Apr2609 The Holy Communion

“THE HOLY COMMUNION”

April 26, 2009 – Sunday Morning Service Pastor Loyd K. Watanabe Faith, Hope & Love Christian Center

Note: Next to being Saved and having Eternal Life through the Love and Grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, “Health” is the Greatest Blessings that We can Have. ➢ A Person can have Lots of Money, but They Can’t Enjoy It If They Don’t have Health. Most likely, a Rich Man on his Deathbed wouldn’t be thinking, “I Wonder How I can Make Another Million Dollars!” No, He’d probably be thinking, “I’d Give Anything to Get My Health Back.” Note: You can have a Wonderful Family, but If You’re Always Tired and Sick, Then You Won’t be Able to Enjoy Life with your Spouse and Children. ➢ We can have Lots of Knowledge concerning the Scriptures and the Gospel of Grace, but If We Don’t Have our Health, Then We won’t have the Energy and Strength to Go Out and Share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Note: Hence, God wants us to be Healed, Healthy and Whole so that We can Enjoy our Families and Go Out and Share the Amazing Gospel of Grace to Others. Note: While Jesus was Here on Earth, You will find that Most of His Miracles were in the Area of Healings. ➢ Jesus Did Not Walk on Water All the Time, Neither Did He Turn Water into Wine All the Time, but You will Always See Him Healing People Everywhere He Went. Note: The Reason is Because It is His Nature to Heal. Acts 10:38 – How God Anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with Power, who went about Doing Good and Healing “All” who were Oppressed by the Devil, for God was with Him. Note: Have you ever Wondered…If It is God’s Nature to Heal Us through Jesus Christ, Why are So Many Christians Sick? ➢ If the People of the World are Sick, We are Not Surprised because They Don’t have Christ as their Savior and Healer Dwelling in Them. But When Believers are Sick, We should Seek to Know Why. Note: Now, If We are Dieting Right and Exercising Right and yet We are Still Sick, Then There must be a Reason. I Corinthians 11:30 – For this Reason Many are Weak and Sick among you, and Many Sleep (or Die Prematurely). ➢ In this Scripture, Paul Gives us a “Reason” as to Why Believers are Sick. 1

Question: So What is the Reason? Answer: Paul Gives us the Answer in v. 29 which says, “For He who Eats and Drinks in an Unworthy Manner Eats and Drinks Judgment to Himself, Not Discerning the Lord’s Body.” I Corinthians 11:23-26 – 23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took Bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, Eat; this is My Body which is Broken for you; do this in Remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the Cup after supper, saying, “This Cup is the New Covenant in My Blood. This do, as often as you Drink it, in Remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you Eat this Bread and Drink this Cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. ➢ So There are Two Elements mentioned here – “The Bread” and “The Cup.” Note: “The Bread” Represents the “Broken Body of Jesus.” “The Cup” Represents the “Shed Blood of Jesus.” ➢ The Broken Body of Jesus is for our Total Healing. The Shed Blood of Jesus is for our Total Forgiveness. Note: If We are “Totally Forgiven” of our Sins, Then We are Free from All Guilt and Condemnation, and as a Result, We are “Righteous Enough” in Christ to Receive Our Healing Physically, Mentally, Emotionally and Even Financially. ➢ So in v. 23-26, Paul is telling us that God – Through Christ, has Given Us Absolute Provisions for Forgiveness and Healing. This is the “Double-Cure Provision” from God through Christ. (Psalm 103:2-3, Mark 2:1-12) Note: But Paul Recognizes that there is a Problem and He says to the Corinthian Church, “Why is that as Believers There are People who are Weak, Sick and Dying Prematurely Among You when in v. 23-26, the ‘Double-Cure Provision’ has been made Available to Every One of You?” ➢ Therefore, According to v.23-26, No One is Supposed to be Sick. Note: Therefore, in I Corinthians 11:27-30, Paul Addresses the Problem and Explains the Reason as to Why Believers are Sick. v. 27-30 – 27 Therefore whoever Eats this Bread or Drinks this Cup of the Lord in an Unworthy Manner will be Guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 28 But let a Man Examine Himself, and so let him Eat of the Bread and Drink of the Cup. 29 For he who Eats and Drinks in an Unworthy Manner Eats and Drinks Judgment to himself, Not Discerning the Lord’s Body. 30 For this Reason Many are Weak and Sick among you, and Many Sleep.

Note: So “Although” in v. 23-26, the Benefits of Healing and Forgiveness and No Condemnation were Provided for, The Reason Why Believers were Sick, Weak and Dying Prematurely is because 2

They were Eating the Bread and Drinking the Cup in an Unworthy Manner and were Not Discerning the Lord’s Body. ➢ Therefore, Paul says that We should Examine Ourselves to See “How” We are Eating and Drinking of the Communion. Big Note: It is Important to Note that Paul is Not Saying that We should First Examine Ourselves If We have “Sin” in our Lives, and if We do, We should Forsake It and Then Partake of the Bread and the Cup. ➢ Formerly, We were Taught that If We had Harbored Sin or Unforgiveness in Our Lives that We should Confess it, Forsake it and If Necessary, Make Restitution by Asking that Person to Forgive Us Before We Partake of the Communion. If Not, We would be Bringing Condemnation and Judgment upon Ourselves. So There were a Few Times in my Christian Life that I Refrained from Partaking of the Communion because I Didn’t Want to Get Sick and Prematurely Die. Note: However, the Scripture is Not Telling Us to Examine “Ourselves” If We are Unworthy (Because We are All Unworthy in Ourselves), But to Examine Whether the “Manner” in which We are Partaking is Unworthy or Not. ➢ This is Where We have been Mistaken – in Examining “Ourselves” Rather Than Examining the “Manner” of How We have been Partaking. Note: And because of this Misunderstanding and Misinterpretation of Scripture, Our Faith and Confidence to Receive God’s Blessings have been Greatly Hindered. v. 27 (KJV) – 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. Question: When it says, “Guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord,” What is it that We are Guilty of? Answer: I think it means that If We Eat and Drink Unworthily, We will be Guilty of Improperly Defining What the Body and Blood of the Lord has Done for Us. ➢ So When We Don’t Have the Proper Revelational Knowledge of What the Broken Body and Shed Blood of the Lord has Done for us because We Didn’t Look at it with the Eyes of Grace, Then We bring Judgment to Ourselves. (Hosea 6:4) Note: Now, Judgment is Not Always What You Get, but It can also mean What You Don’t Get. And in this case, the Corinthians Didn’t Get What They Wanted which was their Healing. ➢ It is Easy to Mistakenly Read the Scriptures in v. 27-29 and Examine “Ourselves” Instead of Examining the “Manner” in which We are Partaking of the Bread and Cup – Because We Tend to Look at Things from the “Religious Way” than from the “Grace Way.” Note: When We Look at the Scriptures in a “Religious Way,” We Become More “Sin Conscious” than “Son Conscious.” “Sin Conscious” “Son Conscious “Self “Righteousness Conscious” Conscious”

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“Sickness” “Health”

Note: Now, the word “Unworthily” is an “Adverb,” which is something that Describes a “verb.” Question: What is the Grammatical Word that Describes a Person, Place or Thing? Answer: It’s an “Adjective.” ➢ So If “Unworthily” is an Adverb, then It Cannot Be Referring to a Person, Right? Note: Hence, the word “Unworthily” is Not Referring to “Us” as Believers, But It’s Referring to the Actions or Verbs of Eating and Drinking. Therefore, It’s Not Referring to “Us,” But to the “Manner” of our Partaking of the Communion. I Corinthians 11:29 – For He who Eats and Drinks in a Unworthy Manner Eats and Drinks Judgment to Himself, Not Discerning the Lord’s Body. Note: Paul Did Not Say, “Not Discerning the Lord’s Body and Blood,” but He only said, “Not Discerning the Lord’s Body.” I would like to think that He meant to also say the “Lord’s Blood,” But Why He Didn’t, I Don’t Know. ➢ But since He Didn’t, Let’s Assume that He wanted us to Focus More Heavily on the “Lord’s Body” since It More Directly Refers to Our Healing. Remember: “The Bread” in the Communion Refers to “Jesus’ Body.” Matthew 15:21-28 – The Woman of Canaan 1. Jesus Ignores her – v. 22-23 2. Jesus Rejects her – v. 24 3. Jesus seemingly Insults her – v. 26 4. Jesus Commends her – v. 28 Note: In this incident with the Canaanite Woman, Jesus Refers to “Bread” as “Healing.” When she asked Jesus to Heal and Deliver her Daughter, Jesus answered her and said, “It is Not Good to Take the Children’s (Jews’) ‘Bread’ and Throw It to Little Dogs (Gentiles).” ➢ The Children’s Bread is “Jesus.” Jesus is the Bread of Life. Jesus’ Body is Our Healing. Note: So when we Partake of the Crumb of Bread which We, Gentiles can Partake of, We are Partaking 4

of the Body of Christ which Entitles us to Our Healing. Luke 6:17-19 – 17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be Healed of their Diseases, 18 as well as those who were Tormented with Unclean Spirits. And they were Healed. 19 And the Whole Multitude sought to Touch Him, for Power went out from Him and Healed them All. ➢ Touching Jesus’ Body brought Healing to the Multitudes. Note: Hence, We see that His Body Imparts Healing. Therefore, When We Partake of the Bread, We are Partaking of the Healing Power of His Body so that We can be Made Whole. Example: In Cecil B. DeMille’s Production of the Movie “The Ten Commandments,” You will see a Blind Man walking out with a stick, Making the Exodus Out of Egypt with the Multitudes. But that is only How Hollywood Dramatizes the Scriptures. Note: In Psalm 105:37, however, it says, “He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was None Feeble among His Tribes.” Imagine: Approximately 2-3 Million People Left Egypt and None were Sick. Note: Before they Left Egypt, All the Households of Israel Partook of the Passover Supper. The Roasted Lamb Spoke of Christ who would be the Coming Lamb of God. The Unleavened Bread that they Ate also Spoke about Jesus who was Our Sinless Savior. ➢ It seems that After they Partook of the Passover Supper, There were None Sick or Feeble among the Israelites when the Lord Brought Them Out of Egypt. Big Note: If They Partook of the Roasted Lamb which is the “Shadow Lamb” and got Healed in the Old Testament Age, How Much More in the New Testament Age should We All Get Healed and None Among Us be Feeble when We Partake of the Bread of the Communion which Represents the “Substance Lamb” of Jesus Christ Himself? Thought: In Genesis 3, It was by the Act of Eating that Man Fell into Sin, Sickness and Death. Note: Just as Our Problem was Caused by Man Partaking of the Wrong Thing, the Solution to our Problem will be by Us Partaking of the Right Thing – The Holy Communion in the Right Manner of Properly Discerning the Body and the Blood of Jesus Christ. ➢ Therefore, If Our Problems were Caused by Partaking, Our Problems will also be Solved by Partaking. Note: God has given us “The Holy Communion” as One of the Great Solutions to Our Problems. God has Given us “The Holy Communion” as His Solution to Offset Sickness and Disease. Note: Joseph Prince Preaches Strongly on Partaking of The Holy Communion for Healing. People 5

with the Physical Conditions of: 1.

2. Low Blood Sugar 3. Low Calcium Levels 4. Insomnia 5. Rheumatoid Arthritis 6. Cancer of the Rectum 7. Bad Skin Condition 8. A Need for a Liver Transplant 9. Severe Menstrual Cramps 10. Deep Vein Thrombosis (A clot that makes its way to the lung which causes Respiratory Failure which

can result in Death.) 11. Chronic Knee and Foot Pains 12. Tumors

These People have All been Healed as They “Properly” Partook of The Holy Communion. ➢ Joseph Prince Encourages People with Chronic, Severe and Ongoing Physical Problems to Partake of The Holy Communion “Daily” and Bring into Remembrance the “Benefits” of Jesus’ Broken Body and Shed Blood for Us. I also Bear Witness to this Encouragement. Note: Most of These Healings Did Not Come Instantly, But Gradually. Some of the Healings took place without them even Knowing when It Happened as They were Daily Partaking the Holy Communion. ➢ The Majority of the People that Got Healed said that Nothing Happened when they Partook, But they kept Believing and Partaking and One Day, They Realized that They were Healed. CONCLUSION: God’s Double-Cure Provision has been Given to All of Us. Let’s Partake of The Holy Communion “Worthily” and Not “Ritually” and Get Healed through Christ Jesus! And everyone said a “Healed” Amen.

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