جارٍ تحميل الأرشيف الحي.
May 2020 Communion Service
واصِل الاستكشاف
مرتبطة بالمقطع الكتابي أو بموضوعات مشتركة.
لم تُترجم هذه الصفحة بالكامل بعد. يظهر بعض النص أدناه أو كله بلغة English، وهي لغته الأصلية.
We cannot read the story of Abraham and Sarah without being moved by their faith and God's unwavering commitment to them. Genesis 18:9-10 reminds us of a profound moment: the Lord asked Abraham, "Where is Sarah your wife?" Abraham answered, "Behold, in the tent." Then the Lord said something that captures the essence of God's character: "I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life."
That word—suddenly—jumps out at us. God does not simply say He will come; He says He will come suddenly. This is the faithfulness of God made manifest. God says, "I will certainly return. I will most definitely come. I will come suddenly." By the power of time that is in His hand, God will do what He has promised to do.
Abraham and Sarah were very old—well stricken in age. The scripture tells us that "it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women." Biologically, she had long passed the stage of childbearing. Yet there is a God who can suddenly redeem the time for you. There is a God who can suddenly lift you up again, and that is His faithfulness. He is so faithful in what He is able to do, and He will certainly do it for us.
"Is there anything too difficult for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14)
The answer rings through the ages: No. God does not speak loosely. The Word of God is not an empty word. When God speaks and appoints a time, that word is backed by His power and presence.
As we take this month to remind ourselves what faithfulness is, we must understand who God is. When we pray, we can say:
God is saying: "I will surely come. I will most definitely come. I will come suddenly according to the time of life."
There is something profound about God's timing that we must grasp. When Genesis 18:10 speaks of "the time appointed," it reveals a mystery: there is a time appointed that is beyond you and me. That time is in the hand of God.
Today it may seem as if God has not moved. We may feel challenged, as if God has not performed His promises. But there is an appointed time, and that day is in the hand of God. It is only in the hands of God. You will not go before your time, and that appointed time can never be corrupted.
God said to Sarah, "According to the time of life." Your life is God, and God is life. God is the giver of life and the determinant of life. Because God is the giver of life, Sarah could not die until that which God promised came to pass. Between now and that appointed time, the enemy has no authority over your life because there is an appointed time—and it is only in the hand of God.
The faithfulness of God was supremely revealed in Jesus Christ. It was God's faithfulness that allowed everything that our Lord Jesus Christ did to manifest. It was the faithfulness of God that backed up His Son. Everywhere He went, everything He did, He did by the faithfulness of God.
Even as Christ went to the cross, men were still rebuking Him, spitting on Him, giving Him vinegar for water. Yet Paul tells us: if they had only understood the faithfulness of God, they would not have done to Jesus what they did. They did not know the faithfulness of God.
But the moment He rose from the dead—suddenly—God's faithfulness was vindicated. Everything Christ said came to pass. God's faithfulness does not fail. Because of His faithfulness, the enemy must get his end of our business, for God's faithfulness does not fail.
There is a time for everything. When Jesus sat with His disciples for communion, it was in the midst of an appointed time. Luke 22 records His words: "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God."
He did not do it the day before or the week before or the year before. He shared communion at the appointed time—because it was the time that He would be crucified. This is why timing matters. Everything about Jesus was timed, and in that time, the faithfulness of God accomplished our redemption.
The time that He went to Jordan. The time that John baptized Him. The time that the heavens opened. The time that He went into the wilderness for forty days and nights. The time that the enemy tried to tempt Him. The time that the angels came to strengthen Him. Everything was timed in the faithfulness of God.
As we partake of communion tonight, Jesus said, "This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me." What is remembrance? It is appointed time. These things happened years and years ago, yet we do them now in fulfillment of His word.
After supper, likewise He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new testament in my blood." Leviticus 17:11 tells us: "The life of the flesh is in the blood." Life is God, and God is life. When the scripture says the life of the flesh is in the blood, it speaks of God's totality. Only God has the composition and recipe of what makes blood. Only God can give life, for inside of it is life—and no man can give life except God.
You are here on the face of the earth because of God's goodness. You have been maintained here because of God's faithfulness. There are times when people step out of their house and stumble and fall, yet you are still preserved. The reason you are still maintained is because of God's faithfulness.
Great is Your faithfulness, O God. As we partake of this communion tonight, to the glory of Your name and Your praise, Your faithfulness will resound in the mighty name of Jesus.
Everything that God has promised that you and I would do, holding our chief and walking on the face of this earth, we shall all walk into them in the mighty name of Jesus. In God's faithfulness, as He did the miraculous and glorious things, so shall our destiny and our purpose shine on the face of the earth in the name of Jesus. His faithfulness will not fail.
As we eat and drink tonight, so shall our destiny be fulfilled. So shall our purpose on this face of the earth also shine in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah.
