Communion Message
(Why are we here?)
August 4-5, 2000
Pastor Donald Sheley

For I 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. 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.

I'm going to ask you to join me on our knees today, and I want to talk to you just for a moment as you're on your knees. We're going to then take communion. Our reason for being here as a church is to help people find truth, and find Christ, and find eternal life. And maybe you've been coming, maybe this is the first time you've been in our church, but you're here because your heart is reaching out to God. You don't know what it is. You can't define it. You don't know much theology. You just know that somewhere deep inside you there is a hunger for God and that's why you're here. And our responsibility is to tell you that it's Jesus Christ who fills that emptiness in the human heart.

And today if you would like to open up your heart to whatever God wants to do for you, whatever you're hungry for today, maybe this is the first time you've ever opened your heart and said, Lord Jesus, I need to receive You and I want to receive You as my Savior. And I ask You to forgive me of my sins, and I just open my heart today and my life to the work of Your Holy Spirit. I really want to do that today because when I leave the sanctuary, dear God, I want to be a different person. I want to know You. If that's your desire, every head is bowed and every eye is closed, just raise your hand to God. As you raise your hand you're simply saying, God, I'm a candidate for Your grace today. My heart reaches out and I really want You to do something spiritually and eternally in my life today, and here I am. My heart is open. Just raise your hand to God. Yes.

Heavenly Father, You've seen these hands. These are people who are here today amongst us, worshippers, but they open their heart in a way to You today as maybe they've never done before. They're saying, God, in Your grace, and in Your mercy, and in Your forgiveness deal with me as a person. I'm a sinner and I pray, dear God, that the work of Your Holy Spirit will commence even now in these hearts. May, by divine revelation, they understand Your love for them and Your grace reaching out to them; and dear God, may this be the morning where life changes and their life becomes full because You fill their lives with Your presence.

And this is all possible, dear God, because of the cross. It was there on the cross 2000 years ago that You sent Your Son to die on our behalf because as sinners we should die for the wages of sin is death, but Jesus took our sin and died on our behalf so we could live. So today we say thank you dear Jesus for becoming our substitute and providing for us forgiveness, salvation. Let's take the bread together, shall we? Jesus said this is My body which is broken for you. Let's take the bread together. And the cup as mysterious as it may seem to us because the Bible tells us that it's the blood of Jesus that washes away all of our sin. This cup bespeaks that precious blood and by partaking in this cup we are saying, Jesus, I believe that with Your precious blood You do cleanse from all sin, and I ask You to cleanse me today. Let's take the cup together.

Thank you dear Jesus, and for the many that raised their hands may this be a moment when Your joy floods their being; the sense of Your presence, Holy Spirit, just fills them now. May they experience Your love and know Your forgiveness in Jesus' name, and everybody said, amen. Let's stand together and greet one another, shall we?