Communion Message
(Totally committed to us)
August 12-13, 2000
Pastor Leigh Bishop

And I love You Lord. Beautiful words, easily said, but when they come from a heart that's tender towards Him they mean so much more. I love You Lord. We partake of communion because of our love for Him. Paul wrote that in 1 Corinthians 11 when he talked about the communion. I’m going to share that with you again this morning and emphasize the importance of our love for Jesus.

For I 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." Then Paul adds under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.

We always like to choose the theme for our communion time and the thought that comes to my mind is the word commitment. Jesus made a commitment to us. The Bible tells us that before the foundations of the world were formed that Christ died for us. He knew the moment He spoke into existence this world that it was going to cost Him His life, and He made that commitment. He made the commitment to come in the form of man and forever identify Himself with us. The Bible tells us that as the end of the days were coming in His ministry, He set his face as a flint towards Jerusalem making that commitment that He knew would ultimately result in His death on the cross. And as He knelt in the garden, not trying to escape commitment, but recognizing the terrible agony and reproach of the sins that He would be taking on Himself, He prayed, if this cup can pass, nevertheless Your will not mine be done, and He made the commitment to go all the way.

Aren't you glad He didn't falter? Aren't you glad He didn't change His mind somewhere along the way and say, oh, I can do better, we'll just start over. Aren't you glad He chose to go the whole way? totally committed to us. And every Sunday morning we have the privilege of renewing our commitment to Him as we partake of communion. We have that opportunity to look within ourselves and examine ourselves and ask those hard questions that only the cross can bring to our minds in relationship to our life lived for Him, and recognize that maybe we haven't lived up to the potential He expected from us, but we do love Him with all our heart and soul, and we want to recommit ourselves to serving Him and honoring Him and living for Him. I look forward to communion each time because it's a reminder of what Jesus did for me, and a challenge, what can I do for Him? Let's kneel together.

Hallelujah. Praise You Lord. Praise You Lord. Father, as we hold in our hands these emblems that have for centuries been symbols of Your death and resurrection, of Your willingness to give Yourself totally in our behalf, we hold in our hands the bread that represents a broken body, Your broken body. Broken for us that we might be made whole, whole physically, emotionally, spiritually. Lord we thank you for that grace. We recognize that You are the one who brings complete healing to our lives, and we love You. Let's partake of the bread together. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord.

We hold in our hands the cup. The cup that symbolizes the shed blood of Christ. Jesus, You knew that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, that You had to give of Your blood that we might be forgiven. Lord we sit here and kneel here today acknowledging that Your blood has cleansed us and washed away our sins, and we thank You for that. Let's partake of the cup together. Lord we commit ourselves anew and afresh to serve You, to love You, to honor You so that those who we come in contact with would know we belong to You. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together. Take a few moments to greet those around you and welcome them to the house of the Lord.