God's Family At His Table

We've been talking for several weeks now, in case you have been on vacation or traveling or whatever, about character, about those qualities in our lives that will carry us through into the 90s. We've called it victorious virtues of the 90s. And you know, I haven't had a flood of, boy, this has been great, you know, last week's message on discipline, no one even smiled or thanked me, it was just like... But how many of you know we need things like courage and discipline and vision and perseverance? And there aren't too many places we can look anymore to see those things embodied, but you know what? God knew that and he sent a person, whom the Bible says was full of the grace and the glory of God. In fact, John 1.14, if we can put that up, please, read it out loud with me. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. And after three and a half years of ministering publicly, and then some 30 or 40 years later, the Apostle John writes this about the Lord Jesus Christ, here's what he says, read this with me. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched, this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. This man, Jesus, was the fullness of God embodied in a human being. He was all of these character qualities manifested in one person. But isn't the difficulty that the Lord Jesus is not here today for us to see? Wouldn't it be wonderful if he walked down this aisle and took this platform right now? I may be diving for your seat, you know, underneath. I think it might be a pretty awesome thing. But the Lord didn't leave us without some hope in this matter. In fact, he said in John 14, 26, these words, but the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. And so when Jesus was lifted up after his crucifixion and resurrection, he was lifted up and ascended to heaven, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit came to remind us of everything that Jesus called us to be, to teach us those things, to bring them alive to us. And that's what brings us to Acts chapter 2 today, because it's when the Holy Spirit came, we see an impact in the church. And I want us to look at this today just for a few moments. Basically, Acts chapter 2 raises two questions about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Those two questions are these. What does this mean? Look at Acts 2 and verse 12. What does this mean? And the second question is in verse 37, brothers, what shall we do? When the Holy Spirit came, what does this mean and what shall we do? Now, Peter answers the first question, what does this mean, with a sermon that goes from verses 14 through 37. I really can't take the time to read that. I want to encourage you to do that after the service today in your own time. But the keystone of the whole sermon is in Acts chapter 2 and verse 21 when he says, and read this out loud with me, and let's put this on the overhead, too. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Say it again. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And who is that name? The name of Jesus. No other name but the name of Jesus. Now what does the Bible mean? What is Peter saying when he quotes this prophecy? What does he mean when he says, we'll be saved? Now if there's a term in the 90s that kind of got punched around, well actually in the 80s it got punched around real big. It was saved. You say it with a twang and the whole thing. We'll be saved. What does salvation mean? Well two things. Specifically salvation has to do with eternal life. How many of you are kind of counting on the fact that there's something after these 70 or 80 years? I mean, are you banking on that? Eternal life. Salvation in the eternal sense. But the Bible also clearly teaches that salvation, in fact the Greek word for salvation, means wholeness. It means being completely provided for. So whatever your need is, whether it's confusion that's wracking your life, or pain, or fear or doubt, the Bible says whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. My conviction is, by the way, that salvation answers to the two things that Satan is seeking to do in the world today. How many of you know that Satan is out to rob God of his glory? That's Satan's whole mission, dear ones, in the broad theological sense is to rob God of his glory. But there's two practical ways he's doing it. Number one, he's robbing God's glory by keeping people from coming to Jesus Christ. That's the number one way that Satan works today. Can I tell you folks, if this doesn't burden you, it really should. I fear so often that we kind of go through life and, you know, well I'm taken care of, but my neighbor, that's his problem, he's a private person, all that. It should concern us. The second way that Satan seeks to rob God of his glory is to make human beings and human society as miserable as possible in this present life. And one of my most vivid images of India is seeing the squalor and the hopelessness of millions of people and realizing these idol-worshipping, demon-oppressed people have fallen into the snare of Satan's design to rob God of his glory. Unfortunately, the same thing is happening in a much prettier fashion with many people here in America. Those two ways, Satan is seeking to rob God of his glory. Let's talk about the first one for just another moment because, you see, if salvation is in the name of Jesus, how many of you here today want to know that that's something that you possess? And I was really stopped short in my preparation on Thursday morning. I was thinking, well, you know, most of the people, and it's true today, probably the great majority of people here today would say with great confidence, yes, I am saved. I do know Jesus Christ personally. So what's the big deal? And I was saying, Lord, you know, I don't want to be hitting this thing that hard. I mean, most of these people know this already. And here's what the Lord impressed upon me. Matthew 7, verse 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But only he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? And then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers. That's a sobering thought to a pastor, and it should be to you as well. It's very possible. It seems to me when the Bible says many, it means more than a few. Many, Jesus said, many will come to me on that day, the day of eternal judgment, and will say, well, Lord, Lord, didn't we do this and didn't we do that, and didn't we go to church every week, and didn't we give money in the offering, and didn't we prophesy? And the Lord will say, depart from me, I never knew you. Make no mistake, listen very carefully. This is the most important thing you may hear today. Jesus Christ wants a relationship with you. He's not impressed by your attendance, by your theological or church background, by how well you know the Bible even, by how many good deeds you've done or miracles you've participated in. He just wants you to answer this one question. Do you know me? Do you know my heartbeat? Are we in communion together? And I do fear, I mean, I fear in a God-fearing way that I'm speaking this morning probably to quite a few people who don't really know the Lord. You know about Him. You've been around church enough to know all the jargon. But you don't know Him. And I want to say with all my heart this morning, get right with the Lord. Get right with Him. I feel we've made it a little too easy around here. Too easy to just kind of go through the motions and show up and drift along. And I say that to myself. I mean, I was leveled by this on Thursday, and I just want to proclaim it to you today. The Lord wants to know you, and that's why He died. He wants you to enjoy fellowship with Him. And I'm not talking religious achievements here. I'm not talking about, well, you know, if you fall and make a mistake or sin that God doesn't love you. How many of you know His grace and mercy abound to us, but He doesn't play games? Rick Brennan's going to sing a song, and I so appreciate it. Rick prepared this for weeks and weeks. We need to bring this down. And he sent a little note with the tape about the song, and he said, you know, it's been 20 years since I've known the Lord now, and this song is really my testimony through all kinds of circumstances. The Lord's been there. No one knows me like Jesus does. Rick? In the beginning I never knew just how much I really needed you. More than a friend, someone I could talk to. You've changed me in so many ways. Nobody knows me like you do. You put your arms around me, you bring me through. There's many times I don't know what to do. Though some know me well, still nobody knows me like you. All of my secrets to you I tell. You saw each time that I slipped and fell. All of my thoughts, yes, you know them well. And you never turn me away. No, no, no. Nobody knows me like you. You put your arms around me, you bring me through. There's many times I don't know what to do. Though some know me well, still nobody knows me like you. Walking in your presence is where I want to be. You said in your words, you said that you would lead me. Yes, I love you. Oh, I really love you. I'll go anywhere as long as I know you'll be there. You'll be there. As long as I know you'll be there. You'll be there. Yeah. All of those nights when I was afraid. I stood on the promises you had made. The way that I act sometimes, I am ashamed. But you never turn me away. No, no, no. Nobody knows me like you. You put your arms around me, you bring me through. There's many times I don't know what to do. Though some know me well, still nobody knows me like you. Nobody knows me like you. You put your arms around me, you bring me through. There's many times I don't know what to do. Though some know me well, still nobody knows me like you. Though some know me well, still nobody knows me like you. Like you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the desire of the Lord. He wants to know you. And He wants you to know Him. In just a few minutes, we're going to be taking the Lord's table. His body and His blood symbolically. And the Lord asks you personally at that moment, do you know me today? The Bible also says, call upon the name of the Lord and you'll be saved. In the sense of salvation meaning wholeness or completeness in your life. About three or four years ago, many of us here at North Way who were together at that time were greatly encouraged and I think helped a lot by the teaching of the compound names of the Lord out of the Old Testament, the old covenant of God. In case you're newer to the Lord, one of the things that the Bible makes very clear is that the name of God tells us about Him. There's something like 250 names of God in the Bible and they all reveal part of His character. And these eight names all represent covenants or promises that God made. And I think we have copies of that just for you to take a glance at here on the overhead. Remember these compound names? We talked about the name of the Lord, Jehovah Sikkenu, our righteousness. Jehovah Mekedesh, the God who sanctifies or completes His holy work in us. Jehovah Shalom, God our peace. How many need peace today in the name of the Lord? I bought an album this week or actually I borrowed it, it looks so good. It was called Perfect Peace. I need that in my life. I need peace. And peace is a person. Jehovah Rophe, the God who heals. How many need healing today in the name of Jesus? Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah's provision shall be seen. The God who sees and provides. How many people need a provision from the Lord today in the name of Jesus? Jehovah Nissi, God our bender. And that's the God who goes before us in our battles. How many need God to come on your behalf and walk you through some struggles in life? Jehovah Rohi, my shepherd, the God who leads and directs. And these compound covenant names are all fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. That's when Peter says, call upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved. That's what he's talking about. Now there's got to be at least a few people here and maybe if not that, you know some people who would say, well, you know that's the thing with you Christians, you just need help all the time. You know? If you were really strong people, you wouldn't need all this help. Have you heard that? Ever heard, how about this one? You know, Christianity is just a crutch for weaker people. A real strong person by the name of Karl Marx about a hundred years ago said that religion is the opiate of the people, meaning it's the drug that puts them to sleep because they can't take care of themselves. And now a hundred years later, where is the society that Karl Marx dreamed would be the replacement for religion? Where is it? It's disintegrating, isn't it? Falling apart around the world. Because Karl Marx, as millions and millions of others have discovered, found that you cannot live life without God successfully. He created it that way. He designed it that way. And dear friend, if you're one of the ones or you've been somehow indoctrinated to think that religion is for weak people, you're right. It's for people who have needs. People like you and like me. And if you're not going through a difficult time right now, praise God, I don't want to make you feel bad. But trust me when I tell you, you will go through one. At this age that I'm at right now in my life, and many of my friends are somewhere within five years of either side, it's like every time we're together, something else just popped. We're like a car with 120,000 miles on us. Some are more serious than others. How many of you know there's going to come a time when you're going to need to call on the name of the Lord and be saved? I'd like our focus to be on the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all these things. And when we look up into His face and His eyes upon us, the provision, whatever it is in His name, begins to be poured toward us. Let's stand, shall we, and sing together this beautiful little song. O Lord, You are beautiful, Your face is all I see. And let's let the provision of God begin to pour upon us. O Lord, You are beautiful, Your face is all I see. For when Your eyes are on this child, Your grace abounds to me. O Lord, You are beautiful, Your face is all I see. For when Your eyes are on this child, Your grace abounds to me. Your grace abounds to me. Now, this spirit of worshipful prayer right now, Nancy, if you'll put those names back up, please. Just meditate for a moment on the name of the Lord and any of these specific names, and whatever you need right now, and just a whispering tone throughout the congregation. Let's have some prayer time. Let's call upon His name. What is it that you need today for the Lord to provide for you? Go ahead and begin to call on that name. Let's just audibly make our individual petition known to the Lord. Just call upon Him right now. Lord, I need this touch of your life today. I need peace today, Jehovah Shalom. Present Him, whatever concerns you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord. Take us today, Lord. Take us today, Father. Hallelujah. In Jesus' name, Father. In Jesus' name. Now, let's be seated. Now, in just a moment, we're going to receive communion together. I want you to turn, though, one more moment in your scripture, and just hold on for a second, please, ushers. In Acts chapter 2, where we initially started, after Peter's sermon, and after the people began to respond so openly, look at verse 42. It says, They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to the fellowship, and to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Look down at verse 46 also. And every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes, and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Both, in just five or six verses, twice it mentions breaking bread. And biblical scholars will tell you that was symbolizing communion together, the Lord's table together, breaking the bread. And notice what happened as a result. Verse 43, it says, Miraculous signs and many wonders were done by the apostles after they broke bread. And look down at verse 47, it says, The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Now, sandwiched in between those verses is the generous outpouring of God's people in care for one another, financially, resource-wise. But something happened between breaking bread, and all this other stuff that's going on. God showed up. You see, communion was not a ritual in the minds of the early church. It was an act of power. In just a moment, you're going to hold the bread in the cup. And I want you to hold it as an act of power in your life. I'm not sure about you, but I've often asked myself the question, Why does the Lord give us the bread first, and then the cup? Listen carefully. Isn't it true that the cup is symbolic of the blood of Christ? And isn't it through the shedding of blood that remission of sins comes? So wouldn't it make sense to have the cup first, because wouldn't God want us to be cleansed of our sins first, and then given the bread, because that's what provides the healing, and the restoration, and the deliverance? By His stripes, by the breaking of His body, we are healed. I've asked myself, why did God put it in that order? Do you have an answer for that? Well, someone's got to be thinking, well, Jesus did it that way. I guess that's a good reason. Didn't He do it first? Right. I don't know the answer. Really, I don't. Except, I'll submit this to you. Is it possible? You see, we are so theologically minded that we're thinking, well, God, you certainly want people to know salvation, most importantly, in terms of eternal life and forgiveness of sins. And all the other stuff is good, but it's secondary. And that's true. But you know what it means to me? How about this? Could it be that God wants us to know that He doesn't just approach us on the basis of having our sins forgiven. He first approaches us based on His love for us, and His desire to make us whole. Didn't Jesus minister that way? I mean, didn't Jesus go about healing, delivering, touching lives, and then a little later, He proclaimed the gospel of forgiveness, and gave up His life? And so, I see, pragmatically, it's pretty obvious to me, but theologically, it's a little tougher. How many of you know God's not real concerned about His theology? I mean, if you're God, I guess you don't have to get real concerned about theology. You know it already, right? Not that we shouldn't be. I'm going to ask the ushers to come now, and to serve each of you a portion of the Lord's body. And I want everyone, by the way, even if you're visiting today, to feel welcome, to participate. Hold that portion for just a moment. And we're going to pray for healing right now. We're going to ask the Lord to release the power of His stripes, the power of His body broken for us in healing. I want everyone to hold a portion for just a moment. Now, here's what I'd like you to do. I believe this is how the Lord would have us to proceed. After all have been served, just a few more are being served, if you're here today and you desire or need physical healing, a physical touch or healing of a relational, well, let's not say that. Let's say healing of an emotional need in your life. We'll pray about relationships in a moment. But if you need physical or an emotional, a soul-related healing today, or you know someone you'd like to stand for in absentia, then I'm going to ask you in just a moment to stand for healing today. And all around the room we're going to be praying for you to be healed. I've already had several people ask me today to pray for them to be healed. And I think the only way we could effectively do that is if we all agree in prayer. So, if you personally need healing today or you'd like to stand for someone else, would you stand right now where you are? Go ahead, stand right now where you are. And now I'd like those that are seated near you, and if there's several standing together and there's no one seated, you're going to have to touch each other. But let's all reach out now. Every person reach out and touch someone near you. I want everyone to be touched in some way. If you have to move around and stand up and touch another one, whatever you need. I want everyone to be touched who's standing right now. And now if that person can whisper what their need is, I want them to do that. If not, just begin to pray. I'd like our elders to come forward, please. Go ahead and begin to pray for each other. Pray for healing. Go ahead, pray for healing. Pray for healing. Hallelujah, Father. Send your grace, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Yes, Lord. Your body broken for us, Lord. Mack McCabe is going to lead us now in a prayer together. Let's agree as Mack leads us in prayer. Let's agree for God's grace. Oh, Father, we declare in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, the name that is above all names, the name that you have given to us, the name of the Lord who sits at your right hand, the very one who died for us and who bore our sins and iniquities, the very one who took His stripes, the very one who suffered before we did to identify with our problems and our sufferings and our needs. We come to you, Father, in His mighty name. And we declare your covenant to be true for healing. The words that are being spoken in this room right now, the hearts that are rising up in faith who are declaring that you are on the throne and you are healing them. We agree with that right now. In the heavenlies and here on earth, as it is done on earth, it is done in heaven. And we say that your covenant is true and we say that these people, their prayers are getting through to you. Thank you, Lord Jesus. We declare that this people shall be a whole people, that these prayers are being collected in heaven and are being heard and already you are dispatching the answers. We stand in faith and agreement in that, Lord Jesus. We come against cancer in the body. We come against heart disease that's wracking our people. We come against back problems and ligament problems. We come against emotional damage from the past and even from the present. We say, disease, get out of this people in Jesus' name. For you have declared this people to be a whole people, free from disease and free from emotional distress of this sort. And we declare that your covenant is true and these people are free from this disease. And we declare that these people's prayers have been heard. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for answering from heaven. We thank you for healing this people. We thank you for answering, Lord Jesus. May your name be lifted up. May the Father receive glory from what's taking place in this room today. That the simple prayer of faith, speaking to the mountains that are before them and we are watching as the mountains dissolve into the sea. As you're rising up, you're healing among us, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Now let's all stand. Everyone stand, please. The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he'd given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me, the body of Christ. I can almost see your holiness as I look around this place. With my hands raised high, we sing your praise. We sing your praise. Spirit of God, lift me up. Spirit of God, lift me up. Fill me again with your love. Spirit of God. Spirit of God, lift me up. Spirit of God, lift me up. Fill me again with your love. Spirit of God. I hear the word of the Lord right now as he would declare it. And I say to you, my people, the doubt that you bring this moment for your healing is what blocks the flow of my power. Why is it that you doubt that because you haven't received some miracle of this moment that I have not heard your prayer, that I have not started that flow toward your life. But know with assurance that that which I've begun, you must receive by faith. And know that in time, I will unfold the miracle of that healing in your life. Know that I have begun the process which today you've asked for. But indeed, you must stand in faith. Even as Daniel of old stood for 21 days and was resisted by the powers of the air. So this word will come forth. So this manifestation will be made known. But you must stand and receive. And know that I do this not just for you, but I do this so that through you, many others will come as well. And stand by faith. And receive what I have died to give. Was my body broken for naught? Were those stripes for nothing, says the Lord? Have I not declared that by my stripes, you were healed. And so receive this day assurance that the word shall be fulfilled as you stand. And I will grant grace even in this standing, says the Lord, that you might glorify me in all things. Hallelujah. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Let's be seated. I ask you if you'll come now and serve the cup. Jesus said this cup is the new covenant in my blood. His promise was that if we would confess our sin, he would be faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Now I'm fully aware that most everyone here in the room today has come to a place of acknowledging Jesus Christ. But you know, I'm sure there also are some people here for whom that relationship is not settled. And when I spoke some moments ago about you standing before God, one of the fears in your life today is that God would say to you, depart from me, I never knew you. And dear one, if you're carrying that uncertainty, I want to say to you today in no uncertain terms, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. What you can do this morning is simply this. When we partake of this cup, what we're saying is, Lord, I'm receiving the power of your sacrifice, your blood. You know, we're receiving here a symbol. There's nothing magic about drinking this. You understand that. It's a symbol. But likewise, we can also say, Lord, as we receive this cup and drink it, we're also receiving your life and taking your life into our bodies. Salvation, dear ones, is a life. It's not a doctrine. It's not a membership. It's a life. And the cup symbolizes that. And if you're in doubt of any kind today, young people, senior citizens, it doesn't matter. This morning you can know, you can have assurance that the Lord receives you based on His sacrifice for you and your trust in Him. And if you've never done that, I want to urge you today to do it. And if you've done it and it's just drifted off and you're way out there and never, never land today, then come to the Lord today and repent of that. And let me say then also a word to those of you who are here who like me also find that sin just seems to keep finding a way of encroaching into my life. Do you find that? Hello? I mean, do you find that you struggle with sin in your life? I was in a conversation earlier this week with someone who was visiting from out of town and the name of a particular person came up and I found myself, boom, right away bristling. You know, I thought some time back that I'd really dealt with my anger about this particular person who talked very unkindly about me. And I thought I'd really dealt with that. And we're sitting around a little breakfast table at Denny's and I realized, you know, I have not dealt with that anger. It's come back in. Isn't it somehow our flesh will let us tolerate things again? And I don't know what it is for you. Maybe it's bitterness which is nothing more than pride in its purest form. Maybe it's lust of some kind. Sexual sin. Maybe it's a partying spirit. Maybe it's greed. I don't know what it is, but if you've allowed sin believers to encroach in your life, take the cup with understanding today and ask the Lord to cleanse you and forgive you. Let's not play games with God's blood. Let's be forgiven. And now Lord, we receive this cup. The new covenant in your blood and we thank you Lord that you knew our state. You knew our condition. You knew our helplessness against the war to sin. And you provided forgiveness. And so we receive it now with understanding and with thanksgiving. In Jesus name. Let's drink together the cup of salvation. I receive your love. Oh Lord, your loveliness changing my awkwardness. Oh Lord, your tenderness holding all my bitterness. Oh Lord, I receive your love. Oh Lord, your loveliness changing my unworthiness. Let's bow our heads for a moment please. I'd like for no one else to move around. Let's just bow our heads. I feel very strongly before we conclude this service today that I need to agree. And I know we do this so many times that you may think well I know what's going to happen now and what difference does it make. Or you may be brainwashed.