(#465) Romans 15 - THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION - At the Cross, the Lord Defeated Our Enemy

Keep the flesh buried by listening to the Spirit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome To 

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a small, intimate, local Christian Church with a worldwide impact.  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 Defeated Our Enemy

 

Happy Mother’s Day! In honor of Mother’s Day, our lesson today will be The Lord’s Supper Celebration.  In it we’ll learn that we have an internal enemy that is out to destroy us, and we’ll learn what the Lord did about it at the Cross. 

 

In the opening of every lesson at Barah Ministries, we learn something important about God.  Today we learn about one of God’s gifts to us…the gift called FAITH.  Learning about faith is a tribute to Mothers, because even though it is not everyone’s experience with their Moms, for most of us our Mothers are the ones who teach us by example exactly what faith is…our Moms have, and express often, their faith in us.  

 

What is faith?  In Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 8, the Bible describes it…

 

EPHESIANS 2:8

For by God’s grace you believers in Christ 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…it IS THE GIFT OF GOD….

 

Faith is a GIFT to you directly from God.  How is the gift of faith expressed?  

 

FAITH

When you place your complete trust or your complete confidence in someone or in something.

 

 

The bible defines faith this way…Hebrews, Chapter 11, Verse 1…

 

HEBREWS 11:1

Now faith is the assurance that the things we hope for will become reality…it is proof of the existence of those things we cannot see.”

 

In Matthew, Chapter 17, Verses 14 to 20, the Lord gives his inner circle a lesson in faith…

 

MATTHEW 17:14

When the Lord, with Peter, James and John returned from the transfiguration (seeing Jesus as He would be at the Lord’s second coming…in his glorified state)…and when they came to the crowd…a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying…

 

MATTHEW 17:15 

“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic (he has epilepsy) and he is very ill…for he often (has convulsions and he) falls into the fire and often he falls into the water.”

 

MATTHEW 17:16 

“I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.”

 

MATTHEW 17:17 

And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.”

 

 

 

MATTHEW 17:18 

And Jesus rebuked the demon, and the demon came out of the boy, and he was cured at once.

 

MATTHEW 17:19 

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive the demon out?”

 

MATTHEW 17:20 

And Jesus said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith…for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed (the tiniest amount of faith…about the size of an ant)…you will say to this mountain (any obstacle), ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move…and nothing will be impossible for you.”

 

For nothing is impossible with God.

 

My mind drifts to the beginning and the ending of the movie Pretty Woman…a man walks across a street saying, “Welcome to Hollywood!  What’s your dream?  Some dreams come true…some don’t…but there’s always time to dream.  The gift of faith reminds us that with God, ALL of our dreams can come true.

 

So often we live our lives in self-created chains without stopping to contemplate them…for if we thought for a second, we’d realize we have the key to release ourselves from the slavery of our thoughts.  The key is FAITH…placing our complete confidence in our omnipotent God, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  In Romans, Chapter 4, Verses 19 to 21 we see a demonstration of faith…

 

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 Abraham contemplated the deadness of Sarah’s womb…

 

ROMANS 4:20 

…yet, with respect to the promise of God the Father, Abraham did not waver in unbelief…instead, Abraham grew strong in faith…giving glory to God the Father…

ROMANS 4:21 

…and Abraham was FULLY ASSURED (because of the Person in whom he placed his faith)…that what God the Father had promised…He was able also to perform.

 

God says it…then He does it. 

 

So often we live our lives in self-created chains without stopping to contemplate that the key is FAITH…the absolute confidence that comes when we place our complete trust in our faithful God and His promises… having no confidence in ourselves.  Philippians, Chapter 3, Verse 3…

 

PHILIPPIANS 3:3

…for we believers in Christ are the true circumcision…who worship in the Spirit of God and who glory in union with Christ Jesus…and who put no confidence in the flesh…

 

Welcome to a place where you can grow in confidence by learning what the Lord promises in His Word.

 

Danny Gokey has it right in the opening song…IF YOU AIN’T IN IT…because if God isn’t at the center of our plans…they’ll probably fall apart!  Let’s listen…

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

IF YOU AIN’T IN IT

Danny Gokey

 

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 instilling Your spirit in Mothers so that we would have a human manifestation of Your unconditional love…thank you for giving us women who put their children’s welfare above their own…thank you for giving us an absolute demonstration of sacrificial love in human form…the work, the forgiveness, the grace…

 

Father, help us to be intolerant, both as a society and as individuals, of the unreasonable and overwhelming demands placed on Mothers…help us come to their rescue, not only today but every day…by directing our unconditional love and support back in their direction…help us to be unwilling to accept their unreasonable workload as normal…show us how to pamper them the way they pamper us…and show us how to forgive their inadequacies, just as they forgive ours…

 

…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 Defeated Our Enemy

 

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.  Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 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 (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.

 

For non-resident congregation members, you are invited to join in the sharing of the communion elements with your resident congregation family.  Get your own bread and your own cup and celebrate with us.  We are in unity with one other…we are in fellowship with each other…so let’s break the bread and drink the cup together in grateful remembrance of our Lord.  This is a celebration for which we set aside time.  We don’t do it on the move.  This is a happy time and a significant event in the Christian Way of Living.

 

During the Lord’s Supper Celebration, the Lord Jesus Christ wants His

believers to look back to REMEMBER how He rescued us from the kingdom of darkness.  The Lord wants His believers to REMEMBER His sacrifice…how He shed His blood to cover our sins.  The Lord Jesus Christ wants His believers to REMEMBER the deliverance to the resurrection life He orchestrated, bringing us into His kingdom of light. The Lord wants His believers to look forward with ANTICIPATION to His coming again.  

 

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

 

When I look back to the Cross, I see the Lord defeating our enemies without them even knowing it. First Peter, Chapter 2, Verse 24 reminds us…

 

FIRST PETER 2:24

…and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself bore our sins in His own body on the Cross… so that we might die to the sovereignty of sin and so that we might live to absolute righteousness…for by His wounds you were healed.

 

A God who could have destroyed His enemies with a single thought instead hung patiently from a Cross…staying focused on His mission to free us from slavery to our enemy…sin. The Lord was determined to make a single thought absolutely true…Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 14…

 

ROMANS 6:14

For sin shall not be master over you believers in Christ…for you are not under law…but you are under a sphere of grace.

 

The Lord's work on the Cross surrounded His believers with a geodesic dome…and in it resides unconditional love, and forgiveness, and grace…a guilt-free lifestyle of freedom from slavery.

 

If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a soul, a human spirit, and a body.

 

Your soul is the essence of who you are.  It has volition…the ability to choose ( I WANT)…mentality…the ability to think (I THINK)…emotion…the ability to feel (I FEEL)…conscience…the ability to know right from wrong (I SHOULD)…and self-consciousness…the awareness of your own existence (I AM).  At the moment of salvation, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ were given a new nature. Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 17…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in union with Christ, and all believers in Christ are, there is a new creation…the old man thing passed away (they died) … behold, new things have come.

 

Your human spirit is your spiritual "decoder ring" … it allows you to understand spiritual things. The bible says unbelievers are not equipped to understand spiritual truths.  First Corinthians, Chapter 2, Verse 14…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:14

But a natural man (an unbeliever) does not accept the things of the Holy Spirit of God…for the things of the Holy Spirit of God are foolishness to him…and HE CANNOT UNDERSTAND THEM…because THEY ARE SPIRITUALLY APPRAISED.

 

No one can understand spiritual things without a human spirit.

 

Your body houses your soul, your spirit, and many other things.  One of the things your body houses is THE FLESH…your internal enemy. When I look back to the Cross, I know one of the things our Lord did there is to defeat our enemy and His enemy Satan, the person…He defeated Satan’s world system of thought (the doctrines of demons)…an external enemy…and He defeated THE FLESH…our internal enemy. Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 24…

 

GALATIANS 5:24

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

 

The Bible confirms that THE FLESH is your enemy in Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 17…

 

GALATIANS 5:17

For the flesh sets its desire against God the Holy Spirit…and God the Holy Spirit sets His desire against the flesh…for these are in opposition to one another…

 

The flesh is in conflict with the Spirit.  In other words, a believer in Christ has two natures resident…the flesh, located in the body…whose desire is to do evil…and the Spirit…indwelling the body…whose desire is to produce righteousness.  These two natures, the flesh and the Spirit…the old dead nature and the new creation nature…are bitter enemies, and you are the prize they seek.

 

THE FLESH is that part of you that tempts you constantly to do things that can destroy you.  It’s that negative voice that assures you that you are worthless.  It is that part of you that hates God, hates you, and hates everyone and everything important to you.  It’s that part of you that encourages you to doubt.

 

The flesh is not you…it is your body…your soul is the real you.  The apostle Paul made this clear in Romans, Chapter 7, Verses 21 to 23…

 

ROMANS 7:21

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

ROMANS 7:22 

For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man (the soul…the new creation)…

 

ROMANS 7:23 

…but I see a different law in the members of my body (in the flesh…the law of sin and death)…waging war against the law of my mind (my thinking) and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

 

When you ask Him to do so, God the Holy Spirit blocks the evil cravings of the flesh.  Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 16…

 

GALATIANS 5:16

But I (Paul) say, walk by means of (the power of) God the Holy Spirit…and there is NOT NO WAY (ouk)…you will carry out the desire of the flesh.

 

Let’s take a five-minute break…when we come back we’ll take the offering…we’ll enjoy the elements of The Lord’s Supper, and then we’ll have a few final thoughts about our internal enemy…THE FLESH.

 

FIVE MINUTE BREAK

Unconditional Love

Donna Summers

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Defeated Our Enemy

 

Let’s welcome Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

FIRST PETER 4:8

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

 

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

FIRST PETER 4:9-10 

Be hospitable to one another without complaint. // As each one of us has received a special (spiritual) gift…employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

 

OFFERING SONG

THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU

David Bauer, Instrumental

 

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 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.  

 

As He hung from the Cross, the Lord had you personally in His mind…and there has never been a time in all of divine history when the Sovereign God of the Universe didn’t know everything about you.  Jeremiah, Chapter 29, Verse 11…

 

JEREMIAH 29:11

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

 

Here is Francesca Battistelli to remind us…HE KNOWS MY NAME.

 

LORD’S SUPPER SONG

HE KNOWS MY NAME

Francesca Battistelli

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Defeated Our Enemy

 

Welcome back!

 

THE FLESH, our internal enemy, has production…Galatians, Chapter 5, Verses 19 to 21…

 

GALATIANS 5:19

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident…immorality…impurity… sensuality…

 

GALATIANS 5:20 

…idolatry…sorcery…enmities…strife…jealousy…outbursts of anger… disputes…dissensions…factions…

 

GALATIANS 5:21a

…envying…drunkenness…carousing…and things like these…

 

God the Holy Spirit has production as well…Galatians, Chapter 5, Verses 22 and 23…

 

 

 

GALATIANS 5:22

But the FRUIT of the Spirit is love, joy, peace … patience, kindness, goodness… 

 

GALATIANS 5:23

…faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…against such things there is no law.

 

Thanks to the Lord’s work on the Cross, believers in Christ are dead to the flesh because the flesh was crucified at the Cross…Romans, Chapter 6, Verses 11 and 12…

 

ROMANS 6:11

Even so (believers in Christ), consider yourselves to be dead to the sovereignty of sin…but alive to God the Father…in union with Christ Jesus.

 

ROMANS 6:12 

Therefore…do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts…

 

Instead, we are to follow the Lord's instructions in Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 13…

 

ROMANS 6:13

…and do not keep on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness…instead, keep on presenting yourselves to God as if you are one of those who are alive from the dead…and keep on presenting your members as instruments of righteousness to God the Father.

 

Your enemy is dead…crucified at the Cross.  Stop being obedient to a dead thing…instead, be obedient to God and His Word.

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

The closing moments of our study 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.  

 

I’ve got bad news for you. The bad news is that all of us are born in a state of unrighteousness.  We are born physically alive and spiritually dead as ungodly, unrighteous unbelievers.  It’s not our fault, but it is our circumstance.  In First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 22, the bible says…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:22a

For all in union with Adam at physical birth (and that is every human who comes to earth) are set to die the second death in the Lake of Fire…

 

But in the face of this bad news, there’s good news!  The Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, provides a way for you to be saved!  The good news is preached in what Christians call the gospel message…let’s see what happened when the gospel was preached in a prison in first century Rome in Acts, Chapter 16, Verses 25 to 34…

 

ACTS 16:25

…about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God (from their jail cells), and the other prisoners were listening to them…

 

ACTS 16:26

…and suddenly there came a great earthquake…so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken…and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

 

ACTS 16:27 

When the jailer (a prison guard) awoke and saw the prison doors opened… he drew his sword and was about to kill himself…supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

 

Escaped prisoners were instant death for prison guards!

 

ACTS 16:28 

But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself…for we are all here!”

 

ACTS 16:29 

And the jailer called for the lights to be turned on and he rushed in…and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas…

ACTS 16:30 

…and after the prison guard brought Paul and Silas out, he said, “Sirs… what must I do to be saved?”

 

The guard has obviously been listening to the songs Paul and Silas were singing.

 

ACTS 16:31 

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

 

There are no works of any kind necessary to be saved…it is simply faith… faith alone, expressed toward the Lord Jesus Christ, is the ticket to eternal life…

 

ACTS 16:32 

And Paul and Silas spoke the Word of the Lord (the gospel message…the good news) to the jailer together with all the people who were in his house.

 

ACTS 16:33 

And the jailer took Paul and Silas that very hour of the night and washed their wounds…and immediately the jailer was baptized…he and all his household (who also believed…and they all did).

 

ACTS 16:34 

And the jailer brought Paul and Silas into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in THE God (the Lord Jesus Christ) with his whole household.

 

How did our jailer friend get saved?  In a crisis, he recognized He needed a Savior.  He asked someone who knew what it took to be saved.  Believers in Christ presented the accurate gospel message. The jailer did what was suggested. Don’t wait for a crisis to be saved! Do it now!

 

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…

 

It’s bad news if you choose not to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation.  Romans, Chapter 1, Verses 18 to 20…

 

ROMANS 1:18

For the wrath of God the Father is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and against the unrighteousness of men (unbelievers) who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness…

 

ROMANS 1:19 

…because that which is known about God the Father is evident inside of them…for God the Father made it evident to them (from inside of them). 

 

ROMANS 1:20 

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes…God’s eternal power…and God’s divine nature…have been clearly seen by all mankind… being understood even through what has been made (in nature…God’s creative work)…so that all mankind are without excuse before God.

 

God makes Himself clearly visible to human beings in ways that make sense to human beings. Remember what Paul and Silas said to the jail guard, in 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.”

 

So, accept the invitation and heed the warning in John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…

 

 

 

JOHN 3:36

“He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment… but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”

 

Don’t miss your opportunity…take advantage of the good news!

 

Let’s close with June Murphy singing a tribute to our God with the song… HOW GREAT THOU ART.

 

CLOSING SONG

HOW GREAT THOU ART

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

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