Lord's Supper

Your Grace is Enough

Wonderful Grace of Jesus (#319)

Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)

“In the Bag”

Time of Self-Examination:

Scripture Readings:

A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.

1 Corinthians 11:28, 29 (NIV)

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways...Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:1-3, 23-24 (NIV)

Take my Life (AKA Holiness)

Above All

Observance of the Lord’s Supper

[Note: the passing of the elements will take place at each individual table. Music will play in background.]

Passing of the Bread

Read the following:

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."

1 Corinthians 11:23-24 (NIV)

This was not the first time that Jesus had used bread as a picture of what He came to the earth to do on behalf of His followers. Earlier in His ministry, He had used that same picture when he shared these words with his followers:

I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

John 6:48-51 (NIV)

Break off a piece of the bread and then pass it to others at the table who will do the same.

Pray this prayer:

Father,

Just as Jesus gave thanks for the bread before He passed it to His disciples, we give You thanks for this bread that reminds of His body that was given for us. We thank You for the eternal life that is represented by this bread. As we eat this bread help us to both remember what Jesus has already done for us as well as remind us that He is coming again to take us home to heaven to be in Your presence forever.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."

Everyone eat the bread.

Passing of the Cup

Read the following:

In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

1 Corinthians 11:25-26 (NIV)

As Jews, Jesus’ understood the significance of the cup which symbolized the blood that Jesus would shed on their behalf. Under the old covenant, their sins had to be atoned for by the shedding of the blood of animals over an over again. But now, under the new covenant, the blood of Jesus would once for all redeem them, and us, from all of our sins. The writer of Hebrews writes about that:

He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!...In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Hebrews 9:12-14, 22 (NIV)

Pray this prayer:

Father,

We thank you for this cup that reminds us of the blood of Jesus that was shed in order to redeem us from our sins. We thank you that His single sacrifice on the cross is sufficient to cover all of our sins and provide us with access into Your presence. As we drink this cup, we proclaim our complete dependence on what Jesus has done for us as the only means for our relationship with You.