Communion Message
(Jesus gave us victory)
July 24-25, 1999
Pastor Leigh Bishop

I'm going to read, as we prepare for communion today, from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 as the apostle Paul wrote and gave instruction concerning this wonderful time of communion with our Lord. It says; For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me. In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.

Communion is a very special time. Sometimes we make it a very solemn occasion, and it should be, but there are other times we need to realize that communion is a time of rejoicing because Jesus gave us victory. And I want to focus on the victory that we have in Christ because of what He accomplished on Calvary on our behalf. When Jesus went to the cross it didn't look anything like a victory. His disciples fled. People wept. It looked like everything that Jesus had come for had come to an inglorious end. He had failed. All they could see was Jesus dying on the cross having been whipped, and tortured, and beaten, and this did not look to them like any kind of victory at all. And that's because they could not see beyond the worldly realm. They could only see what was before their eyes, but as Jesus hung there on the cross His last words, not words of resignation nor words of frustration, but words of triumph declared it is finished. And in those words He declared that His purpose for coming had been fulfilled and now the victory was His, and He triumphed over Satan. The Bible says that he made an open spectacle of Him, for as Satan tried to shame Jesus at Calvary the Bible tells us that He took that shame on Himself because He saw what lay ahead. And in result, He instead triumphed over Satan and brought him to a public shame giving us the victory. This victory is ours through the blood of Christ that was shed at Calvary. When we come to communion many times we come knowing that there are areas of our life that we need to surrender to Him again and again; perhaps things that we have done that we know are not in line with His word. And it says to beautifully in that word, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, keeps on cleansing us from sin. The blood that Jesus shed at Calvary that brought victory for us over Satan also brings us victory every day of our lives because it's a blood that ever lives and triumphs on our behalf. The Bible says that we triumph with Him. When I was a very young man, a teenager, I belonged to a youth group that we called The Overcomes, and our Scripture was Revelation 12:11; they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. I've tried to live with that Scripture as a part of a challenge throughout my life, but the key phrase is; they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Everything else that we do hinges on what Christ did. No matter how much effort I put forth, no matter how hard I try, if I don't first recognize that it's because of Jesus' triumph that I triumph, I will fall far short of victory. But no matter what I go through, the circumstances of life, when I recognize what Jesus accomplished at Calvary, there is nothing this world can do or say that can change the fact that I have won because I am with Christ, victorious.

Let's go to our knees for communion. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Father we hold within our hands the bread and the cup; reminders, reminders. In Your Scripture You said remember. Lord every time we partake of this cup we remember Calvary. We remember the shed blood of Christ, but Lord we also remember the triumph of Calvary. The cross is empty. The tomb is empty. You are risen. You have triumphed over death, over hell, and over the grave. And we partake of this communion recognizing that we too with You walk in that same victory, that same triumph, that death holds no power over us, that hell holds no power over us, that we are, in fact, in Christ complete. Your body was broken Lord, the bread represents that, that we might be made whole. Your blood was shed, the cup represents that, that our sins might be cleansed and forgiven. Let's partake of the bread together. Thank you Lord. Hallelujah. And then the cup. Thank you Lord, thank you Lord that through You we are more than conquerors, that You are able to sustain us in every situation of life, and may each time as we partake of communion may we never forget that it is Your triumph at Calvary that gives us victory in every area of life, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Let's stand together and greet those who have come to be a part of our fellowship today.