(# 346) Romans 10 - THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION The Gospel Doesn’t Need a Pretty Dress
Welcome To BARAH MINISTRIES a Christian Church Rory Clark Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark. Welcome to…
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION The Gospel Doesn’t Need a Pretty Dress
Today, just as we do every month, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, which is a meal of remembrance, to demonstrate our love for the Lord. We eat, by breaking bread…we drink, by tasting the fruit of the vine…and we look back to the Cross…one of the most significant occurrences of LOVE in divine history. First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26 says…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
At the Lord’s Supper Celebration, as a gathering of His believers, we remember the Lord’s death on the Cross which paid the price for Adam’s sin…the sin that is credited to the account of all mankind at physical birth…the sin resulting in spiritual death for all. At the Lord’s Supper Celebration, we remember the shedding of the Lord’s blood to cleanse us from this unrighteousness, caused by a sin of independence…a turning away of creatures from their Creator. We remember, with gladness, that the Lord Jesus Christ made a way for His creatures to be reconciled to Him…by dying on a Cross…and by being resurrected from the dead three days later… both to prove that He is Deity, and to give us hope…the cure for unrighteousness.
And now we believers in Christ KNOW, through His infallible Word, that the Lord Jesus Christ is seated victorious at the right hand of His Father’s throne, waiting for the moment when God the Father will make the Lord’s enemies a footstool for His feet. As believers in Christ, we are seated there with Him, in union with Him, waiting for the glorious time when we come again with Him to witness His glory. And we KNOW He made it possible for all to be saved by what He did at the Cross.
A friend of mine asked me to share my thoughts on this question…“How easily are you influenced?” Without knowing what he was concerned about, I had an easy answer for the question. VERY EASILY is the answer. You and I are VERY easily influenced. There is a better question. “What influences you?” As we reflect on what the Lord did at the Cross, during our celebration of this Lord’s Supper, we’ll consider the sources of influence that are available to us, and assess the value of each. Welcome to the real Valentine’s Day celebration…a festive observation of the love that really matters…the unconditional love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
YOU RAN AFTER ME June Murphy
If you are holding on to anything in your heart today that is keeping you from loving…this would be a great time to place your concerns into the hands of the Lord who loves you, and who considers your problems to be His responsibility…especially the problem of unrighteousness…the problem every unbeliever has. Let’s reflect on the power of the Cross to remove the stain of sin as we listen to the opening song…YOU RAN AFTER ME sung by June Murphy, a song about what God is willing to do for His creatures.
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re grateful Heavenly Father for the privilege of studying the absolute truth...the Word of God…
Thank you Father, for your demonstrated love…thank you for not requiring us to clean up our acts to be pleasing to you…
Help us to accept the simplicity of the free gift of Your Son and His work at the Cross for our salvation…providing our righteousness free of charge…
We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name... Amen.
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION The Gospel Doesn’t Need a Pretty Dress
What influences you? There are only two sources of influence…the world and the Christ. Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 2 highlights the dilemma…
ROMANS 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but keep on being transformed by God through the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and prove what the will of God is, that which is good to Him, and that which is pleasing to Him, and that which is perfect to Him.
When we became new creatures at the moment of salvation, God killed the old man by means of His Cross, and made us a completely new and different being. We are not a better version of the old self…we are a completely new self. In this way God makes it clear that we are to have nothing to do with the influence of the old and everything to do with the influence of the new.
What influences you, the world, or the Christ?
We are influenced by the world when we seek human honors…when we follow the crowd…when we value the approval of men…when worldly things dominate our time…when we barely have any time for God. I saw a woman walking her dog the other day. She had picked out the perfect outfit. She had a new baby in a papoose sack on her chest. She had the perfect little dog on a too long leash…and believe me, the dog was walking her…she was not walking him…and I imagined how much time she had spent to look impressive, to match a picture she had conjured up in her head…a picture given to her by the world…a picture from some magazine. And I know that when she got home she was spent, frustrated that the picture did not deliver on its promise. The world was laughing at her, not admiring her, because she didn’t have control of herself or the baby or the dog, and she was in no position to perform the dirty task of cleaning up the dog poop. Or how about the intimate conversation with a friend who confided that he was tithing a tenth of his salary to his religious church, but had no savings?
What influences you, the world or the Christ? We are eager to fulfill the requests of the world, but we always end up unfulfilled and we always end up with a bill. Second Timothy, Chapter 3, Verses 1 to 5 warns us concerning the signs of the deterioration of the world…the proof that the world’s ideas produce nothingness…
SECOND TIMOTHY 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days (in every generation) difficult times will come.
SECOND TIMOTHY 3:2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy…
SECOND TIMOTHY 3:3 …unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good…
SECOND TIMOTHY 3:4 …treacherous, reckless, conceited, LOVERS OF PLEASURE RATHER THAN LOVERS OF GOD…
SECOND TIMOTHY 3:5 …holding to a superficial form of the spiritual life, although they have denied its power…avoid such men as these.
I asked a friend of mine why Barah Ministries didn’t cut it for him…he told me that he was more attracted to churches that have a social aspect…to churches that have an entertainment aspect. Believe me, as we seek to grow Barah Ministries, I certainly want to join in the folly of the mega churches and do zealous things to attract people to the church. But ultimately, the church is not a singles bar and the church is not a concert. The church is a place to learn about Christ and His Word, and the truth does not need a pretty dress to make it attractive. The Word of God IS attractive, because when you are laying in hospice gargling the liquid in your lungs, a social life and a concert won’t come through for you…the Word of God will. What influences you, the world, or the Christ? THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION: Enjoying the Elements
Following God’s request, we keep on celebrating CHRIST and His Cross on a regular basis…we eat to remember who He is as a PERSON…we drink to remember His WORK, the voluntary sacrifice He made at the Cross on our behalf as our sin substitute…and we are grateful for what God has done for us. First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verses 23 and 24 say…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:23 For I, Paul received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus Christ on the night in which He was betrayed took bread…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:24 …and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is, and keeps on being My body, which is broken for you…keep on doing this celebration for the purpose of remembering Me.”
When we eat the bread during the Lord’s Supper Celebration, we remember the Lord Jesus Christ AS A PERSON.
When we drink the cup, we remember THE WORK of the Lord Jesus Christ. First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verses 25 and 26 say…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:25 In the same way the Lord Jesus Christ took the cup after supper, representing His death on the Cross, saying, “This cup is a new testament forged with My blood; keep on doing this celebration…and as often as you drink it…do so for the purpose of remembering Me.”
FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup (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 in the second coming).
As you enjoy the bread and the cup, enjoy the memory of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as well. Now and always, let us keep on giving thanks that we are loved unconditionally and accepted fully by THE LORD WHO IS ALWAYS THERE…the One we can depend on…let’s keep on being transformed by His life and His death and His Word…and let’s enjoy His unconditional love Day by Day…and that’s the name of our Lord’s Supper song.
LORD’S SUPPER SONG DAY BY DAY Godspell
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION The Gospel Doesn’t Need a Pretty Dress
The world doesn’t cut it. Christ does. One of the final things the Lord Jesus Christ said as He hung dying on a Cross was captured in John, Chapter 19, Verse 30…
JOHN 19:30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
The Lord was telling us that everything He did at the Cross, and everything He says, and everything He thinks, and everything He does is TOTALLY SUFFICIENT. When we are conformed to the world we think Christ needs help. We think it’s Christ plus something else for salvation…we think it is faith plus something else for success…we think it is doing the things that are popular to get ahead. The gospel message doesn’t need a pretty dress. It is totally sufficient.
What influences you, the world, or the Christ?
When you are influenced by Christ and His Word, you realize that all of the things Satan offers are illusions…the bigness of a church…the “promise” of pornography…the praise of men. I love it that our President’s approval rating is low. It means he’s doing the things that aren’t approved of by the world.
God does His most meaningful work in small places, with insignificant people, who are laboring in the obscurity of the background. I am glad I was not a popular father…in my executive coaching practice I hear regularly about the damage permissive parents cause in adults…and about how much permissive parents are despised by their grown children. What influences you, the world, or the Christ?
What the Lord would have you be influenced by is the filling of the Spirit. Let your life be guided by His voice, and not by the illusions presented by the world…lies, designed to bring you shame, and designed to dishonor God’s handiwork. Let Christ and his Word be your influence.
CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...
THANKS - INTERCESSION - PETITION
Thanks for coming! Thanks for watching! Thanks for listening! www.barahministries.com
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