(BONUS EPISODE) September 7, 2025 - Pastor's Prologue for Communion with Peter D. Jones III - There is a Throne of the Universe

Thank you. The song says more about Jesus. It

talks about sitting on His throne. I've been

thinking a lot about that. That there is a throne

in the universe. There really is. And the good

news is that throne is occupied. And the one

who occupies it has been occupying it for thousands

of years. I often wonder when we're studying

Revelation why the Lord established a throne

like that. Because He is God and He can do whatever

He wants and He doesn't have to have a place

that He's sitting down. But the more I think

about it, the more I come to the conclusion that

the throne is the focal point that we can look

to for authority. It's the focal point that we

can aim our prayers and our attention to because

God is is a spirit and it gives us a place to

go in prayer to seek God's direction. I have

thought about the political decisions and things

like that and people have made comments that

certain things are acceptable to the Constitution

and other things are not. and yet we can go over

the head of the political party or the politics

that are in office now and we can go to the top.

If you know Jesus, you can go to the top and

speak to the Lord himself. And that's a good

thing, in my opinion. That's a wonderful thing.

There is a lot of comfort and peace in my heart

because that's the case. And also... It is kind

of encouraging when we know the one that sits

on the throne is absolutely sovereign over everything.

There's nothing that's too hard or too far -fetched

or whatever for him. I have a friend, you probably

don't know her, but she works at Belts. She has

a boyfriend, his name is Eric. And I've been

talking to her. Over the years I've been going

to them. We would talk and pray and stuff like

that. I gave her a MacArthur Study Bible, which

may be a good thing to give to Kenny. That may

be one thing we can give to him as one of the

MacArthur Study Bibles. But I gave her one. I

think it was New King James Version. And she

says she loves it, she reads it, and she says

it really opens up the scripture to her and stuff

like that. And I'm not sharing this to boast

about it, I'm just, it's an illustration of what

God can do. And so anyway, I said, well, what

about Eric? And so she said, no, he's not interested

in it. And finally, just maybe a month ago, I

said, I asked her, I said, you know, he ought

to, why don't I give him, she said, well, his

objection is he's read the Bible. And I said,

well, how much has he read? And she said, well,

I don't know. And I said, he probably hasn't

read a whole lot. And that was the same thing

that Chris Hewitt said. When I tried to get him

to read his Bible, he says, I was in Catholic

school and we read the Bible and that's enough.

Well, he's in hell now. And he's regretting that.

I'm sorry about that. It bothers me because he

was a good friend. But I did get a Bible for

Eric. I got one from... Did I pay you for the

second one? Anyway, so I wanted to give it to

him. So I was trying to think of what to write

in the fly leaf. that is not stupid or whatever

that has some meat to it but yet is not drawn

out, something that you can sit down. And so

I wrote down very briefly that this book is the

most powerful document in existence and it will

change your life. And then I wrote from Psalm

111, I think it's 109, Part of the text says

that your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light

unto my path, and you know that. And you know

that the idea of that. When I was a boy in Wake

Forest, my neighbor had a garden and he raised,

I shouldn't say raised, he trapped rabbits and

kept them in cages and then he would eat them.

kill them and butcher them and eat them like

you do chicken stuff. But I can remember that

one of the things he possessed was a pottery.

It almost looked like a jar with a handle on

it, except it had a big hole in the side. And

in that hole, you could put a candle and light

it. And then you could use that handle and you

could hold it. and you could hold it out in front

of you at night and it would give you just enough

flickering light to see where you're going, your

step. And I thought about that as writing that

text now that God says His word is a lamp unto

my feet, which is a way of saying that when you

read the scriptures and when you study the scriptures...

It gives you direction as to where you can go

and what is good, what is proper. That's a good

thing to have. I'm now starting to do the Bible

reading in Proverbs, and Proverbs is filled with

wisdom to tell us how to live and what we should

do and what we shouldn't do. And then secondly,

not only is it a lamp unto my feet, but it is

a light or a lumen for my path, which way to

go. what to look for down the road and things

of this nature. This book is a very valuable

thing to have if you will read it and study it

and digest it because it really, Proverbs promises

blessing to those who come humbly before the

Word and let God's Word educate and direct your

steps. It's really very powerful. I'm thankful

to the Lord that he's given it to us. I wish

that I could know it better. There's a lot in

there that's just very deep in some places, and

yet it's shallow enough for a little child to

understand, to get the gospel from it. I enjoyed

Dennis, by the way, this morning. I thought he

was quite good and I appreciated his heart and

his message. We went out for dinner at Olive

Garden and we had a lot of fun talking about

Europe. and the places to go and some of the

things to see. I don't know if there were warnings,

but they wanted to go through the Notre Dame,

but they would have to put the name on the list.

There was at least a week and a half or two weeks

before they could get to the top of the list

to go through and see the cathedral. And then

he said, I'm not interested in the building anyway.

But I was thinking about Pete and Dory, they're

going to be going to Europe. And I remember hearing

Rick Steves talk about the fact that you need

to make reservations if you're going to be going

to a place. If you want to go to the museum,

art museum or something, make reservations. You

don't want to stand in a long line to get there.

But God is good to us. He's given us everything

we need to make reservations for heaven with

him. and we can come to him in prayer and know

those things. The scriptures, we are getting

ready to partake of the communion, the Bible

says not to do it in an unworthy manner. And

I think what he's saying there is that the scripture,

when you partake of the cup and the bread, the

piece of bread, it is a symbol of partaking of

Christ. We're not really eating his body, we're

not really drinking his blood, but we are participating

with him. And that's a good description of salvation,

that when we come to the Lord, we really surrender

to him. That's what he demands, that's what he

says. If you want to be my disciple, you have

to deny yourself, deny yourself, and take up

your cross, which is the emblem of execution.

means that you come to deny yourself and die

to yourself and follow me. That following is

not as easy as it sounds because there's a lot

of places that I may want to go that he will

not lead me there. He's the one that has to make

the choice. It's a struggle. for the rest of

our life, but it's a good struggle and it teaches

us dependence on him and prayer on him and Reliance

on his word that we can know which way to go

have a light to the path and direction so we're

here tonight to partake of those elements and

to Recognize in that that Christ died for us

and that we are participating With him in this

and this is why we gather together in the scriptures

Mealtime was a time of real fellowship, real

communion. I can remember, Warner used to tell

me all kinds of stories about when they would,

the family would gather around and one of the

things I often remember, Debbie knows what I'm

going to say, that when they finished praying,

the Warner would turn to Debbie and say, now

Debbie, you be quiet and let the rest of them

talk. But it is a good time of fellowship. It

is a good time of communion. And it is a time

that we can relax and enjoy the food and enjoy

the fellowship with each other. And that's what

this is. This is a time in which God's family,

God's people gather together. We're not trying

to present a certain kind of decorum or proper

activity or whatever clothing or whatever it

is. We're here as God's people. together in fellowship

the word that we use is communion. We commune

with each other and with him and it's a good

time. And so we're here to do that and he is

the host and we have been invited and we come

in obedience to him. I'm going to open in prayer,

but I'm not going to close the prayer. I'm going

to pray and everybody that wants to pray or to

be involved in that can and then after it and

sometimes it's It doesn't take long, but after

we had a chance to pray, Larry, do you mind closing

that time in prayer? Let's pray. Lord, we have

all these illustrations in scripture that you've

given to us, like the vine and the branches,

which is a very clear way of illustrating of

our need of dependence on you and the desire

that we have to be pleasing to you. And then

we have this illustration of communion, the bread

and the drink, the wine that illustrates in a

very graphic way our partaking of you. Lord,

we are really thankful to you that you went to

the cross Not only did you go to the cross for

us, but you willingly went. Not only did you

willingly go, but you planned to go and it was

your provision from the beginning for your people.

Those that you have called. We were looking this

morning at Sunday School of the fact that you

have called and we are considered yours even

to the point before salvation. That is a powerful,

powerful illustration. that you love us and you've

gone way out of maybe sacrilegiously way out

of your way to get our attention and to bring

us to yourself and to provide for our forgiveness

and provide in your mercy the things that we

need and I just thank you for that and now tonight

as we are gathered around these elements They

speak of you and remind us of you and we are

very thankful for that and we are very thankful

to you and so we come to thank you Lord Jesus

for your sacrifice on our behalf. Thank you for

your goodness to us. Thank you for the fellowship

and the family together. Ask your blessing upon

it and thank you for this day that we had a chance

to your people to meet together.