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The house above me, and there's no hiding place In the crash of the thunder, precious Lord Hear my cry, keep me safe, feel the storm, grace be mine Till this storm passes over, till the thunder sounds the roar Till the clouds fall forever from the sky Hold me fast, let me stand, in the hollow of thy heaven Keep me safe, till this storm passes by Many times, seeking whisper, there is no need to try For there's no end in sorrow, there's no hope by and by But I know, that work will be, and tomorrow I'll rise Where the storms never darken the skies Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds the roar Till the clouds fall forever from the sky Hold me fast, let me stand, in the hollow of thy heaven Keep me safe, till this storm passes by When the long light is ended, and the storms come no more Let me stand, in my presence, on that bright, bright shore In that little, little place, there above, far away high And with me, in this poor, massive line Till this storm passes over, till the thunder sounds the roar Till the clouds fall forever from the sky Hold me fast, let me stand, in the hollow of thy heaven Keep me safe, till this storm passes by Alright, let's open the Word of Prayer Father in Heaven, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you for giving us a chance to come here, to gather together, to sing praise in your name, to hear the preaching and teaching of God's Word Thanking of all the souls that God saved through this week, the door to our soul winning And just preaching the people the gospel one on one, and Lord I pray bless the servers that everything goes on today Help pass through the soul of your spirit as we get ready to deliver the Word of God to us and help us to have open ears to receive the hearing of God's Word And we pray this thing in Jesus' name, Amen Next song we're singing is song number 120, Jesus, Savior, Pilot, Me, song number 120 Jesus, Savior, Pilot, Me, hope for lots to measure, see, hold on to ways we've grown to grow Hiding rock, it's ready to show, charting compass come for me Jesus, Savior, Pilot, Me, has a mother still to show Now kiss, hunch the ocean wall, voices whisper, may I fail, when thou sins did not cease him One dress of rain on the sea, Jesus, Savior, Pilot, Me, when at last I ne'er the shore And the fearful breakers roar, with me and the beautiful breast Then while leaning on thy breast, may I hear thee say to you, hear not, hide from thy hearing Good morning, thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church If you need a bulletin, lift up your hand nice and high and one of the ushers can get a bulletin to you On the inside we have our service times and our soul winning times As well, on the right we have the stats for May and for the year to date Also we have a list of several women that are expecting if you'd please be in prayer for every single one of them And then also we have the Bible Memory Challenge, it has been completed Now basically there's going to be a two-part prize, so I just need a show of hands So basically I'll get you your prize right after the service, you're going to get a red hot preaching DVD As well as a hundred dollar Amazon gift card So, but just so I know exactly how many to get, I just need to know So who completed this thing, here we got one, two, three, four, five, six All right, great work on completing that, let's give them a round of applause Leviticus chapter 20 is a bear, so I really am encouraged And you know obviously it's a pretty tough chapter so we want to have a really good prize for that Make sure to see me to get your DVD and then I'll get you those gift cards either on Wednesday Or Sunday morning whenever I see you, so for the non-backslidden it'll be Wednesday night Also one other thing I wanted to do, and I haven't gotten any emails yet but it's just kind of starting I want to do a prayer sheet that we go over on our midweek service But my idea to kind of keep the prayer sheets or prayer requests very fresh Is that they'll be purged every single week, so basically what I just want to have as an option Is you can just email the church, just the Steadfast Baptist, KJV, at any point in time And just say hey we have such and such a prayer request And basically if you want to help me just kind of say like the portion that you want to be included In the prayer sheet and then we'll put those and combine those together for a prayer sheet to go over On Wednesday nights, now obviously some prayer requests may extend for a long period of time I just want you to constantly be putting it, sending that email in And we'll constantly be adding it to the sheet And my thought with that is it'll just kind of encourage us and provoke us To constantly think of the prayers and think of the people that we need to be praying for I've been parts of churches where there's just been something on the prayer sheet for like Seems like years and so, and there's nothing wrong with that At the end of the day though I want us to kind of have a fresh heart Towards our prayers and constantly thinking about them And so if you have any kind of prayer request at all And again, obviously if you don't want this to be public You could always still contact me or the church for any kind of prayer request But this is just specifically for the prayer sheet So just title, just put it in the subject, this prayer request And then you can put your information and we'll add it into the sheet And then we'll just kind of go over it on Wednesday nights So that people can have an idea of things to pray for I'm going to just give you one just off the top of my head that I know about If you just be in prayer for the Mejia family in El Monte, California So if you just be prayer for them that would be great He was planning to come out here and preach at Pure Words next week But he's going to have to postpone that So hopefully it'll come out again in the future But if you just be in prayer for them And then on Wednesday we'll go over all the other prayer requests that people have submitted So that's pretty much it for announcements Let's go ahead and go to our next song, 121, Like a River, Glorious That's song number 121 Like a river, glorious, is God's perfect peace Overcoming, glorious, in his mighty face Perfect heaven, glowing, golden every day Perfect heaven, glowing, deeper all the way Stair of the Jehovah, Lord of all the lands I did as he brought this perfect peace and grace Living in the hallowed halls of his blessing bed Never looking forward, never turning towards the road Not a search of memory, not a shit of care Not a blast of worry, touch the spirit there Stair of the Jehovah, Lord of all the lands I did as he promised, perfect peace and grace Every joy or joy you're falling from the ground Praise the Father now, you're by the sound of the moon We may trust him, but we won't call for us to do We may trust him, but we won't call for us to do Stair of the Jehovah, Lord of all the lands I did as he promised, perfect peace and grace 1 Corinthians 11 1 Corinthians 11 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I deliver them to you. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishoneth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth, which their head uncovered, dishoneth her head. For that is even all one, as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God. For the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman. But all things of God, judge in yourselves. Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her recovering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the church is of God. Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. 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. For in eating, every one taketh for other his own supper, and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in, or despise ye the church of God and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? For I have received to the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he break it, and said, Take ye, 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 the New Testament in my blood, this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do ye 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 are weak 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 ye 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. Let us pray. Father in heaven, let us pray. Bless the time as the pastor preaches. Please help us to have open hearts and minds and ears till you hear the word of God. Please keep all his tracks to the minimum praise things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Look at verse number 20 where the Bible read, When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. And I'm preaching this morning on the Lord's Supper. That's a term we find right here in this verse, and we see covered in verses 17 through 34 of 1 Corinthians, chapter number 11. Now, a long time ago in my mind, maybe it wasn't that long to you, but several months ago last year, when I was going through the book of 1 Corinthians, I did talk about chapter number 11. And basically the last section, I kind of went over briefly. And so this morning I want to go over it in more detail. The only difference, though, is I've actually changed my viewpoint on some of these verses. And so that's why I really want to go over in detail this morning and try to teach this to the best of my ability. But if we start at verse number 17 in this chapter, it says, Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together, not for the better, but for the worse. Now, chapter number 11 has two kind of main contexts that he's talking about. The first part, he's talking about hair length. And then the second part, he's talking about the Lord's Supper specifically. And these would fall basically in the category of ordinances. We see in chapter 11, verse 2, it says, Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. Then he says in verse three, But now my viewpoint when it comes to this verse and trying to understand what he's saying is he's basically telling them, Hey, I gave you a huge list of tasks to do. I gave you a lot of ordinances in which you need to follow and be instructed. And for the most part, you're doing a good job here, right? You're keeping the ordinances as I delivered them unto you, meaning you're keeping the ordinances as I delivered them unto you, meaning they're at least doing them. However, there's a couple problems. So imagine your parents, they give you a task list of here's 20 things I want you to get done. You supposedly do all 20, but on a couple of those items, you didn't do it exactly right. Then he's going to tighten it up. That's how I view this chapter. I think that's very clearly what this chapter is teaching. Some people will go so far as to say that there's only two ordinances in a Baptist church. They'll say the Lord's Supper and they'll say baptism. Now depending on how you define the word ordinance, I could agree with that statement. And I also disagree. When we think of the word ordinance in the Bible, it's often synonymous with statute, rule, law, some type of definition that's equivalent to this. There's not just two rules when it comes to church. There's a lot of things that go into play as far as how a church is supposed to structure itself. Who's supposed to be the pastor? Who's supposed to be the deacon? How you're supposed to organize yourself? Who's supposed to be the one that gets something to preach? Is it a man? Is it a woman? Is it a boy? Is it a girl? What language are you supposed to preach in? There's a lot of rules when it comes to church and how it's supposed to behave itself and all the things that go into it. So clearly you couldn't take that definition and say there's only two ordinances because that would just be wrong. If you want to take an interpretation to say ordinance just kind of means like a tradition, I would say that that's probably somewhat accurate. Obviously, there is some tradition around how people do baptism exactly or how people do the Lord's Supper. But I just want to at least first address this because he says very clearly in verse number two that he's praising them. He's praising them that they keep the ordinances, but what does he say in verse 17? He says, Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not. So imagine I just say, Hey, I'm glad you did it, but I'm not the way you did it was wrong, okay? Or you did something. There's some aspect of it that you have a problem with. It's like you tell your kids, I'm glad you cleaned up your room, but don't take all the toys and just throw them in the closet and just close the door, okay? You actually need to stack them and put them up right. So eventually we're going to go through this latter portion. He's going to explain what the problems were. Look at verse number 18. He says, For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that to be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. So there's hearsay, or he's been told by some people that there's some division in this church. And really the epistle of 1 Corinthians covers that topic in great detail. It's constantly bringing up the fact that there's divisions and issues in this church. Let's just point you out. Keep your finger. Go to chapter one. Go to chapter number one. That's probably one of the major issues of the Corinthian church is division in the church. It says in verse number 10, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Apoll, and I have Apollos, and I have Cephas, and I have Christ. Is Christ divided? So he brings up in chapter number one the fact that there's division in the church. Some people want to side with a particular personality. Well, I'm going to church for Paul, and I'm going to church for Peter, and I'm going to church for Apollos, and you know, I'm here and I'm following Christ. It's like, look, Christ isn't divided. We should all be here for one person, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only person you go to church for. Therefore, when the pastor's not there, you still go, right? It's not, well, I don't want to hear a sermon from somebody else. No, you just go to church for Jesus. Jesus is there. Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst, and you know, when you sing praises, you're not singing praise to the pastor. You're not praying for, you know, it's not all about the pastor. You're not praying in the pastor's name, okay? We're not a Catholic church here. I'm not the intercessor to God or something like that. We're here to serve Jesus Christ, okay? So, we don't want that kind of division to creep into our church where people are attached to a particular personality. We want them to be attached to Jesus, and that's how you're truly steadfast because personalities come and go. Pastors can come and go. You know, hopefully, in this church, that won't be the case, and obviously, that's not our model is to have a pastor in every two years, but some churches are like that. They just kind of cycle through pastors. Well, the people that actually are there for Jesus, they're the ones that stick around and stay. Look at chapter three. We bring up the same point of division. He says in verse three, So, notice, if you come to church for a particular person, you're carnal. Some people, they only go to church because they like TD Jake's personality. They like Joel Osteen's personality. They like Kenneth Cope. I don't know how you like his personality or his face or anything about him, really, but that's why they're going to church. They're a carnal person. They're not a spiritual person. You shouldn't be going to church for carnal reasons. Why would you go to church for carnal reasons? Well, they have really good coffee. I like the seating. They have a cool light show. The music just sounds so pretty when they're singing in my ear. These are carnal reasons to go to church. Well, it's close to my house. Carnal reasons. You should go for spiritual reasons because you want to be fed a spiritual diet, because you love the Lord Jesus Christ, and we as God's people, we want to be unified. We want to speak the same things. We want to be here for the same reason, the same goal, the same purpose. We're endeavoring to keep the unity, and that unity is of the Spirit, not of carnal things. Carnal things ebb and flow, they all change, but we can at least rally around the Lord Jesus Christ. We can rally around the gospel. We can rally around this book, the King James Bible. We can rally around spiritual things. And so it's important when it comes to the Lord's Supper, what he's bringing up, that there's unity in a church, that the church is rallied together. There's not division. Whenever people are divided, it's going to destroy the spirit of the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is to have unity, and to think about who? Jesus. It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. Hopefully everybody can be on the same page with that one, right? Hopefully we can all be thinking about Jesus and his sacrifice and what he's done, and not make the Lord's Supper about us. Not make it about things that have to do with us, or the aspects of it, or the particulars. Look, it should just be there with all of our minds on what Jesus did for us. So that's an important aspect that he's bringing up here. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. You know, the Bible talks about a froward man sowing strife. The Bible talks about in Proverbs 26 contentious men kindling strife. So people that are contentious, people that are causing strife, this is going to cause division in a church, and they're usually carnal. He even brought that up in verse 16. He says, But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. So he's already addressing the fact that some people can be contentious, and being contentious is not a godly attribute. It's not a spirit of God. It's a spirit of the devil, okay? Now, as we keep going through, we've identified a problem. What's one of the problems that he's addressing? Division. He says, why? Verse 19, For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. So they say, you know why there's probably division in your church? There's probably heresy, because where where there's smoke, there's fire, and where there's division, there's heresies, basically, what he's bringing up. Now, there could be other reasons like strife and envy and these type of things. They cause the contention, the division, but usually when there's a lot of division in the church, it usually indicates there's an underlying heresy problem. Now, heresy is false doctrine. It's false teaching. It's people that are coming in and trying to teach things that are wrong, but he says here in the latter part of that, that they which are approved may be made manifest. Go to chapter 16 and look at verse three for a second. Go to chapter 16. Look at verse three. We're going to understand this phrase a little better. He says in verse three, And when I come, whosoever ye shall approve by your letters, then will I send to bring your liberality into Jerusalem. So, what does it mean to be approved? To be approved in this context or even in the previous context, it's just someone that's looked at as a leader in the church, whether that be just amongst the people or the leadership themselves have appointed people as leaders. In some capacity, it's just, hey, this is one of our leaders in our church. This is one of our pillars in our church, okay? Now, here's the thing. Just because someone is approved in the church, is that an automatic evidence that they're good? No. There can be approved leadership that is bad. That is a bad person. That's a wicked person. Whenever division comes into a play, whenever there's contentions coming into play and heresy is underneath, those who are in leadership are going to end up manifesting who they truly are. You actually get to see what they're really like. Now, let me take you to a verse and prove this. Go to Acts chapter number 20. Acts chapter number 20. This church, you know, I'm preaching to the choir on this point, okay? But, man, when there is an approved leader who is not there for the right reasons and does not have the right spirit and there's heresy involved, this person will manifest themselves as the wolf that they are. It's easy for wolves. It's easy for infiltrators and bad people to disguise themselves when everything's going good. But then, whenever there's a crisis, whenever there's problems, whenever there's division, then you start seeing what people are really like. You start seeing how bad the Democrats really are, who are literally giving your tax dollars to hookers and lobbyists with the stimulus bill. I mean, my tax dollars are literally funding strip clubs in America. That's how wicked of a country we are. Not only do we have to kill babies with our tax dollars, we have to fund hookers, we have to give money to homeless people so they can be put up in hotels, and then we give them drugs, and then on top of that, we literally are paying the lobbyists. Now, you know, lobbyists, they give money to the Democrats. So, think about that. I give money to the government, then they give money to their pal, and then their pal gives them the check back. I mean, what kind of a nation do we live in when that's the society that we, but whenever we have all this conflict and this disagreement, we notice what their true agendas are. This new stimulus bill that Nancy Pelosi wants to pass, she wants to give a lot of money to the national LGBTQ suicide hotline. It's like, hey, they can call the church anytime and I'll tell them to put a bullet in their head, and we'll save a lot of tax dollars. Real quick, I'll solve the problem. Call Steadfast Baptist Church. I'll help you out. I'll give you God's word, all right? That was a side point. Acts chapter 20 verse 29. It says, for I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. So, notice he's talking to the elders. These would be those who are approved, but guess what? They're going to eventually manifest who they truly are. What is it that they're doing? They're speaking perverse things. Let me give you a hint. Heresy. Heresy. And notice what's the goal? To draw away disciples after themselves. Division. So, notice that strong coordination between heresy and division. Look, if we're all unified in this room, if we all believe the same things, if we're all unified on doctrine, why would we ever divide? There's no reason to divide. You know what causes division? Heresy. You say, why is it that there's a church on every single corner in this city? Heresy. There doesn't, there should just be like one church or two churches in a, you know, an area. I mean, you're pointing churches in every city, right? But why wouldn't we all just go to the same church? Heresy. You know, you know why I don't want to go to certain churches? Because of their beliefs. Because they teach false doctrine. And it's not that we're avoiding, let me, we're not dividing from them, they're dividing from us, okay? Because those that have the right doctrine and have the right gospel and are serving the Lord, people need to join up with them. The reason why people divide is because they want to believe heresy and they start a cult. There's all these cults everywhere in this city where they follow a man, they follow a personality, they don't follow God's Word. Hey, this is supposed to be the pillar and ground of the truth. If there's anything that I don't believe that's, if that's biblical, I'll change my mind. We should be rallying around the Word of God, Word, I'm sorry, wow, the Word of God. So if we're doing that, then we should be unified, right? Now, these people are drawled away, they're like, well, I'm of Apollos, you know, I'm a Paul, I'm a Peter, and so they end up following these people if they turn out bad. You know, they're waiting for a better option, basically. Go back to 1st Corinthians chapter 11. Causing division. You know why? Because there was heresy there, because there's false doctrine there, like saying church plants are unbiblical. That's funny, how you ran a church plant for 18 months as the leader, and somehow it's unbiblical. Okay, think about this. So that would make your ordination unbiblical. Yet, I want to attach myself to that and say, oh, I was ordained to start a church. It's like, you can't have both sides of that cake there, okay? How can you say that church plants are elite, like unbiblical, but that's the founding of your institution, okay? That means you're not legitimate then, okay? By your own definition. Now, we get to verse number 20, and here's the thing, I think that verse 20 is probably the most difficult verse in this chapter to understand, you know, barring verse 10, all right? That's a different subject. But verse 20 says, when you come together, therefore, into one place, this is not the Lord's Supper. Now, I want to slow down on this verse for a second. He says, when you come together. Now, when he brought up being coming together, what does that mean? Well, it said in verse 18, when you come together in the church. So, it's very clear that they're talking about a gathering together, meaning church, okay? But he also has this word there, therefore. Why does he say therefore? Because he's attaching all the previous statements to this particular verse. What was the therefore? Because of division. Because of division, when you come together into one place, then he says what? This is not the Lord's Supper. Now, from my viewpoint, especially a few several months ago, I kind of thought there was only two ways to look at that particular verse from a grammatical perspective, okay? And he's saying that there's a problem. This is not the Lord's Supper. That could mean one of two things from my previous viewpoint. It could mean that there's a problem with number one, the location. Or number two, it could be a problem with the purpose. So, they have the vision. And he's saying there's a problem. But in studying this even more and thinking about some of these verses, I believe there's also a third possible option of how to interpret this verse. It's not necessarily just a problem with location or purpose. It could be a problem with number three, the execution. So, he's either saying one of three things. He's either saying your location's wrong. It's not gathering together. This is not the right location. This is not the right place in which to do this. Number two could mean the main purpose of coming to church is not to have the Lord's Supper. Or number three, it could be what you're doing is not the Lord's Supper. Basically, your execution is off. Now, when we think about the division aspect, division is the reason why one of these things has a problem. Now, let's address number two for a second. I don't think unless you're Catholic, you think the main purpose of coming to church is to have the Lord's Supper. Obviously, they might be confused, but a Baptist church is not confused in thinking that the main purpose that we're coming here is for the Lord's Supper. Nor does that fit with the context. Why would division have any impact on that per se? And the following verses are not going to bring that up. So I've never really accepted that as a possibility. Number one, the location is kind of where I used to view this. But let me show you why I changed that viewpoint. OK, look at verse number 33. Wherefore, which means for what reason, for this reason or for the reason of that, my brethren, when you come together to eat, tarry one for another, and if any man hunger, let him eat at home. So now he's bringing up eating in two different situations. The first one in verse 33, when you come together to eat. And then the second one, he's bringing up eating at home. So that means two different things. Why is it in verse 34 that they're eating at home? To satisfy hunger. So that would mean when you're coming together, it's not to satisfy hunger. But where is that location? If you're if you're contrasting home versus coming together, where does the coming together mean every other every single time? It means the church. OK, so that would mean he's contrasting a time of eating at home and he's contrasting a time of eating at church. OK, what would they be eating? Well, the wherefore is going to connect them with all the previous passage that are bringing up the Lord's Supper. OK, so from my viewpoint, I honestly don't think that the location actually makes sense anymore. But what about the execution? Perhaps they're screwing up the execution because of the division in the church, they're screwing up how they do it. Well, let's read the next verse, verse 21. For meaning what? Because so this is not the Lord's Supper because. And eating everyone taketh before other his own supper and one is hungry. And another is drunken. So he's bringing up the fact that some people are satisfying their hunger. Other people don't even get anything. But where are you supposed to satisfy your hunger? According to verse 34 at home. OK, now satisfying hunger. Is that a spiritual thing or is that a carnal thing? That's a carnal thing. So why would the Lord's Supper be trying to satisfy a carnal need? It's not. It's supposed to satisfy a spiritual need. So the purpose of the Lord's Supper is not for us to all satisfy hunger. It's an observance of what Christ did for us. OK, just like baptism is not for you to take a shower. It's not. We're not going to soap you up and make sure you're clean. You should already be clean. OK, the baptism is just a symbol. It's just a picture. It's not satisfying any carnal need. It shouldn't be OK. Just like the Lord's Supper should not be satisfying the carnal need of food. It should be a spiritual picture, a spiritual semblance. Look what he says in verse 22. What? Have you not houses to eat and 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. Now, again, because he's bringing up the house and everything and it kind of seems like there's a location issue. That's why I always kind of believed that there was the location was the problem. But if we really think about this. He's trying to tell them, look, to satisfy your hunger, you need to eat and drink at home. OK, and it's disrespectful or would be shaming the church for you to show up and satisfy your hunger needs in front of everybody when other people don't have a meal. Other people aren't eating. It's just awkward when you show up to a party or an event and you bring food. Nobody else has any. It's kind of awkward. It's kind of a weird thing, and you can even shame them. Oh, look at this great steak. I'm eating this great burger. It's so good. All this shake, you know, it's it's polite if you're going to come together with people to share, to have commonality. And in fact, the synonymous term with the Lord's Supper people use is the word communion. It's mentioned in Chapter 10 in verse 16. The cup of blessing which we bless is not the communion of the blood of Christ. The bread which you break is not the communion of the body of Christ. The word communion means to share, having things in common commonality. So if I'm eating my meal by myself without you, OK, then that's not communion at all. So if we if we think about this passage, we have the vision which is causing a problem and then it's resulting in what? Them being selfish. So the division is causing the wrong execution of the Lord's Supper, which is resulting in selfishness. It actually fits together very well. And additionally, if we were to split up and have a whole bunch of separate Lord's Supper events, OK, would that cause more unity or more division potentially? It probably actually caused more division. So in the essence of this chapter, coming together, having unity. But let's say we all show up to have unity, to have, you know, this Lord's Supper and this room's all eaten a full meal and this side has nothing. Now it's kind of destroying the whole picture of what it is. So you can see I say, well, I'm glad that you're you're attempting the Lord's Supper here, but you're you're screwed up on it. You're not even doing it right. But you're you're screwed up on it. You're not even doing it right. The execution of your Lord's Supper, you have problems. Now, if I just told you how what you're doing is wrong, what do you think would be the next breath? How to do it right. OK, so then let's keep reading. He says, verse 23, for I received to the Lord that which also I delivered on you, that the Lord Jesus, the 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. So notice he's saying, look, when I deliver this to you guys, when I explain to you what to do, I was explaining how Jesus took the bread. He broke it. And then he said, take, which would be an act of what? Sharing communion, having fellowship. If I'm just. This is good, guys. That's not really communion, is it? That's just you watching me eat. You don't want to do that, but they take it before other his own supper. And once, you know, oh, I'm full. How do you guys do on the Lord's stuff? I didn't get any. It's like it kind of ruins the whole picture, the whole essence. So he's explaining to them, hey, this is what I told you guys. How the Lord Jesus, he took the bread, he broke it, and then he gave them portions of the bread and then they're eating with him. And notice they're also doing this in remembrance of who? Of Jesus. It's not about them. It's not about a carnal means. It's about a spiritual picture of what him dying on the cross, his body literally being broken for us and his blood being shed for us. He says in verse number twenty five, after the same manner. Also, he took the cup when he had stopped, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do you is off as you drink it in remembrance of me. Verse twenty six, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. So what is the purpose of the Lord's Supper to show the Lord's death? That's super clear. The way that they're doing it destroys that picture, just like sprinkling destroys baptism. You can't just do baptism however you want. OK, you actually have to take somebody, submerge them under the water and then bring them back out of the water. Why? Because it symbolizes symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You also I'm not just taking just like, don't you know, like that would destroy the picture a little bit, right? We're not just going to do it. We're not going to get super soakers and we're all going to shoot you with it. OK, it's not a shower, right? You have to do it a particular way or you destroy the symbolism. So again, that's what he's bringing up here. He's saying, look, if we just all have our own selfish little feast here and some people have and whatever, we're destroying the picture and we're destroying the essence of the fact that it's about Jesus. It's not about us. It's not about me satisfying some personal need. It's about thinking about Jesus Christ. Now I want to go in and look at some of these passages in the Bible. So go to Matthew chapter 26 for a moment. Go to Matthew chapter 26. Now, another thing that kind of confused me and I'll just address is. When I thought about the Passover as a possible, you know, picture of the Lord's Supper and kind of how it connects, I thought about, well, they come together, they kill the lamb as a whole, but then they go to their separate houses to eat the lamb. And so I was like, well, maybe that's a picture of how we're supposed to kind of divide and have like different things like that. But as I started studying like Matthew and Mark, Luke and John, exactly what Jesus did, I started realizing there's actually a disconnect between that Passover meal and the Lord's Supper. It's a different event. And that's why I preach the sermon, you know, the timing of the Passover, because honestly, I was trying to figure this out for the longest time and I was studying this really deep. And then I ended up figuring out, hey, I think I know the timing of the Passover now. And so that's why I preached all that sermon. The reason why I even figured any of that out was because I was trying to figure this out. But when you line up all of these passages and you kind of look at the timing of how they take the Lord's Supper and these elements, you notice that there's a timing issue with the meal and the Lord's Supper, okay, to where they're actually just distinct events. Obviously, there's a lot of overlap when it comes to the spiritual significance and things like that, but it is different. Look at Matthew 26, verse 21. And as they did eat, he said, barely I say in you that one of you shall betray me, he says, and they were exceeding sorrowful and began every one of them to say unto them, Lord, is it I? So just like 1 Corinthians 11 brings up the same night in which he was betrayed, he took bread, right? And so it's bringing up the betrayer and it's saying that someone's going to betray them. Verse 23. And he answered and said, he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. So he says, someone's going to betray me. Then he identifies as the guy that's going to dip with me in the dish, right? Then we see in verse 26, and as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break 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 their mission of sins. Now look at verse 29. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. Verse 30. And when they had sung in him, they went out into the Mount of Olives. So a few things we want to think about. He said the guy is going to betray him, the guy that dips, then they take the Lord's Supper. And then he makes this proclamation saying, I'm never going to eat or drink of this again until the kingdom of God, which is really profound because not only is this, quote unquote, the Last Supper, this is the last time he eats or drinks of this meal at all until the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Now we we have a couple of times where he tastes the vinegar, OK, on the crucifixion portion, and we have a picture of his resurrection. He eats fish and a honeycomb, but he does not have the wine and he does not have the bread because the communion or the the Lord's Supper is the last time he eats or drinks anything, which is just an interesting thought, OK, that he has. But as we keep that in mind, go to Mark 14 quickly. Go to Mark 14. So we're comparing these. Look at verse 18. Verse 18 reads. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily, I send you one of you which eateth with me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful and say unto him one by one, Is it I? And another said, Is it I? So again, we start off with the same element. He says someone's going to betray. They're like, Is it me? It's obviously Judas. No, it's not. Verse 20. And he answered and said to them, It is one of the twelve that dipeth me in the dish. So again, he brings up the person that's going to dip with him is going to be that person. Then he says in verse 22, and as they did eat, Jesus took bread and blessed and break it and gave to them and said, Take, eat. This is my body. And he took the cup and when he'd given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drink of it. And he said to them, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. Verily, I send you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung in him, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Now that's almost identical to how Matthew is. I mean, it's just they he makes it very clear someone's going to betray me. The one that dips his hand. Then they partake of the Lord's Supper, which he's dividing amongst them. They have the union. Then he makes it clear. I'm not going to eat or drink this ever again. OK, until the kingdom of God comes, then they sing to him. Go to Luke 22. Go to Luke 22. And look at verse number 19. Now I want to back up one verse just because of this. It says in verse 17, he took the cup and gave thanks and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. So they divided the juice, the fruit of the vine amongst themselves in preparation for this, but they haven't partaken yet. He says in verse number 19, verse 18, For I say unto 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 due in remembrance of me. Likewise, also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table, and truly the Son of Man goeth as is determined, but woe unto that man by whom is betrayed. So we have the same elements where he's doing the Lord's Supper. Now it's interesting what he said in verse 15. We back up to he said he said unto them with desire of desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. But in verse 16, he says, For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof. So what is he doing? He's saying, I'm eating this Passover with you, but I'm no longer going to eat any more of the Passover. Now, that would be a very profound statement if you think about it. OK, and if you can think back to the timing of the Passover, what was the Passover in this context? He's saying the eight day feast. When did the eight day feast start Wednesday night at 6 p.m.? When's the first time they ate that that Wednesday night? But what's the next night? What's the next supper? It's when you eat that lamb, which is the most significant portion of eating when it comes to the Passover. You're eating the actual Passover lamb. And Jesus is saying like, I'm done eating with you guys. You'd be like, what? Like this is the one day. If there's one day that we think in American culture, like what's the one day of eating Thanksgiving? Right. So imagine like you're all your families gathered together. It's Wednesday night and you're like, I'm done eating this Thanksgiving. You're like the meals tomorrow. What are you talking about? Okay. It's a very profound statement that he's making. But he did partake in the first aspect of the Passover, right? He is eating on that Wednesday. He's eating the first day, but he's not going to eat that next meal, which is symbolized with that Passover because he is the Passover. Okay. But he's making it clear, I'm not going to eat or drink again. Meaning what? That this is the last moments of him eating and drinking. Now in Matthew, Mark and Luke, when we talk about this evening, this dinner, it's really a brief summary. It's just a handful of verses that kind of go over. John goes into more detail about this event. Go to John chapter 13. Go to John chapter 13 because it often say, Hey, as they ate or when they were eating. But in studying this, I believe that that's just saying dinner time. It's just saying in general dinner time because John makes a very clear distinction about them having eaten and the Lord's supper. Look what it says in chapter 13 verse two. Let's just read the first verse two. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world under the father, having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them. And again, so Jesus loved the disciples to the bitter end, says in verse two and supper being ended. So notice we get a time delineation. He says they've done eating their normal meal. The normal meal basically is done with. It says in verse number two, having now put in the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son to betray him says in verse four, he rises from supper. So they've done. They're done eating. Jesus gets up and laid aside his garments and took a towel and gird himself. After that, he pours water into a base and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. So now Jesus, after eating their meal, after satisfying the hunger aspect, OK, then he gets up and he washes all the disciples feet, including Judas. Imagine that. Imagine knowing, hey, in 24 hours, I'm going to be dead and in hell and I have to wash the guy's feet right now. That's going to do that to me the same night with you is betrayed. He took bread and he's given it out. So notice he's under a lot of stress, a lot of anxiety, a lot of pressure here, but he's still loving his disciples all the way into the end. Think about the love and he's concerned with them, even though he's about to go through the worst thing imaginable. You know, most people would be sitting there just like, y'all don't know what my night is going to be like. Y'all should feel bad for me. Now he gets up and he washes his disciples feet because that's who Jesus Christ is. Now it says in verse number. Let's skip down a little bit. Go to verse 21. It says when Jesus had thus said he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, verily realize in you that one of you shall betray me. Now we get we pick up part of the story again. So they're done eating. He washes their feet and he says, hey, one of you guys can betray me. When was that in Matthew, Mark and Luke? That was the first thing mentioned. So skip just straight to the Lord's Supper, basically, whenever we're reading in Matthew, Mark and Luke. But that was after basically eating the meal and he'd wash the disciples feet. He's saying, hey, one of you guys is going to betray me. He says in verse number 22, then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Isn't that like, hey, you know, now there was leaning on Jesus bosom, one of the disciples whom Jesus loved, Simon Peter, therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus breast sayeth unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered he it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. So notice we're bringing up what he says someone's going to betray me. Then he says it's the guy that dips with me. And then we get even more detail. Apparently, Jesus, even the one that dipped with him and then is handing him the sop. A sop is a piece of bread that's soaked in any kind of liquid, whether that be a soup, gravy, butter, oil, whatever. Apparently, they're dipping their bread in some kind of a thing. That's mentioned in every single gospel. And then he gives that to Judas. And the Bible tells us very clearly what happens to Judas. It says, and he answered he it is to whom I shall give a sop when I've dipped it. And when he dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus, in him that thou doest, do quickly. So they have the Lord's Supper. When he gives it to Judas, Judas gets, you know, possessed by the devil. And then he goes out. Another proof of the fact that Judas obviously got his feet washed, didn't he? OK, but when is the Lord's Supper? Well, the Lord's Supper was after the supper, after the foot washing, and then. Why? It's the last time he's ever going to eat anything. Think about it. Doesn't he keep bringing up how I'm not going to eat this again? I'm never going to eat again with you. We're done eating. This is the last meal. This is the last time I'm going to eat bread. This is the last time I'm going to have the fruit of the vine with you. And they have one last moment. What was the purpose of that? Was it for food? No, it's to signify, to show his death. It was the picture, his death, and the moment he gives it to Judas, Judas goes out to do what? To betray him to death. OK, so we have to understand there's a distinction between the meal and the Lord's Supper, isn't there? OK, now go if you would back to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. So we have a good idea of some of the elements that took place. We have the dividing of the cup. We have the breaking of the bread, and we have them partaking in these elements. But are these elements really about a meal? No, it's not about satisfying hunger. They already did that. And that's, I think, an important aspect to think about. They've already satisfied hunger at a different portion of time. This is not about satisfying hunger. This is not about breaking a bread and having fellowship. This is about showing the Lord's death. It's a very somber event. It's something to take very seriously. He says in 1 Corinthians 11, let's keep reading in verse number 27. 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. So notice there's a curse on someone that would eat this meal unworthily. Now I can think of someone that did this. His name is Judas. Didn't we just read? What happens to him? Oh yeah, he gets entered by Satan immediately. And that's why historically, and I think everybody agrees, you know, the Lord's Supper should only be partaken by people that are saved. Otherwise, you know, you have no part. Why would you be partaking in something that's symbolizing Christ's death on the cross for you when you haven't even believed in him to be saved? And there's a strong curse and condemnation to anybody that would do such a thing. Verse 28. 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. So notice what's the problem. They don't realize what they're doing is a symbol of Jesus Christ. Did Judas really understand that aspect? I would venture to say absolutely not. He's not saved. And the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, even the own disciples had a hard time figuring out some of the spiritual pictures. Judas obviously didn't understand the seriousness or the soberness of this event. And I would venture to believe that clearly in this context, these people who are just coming in and flippantly just eating a meal and just filling their belly and doing whatever, they're not really concerned or thinking about what Christ's sacrifice is. They're not symbolizing Christ. They're not discerning that this symbol is picturing Jesus Christ himself and his body and it being broken. Now, the Catholics take this too far because they say it's literally his body. Let me help you out. It's not literally his body. OK, we're not cannibals. OK, we're not supposed to eat deified flesh. What kind of a weird nonsense argument? It's a picture of the fact that it's the Lord's body. Verse 30, for this cause, many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. For if we judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chasing the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. Now, verse 30 through 32 is very clearly talking about saved people. OK, why? Well, he's bringing up sleep. He's bringing up people being chastened. No one is chastened of God except for the saved. OK, and additionally, he's contrasting them with the world. OK, so you say, well, how could a saved person partake in the Lord's Supper unworthily? Well, first of all, we have established three things. Yet you have to be saved and taken the Lord's Supper. Secondly, though, you need to be doing it with reverence and respect onto the symbolism. Otherwise, that would be an unworthy trying to partake of the Lord's Supper. But I'll give you a third possibility. OK, I think there's a third way that a saved person could partake in the Lord's Supper unworthy. Go to First Corinthians Chapter five. Now he brings up judging and chastisement. This is in the same epistle. This is in the same breath of Chapter number 11. The apostle Paul is warning about a particular person in church. He says in verse one, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. He says in verse two, and you're puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that had done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present concerning him that has so done this deed, says a verse for in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you're gathered together and my spirit with the power of Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such in one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. So in Chapter five, he's saying there's someone in the church, there's someone gathered together with you that should not be there. He's saying it's not good that this person's here. You need to cast this person out. They're not welcome to be here. And what does he continue? Say he he likens this unto verse number six. Your glorying is not good. No, you not that a little leaven leaven at the whole lump. He says that having someone in this sin in your congregation is like having leaven in a piece of bread. Now, what are you supposed to have for the Lord's Supper? Unleavened bread. You're supposed to be doing it in sincerity and in truth. OK, he says in verse seven, Purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you're unleavened, for even Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast now with old leaven, neither the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote an epistle, not the company with fornicators. So notice if you're going to partake in the Lord's Supper in verse Corinthians, chapter number 11, it's constantly referred to as what when you come together, when you're coming together, there's a church, OK? If there's somebody in that gathering that's not even supposed to be in the gathering, OK, then how much more aggravated is the Lord going to be when that person partakes in the Lord's Supper with you too? And here's the thing. Obviously, in this case, it was easily identifiable this person should be cast out. You know what? It's not always that I know for sure some of the people that are on this list. And first Corinthians chapter number five, like what it says in verse number 10, yet not all together with the fornicators of this world or the covetous or extortioners or idolaters for then must needs go out of the world. But I've written unto you not to keep company. If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or extortioner with such and would know not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also there without? Do not you judge them there with them, but then there without God judges. Therefore, put away from yourselves that wicked person. So anybody on this list is supposed to be thrown out of church. Yet sometimes it's not obvious to us, is it? We don't know about someone being in fornication. We don't know about someone being a drunk. We don't know about someone, you know, extorting people and doing these type of things. But I would say this. I believe that you need to judge yourself and say, hey, I'm not even allowed to be in church. I better not partake of the Lord's Supper then. I need to get out and fix that before I come in and partake with God's people. What I do not think that this passage is saying in first Corinthians 11, though, is that if you have any sin, because if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. No one is worthy to partake of the Lord's Supper based on how righteous they are. OK, we're all covered by the blood, but you basically have a picture of someone in such a grievous sin that God's saying you need to get out of the church. So obviously, I would think that person should not partake in the Lord's Supper. And if they do, I could see them being severely judged of the Lord when they're doing such a thing. OK, so what are the three aspects of this? We don't want to take the Lord's Supper. We're not safe. No one should take the Lord's Supper that's not safe. Even your children that you love, they need to be saved. OK, step number two, though, is that we need to take it serious. You don't want to just flippantly act like, oh, just we're just having fun, you know, just. You know, obviously, this is a somber event. We're picturing the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to take it flippantly or irreverently. And then thirdly, if you shouldn't be in church, throw yourself out already. OK, or fix it. I would rather you fix it, but no one should be no one should even be in the church. You should even be in the church, OK, if you're on that list, let alone partaking in such an event or a particular ceremony. He says in verse 33, wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. And that fits perfectly with what he brought up in verse 21 when he said people are taking before other, right? He's saying, look, this is not a individual event. This is event together. So if you're going to do the Lord's Supper, wait, let everybody show up. Let everybody be present. And then what? Eat together. You say, well, what if someone's really hungry, says in verse number 34? And if any man hunger, let him eat at home. And notice they come not together under condemnation. So people showing up to satisfy their hunger, to satisfy their own lust, is bringing condemnation onto the church, condemnation onto the group, because it's not about a meal. It's not about satisfying the flesh. It's about picturing Christ. It would ruin the essence if it was, you know, the cheesecake bread with the butter. It was the hot rolls. I just had babes biscuits or whatever. Those are some good biscuits. You know, I would be thinking about the biscuit if I was eating that. OK, but you know, an unleavened piece of bread that's flour and water. I don't eat that. You know why? Because it's not that good. But you know why I would eat it? To picture Christ's sacrifice. And obviously I like fruit juice, but at the end of the day, those are the two pictures not to satisfy my hunger, to satisfy what? Picturing the Lord's death, taking it seriously, taking as a somber event. And he contrasts the two different places of eating, then he says in the last part of verse 34, and the rest was set in order when I come. So again, he's saying, hey, I'm glad you guys kept the ordinances, but you had a couple of things screwed up. Guys get a haircut, you know, and then what does he say? Hey, in the Lord's Supper, you need to do a couple of things. You need to eliminate the division in your church. Right. Why would you? How do you have unity around the Lord Jesus Christ when there's all this division and this controversy? No, you need to be unified and rally together about Christ. Number two, you shouldn't be having a feast. It's a small little piece of a bread and a small piece of juice to symbolize Christ's death. Number three, you need to be thinking about Christ. And then number four, you need to be examining yourself. Now, I'll bring up a few more points when it comes to the Lord's Supper, because there's a big debate. It's like, should the Lord's Supper be a closed communion or an open communion? And honestly, I think it's extremely silly how some churches make this such a dividing doctrine. I know there's certain circles of independent fundamentally Baptist that if you're not closed communion, they will not have fellowship with you. Like that is a divide. That is like the King James Bible issue for them. It's like, what in the world? A closed communion versus an open communion? So like if you're not an active member and it's like invitation only and they close all the doors, I'm not joining the Masonic Lodge here. OK, you know, you've never noticed they don't have windows on the building. All right. There's a reason it's called a cult. So from my perspective, I don't think there's anything wrong with having a closed communion. OK, I think it makes sense to some degree. But at the same time, doesn't it very clearly say in verse 28, but let a man examine himself and so let a meat of that bread. So to me, I would think it's on the individual that has the opportunity. Hey, if you're saved. If you're going to take it seriously and you're not someone that should be cast out of the church, I think you should be allowed to partake in the Lord's Supper. I don't think we have to make sure. Well, is it on a physical piece of paper called our church rolls or something? Is that a legitimate person? You know, if someone were to visit our church that's of like faith, they believe the same with us on the gospel. They believe it's by faith alone. And you can't lose your salvation for any reason. Right. We believe that they're saved. On top of that, they're going to take it seriously. And they're not someone that, you know, be thrown out of church, which is for them to decide for them to judge for themselves. I think they should be allowed to partake. So, you know, my viewpoint is, is it closed versus open? I think it's open to those that meet that those caveats, right? The person that examines themselves. So it's not just an open invitation. We're not just going to invite everybody at Russell Feed Store to come over, you know, and have the Lord's Supper with us. That would be a bad invitation. But I don't think that someone who just visits seldom or is a member of another church has to be excluded per se. OK, and that might cause some Baptist to say, why can't you have fellowship with you? Because you don't reject every single person or something. And it's like, that's silly. I only care what the Bible says, OK? And if I'm wrong, I'll fix things. I have no problem fixing things, you know? And it's taken me a while to preach the sermon because I wanted to be sure on what I believe. I wanted to take the time, memorize the chapter really well, think about it, pray about it, read lots of other portions of scripture. And I'll be honest with you. I feel 100 percent confident in my interpretation at this point. There's no doubt. There's no like uncertainty that I have. So I hope that you at least pray about this chapter. If you still have questions, you can always talk to me about this. But I plan on us doing, you know, the observing the Lord's Supper this Wednesday night after our church service. So now some people here's one thing that's just obvious. No church does Lord's Supper from a timing perspective. The same all different. OK. And I think that every church has its own discretion and authority to choose how and when they're going to do these things. And let me make something clear. I think that whatever church you attend, you should observe the Lord's Supper, however they do it. Because obviously there should be some parameters to it. If they're going to ask you to drink alcohol, abstain. OK, if they're there, they're breaking one of the few things that we've seen in scripture, then I would abstain. OK, but if they decide to have it in another way or observe it another way, I think you should respect the pastor in that church to pick how and when they're going to do it exactly. That's my viewpoint. Why? Because it's all about unity anyways. We don't want to be disunified. And obviously churches are all going to have a little bit of difference here and there exactly how they perform every single aspect of service. That's God's given that authority to the church. Whatever they bind on earth is bound in heaven. Now, if it's violating scripture, that's a problem. But to me, the only way they're going to be violating scripture is if they're doing like alcohol or, you know, they're they're telling you that this is literally Jesus body while you're eating it or something just extreme. Or maybe if it was like a really irreverent feast, you know, or something like that. But I don't think that the location invalidates the Lord's Supper period. I don't think that matters. I don't think that matters. You could have I believe you could have it at home. I believe you could have it at church. I believe you could have it anywhere and everywhere that you want to. But you still need to follow those few steps of what it needs to be. You know, you need to have unity. You need to make sure that you're not doing it to satisfy carnal things. You're thinking about the spiritual things that you're still examining yourself. I don't even think that the administrator has to be a pastor. OK, and there's been people throughout history. They've gone and done the Lord's Supper with shut ins. They've done it with people that can't make it into church. Obviously, we have house churches in the New Testament. I guarantee they had it in the house. Jesus Christ. You know, I'm just going to give you a hint. That was not a church service. OK, so if you say it has to be a church service, now you're condemning Jesus, basically. OK, but what were the instructions that Paul was giving him? He's kind of saying, hey, when you guys come together. OK, it's right to have the Lord's Supper, but you don't want to have the wrong execution. You don't want to be doing it with the vision and all this strife. So whatever the church does that you are attending, I believe that you should partake in the Lord's Supper, you know, that they perform. So this Wednesday night, we're going to have that after our church service. I'm not going to preach Hebrews, chapter number nine yet. We'll kind of postpone that. I'll preach something more in line with the spiritual pictures and symbolism of the Lord's Supper and everything like that. If you have any questions or you're interested in anything, you can always call me, email me and please, if you have prayer requests, you know, send those in so we can talk about those and go over those on Wednesday. Let's go to prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for the gift of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice and what he's done for us. I pray that everything that we do as a church would be to honor and glorify your son and his death and his sacrifice. And I pray that you would just bring unity into our church, that anything that needs to be purged, that you would just take care of it and purge it for us. And I pray that you would just bless every single person in this room, that you would just give us health, that you would just bless us in spiritual means, you'd bring us more soul winners, and that we could just constantly give more honor and glory to your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name, we pray. Amen. All right, for the final song, we're singing song number 124, God Will Take Care of You, song number 124. God will take care of you God will take care of you God will take care of you God will take care of you God will take care of you God will take care of you God will take care of you God will take care of you God will take care of you Amen.