February 25, 2026 | 1 John Wednesday Night Bible Study | Pastor Carl Henry

[SPEAKER_00]: So I had a question last week after our awesome talk last last Wednesday night.

[SPEAKER_00]: You do realize you guys talked into almost a quarter till last week, so nobody wanted to go home.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So it was a good thing, but they said, you know, I had a question, but we went along and so I said, well, I would dress it here tonight.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to try to be timely on it, but it does connect with the subjects that we were talking about in first John that has to do with forgiveness.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we were all over the place last week, it was awesome talk.

[SPEAKER_00]: But here was the question.

[SPEAKER_00]: How we connect the first John 19, if we confess our sins, that's all we do.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's faithful and just to forgive us, our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes we carry our guilt with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the subject of communion came up.

[SPEAKER_00]: because you're familiar, most likely, with communion, that he tells us that we need to self-evaluate judge yourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then as we do go into it, if we're taking communion unworthy, then that's why God has to judge with sickness and everything that he lists in the text in 1 Corinthians 11.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's a really good question because I know, and I talked to Lori about it earlier, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: She goes, yeah, I go through the same thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're getting ready to take communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're thinking on our brain, oh, no, I don't want to eat and drink damn nation to myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm like,

[SPEAKER_00]: Do I take it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do I know?

[SPEAKER_00]: I remember everything that I did wrong this week and that I confess everything and if not, then I could be killing us out here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we go into communion sometimes, guilty, or feeling guilty, and so that's a really good question.

[SPEAKER_00]: because I've been there, the old preachers, man, if you don't remember the, you let it confess it, or you better not take communion, and it says like, okay, I'm just not gonna take it, because it's communion back in the day with our independent fundamental yelling, judgmental preachers, because they'd like to control everybody, they made everybody feel guilty all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything is, you're not in the worthy, you're unworthy, you're unworthy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so a lot of times I didn't take it because I'm like, well, I'm probably, I'm not worthy to take it because there's something wrong between me and God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so then I read my Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what we're going to do a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to explain to you, communion and guilt, because many of us probably feel that way.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's go to first Corinthians 11.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to try to do this as quick as I can.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I can tell by your faces, you would like to study this out a little bit too.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that Sunday night, when we have communion, here at the church, we are going to go into it

[SPEAKER_00]: a more liberated mindset because of what God said.

[SPEAKER_00]: So first Corinthians chapter number 11.

[SPEAKER_00]: To eat or not to eat, that is the question.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, if I were to entitle this one, that's what I would call it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So look with me to see what the problem is in verse number 20.

[SPEAKER_00]: So first Corinthians 11, verse 20.

1 Corinthians 11:20

[SPEAKER_00]: When you come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a statement, not a question.

[SPEAKER_00]: So their mindset at the church of Corinth was, oh, we're bringing in the food, we're gonna have a meal here now, we're gonna eat.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what he's showing is having a meal at church is not communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because you're not even thinking about Jesus' body.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not even thinking about His blood.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a meal.

[SPEAKER_00]: So meal versus communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: Meals, as he says in verse number 20, I'm sorry, 34.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look with that, look at that verse.

[SPEAKER_00]: If any man hungers, let him eatware.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go home and eat a big meal.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the thought is separate a big meal with communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're two separate things.

[SPEAKER_00]: They, in the church, weren't.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were making communion a big meal.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here's the problem with all of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: There were those at, look at, look at verse 21.

[SPEAKER_00]: In eating, everyone takes before another his own supper, one is hungry and another is drunken.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's like, what's God trying to say here?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you're bringing in this food, and you're getting ready to have a big meal, and you're thinking you have a community, but after you just have a great big meal, and you have a rich family, and they have fried chicken, and they have pop, and they have all the fixings, you know, the potato salad, they got a big meal, and then there's poor family on the other side, and they're just sitting and watching everybody because they don't have any money.

[SPEAKER_00]: and it literally says they're hungry.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what their communion became.

[SPEAKER_00]: They would bring a meal and we're having our meal and they wouldn't tear you.

[SPEAKER_00]: They wouldn't wait for each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: They wouldn't help each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: They wouldn't serve each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just like a big meal.

[SPEAKER_00]: By the way, my wife's grandmother, they were the old holiness group and they would never permit a kitchen in their church because of this text.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're going to eat, you eat at home, you eat somewhere else, and they would say, we are backslidden because of this text that we actually eat at church big meals.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we'll learn the gymnasium in our minds.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are we going to the gymnasium to have communion?

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're just having a meal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is anyone without food when we go to the gymnasium?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, because everybody's bringing in, we're all sharing with each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you don't eat it, it's your own fault.

[SPEAKER_00]: One time in the history of Northside, I lived to see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You ready for this?

[SPEAKER_00]: We ran out of food.

[SPEAKER_00]: I kid you not, this is like years and years ago, and people are like, or how to food.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, what never happens here?

[SPEAKER_00]: We're Baptists.

[SPEAKER_00]: We always have more than enough, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, did I just teach you how to separate meal from communion at a comedian?

[SPEAKER_00]: And at the time, I didn't understand the text well.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he was like, you know, this whole little piece of bread, you know, in a little thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, man, we should have a great, big piece of bread.

[SPEAKER_00]: We should have a great big.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he didn't understand this text.

[SPEAKER_00]: He'd make him fun of how we do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: What isn't about a meal.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's about stopping and taking this portion of bread and remembering.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's about taking this wine.

[SPEAKER_00]: and remembering.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so the verse before, it says, some are hungry, and some are the thought is, they're gluttones.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're drunk.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have so much it's more than enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why he uses the word intoxication there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's like they are just absolutely filled and they're gluttones and the other people have nothing, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So there's the division between excess and hunger.

[SPEAKER_00]: a feast versus nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Rich versus poor.

[SPEAKER_00]: See how it was dividing the church?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well Paul got, hey, we need help with how do we do communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this whole chapter, folks, is a correction on how the church was doing communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what this whole thing isn't just instruction.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is like, guys, you're doing this wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, now the next thing is in verse number 33,

[SPEAKER_00]: Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat Terry or wait one for another.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's really a, that word, wait there or Terry is not an easy one to fully understand, but it's just like, let's consider each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: wait for the other person, Terry for them, is like be considerate of each other when in the text, he says, when you come together to eat.

[SPEAKER_00]: So whenever we are coming together for the purpose of the Lord's suffer, he is saying, Terry or wait for one another, is like have other people in your mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: and don't be selfish, et cetera.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that comes the sin problem that I want to talk about.

[SPEAKER_00]: The, what was the sin that was happening that he says verse number 27?

[SPEAKER_00]: Wherefore, who shall ever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthy?

[SPEAKER_00]: Shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then verse number 29, he that eateth and drinketh unworthy eats and drinks damnation to himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the next phrase actually is explaining what they were doing wrong, not discerning the Lord's body.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have in our mind that the sin is one of the typical sins that are out there.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you have the ultimate, you know, there's...

[SPEAKER_00]: Crime, there's stealing, there's glutney, there's, you know, robbery, you know, you have those typical lists.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thought I wrote them down here.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't find my list of them.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there's all this list of different sins that people look at with, you know, the impurities and moralities, you know, you have all those things.

[SPEAKER_00]: And those are not mentioned in this text.

[SPEAKER_00]: So,

[SPEAKER_00]: When we think of what scientifically is, it's in my next, it's in my home back to first John chapter two, that's what we're going to talk about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: The seven deadly sins, pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and laziness.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, and then what sin is, it's a trespass, it's lawlessness, it's a transgression, it's injustice.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, we're thinking of all of those things,

[SPEAKER_00]: And so sometimes we're thinking, what did I do wrong that God's going to judge me because I have forgotten to confess some sin this week?

[SPEAKER_00]: So if I take it, and I forgot one, then I'm in trouble with God, and then I'm going to be judged and maybe sick, weak, or die, as the list goes on.

[SPEAKER_00]: So

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the things that I'll explain to you is this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is this relevant?

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't want to ever bore you folks, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So if I did something wrong on Monday, and on Monday, what should I do with that thing that I did wrong before God against my wife, against somebody, you know, whatever I did wrong?

[SPEAKER_00]: What am I supposed to do right away?

[SPEAKER_00]: First John, one, nine, we confessed it I've done something against somebody else I asked for forgiveness, and so here's what we do.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're gonna have communion on Sunday.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know I did something wrong on Monday and I confessed it, but you know what we have the tendency to do, carry it with us, the whole week and Sunday.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's time for communion, I'm really sorry for that one on Monday, I can't believe I did that all this so wrong,

[SPEAKER_00]: What how does God look on Sunday at the sin you committed on Monday, if you ask for forgiveness, does God keep record of it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why then do we?

[SPEAKER_00]: What that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he likes us to feel guilty.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, oh yeah, well, that one can't be forgiven, you know, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: right on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this is our tendency is to beat ourselves up when God isn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we continue with this when God is, you know, one of the things about love is that it doesn't keep record.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what God is saying.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not keeping record of this stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's either gone or it's still there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's where the confession comes in, and then we have to believe the first John 1 9, but we have the tendency to even think, maybe I did something wrong that I didn't even realize was wrong, and God knew it was wrong, but I didn't run, and I didn't confess that one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, there was a Neil Testman, you know, this sin offering that was given for something you didn't even know was a sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Lord in case I did something, I didn't know I was not supposed to do, here's an offering for it, you know.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, what is the character of God when it comes to forgiveness of Christians since?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's his character?

[SPEAKER_00]: And what does first John tell us about the character of God that we learned last week?

[SPEAKER_00]: He is faithful and just to forgive and to

[SPEAKER_00]: Is he cleansing us or not?

[SPEAKER_00]: He either is or he isn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: And on the tail right now, folks, I've messed up as a Christian so many times they can't shake a stick at it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's times I've wallowed around in the guilt of something from 20 years ago because I remember it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, and some are going up and others are going, I have no idea what you're talking about.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: But some of us have this

[SPEAKER_00]: And we, it's like we can't release that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we wallow in guilt.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I agree, Mary, that's what Satan wants us to be is feeling guilty.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then what we do is we step back.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if we believe God has forgiven, now I'm stepping forward because I am cleansed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Literally as though it never happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's taken from my record, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: Now,

[SPEAKER_00]: Look with me now to this subject of self-examination, verse 28, but let a man examine himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now listen, listen, don't, I need to look at me.

[SPEAKER_00]: That does not mean you're examining your wife, your husband, your kids, or anybody else in this church, including me, because I'm not examining you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm supposed to examine who.

[SPEAKER_00]: meet, and you examine yourself before the Lord, because that's what the Pharisees do is, you know, you're wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: You just need to change this.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they're always micromanaging people.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, no, no, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: You worry about you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I'm not worrying about other preachers.

[SPEAKER_00]: You say, you should be.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, listen.

[SPEAKER_00]: They might not do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not about pastors.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good preachers, the preacher, the word.

[SPEAKER_00]: You say, well, aren't you going to tell everybody what you feel is wrong, what they're doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you kidding me?

[SPEAKER_00]: I got too much that I got to stand before the Lord about for myself, let alone examining every other preacher in the country.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so now false prophets, false teachers.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't know, warning you about them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not talking about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I have to examine myself to what this self-examination look like and I'm going to help you if you don't have an answer.

[SPEAKER_00]: What this self-examination look like?

[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, sure, yeah, and so that's where, you know, just you brought up, you know, search me, oh God, see if there's any wicked way in me, you know, so we like, Lord help me to see, you know, if there's something in my mind, my heart, so we're opening ourselves up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good, anybody else have a thought?

[SPEAKER_00]: Self-examination.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm comparing myself with someone, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm comparing myself to God, who's holy, I'm not comparing myself to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we have a tendency to do, compare ourselves with each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then it's like, oh, I'm not as bad as Gary.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel pretty good about myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or man, Gary is such a better Christian than I am, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's a good guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know what, that's not what we're supposed to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't compare ourselves with each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: We compare ourselves to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now we're humbled.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then the second thing, we line ourselves up with the word.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the word has to tell me what's right and wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not traditions of man, not ideals.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is literally from the word, so the word tells me right wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's all right on the money.

[SPEAKER_00]: So self-examination, what did we learn in first John 18, that some Christians do about their own sin,

[SPEAKER_00]: and then verse 10, they do something else about their own sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: They might remember what those two things are about.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.

[SPEAKER_00]: They say, if a man says, I haven't sinned, or I have no sin, I should say, that's right.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's that thought I haven't done anything wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then the only person I'm deceiving is myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or in verse 10, I haven't sinned.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the Bible says, yes, you have.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, that's what he says, you're saying, God's a liar, and the word isn't in us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, that's where we self-examine ourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's right.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now, this is where I want to teach you now.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we think of self-evaluation and examination, we're always thinking about our sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to try to help you with this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that is true, and I do the same thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm not going to go through a checklist in my brain and beating myself up in the minute and a half that I have between the time I've done praying, give you the bread, and now you're going to take it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so this self-examination.

[SPEAKER_00]: For if we would judge ourselves, then we should not be judged.

[SPEAKER_00]: To thought is, if I take the time to examine myself, to now judge myself, then God doesn't have to step in and do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if I'm like, I don't care about what I'm just going to do whatever, you know, yeah, we're going to have a meal here, then God's going to step in and say, wrong, because you are not discerning my son's body,

[SPEAKER_00]: and his blood.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the focal point, ladies and gentlemen, is this.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not about your personal sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: In this text, the focal point is you're not discerning the Lord's body.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was the crime that the church was doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're having a big meal, whatever about Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they're just looking at it all the wrong way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I agree we need to evaluate ourselves that I do something wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to get hurt somebody, and I agree with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it is a little deeper than just that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not discerning is to, I'm sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to reverse the way I'm saying it.

[SPEAKER_00]: The serning ourselves, the serning, is to mentally separate two things.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's literally the Greek behind all this, is to separate.

[SPEAKER_00]: The serning is yes, no, right, wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a discernment.

[SPEAKER_00]: You see that one?

[SPEAKER_00]: So this discernment in this whole text

[SPEAKER_00]: A big meal, oh, this is good to gather and have fellowship, social club, social club church.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not worrying about Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're just getting together where you and I are taking communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is like the Son of God died on a cross, was beaten, brutally beaten.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm discerning the Lord's body.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it is a focal point.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what's our nature?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I talk about this once and a while when I'm getting ready to get into communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is our nature when we are focusing on one spiritual thing?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's our nature?

[SPEAKER_00]: The old man that we're fighting?

[SPEAKER_00]: What do we do in our brain when God is saying, just think about my son?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, okay, we have that I agree, let me help you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is in guest 70.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's with his disciples and he says the Peter James of John, stay here, I'm gonna go pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have one job.

[SPEAKER_00]: One job.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's men.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is it.

[SPEAKER_00]: My hour is here.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is serious.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need you to pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: He goes and prays and comes back and what are they doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, one job.

[SPEAKER_00]: He comes back a second time.

[SPEAKER_00]: What are they doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: Come back to third time.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, just go ahead and sleep now.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yep.

[SPEAKER_00]: You blew it, guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: What did Jesus teach the disciples right there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody remember the phrase?

[SPEAKER_00]: There you go.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we have this, I'm gonna do the right thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna focus on Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: What are we doing after church?

[SPEAKER_00]: Squirrel.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, boom, our brains are scattered brains.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're all over the place.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're taking communion, and we're thinking, oh yeah, I gotta get up to five o'clock and we're at the time, oh, I can remember that job that I got to finish for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And our brains are all over the place, and we're not focusing on and separating

[SPEAKER_00]: everything that's over here and we're not focusing on Christ alone and so what's the purpose of communion ladies and gentlemen?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why do we do this?

[SPEAKER_00]: To remember?

[SPEAKER_00]: There you go.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're coming for the cross thinking about what he went through with his body and blood, the whipping post and everything else he went through, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Communion with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another word for communion is fellowship.

[SPEAKER_00]: What have we been learning about in first John, chapter one, who is our fellowship with?

[SPEAKER_00]: And by remember, the first time he says it, with the Father and the Son, and then we have fellowship one with another.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when, and then he gets into the confession of sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so here in communion, it's supposed to be God,

[SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, hey, pass over to the gravee.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they're just, Hebrew says it this way.

[SPEAKER_00]: That mindset is actually apostate.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it says, the trample under foot, the blood of Jesus Christ, daily and daily care.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's sadly what some churches are as a social club just getting together in it's not about God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's about,

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I like them.

[SPEAKER_00]: We get along well.

[SPEAKER_00]: We eat together.

[SPEAKER_00]: We go out and we do this, you know, not that that's wrong, but you do know that's not the first reason we have church.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is a fellowship and breaking a bread, breaking of the spiritual bread as we're going.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so,

[SPEAKER_00]: I agree that word to be focusing on myself, Lord of or something between me and you, I want to make sure that's right, and I agree.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you'll hear me say most times with communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now folks, let's put everything to the side for a couple minutes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I say this all the time, let's just focus on Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's discerning.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's separating the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: from what is actually happening at this at that moment, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So the correction men is done through judging ourselves so that God doesn't have to.

[SPEAKER_00]: If we examine ourselves,

[SPEAKER_00]: Meaning, we're really honest with ourselves, and we do want to make sure we scrutinize yourself, and we think, okay, if Lord, if there's something going on, I want to make sure that it's correct between myself and you, and I agree a hundred percent, I will still encourage people to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I agree with that, but it doesn't stop with that, is my point tonight.

[SPEAKER_00]: We see the confession of sin as the

[SPEAKER_00]: getting right with God or judging myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: It goes beyond that to think about this, Lord, you died on the cross from my sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now we're thinking, now we're discerning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your blood was shed, the blood of his son cleanses us from all sinned as Christians.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're really coming to Lord and saying, man, we are so unworthy of what you have done.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're judging or discerning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then God doesn't have to judge.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the phrase, if we judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the word judge is there two different times, but it's two different Greek words.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first one is judge, discern with in yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't, then God is gonna judge you, be the judge, and that word is condemnation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then God has to step in and judge if we don't discern ourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, who are we supposed to judge in this text?

[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody else, but our tendency, you know, I don't know about so and so if they should take communion or not, not your problem has nothing to do with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: because you got enough to make sure you're right with a word about and so do I.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we just focus on me and then I focus on what Christ has done.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we do confess and we do want to make sure we're right.

[SPEAKER_00]: But listen to me, if we keep a short sin account, we don't have to worry about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Monday,

[SPEAKER_00]: You messed up, you said, Lord, I was wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: Man, I was angry.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I kicked the dog.

[SPEAKER_00]: Man, I was wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: OK.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you did some wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: You confess it and you get things right.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God says, forgive him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So now you can put that to the side and focus on the next hour.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because this is like every hour, guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're self-evaluating ourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: And some people at night, they're like, OK, Lord,

[SPEAKER_00]: Man, I got a list before I go to sleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you wake up, and then you got another list.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, we're always looking in ourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that was wrong attitude.

[SPEAKER_00]: Boy, I was proud.

[SPEAKER_00]: I shouldn't have said that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I should have said something.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're evaluating ourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: So just get it right.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then come Sunday with communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's done.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you don't have to rehash the whole week to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's already done.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, that's helping you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, before I finish, any questions?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me ask you some questions about God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Does His mercy endure forever according to the Psalmist?

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every verse ends with and His mercy endure forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't forget which Psalm it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember that which one of his, okay, I can't either.

[SPEAKER_00]: Somebody will go or find it for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: But so, his character is mercy.

[SPEAKER_00]: So here you are, Billy, getting ready for communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have looked at yourself, you have examined yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I want to make sure I'm right with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that Lord, I'm putting all the stuff to the side.

[SPEAKER_00]: And all that I'm going to do is focus on you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And thank you for your body that was broken for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for your blood that was shed for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I love you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thank you for what you have done.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you really think God's gonna kill you because you forgot something over here?

[SPEAKER_00]: I do not think that's the character of God, because you're communing with Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's my point tonight, that is what really is the important part about communion and judging ourselves is a preparation of the heart to commune and fellowship with God instead of, hey, past the gravy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, give me some more of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, that has nothing to do with communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we do at home.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, who's going to grab the biggest piece of, you know, the five first or the, you know, whatever piece of chicken you want first, you know, it's like, wow, you know, that's how we are it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so then we eat too much and that's America, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's not communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when you are focusing on that, sure, we're good.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think Gary brought it up.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the earlier, this, this whole point is, is this.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you are concerned about being right with God, that reveals your heart to God, and if you would have forgotten something all week, I really think God is filled with grace, mercy, and truth, and he's gonna take care of it for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because you're opening up, saying God, I love you, and I wanna be in a right relationship with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: To me, you did it.

[SPEAKER_00]: That shows your heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's pure, that's a beautiful thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what Gary was kind of bringing up early on is if I'm worrying about that I did something wrong, that shows your heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: where a lot of people is like, I'm care, as we're seeing in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me do something against somebody else and on the laugh at them.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not sorry for what they did.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no repentance, if you will.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's where you're sharing your heart, Billy, is but I want to be right with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, therefore, you are right with God, because that's the heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not trying to hide something like aching, you know, you're really open it up, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: Somebody else have a hand up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So, there's two words.

[SPEAKER_00]: We use the word fellowship, and now we're using the word worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, which are, you know, blending.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, that's what the communion is about.

[SPEAKER_00]: To summarize it, ladies and gentlemen, communion is not about guilt.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not what God designed this for, but we take this text and we focus on this and yet to understand, this church was having nothing but a great big Kentucky fried chicken meal and they weren't even thinking about Jesus so God says, I'm gonna correct you.

[SPEAKER_00]: So therefore they were Christians doing it wrong and God corrects his own children.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so God doesn't want to correct

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, parents, we don't look forward to the opportunity that our children do something wrong so that I can correct them.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not love, but we correct them when they need it.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is love.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so my purpose is, hopefully tonight, when we have community in Sunday night, that we're going in with this attitude, putting aside all of the stuff,

[SPEAKER_00]: that takes us in life, and just take that 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and just focus on Christ, and Christ alone, and thank him, remember him, fellowship with him, we're fellowshiping one with another.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that next two, it's said they went to house to house and breaking bread.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think they were having communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the leadership going in, they were having communion together.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've done that many times with shut-ins.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oftentimes shut-ins would ask me, hey, I'd like to have one more communion before I go to heaven.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you come on over and have communion, it's not a...

[SPEAKER_00]: as some would say, well, good, that means they're saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: The community doesn't save you.

[SPEAKER_00]: They just want to remember and fellowship with God, and it's very, very sweet to have that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've had a last communion with many people in this church and other churches.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's what it's about.

[SPEAKER_00]: So my summary was this.

[SPEAKER_00]: The meaning here is more about separating our minds

[SPEAKER_00]: and totally focusing on the body and blood of Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: That to me is what God designed it for, and that's why He's with His men after the Passover meal is gone, and then He separates that and says, I'm going to be instituting something brand new.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a new covenant that I'm going to make with man versus the old covenant.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the new covenant is in my blood.

[SPEAKER_00]: This body, a bread, is symbolic of my body.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to break.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what's going to happen to my body.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to beat me to a pulp that my physical body is going to die.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when they're beating me,

[SPEAKER_00]: And yanking out my beard and putting the thorns, blood is going to flow.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that blood is what is going to purify the world of their sins.

[SPEAKER_00]: For salvation, it's going to cleanse Christians from their sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: And my blood is enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're thinking, wow, Lord, you are amazing.

[SPEAKER_00]: We just have fellowship with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We just communed with Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you didn't think one thing about where you're going to eat after, whether you're going to callvers or get in a piece of pizza, because that's not what communion is about to separate.

[SPEAKER_00]: That makes sense.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not about guilt, but the old preachers made everything about guilt and you're unworthy and you're gonna die if you forget one sin and in the text.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I see, questions, comments.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that took longer than I thought it would be.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yes, our book, so we hide, God's Word, and our heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what you're doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good, good.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where we don't want to harden our heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we want to soft, be soft, and sensible to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where I think that judging ourselves comes into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And thinking about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But my point tonight is, can we not just focus on something I might have done wrong all week?

[SPEAKER_00]: and focus on, okay, I'm going to forget everything and it's going on in this world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is time for me and Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is time for me to focus and commune with my God.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why we call communion, we're communing with him and talking with him and fellowshiping with him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then it's interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says,

[SPEAKER_00]: death until he comes.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when we have communion, it is also with each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know what we're telling each other?

[SPEAKER_00]: We believe Jesus died literally almost 2,000 years ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: He literally died for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: His body was broken, his blood was shed.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're saying to each other, I believe that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're actually fellowshiping and witnessing to one another.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: God actually says there's going to be a close.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know that, you do this until I come back.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what that is?

[SPEAKER_00]: Rapture, it's for the church age, this fellowship, the way we do it is for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so really good stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, anybody else?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes sir.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yep, he's the friend, the sixth closure than a brother.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody else?

[SPEAKER_00]: Did this help?

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope so.

[SPEAKER_00]: And thank you to the person that...

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, I do.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was my point.

[SPEAKER_00]: All of the things that I just taught you tonight, I say that almost all of that right before communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we, that, this is, thank you because this is the point.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're always thinking about our sin and what I might have done wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's why I say, folks, let's just forget everything that's going on the world, where you're going after church.

[SPEAKER_00]: This minute, let's just focus on him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there are so many things in churches that are misrepresentation of what communion was designed for, and that's why, oftentimes, I'll have to say, and listen, this isn't saving you by taking communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not forgiving you of your sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not taking Jesus' body into you whenever you take communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have closed communion to members only so I walked through all of that typically you want to Sunday morning sometimes I want to Sunday night now I'll be doing Sunday night because we have the jelly cook off so I'll be doing communion and in Tom's gonna preach and so yes so so now

[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to be more aware of what I say, because of tonight.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, yeah, see, I'm glad you said it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, actually, if you see the last recording, I said, not that I'm a broken record, but sometimes I'm a broken record when it comes to communion and things that I walk through to remind everybody of.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Sunday night, let's fellowship.

[SPEAKER_00]: This haven't awesome time with the Lord and our hearts worshiping Him and we're showing each other Jesus died for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't this awesome?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what communion is about.