Never Give Up! | Sunday Message

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here.

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If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. Good afternoon. Welcome to church. Let's pray. Father, we're so thankful to be here today to worship you, to hear from you.

What a great way to get this year started. And we're thankful for the new direction in our country right now. And we're praying for your blessing on the United States of America. Guide President Trump and the team he is assembling right now. And we pray that you will protect them and that you will give them great wisdom, even godly counsel.

So many problems in the world, so many issues in our own nation to deal with. So guide our president, guide our nation, and as we sing, we pray, God bless America. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay.

We can all be seated. Hello. We're in the book of Nehemiah. We're in Nehemiah chapter six.

And the title of my message is Don't Give Up. We just got back from Washington, D.C. for the inauguration of President Trump. And I have to tell you, I think there's a new wind blowing in America today. I think things are changing in the right direction.

It's a wind of freedom, optimism, hope, patriotism, and faith. And it's a good thing because I'm seeing it among younger people, right? Not just the older generation, but young people are seeing this as well. I think we've had enough of the constant negativity from liberal media. We've had enough of the woke ideology permeating academia, culture, and just about every other area of life.

People are saying, we don't want this anymore. So I pray that this will not just result in making America strong again and making America healthy again and making America great again. I pray that God will help us be godly again because that's what our nation needs most of all. It's time to rebuild and go back to our foundation. And some revisionists would tell us, historians would tell us that, you know, we're not really founded on biblical principles.

That just is not true. Our first president, George Washington, in his farewell address said this, and I was there personally when he said it, quote, of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports, end quote. religion and morality, or meridian, if you want to put the two words together. But what religion was President Washington referring to?

Well, I believe clearly it was Christianity because it was Patrick Henry, best known for his statement, give me liberty or give me death, who said, quote, it cannot be emphasized too strongly that this nation of ours was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the gospel of Jesus Christ, end quote. And that's true. So when the foundations are crumbling it's time to rebuild. It's easier to build it right the first time, but sometimes we have to remodel. A number of years ago we had to remodel our kitchen because we flooded it.

We came home from a trip overseas and we both had jet lag and Kathy left the sink on and we came home to about two feet of water. And that's a production when that happens because you're bringing those giant fans and you have all the issues with mold and so forth and then you're living in it as well but it's harder but sometimes it just needs to be done. And I think it's a time of remodeling in our nation and that brings us to the book of Nehemiah which is a story of the children of Israel returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The reason they were returning to Jerusalem is because they had been exiled to Babylon for 70 years because of their constant idolatry.

The Lord warned them through the prophets. Finally they were taken captive but they are ultimately freed and King Artaxerxes had as his cup bearer a man named Nehemiah who was Jewish. And Nehemiah had the coolest job, the cushiest job of all time. His job was to eat the food of the king before the king ate it. And so that means he ate the finest food anywhere.

He lived in the lap of luxury. This is not a position you would want to give up but when he heard of the plight of his fellow Jews when a report was given to him he realized I'm in a position to do something and I'm going to act on this. And so he boldly went to the king with a very detailed plan that he had come up with about rebuilding the walls and was bold enough to even ask the king to underwrite the whole thing. And because the king had so much affection for Nehemiah he agrees and so Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem and he faces great opposition as we always will when we are doing the work of God. When you decide to obey God and do what the Lord is leading you to do you will face opposition. And in chapters one to five we see opposition toward the people building the wall but in chapter six they direct it now toward its leader Nehemiah. It's getting personal. In war enemy troops will often shoot at the commanding officers.

In football the major goal is to sack the quarterback. And in the church those targets will those attacks will come toward the pastor and the leaders. That's why you need to pray for leadership. It's easy to critique them.

It's easy to point out maybe the flaws or the weaknesses that they have and all leaders have flaws and weaknesses. But remember to pray for them. I ask you to pray for me. I need your prayers desperately as do all pastors and all leaders no matter where they are in church today.

So these attacks start coming personally toward Nehemiah. So we picked this story up now in Nehemiah 6 to turn with me if you would. And by the way this is a very Bible centric message as all our messages are.

But we are going to be reading more than we would normally read so I really hope you will read along with me. How many of you brought your Bibles to church? Oh good. How many of you did not bring a Bible to church? No. Don't raise your hand. How many of you have a Bible app on your phone or tablet?

Ok. So get out your Bible app or your Bible. Go to Nehemiah 6 and follow me on this.

It will make it more helpful for you. Nehemiah 6 verse 1. Son Balat, he is one of the bad guys. Tobiah, another bad guy. Geshem the Arab and the rest of her enemies found out I had finished rebuilding the wall, writes Nehemiah.

And no gaps remained, though he had not yet set the doors up in the gates. So Son Balat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But I realized they were plotting to harm me. We will stop there.

Here is point number one if you are taking notes. If you give the devil an inch, he will take a mile. If you give the devil an inch, he will take a mile. Predictable threats come from the two primary opponents to Nehemiah, Son Balat and Tobiah. If you go back to the original Hebrew, their names translate out to Beavis and Butthead.

Or dumb and dumber. So these guys are leveling their attacks against Nehemiah. But he is not going to be deterred from his task.

He has almost completed it. He just needs to hang the doors. And in the same way we need to be careful to keep the doors of our lives shut to evil. The door of our mind to evil thoughts. The door of our heart. The door of our life in general.

Because again as I said, if you give the devil an inch, he will take a mile. We need to guard those thoughts and influences that don't come from God. 2 Corinthians 10 says that we should bring every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. So when a thought comes knocking at the door of my mind, I can let it in or I can say you are not coming in at all.

And some thoughts should just be left out. As I have said many times it is not a sin to be tempted. Even Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.

But it is a sin when you allow that temptation to come into your mind and take it into your thought processes and run forward with it. And so you have to guard yourself. Get those doors up there. And they say we just want to meet with him in the valley of Ono.

Isn't that interesting? Just meet us in this valley of Ono. And you know we will get similar invitations like this. Say just come to this one party. Or go to this one thing. Or download this one app. Or let's do this other thing. And these are invitations to evil. We need to say no to Ono. Or we are going to end up saying Ono.

Right? Didn't she break up the Beatles? Not to another story. If you laughed you are old because that is a really weird dated cultural reference.

How many of you got the joke? Okay. Whatever.

I don't think she really did. But who cares. Anyway.

Let's move on. But you know the devil is not stupid. He doesn't come and show you what he is up to.

He doesn't say hi I am the devil. You may have heard of me. I hate you. I like to destroy people. My mission statement is I come to steal, kill and destroy.

Kind of proud of that. Okay. So here is what I am thinking. Why don't you happily married man with a loving family go commit adultery, destroy your marriage, destroy your reputation and spend the rest of your life alienated from your children and destroy your testimony and everything else. What do you say?

Who is going to go for that? The devil is more clever. Why don't you just come down to the plane of Ono so to speak. Why don't you just compromise here. Why don't you just flirt with this other girl there. Why don't you just get into this situation.

So it is always a temptation to compromise. If you invite the devil in for tea it won't be long until he has you for dinner. Now it is time for a nature video. Who would like to watch a nature video? Okay.

So here is a little video I came across of a little baby deer encountering a leopard. And I am going to do some voice over narration as you watch it. Just push the button. We are back at the inauguration. There it is.

Music. There we go. See the baby deer encountering the leopard. Normally the leopard would kill the baby deer. But they are becoming friends. Look at the affection that is being shown. Maybe they will be friends for life.

Who knows? The adventures they will have together as close friends. Or maybe something else will happen. Let's see what follows. Okay so I don't want to show you the rest of that video. Guess what happened?

They became friends for life. No. The leopard took the little kids. Close your ears. But you have seen these before. The leopard took the little deer up the tree and ate it. Because that is what happens when you make deals with the devil. You see. Oh it is okay. No you see. This is going to work out.

No. He is wanting to destroy your life. Come down to the plane of Ono. But Nehemiah knew they wanted to harm him. So he says I am not going to come. And I love his resolve that he has. Bringing me to point number two. The devil is persistent so we must be resistant. The devil is persistent so we must be resistant. The Bible says resist the devil and he will flee from you. It doesn't say have extended conversations with Satan.

See this is the problem. I have heard some preachers on television and they are like having these extended lengthy conversations with Satan. They are like Satan I say to you right now and Satan I want to tell you one more thing and four more points and in conclusion devil what are you doing? Why are you talking to the devil?

The Bible tells the story of the powerful archangel Michael who did not bring a railing accusation against Satan but simply said the Lord rebuke you. Keep this conversation short. I want nothing to do with you. I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to listen to you. I don't want to come down to the plane of Ono and see what you are offering. I am drawing the line right now. I am going to resist you.

Bringing me to the third point. Take care of your character and God will take care of your reputation. Take care of your character and God will take care of your reputation. So now Sanballat changes his strategy with Nehemiah and challenges his personal motives. Go to Nehemiah 6 verse 5. The fifth time notice this persistence.

The fifth time Sanballat's servant came with an open letter in his hand and this is what it said. There is a rumor among the surrounding nations and Gushim tells me it is true that you and the Jews are planning to rebel and that is why you are building the wall according to his reports. You plan to be their king he also reports and you have appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim about you. Look there is a new king in Judah. You can be sure that this report will get back to the king so I suggest you come and talk it over with me. Back to that again. Come on let's just get together. Let's have a conversation.

I don't want conversations with you. So this is an outright lie. The fact of the matter is Nehemiah was very close to the king. Remember he was the king's cup bearer.

He would be an advisor to the king, a friend of the king, a confidant of the king. In fact when he told king Artaxerxes he was going to leave for Jerusalem Artaxerxes said well how long are you going to be gone? In other words hey buddy I'm going to miss you. I like hanging out with you.

I'm sorry to see you go but I think so much of you I'm going to underwrite your whole mission and back you all the way. So this is the furthest thing from the truth. This was an outright lie.

Today it would be something posted on social media right. Oh here's the new rumor. I heard this about gossip. Quote gossip is news. You have to hurry and tell somebody before you find out it isn't true end quote. You know we love to spread gossip.

We don't know if it's true but we spread it and it can spread so quickly today. But the interesting thing is Nehemiah was being accused of wanting to take the place of the king when in reality that's what they themselves wanted to do. Sometimes people will accuse you of the very thing that they are personally guilty of. It's called projecting.

I think you're this when in reality I'm not telling you about you I'm telling you more about me. Jesus summed it up this way. Why do you look at this speck in your brother's eye but you don't consider the plank in your own eye. How can you say to your brother let me get the speck out of your eye and look a plank is in your own eye.

Or another paraphrase puts it this way. Jesus speaking how can you get the sawdust out of your brother's eye when you have a telephone pole in yours. People will nitpick on small little things and be so critical of other people when in reality that may be the problem they themselves are dealing with and that's exactly what they were doing with Nehemiah.

They were accusing him of that. Commentator Kent Hughes summed it up this way and I quote we find it so easy to turn a microscope on another person's sin but we look at ours at the wrong end of a telescope. We easily spot a speck of phoniness in another because we have a logjam of it in our own lives. Anger toward the speck in someone else's life may come from the suppressed guilt over the same massive sin in our own lives end quote. That's a very insightful statement.

Bring me to point number four. When you come under attack you need to pray. When you come under attack you need to pray. I love Nehemiah's response.

Verse six. I send him this reply. Nothing like what you're saying is happening. You're just making it up in your head.

I love that. This is fake news. This is not true and I'm not going to dignify it for a moment and I'm not going to stop what I'm doing for a moment and I'm not going to come down to the plane of Ono and hang out with all y'all. So just stop asking. But these guys wouldn't give up.

They were like you know calling him and texting him and sliding into his DMs and faxing him and sending carrier pigeons and I mean any way they could say this to him they were doing it and he was resisting them all the way. Point number five. We need to finish the work that God has called us to do. He says in verse three. Verse five rather. Verse three excuse me.

I sent them this message. I'm doing a great work. I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it to go down to you? Any step away from what God has called you to do is a step down. God called the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to it. Jonah did not want to go. God said go. Jonah said no. God said oh. See God will always have the last word. But it's interesting when you read the book of Jonah you read this. Jonah went down to a ship and then he went down to the lower part of the ship and then he went down to Joppa. Down down down.

Any step away from God is a step down. I'm not coming down. I'm not going to stop what I'm doing. I'm going to keep this task before me and I'm going to finish it. Winston Churchill. One of the most important figures in modern history. Basically fought alone during World War II until the United States entered the war but he made this statement and I quote never give in never give in never never never never in nothing greater small larger petty never give in.

It was that determination that kept England alive for that difficult time they faced. So now the walls of Jerusalem are completed. Despite the harassment.

Despite the attacks. They've completed the job. Now we sort of shift gears and we look at a spiritual awakening that happens in Israel. See they did their part now God's going to do his part. There's some things only we can do and there's some things only God can do. God says seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then here's the promise and all these things shall be added unto you. Your part. Seek God's kingdom. God's part.

He'll take care of you. Here's your part. Second Chronicles 7 14. If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. That's your part. My part.

Our part. Then God promises then I will hear from heaven forgive their sin and heal their land. So we look in America today we say we need a spiritual awakening.

We need a revival. God says all right do your part. Humble yourself pray. Seek my face and then I'm going to answer your prayer and I'm going to heal your land and forgive you of your sins. So Israel has done their part. They've rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in a record 52 days. Amazing.

Now look at what happens. Go over to Nehemiah 8 verse 1. The people assembled with a unified purpose at the square inside the Watergate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given for Israel to obey. And on October 8 Ezra the priest brought the book of the law before the assembly which included the men and the women and the children old enough to understand. He faced the square inside the Watergate from early morning to noon and read aloud to everyone who could understand. All the people listened closely to the book of the law. And when they saw him open the book they rose to their feet.

I love this. So now they're having a Bible study. And a revival breaks out and these are some signs of revival. When I say revival I mean these are signs that you're spiritually alive. Signs that you're flourishing spiritually. Signs that you are the kind of Christian you ought to be. Number one you're having revival when you're hungry for God's word. Look at verse 1.

They asked Ezra the priest to bring out the book of the law of Moses. They asked hey man would you give us a Bible study. You know hungry people are healthy people.

When you go to see a doctor the first thing he's going to say to you is well first thing is going to be do you have your insurance card with you. But after that he'll say or she'll say tell me how's your appetite. And if you say it's not good that's not a good sign because if you're healthy you're hungry. And these people are hungry for the word of God. That's how to know if you're strong spiritually. This is how to know if you're revived spiritually. You're hungry for the Bible. You look forward to Bible study. You want to hear more. When it's said you go ah I want to hear some more.

That's a good sign. So Ezra enters the story again. Now Ezra was a part of the beginning of the story of the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

He led the first wave of the Jews back where they rebuilt the temple but his task had been completed. God raised up Nehemiah to come back and rebuild the walls and so Ezra had been I don't want to sound the back burner but he hadn't been in the narrative at this point and God brings him back again. They say we want to see Ezra again. He you know he's the one we need now.

Reminding us that we all have a place to play in the work of God. And Ezra's an older guy now he might have thought well no one wants to hear from me anymore you know. They're saying Ezra bring back Ezra.

So he's back here now bringing the word of God to them. You may feel like your best days are behind you. Hey Moses didn't even get started until until he was 80 years old.

Who knows what God could do. You know as people get older you know they start thinking about retirement. I was just talking to someone here and he says that the word retirement is not in my vocabulary.

Why would I retire. I love to. He's actually a foreman. He has a construction company and he says I love to get out there and talk to these people about Jesus Christ and I have ministry opportunities every day and I love that as you get older you may have new opportunities.

Hopefully you've acquired some wisdom with the passing of the years that you can pass on to others. Ezra. God still wants to use Ezra. So now he's the one bringing the message to the people and they listen closely to what he was saying. You know a preacher can tell when you're paying attention. I don't know if you know this but I can see you. All of you.

I see all of you. And there's telltale signs maybe what I'm saying is not connecting. When you yawn. Yeah that's a big one. Even when you do the cover up the yawn I can even I know those too.

You know. Or you stretch your arms. Or you look at your watch. Or you start hitting your watch. These are not good signs. I like the one where you act like you're praying when you're sleeping. I know you're not praying. You can't fold your hands. But the problem is periodically you do this.

Yeah. Or when you just stand up and walk out yelling will you just shut up. I know you're not liking the message I'm giving so we can tell that so. And look there's no there's no excuse for boring preaching. I don't know how some people can take the living powerful action packed Word of God and somehow make it sound boring. But they manage to do it even the way they read it bores me. I don't know why that is. There's no excuse for it. But there's also a place for listening well.

For giving your attention with intention. This story is told of President Calvin Coolidge who attended church one Sunday. He came home after and his wife said well Cal what did the preacher have to say. President Coolidge said well he preached on sin. She said well what did he have to say about it. He says I think he was against it.

He wasn't paying attention. So we need to listen carefully. Number two you're having revival when people spontaneously and passionately worship God. Look at verse six. Ezra praised the Lord the great God and all the people said Amen. Amen.

And they lifted their hands and they bowed down and worshiped with their faces to the ground. I like that. Amen. It's a good thing to say Amen. Say Amen right now. Go. There you go. You can say don't get you know don't say it too loud. Sometimes one person will scream Amen.

You know people run away from him. Amen just means so be it. I agree. It's an affirmation that people are saying Amen.

This is a beautiful scene. These people just can't get enough of God's word. Look at verse three. He faced a square inside the Watergate from early morning to noon and read aloud to everyone and the people were standing. That means they stood for six hours listening to the message.

So don't complain if I go five minutes over sometime. He's going long today don't you think. Think how long he went. But the people loved it and they wanted to hear what it had to say. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Paul preaching.

What a privilege it must have been to hear the apostle Paul preach in person. And he had a lot to say. And he kept going on and on.

It was getting late. And there's one guy named Eutychus up on the upper level of the building near the window who fell asleep and fell out of the window and died. So someone stops Paul. Paul Eutychus just fell out of the window.

They all rush out to poor Eutychus laying there on the ground dead. Paul prays for him and raises him from the dead. And then Paul does what any self-respecting preacher would do next. He finished his sermon. Well you're not the apostle Paul Greg.

I know that. But I'm just saying that that's a real passion for the word of God. That's why I always encourage you to read along. I'll give you scriptural references and we'll put references on the screen so you can absorb it. You know people sometimes say, God never speaks to me.

Hey, read the Bible and he will. Six times in this chapter the word understanding is used. Verse three, he read aloud to everyone who could understand. And all the people listened closely. They understood. They listened. They paid attention.

Here's another point. You know you're being revived when you obey the word of God. It's not enough to just be a hearer of the word.

You need to be a doer of the word. Jesus said at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. And the storms came and the floods came and beat upon that house and it stood strong. Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.

And the storms came and the floods came and beat on that house and it fell. See it's all about listening but it's also about doing, applying it, obeying. And this is what we see the people are doing.

They're applying what they're carrying. They obey the word of God. Nehemiah 8, 8, they read from the book of the law and he explained that the people understood it.

Then Nehemiah and Ezra, the high priest and scribe and the Levites over there said this is a sacred day before the Lord and the people began weeping. You know sometimes we need to weep over our sin. People will say oh I go to church to be lifted up, not to be beaten down.

Really? I go to church to hear truth. And sometimes I need to be told the truth and it isn't so comfortable.

See my job as a pastor is to comfort the afflicted but it's also to afflict the comfortable. It's like going to a doctor. It'd be like saying I want a doctor that will only give me good news.

He'll never tell me anything negative. Well if that doctor won't tell you the truth he's not following his Hippocratic oath which is to do no harm. He has to tell you and it's hard because I have friends who are doctors and I've talked with them about how difficult it must be to give someone bad news. To say I'm sorry to tell you you have cancer or I'm sorry to tell you you have this condition but how wonderful it must be to come with good news but there's this treatment or this is the thing you need to do next and this is what a doctor has to do.

They're there to help you be restored to health. And the same is true of a preacher but really the same is true of a Christian. We want to help people hear the truth and some people need to be sad before they can be happy. And by sad I mean they need to see their sinful condition, be sorry for it and mourn over it or cry over it. Jesus said blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Or another way you could translate it is blessed are the sad for they will be happy. So sometimes you have to be sad before you can be happy and hear the truth and deal with the problem and then ask God to forgive you of your sin. So they are crying over their sin but after they cry over their sin then they begin to rejoice because God has forgiven them.

And that's a great thing that comes. Verse 9 he says don't weep on a day like this it's a sacred day before the Lord and they went away to eat and drink and they were to have a festive meal and share gifts of food and celebrate with great joy. So now the prophet says okay enough crying you've cried already. God forgave you.

Stop. Now let's rejoice. Let's have a meal together and it's funny because over in Nehemiah 8 10 it says go celebrate with festive rich foods and sweet drinks.

I don't even know what that means. Maybe the modern equivalent would be no tofu. Nothing healthy. Let's eat pizza and hamburgers and enchiladas and let's drink original Coke.

No Diet Coke. I don't even really like Coke personally but I'm just pointing out let's celebrate. Let's have a good time. The result of having your sin forgiven is joy. The Bible says blessed or happy is the man whose sin is forgiven. So the people now are rejoicing over the fact that God has forgiven them of their sin. See doing what God wants you to do is the way to be happy. I think sometimes we think oh man doing the sinful things that's where the happiness is. Now let me say something that might surprise you. It can be fun to sin.

How many of you have ever sinned? Raise your hand. I want to make sure.

Wow you're a wicked bunch of people. My ham is up to you. Okay. How many of you have ever had some fun sinning? Raise your hand. Don't lie.

All of you have to a certain degree. Let me define fun. The Bible says there's pleasure in sin for a season. Oh this is you know forbidden.

I shouldn't do this. Kind of this excitement. But it's very short lived. And then the repercussions come. And then the consequences come. Sometimes consequences that can last for a lifetime because of your so-called fun. So we think oh no the fun and the happiness in life is in sin when in reality it's the opposite. The fun if you will the happiness in life is in obedience to God. That's what the Bible is telling us. You can have a happy life without sin. Without sex outside of marriage. Without drugs or alcohol.

Without selfishness. This is what God wants. Now this was a great work of God and they had a revival. Did it last? Yes for a time.

Did it last forever? No. No revival does. Billy Sunday the great preacher was once asked if he thought revivals lasted.

His response was no. Neither does the bath. But it's good to have one occasionally. See we need to be revived again and again. We need to be refreshed again and again. We need to recommit our life to Christ again and again. The Bible says be filled with the Holy Spirit speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. In Ephesians 5. And that word be filled is a command. So God says I command you to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And also in the Greek it speaks of something that's continuous.

So the Lord is saying I command you each and every day to be filled with the Holy Spirit again and again and again. Being filled and refilled. Can you imagine buying a car and driving it for maybe a week and a half then stops running to get back to the dealership. What's wrong with this car? It stopped running. Have you recharged it? No. Did you put gas in it?

No. You see you've got to recharge your electric car. You've got to gas up your car. And in the same way I need to be recharged.

I need to be refilled. And I need to do it again and again and again. That's how you live in a continuous state of revival and relationship with God. That's what the early church did. Acts 2 46 says they worshiped together in the temple each day. They met at homes and met for the Lord's Supper and shared their meals with great joy and generosity. And they were praising God and enjoying the good will of all of the people.

And the Lord added to the church daily those that were being saved. One thing that's mentioned there is the Lord's Supper. We also call this communion and in a moment we're going to celebrate communion together. This is where we take the bread and the cup which are reminders of the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus gathered his disciples in the upper room for what we call the Last Supper though they didn't know it was the Last Supper. They weren't all seated behind a table like in the Da Vinci painting like they're posing for a picture. They were probably in reclining positions around a table and Jesus said take this bread and eat it. This is my body which is broken for you.

He had never said that to them before. This cup is a symbol of my blood. Now when we hold the bread in our hand as we will in a moment and we hold that cup we don't believe that bread becomes the literal body of Christ nor do we believe that that cup or that juice becomes the literal blood of Christ but we do believe it's a symbol of the body and blood of Christ. Why should we receive communion? Number one in remembrance. Jesus said this do this in remembrance of me.

It's a reminder that we should return to again and again and be reminded of what Christ did for us on the cross. I have a wedding ring that I've been wearing for over 50 years. It reminds me that I'm married.

I also have a woman living in my home that reminds me as well. I don't take this ring off. I don't know if I could take it off because I've gained weight since I got married. I would need the jaws of life at the fire department to probably get it off but I don't want to take it off and I don't need to but it's a little reminder and so communion is a reminder of what Jesus did for you. He laid his life down for you. He sacrificed himself on the cross for you so you could be forgiven of your sin but then number two communion is a time of examination. It says in 1 Corinthians 11 28 when we receive the elements of communion let a person examine themselves. So it's a moment where I say is my life right with God? Am I walking with the Lord as I should? Have I been spending too much time down in the plane of oh no? Have I been making compromises? Have I been doing or saying things I should not be doing?

Is there an unconfessed sin in my life? This is the time to deal with that. So examination. Let a man examine himself but it's also a time of anticipation because we're told we should receive the elements of communion until he comes. So when Christ comes we won't have communion after that but until that day we do it in anticipation of his return. But let me say one final thing about communion and then we'll hand out the elements as we worship together and that is this is for Christians only. You might say well I think you know that a little ritual will do me some good. Not this ritual because the Bible says if you receive these elements in an unworthy manner you eat and drink judgment to yourself.

What does that mean? It means that I'm taking something that represents the sacred and I'm almost mocking it by not believing in what it represents or specifically who it represents. So when I receive communion I want to believe in the one that it represents. I want to have a relationship with him and so if you've never asked Jesus Christ to come into your life this is the time to do it. Say Lord I know I'm a sinner and I believe Jesus died for my sin and I want this happiness and purpose and life I've been hearing about and I want to know that I'll go to heaven when I die. Jesus come into my life and forgive me and then you'll have that joy and that happiness the Bible promises. Jesus says behold I stand at the door and I knock and if you'll hear my voice and open the door I will come in.

Have you done that yet? Have you asked Christ into your life? We're going to pause for a prayer and I'm going to give you an opportunity to pray and ask Jesus to come into your life and then we will continue on with communion together so let's pray. Father I pray for everybody here everybody watching wherever they are.

If they don't have this relationship with you let this begin right here right now. If you would like Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sin just pray this prayer after me right where you are. Just pray Lord Jesus I know I'm a sinner but I know you are the savior of the world who died on the cross for my sin. I'm sorry for my sin I turn from it I repent of it and I ask you to come into my life and forgive me of all of my sin. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus name I pray amen. Hey everybody thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries follow this show and consider supporting it just go to harvest.org and to find out how to know God personally go to harvest.org and click on know God.