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Communion Is Sacred
Luke 22:19 'And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.'
The bread of communion symbolizes the body of Jesus which was broken for us through His sufferings. He not only died for us on the cross but also bore 39 stripes on His back by which we are healed. Partaking of communion should remind us of the emotional and physical salvation that Jesus provided for us.
The Lord's Supper comes from a part of the Passover meal that was celebrated only once a year. However, the early Christian church took Communion weekly and sometimes daily. There is no specific frequency of the Lord's Supper prescribed in scripture.
As we take...
The Meaning Of Passover
Luke 22:16 'For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.'
LUKE 22:15-18
The Lord longed to share the passover meal with His disciples. He was less than 24 hours away from fulfilling His mission and, like anyone who can see the finish line, He must have had feelings of relief and excitement.
The passover meal commemorated the Jews' deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Ex. 13:3-10). It also had a much deeper spiritual application that, as Jesus explains here, would be fulfilled through His death. The Jewish nation as a whole had missed any future prophetic meaning of the passover.
On the night of the original passover, the Lord passed through the...
CURSING OR USING BAD LANGUAGE
Test The Gifts Of The Spirit
Luke 22:13 'And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.'
When a true gift of the Spirit is in operation, things will always be as the Lord has said (an exception to this is if there are conditions to meet).
This is the ultimate test of whether or not someone's words are God-inspired (Dt. 18:22).
We cannot be led by just our own feelings concerning the gifts of the Spirit.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the apostle Paul gives us direction governing the use of spiritual gifts that must supersede any urge or leading that we feel.
The first test to apply to any gift of the Spirit is to ask, 'Does it glorify Jesus?' That's the point Paul is making. The Holy Spirit will...
Resist The Temptation Of Sin
Luke 22:3 'Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.'
Some people have speculated that Judas betrayed Jesus in an effort to force Jesus into a confrontation with the Roman government. Then He would have to use His supernatural power in self-defense and overthrow the Romans, thereby giving independence back to the nation of Israel.
This idea is based mainly on the response of Judas when he saw that Jesus was condemned. Judas 'repented himself' (Mt. 27:3), implying that the condemnation of Jesus was never his intent. However, scripture does not endow Judas with noble (even if misdirected) virtues. He was simply a thief.
This verse makes it very clear that Satan entered into...
JUDAS, THE BANKER
Escape Condemnation
Matthew 26:2 'Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.'
In Israel, crucifixion was a common sight. This practice was first mentioned in scripture as one used by the Egyptians (Gen. 40:19). Anyone hung upon a tree was accursed by God according to the Mosaic law (Dt. 21:22-23).
Failure to obey the law brought on the curse. Praise God that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by bearing the curse for us. Now, through Christ, we will never receive any curse from God even though we still disobey the law in some way. Justice was satisfied when Jesus died for the law that we broke, thus paying the prescribed penalty and bearing the curse.
There is no...