Friday 12/5/14 Waiting 5

Dear Father in Heaven:  I love You very, very much.  Please forgive me of my sins.  Lord, today I give praise and honor to You for dying for our sins.  I also want to give You praise, honor, and glory for all those who have over the years given their lives for our freedom here in America.  Lord, this Sunday, December 7th, is a day that no one in the United States of America should ever forget, but it seems they do.  Please watch over our veterans and also our current military.  Also, please be with our police officers as once again they are coming under attack for trying to do their jobs.  Lord, help people to remember that if they do not break laws in the first place, the police will not be dealing with them.  Please, Lord, with that said, help us all to remember that there is but one race, and You made it.  Yes, Lord, You made us all in the image of Yourself and I love that in You.  Lord, please be with the Sansoni family in their dealing with the death of a teenage daughter.  Please watch over Ruby, Patsy, Burt, Jeff, David, Joanne, and Vicki.  Please, Lord, also be with us tomorrow as we pack up food for Your Christmas distribution.  Now, Lord, if You would be so kind to bless me with another message, I sure would appreciate it, and then please help me to get it dispatched.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Brothers and sisters, please remember that Sunday is Pearl Harbor Day.  Do I need to remind you what happened on that day?  Please pray for our "Packing Party" for tomorrow.  Also for our distribution next Sunday.  We are still praying about the food pantry as we know we must change the way we have people come for food.  We do know the food pantry WILL NOT CLOSE.  It will take on a new look in the way we help people.  We want to do our best to feed the needy and do it in a very different way.  The bottom line is at our age, we can no longer have people whom we do not know stopping by our house to pick up food.  We have been threatened by some because they did not want to show ID, and trust me, it has happened more than once.  We also, like many food pantries, have people who make arrangements to get food and then never show up to get it at their appointed time, then getting upset because we will not make special arrangements for them.  Once again, I just want to tell you that our food pantry WILL NOT BE CLOSING.  Look for more announcements on this later.  Now to the message, and remember today in our "Waiting" we are going to have communion.

Friday:  December 5, 2014:  Waiting (Day Five)

As we start the the message today, please pray with me to be clean as we are going to have communion.  Thank you.

Dear Father in Heaven.  Please wash me clean of my sins.  I do not want to come to Your table with stains on me.  I am asking this in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

The Last Supper taken from the book of Luke.  As I start this message I want to ask you right up front.  How long would you be willing to wait to sit down with Jesus to  have your last supper?  Yes, it is sort of a "loaded question."  My answer for this is, I am willing to wait as long as He, our Lord Jesus, wants me to wait.  I am really not in a hurry to go home to Jesus, for we have not finished our work for Him here on earth.

Luke 22:7 - Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.  8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover."  9 "Where do You want us to prepare for it?" they asked.  (NIV)

As we go toward our communion, I want you to really follow the scriptures up to that time.  Unleavened bread would be a bread made without yeast or other substance to make bread form and also rise.  I remember years ago having that bread at a communion service.  It was a very heavy bread.  Also note here that the Passover lamb is talked about, a lamb that would be slaughtered for this event.  I want you to really think about this.  When Jesus went to the cross for us, He, yes, Jesus, became our Passover Lamb.  Once and done for all  time.  PRAISE BE TO GOD.  Now follow the story as we move on.

Luke 22:10 - He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.  Follow him to the house that he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks:  Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?'  12 He will show you a large upper room, all furnished.  Make preparations there."  (NIV)

How could Jesus know all these things?  Do you need to ask?  It just shows you that Jesus is God and in real control.  Back in those days, most of the water jugs were carried by women, so finding the man would come quicker than looking for the right woman.  You also see Jesus calling the large room or the guest room as the "Upper Room."  So Peter and John followed the instructions of Jesus and went on ahead.  Now I want to point this out.  All the pictures we see of the "Upper Room" and the Last Supper show Jesus and His disciples sitting on one side of the table.  I would think they sat at a table on both sides and Jesus would be at the head of the table.  But if that was done, an artist could not show all the disciples.  However, that little detail has not one thing to do with how you get into heaven.  Let's move on.

Luke 22:13 - They left and found things just as Jesus had told them.  So they prepared the Passover.  14 When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table.  15 And He said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."  (NIV)

Let me note right here the term disciples is used by Jesus in Luke 22:11.  Then the term apostles is used in Luke 22:14.  I bring this out for some folks think there is a difference between a disciple and an apostle, and they are one and the same.  We, brothers and sisters, are the disciples and/or apostles of today.  Now let's look at Jesus saying this will be the last time He eats the Passover until the fulfillment in the Kingdom.  This indeed is the Last Supper, the last meal before Jesus is put to death, and again He will become the Passover Lamb.  Some sweet day when this is all over, when the dead in Christ shall rise, and we who are living are called home. Then we will get this wonderful chance to sit at the feet of Jesus and have SUPPER WITH HIM.  Someone should be shouting GLORY, GLORY TO GOD!  Amen.

Now get your bread and juice.  Dear Lord, please bless this bread as Your body and this juice to be Your blood.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Luke 22:17 - After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you.  18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."  (NIV)

I want you to note here that the Bible talks about the fruit of the vine.  While some churches use real wine, others use grape juice.  Both are a fruit of the vine.  To me, this is not worth fighting over. Move on in your life on this, if you are one who does not drink and you take communion where wine is used, drink it, for it is the blood of Jesus. It also shows me that Jesus passed a container of the fruit of the vine around the table and each poured out some and sat it down.

Luke 22:19 - And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."  (NIV)

Okay, take your bread and eat it, thinking about it, you are feasting on the body of our Lord Jesus, and how as this bread is broken, this is how His body was broken apart for us.

Luke 22:20 - In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you."  (NIV)

Please now take your fruit of the vine and drink it, and remember it is the blood of Jesus that is poured out for you, to clean you of your sins.  Amen and amen.

We have now completed our communion service.  Was it worth waiting for?  YES, PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS BODY AND BLOOD that cleans us to this day.

Starting this week, our annual journey to the manger.  I need your prayers for this as I start this trip, which will go each day, except Saturday and Sunday until Christmas.  How will we travel this year?  We have gone by bus, we have gone by car, by SUV, and one year I was even the Donkey.  So how will we go?  Guess you will need to come back and find out.

Now go forth and share your blessings and your love of Jesus.  Love ya.  Please pass on my love.

Pastor Dan