The Table

This whole idea of communion or breaking bread or the Lord's Supper or the table, there are

different terms used for it.

I just want to talk about that.

And we find it in Acts chapter 2, verse 42, where it talks about four things that the

Acts 2:42

early church practiced.

The four things that the early church practiced were the apostles' teaching, as in the teaching.

Then they practiced fellowship, as in the ability to one another, to care for one another.

Then they practiced prayers, different kinds of prayers.

And then they practiced the breaking of bread.

And so I want to talk about the breaking of bread.

And the strange thing was that the church rapidly expanded when people practiced these

four things.

It was practiced in a very simple setting, and the church rapidly expanded.

What was the simple setting that this was practiced in?

It was practiced around an evening meal.

I wish we could take church back to evening where we could have a meal.

It was always a simple setting in which the church expanded.

The more complicated it gets, the more difficult it is to move.

People meeting of believers around an evening meal, celebrating their new life, inviting

friends, inviting co-workers, inviting relatives.

That's how it started.

And then it got really complicated because from every day that they used to meet, and

when they say every day, it doesn't mean that they met every day.

It meant they could meet any time, and they would sit around a meal, and then they would

go about practicing the thing of prayers, apostolic preaching, fellowship, breaking

of bread.

And then at some point after Nero and other Roman emperors began to persecute Christianity,

and because of the persecution, the people were dispersed to different corners of the

Roman Empire, it went from an evening meal to the first day of the week.

And you read that in Acts 20, verse 7 to 11, it talks about how they began to meet

Acts 20:7–11

the first day of the week because they were now scattered.

They were no longer in Jerusalem.

That Jewish enclave where it was normal to practice these things.

Now they were spread to the four corners of the Roman Empire, and so they would meet on

the first day of the week.

And whenever communion or breaking of bread or whatever you want to call it was practiced,

it was always part of a festive meal.

They used to call it the love feast, as in they would have this table set with food on

it, it would be a festive meal.

And during the meal either sometimes before the meal they would break bread, and then

after the meal they would have the cup.

That's how it started.

Every time bread was broken and the cup was taken part of, it was in a festive meal.

Then at some point it became like a separate section.

The meal would be the meal, and then it became a separate section.

And then in the fourth century the strangest thing happened.

Once Constantine became king, he banned or prohibited meals from being part of the fungal.

He said you cannot have meals anymore.

You want to do this communion thing, do it separately, it cannot be part of the meal.

Till then it was called the Lord's table, the Lord's supper, communion, whatever you

want to call it.

It was only in the fourth century that the meal was prohibited, saying you cannot have

it as part of the meal.

And then it became a ritual.

And it became a ritual that was only conducted by the priest.

So it moved from a community event to a priestly ritual, participated by the congregation at

a distance in a very somber setting which had to be glum and which contained in it awe

and dread.

Because by then John Calvin had introduced this thought that when you come to partake

of this meal, you have to begin to examine yourself before you've partaken it.

And with that came awe and dread.

There was an awe as in, oh shuck, this has to be approached carefully.

There was a dread as in, oh shuck, we better not partake in this meal because what if we

have sinned.

And you can see the slow dismantling of what God had intended.

What a shame, eh?

But we have the privilege of recapturing the essence because of what the Word of God says

and because of the history that has now been written and because we are small enough and

dumb enough to practice it.

You have to be simple to practice it.

Why was the meal so important to the core identity of the early church?

Why was this meal?

When I say meal, when we use the word meal, it comes up with this tray on which someone

serves some sloppy mashed potatoes and maybe some turkey meat.

But when I talk about the meal, I'm talking about the whole idea of it being a table set

where we partake of the bread and the cup.

So when I say meal, that's what I mean.

What was, why was the meal so important to the core identity of the early church?

The meal visualized the church as a family gathered around a table which takes us back

to the simplicity of church in those days.

And at the, we can, we must never forget that the social structure or DNA of the church

is that of a household.

We cannot forget this.

We didn't come up with this.

Christ instituted it.

Doesn't matter how modern we get, how busy we get, how desperately our kids must sleep

at 7 p.m. otherwise they'll turn out to be murderers.

This is not true.

The things we've come up with that make us a certain way and that prevent us from living

a certain other.

I was listening to what Jane was singing and one of the things she was singing is,

Oh God, it is not enough that we know you.

It is, it is important that we see things the way you see them.

One of the things Jesus saw about the church right off the bat was the church must be or

must have the social structure or DNA of a household or of family.

That is why then Paul goes on to say, treat older women as mothers, treat younger women

as sisters, treat older men as elder brothers, treat younger men as younger brothers, treat

older men as fathers, respect the older ones, let there be elders, deacons, pastors,

deal with it this way, deal with servants this way, deal with pastors this way.

He had this entire section devoted to how does a household function and in those days

that was how it functioned.

So the social structure or DNA of the church is that of a household.

So that was one reason the meal was so important because the meal visualized the church as a

family of God.

If you go to 1st Timothy 3.15, it actually says that the church is a household,

that the church is a household.

Secondly, when you gather around a meal, it brought a natural friendship between people.

It's very hard to sit next to someone for three hours and not talk to them while you're eating.

Very difficult.

This isn't new, it's been going on in every culture for ages.

Very difficult to sit with.

So the second reason it was so important to the core identity of the early church was

because it brought a natural friendship into the shape of the meeting.

Because right now we can sit where we are and not have to worry about anybody else on your right or

left other than the ones in your pew.

The third reason was every time they partook of the bread and the cup, they were proclaiming the

death of Christ.

So the idea of the bread and the cup allowed them to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ

at the heart of every meeting.

At the heart of every meeting, there was this sacrament that they partook in, which was the

bread and the cup, and that allowed them to talk about what Christ did.

That the bread represents his body which was broken and was put on a cross for the payment

of your sins and that his blood was shed so that by his blood, now life was exchanged by life.

One man was put on the cross so that you may be set free.

So it was part of every meeting Christ's good news would be proclaimed.

Fourthly, it began to form people into a good word community.

As in now that they began to gather together as a people, they would watch out, look out for others.

There would be poor that would be taken care of.

There would be ones who did not have food that would be taken care of.

There would be other people in churches that were hit by famines and earthquakes that would

be taken care of.

People would sit with each other and eat and they would find out that our shucks, Betty does not

have a car this week.

So while I'm having supper, I say, hey Betty, you can use my car.

Then you find out that someone else has their mother coming over and that they're at work and

someone needs to pick the mother up and take care of her.

So someone goes and picks mother up.

Then you find out that someone is not well and doesn't have anybody to cook.

So someone goes and cook food for them.

It became a good words community.

It became a benefactor community because now that you were gathered around the table,

problems became real.

Where do we get a time to discuss problem?

In a two hours service where I have only 40 minutes left.

It is a very deliberate thing, this meal.

We must recapture these things.

One of the ways to recapture these things is to continue to build this beautiful thing called

household.

It is not some newfangled idea.

It goes back way, way back into the heart of God.

It's not a movement.

Embrace it because when you embrace it, you're embracing a thought or a pattern from the heart

of God.

It is not a new church growth movement.

Fifthly, it was simple and universal.

It was simple and it was universal.

Meaning is there a culture that does not eat together?

The way they eat may differ.

The way they eat may differ.

You go to the Middle East and there will be this huge dig tea.

Dig tea is a Greek word for this huge vessel.

So there will be this huge vessel and people would sit around it and they would break bread

and they would dip and eat together.

So that was in the Middle East.

You go to Japan and there might be a tea ceremony.

You come to Vancouver and you might have these funny looking stainless steel things that you're

supposed to jab things at and put in your mouth.

I'm talking about a fork and a spoon and a knife.

The point is at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how you do it.

It is simple and universal to sit around a table.

It is the nature of a family and God calls himself a father and he calls the church a family.

And if we actually just give it lip service, then we're doing God a disservice.

So the other thing it did, this kind of a gathering where it was a meal, is it broke the clergy lady

divide where no longer was it some priest in a funny looking collar with a thing on his head

breaking bread and giving it out to people.

Now it was people in a home sitting around and breaking bread and talking.

It destroyed the clergy lady division, which is why it had to be brought back 400 in the

fourth century because they wanted clergy and lay and that destroyed so many things in the church.

This communion thing even today in Protestant circles and in Catholic circles,

what do we say that only the priest or the pastor can distribute it?

Really?

What about the common priesthood of believers?

You see why you should be angry about it because it's dismantling something that Christ built.

This meal is far more important than we really give it credit for and that is why it was one of

the four main things that the early church practice and they spread rapidly.

Use the ingredients that God gives in building his bride

use the ingredients that God gives in building his bride and it will work.

Sixthly, it promoted, I hate using this word but you'll understand what I'm trying to say,

it promoted networking with visitors.

Now you could invite them for a meal.

You didn't have to invite people to this building called the church

and you never know what's happening inside.

You could invite them home and in the presence of a natural home,

people would eat and drink, stories would be told and in the process of the story

because everybody has a story there would be problems and then there would be a savior.

What a beautiful thing, everybody comes with problems, everybody comes to the story

and everybody then has the ability and the opportunity to meet someone called Christ

who is savior between he saved and rescued.

And this is what they all look like for the first 200 years of the church.

This is what it looked like and they multiplied around the world and the multiplication.

Question?

We cannot create that in a large place like this with two hours where you're not supposed

to let any crumb hit the floor because this is Holy ground, fun and 10.

But we can't do it in a house.

Build them right.

I say to the leaders of the household, take this to heart, practice this with the kind

of passion that it must be practiced with, not as a ritual because this thing can become a ritual.

It had such great meaning.

It was so intense.

It was so broad-minded.

So the breaking of bread is a sacrament.

It's not a word we use often or I don't know when was the last time you use the word sacrament.

But the moment you use the word sacrament, it means that it announces divine truth and

it imparts divine grace.

The idea of sacrament is if something is a sacrament, it's more than a ritual.

A ritual will not impart divine grace and a ritual may not be based on divine truth.

But a sacrament, and there are only two sacraments in Christianity, baptism and communion.

A sacrament imparts divine grace and it is based on divine truth or it announces divine

truth, it imparts divine grace.

And this sacrament was actually instituted in Egypt at the time of Passover.

And so what does this breaking of bread do for a person?

One, some churches say that if you haven't received Jesus Christ in your life, you should

not take part in the bread and cup.

Here we don't say that because of the simple reason that if you come and you want to partake,

you can partake.

But if you understand the meaning, then what you partake in becomes more meaningful.

Otherwise, it's just a Christian tradition that is meaningless, that you partake.

So here are some of the things that, this is the grace imparted to us when we partake of it.

One, it distinguishes you as a people of God, distinguishes you as a people of God.

Baptism and communion distinguishes you as a people of God.

When you partake in it, you are saying that this is a practice of the culture of Jesus Christ,

where we sit together to partake of the bread and the cup of grape juice to say that this is

his body broken for us, this is the blood that he shed.

It becomes a cultural mark.

In Hebrews 11, 28, it says that when the Passover was instituted in Egypt and Israel left Egypt,

they had this meal and it says that it distinguished them in Hebrews 11, 28,

as the firstborn of God as compared to the firstborn of Egypt.

So there's a distinction.

There's a distinction.

Wear it proudly, eh?

Wear it proudly.

I'm so glad sometimes to go with my Canadian passport and place it on a desk knowing that

it'll grant me immediate access.

Where certain other passports are not allowed, the Canadian passport is almost always allowed.

I think the only passport that is allowed more than Canadian passport is a Japanese one.

Wear it with pride.

Wear this thing called breaking a bread as something that is very true to your culture

if you are part of this culture called the people of Christ.

So every time you've partaken it,

secondly, it judges the gods and diseases of Egypt.

It judges the gods and diseases of Egypt.

I'm not talking about Egypt as a nation.

I'm talking about what happened to Egypt in the Old Testament.

It judges the gods and the diseases of Egypt.

If you go to Numbers 33 verse 4, it talks about the gods of Egypt being done.

Numbers 33:4

Let me just go through these scriptures.

Numbers 33 verse 4.

Numbers 33:4

Numbers 33 verse 4.

Numbers 33:4

The Israelites set out from Ramesses on the 15th day of the first month, the day after Passover.

They marched out boldly in full view of the Egyptians who were burying all their firstborn.

The Lord had struck down among them, for the Lord had brought judgment upon the Egyptian god.

How was it judgment upon the Egyptian god?

I think we've talked about this in a sermon earlier.

When?

There were different gods in Egypt.

There was Ra, sun god.

What happened?

A plague hit Egypt where the sun was blotted out.

There was Isis who was god of cattle.

What happened?

Cattle began to die because of one plague.

There was a Nile which was supposed to be a sacred river.

What happened?

That the river turned into blood.

Every one of those plagues that happened in Egypt was a judgment of the Egyptian god.

And finally, the ultimate judgment was Pharaoh himself who is supposed to be god to Egypt

and his firstborn.

Pharaoh said, I will destroy you.

Instead, every god of Egypt was judged.

Another verse is in Exodus 12, 12.

Exodus 12, 12.

Exodus 12.

And here's what it says in Exodus 12, 12.

On the same night, I will pass through Egypt, strike down every firstborn, both men and animals,

and I'll bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt.

Again, the idea of god to Egypt.

Isaiah 19, 1.

Isaiah 19, 1.

Isaiah 19, 1.

Isaiah 19, 1.

Isaiah 19, 1.

An oracle of God concerning Egypt.

See the Lord right on a swift cloud and his country Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him and the heart of Egypt melt within him.

So why are we talking about the judgment of the gods of Egypt?

Guys, at the end of the day, when we use the word gods of Egypt,

Egypt today means any form of bondage.

Any form of bondage where your backs are spiked open, you are put to hard labor,

you are supposed to build someone else's pyramid, you die so that someone else prospers.

The idea of bondage is what we are talking about when we talk about Egypt.

And one of the things that happens when we partake of this sacrament or this idea of

the bread and the cup is that every time we practice it, know that this truth and this

grace is imparted to us, that I now judge the gods of Egypt, the demonic forces,

the satanic forces, the spiritual forces that are against you.

Every time you practice this sacrament that I, Christ, ordain, I will judge the satanic

realm, the spirit realm, the demonic realm that is affecting you.

And by God, if you haven't seen the demonic realm, I want to trip with you.

These are evil spirits that destroy people, that cause three-year-olds to be molested and raped.

That cause wars, that ravage people, that destroy them from the inside,

that contort their faces, that make them right like serpent.

I'm telling you this because it is so easy to think that realm does not exist and I'm

not saying this to you because you may have been aware of it but people will listen to

this message and that no one thinks that there is no such realm because there is a realm like that

and there are people here that have dealt with it.

And God is saying every time you practice this sacrament, I will judge those because when my son

died on the cross, he dismantled that entire realm.

So when we practice this, it ain't no ordinary thing man because every time we practice this,

we are repeating Colossians 2.15 which says that Jesus Christ made a public spectacle of the devil,

that he disarmed the devil, that he destroyed the realm of the satanic,

that he will one day crush him completely under our feet, that Jesus Christ the Son of God came

down to the earth in flesh to destroy the works of the devil, that he has given us authority over all

the power of the enemy to trample over serpents and scorpions and demons and that no harm by any

means shall come to me. This is the kind of church that to rise up so that people in bondage can be

set free. The other thing this sacrament does, we take part of it. What is a sacrament? A sacrament

of the practice that imparts grace and that announces truth. The other thing that happens when we

practice the sacrament is that we declare the immunity that is conferred upon us.

Isaiah 31 verse 5, it says in Isaiah 31 verse 5, this is what the Lord says,

Isaiah 31:5 Isaiah 31:5

like birds hovering overhead, the Lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem, he will shield it and deliver

it, he will pass over it and he will rescue it. It was a scripture that was spoke over at Passover

that passing, the whole idea of the word Passover is that when the destroyer come,

he will pass over and you will not be judged. There's an immunity that is conferred to you

when you partake in it, an immunity that is conferred. Just think of the benefits, hey?

That aside, it publishes the victory of Christ again and again and again. Guys, Jesus lived

publicly. He's a recorded historical figure. There's evidence, like ridiculous evidence for it.

He died publicly. There is recorded historical evidence for that. He rose publicly and he was

seen by people publicly and that's been recorded too. And so everything Jesus did was recorded

and so everything Jesus does was done publicly. And so every time we partake of this and may it

not be hidden within the confines of this church, may you practice it in your homes when you meet

with visitors and people who come to your homes, may it be declared that Jesus Christ died and rose

again publicly and we speak of it publicly. We speak of it publicly. To practice this inside the

church and never express it outside renders it a useless ritual. Not a useless ritual. It renders

it a ritual. Every time we practice this, what are we saying? We are saying that, Satan, you are judged

and that Christ rose again and therefore anybody who believes Jesus Christ will rise again.

If he rose, so will I. I love that song, so will I. If he rose from the dead, so will I.

Any questions?

?

.

Yeah.

Which?

Yeah, in an unworthy manner. So,

the context of 1 Corinthians 11 is,

these guys used to come around for this amazing meal that they used to have in the church in Corinth.

And they would eat together and during the meal, people would take the bread and the cup.

But then there were some guys who began to divide the church into the rich and the poor.

And the rich would come and, for the lack of a better word, would eat the KFC and the Baconator and the Big Mac.

And after eating that, the poor would be given breadsticks and power crown.

Breadsticks, salad and power crown would be given to the poor.

And so now Paul is challenging them saying,

what's wrong with you guys? Is price divided?

Why is it that when you come together,

and he uses the word when you come together in verse 18, verse 31 and verse 20,

verse 18, 20 and 23, he says when you come together, when you come together.

And the whole idea was, guys, don't you know that you're supposed to come together as a family?

Why is it that you're dividing yourself? Is price divided?

And if you continue this way, in discriminating one from the other,

the poor from the rich, the higher from the lower,

then know this, that some of you will fall sick, some of you will die.

And so it was in the context of that that he says, therefore now examine yourself.

Therefore now examine yourself.

See how you're doing with your neighbor, whether you're discriminating on the basis of color, caste, creed, religion, rich, poor, strata and society, nationality.

What basis are you discriminating on?

Because if you do, then church, be careful, because some of you will be missing next Sunday.

Crazy, eh?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because it's been so, we've manufactured something completely different where we say now that examine yourself as big, because there's no sin in you.

And that puts such fear into a table that is supposed to be full of grace.

By the way, if I have a problem with you, I'm not supposed to sort it out just before communion,

because it won't get sorted out before communion.

It might take five days, because my problem with you is big.

So you can't go up to someone and say, hey, Betty, I'm really sorry for what I did last night.

Can you forgive me?

Or what choice does she have?

I forgive you.

But she has to take part in communion too.

That ain't dealing with it.

That is...

The intent of the heart should be, Betty, you and I need to talk about stuff.

So...

Then it might take four or five.

Then if it doesn't get solved, you might have to pay for anything.

Because the easiest thing to do in Christianity is to sweep dust under, you become excellent.

So...

At this table, three things I want to point out and we'll end.

One is we eat with...

We eat with them.

I love this party.

We eat with them.

Exodus 24, verse 9 to 11.

Exodus 24:9–11

Moses takes part in communion.

Exodus 24, verse 9 to 11.

Exodus 24:9–11

Moses takes 70 others with him.

They go up mountain.

And it says that there was...

Under the feet of God was something like lapis lazuli.

Some blue kind of a...

Sense under his feet.

And it says that these 70, and Moses and Aaron, ate and drank with God.

They ate and drank.

God's always had this desire when it comes to this field.

He's always had this desire.

And if he has a desire, then know that he fulfills this desire with his presence by the Holy Spirit.

Every time a household or Acts 29 breaks bread, know that he desires to be amongst us, that he walks amongst the lampstand.

That he desires to be amongst us and his presence is known.

We don't recognize this, because if we only have two minutes for this, we get this done.

Because we've got other more important things to go about.

But every time we partake of it, we've got to look at history.

Acts 24.

He turned up with his presence.

Luke chapter 24, verse 30 and 31.

Luke 24:30

I've longed to eat this...

Sorry, Luke 24.

What does it say?

I've longed to eat this meal with you.

And he eats in their presence.

Luke...

John 21, 12 and 13.

Jesus was walking at the beach.

And he says, Hey boys, you got any fish?

And the boy, they've just got fish.

They bring it on shore.

He's already got a fire going and he breaks bread with them.

Again, in Luke chapter 24 or 25, he's walking down the road to Emmaus.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

And there's two guys who sing.

Did you hear?

Jesus has died and they cannot recognize that Jesus is walking with them.

And he goes with them and they say, can you stay with us?

Can you stay with us tonight?

And he says, OK.

And they settle down in a room and they decide to have dinner.

And during dinner, he takes the bread and he breaks it and immediately they recognize him.

This Jesus Christ desires and longs to be in our midst every time this is broken.

We must take time to recognize his presence and where his presence is.

There is life, life, death, space, healing, strength.

All these things are a lead.

We don't have time.

I think after every communion, we should sing the song.

God was here and I did not know it.

That's what we should sing, but we will not be singing it because we'll be thinking differently.

Trust his desire and therefore his presence by the Spirit as we gather around the table.

Trust.

Recognize his desire to be present amongst his people and trust that because this is a sacrament that imparts grace, that he enjoys being amongst the people who are recognized.

We've got to take time.

That's why we won't be doing this.

I don't want to rush this.

Every blooming church service we'll practice.

We'll do it next week when we go down for a meal after the ade.

While we are eating we'll practice.

And the emphasis was always when you come together.

Guys, when you come together.

Guys, when you come together.

Because any time you sit around the table to have a meal, you usually want intimacy, companionship and affection around it.

You know, my dad's place and my mom's place.

When I used to visit their home, visit my relatives, my dad's place, there would be a bell.

They'd ring the blooming bell and everybody had to...

It felt like I was part of the Warncraft family.

They would ring the bell and everyone had to turn up at the table and sit down.

And then the head honcho, my uncle would pray.

Then we would eat and he would have to take stuff first.

Then there would be a pecking order and you would take the pot.

And it was so well run, you would think, what an amazing job.

And then there was my mom's place.

There would be arguments.

You were just grateful that there were no parathas flying from one end to the other.

That people were throwing at each other.

But it used to be so lively.

I would look forward to eating at my mom's...

Dad's, my mom's parents.

Because they would be crying, they would be laughing, there would be no bell.

It was so much fun.

It was real.

And then there was my dad's place, which was like...

That's when I decided I'm not going to go join the army.

Because it must be.

So the point is, grow in the strong bond of affection, interest and companionship with him.

And the second thing is, we eat with him, we eat often.

Eat often.

As in, he keeps saying that I am the bread of life.

And people got put off with this.

When he makes this statement in John 6, verse 48, Jesus almost deliberately puts him off.

John 6:48

Because he says, if you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood, you cannot be a part of me.

And guys started feeling back saying, this is like cannibalism.

What are you suggesting that we eat your flesh and drink the blood?

That's literally what they thought and what they said.

And he deliberately said it because what's his intent?

His intent is, hey guys, sit with me at this table and take off my life.

And only then will your life be sustained.

Let's put it this way.

I've written it this way.

We eat and drink.

We eat and drink.

That is, we take into our life.

What happened on the cross by faith?

This is what we do when we partake.

Guys, every word here is so important.

We eat and drink.

If we were practicing the breaking of bread today, we would eat and drink.

And what would we be doing?

We would be taking into our lives what happened on the cross.

And we are taking into our lives what happened on the cross.

What happened on the cross?

A man was put to death.

For what reason?

So that my sins may be forgiven.

What happened on the cross?

A man was put to death.

For what reason?

That I may become his father's son.

What happened on the cross?

A man was put to death.

For what reason?

That he would rise again and so that one day when I believe in him, I would rise again.

What happened on the cross?

A man was put to death.

For what reason?

His back was striped for my healing.

What happened on the cross?

A man was put to death.

And it goes on and on and on and on and on.

And therefore, when I eat and drink, I take into my life what happened on the cross.

But I do it by faith.

It is one thing to participate in this meal to remember and sit down.

It is another thing to participate in this meal to remember and rise up in faith.

Because it is finished.

Take into our lives what has happened on the cross.

Eat of my flesh, drink of my blood.

If you do not eat of my flesh and do not drink of my blood, you cannot be part of my life.

What is he saying?

Come guys, sit at this table.

Trust me to be your life-giving and life-sustaining food and drink.

Feed of me.

And one of the ways we feed on God is by feeding on his word.

To remember and sit down doesn't require faith.

To remember and rise up is active faith.

Last one.

We eat for him.

Eat for him.

Eat for him.

As in the essence of this meal is proclamation, not privacy.

Proclamation, not privacy.

That's the essence of it.

We are not eating this thing.

Me and my God, we are not eating this thing.

That's good.

But this meal is not a meal of God.

That's good.

But this meal is not about privacy.

It's about talk.

We eat for him.

The supper proclaimed.

This meal proclaimed.

And faith comes by hearing and seeing and tasting.

This is why it is critical that when we partake in this meal that we declare.

That we declare.

Others hear.

Others hear.

When you say as I partake in this meal, I trust that what was accomplished on the cross,

I take it into my life and I trust for the healing of my body and people hear it.

This supper proclaimed.

And because it proclaimed, faith comes by hearing, tasting and seeing what is happening.

Do you see how critical it is to the life of a church?

Do you see how it is important to practice this not once a month?

Do you see why it must be practiced?

Paul puts it this way.

1 Corinthians 2.2.

And that's what this breaking of bread is actually.

Paul says, I did not want to know anything.

I just wanted to know one thing.

Who he is and what he did.

Christ crucified.

1 Corinthians 2.2.

Who he is, what he did.

Christ crucified.

Who he is, what he did.

Christ crucified.

And then in 1 Corinthians 22 he says,

I realize that this is a message I have to go out with.

So one, we recognize and then we proclaim.

We eat for him.

And what are we proclaiming?

That which will be a stumbling block to the Jew.

And what to the Greek?

Foolishness to the Greek.

But to those that are called,

it is the power of God, it's the wisdom of God, it's the salvation of God.

Every time we practice this, we must eat of this and then go out because we eat for him.

We eat with him, we eat of him, we eat for him.

You know, in the Old Testament they used to have this bread called showbread.

It's in Leviticus 24.

They would make this bread and they would have 12 loaves put before the Lord in rows.

And another word for showbread was the bread of presence.

The bread of presence.

And the word presence always comes from this word called panim which means face to face.

As in this bread would remind God.

And the whole idea of this is as we partake in this, we are reminding God of two things.

That he is with us and we are with him.

He now says, you are my portion.

And we say to him, you are our portion.

And the priest could go into the sanctuary and partake of this bread.

Nobody else could eat it.

Only the priest could go and eat it.

And when they ate it, they ate it on behalf of the congregation.

And that's what we're doing.

We eat of this bread. Why?

On the behalf of a people that now need to be fed.

Ryan, can you pull out the last verse of the song, I then shall live.

I will conclude.

Next week when we partake in communion, this week if you're meeting as a housekeeper,

remember the importance of this.

Ministers of reconciliation we have become.

We're not ministers who go to the sanctuary, eat it on behalf of the people.

We are ministers who now eat it and then become ambassadors of reconciliation.

Ministers of reconciliation.

Chalun, can you play a beat?

Quickly, quickly, Moni.

Sorry, just came.

Chalun, quick.

Young man.

Your kingdom come around and through and in me.

Your power and glory let them shine through me.

Your hallowed name, whom may I bear with honor?

And may your living kingdom come in me.

The bread of life, whom may I share with honor?

And may you feed a hungry world through me.

One last time.

Your kingdom come around and through and in me.

Your power and glory let them shine through me.

Your hallowed name, whom may I bear with honor?

And may your living kingdom come in me.

The bread of life, whom may I share with honor?

And may you feed a hungry world through me.

Grant this verse to us for your namesake.

Jesus name. Amen.

Bless you guys. See you next Sunday.

If you need prayer, Jeevan, Derek, Joan, Sue will be up here.

And if you need prayer, feel free to come up.

And they'll pray for any need you have.

Thank you guys.

Say hi to Doug before you go.

Thank you.