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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All hail the power of Jesus. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Take out your bulletin. We'll go through a couple announcements real quickly. First, let us count up the salvations from this past week, any of that I'm not aware of. So in the back section, any salvations to report? Anybody? All right. How about the section over here? Any salvations? One. Anybody else? All right. What about over here? Any salvations in this section? Anybody? All right. Well, we do have soul winning this afternoon around 1.45 here today. The first sermon was definitely a bit long. The second sermon is going to be a lot shorter, though. For upcoming activities, as I mentioned earlier, this is the busiest week of the year for our church. And so this week, our soul winning mega marathon starts on Wednesday. The soul winning on that day is not all day, though. And the reason why I'm repeating this, you say, Brother Stuckey, you already said it, but half of people don't listen when I go through announcements. So I'm saying it a second time, right? Maybe I'll catch another half of the remaining half. So on Wednesday, we do not have soul winning all day. We have it starting at 4 p.m. meeting here at the church building. So soul winning on that day starts at the 4 p.m. scheduled time. Thursday and Friday are all day. QMC is closed on Thursday and Friday, so we will not have it there. We're going to be having it in Marikina. We'll give you the details on the exact meetup location this week. We'll mention in the group chat. Saturday, though, soul winning will be at QMC. Also, outside of Metro Manila, some people are going to be going soul winning in different locations. I know I'm sure we'll be going in Bulacan and other places. Or if QMC is a long ways away from you, you can always meet up with people in your area or whatever. That's perfectly fine. And let's see, of course, Sunday is Easter, and we will be taking the Lord's Supper on this coming Sunday in one week. So the next sermon is going to be about the Lord's Supper in our Alphabet of Bible Doctrine series. It's going to be more informational than necessarily exciting, just kind of telling you the structure of what we do. And we also have the wedding coming up on April 12th on Wednesday at 11 a.m. So I believe that's it for announcements. We'll have Brother Rafi lead us. We do have a quick choir practice here later today, and then basketball also. Busy week, right? A busy time right here for our church. So we'll have Brother Rafi lead us in another song. Okay. First hands are ready, sing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. Singing. It's just a part of the first half of the year. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. One night he comes. Matthew chapter 26, we will be reading verses 17 down to verse 28. Matthew chapter 26, verses 17 down to verse 28. Please say amen if you're there. Amen. Matthew 26, verse 17. Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where art thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the Passover. Now when the evening was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, That one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed. It had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas would betrayeth him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou is said. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and break it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Bless the reading of God's word, let us pray. Lord God in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for this day it is given to us. I pray, Lord, that you would please bless the Lord for this day. Give us good weather for our soul-willing and our fellowship later on. And I pray, Lord, that you would please bless the future, and the future in your word, Lord, for this day. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, we're here in Matthew, chapter 26. We're continuing our series on the alphabet of Bible doctrines, talking about the Lord's Supper. And so, this sermon's going to be just kind of informational on how we take the Lord's Supper at Verity Baptist Church. And look, I've been to a lot of different Baptist churches, and pretty much every church does things a little bit differently. Okay? And that's perfectly fine. This is not a sermon saying, every church must do things exactly like us. But we do see in the context of the Lord's Supper, it's important that everyone's on the same page with what you're doing. So it's important for our church, this is how we're going to do it. And it's okay if you believe a little bit differently, or another church does things differently. I'm just explaining how we do the Lord's Supper at Verity Baptist Church. Now, point number one is Passover. Point one is Passover. Notice Matthew 26, verse 17. Now the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat? The Passover. Verse 18. And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples. Verse 19. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the Passover. Now this is probably the second most famous section on the Lord's Supper in the Bible. And the word you're seeing come up several times is Passover. Passover. Passover. Drop down to verse number 26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. And so there's a section you commonly hear quoted about the Lord's Supper. I mean, oftentimes you'll see these verses. You know, I've seen them. I had a church that had it in the pulpit where they had Matthew 26 verse 28 where he said, This is my blood of the New Testament. It's a very famous verse, and it's in the context here that also says Passover. Passover. Passover. Go to Exodus 12. Exodus 12. You say, Why is it saying Passover if it's talking about the Lord's Supper? Because the Lord's Supper is a continuation of the Old Testament Passover. Now, it's not 100% the same, obviously. Okay? We'll talk about that. But it is a continuation of the Passover, and all of a sudden it transitions to the Lord's Supper. Right? Now, in the Passover, what it's most famous for is the lamb. Okay? Now, obviously, we do not sacrifice lambs at our churches in part of a church service, nor are we going to start doing that. But the reason why we don't do that anymore is because the Lamb of God already died and paid for our sins. But the Lord's Supper is a continuation. So the Lamb of God is the most significant part of the Passover you think of, and what it's picturing is the Lord Jesus Christ one day coming. Whereas now we have the bread and the grape juice, which pictures the body and blood of Jesus, the fact that he already did die and pay for our sins. So the Lord's Supper, it's a continuation of the Old Testament Passover. Exodus 12, verse 15. And it says, Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread, even the first day ye 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. Now, it talks about eating unleavened bread. Bread without leaven. Why is it the bread has to be without leaven? What is leaven a picture of in the Bible? It's a picture of sin. Right? It's also a picture of false doctrine and other things. But here in the context, it's a picture of sin. So the bread must be without leaven. Why? Well, because the Lord Jesus Christ was without what? Without sin. And so if you're eating bread that is not unleavened, then you're picturing a sinful Savior. By the way, it's also why we're not like the Catholic Church. We don't drink wine. Why? Because that's a sin. It's wrong. So you drink grape juice because Jesus was without sin. Right? Verse number 21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover. Okay, so point number one, the Lord's Supper is a continuation of the Old Testament Passover. Point two, it is a picture of Jesus Christ. Point one, Passover. It's a continuation of the Passover. Point two, picture of Jesus Christ. Exodus 12, verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you, speaking 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. And if the house shall be too little for the lamb, 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. Without blemish. Without spot. If there's a lamb that had a cut or a scar or a broken leg or some sort of disease or whatever, that's not the one you would sacrifice. Why? The lamb must be without blemish. Why? Because the Lamb of God was without sin. Right? You think of the passage, you don't have to turn there, but with Abraham sacrificing his son, it's like God will provide himself a lamb. So this picture is all throughout the Old Testament, and it's a picture of Jesus Christ when we take the Lord's Supper. Verse 6. And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And by the way, this is in regards to the last plague upon Egypt. Right? So there's ten plagues upon Egypt, and the last one is the death of the firstborn. And God would pass over the house and not kill the firstborn if it had what on the house? So we're going to see that here in verse number 7. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat. So basically, through the night, the firstborn of every house was going to die unless they had the blood on the door. And if you look at this, on the two side posts and on the upper posts, you're basically having a bloody cross on the door. The side posts and the upper posts. And when there's the blood on the door in the shape of a cross, what does that picture? Right? I mean, it's like obvious. It's picturing the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's like when that is on the door, God passes over the house, and he does not kill the firstborn. Now, did everybody understand that from the nation of Israel? God's people, the Hebrews? Of course not! It's like, why are we putting this on the door? Like, what's the purpose? Because, obviously, it's picturing the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 8. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it, not of it raw nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs and with a pertinence thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. Well, how does burning it with fire picture the Lord Jesus Christ? Because, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The fact that when Jesus was dead for those three days, his soul was in hell. The Bible says his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption, but this is picturing in all the offerings in the Old Testament. They picture the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a reason why it says to burn them, burn them, burn them, because it's picturing that Jesus, his soul, went to hell to pay for our sins. Verse 11, and thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. By the way, when he says he's going to judge the gods of Egypt, all of the ten plagues correlate with a prominent god in Egypt. So all of the ten plagues, they were picked for a specific reason, as he's basically casting judgment upon the false gods of Egypt. But obviously the worst is the death of the firstborn. Then it says here in verse 13, And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye 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. So the famous song we sing in our hymnal, When I see the blood, that comes from this verse in the Bible, this story of Passover, which is picturing the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to Matthew 26. Now, are there changes? Well, of course. I mean, we don't sacrifice a lamb. Now, you're welcome to eat lamb next Sunday. I mean, that's fine, right? But we're not going to sacrifice a lamb and have it as part of the Lord's Supper because it's not associated anymore. Because the Lamb of God already died and paid for your sins. Now, what's interesting is the fact that, you know, with modern-day Judaism, the Passover was meant to be perpetual, continual. They didn't do it in the same way anymore. They completely changed the way that they do the Passover. It's like, well, why don't you just do how it says in Exodus 12 if you don't believe the Messiah has come? We make the change because we don't sacrifice any animals anymore. Because they're all picturing the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord already came, so there's no purpose at this point. Matthew 26, verse 26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take eat, this is my body. The bread we eat is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a picture. This is why it says it's broken. It's a picture of the broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ and it is unleavened. Why? Because He is without sin. Verse 27. And He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. And the grape juice is a picture of the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, the word wine in the Bible, the word wine is mentioned many times and every single time, the word juice, every time it's mentioned, the word wine is used for juice. One time the Bible used the word juice and that's because it used the word wine right there, so it would be redundant. It would be pointless. Wine in the Bible can either be alcoholic or non-alcoholic, so non-fermented or fermented. In fact, I mean, most of the times in the Bible when you see the word wine, it's un-fermented. When Jesus turned water into wine, look, He's not getting a bunch of people drunk. If you take John 2 and you think, wow, He turned it into alcoholic wine. So you're saying there's a bunch of drunk people saying, well, we were drunk, here's another beer. Does that make any sense? That's ridiculous. I mean, even an unsaved person wouldn't do that to their friend. It's like, hey, you've well drunk. Let's just stop now, right? Obviously, it was un-fermented because wine is a sin to drink, alcoholic wine, right? So look, we're not like the Catholic church. We don't drink alcoholic wine. By the way, it doesn't really tie that much into the sermon, but the juice will not turn into the blood of Jesus inside of your mouth. The bread will not turn into the body of Jesus inside your mouth. It is merely a picture of it. And look, I would say there's probably a lot of Catholics. I didn't grow up Catholic, but I'd say there's probably a lot of Catholics that had the bread in their mouth and they took it out to look at it. And what the Catholic church says is, no, when you take it out, it's no longer the body of Jesus, right? It is the body. It's not the body. It is the body. It's not the body. It's like, that's ridiculous, right? Actually, this is not my notes, but go to John 6 real quickly. John 6 real quickly. Look, there's a lot of examples given in the Bible, and they're given for various different reasons. And in John 6, verse 47, we have a very famous verse about salvation. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Right? All you have to do is believe. Then he says, I am that bread of life. Right? There's three different examples I give people sometimes with salvation where Jesus mentions how easy it is to be saved. Because right by believing on Jesus for salvation, he says, I am that bread of life. What he's saying is, it's as easy as eating a slice of bread. Is it easy or difficult to eat bread? It's very easy. Right? Ezra, matakah shah. He can eat bread. Right? In John 4, you don't have to turn there, but he says to the woman that, you know, he's the living water. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. I mean, it's as easy as drinking a glass of water. Is drinking a glass of water easy or difficult? Very easy. Jesus said, I am the door. Opening a door. Easy or difficult? Very easy. What about always being patient, never angry, always hardworking, right, never having a bad thought, always reading the Bible? I mean, that's pretty hard, isn't it? See, if you had to do all those things and repent of all your sins to be saved, it would be very difficult. In fact, no one would make it because we're all sinners. Right? Actually being saved is very easy because it's like eating and it's funny because when a person gets saved, they realize, man, it's really that easy. Because when you first hear the Gospel, you're thinking, that's too good to be true. All you have to do is believe. And then all of a sudden, once you fully believe it, it's like, man, it's really as easy as just drinking a glass of water. It's that easy. Right? That's why Jesus gives those examples of how easy it is to be saved. If you had to repent of all your sins, is that easy? Is that even possible? It's not even possible. Go in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11. Number one, we said Passover. The Lord's Supper is a continuation of Passover. Point two, we said it is a picture of Jesus Christ. Point three, and this is the point where our church is different than most churches, we believe the Lord's Supper is to be taken perpetually around Easter. Once a year, right around Easter. Okay? You say, why Brother Stuckey? Well, it's a continuation of the Passover that had a specific time and a specific day that was done once a year. Right? But notice what it says here in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 25. Now how most people take this phrase, and you might take it this way, and that's fine. I don't have a problem with you if you have a different opinion. Most people take this phrase to mean as often as you want to take the Lord's Supper. But in this verse, I don't think it's telling you, hey, you know, do it as often as you want, but it's telling you, when you do it, you're doing it in remembrance of me. I don't think he's giving here saying, hey, as many times as you want. I think we already have the knowledge of it's once a year, but in this pattern, when you take the Lord's Supper as often as you do it, when you do it once a year, every year, you're doing it in remembrance of Jesus Christ. Every time we take the Lord's Supper, since it's a picture of Jesus Christ, it is a remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ. Right? And you say, well, why is it around Easter? Well, what happens right after the death of Jesus? The resurrection. Now, here's the thing. In the Old Testament, there were times somebody could not take the Passover on the specific day, and God allowed them to take it at a different time. So I'm not saying it's a sin to take it on a different day. I'm just saying we're trying to follow the pattern as close as possible. But here's the thing. We don't take the Lord's Supper three days before Easter. You say, why? Because less people could attend. So we do order the day a little bit. Last year, we did it the week before Easter. This year, we're doing it at Easter, and we do it roughly around Easter because it commemorates that time of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Obviously, the death and resurrection are connected. Right? You hear many resurrection sermons that are all about the death of Jesus because that's very much connected to the resurrection of Jesus. And look, I'm not against churches doing it differently because at other Baptist churches I went to, they did it every month. I'm not saying it's a sin if you take it with the church that's doing it at a different time. I'm just saying that we see the pattern. It's a continuation of the Passover. Set time right before we celebrate Easter. Go to Exodus 12. Exodus 12. Amen. Exodus 12. Now, what I would say is this, because I know of churches doing things on different times. I've been to churches where it's every month. I've heard of churches doing it, not just the Catholic church, but other churches that do it every week. I've been to churches that do it once every three months. Now, here's the thing. The more often you do it, it makes it a little bit less special. Like, if we took the Lord's Supper every single week at our church, it's kind of like loses the meaning of the remembrance of Jesus. Right? Because it's not like every sermon is about the death and resurrection of Jesus. I mean, that's usually kind of an Easter-themed sermon. I mean, you can preach it at any time. It's great preaching. But what I'm saying, it's not like every single week I'm preaching about the death and resurrection of Jesus. I mean, I preach sermons on how to have a good marriage. Right? We preach through the pastoral training. Things that are completely different. So what I'd say is, if you celebrate your birthday every week, it kind of loses its meaning. Right? If we celebrated Christmas every week, it would kind of lose its meaning. But when you're doing it once a year, it's kind of like, hey, we've got Easter coming up. Easter is usually one of the biggest attendances of the year at church. Why? Because people want to remember the resurrection of Jesus. Right? Christmas time, people come to church. Why? It's Christmas time. Right? It's about the birth of Jesus. Exodus 12, verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Verse 6. And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. So here's the thing. There's a specific time, a specific month, a specific day. Right? Now look, it's okay if they have to alter it for some reason. There are times when someone could not take the Passover. It's like, okay, you can alter it. For example, let's say your wife's in labor. There's probably an exception to having to take it right at that exact day. Right? So God did give exceptions in the book of Exodus, but there was a general set time where it's like, this is when we do it as a memory. Well, I think it's the same thing in the Lord's Supper. Right? You know, we do various activities, and sometimes I change the dates. We did the table tennis tournament, and it was about a year and a half after our last one, just because the time didn't really work. Well, with the Lord's Supper, it's like, it's always going to be an Easter time. Now, here's the thing. With the calendar, Easter kind of, you know, oscillates quite a bit, but it's always going to be right around Easter time. Why? Because we're remembering the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Exodus 12, verse 12. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and 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 ye 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. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, a remembrance. Right? So when they're taking this, it's remembering the fact that God passed over those houses and did not kill the firstborn. Okay? Go to 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11. Point 1, we see Passover. Point 2, we see a picture of Jesus Christ. Point 3, we see perpetually around Easter. Every year around Easter time. Point 4, a purpose of unification. The Lord's Supper serves a purpose as a unification thing for a local church. Okay? 1 Corinthians 11, verse 17. Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you, Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. And what Paul is saying here is, you know what? When you come together, I'm not praising you. I'm not congratulating you. I'm not saying you did a good job. He's like when you're coming together, I'm not going to praise you for that. Okay? Now in 1 Corinthians 11, what we believe and teach, he's not criticizing them for coming together. He's criticizing them for how they're coming together. Right? Because what we believe and teach is that the Lord's Supper is administered by the local church. When I was in college, when I first got saved, I went to all these Bible study groups, these kind of non-denominational groups. And I went to one, and I remember they sang Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi. And then after that, they took the Lord's Supper. And I remember just thinking, I didn't know a lot about the Lord's Supper. And I'm like, I don't know if I should take this or not or whatever. And it wasn't even a church. Right? Here's the thing. The Lord's Supper should be administered by the local church. Right? This is something that we do from the local church. And I'll show you why we believe that here in 1 Corinthians 11. But to give you another example of this, think about baptism. Okay? Let's say you tell me, hey, Brother Stuckey, I got my cousin saved. I'll be like, that's great. Then I baptize them. I'll be like, what? You baptize them? Excuse me? You say, add one baptism to the bulletin. Right? We're counting up salvations. Hey, I got a baptism to report. It's like, what? I don't remember baptizing anyone. What are you talking about? It's like, no, I baptize them. It's like, that's something that's done by the local church. The power and authority was given to the local church. It's the same thing with the Lord's Supper. Now, not everybody believes this. Other churches do things differently, and that's fine, but that's what we believe. And so here's the thing. At our church, we would not be okay with you taking the Lord's Supper at your house, or taking the Lord's Supper with various friends. It's not the way that we do things at our church. Now, once again, I'm okay with churches having different opinions, but this is something that is administered by the local church. And so if you disagree, that's fine, but we would ask you to stay in line with what we believe and teach on this topic. Now, as far as I know, we've never had a problem with this, but I'm just being very clear, this is something administered by the local church. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 18, For first of all, when ye 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. When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. Now, he's not saying, hey, you know what, when you come together, you should not eat the Lord's Supper. He's saying, wait, there's a problem. There's divisions, so you're not doing the Lord's Supper in the right way. He's not saying don't come together. He's saying you're doing it in the wrong way, okay? He says this in verse 21, For in eating, everyone taketh before other his own supper, and one is hungry, and another is drunken. So look, if we came here to take the Lord's Supper next week, and we hand out the bread, and all of a sudden, there's people that are just eating the bread, and not everyone has gotten their bread yet, there's a problem. You say, why? They were supposed to do it at the same time. That's what we see in 1 Corinthians 11. He's saying people are eating before everyone's even gotten their bread. It's like people are drinking before everyone got their grape juice. Right? It's like, no, you do this at the same time. Why? Because it serves as a purpose of unification to a local church. Not of division, but of unification. Why does this unite us? Because look, what are we remembering? We're remembering the death of Jesus Christ. There's a reason why people come from a long distance to come to this church. Because churches nearby, a lot of people, you can't even trust them on salvation. And when we take the Lord's Supper, it reminds us, hey, we are united as a local church. I mean, we've got the main thing as the main thing, salvation, and that's something other churches don't have. I mean, that makes us very different than other churches. It's a thing of uniting because it reminds us, hey, this is why we love this church. I mean, they're clear on salvation, and this is a very basic thing. But unfortunately, it's hard for people to find. It unites us together because we realize, you know what? We at this church, we are connected on core beliefs that we have different opinions than other churches. This is something that unites us together. Well, here's the thing. If people are taking the Lord's Supper at different times, that's not uniting us. There'd be a problem. Even when it comes to we eat lunch together after church service, and as I mentioned recently, whoever does the final closing in prayer can pray for the lunch service. But obviously, we wait for everybody to get their food. Why? Because we're just uniting together around fellowship. We wait for the prayer, and then everybody partakes in their food. Why? Because we're trying to unite together and be united as a church, especially during the Lord's Supper because this is a big event. It's done once a year, done at the same time. So next week, when we take the Lord's Supper, and I'll mention this next week also, but as the bread is handed out, everybody will wait, and you can pray in your head and think about things that you want to get right with God and just meditate and think about the death of Jesus and wait for everybody to get their bread. Then what I will do is mention take, eat, and we're all going to eat at the same time. Same thing with the juice also. Verse 22. 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. And he's criticizing them for how they're taking the Lord's Supper. And what he's basically saying here in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 22 is that if you're not going to do this the right way, then don't even come to church. And I would say the same thing. If anyone has a problem with us eating the bread at the same time, just don't come to church next week. Right? If you say, I'm not going to drink the juice with everybody else. By the way, don't even come to church next week. Why? Because it's meant to unite us together. It's meant to set aside any differences or problems that we have and we do this together. Why? We're remembering the death of Jesus Christ. Go to Exodus 12. By the way, I would say this about the Passover and the Lord's Supper. What was taken individually in the house was the lamb. What was taken communally was bread. Why is that? Because individually, you get saved. Somebody gives you the Gospel, you get saved and you make the choice to come here as a congregation together and so the bread is done communally. So look, that's not really something that's changed from the Old Testament either because the lamb is not something we do anymore. Right? You got saved and now you're here just like they took the lamb in their individual houses but then the Lord's Supper is administered in and by the local church. And by the way, in 1 Corinthians 11, he's criticizing the church for having disorder and division and not doing things orderly and decently. Look, if everybody just took the Lord's Supper however they wanted at home, it would be disorganized. People would not do things properly. I mean, there's people that have just newly gotten saved or people have different opinions. It would be very muggle-o, right? And so he's saying to do things orderly. Why? Well, it's administered by the local church in a set way, in a set pattern. Here's the thing. If churches do things differently, that's fine because as long as they're uniting everybody together and remembering the death of Jesus, I see no problem with it. I'm just stating how we do things at our church. You're turning to Exodus 12. And let me read you Exodus 12 verse 14. Exodus 12 verse 14. And this day shall be unto you from memorial and ye shall keep it a feast of the Lord throughout your generations. Ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. The Passover was meant to be kept forever. You say, well, Brother Stuckey, how do we keep that now in 2023? The Lord's Supper is a continuation of the Old Testament Passover. So it's done yearly as a memorial. Now this question comes up to people, what about taking the Lord's Supper unworthily? Right? There are people that will never take the Lord's Supper because they're afraid of that verse. Right? Taking it unworthily. Now let me say a couple things about this. Whenever you do a spiritual event, you generally have a feeling like you want to get right with God. Isn't it true that if you're going out soul winning and you know that you're not right with God, inside, I'll pray in my head, God, forgive me. Please do not hold it against the people that I'm going to talk to. Right? Forgive me now. You confess your sins and want to get right with God as you do something spiritual. I remember when I got baptized, I remember just thinking, man, you know what? God, forgive me. I haven't been living right. Help me make changes in my life. Kind of makes sense how when they got baptized, they're confessing their sins. Because whenever you're doing a spiritual event, that's what you do. Before you take the Lord's Supper, it's like everybody is confessing their sins in their head. Right? And I would say, yeah, over the next week, we should be thinking about the death and resurrection of Jesus and you should be trying to get right with God if you have anything against your fellow brother or sister in Christ. Get things right with them. Make things right. Get right with God fully. Get the sin out of your life. But here's the thing. I would not say that you're taking the Lord's Supper unworthily if you're saved and you don't have a major, major sin in your life. You say, why? Well, 1 Corinthians is also the same book that talks about being kicked out of a local church. And here's the thing. I don't know of anybody at our church right now that has a sin that would get them kicked out of church. I am not aware of it. But if you do have a sin that would get you kicked out of church and you know it, well, you know it and I don't know it. And here's what I would say. You are unworthy to take the Lord's Supper next week. And I would say don't risk it. I'd say it's better to pretend to be sick than actually get very sick because you don't have proper respect for what God says. You'd be unworthy to take the Lord's Supper. Now as I said, I don't know of anybody in that sin of any of those sins mentioned that would be getting, but if you in your head are saying, you know what, man, I have a major sin in my life, you need to get it right. And you have plenty of time and you have a week to get that sin right and say, hey, I'm done with it. I forsake it. I repent of it. I want to get right with God. If you would take the Lord's Supper having a major sin that you are aware would make you unworthy. For example, in 1 Corinthians 5, the guy who's sleeping with his father's wife, I really hope that nobody has that sin. But it's like if you have that sin in your life, get it right before next week. I'm not aware of that sin, but if you know of a major sin like that, you are unworthy to take the Lord's Supper. And you know it. Because here's the thing, since the Lord's Supper is administered by the local church, if you're unworthy to be at the local church, then you're unworthy to take the Lord's Supper that's administered by the local church. Does that make sense? So if you have a major, major sin, and look, here's what I would say. I don't have any sin that would get me out of church right now, but I know that I'm not 100% perfect and right with God. That doesn't stop me from taking the Lord's Supper. None of us are 100% perfectly right with God. Now I would say that whenever you do a spiritual event, get right with God before you do it. But I would not say that you're unworthy. Oh man, Brother Stuckey, I listened to a rock song this week. Am I unworthy to take the Lord's Supper? That would not make you unworthy to take the Lord's Supper. It would mean it's a sin. And yeah, get it right, because when you do something spiritual, you should be confessing your sins and trying to get right with God. But I wouldn't say it's a sin that would stop you from taking the Lord's Supper. But I will say this, that every time you take the Lord's Supper, I've been at churches that, like I said, that do it every month, or every three months, and there are people that are soul owners that never take the Lord's Supper. Now I don't know why they don't take the Lord's Supper, but it's like, maybe they don't feel worthy or whatever. And here's the thing, you don't have to take the Lord's Supper next week. It's administered by the local church, and we'll pass around the bread, we'll pass around the grape juice. If you don't want to take it for whatever reason, you say, Brother Sucky, I don't agree with how we do it, that's fine. You say, Brother Sucky, I know what you said about being unworthy, but I don't think I'm right with God. I'm not going to take it. That's fine. I'm not trying to pressure you or force you to take the Lord's Supper. I'm just saying this is what we do as a church. We do it one time a year, perpetually around Easter. It's a picture of Jesus Christ. It is a continuation of the Passover, and it serves the purpose of unification. Exodus 12 verse 14, we'll close up. Exodus 12 verse 14. And this day shall be on you for a memorial. For a memory. I love celebrating holidays personally, especially Christmas and Easter. I mean, if there's one central event in our faith, it's what? It's the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And of course, you don't have the resurrection of Christ without having Christ willingly dying and paying for our sins. These things are connected and tied together. Understanding that we're remembering the death of Jesus. I mean, sometimes you read stories in the Bible, and we go about our lives, and we go about our lives prideful, bitter, envious, sinful, and all these things, and worldly. And then you read stories in the Bible, and when you really stop and pay attention, it's just like, man, why am I living my life the way I am? There's so many things that are far more important than the things that I want in my life. I am here to serve God. You think of songs like Have I Done My Best for Jesus, right? I wonder, have I done my best for Jesus? And the answer, nope. My living sacrifice, not really. I have a million things that I'm not right with God about. And it's like, that's the way that we should think. Right? We should think over this next week about the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus and decide in our hearts, you know what, I want to get right with God. I want to make changes. And look, I'm all about having times of the year where you make changes. You think of like the New Year as like a new start. Easter can be a new start for you. Whatever the issue is in your life, whatever you have going on now, hey, make it a new start at Easter time. Just say, I want to remember Easter time as the event where I get right with God and I make changes in my life. Let's close in with a prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see the verses on this topic of the Lord's Supper. And I ask You this next week to try to cleanse our hearts and our minds. Help us to think about Your death and what You did for us and also about the resurrection, God. We just pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. 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