SPEAKER_01: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: Father, when we sing the great hymns of the faith like that, we're reminded when it says, in earth and heaven be one, what the Bible says, that you were in the world in Christ, reconciling the world to yourself, that you've always been at work, even when we can't see how you're at work, you've always been at work.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the Bible goes on to say in another place that the kingdoms of this world are coming, the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, reconciliation is taking place.
SPEAKER_00: You are moving things to the way they ought to be, should be, and were designed and created to be by our Creator God.
SPEAKER_00: And so we yield to that and we trust you.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, we come today to remind ourselves that you reconciled us by the body and the blood of your son Jesus, who died on the cross in our place and for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: And so we come to the table, Lord, with sobriety and yet with joy.
SPEAKER_00: And we do this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_00: I want to read a portion of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then I want to talk briefly about two words as we prepare uh for communion today.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just kind of say, uh, if you're a guest today, relax.
SPEAKER_00: So today's a communion service.
SPEAKER_00: It is not something we tack on at in the in the eight minutes at the end of a sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it is the entire service here at Grand Park Way.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because the Bible says that there's a rest for the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to enter in and be reminded of that today.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, not there's a rest, not because of effort, but because of accomplishment.
SPEAKER_00: Not ours, but his.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh we do communion uh in a very intentional way here, but we also we practice what's called open communion, which means if you're a Christian, you have a relationship with Christ, that you're welcome to celebrate and receive communion with us today.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible kind of gives us some directives and some directions.
SPEAKER_00: I want to read briefly and just talk about two words.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 11.
SPEAKER_00: He says, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, he took bread and when he had given thanks.
SPEAKER_00: He broke it and said, This is my body which is for you.
SPEAKER_00: Do this in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
SPEAKER_00: Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_00: For as often as you eat this bread and you drink the cup, you proclaim that the Lord's death until he comes.
SPEAKER_00: Two words that I try to just press upon us every time we come to the Lord's table is remember and proclamation.
SPEAKER_00: When I say remember, don't just remember the Passover celebration.
SPEAKER_00: Don't just remember uh communion or the Lord's Supper, or however you thought about it or think about it even today.
SPEAKER_00: Don't just remember a moment from the life of Jesus because the communion is not some sentimental thing that Jesus established so his disciples wouldn't forget him, like a like a middle school boy on the last day of camp, giving his phone number to a middle school girl.
SPEAKER_00: Good luck with that, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Uh no, this is not just a moment, this is an entire life.
SPEAKER_00: So he says, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_00: What I'd like to do this morning is just kind of read from God's word and expand your consciousness of who God is.
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus says, do this in remembrance of me, what all he has in mind.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Bible says it like this, starting back in Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah the prophet wrote these words for to us a child is born, and to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_00: And of the increase of government and of peace there shall be no end, and on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: And the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew picks it up and says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.
SPEAKER_00: When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
SPEAKER_00: But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
SPEAKER_00: Luke continues the birth narrative with these words.
SPEAKER_00: And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
SPEAKER_00: And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
SPEAKER_00: For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And this will be a sign for you.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: John goes on.
SPEAKER_00: And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
SPEAKER_00: John bore witness about him and cried out, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.
SPEAKER_00: For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
SPEAKER_00: For the law was given through Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: No one has ever seen the only God who is at the Father's side.
SPEAKER_00: He has made him known.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes in Colossians, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
SPEAKER_00: For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.
SPEAKER_00: And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
SPEAKER_00: And he is the head of the body, the church.
SPEAKER_00: He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent, for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
SPEAKER_00: And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, you he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.
SPEAKER_00: If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which was been which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
SPEAKER_00: Back to Isaiah the prophet, who has believed what he has heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed.
SPEAKER_00: For he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground.
SPEAKER_00: He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
SPEAKER_00: He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
SPEAKER_00: And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised.
SPEAKER_00: And we esteemed him not.
SPEAKER_00: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
SPEAKER_00: Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
SPEAKER_00: But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.
SPEAKER_00: Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
SPEAKER_00: And with his wounds, we are healed.
SPEAKER_00: All we like sheep have gone astray.
SPEAKER_00: We have turned everyone to his own way.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
SPEAKER_00: He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
SPEAKER_00: Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before it shears is silent.
SPEAKER_00: So he opened not his mouth.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, John.
SPEAKER_00: After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill scripture, I thirst.
SPEAKER_00: A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch, and they held it up to his mouth.
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished.
SPEAKER_00: And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: When Paul says, records, or Jesus said at the Passover feast that night, and he said, As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me, it's not a moment, it's this majestic life that we're remembering this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Second word he says is he says, as often as you do this, you proclaim the Lord's death.
SPEAKER_00: And so, until he comes, in just a moment, if you leave your seat and you come to one of these three stations in the front, or the two in the back, to receive and remember the body and the blood of Christ, where you come to celebrate that.
SPEAKER_00: What you're proclaiming is the Lord's death.
SPEAKER_00: What you're saying is that I am by nature such a sinner that the only way I can be forgiven is Christ had to die in my place and for my sin.
SPEAKER_00: And so what you're saying is, yes, what the Bible says about me is true.
SPEAKER_00: I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: But, and hear this, we don't grovel today.
SPEAKER_00: We don't grovel, we don't come like, oh, I'm just a I'm just a worm in the dirt.
SPEAKER_00: No, you're the sons and daughters of God.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a twofold proclamation.
SPEAKER_00: We say what the Bible says about me is true, but you also uh uh proclaim this that what the Bible says about Jesus is true as well.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, because what the Bible says that he was a true sacrifice, a sufficient sacrifice, what you're saying is that his death is sufficient, but it's also satisfaction for my life.
SPEAKER_00: So by your coming today, you're proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes.
SPEAKER_00: And what you're saying about his death is that his death was sufficient for your sin.
SPEAKER_00: And that is to be celebrated.
SPEAKER_00: Not mourned, not sad, it's not to be whimsy and it's to be soberly joyful.
SPEAKER_00: The death of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we remember the body and the blood.
SPEAKER_00: We do not believe in transubstantiation, and it does not become the body and the blood.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible doesn't teach that.
SPEAKER_00: It's a symbol that represents and reminds.
SPEAKER_00: And our prayer today is that it reorients you around the sufficiency of God in your place for your sins.
SPEAKER_00: Sin no longer has power over you.
SPEAKER_00: You're free.
SPEAKER_00: One other thing that the Bible says is that before you come to the table, we are to examine ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, it's what we were talking about a couple weeks ago in John 4, when he says that the Father is looking for worshipers who worship him in spirit and truth.
SPEAKER_00: When we examine ourselves, what it is, it's a time of preparation where your head and your heart kind of get synced up.
SPEAKER_00: And you you you you you you remind yourself of the gospel that, hey, that the life and the death of Jesus was not only sufficient, but it was satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we examine ourselves, it's not punishment, it's preparation.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we're gonna do is I'm gonna voice a brief prayer, and then Clyde's gonna sing something over you.
SPEAKER_00: And while he's singing, you just kind of examine yourself and you apply the gospel to yourself where most needed.
SPEAKER_00: Because the death of Christ was sufficient, it was enough.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing you can add to that because Jesus plus anything is heresy.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing you could add to it because it's not lacking in any way.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says it like this in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21 He, God, made him Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, so that we may become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So as you prepare to leave your seats after a time of examination and come and receive and remember and proclaim the Lord's death, what you're also proclaiming is a sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing is lacking.
SPEAKER_00: Everything's been provided and paid for.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I could say it this way: look at me, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't poor and he didn't have enough, and so therefore, I had to put you on layaway and come back and make some payments next month.
SPEAKER_00: And I missed a month because I had to get my truck worked on, but I'm gonna be back next month.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna double up and get caught up.
SPEAKER_00: Your God is rich in mercy, and he paid for you in full.
SPEAKER_00: So part of this is just let in today that you're a paid-for people of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we want to act in keeping with the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: That's what makes us the church.
SPEAKER_00: We are the church in as much as we bear the hope of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, we come today to remember your sacrifice and the sufficiency involved in it.
SPEAKER_00: We come to say thank you.
SPEAKER_00: And we come to proclaim your death, not just our sin, but the sufficiency of your death in our place for our sin.
SPEAKER_00: And so now, Lord, in keeping with Scripture, we examine ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, we say what David said in the Psalm, search me, O God, know my heart, try me and see if there'd be any hurtful way in me.
SPEAKER_00: And then lead us in the everlasting way.
SPEAKER_00: We pray and we listen in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Before I dismiss you, let me remind you that we have a team of men going to Costa Rica to continue to nourish one of our missional relationships there in the mountains among the Guami Indians.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's a prayer card on the stage that has the pictures of the guys on the team.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I want to ask you in just a minute when you're dismissed to come and grab one of these and just stick it in your Bible, put it on your kitchen table or somewhere, and just use it as an opportunity to remind your kids that we're by by being a part of a church, you're part of something bigger and better and beyond just us and what we do here on Sunday mornings.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's a good thing to be part of the church.
SPEAKER_00: Not just a church, but the church.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Hold your hands up, and we speak a blessing over you.
SPEAKER_00: Because your God is rich in mercy.
SPEAKER_00: He did not have to put you on lay away.
SPEAKER_00: He paid for you.
SPEAKER_00: With a full knowledge of your absolute capacity to put it on the put it in the ditch on any given day.
SPEAKER_00: He paid for you anyway.
SPEAKER_00: Depart now.
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy what you enjoy today.
SPEAKER_00: But don't be mastered by any of it.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Bless you dismiss.