Sermon
The Table and the Basin | Pastor Paul McGee
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Presence is God. There's none like you, Lord.
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There's none beside you, Lord, we honor you, Jesus tonight.
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Hallelujah, Jesus. Sweetest name I know.
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Hallelujah, Jesus, God. We want to know what it feels
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like, God, where heaven touches earth.
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That's our slogan. That's our motto.
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We're having an earth connect. Amen.
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Want to know where heaven touches earth?
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Jacob said that there was a ladder that reached up to
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heaven. There's a ladder that reached up
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to heaven. He seen angels ascending and
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descending upon the ladder. On the top thereof was the gate
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of heaven. Amen.
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And always amazes me that it wasn't that the angels
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descended, then ascended, but they ascended then descended.
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They were already there. They were already there, Amen.
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And I know that wherever we gather tonight that He is
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already here, His Spirit is already here.
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Angels, angels. It wasn't that long ago I
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preached along the line about angels are indicative of His
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presence. We seek sometimes to have an
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Angel, but we just get His presence and you have it all.
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Amen. Just a few announcements before
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we get started here this evening.
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Remember the tomorrow night is Power Hour from 7:00 to 8:00.
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Prayer here at the church and so come be a part of that.
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This Sunday of course, is Resurrection Sunday AM service
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only. It will end our Sunday School
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campaign as far as an official contest, but that never ends
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right, Never ends inviting someone to the House of the Lord
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or having them come. Also our candy rain will happen
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if there's not real rain happening all right, or if
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conditions are not good for it, we won't if there's lightning.
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I don't want four or five guys standing on the roof out there.
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I'm just everybody on the ground is fine.
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It's those people on the roof. I'm worried.
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No metal roof at that. But nonetheless, I would have
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our candy rain and door prizes be given away on Sunday as well.
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And also just you kind of put on your calendar, this really
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pertains to whether or not you're part of the winning team.
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But on April the 18th, that's a Saturday at 4:00 PM, that's when
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the winning team will be having their meal at login, Saturday
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the 18th at 4:00 PM. So if you end up winning, that's
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when you need to show up at the login in order to have your meal
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taken care of and with your teammates.
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From the past four weeks leading into this Sunday, also the 19th,
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the 19th of April, in the evening service will have
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missionary roads and they will be here.
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They've just been recently appointed for.
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So we want to invite them and make them feel at home as they
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come. And also then in April, I'm
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saying April because April's the first folks.
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And that's not a April Fool's joke.
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It is all right, the fool have said in his heart there is no
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God. OK.
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And so we're showing up because we know there is one.
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But nonetheless, the 28th, the 26th rather a Sunday will be our
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camp focus. Sunday it'll we'll have time for
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prayer for camp that's coming up in the month of July.
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We'll also be taking up an offering for camp and that kind
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of helps offset the cost of camp.
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It doesn't totally take care of it, but it kind of helps offset
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the cost. If you are planning on going to
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camp meeting this year, the 27th of this month is important to
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you because that's registration. The day that registration opens,
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folks, I'm telling you it's like a wrestling match to get a room
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and so you want to mark that day on your calendar.
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If you have plans to go camp, you can go to the Indiana
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District Facebook page. It's probably on ours too.
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But nonetheless, there's prices already listened there.
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So you, you don't have to, you know, ahead of time as you're
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getting into it. And so just be mindful Amen, of
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that tonight as well. If there's anything else, my
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wife will help me get it all situated here at the end of
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service. Amen, Amen.
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You may be seated tonight in Jesus name, Brother Zach, if you
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can get me started up there here this evening.
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We're coming together and I, I, I announced this before coming
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here tonight. Other services tonight.
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We're going to celebrate, we're going to celebrate communion.
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We're going to celebrate foot washing.
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These are two things that Jesus and his disciples participated
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in before the death and the burial and the crucifixion of
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the Lord. In most years, I have done it
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either at the end of the year, at the beginning of the year.
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But this year I thought we'll do it close to Resurrection Sunday,
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kind of in tandem with the way that Scripture plays things out
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concerning the communion and foot washing.
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And so they're both really happened within the same night,
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the same period of time. And so that's the reason why
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we've coupled them together. There have been other times
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we've taken just one Wednesday, Sister Raven on on foot washing,
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the other one on communion. And there's enough information
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in the Bible to do that. But we're going to try to
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condense it down tonight. And I don't always do a good job
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at the condensing stuff. OK.
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I was looking over past years and I still went 50 minutes an
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hour. And so I'm I'm going to try to
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do better this year. Like really going to try to do
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better with that tonight. We can go to the next slide
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there, Brother Zach, this evening.
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Really communion foot washing are theologically tied, in my
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opinion, according to the Word of God, theologically tied to
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what the Scripture says was the 2 greatest commandments.
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We read of these in the New Testament.
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A lawyer comes into the Lord and he's asking him which which of
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these are the greatest commandments?
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And the Lord speaks back to him. Number one, of course, he goes
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back to Deuteronomy in six and four.
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Hero is with the Lord. Our God is 1 Lord.
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But as Deuteronomy continues, it says that thou shalt love the
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Lord thy God with all of thy heart.
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And then we get to the next part of it, and I shalt love thy
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neighbor as thyself. I see communion and foot washing
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depicting these two greatest commandments that are spoken up
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in Scripture that Jesus spoke of in scripture #1 a love, a love
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for God, or even a love from God if we could state it like that.
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Because we only according to first, second, third, John, we
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only love the Lord because He first loved us.
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So we would even be at a place of a incapability of loving Him
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had he not first loved us. We read the scriptures in
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Romans. Scarcely for a righteous man
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would one die, yet pre adventure for a good man some would even
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dare to die. But God commended his love
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toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, He died for
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us. And so it's because of his love
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toward us that we are able to reciprocate that love then back
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to him. And so in that mode of, of
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communion, right, of taking of the bread and the fruit of the
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vine that we recall and remember and we have that grace that we
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received and we're reciprocating that love back to the Lord.
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And when we do that, of course we are, we are remembering.
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He says often as you do these things, do them in remembrance
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of me. We are remembering the sacrifice
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of Calvary. We're remembering in that mode.
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We're remembering that catonine tails that was laid to his back
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with that metal and bone that was entwined in there.
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We're remembering that crown of thorns that was plated on his
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head, that spear that went through his side, that blood and
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water came out, the nailing of the hands and the feet.
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We're remembering all of that, remembering the agony, the
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mockery. We're remembering all of that.
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And then remembering that that was done for us, that it should
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have been me hanging there. It should have been me going
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through that torment and that agony and pain, But it was the
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Lord. And He's filled that gap for me.
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And so as often as I do this, I do this in remembrance of Him.
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It's my love of my love toward God and of course His love that
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has already been displayed toward me, a man through through
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Calvary and what took place at Calvary.
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But then when we talk about foot washing, Brother Reese, it's
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that second, that other command that Jesus spoke of and that is
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loving our neighbor as ourself. Because just as much as I have
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been extended grace and love, then I am also extending that
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grace and love in a horizontal manner to others, right?
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Those that are around about me. And so whenever we we wash feet,
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if you participate in washing feet, it is an essence of
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illustration. Well, Brother McGee, I can
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illustrate my love in a lot of different ways.
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You could. I could illustrate love in a lot
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of different ways. I could illustrate humility in a
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lot of different ways. You could, but there is just
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some something intimate about foot washing and there is
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something humbling, whether you're the one that is receiving
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it or the one that is doing it. There is a humbling practice
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that takes place. And, and really, as we'll get in
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tonight, there is really a a forgiveness that can happen in a
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mode of, of washing whenever there is wrong or there's sisms
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in the body, one between the other.
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I tell you what, a good old foot washing session can just bring
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attitudes and frustrations and bad concepts of each other can
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just kind of bring those things down when you're kneeling at
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somebody's feet and you're being washed by someone else with
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their hands, a service 1 to the other.
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And so both sides of this equation then have to do with
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love, have to do with love, love for God, from God, love to your
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fellow man and then from your fellow man.
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And so that's what we're looking at this evening.
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But going on to the next slide, brother Alex, you've changed up
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there. OK, Zach, you looked a little
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different. OK, Don't you guys be doing that
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to me. Amen.
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But when we talked about when we talked about communion,
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communion really finds it's, it's it's place in the Old
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Testament, the Passover. And then we find that it's
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instituted in the Gospels. Jesus even kind of uses Passover
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to introduce the Lord's Supper. It's instituted in the Gospels.
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And it's then in First Corinthians chapter #11 we see
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the observation of it taking place.
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And the Apostle Paul kind of given some other guidance about
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what is proper and not proper in all of those things.
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But as we go back in the Old Testament, we talk about
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communion. Quinonio Quinonia, rather, is
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the Greek word that means commune.
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In the New Testament, it means partnership.
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It means fellowship. But here's the thing.
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Usually when you talk about communion or communing with
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someone, you have to have something common between the two
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of you to come together on. And herein lies a difficulty.
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How can we commune with God? Vastly different.
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Big chasm between US and God. Vastly different.
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What would humanity have in common with God to have
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communion or fellowship or partner?
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We got to have something in common, and that's where the
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bread and the fruit of vine or the body and the blood come in
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place, because God manifested himself in the flesh, according
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to Timothy, as a result of that sister grace, then we had
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something in common. Before.
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What would there be between God and humanity?
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Nothing. But since God became a man, we
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have something in common and communion.
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We come then and center ourselves in around that
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commonality, right of body and blood, Amen.
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And so when we look at this, we go back to the Otessa, I'm
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already tell I'm dragging my feet, ain't I got to pick it up,
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put it down, Amen. But we go back to the Otessa, we
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go back to the Tabernacle because the Lord told Moses in
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the Tabernacle system of that holies of holies, where the Ark
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of the Covenant was, where the mercy seat was up on the Ark of
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the Covenant. And there were cherubim on
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either side of that Ark of the Covenant made of gold.
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That was the place that the priest, according to the book of
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Hebrews, would go in once a year.
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But the Bible says not without blood, not without blood, He
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would go in there. He'd sprinkled that blood there
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and there would be communion with God.
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The Lord would come down in a cloud between those cherubim on
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that mercy seat and commune with that priest.
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That was our communion was that. But it could not happen without
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blood. And so with that comes the the
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given. That blood came from a body.
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Blood came from a sacrificial animal.
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And so just as much as there was blood that blood necessitated,
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there had to be a container, there had to be a body.
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And so communion then happened, hinged upon those two pegs, 2
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prongs of both blood and body that facilitated or enable bear
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being communion being able to take place at the Ark of the
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Covenant. Amen.
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And so the Bible says, and I made mention that in Hebrews 9
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and seven, you'll probably waffle back and forth, but into
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the second, Speaking of that second, that area, not the holy
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place, but the Holy of Holies with the high priest alone once
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every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and
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for the heirs of the people. And so sweet communion took
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place because of body and blood. That's a Old Testament, that's a
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Old Testament establishment. But again, our communion takes
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place because God made Himself a body, and there was body and
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blood all right for the sake of the redeeming of mankind.
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Because without blood, according to Leviticus and Hebrews,
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without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins
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for you and I. But when we look at Passover,
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the Old Testament Passover, and Feast of Passover that was
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initiated in the Exodus chapter #12 if you'll recall, the
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Israelites are in captivity in Egypt.
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There's been a myriad of plagues that have went through.
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Each plague has been aimed at a dog, the Egyptians.
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The final plague that is to come upon Egypt is that the death of
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their first born, the death of their first born.
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But Moses has been commissioned by God that on this night that
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if you Israelites will take the blood of the lamb and you will
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strike it up on your doorpost and up on your lentil, when are
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the death Angel passes by and it sees that blood, it will pass
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over your households. Death will not come.
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Now you're dwelling. And it's this very, this very
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institution of Passover that was the springboard for the
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deliverance of the children of Israel out of their Egyptian
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bondage. And so they were to take the
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blood of a lamb and put it on their lentil upon their door
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post post. And that night when the deaf
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Angel passed by and it's taken the first born of Pharaoh even
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down to the one, the popper that's in a dungeon.
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And even of the cattle, the Bible says where the blood was,
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there was safety. And so they were able to leave
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that night. The children of Israel was able
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to leave that night, again with safety, with deliverance, with
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redemption from bondage because of blood.
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But where there's blood, there's always a body.
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There was a lamb. And so again, upon those two
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things of blood, a man and the body.
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Here is a group of people that were incarcerated, bound slaves,
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if you will, now set free and able to go free again.
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All of that is casting a very big foreshadowing for New
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Testament scripture of our freedom, of how we were bound to
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sin. And I believe some of those
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things are up there for you. Just for a comparison and a
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contrast from the Passover and the Last Supper.
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The Bible says, and I'm going to go to Exodus 12 verse #17
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Brother Alex. The Bible says, and you shall
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observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
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For in this self same day have I brought your armies.
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I always love the Scripture. I'll do it now until I die.
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Brought your armies out of the land of Egypt.
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Therefore shall you observe this day in your generations by an
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ordinance forever. I always love this verse.
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We got slaves 430 years in Egypt.
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Slaves. They're told what to do, when to
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do, how to do. They're slaves.
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They are not the picture of an army.
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They are the incarcerated, they are the subjected.
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But the Bible says in the self same night, because of blood and
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because of a body, that they left Egypt not as slaves, but as
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an army. An army is, it's in rank, An
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army is marshalled. An army is put together.
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These are not a bunch of people that don't know their left hand
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from the right hand or they're just in just total despair.
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No, this is an army. This is an army on the move.
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Matter of fact, Lord told Moses, he said when you eat that's lamb
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tonight, he said make sure that you have your staff in your
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hand, have your shoes on your feet and do it in haste because
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you're going to be moving out of the condition that you're
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presently in. You're going to be moving out of
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this. And so I think it's important
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tonight that we don't just come together and take communion.
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We're looking at dead stare over in left field, you know, and
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we're like thumbing our head and halfway sleep.
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No, we are alert because actually communion is about a
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transition. Communion is about movement,
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right? Even it's about movement.
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And it's what took place in that night.
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And when we take the night, we, we, we remember, we remember all
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of that. We were, they were bound.
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But because of a body and blood, we are now free as an army that
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is marshalled 4th. And so that's very important, I
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believe this evening. So you look there before you on
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this slide, the shadow to the substance again.
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So you have the sacrificing, the sacrificing of the blood of a
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slain lamb in the New Testament with the Lords Passover, what
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will take place? You're going to have the body
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that is bruised of Christ Jesus, all right, The blood that was
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shed for all, right? He was a ransom for all.
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We have the blood struck on the, the doorposts and such.
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We have blood that shed for the removal or the remission of our
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sins, Deliverance of the Old Testament of the Israelites from
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Egypt in the New Testament, the Lord's Supper again of our
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bondage from sin, Amen. Because we are, we are captives
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to sin. You were born into the world
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that way. You're a captive unto sin.
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But the result, again, the slaves became army.
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And then us who were sinners now become a part of this thing
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called the church triumphant, Amen.
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And that is a glorious thing, Amen.
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Going on tonight where we talk about communion, there are a few
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different directions, Amen, that that we can look toward whenever
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we do communion tonight. You can find these in First
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Corinthians chapter #11 like verses 26 through 29.
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They are, they are there in the Scripture and I might even go to
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a few of them. But one, one thing that we can
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do, we look back. We've already spoke about that.
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We can look back to Calvary. We can look back with a
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gratitude of the sacrifice and the remission of sins that was
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afforded us through that sacrifice.
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The Bible says this in verse #26.
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For as often as you eat the bread and drink this cup, you do
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shew the Lord's death till he come.
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So not only do we look back, but we also look forward.
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Because Christ said when he was with his disciples and he took
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communion with them, he said, I will not do this again.
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We will not share this again until we come into my Kingdom.
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He's making a reference to the marriage supper of the lamb.
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That's after the Rapture, that's after this, that's after all of
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that is taking place. He says we'll do this again when
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we come to my Kingdom. And so taking communion isn't
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just looking on back there what was done, but it's looking
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forward to a day, looking forward to a day when at that
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moment there'll be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more
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despair, no more sickness, no more disease.
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In that day it will be taken again.
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Christ said, I'll, I'll renew it with you in that day.
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So it's not just about what has happened, it's about where we
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are going. And so as we take immune
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tonight, that's what we're talking about.
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This blood and this, this, this body, this bread and this fruit
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of the vine. I'm still looking forward to
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something. I'm not just thankful for what's
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happened. I'm looking forward to
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something. Listen, if you don't have
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something to look for tonight beyond this life on this earth,
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you need the experience of Calvary for the experience of
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the marriage supper, Amen. Amen.
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And so we, we can look backward, then we look backward.
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Amen. At Calvary, verse #26 tells us,
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all right. And then we also, though we look
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forward a man according to verse #26 and verse 28, though it
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tells us, but let a man examine himself.
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And so let him eat that bread and drink that cup.
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In other words, tonight we will, before we do this, this evening,
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we'll have a time of prayer. We'll look introspectively into
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our own lives, right? Anything that may need to be
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made right in the sight of God. We're going to examine
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ourselves, right? Going to examine ourselves Lord,
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you know, you know you know my uprising and my down sitting and
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my thought afar off. David said you're acquainted
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with all of my ways. There's not a word in my mouth,
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O Lord, but thou knowest it all together.
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Search me O God. He started out that with search
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me O God, and know my heart right and so that that's that
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should be. Repentance is not a one time
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practice leading into your baptism and Holy Ghost
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infilling. Repentance is a daily thing.
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The reason why Paul said he died daily, he was referencing
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repentance. I'm going to take this old man
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to the cross daily, right? Because I guarantee you there's
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something this old man that needs to die or it's trying to
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rear its head again today, right?
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And so there is a there is a daily dying.
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And so I examined, we examine ourselves, we look inward, but
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also we also consider one, one another.
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Look at verse #29 for he that Edith and drinketh unworthy
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lead. And we'll look at that here in a
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minute. Edith and drinketh damnation or
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judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
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So there there was a problem in Corinthians 11.
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They just kind of treated this whole communion session just as
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every other potluck. OK Oh, they got the moon here to
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the rain, you know, and it was even a part of what they called
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Love Feast. And there would be other food
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there. And people were coming in and
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they were just gorging themselves and drinking and they
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were being inconsiderate, as happens Brother James at
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Potlucks. Well, let's talk about that for
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a little bit. You know, people going in there
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and they're piling up their plate and they're the first one
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in line. They still got 60 people behind
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them. Well, let's not get too touchy
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there, huh? But in doing so, it's
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inconsiderate. You have no consideration for
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others that are there. And that was what was taking
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place in this setting. There was no consideration.
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And so that consideration, though, is being there's other
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people, other members of the body here.
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So in one respect, they're not discerning the Lord's body,
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Other members of the body. It's not just about you and it's
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not just about you. There's others to consider, but
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also not discerning them. There's there's bread here
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that's symbolical of his body. There's fruit of the vine here
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that's symbolical of his blood. There's a certain amount of
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reverence. Yes, you say, well, it's there's
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just symbols. Well, true, but Moses mite in
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the rock twice kept him out of the promised land and it was
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just a rock and it said that rock that followed them was
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Christ. So you know, we entered this
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time with with reverence, right? Thinking about this, taking this
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consideration. So we look in, we look around
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discerning the Lord's body, we look at in the past, we look in
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the future, all of these things, right?
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We're looking with intent in the book of First Corinthians
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chapter #11 verse #29 and the next slide also, so you can show
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the Scripture 1st and then you go to slide, Brother Alex, verse
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#29 of First Corinthians 11, that word unworthily.
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Unworthily. A lot of people over the years
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have got so stumped up over this passage, and it's mentioned
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again then a little later, unworthily because they get this
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mindset. Well, communion is only about
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those who are worthy. The unworthy and unworthily are
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two different words #1 unworthy is an adjective, It's going to
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describe a noun. Unworthily.
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That little LY, that's an adverb.
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It's going to describe a verb action.
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Because if we would consider it today, we'd say, well, only the
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worthy can partake of communion. Someone opened the back door so
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we all can just make our way home.
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Because I'm not worthy. The best quotation marks among
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us isn't worthy. I don't deserve the body or the
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blood. It's not based upon the premise
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of deserving, he said. That's the reason why scarcely
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for a righteous man, even for a Sinner, he would dare to die.
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Wasn't about worthiness. Amen.
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And so when we talk about that, then it's not talking about
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who's at the table, but it's talking about how we approach
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the table, Our, our, our actions, our manner.
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Is it a irreverent manner? Are we, are we just taking it
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all just lightly? No big deal.
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Is it in the disrespectful type manner?
-
Because clearly that was what was taking place in First
-
Corinthians #11 that's the reason why the apostle Paul is
-
calling them on these particular things.
-
So it's about how we approach the table, right?
-
With reverence. I'm, I'm unworthy.
-
You can be unworthy without acting irreverently, huh?
-
You you might not deserve it, but you can still know the price
-
of what brought that to you, right, of what brought that to
-
you. And so we have our heart really
-
must be in the right spot concerning those things going
-
on. Then tonight, Brother Alex, the
-
next slide, we're doing it 23 minutes.
-
See that ain't bad compared to other years.
-
Brother Earl, want to switch this a little bit from communion
-
to look at at foot washing, right?
-
That horizontal, that horizontal relationship with mankind.
-
The thing with foot washing, the Lord flipped the script at that
-
dinner that they had together. He flipped the script.
-
All the social norms were just totally undone.
-
I mean, typically if someone was going to have water that was
-
provided for their feet. The Jews were very big on
-
showing levels of hospitality even to strangers that may come
-
by their house. And if they come by their home,
-
it was customary as a law of hospitality that they would
-
provide water for the guests feet so that they could wash
-
their feet right. We see this in different places
-
of scripture. Abraham did it for the angels
-
that came to his house before he understood them totally, the
-
angels providing water for their feet.
-
Lot provided water for the visitation that he had of angels
-
there in, in, in Sodom and Gomorrah.
-
We read in Scripture that even whenever Joseph, the steward of
-
his house, Joseph's brothers are coming, waters provided for
-
their feet. And each of those episodes, the
-
owner of the feet or the person would wash their own feet.
-
That's what would take place. And so again, it's just
-
customary that that that's what happens.
-
And so one of the disciples are gathered together for this meal
-
and they're going to be eating this meal.
-
And there's someone hosting this.
-
Jesus is hosting this meal. They're coming in.
-
They're thinking, no doubt. We've been on the streets.
-
We've been walking along these roads.
-
They're not paved like our interstates or even like, you
-
know, you know, Cedar St. out here.
-
We're just talking about dust roads.
-
You travel the same roads that the animals are traveling.
-
There's things that come from animals.
-
You don't want to step in, but when you got big flocks, it's
-
almost unavoidable. And your shoes are not like
-
totally closed. They're open toed, open heeled.
-
They're just like a piece of leather with a little strap.
-
Katie, Something's bound to get on there.
-
Whether it be dirt, Whether it be not dirt.
-
Thank you, Sister Grace. You're working with me tonight.
-
I appreciate that interaction For the audience.
-
Yeah, not dirt. So you're coming into the home
-
here. Surely someone's going to
-
provide some water for the feet, right?
-
I mean, we're going to be not sitting at a table, but laying
-
at a table, usually resting on an elbow.
-
Feet, yes, are going to be away from the table.
-
But listen, you're next to a neighbor, and if there's not
-
dirt there, there's an aroma, huh.
-
I mean, I'm over here with my lamb's leg.
-
The last thing I want wafing, you understand?
-
Surely someone is going to provide some water, but
-
nothing's provided. As a matter of fact, the Bible
-
even says that whenever supper was ended that Jesus took off
-
his robe, which really shakes things up because we had a
-
typically done this before the meal.
-
So see, everybody's in a little tenuous place right here.
-
No, what I was provided, no servants come in.
-
We've already been eating. Can you imagine?
-
And what even makes this even bigger for me is leading up to
-
this time you read in the Gospels, you know, what the
-
disciples been doing before this moment has ever arrived,
-
deciding among themselves who's the greatest among them.
-
Matthew, I know you think you're, you know, a Happy Meal
-
on the side of fries, but I got the toy or whatever, you know
-
what I'm saying? They're kind of bantering back
-
and forth about who's the greatest among them.
-
So, you know, none of them is going to be stooping down to
-
wash Peter's feet, Matthew's feet, because that's above me.
-
No, no, no. But Jesus comes in as the Master
-
and the Lord, and he takes off his garment, which the garment
-
of his day indicated, indicated his, his row in life.
-
So he's kind of removing his identity and he lays that down.
-
And we got a few towels around here we could use tonight.
-
And he girts himself with a towel.
-
Oh, wait a minute, disciples thinking that's Lord and Master.
-
I need a beach towel spreading in the ministry.
-
We'll do it like this. Amen.
-
So what's going on? He's removing what everybody
-
would identify him by and when it would typically be the lowest
-
of servants that would do this for another person.
-
He said me being your master, your Lord been teaching you,
-
instructing you, none of you washing each other's feet.
-
So I'll get a pail and I'll get water and I'll assume that role
-
of a servant, but you call me master, I'll assume that role of
-
the servant. And he went by and he washed all
-
important, all the disciples feet.
-
He didn't pick and choose. He was like, oh, I'll do his,
-
let's raise it a little bit higher.
-
This is God manifest in the flesh.
-
He already knows who's going to betray him.
-
He already knows who's going to deny him.
-
He already knows who's going to walk away.
-
But he didn't let that interfere with stooping before Judas,
-
stooping before Peter, stooping before every other.
-
Now, let's just back up and let's get real with humanity for
-
a moment. The last person anyone would
-
probably want to wash feet with tonight would be someone you
-
have something against or that you know has something against
-
you. But Jesus, he just flips it all.
-
He provides the water. He kneels and he's driven by his
-
unconditional love, and he's washing feet one after the
-
other, after the other, after the other.
-
And Peter's even a little taken aback by it.
-
When you read of it in John chapter 13, it's like, Lord you,
John 13 chapter mention
-
you're not going to wash my feet.
-
What's Peter caught in? He's pop caught in the custom.
-
It's unheard of for someone so superior of a position as you
-
are to wash feet. He couldn't, he couldn't grapple
-
with the idea that the Lord was actually going to do this and go
-
on to our next one, loving them unto the end, the next slide, if
-
you will, because John 13 one starts out, John 13 one starts
-
out like that. It's Speaking of Christ Jesus.
-
And this is what he basically says.
-
He says now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew
-
his hour was come, that He should depart out of this world
-
unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world.
-
He loved them unto the end. He loved them into the end.
-
He loved them through their mistakes.
-
He loved them through their faults, through their failures.
-
He loved them to the end. Again, I'm washing Judas's feet.
-
I mean the little space removed from this moment.
-
He's going to tell Judas, whatever you do, go, do quickly.
-
He's going to be leaving because he's going to be betraying later
-
in the garden hours from this moment in time, but He's washing
-
Judas's feet. The Bible speaks how Satan they
-
come into his heart. I all times say this.
-
Maybe you'll get tired of me saying it over the next 15
-
years, but I'm going to continue to do it.
-
Amen here. Something's already happened in
-
Judas heart, but the Lord has his feet.
-
I know you got some conflicting things going on there, but I'm
-
I'm trying to wash I'm if I can say I'm trying to direct.
-
I got your feet, Peter. Lord, I'd die for you.
-
Lord, that's not going to happen.
-
You don't have to worry about me.
-
I'm going with you all the way. No, no, Peter.
-
Before the cock crows wise. You're going to deny me thrice.
-
You're going to tell people. Oh, aren't you one of those
-
galleons? No.
-
Aren't you with him? No, I don't know him.
-
You're going to deny me three times.
-
But I'm going to stoop here. I'm going to wash your feet.
-
We give Peter a hard time for what he did.
-
And that he fled and followed the Lord from a distance of the
-
Bible says in the Garden of Gethsemane, whenever they came
-
and arrested the Lord, that all the disciples fled.
-
And He knew they all would in his darkest hour, if we could
-
put it in these terms as though he needed them.
-
But they were. There was that friendship in
-
that community. When he needed them the most,
-
they abandoned him. Yet whenever we've needed him
-
the most, He's always showed up. And so the washing feet going on
-
to the next library there, Alex, 2 basins, 2 choices startling
-
that in the same storyline so close together that we have this
-
and really not too far removed as far as in time frame from one
-
another. Jesus grabs a basin and water to
-
wash feet. Doing so again, it was typically
-
the owner of the feet that washed their own feet.
-
Always loved this because Jesus doing this for them.
-
It's almost as though I own you. And so he's taking
-
responsibility. There's dirt, there's grime on
-
their feet that they got on their feet because of where they
-
walked. Huh.
-
You had to walk right through that, didn't you?
-
But I'm going to wash it off. So he's taking responsibility,
-
right? This is his love, sacrificial
-
love. Yet in the same mode we see just
-
a little later, a politician punches Pilot.
-
He grabs a basin 2 and water. He's not washing feet.
-
He's washing his own hands because he doesn't want any
-
responsibility, anything to do with the Lord.
-
Do with him as you will. So you have two separate
-
individuals, 1A King, another a politician.
-
One says I'll become responsible.
-
The other one says I don't want any responsibility.
-
And folks, if there's anything you would want responsible,
-
you'd want responsibility for the Lord.
-
He's like, no, I don't want anything to do with that.
-
But Jesus says I'll take all the I'll take all the grime, I'll
-
take all this other stuff, I'll take it up on me.
-
Amen. And so he grabs those basins and
-
he washes the disciples feet. So the question you got to ask
-
yourself, if you're grabbing a basin, are you doing it to
-
remove yourself from responsibility?
-
Are you engaging and being responsible?
-
Well, I ain't going to be responsible for Zach McGee.
-
Well, what about all those verses about burying one
-
another's burdens? What about that Galatians 6 of
-
when you see a brother overtaking the fault you which
-
your spiritual restore such a Amen going on the physics of
-
forgiveness, the coefficient of friction.
-
I'm joking, sorry. Oh physics joke.
-
So washing one another's feet, going back to the Old Testament
-
again, the Bible speaks of the priest, that the priest before
-
they entered the Tabernacle, they were to wash their hands
-
and their feet so that they would be pure and clean before
-
the Lord as they would enter into that place.
-
There's something seen almost then in the washing of feet that
-
takes place in the Book of Revelation.
-
The Bible says that He's making us kings and priests.
-
All right, So with that being said, if we're to have clean
-
hands and clean feet, there's something that happens.
-
And I, I don't have one out here to picture it for you tonight,
-
but as you are washing another person's feet, your hands is in
-
that same water that's cleansing their feet.
-
Your hands are there and there's something that happens.
-
We talked about, and I think I have it up there on probably the
-
next slide, but there is a mode of forgiveness that you've
-
received from God. The Bible says that if we cannot
-
forgive, then he won't forgive because we've been in able to
-
forgive others because we have been forgiven years ago.
-
And I've preached forgiveness more than once around here.
-
But if there's forgiveness found anywhere, it should be in the
-
House of the forgiven. Oh, I didn't come in here with a
-
silver spoon in my mouth. He gave me forgiveness.
-
Who am I then, to withhold forgiveness from anybody else?
-
Because sometimes I can enter that mode and I can, I can Arbor
-
some some resentment. I can Arbor some some some
-
bitterness, right? My hands can be full, if you
-
will, of grudge and anger, right?
-
But sometimes I got to lower myself and wash, wash some feet.
-
And sometimes it's almost like an act of forgiveness.
-
I'm going to wash some feet. And in doing so, you're washing
-
some of the resentment and the, the bitterness off of your own
-
hands because you might be serving the one that offended
-
you. You know, the only person that
-
stays bound whenever you're not able to forgive is you.
-
You've been offended by XYZ. They're going to go on with
-
their life, but you're going to be held hostage because you've
-
not forgiven them for what they supposedly done to you.
-
It's like the little, I said it before, it's like the little
-
bird got a little, got a little feeder in the tree.
-
That's my feeder. Eats there all the time.
-
It stays up in the tree, Missy, watching other birds come to
-
feed and comes down and chases them away.
-
Don't want anybody else feeding them my feeder.
-
But you know what the bird has done?
-
The bird has incarcerated the freedom of of its life because
-
it's just constantly sitting there watching the feeder.
-
It can't go anywhere else, do anywhere else, because it's
-
bound by what it thinks it deserves.
-
We Arbor unforgiveness in our spirit sometimes toward people.
-
The Lord's forgiven us, but we're not willing to let them
-
go. But we're the ones bound.
-
We're the ones bound. We're the ones with dirty hands
-
because we've not allowed ourselves to be lowered.
-
God has commanded us to wash. In the book of John 13, he says
-
wash one another's feet. I've given you an example.
-
Go and do likewise for one another.
-
Wash one another's feet. And the awesome thing about that
-
is in the moment that I wash your feet, my hands are getting
-
clean, your feet are getting clean.
-
But when we switch my feet are getting clean and your hands
-
become clean. There is a mutual interdependent
-
forgiveness that can take place sometimes when we enter with the
-
mindset of being cleansed and made pure before God going on
-
got to got to beat my record not of going over under all right,
-
so the table in the basin. So there's a deep love from God
-
at the table by the blood and the body, right?
-
Forgiveness that he's offered me through Calvary at the table.
-
But then at the basin I'm learning to love again like God.
-
There's 2 verses of scripture that are that I think are
-
essential. Matthew 26 and verse 28.
-
The Bible says this is concerning communion.
-
He says this is my blood of the New Testament or New Covenant,
-
which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
-
Then we read in John 13 this is concerning foot washing a new
-
commandment. I give to you that you love one
-
another as I have loved you that you also love one another.
-
By this shall all men know that you are my disciples.
-
If you have loved one to another.
-
And so community says there's a New Testament in my blood and
-
that is all your old sacrifices and animals of blood of that
-
year always push your sins forward.
-
Just one year says, but the New Testament in my blood, the new
-
covenant in my blood is it's a once for all sacrifice.
-
Blood don't have to be shed ever again because I'm the perfect
-
Lamb of God. It's shed once.
-
You don't have to worry about more blood, bulls and goats.
-
No, no, no, no. It's a once for all.
-
It's a New Testament, a new covenant in my blood.
-
But there's also a new commandment.
-
He says love one another. Lord, we already got this
-
commandment. We got this in Deuteronomy.
-
We got this in the 10 commandments.
-
We got this. You've already talked about love
-
one another, but he gives the the impression the major love
-
one another as I have loved you. Oh, he gives the standard, well,
-
love, love one as you love yourself.
-
OK, but for some people they ain't a very good thing, he
-
says. The standard is love as I have
-
loved, so I'm loved by God. And then I'm learning how to
-
love like God and forgiveness isn't just coming to me, but
-
then it's going out from me and for my brothers and sisters back
-
to me. I'm in last slide.
-
So what we're going to do tonight, 42 minutes in and this
-
gives us time to do what we need to do.
-
Oh, this is still over here. But what we're going to do
-
tonight, we'll take communion, the bread and the fruit of the
-
vine again, in doing so, we're going to stand here in just a
-
little bit. And as is on that slide right
-
there, we're going to repent, right?
-
We're going to acknowledge any shortcomings in our life that
-
we're aware of. You might even pray some of
-
those generic prayers of those that you're not aware of, All
-
right, to have a clean heart before God.
-
And then we're going to ask God to, you know, things that we may
-
be arboring in our spirit. Maybe some of those things have
-
been there for a long time, right?
-
Because resentment and bitterness that just, that's not
-
us. That's just not like a turnkey
-
thing that slowly happens as we allow something to remain, as we
-
allow something to remain. And so we might ask God to help
-
us, you know, release some of those things, release some of
-
that bitterness, release that betrayal, release offenses that
-
we have. If there's anybody here, listen,
-
if anybody here has something against somebody right here
-
tonight, it'd probably a good night to just get taken care of.
-
Amen. No sense in allowing that bone
-
chain to continue with you on your journey, but also with all
-
of those things of repentance and stuff.
-
And we take the bread and we take the fruit of the vine.
-
We're also, they'll go look in those four directions, right?
-
We're examining ourselves. We're looking backward to
-
Calvary. We're looking forward to the day
-
that we'll take this anew and his Kingdom and we're
-
considering the Lord's body. We're considering one another as
-
many as want to participate tonight.
-
You can come and get one of these and I'll read some
-
scripture and we can do this together.
-
Say why we do this together. Well, again, it's that
-
communion, it's that unity. When you put the bread in your
-
mouth, we all have the same taste in our mouth at the same
-
time. You put that fruit of the vine
-
in your mouth. We all have that same taste at
-
the same time. And so there's unification.
-
If you want to participate tonight, you can come and get
-
these. Bread is in the top, and of
-
course, the juice is in the bottom.
-
And then as you are coming, if you can get me first, First
-
Corinthians chapter #11 and verse 24.
-
If it's not up there, that's fine, Brother Alex.
-
I can do it right from here this evening.
-
So we're going to repent, we're going to release, we're going to
-
remember. It says as often as we do it, we
-
do it in remembrance of him. Some people do this every week,
-
some do it every quarter, some do it every month.
-
We do it about once a year. There is no time frame.
-
But as much as you do do it, we're to do it in remembrance of
-
him. Because as I do this night with
-
the Reese, I'm thinking about Calvary.
-
I'm thinking about the substitute for Paul McGee.
-
I think that should be a heavy thought, a heavy thought to
-
consider. There's one little film on the
-
very top that'll give you access to the communion wafer.
-
So if you can pull back that little top layer that gives you
-
access to that communion wafer, the bread or the body.
-
Remember that's the bruised body, the the pierced body as
-
illustrated in Scripture. This is just a symbol of that
-
beat body. The Bible says in first
-
Corinthians 11 where it was observed, verse 24, we have
-
given thanks. He break it and said, take, eat.
-
This is my body which is broken for you.
-
Do this in remembrance of me. Amen.
-
Tonight as you take this, if you can just remember the broken
-
body of the Lord Jesus. Take and eat, Lord, I remember
-
that you was pierced for me. I remember the stripes upon your
-
back. God was for my sin and for my
-
sickness. I remember, O Lord, that that
-
that that spear through your side, Lord, blood and water came
-
out. God, I remember, O Lord Jesus,
-
that there was a crown of thorns upon your head.
-
God an emblem, Lord of the sin, Lord of Genesis, thorns and
-
thistles. The ground was cursed with God.
-
It was for me. It was for me, God.
-
We're coming up on, Lord at the Resurrection Sunday.
-
Now we're coming up on Good Friday.
-
Lord, all of that was for me and I'm appreciative today of it.
-
I thank you. The Bible says the First
-
Corinthians, if you pull back that next little layer there
-
you'll have access to the Jews. The Bible says in First
-
Corinthians 11 verse 25 after the same manner also he took the
-
cup when he had Sup saying this cup is the New Testament in my
-
blood. This beauty as OFT as you drink
-
it in remembrance of me, you can take up the cup.
-
Thank you Lord for the blood of Calvary.
-
Thank you O Lord, without the shed in the blood there is no
-
remission. I'm still in my sin.
-
If there was never no bloodshed. God, that you shed that blood,
-
Lord, Jesus, you shed that blood.
-
God, we sing the song that the blood still flows.
-
The Lord, it still meets people, Lord, it still meets them where
-
they are and their dilemmas and their troubles and their
-
heartaches and their pains. God, it's still there.
-
It's still ample. Lord, I love you, Jesus, I love
-
you. Jesus, I love you.
-
Jesus, can you just raise your voice in Thanksgiving right now,
-
or hands raised into the Lord? God, I look back on Calvary, but
-
God, I look to a day in the future, God, a day in the
-
future, that of that same spirit that raised Christ from the
-
dead, dwell on me. It will quicken my mortal
-
bodies. God, it will change this mortal
-
to immortality, this corruptible to incorruptible God, So shall
-
our change come, I pray, O Lord, we'll drink the new Lord Jesus
-
in your Kingdom. I pray, O Lord, it's forever a
-
memorial, Forever. Lord Jesus, a recollection and a
-
remembrance, God of your sacrifice.
-
Lord, in our stand, for us, because of us, I thank you, Lord
-
Jesus, today for it. I praise you, Lord Jesus, today
-
for it. Thank God, Thank God, thank God,
-
thank God, thank God, I love you, Jesus, I love you, Jesus, I
-
love you, Jesus, Oh, the blood of Jesus that washes us as white
-
as snow. God, our sins were red as
-
scarlet, but you wash them, Lord, as white as snow.
-
God, we're grateful today for it.
-
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
-
I was a betrayer of God, but you was there, Lord.
-
I was a denier, but you were there, God, I fled, but you were
-
there, always there. God, You're patiently waiting,
-
Lord, You're caring. Lord, Jesus for me, being
-
mindful, Lord of me, oh Lord, while I was yet a Sinner, you
-
died for me. Lord Jesus, God, the death Angel
-
will pass by. Lord, I'll know death, but I
-
won't know eternal death and damnation.
-
Because Lord of the blood, oh Jesus, it gives me strength from
-
day-to-day, It will never, ever lose its power.
-
Hallelujah, Jesus, Hallelujah, Jesus, Hallelujah, Jesus, Lord,
-
oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord.
-
It's not by might nor by power, but God, it's by your spirit,
-
God, it's because of your spirit, O God, we don't have
-
anything to offer but our brokenness.
-
We don't have anything to offer, Lord, but our mistaken lives.
-
We don't have anything offer, Lord Jesus, but our availability
-
unto you, O Lord, Hallelujah, Jesus, Hallelujah, Jesus,
-
Hallelujah, Jesus, Hallelujah, Jesus, Hallelujah.
-
I love you Jesus. I love you, Jesus.
-
I love you Jesus. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen.
-
We're going to be dismissed here in just a little bit.
-
Ladies, go back on the kitchen side if you're going to be
-
involved in foot washing. Men, we'll be back on this side.
-
We have the partition closed in between the two.
-
Ladies can get from water from the kitchen sink.
-
Men, we'll go to the mud room. That's where men belong in the
-
mud room. We'll go to the mud room and
-
we'll get our water. If you desire to participate.
-
Please remember though, tomorrow night, it's going to be very
-
easy to forget that tomorrow night's prayer, okay, just
-
because everything going on. I know this week in everybody's
-
life, tomorrow night, prayer, their church, church 7 to 8 and
-
then Resurrection Sunday here at 10, Amen.
-
One service only. Come and be a part of that.
-
If you'll stay with me tonight, I'll give a prayer of dismissal,
-
Amen, For all of us and those who stay may stay.
-
Those who need to leave or go can go.
-
Father, I thank you tonight. I praise you, O Lord Jesus, God,
-
that we enter into this session. Lord, this evening, God, this
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time of remembrance, God, as you did, Lord Jesus with your
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disciples, God, before that faithful Lord Jesus, weekend of
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events, I pray, O Lord, tonight, help help us to go.
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Lord, let this be constant on our mind.
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Help us to live, Lord, in that mode in the next few days of
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remembrance and thinking and consideration, Lord, of
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everything that has taken place thousands of years ago for our
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benefit. God, I pray, O Lord, be of your
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people, help them to have a good week, Lord, as they go their
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separate ways, that your hand of protection be upon them and
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bring us back on Sunday, God, ready to rejoice, Lord, over a
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resurrection, Hallelujah, that still has implications for us
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today. In the lovely name of Jesus
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Christ that I pray Amen man and Amen.
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Can the church say Amen, Amen. If you need dismissed, be
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dismissed. If you're going to participate,
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you can go to your respective areas here tonight in Jesus
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name.