tgandy

The priests participated in the altar by eating the sin offering. It was given to take away the guilt of the community. The connection made by Paul with our participation is that when we take the bread we are "eating" of the body of Christ. The cup is His blood. We know he did this for us. So we too are participating. We come to the Table knowing we are sinners and ask for forgiveness. We must be in love and fellowship with our brothers. This is a forgiving and remembering meal.

Koinonia means participation, communion and sharing. We have a share or claim and that makes us a shareholder in the cross. We have a share in the blood Christ shed. We are also participants in His sacrifice. We are part of his sacrifice.

Paul was exhorting the Corinthians about the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons because you cannot serve two masters. The people were partaking of the cup of the Lord and the cup of the demon. He told them that to take part in the demon worship is to become identified with this worship and it took much away from the Holy Communion. The danger to believers is that worship the idols confuses and diminishes the cup of the Lord.

The Lord's Supper is a proclamation in that He said "Do this in remembrance of me." Also by partaking of the Holy Communion we are telling others of our Lord's death until He comes again. This proclamation is made to everyone. This proclamation is different in that it come from Jesus Christ Himself. If the church were not to celebrate this proclamation we are forgetting the reason He came. He came to set us free. Free from sin and give us a path the our Holy Father. What kind of church would we be if we ignore the reason.

Our remembrance of Christ's death is very important. He suffered, bled and died and rose again for us. He became sin to free us. He took the sins I will commit next week to the cross and freed me. He did not have to die. He could have called angels to save him. He died for you and for me and our sins. When He died the Temple curtain was torn from top to bottom. This gave us direct access to God with our petitions. Jesus did all of these things for us. Our religion, Christianity, is nothing if we forget this. He birth is very important, but what is important to Christians is He rose from the dead. Our Messiah is a living Messiah not a statue or an idol. He lives! If we were to forget Christ's death we too are dead!

The purpose of the Passover meal was so future generations would remember the Israelite's hurried exit from Egypt and who delivered them. It was also to be remembered and repeated so they would never forget who passed over the houses of the Israelites and spared their homes when he struck down the Egyptians. It was to be remember that in the rush to leave Egypt there was not time for the bread to rise so unleavened bread is used for remembrance. They use haroseth to represent the mortar in the bricks used for Pharaoh. The use bitter herbs to remind them of the bitter affliction of slavery. Parsley dipped in salt water reminds them of the tears of the Jewish slaves. A roasted egg is a symbol of Spring. A shank bone reminds those of the Passover lamb. Four cups of wine representing, freedom, deliverance, redemption and release and a fifth cup is the Cup of Elijah.All of these used in a Seder are used to remind what the ancestors went though and they will not forget what the Holy One has done for them. I think if the Jews had stopped remembering this meal what happened to their ancestors would have been forgotten. This is most important as it is their heritage.

To me, I repeat to me, the Lord's Supper will never run the risk of becoming mundane and lose its meaning. This meal that I share with the members of our congregation and the Holy Spirit has deep emotional roots. Our Savior, bled and died for me. On the night he was betrayed he shared this meal with his disciples. He will not eat this bread or drink of the vine again until He does it with me. Those are powerful words. Rarely do I partake of Holy Communion without tears. Jesus commanded we do this often so we remember Him. Remember what He did for us and why. We need to love the Father and love each other.

The narrow gate and the narrow road to life is the gate that leads to eternal life. It does not mean it is difficult to become a Christian, but there is only one way to live eternally with God. Only few people decide to walk that road. We must believe with our whole heart. Living His way isn't real popular but it is the only way. You must be completely vested in this way of life. It must be like breathing.

Jesus requires obedience of his disciples. What we hear we put into practice. The parables, teachings of our Lord were given so we would think and act not file away for future reference. Paul tells us we have become Christians through God's grace, not anything on our part. But out of gratitude for this gift we will seek to help and serve others the way our Lord taught us. Our salvation will result in acts of service.

Faith without works is putting your whole heart and soul into the works you are doing for the Kingdom. You cannot believe the teachings of our Lord and not work for him. It was possible for them to prophesy and drive out demons and perform miracles in Jesus' name without entering Heaven. The acts they did they did to glorify themselves and not to glorify God.

A false prophet will eventually betray himself. If you are the real McCoy you live your life the way Jesus taught. You do did in public and in private. If you are saying one thing and doing another you will get caught. What is on the inside in some unprotected moment will come out. You cannot hide deceit long. A false prophet will tell you what you want to hear. They will sound religious but be motivated by money. They cannot hide long. Their teachings will minimize Christ and glorify themselves.

The narrow gate and the narrow road to life is the gate that leads to eternal life. It does not mean it is difficult to become a Christian, but there is only one way to live eternally with God. Only few people decide to walk that road. We must believe with our whole heart. Living His way isn't real popular but it is the only way. You must be completely vested in this way of life. It must be like breathing. I do not believe in Universalism.

As I approach the Altar and kneel I hold my hands in a cross. As I am handed the bread and I hear, "The body of our Lord given for you. He died for MY sins. He didn't have to. But He loved me so much He died for me. He gave me life by dying. I reach for the cup and I hear "The blood of Christ shed for you." He bled for me. His life's blood fell into the sand for my sins. I am humbled and awed by what I feel when I partake in the Lord's Supper.

The action words used to describe the elements of the Lord's Supper that teach us that we are to be thinking of Jesus' sacrifice of atonement when we partake of the Lord's Supper are "given for" and "poured out".

When we use one thing to "represent" another is has a way of becoming familiar. In the Last Supper we KNOW we are not partaking of Jesus body or His blood. However, we are partaking of the body He sacrificed and the blood He shed for us. These two facts should remain forefront in our minds as we are kneeling at the altar (in my case). These are sacred! They should never be familiar. They are Holy. Even if Jesus himself is not at our Last Supper the Holy Spirit is. He surrounds us and as such we should remember and have His body, whipped, spat upon, mocked, tripped in our minds. We should have His blood that was shed when he was whipped. His blood when the crown of thorns was pressed into His head, and when He was nailed to the cross the precious drops of blood that dropped into the sand should be firmly engrained into our thought as we take Holy Communion.

The Lord's Supper is very emotional for me. When I serve I have tears in my eyes for what it means to me. The bread - Christ is the bread of life. My very life depends on Him. He is my food. He fills me up. He satisfies me. The wine - is His life giving blood. He went to the cross for the sins I have not yet committed. His blood was spilled for me. Jesus too the bread, gave thanks and BROKE it and said "Take and eat; this is my body." Jesus gave His body for me. He took the cup, gave thanks and said "This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Jesus is the covenant. His blood was spilled for our forgiveness.

The Golden Rule capsulizes the message of the law and the prophets in that it tells us to love. Not just to love, but to love your neighbor as yourself. Put yourself in your neighbors "shoes". Walk a mile in them. Love him as you do yourself. Matthew 22: 37-39 tells us "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you mind." If we truly love God and our neighbor we will keep the command. Look at God positively. Rather than worrying about what we should not do we should concentrate on all we can do to show our love to God and to others. James said "Faith without works is dead." This faith is also love. We put God first in all things.

In these verses Christ is showing us the very heart of God. God isn't selfish, we do not have to beg or grovel as we come with our requests. We come in faith. Faith that He will give us what we ask for. I always look at it like this; I will ask and continue to ask. Sometimes He gives me what I ask for in different ways. He may decide I do not need what I have ask for and He will replace it with something else and I will realize it. He knows what is best. As for the cancer I am praying constantly for healing. It may be healing and the cancer goes into remission, it goes away, or God takes him home. He is healed. I have faith he knows what is best. One must believe God will do His best for us. We must learn to ask what is good for us and accept. God loves us more that our parents and that sometimes is hard to believe as much as I love my children. But God loves us so much....He wants what is best for us. As we learn to ask for what is good for us and God answers we feel His kindness and love. We can tell Him anything and ask Him anything because He knows anyway. He just wants us to ask. It is a learning experience for us.

The lesson that is taught in both the Parables of the Friend at Midnight in Luke 11 and the Widow and the Unjust Judge in Luke 18 is we are to continue to pray and not give up. I am reminded of my husband. He has been diagnosed with advanced cancer. We are praying and we are not giving up. We are God Strong. He can do anything. We have had some rough months, and some even rougher. But, we continue to pray and now after 41/2 months we are looking forward to a bone marrow transplant. We know it will prolong his life for a short while, but we continue to pray and God will do what is best. But we are persistent and we will not stop. We ask, we seek and we knock and He will open! These parables are basically restating the ask, seek and knock in Matthew 7.

The words ask, seek and knock are all action verbs which indicate a desire would be met. Ask seems is a simple petition with a promise that you what you ask for will be given. Seek indicates a searching for something that is either lost or has not yet been discovered. Knock indicates a door is closed and one must knock to have someone open it. Knock to me, is the verb that conveys more intensity than the other two. It means what we have ask for, what we have sought we have found. Now we knock to have it opened for us. These three words stress a continued persistent action until what we have sought is achieved.

Hi my nickname is Thud. I am from North Carolina. I am married with 5 children and have 6 grandchildren. We are going through a rough spot right now. My husband was diagnosed with cancer in July 2013 and I have MS. We are God Strong and will place our trust in him. I stay home and help my husband who is a Pastor in the United Methodist Church. While he is ill I have taken over the church on many occasions. I am a Certified Lay Minister. I am excited about this study as I am with all I have taken.

In Jesus day dogs and pigs were both considered unclean. Pearls were very expensive and precious. The holy food is precious. The believers turned away from those who did not welcome them or believe them. They also turned away from those who were abusive to the good news. After trying with these groups of people they shook the dust from their feet and went to witness to those who received them well and listened and followed.

This parable is funny if you can visualize a man with a plank in his eye trying to help a man with sawdust in his. There is no way the man could help anyone. Jesus uses this comparison I think, because if you are busy criticizing another what about your issues. What have you done? I think the speck represents our judging others when we shouldn't. The plank represent our own sins and short comings. When one corrects their own sins, then helping another is not a problem if done out of love and with kindness. If you need to demean a person and make them feel small it is not okay.

According to Matthew the measure you use will be the measure that is used for you. If we were to judge another harshly and without discerning Christian love we are not acting like Christians. God is our judge. I believe we can gently nudge but to hurt with words destroys the spirit. God does not judge us that way when we sin. If we judge another like this according to Matthew God will also judge us the same way. Luke said basically the same thing except that a forgiving spirit demonstrates that the person themselves has received God's forgiveness. If we are critical rather than compassionate we too will receive criticism. We should treat others compassionately, graciously, generously and love them. When we treat others this way these qualities will come back to us.

I think we all have caught ourselves criticizing others. I tend to be a little over weight. If I see a very slender person my first thought is she is too skinny. Maybe like me she is having weight issues. Mine is medication, maybe she is trying to gain. We should be tolerant. We do not walk in their shoes. I think the faultfinding is because I wish I was slender again. God made me the way I am for a reason. The underlying thought would be jealousy. We all I think sometimes have the "I wishes". We wish we had something someone else has. No one is perfect. we all fall short. Talking to one about a failing must be done gently. We too have done wrong. We will be judge by the same standard. I always try to talk to another in any circumstance like I would want to be talked to. Everyone has feelings.