Eat This Bread Drink This Cup
The purpose of this podcast is to help individuals, groups and churches observe the Lord's Supper. The podcast includes a relevant portion of Scripture, brief commentary, prayer, and participation in partaking of the bread and drinking from the cup.
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Eat This Bread Drink This Cup
The Lord Is on Our Side
Welcome to the Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast. The communion meditation today is based on a passage of Scripture from the Old Testament, 1 Samuel 13: 19-22. All Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission
As you listen to the episode today, my hope is that you will be encouraged from the time spent meditating on what Jesus has done for you. You are a special person; the one Jesus died to save!
Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "The LORD Is on Our Side." I read from 1 Samuel 13: 19-22. All quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission.
19 There were no blacksmiths in the land of Israel in those days. The Philistines wouldn’t allow them for fear they would make swords and spears for the Hebrews. 20 So whenever the Israelites needed to sharpen their plowshares, picks, axes, or sickles, they had to take them to a Philistine blacksmith. 21 The charges were as follows: a quarter of an ounce of silver for sharpening a plowshare or a pick, and an eighth of an ounce for sharpening an ax or making the point of an ox goad. 22 So on the day of the battle none of the people of Israel had a sword or spear, except for Saul and Jonathan.
On the eve of the battle with the Philistines, whose army consisted of 3,000 chariots, 6,000 charioteers, and warriors as numerous as grains of sand on the seashore, the inspired author of 1 Samuel provides this short commentary on the state of readiness of Saul and the Israelite army. Saul, Jonathan, and the Israelite army had two swords between them. The rest of his army of 600 soldiers were armed with farm tools. To the Philistine commander, an analysis of the order of battle shows he is highly favored to win the day; however, he failed to consider that the order of battle for the Israelites included the LORD. As Jonathan tells his armor bearer as they ascend the rocky cliff to the Philistine outpost, "Perhaps the LORD will help us, for nothing can hinder the LORD. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!" Jonathan was right, and the LORD saved Israel that day!
The human race from the beginning was ill-prepared to fight and win the battle of good versus evil. Despite our best efforts, we were defeated one-by-one as we broke the Law of God and became prisoners of sin and death. Who would free us as no weapon of human design could defeat our enemy? We were doomed until our champion, Jesus, defeated our enemies and saved the human race. The cost was great, and it appeared for a few days that Jesus had been defeated—He died on the cross; however, His ally, God the Father, restored Him to life. Our champion, Jesus, was victorious! The LORD was on His side and our side. As we assemble today, we partake of the bread and drink from the cup to remember our champion, Jesus. He did not hesitate to suffer and die on the cross for us. Let us pray.
Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. Abba, Father, thank-you that you came to our aid and fought the battle we could not win by sending Your Son, Jesus. The battle was won at great personal cost to Jesus; however, He was victorious when You restored Him to life. Now we are free and live without fear of our enemies. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26: 26-28 (NLT).
26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.
27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.
And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"
Until next time, from Numbers 6: 24-26, "May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace."
Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. There is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!