1 Cor 11:28 (MSG): Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.

1Cor. 11:17-34; John 6:30-68

Everything Jesus ever did or talked about had relevance to LIFE!

Jesus intended Communion to affect the way we live – and relate to God.

Why is Communion so important?

1. Communion is an Examination of Self

1Cor. 11:28-32: A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup ... But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

• Lam. 3:40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
• 2Cor. 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.
• Ps. 139:1 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me,

2 reasons Why Holiness is not an issue in our lives:

1. We do not abhor sin like God does.
2. We don't practice the Discipline of Confession properly, fully and regularly.

Rom. 10:10 - For it is with the heart that you believe and are justified. And it is with your mouth that you CONFESS and are saved.

Is confession a corporate issue or an individual issue?

1Tim 2:5 - For there is one God and one mediator between God and Man.
James 5:16 - Confess your sins to one another and pray.

We see the church as a fellowship of saints before we see it as a fellowship of sinners.

QUESTION: What is the Holy Spirit asking you to examine in your life? What sin or area of your identity do you protect from honest examination? … has it become a stronghold?

2. Communion is a Celebration of Victory

Rev. 12:10-12 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!

QUESTION: Is there an area of your life or habit that you feel is impossible to defeat? Imagine Jesus defeating it on the Cross. Now remind Satan of the victory.

3. Communion is a Reminder of God’s Commitment to Us

John 6:30-66

QUESTION: For a few moments, examine your motives for following Jesus. Are you determined to follow through both the joy and the pain?

4. Communion Reinforces Life in the Spirit

"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." (John 6:63-64)

People who have trouble with the Spirit are more comfortable trusting in themselves more than God.

QUESTION: Are you willing to let the spirit flow through you or are you more comfortable controlling the Spirit?

5. Communion Shows the Priority of Unity in the Body.

(1Cor. 11:17-22, 33)
1Cor. 11:33 - So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other.

QUESTION: Are you willing to submit and surrender your gifts to the ministries of the body of Christ more than for your benefit or identity? Are you willing to serve only on your terms?

6. Communion is a Reminder that Jesus is Coming Again

1Cor. 11:26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

QUESTION: Are you more self-sufficient or God-dependant? Do you live with an eternal perspective?

Audio File: 

2010-01-03.mp3

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