(#444) Romans 13 -THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION At the Cross, the Lord Teaches All of Us the Power of FaithWelcome To BARAH MINISTRIES a Christian Church Rory Clark Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference. My name is Pastor Rory Clark. At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We make a difference by teaching the Word of God from God’s perspective, and not from man’s perspective.
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION At the Cross, the Lord Teaches All of Us the Power of Faith
We have something from God that we often forget we have…FAITH. What is faith?
FAITH A gift from God that allows you, through a free will choice, to place your COMPLETE CONFIDENCE in the object of your faith after inspection.
Do you place your COMPLETE CONFIDENCE in God for every little thing in your life? Or are there some things you think you have to handle “on your own?” It is not a guess that all creatures have faith…it is an established…and true…and irrevocable fact…as we learn in Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 8 and 9…
EPHESIANS 2:8 For by God’s grace you have been saved through faith (in Christ for salvation)…and that grace and that faith and that salvation are not from the source of yourselves…these are gifts from God….
EPHESIANS 2:9 …therefore…being saved is not as a result of works (deeds you have done in self-righteousness)…so that no one may boast (about saving himself).
We spend FAITH multiple times every day. We place our complete confidence in many things.
As Christians, we place our complete confidence in the thought that there is one and only one God. As Christians, we place our complete confidence in God’s promise that the Bible is His exact thinking. As Christians, we place our complete confidence in God’s unconditional love. As a result we know it is an established…and true…and irrevocable fact that God is never disappointed with us…He loves us without condition or expectation.
As Christians, we place our complete confidence in God’s promise that we are saved though faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As Christians, we place our complete confidence in God’s promise that when we are absent from this mortal body, we are to be at home, face-to-face with the Lord in a resurrection body. Hebrews, Chapter 11, Verse 1 says…
HEBREWS 11:1 Now faith means having confidence in the things we hope for…faith means complete assurance about the things we don’t see.
Hebrews, Chapter 11, Verse 6…
HEBREWS 11:6 And without expressing our faith in God the Father, it is impossible to please the Father…for he who comes to God the Father must believe that the Father exists and that the Father is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him.
It seems easy to believe God for these big things…His existence…His Word…His love…His “so great salvation” … that there is a heaven and that we’ll be living there in the future. If it’s easy to have faith in the big things, why does it seem so hard, on a moment by moment basis, to have faith that God can get us a car…that God can get us a job…that God can repair a relationship…that God can heal a hurt…that God can restore our heath… that God can do the supernatural?
In today’s Lord’s Supper Celebration we’ll learn what the Lord Jesus Christ taught us about faith at the Cross. Welcome to a place where you can put your faith to work on the little things as well as the big things. When we use our faith, we see God’s amazing and omnipotent hand in every circumstance. In his song EVERYTHING, TobyMac reminds us to place our faith in God…in everything!
MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
EVERYTHING TobyMac
OPENING PRAYER Let us pray...
We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Thank you for the supernatural gift of faith, Father…and with every beat of our hearts keep reminding us…in every little thing…all day…just how much You stand ready to give us the desires of our hearts…
…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 Teaches All of Us the Power of Faith
Welcome to The Lord’s Supper Celebration, the most intimate expression of love in The Christian Way of Living. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ demonstrates His desire for a deep, intimate and personal relationship with His believers by sharing His body and His blood with us. First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26 says…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread (His body)…and as often as you drink this cup (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. Non-resident congregation members are invited to join in the sharing of the communion elements with the resident congregation. Get your own bread and your own cup and celebrate with us. We are one…in unity…we are in fellowship with each other…so let’s break the bread and drink the cup together in honor of our Lord. This is a celebration for which we set aside time. We don’t do it on the move.
During The Lord’s Supper Celebration, the Lord Jesus Christ wants His believers to look back to the reality of His death on a Cross as a sacrifice for us…the Lord wants us to remember He has been resurrected from the dead…and Jesus wants us to look forward with absolute confidence that He will come again.
The Lord’s Supper Celebration reminds us that JESUS CHRIST IS GOD, and that our Lord won the Creator-creature conflict through His work on the Cross.
So exactly what does The Lord’s Supper Celebration mean to you?
When I look back to the Cross I see a great God who taught us the power of faith. The Lord Jesus Christ placed His confidence in His Father for every single thing, every single moment the Lord was on the earth. Philippians, Chapter 2, Verses 5 to 8…
PHILIPPIANS 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves…the attitude that was also in Christ Jesus…
PHILIPPIANS 2:6 …who, although He had the same essence as God the Father, did not regard equality with God the Father a thing to be seized and held onto…
PHILIPPIANS 2:7 …instead, the Lord emptied Himself…taking on the form of a bond-servant… and He allowed himself to be made in the likeness of men.
PHILIPPIANS 2:8 Being found in appearance as a man…He humiliated Himself by becoming obedient (expressing faith in His Father’s wishes, even) to the point of death…even death on a Cross.
What is faith?
FAITH A gift from God that allows you, through a free will choice, to place your COMPLETE CONFIDENCE in the object of your faith after inspection.
The Lord was so completely confident in His Father that He was willing to do anything the Father asked. The Lord believed! He gave His Father His faith. You have the same gift of faith the Lord has…do you have the same COMPLETE CONFIDENCE in God the Father that the Lord has for every single thing in your life? If you don’t, you must start.
FAITH is the foundation of our relationship with God. Do you believe? Can the Lord heal? Can He do the supernatural for you? Is He interested in giving you the desires of your heart? More important, are you willing to let Him give you everything you want? Is He concerned for you? Matthew, Chapter 22, Verse 21…
MATTHEW 22:21 “And all things you ask in prayer…believing (with faith), you will receive.”
John, Chapter 16, Verse 23…
JOHN 16:23 Truly, truly, I (the Lord Jesus Christ) say to you…if you ask the Father for anything in My name…He will give it to you.
In God’s plan, you will see it when you believe it! However, you need to know a few things…the Father isn’t really interested in giving you things that are sinful…and the Lord isn’t willing to coerce anyone else’s will on your behalf…but we do know this through FAITH…Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 28…
ROMANS 8:28 And we believers in Christ know that God the Father causes all things to work together for good for those who love God…for those who are called according to His purpose. So even in those times when He can’t get things done sinfully as you’d like…in those times when He can’t make others do what you want them to do as you’d like, He is totally capable of giving you the desires of your heart that are in your best interests, and working together circumstances that make it happen. The Lord Jesus Christ is as concerned with you as He was with honoring the requests of His Father.
God does not expect you to have blind faith…because there is no such thing. What is faith?
FAITH A gift from God that allows you, through a free will choice, to place your COMPLETE CONFIDENCE in the object of your faith after inspection.
Ah…after inspection. A young Mormon kid…a member of The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints…dutifully went on a two-year mission. He was ready to tackle the fertile mission field of Orlando, Florida to spread the gospel of the Mormon faith and to convert people to his faith. He came upon a Baptist Pastor. The Pastor warded off the kid’s evangelism attempts and instead gave him the gospel of grace. After a year and a half of inspection, the Mormon kid became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and proceeded to evangelize to his own family. Several members of his family became believers as well.
Please note that the Mormon kid did not just accept the grace gospel message…he inspected it. He performed due diligence…he made a thorough appraisal of what the Bible had to say about salvation before making his decision to believe in Christ. He placed his confidence in the object of his faith after inspection.
Let’s take a five-minute break, and when we come back we’ll take the offering and we’ll celebrate The Lord’s Supper.
BREAK Five Minutes
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION Enjoying the Elements
Obeying God’s command, 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 on the Cross…the voluntary sacrifice He made on our behalf as our sin substitute. We are grateful for what God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have done for 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 covenant (a new testament)… blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of their sins.”
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 a Lord who is always there for us…the One on whom we can depend…and let’s keep on being transformed by His life, His death, His resurrection from the dead and His Word. Most of all, let’s have FAITH…let’s do what He asks us to do…DAY BY DAY.
LORD’S SUPPER SONG DAY BY DAY Godspell
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION At the Cross, the Lord Teaches All of Us the Power of Faith
When I look back at the Cross I see the Lord expressing His faith, and teaching us the power of faith…a power good enough to bear a Cross…to shed blood for the redemption of sins…and to be resurrected from the dead. When we use our gift of faith, we tap into God’s supernatural power…divine omnipotence.
There is no such thing as blind faith and God doesn’t expect it from us. Let’s illustrate the point with a story we have read many times…the story of Lazarus being resurrected from the dead…but this time let’s see the story from different eyes…the eyes of faith…John, Chapter 11, Verses 1 to 46…
JOHN 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, which is the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
JOHN 11:2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
JOHN 11:3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, “Lord, behold, Lazarus whom You love is sick.”
JOHN 11:4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”
The Lord was going to use Lazarus’ death to teach his disciples a faith lesson that would come in handy in the future.
JOHN 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
JOHN 11:6 So when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
JOHN 11:7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
JOHN 11:8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews in Judea were just now seeking to stone You to death, and now are You thinking of going there again?”
JOHN 11:9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.”
JOHN 11:10 “But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
JOHN 11:11 This He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep…but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.”
By “sleep,” Jesus was referring to physical death.
JOHN 11:12 The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will wake up.”
JOHN 11:13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep.
JOHN 11:14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead…”
JOHN 11:15 “…and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe…but let us go to him.”
The Lord was about to teach His disciples about faith…faith in Him and His supernatural ability to raise someone from the dead.
JOHN 11:16 Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”
JOHN 11:17 So when Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
JOHN 11:18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off…
JOHN 11:19 …and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
JOHN 11:20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house.
JOHN 11:21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
JOHN 11:22 “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God the Father, He will give You.”
JOHN 11:23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
JOHN 11:24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
JOHN 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life…he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,”
JOHN 11:26 “…and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
JOHN 11:27 Martha said to Him, “Yes, Lord…I have believed that You are the Christ…the Son of God…even the God who comes into the world.”
JOHN 11:28 When Martha had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
JOHN 11:29 And when Mary heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him.
JOHN 11:30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.
JOHN 11:31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
JOHN 11:32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
JOHN 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled…
JOHN 11:34 …and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
JOHN 11:35 Jesus wept.
JOHN 11:36 So the Jews were saying, “See how Jesus loved Lazarus!”
JOHN 11:37 But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”
JOHN 11:38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
JOHN 11:39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
JOHN 11:40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
JOHN 11:41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.”
JOHN 11:42 “I knew that You always hear Me…but because of the people standing around I said these things, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
JOHN 11:43 When Jesus had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
JOHN 11:44 The man who had died (Lazarus) came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
JOHN 11:45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what Jesus had done, believed in the Christ.
JOHN 11:46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus had done.
Zoom ahead to the third day after the Lord had been crucified. Many of these disciples had seen the Lord raise Lazarus from the dead. Why did they not have the faith that He could raise Himself from the dead on the third day, just as He said?
The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated in the story of Lazarus that what Abraham said in Romans Chapter 4 is true…Verses 19 to 21…
ROMANS 4:19 Without becoming weak in faith Abraham contemplated his own body, now as good as sexually dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb (she was barren)…
ROMANS 4:20 …yet, with respect to the promise of God the Father, Abraham did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God…
ROMANS 4:21 …and Abraham was fully assured that what God the Father had promised, He was able also to perform.
Abraham had faith that he would be sexually alive again…and that his wife who was barren would bear a child…even in their advanced age. What is faith?
FAITH A gift from God that allows you, through a free will choice, to place your COMPLETE CONFIDENCE in the object of your faith after inspection.
Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 31 and 32…
ROMANS 8:31 What then shall we believers in Christ say, face-to-face with these things? If God the Father is for us, and He is…who is against us?
ROMANS 8:32 God the Father, who did not spare His own Son (the God-man…the Lord Jesus Christ), but delivered Christ over for us all, how will God the Father not also with our union with Christ freely give us all things?
Faith in the big things…faith in the small things…faith in everything. God has given us a gift of faith. Let’s use it by placing our COMPLETE CONFIDENCE in Him. How big does our faith have to be? Not very big! Mathew, Chapter 17, Verse 20…
MATTHEW 17:20 “…if you have faith the size of a mustard seed (the smallest of all seeds), you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move…and nothing will be impossible to you.”
Luke Chapter 1, Verse 37…
LUKE 1:37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Philippians, Chapter 4, Verse 13…
PHILIPPIANS 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Do you have faith that God can make something of us nothings? Francesca Battistelli does…she says…HE KNOWS MY NAME.
CLOSING SONG HE KNOWS MY NAME Francesca Battistelli
CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...
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