(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen, you're in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and I'm going to change the message and tell everyone to get a hat on because it said to cover your head. How do people read that? Come up with that, it's so weird isn't it? In case anyone's wondering what I'm talking about there's all these churches all over the place that believe that even though it says that long hair is a covering that apparently they have to wear berets or something because they forgot to read the rest of the chapter. Anyway, we're not going to go on to that, we're actually going to have a different message. If you look down at verse 26, 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 26 which says, For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. And the title of my sermon this morning is how we observe the Lord's Supper, how we observe the Lord's Supper. I'm going to pray and then we're going to get going with this message. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for the Lord's Supper. This was one of two New Testament ordinances that we're going to be observing soon as a church here. Please help me to just explain what it's about, why we observe it as we do and clearly and accurately from your word Lord. Help me to just preach this in a way that everyone will really understand and really just listen to what your word's saying Lord. In Jesus' name I pray all of this. Amen. Okay, so as many of you are aware our church started out as a satellite church of a church called Shaw Foundation Baptist Church over in Vancouver, Washington. So we were planted as a satellite. You know, that's how it works, a church begets another church and we were a satellite church of Shaw Foundation and when it came to our first Lord's Supper I listened to our pastor's yearly explanation of what he believes and I had no problem with it and we just posted that videoed sermon for people to understand that and you know I was just happy to submit to what our pastor said and what he taught. The next year in 2022 I decided to study it out for myself to then preach about it what we believe is Shaw Foundation Baptist Church and I preached a sermon on that in 2022. I did the same the third time we did it in 2023 and now we're independent though. We're an independent church so it's up to me to decide how I believe the Bible teaches that we should observe the Lord's Supper in case anyone's getting excited here thinking is it going to be some exciting dramatic change? No, my opinion hasn't changed. It hasn't changed one bit. I was happy to preach it myself the last two years because I completely agreed with how we're doing it. Otherwise I just wouldn't have preached it and just said well this is what our church believes and I submit to our pastor but I'm the pastor here and I completely agree with how we've been observing it as a church. But what we do have here is we have some new faces and we also have some forgetful ones and regardless of any of that it's a pretty big deal. Okay it's a pretty big deal with the Lord's Supper so it deserves at least one sermon a year about it which is what you're getting today in case anyone was still wondering. No well yes we are preaching about the Lord's Supper today because amongst Christianity as a whole the Lord's Supper is observed in a ton of different ways so I don't know if people are aware of this I don't know how much church exposure you've had. One of the most bizarre would be the Roman Catholic way of doing it. They all call it communion and obviously mass and things like that and they'll do it up to twice a day. Some will take mass up to twice a day. Okay and they believe that the wafer that they usually have, it's usually a wafer, and the alcoholic wine somehow morph into the actual flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So they believe in something called transubstantiation which is a load of Catholic hocus pocus nonsense. Okay just in case anyone was wondering about that you ain't eating the physical flesh of Jesus Christ or drinking the physical blood of his when you partake in the Lord's Supper. So if anyone's a bit squeamish and has avoided it for that reason don't worry about that. Okay it's a funny thing that they can be so overly literal at some points in life in the Bible. So some verse of the Bible then other verses of the Bible they just completely disregard and they don't even attempt to take even a semi literal sort of interpretation of it. But the Catholic and its spawn the Anglican or Church of England church's influence is pretty big on this nation so a lot of people will have had some exposure to this sort of thing maybe growing up at school going to church when they're young going to go to friends maybe churches things like that. So what happens is that a lot of nominal Christians and new believers would assume that the Lord's Supper is someone passing around this booze filled goblet. I don't know if you've ever seen the sort of things they give out. They usually like these really very nice looking golden like goblets that they just pass around and someone just like wipes it with a tea cloth before you take it. I mean I preached about health and stuff in the church I mean that sounds like a bad idea but anyway so they do this in these places but a lot of people be influenced by that but even amongst the more Bible based type of church around there is a lot of variation as well so even those that will get their teachings from the Bible at least claim they get the teachings from the Bible you'll have those that observe it weekly those that observe it monthly every few months only on special occasions yearly some will ban anyone that hasn't sworn to all of the doctrines of the church to be able to be a member and partake in the Lord's Supper so there are Baptist churches out there will say unless you swear that you believe in the pre-trib rapture and that you want to worship you know this the state of Israel basically and all of that stuff you ain't welcome you're not getting involved in the Lord's Supper there are those out there like that and then there's others where it's a literal free-for-all as well some will make statements like if you have any sin in your life this isn't for you I've been in a church like that before it's like if you have sin in your life the Lord's Supper is not for you you need to you need to get that sin out of your life before you partake in the Lord's Supper well if that was really true and that was the case then that would be no one partaking the Lord's Supper because we're all sinners yeah because all have sinned to come short the glory of God so that's ridiculous others though they'll have so you have that side where they're like literally it's only kind of the boys club of people that pretend they're like perfect and then you'll have the other side where it's just a free-for-all sodomites cross-dressers weirdos coming off the street come on in just partake in the Lord's Supper and again that's the other the other side as well they all sing kumbaya together beforehand and go we'll just you know one because we claim something some nominal Christianity or something like that so today though because of all of that and because it can be a confusing topic I'm going to show you how Strong Tower Baptist Church observes the Lord's Supper we're Strong Tower Baptist Church here and and the way we do it for me is a biblical way to do it now look down at 1st Corinthians 11 where the Apostle Paul both reproves the Corinthian Church and corrects him about the Lord's Supper he says this from verse 17 1st Corinthians 11 and verse 17 now in this that sorry now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not that you come together not for the better but for the worse for first of all when you come together in the church I hear that there be divisions among you and I partly believe it the title is how we observe the Lord's Supper and point number one today is where do we observe the Lord's Supper where do we observe the Lord's Supper and in case you're thinking well this is a no-brainer there are varying beliefs about this believe it or not some believe that it's to be done at home some that it's to be done just between small groups of believers and anywhere they want to do that some that it's to be done in a meeting of multiple churches that they'll only do when they all come together and do the Lord's Supper with certain denominations some that the Lord's Supper can be taken anywhere that calls itself a church they're like well I'm going to take the Lord's Supper so I'm just going to find somewhere that calls itself a church and get involved now we believe that Lord's Supper is to be observed in the church the congregation or assembly of believers together look at first Corinthians 11 and verse 17 says now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not that you come together not for the better but for the worse for first of all when you come together in the church okay when you come together in the church I hear that there be divisions among you and I partly believe it so he's talking about them coming together in the church okay that meeting place where the assembly the call that assembly the body of Christ meets for there must be also heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you when you come together therefore into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper now some might look at this and say that they shouldn't be coming together as a large group for the Lord's Suppers they'll go well that's what they shouldn't be doing however Paul is reproving what they're doing and saying that what they're doing is not the Lord's Supper he says in verse 21 for Lotus of four four in eating everyone taketh before other his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken so he's saying four this is the reason that it's not to eat the Lord's Supper this is the reason that what you're doing is not to eat the Lord's Supper and he then says he said four in eating everyone taketh before other his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken and for me this is talking about being drunken with food you go well why well well probably due to gluttony hence the contrast if you look at it between one being hungry and another drunken one is hungry and another drunken because you know you can be drunk with food I don't know if anyone has known that some of us men here probably know that quite well you know sometimes you can eat too much and you feel pretty like this yeah and you feel a bit drunk with food however that's not to say that it's not boozy it could have been boozy this was a pretty carnal church just bear in mind in first Corinthians five he had just said to kick out anyone who's a drunkard okay so that would be a bit of a strange thing well unless he's kind of on the back of that going look people are drunkards and hopefully you're kicking them out as well but for me this is a potluck gone out of control okay and he's saying that is not the Lord's Supper so bringing along your own food having a feast getting stuff someone else has hardly got any food and they're just sitting there going what's going on here I didn't even get anything to eat because I didn't have anything to bring that's not the Lord's Supper some are eating some the poorer it seems they're not eating they're being shamed it said in verse 22 what have you not houses to eat to drink in or despise you the church of God and shame them that have not what should I say to you should I praise you in this I praise you not he's reproving them for making the Lord's Supper into some sort of feast he's saying to feast at home he's saying if you want to do that you want to eat and drink and stuff yourselves everything else do that at home then he reminds her of how the Lord's Supper is to be observed he says for I have received of the Lord verse 23 that which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me after the same manner also he took the cup when he had sucked saying this cup is a New Testament in my blood this do ye as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the Lord's death till he come wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthy shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lord's body for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep for if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged but when we're judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world wherefore notice this last bit wherefore my brethren when ye come together to eat when you come together to eat tarry one for another and if any man hunger let him eat at home that ye come not together unto condemnation and the rest will I set in order when I come he's clearly telling them to come together but not if they're hungry not if they're coming for and the reason they're coming is just for a feeder clearly okay we observe the Lord's Supper at the New Testament Church the assembly of believers okay and just to make it clear just because a place has a church sign on the outside that's not a New Testament Church and I know most people in this church are aware of that in 1 Timothy 3.15 Paul said but if I tarry long let thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth the church the New Testament Church is a pillar and ground of the truth it's not a legitimate church if it doesn't believe the gospel so we believe the Lord's Supper is to be observed in the church you ain't observing the Lord's Supper if you go to a place which doesn't even believe the gospel you ain't observing the Lord's Supper if you go to the other religion that's not the church and you go what you mean the other religion is he talking about Islam is he talking about I'm talking about all the other versions of the gospel which don't include it being graced by faith alone because all of that works I've actually just the other religion how am I observing the Lord's Supper if I'm going to a place where they teach you've got to give up all your sin to get saved you've got to try not to sin to get saved you've got to give up certain sins you've got to stop sinning in the future to get saved you've got to do something to keep yourself it's all work salvation that's not a New Testament Church it's not a new it's not a legitimate New Testament Church if it doesn't preach the gospel so if they don't preach the gospel and I'm not talking about the guy behind the pole bitches finding clever ways to preach the gospel in every single sermon to what should be a group of saved people if they're not going out and getting people saved it's not a New Testament Church now look you know we could we don't have to go too far this guy they don't do like door-to-door so but there's got to be something and they should do door-to-door soul winning that's the biblical way right but if there's got to be something they've got to go out and try and get people saved preach the gospel that's the whole point in a church if it ain't doing that in a church you will have removed the candlestick from them long ago right he comes unto them quickly to remove the candlestick if they're not doing the first works and it's not a legitimate New Testament Church if it doesn't preach the word of God so they might appear to have the gospel they might appear to do some sort of outreach but they're using Bible of the month they you oh well we've we're going with the NIV today we're going with this we're going with pastor knows best he goes with five different versions it tells you which one's the best because he's so clever how can we match his his great language skills he'll tell us what the Greek really says he'll tell us what the Hebrew really says ain't a church ain't preaching the truth in English it's clear as day it's the King James Bible if you've got issue with that talk to me after the service I'll explain it to you because it's not very difficult okay the King James Bible is what we've got we've had it in English for now 400 years we don't need a new version which starts changing all sorts of doctrines okay if it doesn't have the word of God it ain't a church so if you're not observed the Lord's Supper with a bunch of unsaved people in a false church somewhere just to make that clear so if anyone watch this online guys well I bet just go down to local Baptist Church the local you know churches together on the sign outside and you know that'll be alright won't it and they'll give me some like great juice at least I've done that's not that's not observing the Lord's Supper we believe that the Lord's Supper is observed in the local New Testament Church but that is a legitimate church okay the title is it today is how we observe the Lord's Supper point number one where do we observe the Lord's Supper in the local New Testament Church now point number two when do we observe the Lord's Supper when do we observe the Lord's Supper look down at verse 23 verse 23 where you're on first Corinthians 11 it says for I've received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night to which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me after the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped saying this cup is a New Testament in my blood this do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me for as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye to show the Lord's death till he come so in verse 24 Jesus Christ said to do it in remembrance of him in verse 25 he said as oft as ye drink in verse 26 he said as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup is he saying that every time you eat unleavened bread and every time that you drink juice is that what he's talking about are you doing that in remembrance of him are you observing the Lord's Supper no he said this bread this cup it's specific this bread and this cup what was it well verse 23 is referring us to the Last Supper so we're going to go there to have a look so turn to Luke chapter 22 please keep something in first Corinthians 11 we're going to be coming back there and also put something in whether it's a finger a ribbon a your bulletin or something in Luke 22 because we're going to be going there a bit as well Luke 22 now this is the clearest passage where the Lord Jesus Christ institutes the Lord's Supper it says in verse 7 of Luke 22 Luke 22 and verse 7 it says then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed and he sent Peter and John saying go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat and they said unto him where wilt thou that we prepare and he said unto them behold when you're entered into the city there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water follow him into the house where he enter thin and you shall say unto the Goodman of the house the master saith unto thee where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples and he shall show you a large upper room furnished there make ready and they went and found as he had said unto them and they made ready the Passover and when the hour was come he sat down the twelve apostles with him and he said unto them with desire I have desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer before I suffer sorry okay so what was the Last Supper it was the Passover at this point okay what was the Passover and that's what we're going to look at briefly turn to Exodus 12 so I know we're going to do a bit of turning but look this is an important subject to get right okay turn to Exodus 12 when God freed the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt he instituted the yearly Passover now here in Exodus 12 we're soon after those first nine plagues and God says this to Moses so in Exodus chapter 12 then he's done the first nine plagues and he says this in verse three speak ye of Exodus 12 3 speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel saying in the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers a lamb for an house if the house shall be too little for the man for the lamb so he let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb your lamb shall be without blemish a male of the first year ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats and you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening and you shall keep uh sorry sorry uh that was verse six you should kill it in the evening okay so this is a very obvious picture of salvation isn't it with the unblemished lamb here represented the sinless Jesus Christ first Peter 1 19 that return there says that we were not redeemed with corruptible things but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot okay this is clearly a picture of that sacrifice the lamb here represents a coming savior okay it represents Jesus Christ the savior coming to save us from from well ultimately from eternal death in hell now verse six pictures the multitude being responsible for his death says and you shall keep it up until the fourth day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening okay which is what we see with the Lord Jesus Christ and verse seven says they should take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts on the upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it they shall eat the flesh in that night roast with fire and unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it eat not of it raw nor sodden at all with water but roast with fire his head with his legs and with the pertinent so of and you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning and that which remaineth of it until the morning you shall burn with fire the burning with fire seems to be pretty important wouldn't you say that seems to be a pretty important part of it that pictures Jesus Christ ascending into hell okay clear doctrine in the bible please see brother who knows some if you've got any questions about that he goes into it in depth it's clear as day acts 2 31 speaking of the prophecy of David says he's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell neither his flesh did see corruption okay Jesus Christ so wasn't left in hell because it was in hell okay that's why he said for his jones was three days and three nights in the world's belly so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth that's hell okay that was uh matthew 12 40 by the way but verse 11 here says and thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand you shall eat it in haste it is the Lord's Passover it makes you think of the urgency and courage with salvation doesn't it remember this is a picture of salvation it's eating it in haste basically ready to go as well you have to turn to 2 Corinthians 6 2 talk about the urgency of salvation says for he saith i've heard thee in a time accepted in the day of salvation have i secured thee behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation that's something we try and urge people don't we we urge them we say look you need to get saved we're like don't don't tarry don't go away and start doing something else and get your mind into something else get saved and there's this urgency that we're seeing here with them taking the the uh the Passover it says for i will pass through the land of egypt this night and will smite all the first one in the land of egypt both man and beast against all the gods of egypt i will execute judgment i am the Lord and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are and when i see the blood i will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when i smite the land of egypt they were saved by blood from that unblemished land just as we're saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ yeah a clear picture and it was to be done yearly to remember the deliverance and to picture salvation yeah this was to be done yearly for that picture for them to remember for that reminder of the salvation to come and a reminder of the deliverance that they got the physical deliverance which was a picture of salvation he said in this day shall be unto you for a memorial and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever seven days shall eat unleavened bread even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day that soul shall be cut off from israel so the passover meal initiates the seven day feast of unleavened bread yeah and in the first day there should be an holy convocation that's an assembly and in the seventh day there should be a holy convocation to you no manner of work should be done them say that which every man must eat that only may be done of you so they're all to come together as a holy assembly what do we call that now a church okay they all to come together as a holy assembly that's what the church is now keep a finger here this was what they were observing in luke 22 they were observing this passover that's where it was initiated this is the instruction for the passover you've just read in excess 12 now look at luke 22 and verse 14 where it says and when the hour was come he sat down and the 12 apostles with him and he said unto them with desire i have desired to eat this passover with you before i suffer that's what they were doing yeah for i say unto you i will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of god it was the last one of his of his earthly ministry but it does give the impression that the passover will continue in some form he said he said i will not eat any i will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of god he then says and he took the cup it says and he took the cup and gave thanks and said take this and divide it among yourselves for i sound to you i will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of god shall come and he took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them saying this is my body which is given for you this do in remembrance of me likewise also the cup after cup after supper saying this cup is a new testament in my blood which is shed for you now yes jesus christ fulfills the passover okay so i'm not telling anyone that you need to start observing the passover anymore but the lord's supper replaces the passover and i believe that's pretty clear okay the lord's supper is a replacement he's now just ordained the lord's supper at the passover saying this is what you need to do now without the lamb because he is a lamb okay he said do it in remembrance of it right and back in first corinthians 11 if you go back there paul is relaying the words of the lord during that final passover he says in verse 26 for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the lord's death till he come this bread in this cup is the bread and juice that was being shared at the passover and just just as now it's the picture salvation that's ultimately what we're doing we're doing the lord's supper we're picturing the blood and body of jesus christ given for us aren't we it's the same thing back in excess 12 it was to picture salvation too and guess how often they did it back in those days once a year and all we're doing is replacing the passover it's now turned into the lord's supper and we do it once a year that's what we believe at this church and i've i personally i i think that's pretty clear in scripture myself says in verse 26 where you are and it shall come to pass when your children sorry not back in excess 12 look back at excess 12 verse 26 it says and it shall come to pass when your children shall sound to you what mean you by the service that you shall say it is a sacrifice of the lord's passover who passed over the house of the children of israel in egypt when he smote the egyptians and delivered our houses and the people bowed their head and worshipped once a year seemed to be sufficient for that and i don't think anything's changed with that in fact pretty much all the feasts were pretty much once a year most of them you know and and that's what that's what i believe the lord's supper is it's we're just the the passover has just changed the lord's supper now and we do that once a year so when do we observe the lord's supper at strong tower baptist church once a year just before easter which is the accessible gathering now accessible gathering you could go well why aren't you doing it you know sort of a few days before easter and some i know verity baptist church do that i think they do it on their wednesday service our problem here is that we have a lot of people that travel from a long way a long distance and a wednesday isn't so easy for many to get to there there are you know problems for them to get here on a wednesday so we do it on a sunday the sunday before easter is when we do it for us that's replacing i don't think the date is the important thing the important thing is what we're doing how we're coming together and everything else we do it at this church prior to easter sunday once a year go back to first corinthians 11 the title today is how we observe the lord's supper and point number one where do we observe the lord's supper in the local new testament church point number two when do we observe the lord's supper once a year before easter we we believe it's a replacement it's it's taken over from the passover and point number three what way do we observe the lord's supper so what way do we observe the lord's supper look at verse 20 in first corinthians 11 it says when you come together therefore into one place this is not to eat the lord's supper for in eating everyone taketh before other his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken what have you not houses to eat and to drink in or despise you the church of god and shame them that have not what shall i say to you shall i praise you in this i praise you not for i have received the lord that which i also delivered unto you that lord jesus same night which he was betrayed took bread when he had given thanks he breakred and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this during remembrance of me after the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped saying this cup is a new testament in my blood this do you as often as you drink it in remembrance of me poor wonders how not to do it okay our lord's supper service isn't a feed up okay it's not a feed up and again i don't know there's probably places out there do you make it into a feed up i mean they seem to get everything else wrong in the bible and see clear warnings and do exactly what they're warned not to do so i'm sure they're places that do we encourage people to eat a good lunch that day so i am encouraging you that like eat a good lunch don't come here really hungry thinking how big a bit of unleavened bread can i get maybe if maybe if i kind of sneak it they'll come past i'll get another bit that's we wouldn't encourage doing that um we give an even amount to everyone partaking we don't measure it we don't weigh it but it's kind of an evenly ripped amount of bread yeah breaking for everyone we we break simple unleavened bread which is bread with no yeast okay it's not risen and we distribute it we don't give out strange white wafer-y things pre-packaged ordered from some sort of you know christian store or something i don't even know what's in that stuff i mean what even anyone ever had one of those wafers a couple of old c of e church types okay they kind of like melt in your mouth they're just weird aren't they i don't even know what they are but uh they're something very strange i don't think there's probably much bread in there but we don't give out that we we use unleavened bread just simply made unleavened bread we distribute a small amount of grape juice not alcoholic wine which is ridiculous okay that's so ridiculous considering that leaven yeast represents sin in the bible it represents sin it represents false doctrine yeah and the juice is representing what what's it meant to represent the pure sinless blood of the lord jesus christ how on earth can anyone then justify drinking alcoholic wine and that's meant to represent this the pure sinless blood of the lord jesus christ and you know what it's not even one of the many places in the bible where we're like well is it alcoholic wine or not because as we know the bible is full of places it talks about the new wine of the vine you know of the grapes of the vine it talks about wine which clearly is juice and then there's wine with you though i'm not sure if they're talking about alcoholic or not here it's not even that when it comes to the lord supper it's a cup it's a cup everyone mentions the word well they can't even grab the whole the the wine nonsense false teaching in luke 22 it was called the fruit of the vine and the cup and that's exactly what it's called in matthew 26 and mark 14 and here in verse 25 it says after the same man also he took the cup it's a cup it ain't wine okay when he had sucked it's called the fruit of the vine and it's called the cup in scripture and it said when he had sucked saying this cup is the new testament in my blood this day as often as you drink it in remembrance of me something else we don't do supping is another word of for saying sipping okay we'd use the word sip now so we don't give out like sort of gallons of the stuff we're not pouring anyone need a top up or anything else knock it back and just guzzle a load of juice at least you get a nice old fruit juice drink up on the lord supper once a year we just give out it's one of those little thimbles you know and some guys this is a bit tight well because we're supping it okay it's not we're not there for like you know kind of try and fill ourselves up with fruit juice then verse 24 it says it said this and when he had given thanks he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this doing remembrance of me after the same man also he took the cup when he had stopped saying this cup is a new testament in my blood this do you as often as you drink it in remembrance of me lastly we do it reverently okay we do it reverently it's not a party atmosphere we're remembering the sacrifice of the lord jesus christ specifically what he went through specifically him breaking his body for us specifically him shedding his blood for us okay it's it's not like a you know kind of you know lord supper time guys panting each other back is it we do it reverently we try and think about that and dwell on what jesus christ went through for us before we have the celebration time at easter with the resurrection right the title is the title of today is how we observe the lord supper point number one okay where do we observe the lord supper in the local new testament church number two when do we observe the lord supper once a year before easter number three what way do we observe the lord supper in a reverent way with a small amount of unleavened bread and juice now number four and this one's going to be a slightly longer point is who can observe the lord supper who can observe the lord supper verse 26 said for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you just show the lord's death till he come wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the lord but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the lord's body for this cause many a week and sickly among you and many sleep for if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged but when we are judged we are chastened of the lord that we should not be condemned with the world wherefore my brethren when you come together to eat tarry one for another and if any man hunger let him eat at home that you come not together unto condemnation arrest will i set in order when i come that's some pretty strong warnings there isn't it there's some pretty strong warnings and they need breaking down don't they we need to make sure that we're doing this right and that people and that you know people aren't going to be in danger of any of this sort of stuff now the obvious context here is to not make the lord supper and eat as much as you like gluttonous feast that's the obvious context of this passage okay that's what they were doing and even finishes the passage talking about coming together tarry one for another wait for each other right when you eat he says he says if any man hunger let him eat at home so don't come just because you want to feed up right you come not together unto condemnation arrest will i set in order when i come however i do think that there are other things that should be obvious too so that is the context of the problem that the that the corinthian church had that he's writing a letter to however i think there are obvious things that would go hand in hand with it first off you need to make sure you're saved wouldn't you say that you need to be saved if you're going to partake in the lord's supper back in luke 22 and he initially sat down with the 12 look at luke 22 again and it says in verse 21 but behold the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table and truly the son of man goeth as it was determined but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed woe unto that man talking about judas iscariot and if you're sitting in a church like this you're rejecting the gospel now i'm not talking about new visitors i'm not talking about people that maybe come for a short amount of time and i'm not talking about kids here you know that maybe haven't got saved yet maybe kids that are too young to even you know really understand good and evil i'm not talking about that but if you're sitting in this church you'll be sitting in here for any length of time and you're still rejecting the gospel the truth is that you're likely you're more likely to be a judas than someone that's going to get saved in the future that's the reality of it because and you know what i've talked about this before where because i know like our previous past he's talked about people that seem to be fine for years and suddenly it's like they've been activated they just go on to like destroy the church mode it's like it must destroy and they just start trying to do anything they can destroy the church i think maybe some of those people are people that maybe weren't weren't given over when they joined the church and they want it they kind of got involved but they just reject reject reject reject not telling everyone they're rejecting by the way and then eventually they're given over and when they're given over now they're a child of the devil and it's and you've got problems right and look you need to you need to examine yourselves and make sure look do i really believe the gospel do i am i saved do i believe it's grace through faith alone am i clinging on to some sort of works some sort of change of light some sort of turning over a new leaf that i'm clinging to as part of my salvation some sort of well i know i i you know just in case you know i think that i'm still good enough you know if maybe it isn't grace through faith you need to make sure you believe the gospel yeah because and if by grace and is it no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace and if it be of work then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work it's one or the other make sure you believe the gospel you need to make sure you're saved right and he said in verse 27 of first corinthians 11 wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink the cup of the lord unworthy shall be guilty of the body and blood of the lord but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the lord's body now if you're sitting here going well you know i don't know look if you want to know how to get saved talk to just myself or you know one of one of you know one of the ushers or whatever after the service and we'll happily explain to you about salvation okay so i'm not saying right if you've sat here and you you haven't asked anyone you must be a judas but sadly we do see that a lot in the bible and if and the thing is though if if you are a judas well you're stuffed anyway you might as well get involved with the lord sapler okay because it's too late for you all right but um and we're not on a judas hunt here okay because we've got a great church with many great people here but verse 30 says for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep okay now sleep is a term used for believers physically dying okay for example jesus said lazarus sleepeth okay and and many places do that in scripture the weak and sickly is a chastisement from god clearly look at verse 32 but when we are judged we are chastened of the lord that we should not be condemned with the world it's only believers that are chastened okay this is talking about believers believers who are being punished believers who are being chastened and these are serious warnings for the saved and you know like like we've said many times a lot of churches don't talk about the chastisement of god there's chastisement in life well because a lot of churches well they ain't children of god so they don't get chastised you know the chastisement's for our own good as well it's for the the good of the group as well so people who are who are in wickedness sometimes they need chastisement right and they need they need things which which will hopefully get them into line for everyone else but how do we make sure therefore that we're not eating and drinking unworthily well number one we should be baptised you need to be baptized if you're saved you should be baptised first Corinthians 14 40 says let all things be done decently and in order let all things be done decently and in order and i'll tell you what's a clear order in the word of god people getting saved then getting baptised and that comes before getting involved with the lord so do you know when baptism comes in in in throughout the new testament is almost straight after salvation so if you've got saved you should be getting baptised whether you like the water or not whether you're worried about getting water up your nose or in your ears or not whether you're worried about it being a public spectacle it doesn't really matter get baptized because if you're not you're not right with god okay and i i believe if you want to partake in yourself we don't have like a membership criteria in this church we don't have people you know you've got to swear to everything do you know what you need to be to be a member of our church you need to just be saved and baptised we consider you a church member now when you're not baptized you're happy you're well going to come to this church come and get involved be part of this church but if you're resisting baptism i'm not really going to consider that person a member of our church okay because you ain't right with god if you ain't baptized yeah however i consider you a regular visitor you know and that's a good thing it's better to be a regular visitor than a regular non-visitor but you need to get baptised okay so firstly you should be baptised because if you're not you're in disobedience to god and look just quickly on that it is believers baptism as well so in case anyone said you're going well it's all right i got sprinkled when i was a baby uh you know some weird guy in a dress sprinkled some water over me or even worse dunked me underwater you know and like my parents actually let that weirdo hold me or something you know and many of us have probably had stuff like that happen to us okay but that wasn't baptism okay that's not baptism baptism is believers baptism okay you have to turn to acts 8 37 it talks about uh when philip was asked by the ethiopian eunuch what the thing to me to be baptized the answer was if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest and the answer said i believe that jesus christ the son of god getting baptized only comes after salvation so if you got baptized and now you're saved you ain't been baptized okay now i did get a question about this so just to just to make this clear what i believe about this okay i actually got a question earlier about this if you were baptized by someone that was a false prophet okay you got you can get re-baptized that's fine but you don't have to if this is what i believe if you were saved if you believe that person was a saved man of god and you believe that he was a legitimate person baptized you go where's the verse for for possible show me a verse where it says that that anyone all of a sudden baptized and if and all these people that try and go well i should you know you get these people that want to have their own like home ministries and they're baptizing people in lakes and things yeah it's like okay fine so why can't my teenage daughter baptize people then yeah you got a problem with that oh oh no they've got to be male because uh well well because at least we see leadership in churches as well why can't my son baptize you then why can't my 11 year old son baptize you i'll tell you what because the example we see in scripture is ordained men of god that's why okay that's the example we see and we follow the example but anyway on that if you if you've been baptized before and and you're like yeah but now in hindsight that guy's a false prophet if you were saved and you felt that that was an ordained man of god you felt that that was a legitimate that that they were legitimate they baptized you then i consider that legitimate baptism because ultimately it's between you and god you weren't just going to any old guy and go oh my mate around the corner is going to dunk me in the bath and i'm going to call that baptism yeah if you did what you consider to be a legitimate baptism i don't have a problem with that however if you decide yeah but i'm still not happy because that guy's a wicked false prophet and i want to be baptized again then by all means twice we'll do it third time if you want yeah oh kidding but but you you know there's no there's no it's not going to hurt you to get baptized again if it's really bothering you okay but that's your choice okay so you need to be baptized what else do we believe well this chapter is in a letter where one of the main subjects is what kicking people out of church that's one of the main subjects of this letter in fact we see that a guy get getting they uh the apostle paul instructing them to kick out this fornicator in first corinthians five now turn to first corinthians five so back in chapter five where paul actually uses a comparison to the lord's supper in first corinthians five he says this so he talks about this guy who's fornicated with his father's wife and and i i've explained this a few times now i believe that the fornication happened before his father married this woman so it's obviously his step mum now but i think there was some fornication previous to that he's talked about as if it's a past event that's happened he then tells him to kick him out and he says this in verse six your glorying is not good know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump so leaven here representing sin how it will affect the whole church yeah that little leaven will affect everyone so just having open fornication in your church everyone knows about it they all just think it's funny they all they're glorying in it that's going to massively affect the church isn't it okay he said purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be a new lump as ye are sorry as ye are unleavened for even christ our passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the feast he's talking about current present tense the feast isn't he here yeah let us keep the feast not with old leaven so he's not doing about the old passover now he's talking about the replacement of it not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth so he's saying to get rid of this fornicator and the sinner in in the same way that the passover was observed by getting rid of leaven so they were told to remove leaven from their house yeah before the passover and then the feast for unleavened bread he then says to keep the feast not with the old sin or by replace it with malice and wickedness okay and that can happen can't it you know you you kind of get rid of him and then everyone's are full of sort of malice towards the the the pastor for example for getting rid of them don't don't replace it with with more problems but by doing things properly now with that in mind okay we believe that the following list of sins from first corinthians 5 to be in would make you unworthy of the lord's supper i think it's a no-brainer because you're meant to be kicked out of church you should be getting kicked out of church if you're in the list of sins in first corinthians 5 you go but what if they're in church look and if you've repented from that if you've got right if you change your mind about about that sin you've stopped just indulging and you've come and you've gone right and you've got right and we've restored you into the church you're right with god okay that's fine but if you're not because i don't know i don't know what people are doing i'm not believe it or not i'm not outside your house with binoculars and unless you're really bad yeah no like we you know this isn't a weird this isn't a weird cult yeah i don't know look i'll preach the word of god and i'll preach harder stuff sometimes you think i know what you're doing because i'm preaching stuff you're like how did he know about that honestly don't i'm just preaching what i believe the holy spirit has laid on my heart to preach okay and sometimes it will be it will feel personal but i don't really know but these things if if i did know i'd be kicking you out for and therefore should you be partaking in the lord's supper if you shouldn't even be in church according to god surely not and i think that's just sensible is it now oh yes in first corinthians 11 the context with them turn it into a feast and everything else but do you think someone's worthy to partake in the lord's supper if they shouldn't even be in church surely not surely not so let's have a look at them and by the way let's just add anyone turning a blind eye to this stuff you would argue would be unworthy too because we've just read a little leaven leaven as a whole lump because they don't care about the effect on the church because they don't want to be unpopular they don't want to be the one that said something i want to be the one that mentioned that this person was whispering false doctrine or doing this or doing that well then you're a problem as well right you said in verse nine i wrote onto you an epistle not to company with fornicators yet not all together with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortion or with idolaters for them must you need to go out the world he's saying he's not talking about unsaved people but now i've written onto you not to keep company for any man it is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such and one known not to eat for what am i to do to judge them also that are without do not you judge them that are within but them that are without god judges therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person that's a clear command in new testament church isn't it clear as anything but what do we have we have a lot of place call themselves churches that don't even care about this don't even care about the commands of the bible because they're too busy trying to put bums on pews and trying to just look over anything and pretend how loving they are probably like the first like the church of first corinthians was like that corinthian church they were glorying probably in their own just you know how liberal they are and they don't really care because they're so loving yeah we we just welcome in fornicators well that's not what god wants okay no don't get me wrong we welcome in people to get them saved yeah we want to get them saved but once someone's a brother or since once someone considers themselves a part of our church and then we call them a brother or sister in christ they better not be in these sins and if they are and i find out about it i'll kick them out of church okay sit in verse 11 but now i've written unto you not to keep company if any any man that is called a brother talking about someone saved here be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunken or extortion with such a one no not to eat right for if anyone doesn't know what a fornicator is well you weren't here last week you didn't watch your sermon but i preach a whole sermon on fornication i think i showed very clearly from the bible what fornication is it's not adultery fornication is outside of marriage okay adulterers are covetous we'll deal with that in a minute okay and they should be kicked out as well but fornicators are people that are basically having a physical relationship and neither one of them is married and that's like like i explained last week all over this country all over this nation now again like i said there are people there'll be many people in this church that have fornicated sadly and the hope and the sad truth is there might be in the future and and go on to it but that's that doesn't make it okay and if they're repentant if they're right with god if they're not in if they're not getting involved with that great but if someone is is fornicating and they're outside of church sleeping around basically and all that stuff and i find out about it i'm kicking them out the church now if they want to get right on that on that matter if they want to get right because it's not always just people are like a boyfriend and girlfriend living something yeah there's people that just go and just just sadly like act like a like a whoremonger or like the bible call a whore and and look we want them to get right we want them to get right and we want them to we want to be able to restore people in the future but first off the punishment they're getting kicking them out is for the good of the church it's not oh hopefully we'll get them right no the first thing is for the good of the church okay with that like that's not that's not uh that's not what we want in this church and that sounds weird because what's most of the world doing living in fornication in one way or another it doesn't really matter because we want people right and we god doesn't change god has it changed because of the swinging 60s okay now we do give people a chance for that as well so if someone comes into this church we get them saved and they're maybe living in fornication with their boyfriend or girlfriend or something like that yeah we want to get them right okay we want to give them i'll give them a few weeks to try and you know either get married or or or stop living together and stop fornicating and get right if they don't think that's the person that they that they're there to marry but you know what i'm not going to give them much longer than that to get right we want to build them up to the things of god and then they got it there's a decision to make there okay and if and some people look they'll be told right you need to get married and get have a shotgun wedding if that's you if some or someone in the future someone watches this and you're out there and you're like yeah i've got involved in the church i want to i want to serve god i want to do the things of god but i'm living with my boyfriend or girlfriend and get married and get married and if you don't think they're the right person for you then ditch them and get rid of them and get right with god okay covetousness okay now this is inordinately desirous excessively eager to obtain and possess directed to money or goods avaricious greedy again it's things that aren't yours to have really as well so like i said someone who's adulterous is a cut is covetous someone who's a who's who's in adultery commits adultery i'm not like well it's not a fornicator come on in i'll kick them out for being covetous okay because they're coveting something that's not theirs it's someone else's someone else's husband someone else's wife or they already have a husband or wife and they're and they're they're in adultery they're out the church for being covetous but it also includes people that are inordinately desirous excessively eager people are just all about money there and they're examples like we had before people trading in our church trying to trade trying to create businesses to make money out of the brethren and things like that these people are wicked yeah you come to church trying to make money out of people what's wrong with you people doing all that stuff when it's clear and we'll give people a chance you know we give people like we have before there are people that maybe just haven't understood and not kind of known how to behave in church things like that but eventually we'll kick those people out again like i said there are people that might be involved in this stuff that we just don't know about right idolater is a worshiper of idols one who worships as a deity that which is not god and that would include false gods and like i said before if all the gods of the nations are idols then if you're going and worshipping a false version of god so you're a member of our church but you spend your evenings or you know you kind of come here one week and then the next week you're in an blatantly false church you're somewhere where they don't believe the gospel you're somewhere where they're doing all their signs and wonders and all that absolute devilry you're an idolater and you ain't welcome now again if you're newly saved and we want to try and get you right it's not like you might have one foot in one church one the other but again there's a short amount of time before you need to realize you're saved and and look your spirit agreeeth with the spirit that comes from reading the word of god right and and not from all that wickedness and if you're just choosing idolatry choosing those false gods then you're not welcome in this church a railer a railer isn't someone that that that insults okay and that's what the dictionary definition tries to say well therefore jesus was a railer then because jesus called hereda fox jesus called jesus called um them hypocrites he he called them whited sep because all these sort of things you know the the pharisees described jesus wasn't a railer okay railing always includes something that that that has purposeful lying or dishonesty now what's funny is that people what they try and do is because we call out false prophets we call out wickedness we sometimes name and shame we mark wicked people in this church and churches like us they always like to call us railers he's a railer because he said that a wicked person's wicked he's a rail because he said that a perver is a perver you know it's no no that's not really should i tell you what railing is things like standing up in a church and bearing complete false witness and being a false witness to something that never happened that's railing yeah and i'll tell you another thing that's railing writing stupidly long youtube essays on comment sections of videos full of lies about a church you used to be at whilst calling the pastor a railer that's railing the irony is amazing it seems to be lost on these clouds as well yeah and again it's not just online but obviously online is quite a powerful thing because they're trying to put people off from being involved in our church but put people off from supporting our church and stuff like that and the online world is powerful you know it's not just complete nonsense we don't just go it doesn't matter it's online but then there's obviously people that will literally just rail in a church just make up lies tell lies about people and that's railing okay clear dishonesty is always dishonesty if you do a study of it through the bible you see every time there's something dishonest some purposeful lie about it okay drunkard you go what's a drunkard is that the guys that are down the road they're drinking cans of super tea at 10 o'clock in the morning when you're on the way to the church you're just thinking wow i mean that is a sad life isn't it sorry not today it was nine o'clock this morning people just sitting up there you just sing that out like that that's horrendous isn't it but that's they're not the only drunkards out there okay in there a drunkard is is a habitual drinker or a drunkard is someone that's getting drunk yeah so if you're like oh well it doesn't matter i only get smashed once a week i get smashed once a fortnight you're a drunkard and and we don't want you in the church because the little leaven leaven's a whole lump and for many reasons right and there's obviously a lot of bitterness a lot of stuff that comes with drunkard sadly as well and all that sort of stuff okay so again i've preached sermons all this stuff you can look back if you if you're sitting here thinking i don't know i need to interpret this i did a full series on sins that get you kicked out church i spent over an hour in every single one of these um and explained and how we how we understand it how we deal with it an extortioner now i've dealt with extortion is actually recently as well people that will just literally try and blackmail you extort you in one way or another um and there's there are other ways people do there are jobs we've talked about which which are basically extortion there are people that just go around and force money like car clampers things like that we don't want that sort of person just ripping people off like holding people to ransom for inordinate amounts of money and stuff okay that that's that's not that's not something you want here where the kids are looking up to them going oh brother so-and-so is an extortioner that looks like a good job in the future they seem quite able to to provide for themselves but but also another one is people that try and pull on the heartstrings and the sympathy to get money out of you and they do it in a basically they're extorting you okay and and that i know they call it in the us they call it professional grifters and people work churches like that they come into churches try and buddy up with people and then they just start they're just so poor all the time they just need handouts that's an extortioner okay if they're doing it dishonestly deceitfully they're trying to get money they're trying to con you to get money out of you that's an extortioner and then back in first christians 11 there's another church discipline cause that we see in verse 17 first christians 11 and verse 17 says now in this that i declare unto you i praise you not that you come together not for the better but for the worse for first of all when you come together in the church i hear that there be divisions among you and i partly believe it for there must be also heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you so there are divisions in the church caused by heresies which seems to be another reason why he's disqualifying their lord's supper attempt because he starts off this kind of passage with that now turn over to roman 16 because this is another church discipline offense roman 16 and verse 17 roman 16 17 says this now i beseech you brethren roman 16 and verse 17 now i beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not our lord jesus christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple so this is people that try to divide the church and entice members into false doctrine and they do it both ways not it's not just someone preaching false gospel in case someone's wondering there's people that just they just try and cause division cause division in one way or another and sometimes the false doctrine isn't always damnable heresy it's things that will just hurt harm people harm people in the church push and promote false doctrine in different areas we're told to mark them and avoid them and and of course look you could add obviously things like sodomy and other vile affections to the list here but that just goes back to being an unsaved devil okay so point being with all of this stuff is that if you're not meant to be in church you're meant to be marked and avoided or not to have no fellowship is another way of saying that to put away from among yourselves that wicked person like you ain't partaking in the lord supper worthily agreed i mean that's pretty obvious for me it's in the same letter that he's talking about all this stuff and if you know a few chapters down the line he's then talking about people eat you're drinking unworthy in a letter where he's talking about people that need kick you out of the church you know look at verse 28 back in first corinthians 11 he says but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthy eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the lord's body for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep for if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged if you want to avoid chastisement from god then judge yourself basically you know a lot of the time chastisement is because we're not judging ourselves we're not looking at it and bring it to god because if we confess our sins he's faithful and just forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness so if you're doing something wrong you'll bring it to him genuinely saying look i'm sorry not just like oh yeah i'll just do the list at the end of the day and carry on partaking all this wickedness no when we come to god and we just go look i'm sorry can you help me with this then a lot of the time you're not going to need that chastisement are you but often people are in and i'm not talking about these sorts of sins i'm just talking about in general yeah when you're in sin when you're doing things when you're when you're out of god's will in life bring it to god but if you don't judge yourself if you're just like yeah whatever then you're much more likely to get the chastisement because to get your attention isn't it and we you know again just to make it clear if anyone's wondering i'm not talking about salvation here salvation is a gift that's by grace through faith alone in the in the lord jesus christ okay it's the only way you're ever going to go to heaven after salvation once you're a child of god you're going to get chastised by god in life you're going to get blessed and rewarded in life as well as a loving father will with his kids right but you need to bring those things to him to reduce the chastisement same with our kids yeah and i give this example when i preach to people on the door if my if if two of my kids did something bad and one of them came to me and brought it to me and said i'm really sorry daddy i shouldn't have done that you know i'm sorry can you help me i don't want to do that again and the other kids can't even be you know wants to deny it doesn't want to admit it wants to keep away who's going to get the worst punishment the other kid and it's the same with us god wants our attention wants to help us the idea of chastisement is because he loves us okay and he chastises us as the father in whom uh sorry as the son in whom the father delighted he delights us he loves us he wants to chastise chastises for our own good it's for us to get right to live a happier more more fulfilling life serving him and there are people that are hard-hearted to this stuff aren't they and you see their lives just going down the pan you're like just get right with god and they just won't do it and i can't force him i'll preach from the pulpit i try to encourage people get right with god because you will get just eyes but if they don't want to that's up to them but at the end of day they're just gonna it's gonna get worse and worse for them isn't it but if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged but when we're judged we are chastened of the lord yep god chastens you if you're saved god's gonna chase in you that we should not be condemned with the world wherefore my brethren when you come together to eat tarry one for another and if any man hunger let him eat at home that you come not together unto condemnation the rest will i set in order when i come okay now in case you're sitting here going it's lord supper doesn't sound so fun maybe i should just swerve it i could just kind of keep away from church for a couple of weeks because this sounds like it's it's risky business well you shouldn't let this put you off okay firstly it's one of two ordinances in the new testament and jesus said this do didn't he this do as often as you drink it this do yeah he he didn't say oh it's up to you and so we'll avoid it if you kind of think it's a bit of a risk and i think it's actually pretty simple it's a really simple concept who can observe the lord supper someone who's saved and right with god pretty simple just get right with god and and and you know what you could say the lord supper is a good in a way it's it's a good reminder and it's a good encouragement to get right with god and to be like yeah no i need to sort myself out because we should be right with god we should be ticking the boxes in clear things of scripture to just be right with god yeah we're all sinners yeah we're all going to sin in ways and different ways everyone's got their own predispositions to different types of sins but there are certain sins where god says you shouldn't be in church with and and those ones need to be sorted out and then there's other things like just having your heart right getting baptized when you're saved being in church you know i'm finding it a bit weird and i'm not talking about the people that come from afar and a soul winning in their nations and hoping for a church there one day and come and get involved with our church but there are people that like don't even they will barely turn up at a church that is so easy to get to i'm not talking about that it shouldn't be like no one promised you a church five minutes from your house okay that's not a biblical concept we just drive around town and see church church church church and we've been convinced that well there must be a church in my town then that's not reality but we have a church and if you're able to get to church you should be in church as well i'm not saying you can necessarily get chastised if you partake of the lord's supper but you missed a couple of church services but i do think ultimately the idea is that we get right with god so you should be coming to the lord's supper just with a heart that's right with god because salvation is great salvation is a gift salvation is amazing but there's a whole life ahead of us where we can choose to serve god or we can choose not to serve god and you know what the lord's supper does i think it's almost like a good reset where you can be like i'm going to bring this to the lord i'm going to make sure i'm right with god i'm going to partake in the lord's supper like i'm instructed to like i'm commanded to make sure i'm right with god right and i'm an active good member of this church because when he talked about divisions and offenses stuff like that it's not just the way it's not just wicked people a lot of that stuff normal people can sometimes do as well they get a bee in their bonnet they get a gripe about something that they think so important that it's worth them just making my life my wife's life of misery or whoever else is just i don't like him anymore because he preached this or they did that and you're just causing division in a church and that's wicked whatever however justified you think you might be yeah i don't get everything right i get stuff wrong all the time i'm sure i preach stuff wrong i'm sure i preach stuff in the wrong spirit sometimes and said things where maybe i could have said in a said them in a way which wouldn't have been so offensive to you yeah i believe that i'm sure i've done it maybe i preach things i've done things i've spoken to people in ways that maybe i could have done it slightly differently but is it worth causing division in a church over is it worth potentially doing so much harm to the to the cause of christ for no because you ain't that important none of us are our own griefs and gripes and envies and everything else up and whatever the the issue is whatever your problem is and some people get problems that's just life when you get a load of people together people start getting really annoyed that i can't believe he didn't paint that part of the wall or i just you know you know he got pizza again knows i don't know he must know i don't like pizza his wife overheard my wife saying i don't like pizza i'm sure of it we said it loud enough three times you know it's like who cares who cares just let's just you know get right we've got the lord's supper coming get right make sure we're right we don't want to cause a vision we don't we just want to have a nice healthy happy church don't we and then more will get done for god right and like i said it's a good reset and and everyone here has a month to to examine themselves a month to just examine yourself and go okay am i right am i ready to partake in the lord's supper and if you're not get right i'd like everyone everyone that comes through these doors to be able to partake in the lord's supper that's what i would like i'm not preaching this and thinking right hopefully a few people like sneak off now and don't come back for a couple of months and then come up with an excuse what i want is everyone to just get right and be a part of it and be a part of the lord's supper he said in verse 31 for if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged and and just last point in that we don't police the lord's supper okay so i don't i don't go around before the lord's supper ask you a few cleverly you know worded questions to see if people should be partaking and then get the ushers to just kind of avoid them and not notice when they're putting their hand out it's your choice it's down to you you judge yourself yeah okay we don't police it obviously i'll encourage especially new people that haven't maybe heard this preaching if anyone comes in the next month i'll i'll explain it to them before because i should do my due diligence as well i don't want people to get chastised i don't want people to get it wrong obviously to whom much is given much to be required if someone has no idea i think god's going to probably be a lot easier on them than someone that just reads all of this like yeah i don't care anyway you know but it's ultimately down to you it's your responsibility to get right with god and to observe the lord's supper with the right mentality the title today was how we observe the lord's supper number one where do we observe the lord's supper in the local new testament church number two when do we observe the lord's supper once a year before easter number three what way do we observe the lord's supper in a reverent way with a small amount of unleavened bread and juice and number four who can observe the lord's supper someone saved is right with god and with that in mind it's on march the 24th in our evening service i'd love everyone to be involved with that if you've got any more questions about that please talk to me after the service on that we're going to finish in a word of prayer thank you for your word thank you for um well you know our church lord thank you for all the great people here that maybe maybe many here have had times where they're not you know they're maybe in the wrong spirit with things maybe they've got things wrong and lord we just just pray that everyone just get right with you now just just we'll have that month to to get their heads their hearts their spirits right and just to to want to be a you know a good profitable member of this church and also to want to lord be right with you when they partake in the lord's supper and um i hope that you know i preach this accurately and clearly and in a way that everyone is just able to really understand it help us to all just pay attention to what your word says lord ultimately above anyone else and help us to just um to just do that with everything that we we have to deal with every decision we have to make in life but lord help us to uh to to get out this afternoon and to get many people saved and to return for the evening service in jesus name for all of this amen