 Good afternoon Pastor David. Hey John. Welcome everybody to Unfiltered a Random Moment with Pastor David and as you guys see we have a new format and on Tuesdays we want to tease out a little bit about Marriage in the Family as you are going to start that here in a few weeks and on Thursdays what we do is typically talk a little bit more about Marriage in the Family but today pastor I wanted to just get some thoughts on communion. Every third Wednesday our church celebrates communion on Wednesday after the Bible study and I wanted to ask you the importance as a church on taking communion. That's an interesting way to put it the importance as a church in taking communion. You know in the various Protestant and even non-Protestant expressions of our Christian faith you have what are called sacraments. You know I was raised in the Catholic Church and so we had seven sacraments. Well we celebrate two. The word sacrament is from the Latin sacramentum and it literally speaks of taking an oath and so the reason we celebrate two rather than six or seven or perhaps even eight is because these are the two ordinances of the church that were actually established by Jesus himself. Jesus is the one who brought into the church's existence the sacrament of baptism and the sacrament of communion. Communion is actually a word that speaks of the fellowship or the things that we have in common shared together. It is also when in reference to the communion service there are those who speak of the Eucharist and I don't want to get into the various layers that that word itself brings but I will say that the word Eucharist is actually from a Greek word and it doesn't it's not pronounced Eucharist it's a word that speaks of Thanksgiving in Greek. You know it's a thank you when you're in Greece that's what you say they'll give you something and you say Eucharist. Well the Eucharist is that which is of thanks you're giving thanks and all and so the communion that we share is actually a thanksgiving celebration thanksgiving to the Lord for what he did in that he gave to us salvation through his son Jesus Christ and so when Jesus was establishing communion on that night that he was betrayed in the night prior to his trial and then ultimately his crucifixion and his burial his death in burial Jesus established it and he said to his men that they were to to take of this cup and take of the bread that was part of the Passover celebration but they were to do that in remembrance of me every time that you take of it you'll be doing that in remembrance of me it'll be an act of thanksgiving for the things that I have done on your behalf in order that you might come to eternal life it's a reminder so the bread obviously remains the bread it doesn't become something else and and the the juice remains obviously the juice Jesus though in the bread it's a symbol of the fact that he is the the bread of life and the juice is to remind us that he is the true vine and so in Christ we have the the the bread of life and he is the true vine and we abide in him produce fruit and those are the things that are part of the symbolism of taking of what we used to call the holy supper and so he said do this in remembrance of me well when you do something in remembrance of him it is something that is much deeper than simply saying yeah I remember it's it's it's actions in the past that he did every time you take of this you think of what I've said actions in the past actions in the present and also he says you're looking forward to this in the future so there are three parts to the thanksgiving what he has done what he's doing what will happen yet in the future and so for us in the church it's a very important ordinance of the church because it's been referred to as one of the means of grace it's one of the ways that the Lord is imparting a special sense of his presence a special sense of his grace so when you take of the the the bread and the juice and you do so in a manner worthy of that because some people just take it lightly and when Paul spoke of this he said some of you are eating drinking you're even drunk at the at the the the the meal that you have your common meal this these things ought not to be so don't you have homes that you can treat can eat and I mean if you're going to be doing ordinary things do them in your ordinary home but when you're gathering together over the ordinances of the church when you're gathering together over the importance of this this remembering what Jesus did you need to come in in a in a manner that is worthy of what you're about to partake in so we gather together and we have of the the bread and we remember he's the bread of life we take of the juice remembering that he is the true vine we do it in remembrance one other thing and I'll close with this because tomorrow night when we have communion prayerfully people will be prepared for it but when you remember something there are different variations of what that means sometimes somebody says yeah I remember when or yeah or you know don't forget you know remember but remembrance carries with it in especially in these kinds of activities it carries with it a deeper meaning than simply recollecting certain bits of information to remember something is to have more of an immersive experience with it you're more fully in touch with it there are times perhaps where you you may hear a song on the radio and it reminds of your mom it reminds you of your dad reminds you of somebody that you you grew up with or you loved and perhaps that they have they have gone on into eternity and you'll hear the song and as you hear the song you remember it's not just a mental thing it's an emotional thing it's something that that can contains various elements and if it's a spiritual song it even contains a spiritual element to right well that's that's what you're doing when you take up the communion you're doing this in remembrance of me you're doing this fully participating immersing in and re-experiencing those things that that that have brought you to where you're at right now those things I did in the past the things that I'm doing in your life right now and and the hope you have for the future but you're especially immersed in that sense of reliving reconnecting and understanding and so that's why you don't take it lightly that's why when you take of the cup and you take of the of the bread that's why you do it with a a sense of devotion a a more proper attitude you it's not just picking up a piece of bread and drinking some juice it's it's saying thank you Lord Jesus because I remember where I was thank you Lord Jesus because look where I am and thank you Lord Jesus because we're on one day going to be and so do this in remembrance of me remember who I am it's one of the ways that God is simply saying please don't forget don't forget me and that thief on the cross when he was looking at Jesus just before he Jesus our Savior died what was it that he said to him he said Lord remember me remember me and Jesus said today you'll be with me in paradise well Jesus said to us once remember me and we do that in communion. Amen pastor thank you so much for sharing on as we're taking communion tomorrow evening and church family it's a great opportunity for us to gather together not only to hear the Bible study in Ephesians but to also partake of communion as a church family as we just heard the the importance and the the intimacy that we have communion with the Lord and so I want to invite you guys to come out and join us Wednesday evening tomorrow at 7 p.m. we have a time of worship Bible study and then afterwards we'll have communion so we look for you to join us and and pastor thank you so much for sharing a little bit of inside on communion and you know in remembrance of me and remembrance of Jesus. Amen and one more one last thing guys and ladies we're going to Israel God willing in March if you want some information contact us at CalvaryCCV.org yes and we look forward to having you join us God bless you guys pastor David thank you so much of course we'll see you guys