people that as they're taking of communion,
they were healed, they weren't even praying for
healing.
It's just, we don't understand some of these
things, and remember when we were here last,
or at least some of you were, we
talked about how Paul says, I want to
say it's 1 Corinthians 4, 1, he says,
this is how one should regard us, as
servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries
of God.
Paul says, hey, this is all I want
you to remember me as.
I'm just a servant, and I'm a steward
of the mysteries of God.
Like Hebrews, I mean, Romans 11 says that
his ways are unsearchable.
Like, I can't figure him out, just like
that baby, which one is that?
Abby, okay.
How old is she?
One and a half.
She doesn't have me figured out yet.
You're trying, huh?
That's, that's what we are with God.
Just these, our minds, he says, my thoughts
are just as far as the heavens are
above the earth.
That's where my mind is, and that's how
we go.
We can't figure him out, but he he
has shown us some things, and what he
has shown us, we need to, we need
to humbly follow and accept, but like I
said, there are certain things where you go,
okay, I don't quite get this, and I'm
on this journey, and we're all on this
journey, and we just humbly go, let's learn
from each other, let's learn as a body,
let's try to get it, but uh, there
were certain things in Scripture that I just
didn't get, that bothered me, because I thought,
this, this is maybe sin in my life,
and I got to figure out how to
live this out.
Okay, there were some things about communion that
always bothered me when I read about it
in Scripture.
Number one was Acts chapter 2 verse 42,
when it talks about those early believers, and
they devoted themselves to the, to apostles teaching,
to prayer, to fellowship, and the Lord's Supper.
They devoted themselves to the Lord's Supper, and
I always looked at that, and I thought,
well, you know, and I would just say,
well, let's just do it once a month,
you know, this is at the church that
I started years ago, let's just do it
once a month, because you do it more
than that, it'll just be like a meaningless
ritual, and then I just try different ways
of doing it, it's like, well, if we
pass the plates, then we're gonna have to,
you know, sing a solo or something while
we're passing the plates, and we don't have
that many soloists, it's like, you know, just
all these different things, and it's like, okay,
well, well, I don't want to pressure people,
I don't want this or that, and let's
just put them up front, and, you know,
and let people do it in their time,
and, and, you know, we're just trying to
figure it out, and, and it also bothered
me that in, in Acts, it says that
they went house to house to break bread
with one another, and I thought, I've never
broken bread in someone's house, I've never had
communion in a house, I've never been with
a family breaking bread, like, but they devoted
themselves to it, and so it bothered me,
because I go, okay, I've always been a
Bible teacher, always, you know, studied scriptures, and
so I've always felt like I've been devoted
to the apostles' teaching in this book, I've
also felt pretty devoted to prayer, you know,
we can go up and down, but I
feel like, okay, I, I, I mean, this
is important to me, and gathering people to,
to prayer has been important to me, and
then as we started our churches, here, you
know, the fellowship, and devoting ourselves to the
fellowship, that used to bother me.
I go, they devoted themselves to fellowship, that
sounds like a lot more than just showing
up on a Sunday morning, and greeting the
guy next to you when the pastor makes
you, you know, I thought they devoted themselves
to the fellowship, there was something about the
gathering of believers, and that intimate relationship, and
that love for one another, so it bothered
me that I wasn't doing that, but now
I'm going, okay, okay, we're devoting ourselves to
those things, but devotion to communion, it's always
bothered me, and it still does, because I
don't feel like we're there yet.
And I remember this guy from India, and
I'm picking on Liz a lot today, that's
just, I haven't seen you in a while,
okay, so that's why, make up for it
all, okay, and by the way, I didn't
fire Liz, she quit, because of this, like,
why would she quit, I'm so nice, I
don't know, so, but my friend from India,
you know, I remember him driving me to
a speaking engagement I was at, and there
were a bunch of people, lights, there were
animals, there were like, just like this whole
production, and he just kind of laughed, and
he goes, you Americans are so funny, he
goes, you guys won't show up unless there's
a good speaker, you guys don't show up
unless there's a good band, he goes, in
India, when we hear that communion is taking
place, we get so excited, people flock when
they hear that we're going to gather for
communion, what, when have you ever heard of
that here, and yet over there, like, that
was normal to them, like, they loved it,
and I, right then, I was convicted, and
I knew that actually sounds right, and biblical,
and honoring to God, if God's looking down,
and they're looking at one place, and going,
oh, this speaker, and this speaker, and this
band are going to be there, let's go,
and then he sees another group of people
going, hey, they're about to remember the body
and blood of Christ, let's go, what, what
is pleasing to him, what does he want,
and I get that, I'm like, but, but
how, how are we going to make it
so that people here in this country actually
are excited about the body and blood of
Christ, and I just go, it has to
happen, the early church devoted themselves to it.
The other thing that bothered me about communion
was 1st Corinthians 11, verse 27, whoever
eats the bread or drinks the cup of
the Lord in an unworthy manner will be
guilty concerning the body and blood of the
Lord.
Let a person examine himself then, and so
eat of the bread and drink of the
cup.
For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning
the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
That is why many of you are weak
and sick, and some have died, but if
we judged ourselves truly, we would not be
judged.
I always read that passage, and I'm going,
wait, Paul says, this is why some of
you died, this is why some of you
are sick right now.
I'm going, whoa, he doesn't say that with
anything else in the New Testament.
Like, this is why some of you died,
and this is why some of you are
sick, because, you know, you had bad thoughts
in your head, or this or that.
No, no, no, he says right here, here's
why some of you died, here's why some
of you are sick.
It's because you didn't recognize the body and
blood of the Lord, and I always thought,
that's a severe warning.
I mean, before coming here, I mean, how
many of you went to churches where they
seriously warned you, be careful, be careful, because
you could die doing this?
I'm going, how come no one warns about
that?
Like, let's say we just send your kids
to child care, and I'm going, hey, over
there, there's a cliff, just make sure your
kids, they got to step over this one
part, right, otherwise they slide and they die.
You would go, okay, okay, find that area,
help my kid across, let me make sure
he doesn't do this wrong.
I didn't know I was going to come
to church, and there was a chance that
my kid would die, right?
That would be a pretty serious thing.
We'd probably switch locations.
I mean, sorry about the bathrooms again, you
know, but we're gonna switch locations, okay, there's
bathrooms, there's death traps, but right, we would
take that so seriously.
If I go, there's a chance they could
die right there, then why do we not
take this warning in Scripture seriously?
We're gonna take Communion Day.
Do I take the Word of God literally,
and say, hey, be careful how you do
this, because you do it in the wrong
way.
There's a judgment that can come upon you
that could lead to sickness and to death.
So we don't want to say that publicly,
because it sounds weird, it sounds terrifying, it
doesn't sound like what you want came to
church to hear, but I'm going, it's there
though.
See, you see how these things have bothered
me?
I'm like, gosh, it was a devotion to
it that isn't in my life, and there's
a warning there that I don't take seriously
enough.
There's something about this act that is huge,
that those early believers would devote and go
house to house, like, we've got to do
this, we've got to do this.
And so I've just been studying, what does
this mean?
What does it mean to discern the body?
Obviously, we want to discern the body rightly,
and again, with however many people are here,
we can all read the Scriptures and maybe
come to a different interpretation, or this or
that, and kind of like what we were
talking about healing earlier, different people have different
interpretations of that.
And so what I did was I began
studying the ancient church.
Okay, what happened when Jesus left, and how
did they celebrate the Lord's Supper?
They devoted themselves to it.
But I just started looking, and again, I'm
not making a statement like, okay, the early
church practices are on par with Scripture.
I'm not saying that.
I lift up the Scriptures high above everything.
I think you guys have seen that, and
my life has shown that.
But at the same time, there was something
about the early church practices where you have
to at least consider, you know, it's like
I respect Justin, I respect Rob, and if
they say, hey, we've been studying the Scriptures,
and we want you to look at something,
I respect them enough to go, yeah, let
me look.
So in the same way, I'm looking at
the early church fathers and going, what did
they all agree on?
I'm not saying, just like I wouldn't say
Justin and Rob are right, in fact, never
mind.
But you know, I would take it into
account, I would weigh it, and so now
I'm looking at all those early church fathers
and the things they wrote together, and the
things they said they all agree on, and
go, I've got to at least weigh that,
rather than going, my interpretation is better than
yours, and it's better than theirs.
Let me just see, what did they, how
did they remember the body?
How did they discern the body?
What did it mean to them?
And I found some really cool things there
that really helped me understand the body.
When they talked about discerning the body, or
coming together, you see, in 1st Corinthians 11,
verse 17, he says, in the following instructions,
I do not commend you, because when you
come together, it is not for the better,
but for the worse.
For in the first place, when you come
together as a church, I hear that there
are divisions among you.
Okay, he says, when you come together as
the church, the ecclesia, the gathering, the early
church saw, when we get together, there's something
special that happens.
So, so a lot of times, we don't
think that way.
We just go, man, do I feel like
going to the gathering today?
You're thinking about yourself.
What am I gonna get out of it
today?
And we've created church systems where we try
to appeal to individuals.
But how many people get excited going, wow,
this is so exciting.
Today is Sunday, and we're gonna gather as
a church.
The ecclesia is gonna happen, the gathering, the
church, the church body is coming together, and
I'm a part of it.
There was like a sense of incompleteness.
Every individual was coming, thinking, okay, this is
that one time when I get to be
what I was made for, a part of
the body.
I, can you toss me that bag, Zeke?
You know, late in the next chapter, he
talks about everyone is a part of the
body, and I brought a foot because I
wanted you to see this.
You can get them five bucks on Amazon.
It's, you might want to just put it
up in your house to remind you, but
like, I don't think most of you came
here thinking this was you, right?
Okay, and you're thinking, this is all I
am.
I'm a part of a body, and I've
been on my own.
I can't wait to attach myself to the
rest of the ecclesia, the gathering, the body.
I can't wait to come together, because when
we come together, the whole body is put
together, and Christ shows up as our head,
and now we finally function the way we
were created to function.
See, too many of us come like we
think we're complete, like, oh no, my mind,
I just need my mind.
I don't need the church.
I love Jesus, but I hate the church.
You know, I'm a free thinker.
It's about me, and I have my needs,
I have my way of thinking.
You feel complete in yourself, because you're an
American, and that's the way we think.
We're individual.
You do you, right?
Rather than going, no, no, you don't get
it.
I'm just this.
I'm not even this.
I'm like this, you know?
You know, I'm just this little part, and
that's why when they got together, man, that's
why they got excited to gather for communion,
because they don't see themselves as all that,
like, I'm this complete, it's all about me.
It's like, man, oh, the body's gonna get
together?
That was their act of worship.
They got excited.
They're not thinking, well, who's speaking?
And how long is a service gonna go?
They just think, oh, good, good, good, because
any chance I get, I'm running.
You know, any chance I get, I'm going,
because it's the only time where you're complete.
Man, seriously, when Lori was sharing, aren't you
just glad?
Like, man, she's a part of us, because
I couldn't have explained it like that.
Man, there's some of you that are so
real in my life, and where I just
go, oh, it's so good when we're together,
because I was off on my own, and
I just know that this is not fun.
This is not what we were made for.
That's why God says the hand can't say
to the foot, I don't need you.
And it says, even if you are, you
know, if you're a part of the body,
because you're a part of the body, and
if you choose not to serve and use
your gift, you're still a part of the
body.
And so if the foot doesn't show up,
man, we'll get by.
We'll get by.
It's gonna be a lot harder without you.
Guys, we don't think this way.
I'm just realizing, as I studied that early
church, it's like they didn't see themselves like,
it's all about me.
And I just realized so much of my
life, I've thought that way.
And I just confess that, and apologize for
that.
I'm not thinking about us.
I'm not seeing myself as this.
And that's why Paul says, look, when you
get together, he goes, you guys aren't even
getting together for the better, but for the
worse.
He goes, you know why?
He goes, because there's divisions among you.
So when they said recognize the body, it
was the body of Christ, but it was
also the body of Christ, the local body
of Christ.
Like, ah, let's recognize before we eat and
drink that we're one with one another.
That's what it means to recognize the body.
But it goes further than that.
I was also reading, and I saw, and
it was so interesting, because like, this these
last two weeks, we've been reading in Ezekiel
and Revelation, right, as a church.
And these are some of the most intense
passages of Scripture.
So that early church, while they would take
time to recognize, they even had a time
to get up, and we're not gonna do
this because culturally, whatever, but they would have
a time of kissing each other.
I mean, just men with men, women with
women, and it was just like, man, to
say, no, no, no, we're one, we're one.
Let's make sure everything's good between us, and
that we're one body, because we don't dare
come to the body divided.
But beyond that, beyond just recognizing the body
there, they also recognized what was going on
in heaven.
I think this is so good.
Okay, we read Revelation 4 and 5, we
quoted from it, you know, you read it
during the worship time today, we read it
last week as a church, and what's going
on in heaven right now?
It's this picture of these high angels, right,
that are screaming, holy, holy, holy, as they're
looking at God.
You've got the 24 elders in there, no
one is dropping their crowns at the feet
of Christ.
You've got a hundred million angels all worshiping
Jesus, right?
And you got every single creature, you know,
it's talking about these end times, we're just
all looking at Christ.
It's beautiful.
No one showed up, there wasn't like one
angel that came over and was like, hey,
what about me?
You know, my wing hurts.
It's just, it was everyone's focus was on
the throne.
And what do we pray when we pray
the Lord's Prayer?
Lord, on earth as it is in heaven,
those early believers, they would see themselves as
joining the believers in heaven, the angels in
heaven, the saints in heaven, Christ in heaven.
They saw this as a time where heaven
and earth come together.
And so imagine all of that worship is
going on in heaven right now, okay?
Four living creatures going, holy, holy, holy.
These 24 elders just dropping their crowns, all
their achievements, everything they are, we laid at
the feet of Christ.
The martyrs are there, angels are there, everyone's
staring at the king.
This has been going on, this was going
on before we got here this morning.
That's why we're not saying, hey, let's start
worship.
No, no, let's join the worship that was
going on all night long.
Okay, all night long.
Do you think about yourself like that?
Where all night long, this worship was going
on, and so then we're kind of sneaking
in the back.
You know, it's just like, it's just like
right here, okay?
Like earlier, we were singing songs of worship,
okay?
What if as we were singing, you know,
suddenly Rachel shows up and stops it all
and goes, okay, worship can start, I'm here
now.
That would just be so ugly, right?
Why do you do that?
So instead, what's the right thing to do
for her just to go, oh man, that's
beautiful worship going on.
I just want to slip in the back
and join them in worshiping God.
And in the same way that early believers
would see themselves as sneaking into the back
almost, like, oh, this worship's been going on
in heaven, and we're just joining ourselves with
them.
And so recognizing the body to them had
to do with recognizing the people in front
of them, but also recognizing those, because from
Christ's perspective, he sees friends of ours right
now who have passed away, right?
In fact, they wouldn't even call people dead
that were in the church, because if we're
in Christ, we never die.
He just saved the departed.
We don't see them, but they're still worshiping
God, probably in a greater way than we
were.
So they take time to even remember those
who passed away, and remember that they're in
the presence of God, and there's a communion
going on with us, and they, because isn't
it crazy that they're in Revelation 4 and
5, they're still worshiping Christ for what he
did on the cross.
The two things going on there, they're worshiping
God the Father for his holiness, like, man,
you're like no one else, like you're just
so far beyond us, and Christ who died
and sits on his throne, the Lamb who
was slain, worthy are you.
And that's what we want to do in
all of our gatherings, is have this intense,
oh, we're joining the angels, God, telling you
are holy, and we want to remember the
body and blood of Christ.
And we want things on earth as they
are in heaven, and so because of that,
I'm not coming up making this about me,
and walking away going, oh, I didn't really
like it.
No, because that's not the way it is
in heaven, and so that's not the way
we're gonna do it here.
And this is, I just want to say
is a little warning to us, because, and
I say this at our church, in our
living room, it's like, sometimes the casual atmosphere
can lead to casual worship, and we don't
want that.
Okay, we meet in homes so that we
can know each other, and obey these scriptures
about truly fellowshipping, and knowing one another, and
caring for one another's needs.
We meet in homes so that we can
really all exercise our spiritual gifts, so it's
not just one guy, you know, using his
gift, but that we all bless each other,
and we're all a part of the body,
you know, we do that, but in no
way do we want it to become less
reverent, because you're not going to a cathedral.
No, it doesn't matter if you're a little
house church in China, or in some grand
cathedral, we're joining ourselves to what's going on
in heaven, and I don't think most people
even think about that when they gather, that
they're a part of the body, we don't
recognize the body.
We don't recognize the body here on earth,
we don't recognize the body in heaven, and
we're supposed to recognize, be mindful of the
body of Christ.
You know, let me read from Ephesians, I
thought of this passage as I was reading
about what they did, well actually they quote
this scripture often, Ephesians 2 verse 19 says,
so then you are no longer strangers and
aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the
saints and the members of the household of
God, built on the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone
in whom the whole structure being joined together
grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
In him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place for God by the
Spirit.
Okay, you see something physical going on, okay,
this is the way we're trained to think
in America in the 21st century, is just
with this mind, with just what we can
see, meanwhile scripture says don't dwell on the
things you can see, everything you can see
is temporary, the things that are unseen, that
are eternal, meditate on these things, dwell on
these things, and he's telling us according to
scripture, there's something supernatural going on here, he
says where we are, you used to be
strangers and aliens, you used to be your
own man, your own woman, you doing your
own thing, he goes now you're not strangers
anymore, you're fellow citizens with the saints, you're
actually members of heaven, as that worship's going
on and we're sneaking in the back, they're
not going, you don't belong here, they're going,
you're one of us, and he gives this
picture of how you're a part, again, just
a part of this temple, but it's this
mysterious temple because it spans time, he says
Jesus Christ is a cornerstone and the Apostles
and Prophets are the foundation, and then it's
being built up with all these saints throughout
time, and you're one of them, and you're
joining this temple, one temple that spans time,
you're being a part of a dwelling place
for God, okay, see, it's such an amazing
picture to think, so I'm joined with the
Apostle Paul that wrote this right now, yeah,
he's a piece of it, I'm a piece
of it, Jesus is the cornerstone, and man,
I think of people that I've loved, whose
funerals I've done, they're a part of this
temple, mysteriously, when God looks down, he's just
seeing us, those of us who have given
our lives to Jesus Christ, as we have
the right to be a part of this
eternal temple, which is his dwelling, we're building
a temple, remember in the Old Testament, when
Solomon finished the temple, and then he prayed
to God, and fire came down, and the
glory of God came down, and everyone just
freaked out, they wouldn't even dare enter the
temple, they were terrified, because God filled the
temple, that was a picture of us, we're
like one brick in that thing, that the
Apostle Paul is a brick of, that the
Virgin Mary is a brick of, like we're
all a part of this thing, you're just
going, what in the world, I get to
be a part of something eternal, and we're
all building one place, and Christ fills us,
that's why when they would remember all of
this, it wasn't just about me alone, and
the Holy Spirit being inside of me, you
know, there was a special thing about communion,
because God fills his temple in a very
special way when the believers are united, and
you see that all through the New Testament,
right?
You see that in the book of Acts,
when they're of one mind, one spirit, something
happens.
See, this is the stuff we've got to
get excited about, where we go, okay, I
want to see that, I don't need a
great speaker, I don't need a great singer,
I don't need this or that, I want
to join myself with the body, join myself
to this eternal temple.
See, for too long, church has not been
about this.
Somehow when we gather together as a temple
with all the saints, there's a deeper presence
of Christ, and so as a church, as
we've pursued that, and just go, man, let's
get more serious about this, at least we
know I haven't been coming as a part
of the body, I haven't been coming as
a part of this eternal body, I haven't
been trying to make it on earth like
it is in heaven, but let's pursue that,
and as we pursue that, and get serious,
however you take the body and blood, it's
like, wow, we all know there should be
this incredible honor to it, and just go,
I want to recognize the body and the
blood of the Lord, best I understand scripture,
best I understand everything, and know that I'm
truly partaking of the body and blood of
Christ, somehow, in some real way.
Again, I'm not making any, like, grand statements,
I'm just saying, some of this stuff I
didn't know.
I didn't know that for the first 1
,500 years of church history, everyone saw it
as the literal body and blood of Christ,
and it wasn't till 500 years ago that
someone popularized a thought that it's just a
symbol, and nothing more.
I didn't know that.
I thought, wow, well that's something to consider,
and while I won't make a strong statement,
I will make a statement about this, it
was at that same time that for the
first time, someone put a pulpit in the
front of the gathering, because before that, it
was always the body and blood of Christ
that was central to their gatherings.
For 1,500 years, it was never one
guy and his pulpit being the center of
the church.
It was the body and blood of Christ,
and even the leaders just saw themselves as
partakers, and oh man, we're not worthy, we're
not worthy, we're not worthy.
I say that because the church is more
divided than any time in history.
What does this book tell us clearly?
That he does not want any divisions in
his church, and for a thousand years, there
was just one church.
Did you know that?
We're so used to growing up in a
time when literally there are over 30,000
Christian denominations right now, but for the first
thousand years, it was just one.
What was interesting is communion was at the
center of the room every time they gathered,
and it wasn't a pulpit where a guy
preached after studying in his office by himself
for 20 hours.
See, right now, we've got guys like me
that go in a room, study, you know,
that's what I was doing for years.
Meanwhile, other guys went in their rooms and
studied, and then we started all giving different
messages, so many contradicting each other, and pretty
soon, I follow Piper, I follow Chan, I
follow, you know, it's just like everyone's following
different guys.
I'm just saying, I believe there was something
about taking communion out of the center of
the church and replace it with a gifted
speaker.
Not that that gifted speaker is not a
part of the body of Christ and a
gift to the body of Christ, but the
body itself needs to be back in the
center of the church.
You guys, I've been dreaming about this, I've
been praying about this, going, man, I would
love it if one day in our country
here in the U.S., people understood the
body of Christ, that they were just a
part of it, and they got excited to
gather and partake of the body and blood
of Christ, and they celebrated together, and that's
why we gathered.
We have an opportunity.
Man, life is short, and it's like, God,
man, I want to give myself to this.
I want your body and blood to be
at the center of our gatherings.
The reason why we gather, I want to
devote myself to this like they did.
God, please surround me with a group of
people that want the same thing, where I
want to celebrate.
I get excited to join with the body,
and now we're partaking, I'm eating of the
flesh and blood of Christ.
There was something intimate about it.
However you take it, there's something about Christ
wanting this picture for sure of, man, you're
eating me, like I'm in you.
I become a part of you.
There's no separation between me and you.
You and I can become perfectly one, just
as the Father and I are one, and
then you and the body and these believers
can become perfectly one, because now you and
I have the same bloodline.
It's not about, that's why these racial divisions
and everything else is so ugly.
We're of the same bloodline.
He died to make us one.
So we're all taking up this body, and
God looks down, and we're saying, look, this
is the greatest thing to us.
This is the biggest thing to us.
Francis might have some theology that's a little
different from mine.
You know, Remington might have some theology that's
different from mine.
You know, Isaiah might have some theology.
It's like, we can talk about that stuff,
but we all agree, oh my gosh, we're
brothers.
We're brothers.
We've got the same blood.
Jesus poured out his blood for us, man,
and we're taking of that body and blood,
and we're joining with the angels, and we're
joining with the apostles.
We're joining Christ himself as we take of
this, oh my gosh, I'm a part of
this heavenly dwelling.
We're a part of this big temple.
That's what it means when you recognize the
body and the blood of God.
It's like, we're the body.
We're the body.
Christ is the body, and man, what if
that was at the center of every Christian
gathering in America?
I think we'd start seeing the divisions slowly
disappear, and people start coming together again.
And so, we're about to take of the
body and blood of Christ, and I know
what some of you are thinking when you
read that passage about the warning.
So, you think to yourself, well, then, I
better not take it.
Is that the answer, though?
So, the safest thing for you to do
is to never take communion again, because then
you don't run the risk of getting sick
or dying.
Does that make sense to you?
Now, the early church devoted themselves.
They're like, how can I not take of
this?
This is my calling.
This is what my life is about.
This is my identity as a part of
the body and blood of Christ.
So, rather than going, there's division, so I'm
just not going to take of it.
It's like, well, let me fix those things.
Let me reconcile with my brother and sister.
Let me take time to recognize that I'm
a part of this body.
I came, maybe you came here today like
you're just this great individual with all these
significant thoughts and your own Twitter account, you
know?
Maybe that's the way you came, and you
got here, and you go, that's not me.
I'm a toe.
I'm a finger.
I'm an ear, and I'm joining myself to
the rest of the body, and Christ is
going to show up in a crazy way,
because the Ekklesia is happening here.
This is exciting.
This is why we gather, and you're not
going to stop me from taking of that
body and blood, because I believe with all
my heart that Jesus Christ died on that
cross for my sins to make us one,
not just me, but all the believers before
me, and all the angels in heaven are
celebrating, and I'm not missing out on this.
I'm joining them right now.
Isn't this beautiful?
We're a part of the body of Christ.
We're a part of the temple, the eternal
temple of God, and he's gonna fill us
and empower us right now.
Father, I thank you.
I thank you that you've revealed these things
to me.
God, please open all of our hearts.
Please correct anything that I may have said
wrong, Lord.
With any arrogance, any human error, fix it,
Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Oh, Jesus, this is so sacred, what we're
doing.
We're partaking of you.
God, I don't want anyone to get sick.
I don't want anyone to die.
I don't want anyone just doing this in
the wrong way, Lord.
In all our lives, we've been told we're
individuals, and it's all about us, God.
Teach us to raise our kids in such
a way that they understand they're just a
part of a bigger body.
Help us to get it.
Help us to get excited to gather, to
come together as a complete body.
Oh, Jesus, I pray for every part of
the body that's here, and I pray for
the parts of the body that aren't here
today, that mysteriously you would open their eyes
right now, that they would miss joining us,
that they would see they're not complete without
the body.
And so, Father, right now we recognize the
angels in heaven have been worshiping you passionately
all night.
We have saints, friends who have gone before
us, and they're worshiping you right now.
They're all telling Jesus how wonderful he is,
because there's never been anything like that.
And we are joining them by partaking.
God, I pray for this bread and cup
right now.
I don't understand these things, Lord.
I just trust you, that you do what
you need to do to these elements.
You do what you need to do in
our hearts and our minds, so that we
take of this in such a way that
it gives life to us and brings pleasure
to you.
In Jesus' precious name we pray, amen.
So, we have some guys holding the bread
and the cup, the body of Christ.
Let's just, when you're ready, and if you
are a believer in Jesus Christ, again, remember
the warning.
If you don't even believe that Jesus died
on that cross, and you don't trust him
for your salvation, please don't take this.
This is not a joke.
I've seen some crazy things in my life,
and I believe God has had grace, because
we've never, maybe you were never warned, but
this is a warning.
But it's also a warning of those who
don't partake.
You're not a part of this body, and
we want you to be, but only take
it when you're ready.
So, if you feel called and you believe
that you're a part of the body and
blood of Christ and want to join us,
then take a piece of the bread, dip
it in the blood, and then take it
back to your seat, and let's all take
it together this time.