Spiritually Building Up

Bulletin

Dan Peters
06/30/24 - Assembly

We are changing up the services on Sunday Morning. The aim is to edify the church here. Paul said that our worship service should be to “seek to abound for the edification of the church” (1 Cor. 14:12). In some instances one brother is edified, "but the other person is not edified.” (1 Cor. 14:17). Granted that some will never be edified; but our goal is that, “all things be done for edification.” (1Cor. 14:26). So we need feed back from each of you that this change is edifying, or up building. And if it is not, we truly want to know. Our plan is to start at 9:30am with Bible Class.
Then after the break, at 10:30am we will have a song and a prayer, followed by about a 15 minute message on the Lord’s Supper by Dan Peters. After the Lord’s Supper message, we will have a song about this supper. At that point we will have the bread and fruit of the vine, in memory of Jesus (1Cor. 11:23-25). After this we will have the collection (1Cor. 16:1-4), and a couple more songs. Then we will have a sermon, an invitation song and closing prayer.
This should give us more time thinking on Jesus and the supper. Hopefully this will build us all up with having Jesus in our memories, a transformative memory. Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” (John 12:32). It is during the Lord’s Supper that we can still draw near him today, drawing near in heart and in likeness. Even as Jesus is our passover (1Cor. 5:7). Paul not only sees Jesus as our Passover, but makes a spiritual application of the passover bread. “Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor. 5:8). So just as the Jews would search out their own house and get rid of the old leaven, so we who partake of the bread think about cleaning out our house/temple. Keeping our house/body and mind pure without “malice and wickedness”. And the next week we will do it all over again. “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread…” (Acts 20:7).
My wife never gets tired of me giving her a hug, and telling her I love her. There is nothing old or repetitive about it! Even so the first church dedicated themselves to having the Lord’s Supper weekly, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2:42). This is not something we merely continue to do, but we “continually devote” ourselves to do. We devote this time to Jesus, adore him, honor him, worship him in the very way he has asked to do. There is nothing more worthy of your time and your memory, than Jesus. Dan Peters