tonight out of 1st Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 17 we're gonna read through the end of the chapter of here in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 and the beginning in verse 17 now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not that you come together not for the better but for the worse well what a sorry statement that is isn't it Paul would call them out that when they came to better it wasn't a good thing it was for the worse For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you that day that that that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When you come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper for an eating. Everyone take it before the other, his own supper, and one is a hungry and another drunken. What? Have you not houses to eat and to drink in, or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. For I have received of the Lord that which also I deliver unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. This do. Remembrance of me after the same manner also he took the cup when he had stopped saying this cup is the New Testament in my blood this do ye as oft as you drink it in remembrance of me For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the Lord's death till he come Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, tarry one for the other. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home. You come not together under condemnation, and the rest will I set in order when I come. Your Lord, I love you and I thank you for this passage of scripture. You gave us this wonderful ordinance of the Lord's Supper to remind us of your son, to remind us of his sacrifice at Calvary and or that it would impact our life in the present, that it wouldn't be something just merely from the past, but something that impacts our present and our future. What I pray tonight is I preach your word that I'd say what you'd have me to say in the way you would have it to be said. And in order to do that, Lord, I need your Holy Spirit. I need your filling and I need the wisdom for that only comes from you. I pray that same Holy Spirit that stirs in my heart would stir in each the heart of each one of us that know you as our Savior. And there's someone here tonight that is lost, that they put their trust in Christ as their Savior and that you'd work in our hearts through your word and through the working of the Holy Spirit. Lord, I love you. And I ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. Maybe seated. I grew up in church. We would take the Lord. We would have the Lord's Supper once a month. It was the first Sunday of the month at one of the we would we would do that. I have. I felt like personally in my own ministry not not speaking against that in the past But I like the idea of doing a little less often in the interest of keeping it a special occasion Rather than being a merely a tag on at the end of the service It becomes something of a focus and that we look towards but Lord doesn't tell us how often to have the Lord's Supper He just tells us to have it in this passage of Scripture. The Lord highlights the importance of it As a kid, that was ingrained in me. I remember as a kid, you weren't supposed to fool around in any service, all right? That could bring the wrath of mom and dad upon your head, all right? And if you fell asleep one day, you were taking a nap the next. If you got up to use the restroom, ooh, God have mercy on your soul before your mama got a hold of you. But of all nights, the Lord's Supper was one of the most important nights. You did not fool around. I didn't have to worry about the wrath of God. had to worry about the wrath of my father if he caught me goofing off during the Lord's Supper. With good reason, the Lord draws our specific attention to this passage of Scripture, to examine our own hearts, to draw near to the Lord. I remember as a kid, as the Lord's Supper would time, my brother and I would get a little squirmy. And the reason we'd get a little squirmy is because we had an older brother who would always get convicted by the Holy Ghost. And my older brother, I remember when we were kids, we weren't allowed to watch TV without permission. And maybe my parents would be gone and we would sneak off to watch that horrible cartoon, The Smurfs. You remember The Smurfs? That thing was straight out of a devil's hell, right? And then inevitably, you know, inevitably that Sunday night would come around and I would look over, communion time, and Matthew is convicted in his heart. And my mom would play the piano, and next thing you know, he would get up and he'd make his way to the piano and confess all of his sins and his brothers with him, all right? And we would see him confessing, and then we would see my mom playing, and then all of a sudden, she'd just look over at us as she played, and we knew when we got home, Judgment was falling. All right. All right. It was coming but I just remember as a kid just how serious it was and the older I have gotten it has become more meaningful and more serious to me not less so but more so because of the Significance of the Lord's Supper and what it means that time of just drawing near to the Lord Jesus Christ in this passage of scripture the Lord draws our attention to it and and I just want to draw your attention to some of the things that scripture specifically calls for Around this time. I think about the Lord's Supper as a time of selflessness It's a time of selflessness If you look here in this chapter you look at what Paul would rebuke the church for and for starting in verse 17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not that you come together not for the better, but for the what the worse Why did they come together for the worse for first of all when you come together in the church? I hear that there be divisions among you and I partly believe it and For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be manifest among you. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper, for in eating everyone taketh before the other his own supper, and one is hungry and another is drunken. What, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in, or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. He would rebuke them because they were turning in the Lord's Supper into something concerning self rather than their Savior. He said, when you come together, it's not so much about the Lord, but it's more about you than it is about him. He would rebuke them for what they had turned the Lord's Supper into and what it had become, the occasion that it had become. He would rebuke them for their division in the church. He would say in that portion of Scripture, he would say these words, he would say in verse 18, For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. He would say in verse 21, For in eating, every one taketh before his other his own supper, and one is hungry and another is drunken. He would rebuke them. He said, When you gather together, it's like church had become a potluck. The Lord's Supper had become a potluck. And he said, The only difference is, rather than sharing what you had, the one that had much would have plenty, and the one who had little would be hungry. Some would gather together and have much, and some would have little and go hungry. And others, those social drinkers in the church, they'd gather with their alcohol in their corner and become drunken. And he said it had become completely about self. And there had become divisions even among the church, and he would call them out for it. He would say, what is this? I see a whole lot of self and not much of the Savior. You know the Lord's Supper, one of the intentions of the Lord's Supper is to take our eyes off of ourselves and put our eyes on the Savior. To get our eyes off of ourselves and get our eyes on the Savior, get our eyes off our wants and our own desires and our own things and our petty differences and to begin to focus in on the whole reason we're here in the first place, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hey, look, you can look around a room filled with people from all different places and all different walks of life. But you know what we have in common? This. This. The body that was broken for us, the blood that was shed for us, the cross of Calvary. He said this is about something. It's not about you. It's not about me. It's all about him and what he did for us. A call. for selflessness, to get our eyes off of ourselves and our differences. He would even say this about those divisions in the church. He he would say this about division in the church. He would say in verse 18 again, he said, first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you. And I partly believe it. And he says this, for there must be also heresies among you. They which are approved may be made manifest among you. God even called out the need for division. You think need for division? Yeah, you know what he said about it? He said this about division. He said this in there. He said, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. You know what? Division has something. It does something to us. It makes the spiritual grow and the carnal exposed. It exposes the carnal and grows the spiritual. He said this, that division does that. And you know what a good way to know if you're part of it? If you're thinking of somebody else. If you think to somebody else. Division. He said there was a problem. There was a problem. There was a carnality. There was a selfishness. And he said something, you know what this does? You know what this does? It makes me think less of me and more of my savior. I tell you what, every division is petty in light of Calvary. Every division, every problem, every difference is petty compared to Calvary. And this right here puts my eyes where it should always be on my savior. And he said, if there's something that and he would rebuke them, he said, I have no praise for you when you gather because you didn't gather for him. You gathered for you. You gathered over your division. You gathered over your potluck, over your drunkenness, over your fellowships that excluded some from another, and he said, that's what you gathered over, and he goes, I don't have anything to praise you for. Matter of fact, when you gathered together, it wasn't for the better, it was for the worse. Talk about a condemning statement. That when they gathered, it was not for the better, it was for the worse. And so the Lord's Supper has a tendency to do something in my life. It makes me focus in and it makes me small and him much bigger. Calvary reminds me of the seriousness of sin. And the sacrifice of the Savior. He said that the Lord's Supper and this serious occasion, it draws our attention to something in our life, the need for selflessness in our life. Luke 22, 42, Jesus said this, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but what thine be done. How about Philippians 2 through 5? Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Let each esteem the other better than themselves. Boy, that's amen-worthy. until we got a problem. Now let's brush that to the corner. Let's brush it to the corner. And you know what he says in the scripture, but this. This right here. Puts everything into focus. It reminds me of something incredible. How much my savior loves me. And how much he loves the one sitting next to me. I would do well to remember that God loved me so much that he went to Calvary and died on the cross for me and rose again three days later that I might be saved. And guess what? He loves Brother Anthony the same amount. He does. Growing up, I've got four brothers, four brothers, five sisters. We had this. If you picked on one, you picked on all. Anybody who's got brothers, you know what that's like. Why? Because friend, we're brothers. Blood runs thick. We loved one another. I loved one another. You remember something with God. His blood runs thick. And he loves one of each of his own. Calvary, the cross, it reminds me of something in my life. I better Make sure that I am selfless and it focuses me on the Savior saying, hey, there is a time to put aside the differences. Hey, there is a time that look at that, the drunkenness, the eating, the the self. It was not about about the person. It was about lifting up the Savior. And he said it is meant to take our eyes off of ourselves and put our eyes on the Savior. It was a time of selflessness. It was a time of remembrance. Look at these verses in verse 23. Again, verse 23, if you would. When I come to verses 24 and 25, would you read those aloud with me? Verse 23 says, For I have received the Lord, that that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night, in which he was betrayed, took bread. Now read with me. And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye deshow the Lord's death till he come. It's a time of remembrance. The time of remembrance is a special occasion. Now, the church has two ordinances. The Lord in an ordinance, the Lord gave the example for them both and commanded them both in the in the in the baptism. We celebrate that that ordinance this morning. Someone was baptized this morning. That was a picture of the Lord's death, burial and resurrection. and identification with the Lord. And that was an ordinance given to the local New Testament church. He said church, matter of fact, he commanded the church. Not only did he set the example by being baptized himself, but he would command the church not only to go and teach all nations, but baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost. The command to baptize the saved, that they would be reminded of who they belong to and how they come to belong to him because we were purchased with his precious said blood at Calvary. But that's a one-time deal. You only got to do that one time because you're only saved one time. But this right here, it was both the example set by the Lord as he, if you will, gave that last Lord's Supper there in that upper room. And as he commanded it here in Scripture, we see that here in First Corinthians, Chapter 11, that we would fulfill the Lord's Supper with this intent, that we would be reminded as often as you do it of what our Savior did for us. His body. That was broken for us. If we're not careful as a Christian, we become so familiar with it that it becomes too familiar, that we don't think of it as special as it should be. It becomes so familiar that it becomes common. I think of the scripture in Psalms 22, verse 1, that prophecy. It says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And Jesus would say that at Calvary. Verse 11 through 18, another prophecy concerning the Lord. Be not far from me, for trouble is near. For there is none to help. Many bulls have come past me. Strong bulls of Bashan have set me around. They gaped upon me with their mouths as ravening a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaw." Remember, he would say, I thirst. And that has brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have come past me, and the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierce my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. Isaiah 53, three through six, he is despised and rejected men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone into his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. It was to remember what he had planned since the foundation of the world. friend, that he would go into that garden to pray and his disciples would fall asleep. He'd say, watch and he said, watch and pray with me just one hour. Can't you give me one hour? And they would fall asleep and finally his time would come and they would come to the garden and they would find him and Judas would give him that kiss of betrayal and they would say, where is Jesus? He would say, I am he. And John tells us that they all fell over backwards. God was letting them know that he would go with them, but they weren't taking his own and his disciples. And they would lead him away, and there he would go before the council, and they would blaspheme his name and lie about him. And ultimately, they'd ship him off to Pilate, because they didn't have the authority to kill him and crucify him. Pilate could find no fault in him, and he said, I'm gonna get this guy off my hands. So he'd send him back to Herod, and Herod had wanted to see him for a time, the Bible said, because he saw him like some kind of carnival show. He wanted to see him perform some miracle. Herod would ship him back to Pilate and say, I'm gonna put this back in your corner, Pilate would try to make a trade with the people, Barabbas. Murder, a thief, sedition. Who would you rather have let go, Jesus or Barabbas? Surely they would say Jesus. No, they said Barabbas. And they would cry out, the Bible records three times, maybe more, but three times they cried out, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. In heaven the angels say, holy, holy, holy. On earth they cried out, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate would wash his hands in a bowl and try to wash and cleanse his hands of what he was about to do, something water could not wash away. He would send him to be beaten and they would strip him naked in the common hall and put the crown of put the crown of thorns upon his head and beat him with that cat of nine tails. And like Psalms 27 said, his bones were made bare. They would stare upon him. His flesh would literally hang from his bones. It says there is two ways that they would beat a man with a cat of nine tails. They'd either stretch him, taunt and beat him and whip him or they would lean him over a post with it. But either way, Anybody who's ever skinned an animal knows you pull away the skin and slice with your knife. Forgive me for being gruesome. But as you pull taunt on the skin and slice with your knife, it just pulls the skin away from the body. And if your savior was stretched taunt, as those bones would, as those sharp objects of the cat of nine tails would tear through his flesh, his flesh would tear to the point that his bones were made bare. His bones made bare. It would make him carry his own cross after a body that was torn. nails through his hands and nails through his feet. Pierce his side with the spear, they would spit in his face and pluck out his beard and mock him. And mock him. And he would ultimately say, it is finished. And give up the ghost. Why? L-O-V-E. Love. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He said, I want you to remember it. I believe this is that is that bread is passed around the plate. It's not time to think about tomorrow in your schedule. As that juice goes down the aisle, it's not time to think about what else is going on in your life. It's time for you to do what the song says. Lead me to Calvary. Take me back. Let me meditate on, let me think upon what my Savior did for me. It was a time of selflessness. It was a time of, if you will, remembrance when it came to the Lord. It was a time of focus. I like what verse 26 says. It says here, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, You do show the Lord's death till what? He comes. Aren't you glad that He didn't just die, He rose again? And we're not here three days previous from now, we're here on the first day of the week. Because He rose again the first day of the week. It isn't only what He did at Calvary, it's that the tomb is empty. And He says that you do show the Lord's death until He comes. I'm looking forward to being in Israel here for 10 days, starting Wednesday. But one of the things that I'm excited about, I'm excited about seeing the mount that he would have ascended up on. And one day knowing that he's coming back in like manner. The friend, he's been there before and he's gonna be there again. Because he has come, he rose the first day, he ascended up in glory and there's coming a day when his saints are coming back with him in like manner. And you know something that this does? It's when the past brings the future in perspective and it aligns my priorities where they belong. Look what God has done in the past and he's coming again. So make sure you're ready. Make sure you're ready. As much as he came the first time to sacrifice himself at Calvary that I might be saved, he's coming back again, and the first thing he's going to do is call you and I that know Christ as our Savior. The dead in Christ shall rise up first, and those which are alive shall be caught up together to be with him in the air. And then he's pouring out his wrath to get a hold of his own people's attention and to judge this world. But then, seven years later, he's coming back and we're coming with him, and we're going to rule and reign with him for a thousand years. You know what he's saying? It says get your priorities right. Tonight is a night of putting priorities where they belong. Looking into the past. I like to, I like to shoot. I don't do it as often as I used to, but I like to shoot. You ever sight in a rifle? You ever shoot a rifle? Have you looked through that scope? Or maybe it's a handgun. Front sight. You put that front sight in perspective. The target's a little bit blurry, but you got your eyes on that front sight. I can tell you something, you're looking down that target and you've got your eye here and there. You know, Christian, my eye is supposed to be Calvary and His coming. Calvary and His coming. And everything I do in this life must find itself in line with Calvary and His coming. Calvary and His coming. Boy, there's something about the Lord's Supper that is meant to do something Seth Han, what are your priorities? You got self on the throne? You got the earth world on your mind? Got some sin you need to deal with? Look back to Calvary and look ahead to his coming. Look back to Calvary where he dealt with it and look to Calvary because you're going to see him again face to face. I'll see him. It brings our priorities into line, and it's a time not only of selflessness and a time of remembrance, but a time of focus. And here's a sobering one, a time of examination. Look at verse 27. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Christ of the Lord. Now, before we read this, I want you to take note of where you're at. What book are we in? Old Testament or New Testament, friend? New Testament. This isn't Leviticus. This isn't Deuteronomy. This isn't Numbers. This is Corinthians. This is New Testament. This is our side of Calvary. Now look at that again. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh what? Damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many, what? Now, he's not talking about taking a Sunday afternoon nap, is he? He's not talking about the lost either, because the lost don't sleep, they're dead. They're eternally separated from their Savior. He's talking about a saved man who leaves this world behind. He uses the same reference in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 when he tells us not to sorrow as those who have no hope concerning those which are asleep. So he warns us, he said, many sleep, many have left this world behind, for we would judge ourselves. We should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chasing to the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, Terry, one with another, he says this, this is a call to examine ourself. You know, he says in that verse, let every man examine his what himself. He said, it's time to look to your own heart. You know what Lord's Supper is? It's a time to look inside and lift up our voice to the Lord. This is why I encourage folks to do it even before they arrive at church. Look in your heart. Lord, is there anything between you and me? Is there anything between you and me? Is there anything between you and I and another? Remember in Matthew 5, 6 or so. You bring your gift to the altar and they remember us. Thy brother hath aught against thee. Leave there thy gift. Go to thy brother. And what are you supposed to do? Get right with your brother. Examine your heart. He said examine yourself because it's better to examine yourself than to let God examine you. Look at what he says here in that verse. He says this in verse 29, For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of who? The Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. He said this, there's a reason God chastens us. Hebrews chapter 12 reminds us it's because he loves me. And he chastens me that I would not be condemned with the world. Lest when I have conceived, bring forth sin, and sin with it is finished, bring forth what? Death. You know, sin always brings about destruction. You know why God chastens his own? Because he wants to keep you from the destruction of sin. Even his chastening hand, his judging hand, is a hand of his mercy in our life. that I know this, when God comes to chasten me, it's not His wrath that He's pouring out on me, it's His love that He's pouring after me. He's trying to keep me from the consequences of sin in my life. But He says this, He says, look here, examine your own heart so that I don't have to examine it for you. Because if you walk willingly in sin while taking the Lord's Supper, God says this, that's serious business to me. Examine your heart, because many are sickly and many sleep. It's a time of personal examination of our own heart to say, dear God, is my heart where it needs to be with you? Am I right? He is otherwise, we're guilty, he says, of the body, In verse 27, wherefore, whosoever shall eat of this bread and drink of this cup, Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and the blood of Christ. Don't put yourself in the crowd that cried out, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. Don't put yourself in the crowd that said, release Barabbas. Don't put yourself in the crowd of Pilate who washed his hands thinking it would eliminate him of his guilt. Don't put yourself in the place of Herod who would say, pass this guy back on up. You're a Christian, you've been saved, you're a child of God. Examine your heart and make sure you're right with God. This is a time of personal examination and saying this, Lord, I love you and I want to be right with you. I want to be right with you. And God says, as often as you do it, do it in remembrance of me. I tell you what, I think it's a good thing to go to Calvary daily, personally. But this is the corporate searching of our heart as a church. The time when we gather together as people, and we examine our own hearts before the Lord, and we examine ourselves before God and say, Lord, am I where I need to be with you? Am I where I need to be with you? Because here it is, Lord. You loved me so much that this happened. That this happened. I'm about to pick up a cracker. It won't taste so great. But it's not about that. It's unleavened. It's not meant to, because it was not a pleasant thing that our Savior went through at Calvary. He had a sinless body, and so we have unleavened bread, and we put that in our mouth as a symbol of, I have taken part in His body that was broken for me. I've trusted in my Savior. And though I was dead in trespass of sin, my old sin nature is dead and I have a new nature because his body was broken for me. As I take that juice in my hand, as I take a drink of that little bit of juice, I'm remembering something, Lord, your blood was shed for me. It was shed for me all because you loved me. And so, Lord, tonight. Am I right with you? Am I right with you? I want to be right with you. I don't want another day, I don't want a day to go by that I'm not right with you. And God reminds us, I want you to be right with me too. I want you to be right with me so much that don't you dare take it unworthily. You ever look at your children? Don't you dare. Don't you dare. I love you and because I love you, don't you dare. This is God, I love you. I love you so much. I want you to remember Calvary. And God the Father looks down, I love you so much that I sent my son Jesus to die for you. Don't you dare trample on what he did. I love you and I love my son. Don't you dare trample on what he did for you. Because we have a God in heaven who loves us. As we take this tonight, Remember this, it's a time of selflessness. It's a time for me to mortify my members. It's a time for me to say, Sethon, get out of the way. Get out of the way. It's a time of remembrance. It's a time for me to remember why I belong getting out of the way, because I've been purchased with the precious said blood of my savior, and his body was broken for me. It's that time, if you will, focus, to remind me of something. He came for me the first time to die and he's coming for me again. And I'm going to remember this till he comes. I'm going to keep one eye on in the rear for you at Calvary and one eye looking for him to come looking for that blessed hope that glorious appeared of our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. And here it is Lord. I want my heart to be right. My prayer would be that if we take this the last of this tonight, That we could say this, if God came back, the moment you and I concluded this, our hearts would be in perfect harmony with our Savior. Our hearts would be in perfect harmony with our Savior. Because we have examined ourselves. We have searched our heart. We have let the Holy Spirit do its work. And we have put our eyes on our Savior. And we have remembered Him. And if He calls me home, the moment after I take it, my heart will be right with Him. But I won't have to hang my head in shame. I'll be able to bow my knee in worship. And say, Jesus Christ is Lord. Because of Calvary, because of tonight. Not a simple thing, a serious thing. Not merely a ceremony, but a serious time of remembering our Savior. I go back in my mind as a kid, sitting on a pew at Madera Baptist Church, the first time I took communion. Here it comes, here comes the juice. Remember how serious it is? Remembering something, don't you dare mess up while your dad is there. It was serious. And then how special it was to think about Christ. The more serious it became, the more special it became that moment. For me, I had made a profession at a young age, but trusted Christ when I was 15. A moment, I took it and realized the difference it made in my life. As the years have passed, Realize how special it is. What my Savior has done for me. A serious time. A time of remembrance of selflessness. A time of focus. A time of examination. That I could leave here tonight knowing this. Dear God, I'm ready for your coming. And my heart is right. I'm ready for your coming. Let's pray together. Dear Lord, I love you.