Recap (#481) Romans 16 – THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION - At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us the Power of Being Nothings

Class Outline:

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Welcome To 

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries… a small, intimate, and local Christian Church with worldwide impact.  My name is Pastor Rory Clark.  At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is God, and at Barah Ministries we make a difference by teaching God’s Word from His perspective, and not from man’s perspective.  How our God sees things is very different from how we see things.  So instead of trusting what man says about God, we prefer to go directly to what God says about Himself in His Word.

 

This is…

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us the Power of Being Nothings

 

LESSON INTRODUCTION

 

In today’s lesson, we’ll begin with the gospel message…the good news concerning what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us at the Cross.  And then just as we do every month, we’ll celebrate The Lord’s Supper.  At the Cross, the Lord Taught us the power of being nothings!  We’ll also hear Deacon Denny Goodall’s message as we take the offering.  So let’s get started!

 

THE GOSPEL MESSAGE

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

The opening moments of our study today are for anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU.  

 

Is religion the way to be saved?

 

Many people believe that religion and its rituals is their ticket into heaven. They embrace religious beliefs that tell them how to live a spiritual life. The religion claims either that there is a god…or there are many gods…but the religion does not discuss how to have a personal relationship with god.  In fact, religions propose that if you don’t do everything their god expects that he will be quite disappointed with you. And regardless of your best efforts to follow the religious rituals, the religions do not GUARANTEE that following the rituals will get you into heaven.

 

Christianity is NOT a religion…it is a relationship…with CHRIST.

 

In John, Chapter 4, Verses 13 and 14, the Lord Jesus Christ is talking to a woman at a well…a Samaritan woman whom the Jews wanted nothing to do with.  After a brief introduction, the Lord says to the woman…

 

JOHN 4:13

“Everyone who drinks of the water in this well will thirst again…”

 

JOHN 4:14 

“…but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him (the water of the Word…the gospel message) shall never thirst…but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to the resurrection life.”

 

It is the Lord’s will for those with whom He has a relationship to live with Him in heaven when they close their eyes in this life.  First Timothy, Chapter 2, Verses 3 and 4 say…

 

FIRST TIMOTHY 2:3

This is good and acceptable in the sight of the God who is our Savior…the Lord Jesus Christ…

 

 

FIRST TIMOTHY 2:4 

…who desires all men to be saved and who desires for all men to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

The truth of how to get to heaven is as simple as a nine-word conversation with God…Luke, Chapter 23, Verses 42 and 43…

 

LUKE 23:42

And a thief being crucified next to Jesus was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”

 

LUKE 23:43 

And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you…today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

 

Or if you prefer…it’s a five-word conversation with God the Father… “Father…I believe in Christ.” Simply believe…merely take God’s word for what it takes to be saved…and that is the moment of eternal life for you. 

 

Who is this God who saves you?  The apostle Paul describes the Lord Jesus Christ in First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verses 3 and 4… 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:3

For I (Paul) delivered to you as of first importance what I also received… that it was Jesus Christ who died for our sins according to the Scriptures…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:4 

…and that He was buried…and that He was raised from the dead on the third day…according to the Scriptures…

 

Now once the Lord saves you, no matter how hard you try, you cannot lose your salvation…John, Chapter 10, Verse 28 says…

 

JOHN 10:28

“…I (the Lord Jesus Christ) give eternal life to believers in Christ, and they will never perish…and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

 

Anyone who tells you that you can lose your salvation is lying to you.

On the other hand, if you reject the relationship offer of this God who does not want you to perish, He will honor your rejection…Matthew, Chapter 13, Verses 49 and 50…

 

MATTHEW 13:49

So it will be at the end of the age…the elect angels will come forth and take out the wicked (unbelievers) from among the righteous (believers in Christ)...

 

MATTHEW 13:50 

…and will throw the wicked into the furnace of fire…and in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

So follow the advice of Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

ACTS 16:31 

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

SONG INTRO

 

Isaiah, Chapter 64, Verses 6 is one of the many places where we learn about our nothingness as human beings…

 

ISAIAH 64:6

For all of us have become like one who is unclean…and all our self-righteous deeds are like menstrual rags…and all of us wither like a leaf… and our iniquities…like the wind…take us away.

 

We are nobodies.  Here’s Casting Crowns to tell us the plans our amazing God created for a bunch of nobodies…in their song NOBODY.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

NOBODY

Casting Crowns

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father, thank you for making us nothings part of your Divine Plan…thank you for sending Your Son, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to be the ONLY SOMETHING that all of us needed to live the resurrection life… thank you for providing God the Holy Spirit to guide us with that “still small voice” that directs our paths onto the narrow way…

 

Help us to orient to You…teach us how to make our life CHRIST… encourage us to do as You do…to discard from our lives all that is not CHRIST…

 

…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s

name...Amen.

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us the Power of Being Nothings

 

Welcome to The Lord’s Supper Celebration, the most intimate expression of our love for the Lord Jesus Christ in The Christian Way of Living.  The Lord demonstrates His desire for a deep, intimate and personal relationship with His believers by creating a way to keep on sharing His body and His blood with us, just as He did with His apostles on the night before His death.  Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 14 to 16…

 

LUKE 22:14

When the hour had come (and His crucifixion was near) … the Lord Jesus Christ reclined at the Passover table…and the apostles reclined with Him.

 

LUKE 22:15 

And the Lord said to the apostles, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer … ”

 

LUKE 22:16 

“…for I say to you I (the Lord Jesus Christ) shall never again eat this

Passover meal until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God the Father.”

 

In First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26, the apostle Paul says, on behalf of the Lord…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26

…as often as you eat this bread (representing His body)…and as often as you drink this cup (representing His blood)…as part of the Lord’s Supper Celebration…you proclaim as a reality and you announce the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross…and His resurrection from the dead…until He comes again at the second coming.

 

The Lord’s Supper Celebration is a time when the resident members of this congregation join hands through the miles with our non-resident members, and we demonstrate our unity by remembering our Lord together.  This is a celebration for which we set aside time.  We don’t do it on the move.  

 

During the Lord’s Supper Celebration, Jesus wants His believers to look

back to the Cross for a moment.  He wants us to REMEMBER how He rescued us from the kingdom of darkness.  He wants us to REMEMBER the sacrifice of shedding His blood to cover our sins.  He wants us to REMEMBER the deliverance to the resurrection life He orchestrated, bringing us into His kingdom of light.  Most of all, the Lord wants His believers to look forward with ANTICIPATION that He is coming again.  

 

As believers in Christ, when we celebrate The Lord’s Supper, we ask ourselves in reflection, “What did the Lord Jesus Christ do for us at the Cross?”

 

At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us the Power of Being Nothings.

 

There it was…staring me in the face every day…right on my desk…without me even knowing what it means.  Galatians, Chapter 6, Verse 3…

 

SLIDE FROM MY DESK

 

GALATIANS 6:3

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is NOTHING, he deceives himself.

I am nothing.

 

Have you ever had the feeling that you’re just not good enough?  I don’t think it stretches the imagination too much when each of us admit that we have felt that way.  I’m positive we feel that way most of the time.

 

You may remember in a recent lesson I complained about Christian music… how the theme always seems to focus on our sinfulness and our nothingness…and I wondered why we never seem to get over it.

 

I wonder about many things.  I wonder why when God and only God has the power to do so, He didn’t remove the flesh from us at the moment of salvation.  The flesh is that part of us that hates God, that hates us, and that hates everything special to us.  All of us identify with the apostle Paul’s lament in Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 15…

 

ROMANS 7:15

For what I (Paul) am doing, I do not understand…for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

 

Paul’s insight from this discovery is Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 21…

 

ROMANS 7:21

I find then the principle that evil (the flesh) is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

 

Why didn’t God just take this evil, the flesh, away from us at the moment of salvation?

 

When I named this ministry, I called it Barah Ministries.  Spelled b-a-r-a…it is a Hebrew word…the fifth word in the bible…(five is the number of grace)…Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 1…

 

GENESIS 1:1

In the beginning, God (Jehovah Elohim…the Lord…God the Son) CREATED the heavens and the earth.

 

BARA…the Lord spoke the heavens and the earth into existence from nothing.  Amazing.  So, I concluded (genius that I am) that God is doing the same thing with us…making something out of us nothings.  I was wrong.  All we will ever be is nothings.  So that feeling you have that you aren’t good enough, that feeling you have that you are nothing, may is a truth revealing itself daily in your life.

 

We have a desperate desire to be something in this life.  We run around frantically to assemble for ourselves all the things that will make us feel special…the right job…the right car…the right clothes…the right bank balance…the right experiences…the right children…the right companion… all the things we call success…and yet in the quiet of our souls, we have so many moments when we realize we fall short in every way.

 

Take comfort.

 

We are nothings because CHRIST IS SOMETHING.  He is the ONLY something.  He makes it clear in so many simple ways.  He reveals our nothingness in His Word.  John, Chapter 15, Verse 5…

 

JOHN 15:5

I (the Lord Jesus Christ) am the vine…you believers in Christ are the branches…he who abides in Me and I indwelling him, he bears much fruit… for apart from Me you can do nothing.

 

Is the tree that bears fruit anything but what the Lord allows it to be?

 

This is a fundamental lesson that God taught to the angelic creatures.  When Satan falsely claimed, in Isaiah, Chapter 14, Verse 14…

 

ISAIAH 14:14

‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds (taking over the function of God)…I will make myself like the Most High.’

 

…God related this simple truth to Satan and all the angels…“apart from Me, you can DO nothing…apart from Me you ARE nothing.”  Genesis, Chapter 3, Verse 19…

 

GENESIS 3:19c

“For you are dust…and to dust you shall return.” 

 

Is dust something?  Hardly.

 

Like us, the angels couldn’t accept this truth, so they were desperately seeking to prove they were something.  Satan, the enemy of God and the great deceiver, is responsible for encouraging all creatures, angelic and human, to think we can be something when we are nothing.

 

At the Cross, the Lord taught us the power of being nothings.  Philippians, Chapter 4, Verse 13…

 

PHILIPPIANS 4:13

I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me.

 

Apart from Christ, I am nothing…apart from Christ, I can do nothing.  With Christ, I am still nothing.  He is everything.  He is something.  Our friend, the apostle Peter, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, learned this lesson the hard way…in Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 31 to 34, the Lord says to him…

 

LUKE 22:31

“Simon Peter, Simon Peter, behold…Satan has demanded permission to sift all of you apostles like wheat…”

 

LUKE 22:32 

“…but I (the Lord Jesus Christ) have prayed for you Peter, that your faith may not fail…and that you, when once you have turned again, will strengthen your brothers.”

 

LUKE 22:33 

But Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”

 

LUKE 22:34 

And the Lord Jesus Christ said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

 

Peter thought he was something when he was nothing.  He deceived himself.  Well, we know the end of the story.  Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 61 and 62…

 

 

LUKE 22:61

The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how the Lord had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”

 

LUKE 22:62 

And Peter went out and wept bitterly.

 

The lesson we all learn…the easy way or the hard way…is that we are nothing…and we never will be anything…because the only something in this world is CHRIST.  In God’s plan, there can only be one something… Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verses 9 and 10…

 

EPHESIANS 1:9

God the Father made known to us believers in Christ the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which the Father purposed in Christ…

 

EPHESIANS 1:10 

…with a view to a dispensation (The Church Age) suitable to the fullness of the times…that is, THE SUMMING UP OF ALL THINGS IN CHRIST… things in the heavens and things on the earth.

 

Christ is something…He is everything…He is the sum…all things added up in this world add up to Christ…and apart from Him there is nothing…John, Chapter 1, Verse 3…

 

JOHN 1:3

All things came into being through the Lord (God the Son)…and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being.

 

This life of ours begins and ends with Christ.

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

Enjoying the Elements

 

Obeying God’s command, we keep on celebrating Christ and His Cross

regularly.  We eat to remember who He is as a PERSON.  We drink to remember His WORK on the Cross…the voluntary sacrifice He made to deliver us.  We remember with gratitude what God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have done to save us.  Matthew, Chapter 26, Verses 26 to 28…

 

MATTHEW 26:26 

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take…eat…this is My body (which is being broken for you).”

 

MATTHEW 26:27 

And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you…”

 

MATTHEW 26:28 

“…for this is My blood…the blood of a new testament (a new covenant)… blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of their sins.”

 

As you enjoy the bread and the cup, REMEMBER the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us keep on giving thanks that we are loved unconditionally and we are accepted fully by a Lord who is always there for us…the One on whom we depend.  Let’s keep on being transformed by His life…His death…His burial…His resurrection from the dead…and His Word.  

 

LORD’S SUPPER SONG

THY WILL

Hillary Scott

 

When we return from our five-minute break, we’ll take the offering and then we’ll complete our look at being “nothings.”

 

FIVE MINUTE BREAK

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Donna Summer

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us the Power of Being Nothings

 

Well, the summer has taken quite a toll on our finances, but I’m sure your generosity will help us overcome this momentary challenge.  Give as it is purposed in your heart.  Let’s welcome Deacon Denny Goodall with today’s offering message.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

ROMANS 12:1

Therefore…I (Paul)…beg you believers in Christ… as you keep on being persuaded because of the many mercies of God…TO PRESENT YOUR BODIES AS A LIVING AND HOLY SACRIFICE…acceptable to God the Father…which is your spiritual service…worship.

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

GALATIANS 6:10

So then, while we believers in Christ have the opportunity…let us do good to all people…and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

 

OFFERING SONG

THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU

David Bauer, Instrumental

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us the Power of Being Nothings

 

Welcome back!

 

SONG INTRO

 

First Thessalonians, Chapter 5, Verse 18 says…

 

FIRST THESSALONIANS 5:18

…in everything give thanks…for this is God’s will for you who are in union with Christ Jesus.

 

Here is the Maranatha! Praise Band to encourage us to be grateful in song with their song GIVE THANKS.

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

GIVE THANKS

Maranatha! Praise Band

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us the Power of Being Nothings

 

Everything with human beings starts from nothing.  Everything with human beings starts from, “I don’t know how.”  We’d like to go from nothing and from “I don’t know how” to viral…to immediately successful…to well-known and to prosperous.  Yet that is never the case, no matter what those who are “successful” would like us to believe.  The road to successful, whatever success is to us, is littered with the learning experiences we call “failures.”  They aren’t failures at all.  They are building blocks.

 

In the life of a Christian, if we are receptive to the gospel message, the Lord begins by giving us His “so great salvation.”  Jesus Christ is our ROCK.  He is the cornerstone of the resurrection life we receive at the moment of salvation.  As we voluntarily expose ourselves to the Word of God, the Lord begins placing the seeds of knowledge in the field called our mind.

 

At the Cross, the Lord established a new covenant with His creatures.  The new covenant was not a modification…not an improvement of the old covenant…it is a completely different covenant.  The old covenant was the law…it was an external covenant…the new covenant is different…it is an internal covenant.  Remember what was said to women in First Peter, Chapters 3, Verses 3 and 4?

 

FIRST PETER 3:3 

Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding your hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses…

 

FIRST PETER 3:4 

…but let your adornment be in the hidden person of the heart, adorned with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.

As Christians, our adornment is no longer external either…it is completely internal…our adornment is Christ.  Colossians, Chapter 1, Verses 25 to 27…

 

COLOSSIANS 1:25

Of this church, I (Paul) was made a minister by God according to the stewardship from God the Father…bestowed on me for your benefit…so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God…

 

COLOSSIANS 1:26 

…that is…the preaching of the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations…but has now been made clearly visible to God the Father’s saints…

 

COLOSSIANS 1:27 

…to whom God the Father willed to make known what are the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles…which is CHRIST INDWELLING YOU…the absolute confidence of our future glory.

 

By wanting to be significant…by wanting to be something…we strive for an outward power.  Such was the Mosaic Law.  If only people could keep the Law, they could appear to others to be righteous.  Well, that was the old covenant.  We know the result.  Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 20…

 

ROMANS 5:20a

The Mosaic Law came in so that the transgression would increase…

 

Us “nothings” could not keep the law.  So the Lord killed the old covenant at the Cross and instituted a new covenant, the one we celebrate in this Lord’s Supper.  It is quite different.  

 

At the center of this new covenant is EN KRISTO IESU.  We are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Christ is indwelling us believers in Christ.  He is something, indwelling us, the nothings.  His presence makes us nothings who are completely unable, able “to do all things.”  We now have an inward power that is much more powerful than any outward power we could manufacture.  In Matthew, Chapter 13, Verse 30…God shows His permissive will as this world unfolds…

 

 

MATTHEW 13:30 

“Allow both the wheat (believers in Christ) and the tares (unbelievers) to grow together until the harvest…and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up…but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

 

The truth is that we may be nothings, but we are Christ’s nothings.  When I said the nothings are always put upfront, I was right.  This nothing belongs to Christ.  You nothings belong to Christ.  Anything in this world that is not Christ’s will be burned up.  Nothing that is not Christ’s will survive.  First Peter, Chapters 3, Verse 10…

 

FIRST PETER 3:10 

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

 

Then the new covenant promises will come into play…First Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 12…

 

FIRST PETER 3:12

But according to His promise we believers in Christ are looking for new heavens and a new earth…places in which righteousness dwells.

 

Our job as Christians is clear…John, Chapter 3, Verse 30…

 

JOHN 3:30

Christ must increase…but I must decrease.

 

If things are going well for us Christians, we will continue to feel less and less significant, and we’ll be comfortable with it.  Galatians, Chapter 2, Verse 20…

 

GALATIANS 2:20 (My Translation) 

The “I life” has been crucified with Christ…and it is no longer the “I life” that lives…but Christ lives…indwelling me…and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…who loved me unconditionally and who gave Himself up for me.

 

I…or Christ?  The song His Strength is Perfect says it well…

 

HIS STRENGTH IS PERFECT

 

         I can do all things

         Through Christ who gives me strength

         But sometimes I wonder

         What He can do through me…

 

He can do amazing things…Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 10…

 

EPHESIANS 2:10

For we believers in Christ are God the Father’s workmanship (masterpieces)…created to be in union with Christ Jesus for good works… which God the Father prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

 

So…Psalm 46, Verse 10 exhorts us…

 

PSALM 46:10a

“Cease striving and know that I am God…”

 

Colossians, Chapter 3, Verses 9 and 10…

 

COLOSSIANS 3:9

Do not lie to one another…since you laid aside the old self (at the moment of salvation) with its evil practices…

 

COLOSSIANS 3:10 

…and since you have put on the new self who is being renewed by God to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him (the Lord)—

 

In the end, there will be Christ and His nothings.  Satan and his somethings will be in the Lake of Fire…and in that literal place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

To the world, in outward appearance, I am a nothing.  But inside of me is the only something…CHRIST.  Therefore…like Paul in Second Corinthians, Chapter 12, Verse 10…

SECOND CORINTHIANS 12:10

Therefore, I (Paul) am well content with weaknesses…with insults…with distresses…with persecutions…with difficulties, for Christ’s sake…for when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

Philippians, Chapter 4, Verse 11…

 

PHILIPPIANS 4:11b

…I (Paul) have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

 

So have I.  So must you.  If you want to be something in God’s plan…the only something is CHRIST.  Delight yourself in Him.

 

SONG INTRO
 

In Exodus, Chapter 3, Verses 13 and 14, the Lord introduces Himself to Moses…

 

EXODUS 3:13

Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”

 

EXODUS 3:14 

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” …and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

 

Here’s June Murphy to sing her song about the great I AM.

 

CLOSING SONG

I AM

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

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