Communion Message
(Altar call)
September 2-3, 2000
Pastor Donald Sheley

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto 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 the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Our communion service becomes a very personal thing in that each of us approach this moment, I think, with different feelings and our hearts. Many of us come from evangelical backgrounds and we're aware that in many churches the closure of the service is a time which is known as the altar call. It's the altar call which designates the opportunity for people who wish to make decisions for Christ are invited to do so. It's also a time when invitation is given for the wanderer to come home to God, the backslider. Sometimes it's the moment when a commitment of one's life is made, and from that moment on the pathway becomes changed because a new direction God has set within the heart. The altar call for the evangelical has always been a very precious time.

Now we are an evangelical church and yet we choose to be different in some areas. We have communion each Sunday, most evangelical churches have communion once a month. But we also don't have the altar service per se at the end of the service on all occasions. There are times when my spirit feels led to do so and we do that. But I'm asked this on many occasions, and just recently a lovely family who is new to our church said, Pastor, don't you ever have altar calls? And I said, oh yes, we have them at every service of the church, because I look at the communion time as our altar call. If you're here today and you're searching for God, you genuinely want your life changed, you want to put your trust in Jesus Christ. That's why you came to church. When we kneel today you can do that. Just say, Lord Jesus, I'm here in this church today and my heart is wide-open. I want You. I need You, and I receive You. Your prayer doesn't have to be fancy.

My father-in-law pastored a church over in Richmond, California, during World War II. During those days the streets were filled with sailor boys ready to catch their ships in Alameda to head for the war. And on one service Pastor Persing was almost to the conclusion and come running down the aisle was one of these sailor boys waving his hands and he said, God, save me now and I don't mean maybe! (Congregation laughs) Do you think God heard that prayer? You bet your boots He did. That's what I mean. All God wants is just to tell Him how we feel way down here. That's prayer. Some of us have wandered from God and we need to come home today. Some of us God’s been dealing with us and maybe He wants new direction and our life. This could be the Sunday, when on your knees before God, you let God speak to you. Such a precious thing, and this is our altar call.

Now we had something interesting happen in the last service. Before the service...well, in the middle of the service (congregation chuckles) I saw this lovely family come into the church. And after the service I have a little room over here where I go to pray between services, and one lovely lady of our church said, come Pastor, you've got to greet this lovely couple. They flew all the way from Atlanta. And what had happened is they had asked for transportation, and the limousine service was owned by one of the families of our church, and so when they get in the limousine they want to go to church, so while they're on their way to the church they lead the limousine driver to Christ. Here they all are sitting over here today, so they had their altar call, and I told Paymon who is the owner, I said Paymon, you've turned your limousines into pulpits. That's wonderful, that's wonderful. God deals with us and if you're here today and your heart is wide-open just say God, here I am, just take me and use me for Your glory. Amen? Let's kneel today, shall we?

Dear God, all of us come from different pathways. We've pursued our goals this week. We've accomplished some tasks. We've left others undone, but here we are on our knees in Your presence with the desire to meet You and fellowship with You dear God. Some of us here want You, dear God, to come into our lives and we want to place our trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, and we want to walk out of this church with our questions answered and our heart at peace with You dear God. So we invite You Lord Jesus to become our Savior today. Some of us in rebellion have gone our own way and we violated Your sacred laws dear God, and we've transgressed, we've sinned. We're sinners, but we want to come home today to You, to do so, we ask for Your forgiveness. Please forgive us dear Jesus.

And others of us are searching for directions in life. We are at crossroads. We don't know which way to turn, but if You'll give us the direction dear God, if You'll speak to us, we'll be obedient. Here we are in Your presence. And these emblems that we hold so visibly remind us how much You really love us. The bread bespeaks of Your broken body, and the cup, Your very life that was poured out for us so that we could live. Thank you for this wonderful reminder of Your intense love for us. Thank you Jesus. Let's take the bread together, shall we? And then the cup. Lord Jesus, we love You. Thank you for loving us. And everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?