The Importance of Communion and Repentance in Your Life

Speaker: And said, take, eat.

Speaker: This is my body which is broken for you.

Speaker: Do this in remembrance of me.

Speaker: In the same manner he also took the cup after supper, saying,

Speaker: this cup is the new.

Speaker: Did you hear that?

Speaker: This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Speaker: This do as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.

Speaker: Communion is a command and also a gift from God.

Speaker: On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus broke bread

Speaker: and shared the cup.

Speaker: What did he say?

Speaker: Do this in remembrance of me.

Speaker: He didn't say.

Speaker: Think about it.

Speaker: He didn't say, if you have time, do this in remembrance of me.

Speaker: Communion reminds.

Speaker: Reminds the believer Christ's body was broken for you.

Speaker: Christ's body was broken for me.

Speaker: Christ's blood was shed for each of you.

Speaker: It was shed for me.

Speaker: Our salvation.

Speaker: And hear me on this today our salvation came at a cost.

Speaker: Now we're great at saying, oh, it didn't cost me anything.

Speaker: Why don't you talk to Jesus?

Speaker: What it cost him?

Speaker: Again, as we head into lent season in the Easter story, I

Speaker: encourage you wholeheartedly do some digging and see what they

Speaker: did to that man.

Speaker: There ain't a man or a woman walking this earth.

Speaker: I believe that could have taken the punishment, the brutal beat

Speaker: down that he took for us.

Speaker: We got all these men walking around thinking they're studs.

Speaker: Yeah, right.

Speaker: Let's see what a man you are going through.

Speaker: What Jesus did.

Speaker: Our salvation came at a cost.

Speaker: And it's just not about looking back.

Speaker: It's about recognizing that his sacrifice still speaks today.

Speaker: And this very Sunday, my

Speaker: friends, when you and I take the

Speaker: bread and the cup we proclaim,

Speaker: we proclaim that his grace is

Speaker: sufficient.

Speaker: Grace is sufficient.

Speaker: First Corinthians eleven twenty

Speaker: seven to twenty nine therefore

Speaker: whoever eats this bread or

Speaker: drinks this cup of the Lord in

Speaker: an unworthy.

Speaker: Now here we go, folks.

Speaker: This is my part of the preaching I need to do in an unworthy

Speaker: manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

Speaker: But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread

Speaker: and drink of the cup.

Speaker: For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks

Speaker: judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

Speaker: Repentance is not about

Speaker: condemning condemnation, my

Speaker: friends.

Speaker: Repentance is about cleansing.

Speaker: How many of you took a shower last night?

Speaker: I took a shower this morning,

Speaker: getting all the gunk and the

Speaker: nastiness off, from cleaning the

Speaker: barn to sitting at a desk all

Speaker: day.

Speaker: You need clean, don't you?

Speaker: Or you come away, you become that stinky person.

Speaker: Remember pig pen from Charlie Brown?

Speaker: Kid always had all the dirt and dust rolling around.

Speaker: Do you want to be a pig pen or do you want to be clean?

Speaker: And Jesus is offering that to each of us.

Speaker: Repentance is about cleansing.

Speaker: It is the act of saying, Lord, search me, forgive me, restore

Speaker: me, restore me, Lord.

Speaker: In Second Chronicles seven fourteen.

Speaker: If my people are called by my name, will humble themselves and

Speaker: pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I

Speaker: will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin.

Speaker: And who?

Speaker: And do what?

Speaker: Heal their land.

Speaker: how about in America?

Speaker: Do we need some healing?

Speaker: Yes, I think we do.

Speaker: I think we do.

Speaker: We need some healing.

Speaker: Repentance clears away pride,

Speaker: bitterness, hidden sin, and

Speaker: unforgiveness.

Speaker: Repentance softens our hearts so we can receive grace.

Speaker: What we can receive grace fully without repentance, communion.

Speaker: And here we go.

Speaker: Communion becomes routine.

Speaker: Another check on the check box.

Speaker: With repentance, communion becomes revival.

Speaker: I love that word revival.

Speaker: Repentance.

Speaker: Communion becomes revival.

Speaker: Communion reconnects us.

Speaker: To what?

Speaker: To the cross.

Speaker: Every time we partake, we return to the cross.

Speaker: We remember that forgiveness was purchased, not earned.

Speaker: Did you hear me on that?

Speaker: Forgiveness was purchased, not earned.

Speaker: We remember that mercy triumphs

Speaker: over judgment, Repentance and

Speaker: communion together.

Speaker: Remind you and I and hear it now.

Speaker: We are sinners.

Speaker: I don't care how high in pride you're sitting in the pew or

Speaker: you're listening right now.

Speaker: You're a sinner.

Speaker: Christ, though who?

Speaker: Christ is the Savior.

Speaker: He is our Savior.

Speaker: Grace is greater than failure.

Speaker: Thank you, Heavenly Father, for that.

Speaker: Did you hear me?

Speaker: Grace is greater than failure.

Speaker: I don't know about you, but man, I a lot of failure in my life.

Speaker: When you and I repent, we do not move away from God.

Speaker: We move toward him.

Speaker: And at the table here this

Speaker: morning, my friends, you and I

Speaker: will be reminded that he has

Speaker: already made a way for us to

Speaker: come closer.

Speaker: He's cleared out all the junk.

Speaker: You ever get in a traffic jam?

Speaker: How many of us.

Speaker: Oh, we get mad and we start a dirty dogs.

Speaker: Get out!

Speaker: You know what I mean?

Speaker: The frustration starts.

Speaker: Jesus came through, and he cleared the way.

Speaker: Remember that?

Speaker: He cleared the way for you.

Speaker: Communion unites the body.

Speaker: We do not take communion alone.

Speaker: We take it as one body, one church, one family in Christ.

Speaker: Repentance restores not only our

Speaker: relationship with God, but also

Speaker: with one another, with one

Speaker: another.

Speaker: And that is so crucial in today's age.

Speaker: Because do you think Satan wants a church that's united?

Speaker: Do you think Satan wants a church that's moving to God,

Speaker: moving for God, bringing people in, telling of salvation?

Speaker: No.

Speaker: No. If there is division,

Speaker: resentment or unforgiveness, the

Speaker: table calls you and I for

Speaker: reconciliation.

Speaker: Remember this church.

Speaker: The bread is one.

Speaker: The body is one.

Speaker: We are one in him.

Speaker: Look around right now.

Speaker: Look at your neighbors.

Speaker: We are one in him.

Speaker: Doesn't that excite you?

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: We're a family united in him.

Speaker: So why are communion and

Speaker: repentance important this

Speaker: morning?

Speaker: Because repentance keeps our hearts tender.

Speaker: Because communion keeps our faith centered.

Speaker: Because repentance and communion together, they keep us what?

Speaker: They keep us close to Jesus.

Speaker: Now, let me ask you something as we close here.

Speaker: Do you want to be close to the world?

Speaker: Do you want to add a boy, a pat on the back from the world?

Speaker: Or would you rather, when you come before judgment, Jesus

Speaker: says, well done, well done, good and faithful servant.

Speaker: I'll take that second part any day.

Speaker: And Mark one fourteen to fifteen Now.

Speaker: After John was put in prison,

Speaker: Jesus came to Galilee, preaching

Speaker: the gospel of the kingdom of God

Speaker: and saying, the time is

Speaker: fulfilled.

Speaker: Who?

Speaker: What's that say?

Speaker: And the kingdom of God is at hand.

Speaker: Repent and believe in the gospel.

Speaker: How much plainer does it have to be?

Speaker: My friends, today I plead with you and hear me on this.

Speaker: Wake up if you're not listening, look at me for just a second.

Speaker: Today I plead with you as a family.

Speaker: Do not just take the bread.

Speaker: Receive his grace.

Speaker: Do not just drink from the cup.

Speaker: Drink deeply of his mercy.

Speaker: Let us come humble.

Speaker: Let us come honestly.

Speaker: Let us come gratefully and let us leave renewed.

Speaker: Amen.