Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world, so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. But I am very privileged to be able to share with you on this subject of communion. It'll be just kind of a brief.
Explanation of communion. I don't ever want to take for granted that just everyone knows. What communion is and why we do it, and so I want to explain that to you a little bit tonight, and then also I want to give you some ways that you can not just observe tonight, but you can participate, and and not so much in just taking the the bread and the cup, but in your heart that you can commune with God Himself, and you can participate in tonight's service. And so I do want to explain it a little bit. The bread that you're going to be taking here in just a few moments, obviously for for many of us.
That know and if you don't know, the bread is going to represent the body of Jesus that was broken for us, and then also you have the cup of juice there. That cup of juice is going to represent the blood that Jesus spilled for the remission of our sins. And so, tonight is is about more than just tradition. It's more than just a ritual that we do a couple of times a year at Christmas or at Easter. Tonight is is a moment that connects three, I would say, the three greatest events in all of human history.
All right, tonight is a moment that connects the death of Jesus on the cross. It's a moment that connects the resurrection of Jesus, and then it's a moment that connects the return. Of Jesus, and that's what we want to look at here tonight. And in order to Fully understand why we do what we do, why this is a church ordinance, and all of that. You have to go back to the Passover, and understand that the Jewish people they they celebrate the Passover every single year, and they do that because of the Lord's rescue of them out of bondage, getting them out of Egypt, and so they celebrate this every year to look back.
And that's exactly what Jesus and his disciples were doing the night before he was arrested and crucified. And they're celebrating this Passover feast, and Jesus and his disciples are looking back, and they're remembering what God has done. But Jesus does something different on that night. He tells his disciples, "He says, I don't want you to just look back. He says, from here on out, I want you to look forward." And when I got kind of the news that preacher wasn't going to be able to be here, and I found out I was going to be speaking Thursday evening, I started thinking about.
Communion a little bit, and I don't know. My mind immediately went to the communion table that we have over in Myers Auditorium. You guys know every Baptist church in the world has one of those communion tables that sit right there at the front. And you guys tell me what's inscribed on the front of that? What this do?
I think I heard everybody say it. This do in remembrance of me. And so I started thinking about the Lord's Supper and about that table and how. This is a church ordinance, and tonight we are all invited to the table. And so, I want to give you three things tonight, just real, real quick.
This will go really fast, but three things that we are invited to do when we come to the table. And so, first, number one, we come to the table to remember. We come to the table to remember. Look at Luke chapter number twenty-two, verse number nineteen. All these verses will be on the screen for you.
Tonight, Jesus said in Luke chapter twenty-two, verse nineteen, he says, "And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.'" Now, Jesus didn't tell them to remember his parables. Jesus didn't tell them to remember His miracles. Jesus says to remember Me, and when we take the bread tonight, I want you to remember and I want you to reflect on and to think about the body of Jesus that was broken, the body that was beaten, that was bruised, that was battered, that was that was crushed for you. On the cross, when you take the juice tonight, I want you to remember and to think about the blood that Jesus spilled for the remission and for the redemption of your sins.
And and when I say to remember, I'm not just talking about some historical event. All right, this isn't like the independence of America or anything like that. This isn't like just some historical event that we talk about. It's something much greater than that, and it's much more personal than that. And I like this quote that I saw this week as I was doing some studying.
Here is a man. He said this: "He said, 'Us looking back and remembering the crucifixion is about reconnecting our hearts with the person of Christ and what He did, not for the whole world only, but for you.'" This is a personal thing, and I want you to notice. It says here in the verse, it says, "This is my body, which is given, not for just the whole world. It's given for you. Jesus died for your sins.
Jesus died for my sins. This is a personal salvation, and in a world that pulls at our attention." It's grasping for our affection. Is it's looking to pull us in? Communion is a great time for us to be able to focus back on what is important, back to the cross, back to what Jesus did for us, back to the sacrifice that changed all of history, back to the Savior who didn't just die; he died for you. And so I want you to notice number two.
Not only do we come to the table to remember, we come to the table to reflect. Look at First Corinthians chapter eleven, verse twenty-eight. Says, "But let a man examine himself." We talked about a personal savior. We talked about a personal salvation. Here, Paul is writing.
He says, "There's a personal examination." All right. What this verse doesn't say is for you to look across at your your spouse and you examine them. Right? You tell them all the things they need to get right. It doesn't say that you examine someone else.
Paul here says, "Let a man examine himself," and so it's a personal examination. It's your responsibility tonight. Notice the rest of the verse and says, "And so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup." Tonight is not about just looking backward; it's about looking inward, and that's what we're expected to do here tonight. We need to look at the inside and to examine ourselves.
Now, when we do this, I don't want you to feel like This is about looking at yourself in guilt and in shame and in regret. Listen, all that died at the cross with Jesus. If you're a Christian, we have no guilt. We have no shame. But tonight is about looking at ourselves with humility and honesty.
And so I have a couple of questions that I want you to ponder tonight as we as we think about this. Here's the first question: Is there any sin that I am holding on to in my life? Any sin that I have yet to confess? Any sin that I have yet to give up? Any sin that I am unwilling to relinquish over to the Lord?
I haven't confessed it. Here's another question: Is is there any unforgiveness in your heart? Is there any sort of grudge that you hold towards someone? Any kind of an attitude that you have towards someone or something? Or is there anything that we're holding onto that needs to be released to the Lord?
Am I walking in a way that honors the cross that we are remembering this evening? And listen, tonight is not about being perfect. Because if perfection was the standard, none of us can partake of this. And so tonight is not about perfection, but tonight is about genuineness and authenticity. And if God shows us something in our heart, if He if He if He convicts us of anything, we need to make sure that we deal with that because when we partake of this, the Bible expects us to, and it tells us to, it commands us to be clean when we do so.
Again, it's not about being perfect; it's about being clean. And so we need to examine ourselves. The Lord's table is kind of like a spiritual mirror; it allows us to reflect and to see and to notice. Hey, is there some things in me that aren't right? It brings us back to again focus.
So number three, we come to the table to remember, to reflect, and then number three, we come to the table to rejoice. Look at Matthew chapter twenty-six, verse twenty-nine. Jesus says, "But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day." So Jesus is saying here that there's something future in in the future that's going to happen that we need to look forward to. He says, "I am not going to drink of the fruit of this vine until the day." Notice what he says: "When I drink it new with you again, that's personal in my father's kingdom." Jesus ends the Last Supper with a promise. Jesus alludes to a future feast that is coming.
There is a day that you and I, if you are a Christian tonight, there is a day coming where you will sit down and you will be across the table, face to face with Jesus Himself. And we will get to eat of this bread and drink of this cup again with Jesus in the future. This cross that Jesus died on—it wasn't the end, right? The tomb is empty tonight. Jesus has risen, and Jesus is coming again.
And tonight, I know that communion services a lot of times can be somber, and they can be really serious. And I'm all for that. It should be a serious time. It should be a somber time. But we are not—we are not grieving Jesus at a funeral.
Jesus rose from the dead, right? This is an exciting time. This is a time to rejoice. Yes, it is a time to look back with gratitude for what Jesus has done. It's good for us to look inward with humility and repentance, but it is also a time for us to look forward and to rejoice that Jesus did not stay dead, and that Jesus is coming back again.
He wanted us to know that. He wanted us to celebrate that.
So, as we wrap up tonight. Let's not just move on and forget what this moment that connects three of the greatest moments in all of history is all about. As we leave tonight, as we walk out of here, let us walk out with grateful hearts for what Jesus has done on the cross, for the sins that He has paid for. Let us walk out of here with clean hearts as we reflect, and we allow the Holy Spirit of God to do His work, and we repent and we get right with the Lord Jesus, and let us walk out of here with joyful hearts as we rejoice because Jesus didn't stay dead; He rose up from the grave, and as we've been saying all year long, remember, the King is coming. And so I want to give you just a second.
If somebody, if you could play a little bit, here's what I want to do tonight. We're gonna we're gonna observe here in just a few moments. I think we have a song, and so I want to take just a moment and allow you some space to respond to the Holy Spirit. And so, if there's anything in your heart that God has revealed to you, right? David said, "Search my heart, know my thoughts, see if there be any wicked way in me." And so tonight is a very serious time.
The Bible talks that we should be clean before we take the bread and take the juice tonight.
So if there's something that the Lord has pointed out in your heart tonight, if you want to come to the altar, you can do that. If you want to make an altar out of your seat, there's no wrong way for you to talk to the Lord tonight. And so I want you to wherever you are, if you want to come to an altar, if you want to stay there at your seat, we're going to give you just a couple of minutes here and just going to have some silence. And then I'll close in prayer. But let's do some business with the Lord and make sure that we're we're clean.
And so that's what we're going to do. We're going to we're going to reflect with a grateful heart, and we're going to tell God that we're we're thankful. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. We're going to we're going to reflect, and we're going to ask the Holy Spirit of God show me anything in me that's not right. And we're going to respond to the Lord with a grateful and rejoicing heart that He didn't stay dead, that He rose from the dead.
That's that's why we're here this weekend, and that He's coming back for us. And so let's do that right now. We'll take just a minute or two and allow you that space to do that. Piano. Lord, we thank you for Jesus tonight.
Lord, we thank you for the sacrifice of the cross, and Lord, we we thank you for Lord allowing yourself to to be ridiculed and mocked and embarrassed. And Lord, you took the beating, you took the the bruising, you took the crucifixion that we deserved. And Lord, we're grateful for that. Lord, we could. Never in a million lives, thank you for what you've done for us, and Lord, tonight we come to you with reflective hearts, and Lord, we're looking inside, and Lord, we're asking the things that you show us.
Lord, would you forgive us of sins? Lord, would you rid us of any wrong thoughts or motives or attitudes? Lord, if we have any grudges against anyone, any unforgiveness, any sin in our lives, Lord, we ask you to forgive those things and. Lord, we look tonight also with a grateful and rejoicing heart that you're coming to get us, and that you love us and you want to spend eternity with us. Lord, thank you for being good to us.
Lord, thank you for loving us, and Lord, thank you for your patience with us. And Lord, we ask that everything done tonight would be done to your honor, to your glory. Lord, as we observe the the bread and the cup here in just a few moments, Lord, we just want to say thank you. We thank you for the health, the ability to be able to be here tonight. Lord, bless our pastor, and would you give him some relief?
And Lord, we ask that if it be your will, that you allow him to be here on Easter Sunday morning to preach to us. And Lord, we ask that you would just just be with him and give him comfort tonight. Sure, do love you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, I think we have a song, and then we'll come back and do the the bread and the juice.
O to see the dawn of the darkest day, Christ on the road to Calvary, tried by sinful men, torn and beaten men nailed to the cross of rose. Is the power of the cross? Christ became sin for us, took the blame, bore the wrath we stand forgiven at the cross. O to see the pain written on your face, bearing the awesome weight of sin, every bitter thought, every evil deed, crying your blood stained red. Is the power of the cross?
Christ became sin for us, took the blame, bore the wrath we stand forgiven at the cross. Now the daylight flees.
Now the ground beneath quakes as its maker bows his head. Curtain torn into dead are raised to life. Faith is The victory's cry. Hold to see my name written in the wounds. For through your suffering, I am free.
Death is crushed today. Life is mine to live. Wonder yourself, love. Is the power of the cross? Son of God, slain for us.
What a love! What a cost we stand. Forgiven at the cross. What a love! What a cost we've spent.
Forgiven at the cross. Amen. Amen. All right. Go ahead and take your take your little cups there, and if you would, go ahead and peel back the top, and we'll get that cracker out.
And we'll get ready to read this verse here in just a second. Of course, as we talked about just a second ago, this bread, the cracker, is going to represent Jesus' body. And as we do this, we remember what He did for us and the beatings that He took and the bruising and all of that. And we'll get ready to read this verse here in just a second. Before we do that, we're going to pray.
I'm going to ask Terry Bailey, if you would, just right where you're at, maybe just pray before we read this verse and partake of the bread. Let's pray. Most kind of gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank You for the day. Father, we thank You for what's been in the house of God and what's been in the space. Lord, every kind of thing in the house of God, so special.
Lord, we thank You for Precious body, Lord, that was bruised by Your stripes, You healed. But I can't imagine what You went through, Lord. Yes, thank You, Lord. Scourging and beating, not too painful for me. Lord, as real Frank said, it is very personal.
And I hope everybody here tonight is thinking of very personal. We have a personal Savior who came and died for all. Not till we're that any should perish, but all should come to grips. I want to thank you, give you honor, glory, praise tonight for loving a hell-deserving sinner as I. Thank you.
For everything you've done, I want to thank you for everything you're going to do. I thank you for everything you're doing. God, please help us, grow us, use us, Lord, in spite of ourselves, God. Get us out of the way, God. You take the reins, and Lord, let us, Lord, surrender to Your will, that we may be less man and You may be more man in our lives.
Simply amazing work. We can do for the cause of Christ if we just get ourselves out of the way. Will Jesus thank Him for His service? I pray by the power of the Lord that You would touch Him and bless Him and be with Him, God. Be with this church, Lord Jesus.
We'll be careful, you and I, Lord. We pray in honor of His name, Jesus. Amen. Amen. First Corinthians chapter eleven, beginning verse number.
Twenty-three. Paul here writes, "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he break break it and said, 'Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. You may eat the bread.'" Now, if you would, we're going to transition to the cup here for a second, and obviously, we know that the cup represents the blood of Jesus that was spilled. And we'll read that verse here in just a moment.
And before we do that, I'd like to to pray again. I'm going to ask Brother Scott Tucker if you would, if you don't mind, just praying for us before we read this verse on the blood. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Brother Scott.
Verse number twenty-five, same chapter, First Corinthians eleven says, and after the same manner, also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, "This cup is the new testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as you drink it." In remembrance of me, you may drink the cup. I think they're going to do one more song tonight. Is that right?
So I think they're going to make their way up here, and we just kind of talked about the the power of the cross. And now I believe they're going to be singing. Is it my living hope? Is that what you're doing? They're going to be singing my living hope.
So we go from the cross. And the power that the cross has, but thankfully, as we've said tonight, listen: if if Jesus hadn't raised from the dead, the death of Jesus would have been a wonderful thing. It would have been a nice thing for him to do. But there's a lot of men who died on a cross. You and I could die on a cross, but none of us could could rise from the dead.
And and Jesus did that, and so. We move from the power of the cross to the hope that we have because of Jesus, and so you listen as they sing tonight. How great the castle that lay between us! How high the mountain I could not climb! In desperation, I turned to heaven and spoke Your name into the night.
Then through the darkness, Your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. The work is finished; the end is written. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Who could imagine so great a mercy? What heart could find the?
Such boundless grace, the God of ages stepped down from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame. The cross has spoken; I am forgiven. The King of kings calls me. Own beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever. Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Hallelujah! Praise the One who set me free. Hallelujah! Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain.
There's salvation in Your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope. Then came the morning that sealed the promise. Your buried body began to breathe. Out of the silence, the roaring lion declared this grave has no claim on me. Then came the morning that sealed the promise.
Your buried body. Began to breathe out of the silence. The roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me. Jesus, yours is the victory. Hallelujah!
Praise the One who's. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336 993 5192 or via the web at KerwinBaptistChurch dot com.
Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you.
