Praise the Lord. Amen, it wasn't worshiped just like it's just I don't
know. I don't know. Spirit of God's moving in this place, Amen,
Spirit of God's moving. I hope he's moving in your homes too,
not just not just this house, but your house. And I just want
to tell you first of all our pastors they greet you this morning there in
Italy, and they're they're running around in Italy and an RV and just having
a great time. They will be back with us next week and refreshed and
well and ready. Amen, And we just speak blessing over them and their
travels. Would you just stand back up with me for a moment. I
just want to to who want us just to invite the spirit of God to
hover over us right now as we begin to reach deep into His word.
We're saying that all we need is you. But I'm telling you that all
he needs is you. His desire is you, his desire, his relationship
with you. Don't forget that. So Father, this morning, we say,
Presence of God fill this place, speak deeply your word into our lives.
God Lord, we just speak Spirit of God into every heart that is
in this place. Who thank your Lord for what you're about to do in
our lives. In Jesus name, Amen, you can be seated. We're
going to continue this morning on our Receiving series with Receiving Nourishment. Last week
we invited you to join our thirty day Communion Challenge, and if you didn't
get a chance to do that, the ushers have these cards for you.
We'd love to have you joined it. We had a lot of people sign
up and and and they will be getting you'll be getting a devotional in your
inbox every day for the next thirty days. And and then there's a chance
you can go on to Facebook and like our our Facebook page as well,
and there there's devotions, there's all kinds of stuff. We're putting things on
to encourage you in receiving communion in your home every day. I believe and
well I know for sure that if you'll do it for thirty days, you're
not gonna want to stop. And it will change your family, it will
change your marriage, and it will change your life for the good. Amen.
And another resource we've got if you, if you'd like, you can
grab this. We have this communion book that we wrote. It's back in
the back and available, and we'd love to get this into as many hands
as we can. I talk to a pastor the other day that's using this
for once a month communion in their church and they're just going through the book.
And he's a local guy here in Tacoma, and he said, he's
just it's blowing up their church with with what God's doing. So we're excited
about that. Amen. Does somebody not have this? Anybody? Anybody not
have it? Anybody want it? Oh? Okay, good right here,
come back up here. You hand that to her right behind you. Yeah,
nicely, nicely done. Way to go, Roman. We love Roman.
Amen. Well, this morning, I want to talk with you about
the importance of daily nutrition and then, and if you live around my house
at all, you would have heard a lot about daily nutrition from my wife
as our kids were growing up about daily nutrition. And our middle daughter,
Megan, if she's watching this, I'm reminding you eat your fruit because that
was her thing that she hated and we were always dealing with that and I
was like, honey, you got to eat your fruit. And the poor
child would constantly catch colds and stuff, and then she'd eat her fruit and
she'd get well. Mom would be like, you need to eat your fruit,
you know, but there is a daily nutrition that we all need that
can only come from our Father in heaven, and as a communion. We
need communion every day. We need that interaction with the Lord every day,
and it is so important, you know. It's interesting. And Exodus sixt
it says this. In the Passion translation, it says, it says sixteen
four says then Yahweh said to Moses, behold, I will rain down bread
from Heaven for you. Each day, the people must go out and gather
their daily portion, and I will test them in this way to see if
they will follow my instructions. Now, what's interesting is that that manna was
a foreshadow of that manner, the communion table. Each day we should be
going out and gathering our portion. Each day, we should be grabbing our
portion of that manner, because that is life's daily bread. I don't know
about you, but I grew up in a home where we had the little
card deck in the little ceramic loaf of bread, and on the side of
it has said our daily bread and weak we'd take the lid off and grab
a card and read the Bible. You'd write anybody here with that. Yeah,
seen that they still sell them. I think they probably they probably make
them, and you probably can't even get one in an antique store or something
if you really want to be authentic and read the King James so but but
that's what it is. It's our daily bread. Consume that every day and
you will stay healthy and strong. Amen. This morning, I want to
talk to you about the importance of this nutrition, because see in Psalm twenty
three it says this. It's kind of an interesting thing. I want to
read Psalm twenty three, verses four and five to you in the In the
new King James version, they'll they'll throw that up in a moment, but
it says, yea, though I walk through the valley of death, I
will fear no evil. Guess heard this? For you are with me,
your rod and your staff. They comfort me. You prepare a table in
the midst or in the presence of my enemies, and you anoint my head
with oil, and my cup runs over. When you receive communion, not
only are you feeding on his word, feeding on what he has for you,
but you are being anointed to live it out. At the same time.
With communion comes anointing so important to walk in the anointing of God after
we've received communion with Him. That'll change your day. It'll change your steps.
It'll make you to recognize that I can do what I've been called to
do. I can do what I'm purposed to do. That Psalm goes on
to say this, and the Passionnes says, you become my delicious feast.
Come on, he's inviting us to consume him. You become my delicious feast.
Come on, come on, he becomes your delicious feet. When my
enemies dare to fight, you annoint me with the fragrance of your Holy Spirit.
I'm telling you, when you walk in a room the anointing of the
Holy Spirit is on you, you will change the atmosphere. They say that
when Catherine Coolman died that she had she had one request, and that was
that they bring roses to her funeral when she passed away, and she prophetically
told them when she would die, the time and the hour everything, and
when she passed away, the station nurse who was on duty in the ICU
they actually were upset with her. They thought that she had allowed someone to
bring roses into the ICU unit. And that wasn't allowed. But they say
that there was so much of a fragrance of roses when she died, that
it not only filled the icy room, icyu room she was in, it
filled the floor, It filled the hospital, and it filled the adjacent buildings.
Come on, when you walk into a room, the fragrance of the
Holy Spirit is upon you, and it will change the atmosphere. Come on,
that's what I want to be. I want I want to be a
thermostat, not just a thermometer. I want to be one that changes the
atmosphere when I walk in to a room. Come on, when you come
to his table, and remember it is his table. He's invited us to
it. There are different portions in this table. I love this scripture.
I want to read this to you. In Lamentations three, verses twenty two
through twenty four says this says, through the Lord's mercies, we are not
consumed. Come on, his mercies protect you because his compassions fail not they
are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion,
says my soul. Therefore I hope in him. Come on, he
is your portion. He's your portion. If you come to the table hungry
for salvation, he's your portion. If you come to the table hungry for
healing, he's your portion. If you come to the table hungry because you're
out of you don't have love in your life, he's your portion. Come
on, if you come to the Day of Oh, hungry for deliverance,
he's your deliverer. He's your portion. Well, that's the God that we
serve. He's your portion. He is your portion. Come hungry and come
to the table. There are a lot of times that we walk through difficulties
in our lives, and we begin to pull back from things, and we
begin to not do the things that we once did because of whatever reason that
we might have. But Jesus showed us at the Last Supper how to handle
your enemies when they're sitting at your table. And I remember last week we
read through Matthew, and there was a couple of parts that I actually skipped
over because I wanted to come back to him this week. But this one
part I want to read now. Matthew twenty six twenty through twenty three says,
this is when evening had come, he sat down with the twelve and
now as they were eating, he said assuredly, I say to you,
one of you will betray me. And they were exceedingly sorrowful. I can
only imagine the atmosphere of that room changing upon those words. We've gone from
celebration of the passover to acknowledging that somebody in our midst is not really with
us. And it goes on, and it says that each of them were
exceedingly sorrowful, and each began to say to him, Lord, is it
I? Am I? The one? Am I? The one that's going
to betray you? And verse twenty five says then Judas, who was betraying
him so he'd already started, answered and said, Rabbi, is it I?
And Jesus said to him, you have said it. I want you
to notice a couple of things here. One is that Jesus stayed on course
even amongst his enemies. And see here's what happened with Judas. You know,
if you remember back to the story of Gideon Gideon, the Bible teaches
us that when Gideon went to battle, that it says that the Lord basically
entered Gideon and wore him like a glove, put him on like a glove.
And in this reference, the same thing as said of what Satan did
with Judas, that he entered him like a glove and he began to use
him. And what's interesting to notice is that there were twelve disciples, and
eleven of them said, Lord, is that I? And one of them
said, bye, is it I? You see, when he's your lord,
you won't betray him. When he's your lord. You may fall away,
you may make some mistakes, but you're not going to betray him.
There are many people in and out of the church who see Jesus as a
good teacher, but they do not see him as their lord, and so
they will betray him because they do not see him as anything more than a
good teacher. But I'm telling you, when you see him as your lord,
we see him as you savior, you see him as the one that
wants to commune with you. You will not betray him. Thank you,
Jesus. We'll go back just for a moment and talk to you for a
second, because when things get difficult, a lot of times we'll pull back
and we'll do things, or we'll stop doing things that we once did.
How many of you have been around somebody who goes through a traumatic event and
all of a sudden, you're like, Hey, would you like to eat
something? And you're like, no, I'm okay, prefer not to.
Would you like something to drink? No, I'm okay, I prefer not
to. And they begin to pull back from the very things that will preserve
their life and make them better as they fall deeper and deeper and deeper into
their situation. It's interesting, But what I want to tell you is we
can't starve ourselves during difficult situations. We can't pull back from his word,
from communion, from prayer, from all the things that will preserve our lives.
In Acts twenty seven we read the account of Paul as he's going to
go on a ship and be tried before Caesar. And this is an interesting
account. We're gonna walk through this together. But it's an interesting account because
of how it demonstrates what I'm talking about right now. But says this that
in Acts twenty seven says that after they had began to sail, a storm
came in and settled over them. Wow. Ever felt like you've had a
storm come in and just settle over your life? Well, we've all had
it happened. And in Acts twenty seven fifteen, it says, says the
sailors weren't able to turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up
and let it be driven by the gale winds. The Aramaic actually says that
this way, It says, we surrendered possession to its power. How many
you have ever been going through something and you just kind of take your hands
off the wheel, so to speak. You're like, I'm just gonna let
it whatever happens happens, Okay, Sarah, Sarah. Right. You know,
well, if it doesn't happen, must not have been God's will.
If I didn't get that job, all right, went through that difficult situation,
must have been God's will. How about what if we are supposed to
stay strong through the storm and not let go of the wheel. Sometimes we
can arrently think that it's part of his plan when it has nothing to do
with his plan. This passage goes on to say this, It says,
the next day, because of being battered severely by the storm, the sailors
jettisoned the argo, and by the third day they even through the ship's tackle
and rigging overboard. That's interesting because see the very things that they needed they
got rid of to lighten their load, thinking that was going to help them
through the storm. We've all been guilty of that. Well, maybe I'll
stop leading that small group because it's a time killer and I need to lighten
my load. Or maybe maybe i'll I'll just I just won't go to that
small group because that's two or three hours a week and I need to lighten
my load. Or maybe we don't get up extra early for prayer because we
need to lighten our load. Or maybe we don't continue to give when our
income has dropped a little bit because we need to light in our load.
I'm telling you God is saying this morning, don't jettison the things that you
need. Don't jettison the things that you need. It's interesting that word jettison.
I want to read this is as a powerful definition that says to get
rid of as super flus or encumbering omit, or forego as part of a
plan or as the result of some other decision to lighten the load in the
time of distress. See, I'm telling you you can't lighten your load in
a time of distress. My buddy Craig, when we go fishing, the
last thing we would ever do is lighten the load with the things that we
need. Don't get rid of the bait. It's how you're gonna catch the
fish. Don't get rid of the net, because how you're gonna get the
fish in the boat. Come on, don't get rid of the very things
that got you to where you are. Don't lighten the So many times when
we're battered, we're beaten, we think, if we could just lighten the
load, things would be better, If we could just get out from underneath
the pressure, things would be better. Not necessarily, don't lighten the load.
Don't get rid of the things that you need. Amen. It goes
on and says, after many days of seeing neither the sun nor the stars,
that's a big storm. And with the violent storm continuing to rage against
us, all hope of ever getting through it alive was abandoned. When we
abandon hope, trouble is sitting in. Your hope is in the Lord,
Your hope is in communion, Your hope is in the things of God.
It might feel like your darkest season, But when God shows up, the
lights are coming back on. Come on, when God shows up, the
storm is gonna calm. When God shows up, the clouds are gonna part
when God shows up. The winds are gonna calm, and there's going to
be clear sailing. Stay in faith, Stay in faith. Amen. I
love this because then Paul is in the middle of this. Now, remember
Paul was a prisoner. And it goes on and it says that Paul,
the Lord of the world over these guys was this. Then Paul says to
them, he says, now listen to me, don't be depressed. They
probably are about ready to throw him overboard, for no one will perish,
only the ship will be lost. For God's Angel visited me last night.
And the Angel of my God, the God I passionately serve. I love
that line. Come on, I love that the God that I passionately serve.
If you passionately serve him, he's got angels coming after you. Come
on, if you passionately serve you to serve him, he's gonna protect you.
He says that he came and he stood in front of me and said,
don't be afraid, Paul. You are destined to stand and stand trial
before Caesar. And because of God's favor on you, he has given you
and the lives of everyone who is sailing with you. Wow, come on,
and the lives of everyone who is sailing with you. See, here's
what happened. Paul was their prisoner. They're sailing, he's you know,
this whole thing looks like they're not gonna make it. They're all gonna die.
And they begin to do all of these different things. And then God
shows up and he flips the script and he says, you know what,
Paul, You're not their prisoner. They're settling with you because you have a
destiny. You have a place to be. You've got an appointment with Caesar
that you're gonna keep. You see, when when you have a destiny,
the enemy cannot stop you from hitting your goal if you're in faith with God.
I love this. In the acts twenty seven thirty three through thirty seven,
it says, if I can get the band to come back up,
says just before daybreak, come on, there's something about just before daybreak.
How many of you wake up sometimes you just have that dream right before daybreak,
you have that thought come to you just before daybreak, you have that
sit wastioned, Will the solution come to you just before daybreak? It's because
we finally cleared all the cobwebs, and God can speak to us sometimes,
but says, just before daybreak, Paul urged everyone to eat. One translation
in the footnote says he served them communion. He said, today makes two
full weeks that you've been in fearful, peril and hunger, unable to eat
a thing. That's a that's a tough thing to describe. You've been in
fear, you've been peril, and you haven't eaten anything for two weeks.
He says, Now eat and be nourished, for all of you will come
through this ordeal without a scratch. Eat and be nourished. Then Paul took
bread and gave thanks to God in front of them, and he broke it
and he began to eat. And there were two hundred and seventy six people
who ate until they were filled and were strengthened and encouraged. But I'm telling
you, when you eat the communion that you've been invited to, you will
be strengthened, you will be encouraged, and you will be fulfilled. The
new King James says it this way. It says, therefore, I urge
you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival. Since not a
hair will fall from your head for anyone. Come on, I urge you
to take nourishment. Remember when the Angel Lord visited Elijah under the broom tree,
and the Angel brought Elijah food, and the Angel said to him,
So the journey ahead of you is too long without this nourishment. Can I
just tell you today that the journey ahead of all of us is too long
without the communion table a part of your life every day. I can't survive
in the real world of the situations I deal with every day if I haven't
partaken of the Lord's table. I'm convinced that the act of communion, the
receiving of the Lord's body and of his blood, is why a lot of
really good things have happened in my life, because the Angel of the Lord
protects me. Make sure that I'm thinking clearly. Who want to urge you
today that as you received communion, that maybe we ask God to forgive us
for some of the tackle that we've jettisoned. As the Lord. I'd like
to take some of that back. I want to walk in your favor.
I want to do the things that that I know I should be doing because
God, I need your nourishment. I don't need to reduce my load,
need to increase my relationship with him. I don't need to reduce my load.
I need to increase my communion with him. I need more of Him,
not less of him. I need more of Jesus, not less.
I need more of his word, not less. I need more worship,
not less. I need more of all that He has for me, not
less of him. When would you stand with me this morning if you didn't
receive your communion elements when you walked in this morning. We have those at
the front. They're going to walk through as well with some And this morning,
as you receive communion, my prayer is that you will be strengthened and
encouraged and filled, because without this communion, the journey ahead of you is
too long. So today as we receive it, we're gonna receive it to
be full, completely filled with His presence, filled with His anointing. As
we receive the body of Jesus, be filled with healing, be filled with
deliverance, be filled with purpose. He won't be filled with all that Jesus
has for you. Lord, we thank you for your body, hold it
up high. We thank you for your body. We thank you for what
you did for us. Jesus. We thank you for your call on our
lives. We thank you for this broken body, and because of your broken
body, our bodies our whole, and we praise you for that. Let's
receive it this morning. Would you take the cup and lifted a pie.
We acknowledge the blood of Jesus to be the highest authority on the earth.
The Bible says that the government shall be upon his shoulders. He is the
highest authority. It doesn't matter what you're going through. Let him be your
high authority. It doesn't matter what things have come against you. I'm here
to tell you he's your highest authority. He cancels out every negative thought that
you have. He cancels out every negative word that people have said over you.
He cancels out everything that has been in your past that was abuse.
Jesus says you are loved. He says you'll fulfilled. Come on. He
doesn't call you an attic. He says you are free. He doesn't call
you a sinner. He says you're saved. Come on. He doesn't say
you're sick. You are healed. Thank you Jesus, as you receive this
cup today, allow the DNA of the Holy Spirit to change your life.
His blood will change you forever. And as you receive it, dream deeply,
eat well, be fulfilled. Father. We thank you for the blood
of Jesus. We thank you Lord, and we all age you as the
highest authority over our lives over this world. Can we give you praise for
it today in Jesus name. Come on, receive it this morning. Come
on, just begin to praise him right where you're at. Thank him for
what he's done for you this morning. Thank him for reminding you of some
things that maybe you've you've put aside, and you said, Lord, I
want that back. I want to do that thing. I want to be
in your annointee. I want to be in the things that you've called me
to duca. Thank you Jesus for all that you're doing for us. Thank
you Jesus for your word. Thank you Lord for your blood. Thank you
Jesus for your body. Thank you Jesus for an invitation to the table of
communion. Thank you Lord, Thank you Jesus for having authority over all of
our homes. We spear the blood post with your blood, and we say,
Satan, you cannot enter our homes. You cannot touch our families.
You cannot. We take authority over every attack of the enemy, over our
homes, over our lives, over our offices, over every situation. Hey,
Lord, today we declare who we are, a marked people walking with
the mark of the blood of your son Jesus on us. Thank you Lord,
Thank you Jesus. Can you can you just give him a shout of
praise us when he's so worthy? Oh, we give you praise Lord.
If we thank you Jesus for what you've done for us, We thank you
Jesus. You alone are worthy. You alone are worthy of our worship.
You alone are worthy. God. Oh we praise you this morning. God,
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you Jesus.
Just before we close, I just want to give an opportunity. If you
came in here this morning and you don't know him, or maybe you've not
been walking with him as close as you should have, if you'll just slip
your hand up, we want to pray with you. I don't want you
to leave here the same as you came in. Come on, church.
People are raising their hands across this building. He's here to touch us this
morning. We came here to worship him. Some of us may have come
here because it's just what we do on Sunday. But I'm telling you,
don't let this be an ordinary day in your life. Jesus, We thank
you. We thank you for your touch God, thank you for your forgiveness.
Come on, just pray with me this morning. Let's repeat after me.
Father, I thank you for the blood of Jesus. Thank you for
the body of Jesus. I thank you for your healing. I thank you
for your wholeness, and thank you for your salvation. I thank you Father
that today I am made whole, that today I don't leave this place the
same as I came in. I thank you for that in Jesus name.
Come on, let's give me one more shout of praise this morning. Lord
You're worthy, Lord, You're worthy. Lord You're worthy. Lord, You're
worthy. Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus.