How do we stand before the table of the Lord? Fourth Communion Service Pastor Hugo GarcĂa Guatemala, May 7th. Year of Abundance
Communion is synonym of change of DNA. It is an opportunity to restart our life, letting behind all the things that we did incorrectly to take the hand of the Lord and start to walk in holiness. 1 Corinthians 11:17-18 ASV But in giving you this charge, 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 divisions exist among you; and I partly believe it. The desire of our heart and mind must be to reach the living conditions that God wishes for each one of us. We are living the end times, therefore we need to have a strong desire in our heart to live in harmony, but not only with our family, but also with our brothers in Christ, taking into account that we are united by faith, we are united by the sacrifice of the cross of Calvary, the Father unites us, therefore, we need a change of mind, otherwise we will continue believing that people should ask for forgiveness instead of us asking for forgiveness for the offenses that we may have done to others. For this reason, we need to analyze our life to know how we stand before the table of the Lord, and if we are aware that we have done something wrong to someone we have the opportunity to reconcile to them. 1 Corinthians 11:19-20 (ASV) For there must be also factions among you, that they that are approved may be made manifest among you. When therefore ye assemble yourselves together, it is not possible to eat the Lord's supper. It is almost normal that sometimes conflicts arise among us. God allows this in order for us to release all the things that we have in our heart, and for these things to be nipped in the bud, so that we can walk together in the love of God. 1 Corinthians 11:21-22 (ASV) for in your eating each one taketh before [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 put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you? In this I praise you not. One of the things that we can see here is that people try to satisfy their needs but they don’t care the needs of others; let us remember that if we keep in mind the poor people, God will deliver us from the evil day. Obviously this includes the fact of not discriminating against anyone, regardless of their status, which should be applied in the church but also at home, no matter where we are, let us take care of our heart so that we are not proud, because Jesus said that we had to learn from him, as He is gentle and humble In heart. Of course, we also need to be free of underestimation with which we have been engendered; otherwise it will be like a magnet that will attract abuse treatment from others. 1 Corinthians 11:27-28 (ASV) Wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. The treats of God are individual so we need to avoid being influenced by the person next to us, our spouse for example, because this may cause us to participate in the Holy communion unworthily. No matter who is with us, first we must be in good standing with God and then we can come to His table.
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How do we stand before the table of the Lord? Fourth Communion Service Pastor Hugo García Guatemala, May 7th. Year of Abundance
1 Corinthians 11:29-31 (ASV) For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body. For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. But if we discerned ourselves, we should not be judged. We know that sins do not have levels, however, we can see here that some people may become weak, others may get sick and in the worst-case scenario some others can die for coming to the table of the Lord unworthily. For this reason, God gives us the opportunity to judge ourselves so that we are not judged Malachi 1:11-12 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, saith Jehovah of hosts. But ye profane it, in that ye say, The table of Jehovah is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even its food, is contemptible. God is great with or without us, we will be benefitted if we recognize His grandeur, we are the ones who accepted Jesus to come into our heart. We need to know that God has a warehouse of blessings for our lives while we are living on earth, but we need to live in holiness to tear the heaven so we can receive these spiritual and material blessings without anything to separate us from God’s love. I OFFER MYSELF TO THE LORD. Malachi 1:13 And you say ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty. “When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands? Says the Lord. When we come to the table of the Lord, we must know that we are an offering for Him, so we can ask this question: How do we come to His table? TAKEN AWAY Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” We need to long to be those who give 100% of their lives to the Lord, we cannot be content by giving a low percentage to God. We need to be complete with Him. THE LAME Hebrews 12:13 (ASV) … “Make level paths for your feet,”[a] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. This tells us about our temper that cannot be controlled, but let us remember that we can do it in Christ, otherwise, the enemy will take advantage of the discouragement in our heart so that we don’t change and he will take us to the wrong path. But if we come to the Lord recognizing our
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How do we stand before the table of the Lord? Fourth Communion Service Pastor Hugo García Guatemala, May 7th. Year of Abundance
weaknesses and recognizing that we need Him to take control of our lives; we will become less in all things and people will only see Him. Psalms 41:4 (ASV) I said, “Have mercy on me, LORD; heal me, for I have sinned against you.” Luke 5:31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Deceases could be manifestations of sins, for this reason God came to heal us, to forgive the sins that we have made if we recognize our need of God, consequently we can come to the table of the Lord and have a life change. THE ANTHITESIS OF HOLY COMMUNION Luke 17:27-28 (ASV) They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. This passage lead us to see many things in the eschatological area, but when we talk about communion, we can understand that this passage is also talking about the carnality that can be in the heart of people, and the blood refers to the sin, this is why we need the bread and the wine of the table of the Lord, for us to be spiritual and cut the foreskin of our heart. Leviticus 17:10-11 (ASV) And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among them, that eateth any manner of blood, I will set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life. Let us not take the risk of pretending to be religious with God. He is not a religion, God is Jehovah of hosts, a warrior, this is what the bible says, and it’s correct, but if we think that we can play doing things that may offend God, we could suddenly die. ACCEPTABLE OFFERING: And thou shalt cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its inwards, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head. 18 And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burntoffering unto Jehovah; it is a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto Jehovah. We need God to work in all areas of our life so that we can finally unstick our life from this world and start to walk in holiness.
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