Communion

On this communion Sunday the church gathers to remember the suffering and death of Jesus at Golgotha, giving thanks that we were redeemed not with gold or silver but with the precious blood of the Savior. Reading Matthew 26, the preacher walks through the Passover Jesus kept - the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs dipped in salt water that pictured the tears of slavery, and the lamb - showing how every detail pointed forward to the Lamb of God. The heart of the message is the contrast between the eleven disciples, who grieved and each asked "Lord, is it I?", and Judas, who called Jesus only "Rabbi". The disciples confessed Him as Lord, like Peter's "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God"; for Judas He had become merely one teacher among many. His faith leaked away like water from a cracked vessel, because the unrepented sin of stealing slowly drained the grace from his life until he sold the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. We are urged to examine ourselves for even a small crack of sin, to repent so God can refill us with grace, and then to receive the bread and the cup worthily. The service closes by proclaiming that Christ paid the full price of divine justice as our substitute, and that this salvation belongs to everyone who personally receives Him.

On Good Friday the church gathers to keep the feast described in 1 Corinthians 5:8 - Christ our Passover, the Lamb of God slain for us. Reading Luke 23, the preacher points to three groups at the cross: the soldiers who carried out the execution, the crowd and priests who mocked, and the believers who knew the Lord and watched from a distance in sorrow. We belong to that last group - those who have come to know Him and the power of His blood. The heart of the evening is remembrance. Just as God told Israel to keep the manna, write His commands on their garments, and raise stones from the Jordan as a memorial, Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of me." We were redeemed not with silver or gold but with His precious blood. The old sacrifices of goats and calves only covered sin, but the blood of Christ cleanses and justifies us once for all. A great price was paid, and that price is what makes us precious in God's eyes. The message ends at the Lord's table. Christ bore not only physical agony but inner anguish in Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood, to win our peace as the Prince of Peace. As we eat the bread and drink the cup we become one with Him, sharing in His death and resurrection, and we remember that whoever is forgiven much, loves much.

In this communion service the pastor reminds the church of the words they have just sung: it was not the nails or the cross that held Jesus to Calvary, it was our sin. From 2 Timothy 2 he teaches that a great house holds vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor, and the Master longs to use those who keep themselves clean and ready, like the fine china a family once reserved only for special guests. Drawing on 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 6, Colossians 3 and Isaiah 1, he gives two reasons to pursue holiness: God wants to use us for His glory, and we no longer belong to this world. We have been washed, sanctified and justified, and our bodies are now temples of the Holy Spirit. Like Job, who made a covenant with his eyes, we are to put sin to death decisively and remove it entirely, so that nothing is left for us to choose. At the table the church remembers Christ's broken body and shed blood, the priceless price of our redemption, and is reminded to come only at peace with God and one another. The service closes with thanksgiving from 2 Peter 1, that His divine power has already given us everything we need for life and godliness, so we can rejoice even now, before we ever see the answer.

The service opens with a call to gather wholly present, in body and in spirit, to gird the mind and give God worthy praise for His protection and blessing through the past week. The leader reminds the congregation that meeting together to see one another's faces and worship is a true recharge and strengthening for the soul. A hymn about the heavenly roll call lifts the hope of resurrection: when the Lord's trumpet sounds, the names of all the redeemed will be called, and by His mercy everyone washed in the blood of the cross will be there. The preacher adds that Jesus Himself will speak each of our names, and will even give us a new name. This is set apart as a special communion service, devoted to remembering the death and suffering of Jesus Christ. Coming to the Lord's table is no small thing: it points ahead to the eternal morning when His own will answer His call.

The service opens with prayer drawn from Psalm 86:11, asking the Lord to teach His way, and a reminder that God speaks to those who deliberately set aside time to listen. A worship song and a narrative poem about the thief crucified beside Jesus turn the church toward the coming remembrance of Christ's death at communion. The preacher pauses to speak of the gift of the church - that believers belong to one another and are never truly alone - and asks the congregation to pray for his son serving at the front. Reading Isaiah 53, he shows that the crowd assumed the suffering Servant was punished for His own sin, when in fact He was wounded for ours. God sees differently than people do, and He has not hidden that truth - He has opened it in His Word. The central teaching turns to 1 Corinthians 11. The Lord's Supper is not an ordinary meal but a holy act that proclaims Christ's death until He comes. Paul warns that careless, unworthy participation carries real consequences, and calls every believer first to examine and judge himself in repentance, so that he need not be judged by God.

This Lord's Supper service was devoted to the suffering of Jesus Christ and the price He paid for our salvation. The preacher opened in Luke 2, pointing out three ways people come into God's house: some are drawn by the Spirit like Simeon, some by the faithful habit of prayer and fasting like Anna the prophetess, and some simply by custom like the family of Jesus at Passover. Whatever brings us, he said, it is good to be in the house of the Lord. Tracing the cross through Scripture, he showed how Abraham's offering of Isaac on Mount Moriah pointed forward to the Father giving His only Son on that same mountain. Isaiah foretold centuries in advance a Servant whose face was marred beyond any man, who gave His back to those who struck Him and bore our iniquities, so that by His wounds we are healed. Christ went to Golgotha willingly, never cursing His tormentors, drinking the cup of suffering so that we could receive the cup of blessing. As the congregation broke the bread and shared the cup, the message turned to grace. We are precious not because of ourselves, dust that returns to dust, but because Christ paid so great a price with His blood. Remembering His death proclaims His victory until He comes again, and it gives believers strength to resist sin and to rise after a fall, just as Peter was restored after his denial.

On this first Sunday of the New Year the church gathered for communion, remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus. The preacher invited everyone to climb to Golgotha in their hearts, recalling how Jesus foretold His suffering in Mark 10 and how Abraham went up the mountain only for God to provide the Lamb in his son's place. What we remember at the table is not a defeat but a victory over sin and the devil, a victory we share by faith. The main message came from 1 Corinthians 1:18: the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. It sounds like folly to the world because it exposes the sin in every heart (Romans 3), because it demands that Christ be placed above family, comfort, and self (Matthew 10), and because it calls us to die to ourselves so that Christ may live in us (Galatians 2:20). The world, driven by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, will not surrender these things. In God's kingdom the math is reversed: to gain more you give more, and to be great you become a servant. The service closed with a sober warning. A brother who had announced that Christ would return in 2025 repented when it did not happen, and the leaders reminded the church that no one knows the day or hour but the Father alone (Matthew 24:36). Stand on the Word as your foundation, and never forget that you are saved because He first loved you.

This communion service opened with a call to humility from James 4:10 and the assurance of Romans 8 that if God is for us, no one can stand against us. Christ died for us and now intercedes for us, so even when we fall we should never let go of our faith. The guest preacher, Pastor Choko of Chicago who now leads missions for his fellowship, shared his testimony. By the world's measure he was a negative statistic, a boy who failed third grade and was abandoned by his father, yet God used him just as He once used Gideon. From Hebrews 11:30-31 and the story of Rahab he showed that God deliberately chooses unlikely, imperfect people who live by faith rather than fear. The centurion and the widow with her two coins both teach us to trust God more than our circumstances or our money. Rahab had only seconds to choose the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the scarlet cord in her window pointed to the blood of Jesus and saved her whole household, placing her in the very lineage of Christ. The challenge was plain: make that choice yourself, serve the Lord, and your family will follow. The gathering closed at the Lord's Table, remembering His broken body and shed blood until He comes.

This communion service centers on what the preacher calls the most sacred moment in the life of the church: remembering the death of Jesus Christ. From 1 Corinthians 11 he reminds the congregation that whenever we eat the bread and drink the cup we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, and he urges everyone to come to the table consciously, examining their hearts, asking whether they truly forgive as Christ forgave them and treasure the salvation he purchased. Tracing Scripture from Genesis to the Gospels, the message shows how the disobedience of Adam and Eve left them ashamed, and how their fig leaves could not cover their guilt - only shed blood could, pointing forward to the cross. On the road to Emmaus the disciples' eyes were finally opened when Jesus broke the bread, and in the same way God has opened our spiritual eyes to see what the world cannot: that earthly things never satisfy the soul and that Christ is near, coming for his own. Drawing on the early church of Acts 2, on David refusing the water bought with the lives of his mighty men, and on Mephibosheth welcomed to the king's table, the preacher calls communion an undeserved privilege - sharing in Christ's sufferings so that we may also share in his resurrection. He closes with four directions for the table: look back in remembrance, forward in hope, around in unity, and within in honest self-examination.

This communion service gathered the church to remember the suffering and death of Jesus and, even more, to celebrate the victory of His resurrection. Before the bread and cup, the congregation was called to prepare their hearts with the sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15) and to ask God to cleanse them. The main message came from John 13, where Jesus washes the disciples' feet. When Peter refused, Jesus said, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Peter grasped at once that his very relationship with the Master was at stake and answered, "Then wash not only my feet but my hands and my head" - in other words, "I am all Yours." The preacher pointed out that these words came not amid dazzling promises but in a humble act of foot washing - no threats, no bargaining, only the question of whether the relationship would continue. From there came the challenge: how much do we value our relationship with Jesus, especially when He does something we cannot understand, stays silent, or lets pain linger for a long time? Communion is not merely eating bread and sipping wine; it is a personal declaration that He matters more than anything and that we will remove whatever stands between us and Him. A second pastor added that those forgiven much love much (Luke 7:47) - at the cross we see both grace we never earned and our ongoing need for Christ to keep washing us for a new life.

On this communion Sunday the church also rejoiced over three believers baptized at the beach the day before. The preacher opened with a simple picture: you can learn a great deal about people from their homes - their books, their photos, the hunting trophies on the wall - and even more from what fills the heart and overflows in their words. From 1 Corinthians 6 he reminded everyone that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, bought at a great price, so that we are no longer our own. Holiness, he explained, is both a gift and a journey. Through the sacrifice and blood of Jesus we are already cleansed and set apart so the Spirit can dwell in us, yet sanctification is also a daily process in which we are built up. Like costly tile or stone that stays useless while it sits in its box, a believer brings God no glory until he takes the place appointed for him. We are living stones being fitted together into a greater temple, the church, with Christ as the cornerstone. To take that place means offering spiritual sacrifices - giving ourselves away instead of seeking benefit. In God's house the leader serves and lifts others up, the opposite of worldly hierarchy. At the Lord's table the congregation examined their hearts, received the broken bread and the cup of the new covenant, and remembered that only through Christ's death do we have life, forgiveness, and healing.

This communion service is built around one question Jesus asked Peter three times beside the sea: "Do you love Me?" (John 21). The preacher reminds us this question is addressed not only to Peter but to each of us by name - put your own name in his place. At the Lord's table we remember the love Christ showed, the price He paid, and the hope He gives, and we answer Him from the heart. The message leads us to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (John 12), where Jesus loved to be. Each of them showed love differently: Martha served, Lazarus simply stayed near, and Mary poured out costly perfume. We love Jesus, who is now in heaven, in the same ways - by serving His people, by being with Him, and by worshiping Him. Such service flows not from earning rewards but from a heart overflowing with gratitude for all He has done. Through the parable of the two debtors (Luke 7), the one forgiven more loves more - and that is our story, for much has been forgiven us. Having taken the bread and the cup, the church is urged from 1 Peter 3:11 not to relax like a runner at the finish line, but to keep turning from evil, doing good, and pursuing peace in the week ahead.

This is a communion service. After worship and a prayer remembering Christ's agony in Gethsemane and his death at Golgotha, and a blessing over the youngest children, the preacher opens John 6 to show who Jesus really is - the true bread that comes down from heaven. The crowd followed Jesus not because they grasped the miracle but because they had eaten and were filled, so he urges them, and us, to seek not perishable food but the food that endures to eternal life. He contrasts the manna in the wilderness, a daily wonder from God's hand for forty years, with Jesus himself. The fathers ate manna and still died, but Jesus is the living bread: whoever comes to him will never hunger and whoever believes will never thirst. The Jews grumbled because they knew his earthly family and would not receive him as the Messiah from heaven. Only those born again and taught by the Spirit grasp the meaning of the cross, for the natural mind calls it foolishness. The Lord's Supper is not meant to satisfy physical hunger but is real participation in the body and blood of Christ. Before partaking we must examine ourselves: are we at peace with God and with one another, and have we forgiven as Christ and Stephen forgave their killers? Remembering God's eternal love and the covenant sealed in his blood, the church proclaims his death until he comes, and he will surely come, so we must be ready.

Gathered for a communion service, the church remembers the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Drawing on Galatians 6:14, the preacher calls believers to boast in nothing but the cross and to rejoice as children of the King of kings in everything Christ has done for them. Looking ahead to Pentecost, he turns to the early church in Acts, who broke bread daily from house to house with glad and sincere hearts, praising God while the Lord added the saved to their number. Their secret was one heart and one soul, given by the Holy Spirit. From 1 Corinthians he shows that the cup and the bread are a real sharing in the blood and body of Christ, so the table binds believers to Golgotha and to one another - we wait for each other, forgive, and never come in division. Through the bronze serpent of Numbers, John 3:16, and Isaiah 53 he leads the church to the cross, urging everyone to make it personal: my sins and my sicknesses were laid on Him. He invites them to receive first the oil of the Spirit and then the cleansing blood, and the service closes by taking the bread and the cup, proclaiming the Lord's death until He comes.

On the night before His death Jesus rose from the supper and washed His disciples' feet, leaving an example of humble, voluntary service (John 13). Even with the cross before Him, His concern was not for Himself but for those around Him, and He calls us to lift one another up just as He came to lift us out of our troubles and into fellowship with the Father. Drawing on Exodus 12 and 1 Corinthians 5:7, the message recalls Israel's slavery in Egypt, the ten plagues, and the spotless lamb whose blood on the doorposts caused God's judgment to pass over His people. Jesus is that flawless Lamb (1 Peter 1:18-19); we are redeemed not by silver or gold but by His precious blood. Yet the blood must be applied personally - confessed with the mouth and believed in the heart. The congregation then shares the bread and the cup, remembering His broken body and the new covenant in His blood (1 Corinthians 11). Because we eat from one loaf, we belong to God and to one another as His body. The service ends with a call to answer such love by giving Him our whole life - not half, but all of it - just as He set Himself apart for us (John 17:19).

Preached during a communion service, this message opens in Galatians 3, where Paul declares that everyone baptized into Christ is one - no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. Gathered around the bread and the cup, the church is reminded that it is a single body, joined to Christ and to one another. The heart of the sermon is the story of Peter. Sure that he would never fall, Peter followed Jesus from a distance, warmed himself at the enemy's fire, and denied his Lord three times. Yet Jesus had already prayed for him, and after the resurrection He met Peter again by another fire, asked three times 'Do you love Me?', and restored his calling with the words 'Feed My sheep.' From this the preacher draws a sharp line between mercy and grace, warns that pride drives grace away, and shows how we can deny Christ by our words, by our silence, or by our deeds. Sharing his own testimony of being rescued from a life of sin, he points the church to the cross and to the table, where the body and blood of Jesus cleanse us and reunite us with the Father.

This first communion service of the new year opened with worship and the reading of Psalm 103, then turned to the story of Haman and Mordecai in the book of Esther. Despite wealth, position, and honor, Haman let one small offense - Mordecai refusing to bow - poison his heart, until his hatred consumed him and the gallows he built for another became his own end. The preacher warned that we, too, store up grudges like jars of preserves, dating each offense and reopening them in the next argument, until the bitterness ferments and bursts. Drawing on Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3, he urged the church to put off anger, malice, and pride, to put on Christ, and to forgive one another as Christ forgave us. Before sharing the bread and cup, each believer was called to search his own heart and receive blessing rather than judgment. After communion, a New Year message from 1 Thessalonians 5 called the church to stay awake and sober. The whole world sleeps in spiritual darkness or staggers drunk on sin, but the children of light watch for the Lord's return. If you imagine only a week left to live and know something needs fixing, being ready means correcting it today, not postponing it.

This communion service centers on Jesus' command, "Do this in remembrance of Me." The preacher calls the church to remember the suffering and death of Christ, recalling that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes would have eternal life. Christ is our Passover Lamb: just as the blood on the doorposts in Egypt caused the angel of death to pass over the house, the judgment we all deserved passed over us because of His blood. At the table we do not merely watch Christ's sacrifice from a distance, we become partakers of His body and blood. His blood now flows in us, we are grafted into the true vine, and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us. Because we share one bread, we are one body: no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, but one in Christ, called to forgive, to serve, and to wash one another's feet as He did. The message also warns against taking the table unworthily and trying to drink from two cups at once. We cannot share the cup of the Lord and the cup of the world; bought at the priceless cost of His blood, we are set apart and holy. By His wounds we are healed in body, soul, and spirit, so we come with thanksgiving, confessing our wrongs and receiving His mercy.

The church gathers around the Lord's Table to remember the death and suffering of Jesus, whose blood brings forgiveness of sins and victory over sin. The pastor opens by calling the congregation to pray for protection from an approaching hurricane, reminding everyone that the fervent prayer of God's people moves Him to answer. The first message, drawn from Exodus 14 and Revelation 3:7, pictures Israel trapped between the mountains and the sea with Pharaoh's army closing in behind. God led them into that dead end on purpose, so that His name would be glorified. When fear gripped them they cried out to God but also blamed Moses. The call is to stop panicking, be still, and trust the sovereign God who opens doors no one can shut, surrendering our will to the Father just as Jesus prayed, not my will but yours. At communion the church receives the broken body and blood, with a testimony that by Christ's wounds we are healed, including a pastor's own healing of his arm and leg after months of believing prayer. The closing message from Matthew 3 and the story of Zacchaeus warns that repentance must bear real fruit. Confessing sin with the mouth while still clinging to it is empty chaff, but genuine repentance changes the life and removes the stumbling block.

This communion service centers on remembering and proclaiming the death of Jesus Christ. Drawing on 1 Corinthians 11, the pastor reminds the congregation that every time we eat the bread and drink the cup we proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. We are to do this not in gloom or discontent but with faith and joy, receiving the table as a blessing for our lives. The preaching then turns to Psalm 27 and Matthew 6:33. King David's one desire was to dwell in the house of the Lord and behold His beauty, and Jesus calls us to seek first the kingdom of God. The pastor warns that many believers look to Christ for comfort and happiness rather than holiness, yet nothing unclean enters God's kingdom and the bride must be without spot or blemish, an idea pictured by a stained baptismal robe that could not be used. The gathering also welcomes new believers baptized the day before, each of whom asked for a Bible as a gift. Christianity is described as a bridge into God's eternal kingdom rather than a life of ease: the enemy will oppose these new believers, but God will guide them as He led Israel through the wilderness. The service closes with prayer for healing, placing our names in the wounds of Christ, and rejoicing that our names are written in the book of life.

This Sunday service was given over to the Lord's Supper. The pastor read from 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul passes on what he received from the Lord: the bread is Christ's body broken for us, the cup is the new covenant in His blood, and we keep this table in remembrance of Him. Before anyone eats the bread or drinks the cup, he must examine his own heart so as not to receive unworthily. To prepare those hearts, the preacher walked through the passion in Mark 14 and 15. He pointed to Mary anointing Jesus in the home of Simon, the leper Christ had healed; to Judas grumbling over the cost and then betraying with a kiss; to the Last Supper; to the hymn sung on the way to the Mount of Olives; to Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed, let this cup pass, yet not My will; and on to the arrest, the trial before Pilate, the crown of thorns, the mocking, Simon of Cyrene, the crucifixion, and the centurion's confession, Truly this man was the Son of God. He urged believers to trust the Word of God rather than their own ideas, to walk the good road every day, and to live ready for the moment life suddenly stops - where would we go then? He shared the joy of an elderly Jewish woman coming to Christ, and invited anyone present to call on the name of Jesus and receive Him. The service closed in prayer as the congregation took the bread and the cup with reverence and thanksgiving.

This communion service centers on how we approach the Lord's Table. Before we share the bread and the cup, we must examine ourselves, reconcile with anyone who holds something against us, and judge our own hearts, so that the supper becomes a blessing and not a judgment. Paul warns that whoever takes it unworthily becomes guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. The preacher ties together two suppers - the communion we keep on earth and the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven. They cannot be separated. Just as people set aside a day of fasting and self-searching before communion, we must live ready every day for Christ's return, because He comes at an hour we do not expect, and the door closes on those who are not prepared. Preparation means letting go. As wheat is parted from the chaff and grapes are pressed into wine, the trials of life refine us into one bread, one body. We are joined vertically to God and horizontally to one another, and no one can claim to love God while refusing to love a neighbor. Calvary is not only our past; it is our present and our future.

The service opened around the Lord's table. The preacher recalled the woman who had bled for twelve years, an affliction that left her ashamed and shut out from worship. She told herself that if she could only touch the edge of Jesus' garment she would be made well, and her quiet faith drew the power of God to her, until Christ turned and said her faith had saved her. The church was urged to come to the throne of grace with one prayer, "Forgive me," trusting that the blood of Jesus cleanses every sin, and communion followed with Paul's words on the broken body and the cup of the new covenant. The main message, drawn from a set of images the congregation was invited to name, was about pride. Pride is not merely a personality trait but a sin before God, older than humanity itself, for it first appeared in heaven when Lucifer said in his heart, "I will ascend and be like the Most High." Unlike other sins that draw people together, pride drives them apart and leaves a person alone; it divides marriages, friendships, families, and even churches. The preacher warned that success, beauty, and even God-given talents and spiritual gifts can feed pride when we claim them as our own, as King Uzziah did before he was struck with leprosy. The remedy is humility. God gives grace to the humble but resists the proud. Like Luther, who said that the moment he cut off one head of pride another grew, we must keep cutting it down and refuse to feed or flatter it. We guard our hearts by becoming poor in spirit, by looking to the cross where Christ humbled Himself, by dying to self each day, and by handing every success and gift back to God, the only one worthy of glory.