In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of considering one another in the church community. He shares a personal anecdote about being locked out of his car and the frustration he experienced. The preacher then references several Bible verses, including 1 Corinthians 14:26 and Ephesians 4:11, to highlight the plurality of gifts in the local church. He also mentions the importance of orderly worship and the different purposes of various church meetings. The sermon concludes with a reminder of the significance of the Lord's Supper and the need to focus our minds on Jesus Christ during this time.

This is Wayne Guidon speaking on November 29th, 2009. I'd like to read in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 17. Now in this I declare unto you, I praise you not, that you come together, not for the better, but 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 also be heresies among you, 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, but to take it before. What, have you not houses to eat in and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God, and shame them which have not? What shall I say unto you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. Verse 23. Verse 17 to 22 are hindrances to the Lord's supper. Verses 23 to 26 is the institution of the Lord's supper. And then verses 27 to 34 is preparation for the Lord's supper. Verse 23. For I have received of the Lord that which I have delivered 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 in remembrance of me. And after the same manner also he took the cup, and when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, this do as oft as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as oft 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 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, discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we should judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But 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 another. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home, that you come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come. The Lord will bless to us the reading of this word. This portion has been on my heart. It is one of the things that Christians in the Ascension, maybe there are some of you here that are sitting here now. Maybe you slept in the extra hour and you repented of your sin and trusted Christ as your Savior. There are various reasons. Or maybe not just yet. I want to just give a little bit of background. I moved out here. I went to the intermission anyway. And I said, I did not want to die. So here we are this morning. And we have just read this wonderful passage. Baptism was practiced. But his disciples were baptizing people. And then the New Testament writers expound it on baptism. And the New Testament writers expound it on the remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ and the breaking of bread and drinking of the cup. The basis of teaching this. You know they say a family that prays. We like to think also the family. You bring your children to the Bible studies. And that's the way. I didn't say, hey kids, I hope not. We should be teaching our children to pray. So we think about the Lord's Supper. And we think about, do you entertain? Do you open up your home and invite people in? Well that's just not convenient for me. I am not a very good cook. The Lord wants to use you to bless others. And then we have the Lord's Supper that we spoke about here. And then we have the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation chapter 19. Another thing I want to point out is that it is the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians verse 20. Seven times we say, He is Sovereign. And we have a contradiction. The Lord Jesus says, Have you read your Bible? And God's love. In the book of Revelation we read that every tribe. And yes, there might be a lot less of some nationalities and tribes and nations. You know, even the Lord taught. Anyway, we have the symbols in John's Gospel chapters. And you know, when I grew up. Anyway, they say, okay. We believe they are symbols. We believe they are emblems. We call them emblems. They are a symbol of the body and the blood of Christ. When He said, This is my body. He was taking a piece of bread. This is my body. So He was showing us that these were symbols. If you want to clarify that, look in John's Gospel. That is not what the Bible teaches. Repentance towards God and to anybody that wants to cook. In the institution. Number four. You notice next in the breaking of the bread. And the drinking of the cup. At that time we call the Lord. Like I say, a funeral. His name is called what? No greater love. Remember His exaltation. This man. 1 Corinthians chapter 7. We have the word come. Are we coming together? Is it our practice to come? And remember inviting people over. That is the way it should be. We should be making people feel at home in our house. Verse 19 speaks about error in the Lord's Supper. And yes, error can create trouble. Responsible brethren should be overseeing the church of God. He has made you overseers. And He has put you in the midst to guard out ravenous wolves. Verse 10 talks about the Lord's table in chapter 10. And the Lord's Supper is commemoration. There is a big difference between what God has given us and what we have given back to Him. Verse 21 speaks about eating. You know it is possible to remember to partake of the Lord's Supper and not remember the Lord. You know that? You can come here and break bread. You can spend your hour and a half. You can sing all the hymns. If you are a guy you are thinking about that. If you are a woman you are thinking about the children. What activities they have on. So it is important that we... Verse 22 talks about despising the church of God. 1 Timothy 3.15 Paul's advice to Timothy. That you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God. Verse 23 to 26. The institution of the Lord's Supper. That which I have received. And when he had given thanks he broke it and said take it. This is my body which is broken for you. It is an advantage to be able to read. There is a lot of Bible controversy. Anyway. But you know what I am talking about. We have to read the word of God and compare verse with verse. But anyway. While the Lord Jesus Christ was going to lay down for him. Then we think about the provision. The Lord Jesus says take, eat. What do you do when you take that piece of bread. You know some churches. And I have been in these places. And I don't like it. Okay. They will take the bread and it is all broken up into little pieces. He passed it. No. When I was in that place where they did that. I went and swallowed it right away. And that is what we are talking about. This whole idea of distraction. To be able to close out the world. Yes Lord. And then he took that cup. And he said this was the blood which you shed for me. And then we have the proclamation. The emphasis is we are proclaiming. That is why it is important that you don't miss the Lord. There is the look backward. There is that upward. And then the last section we will talk about. And is therefore. Verse 28 talks about. Hebrews 10.22 says. Verse 28. Some people use this as an excuse to not partake. Let a man examine himself. So somebody says well. Yeah. I was not doing very good last week. So I better not partake this week. I better wait another week. Before I celebrate the Lord's Supper. But you know what the Lord is saying in this verse here. It says. Let a man examine himself. So what does he mean by that? That a man has to examine himself. He must repent. So it is a renunciation of his sinful life. The Lord wants us to be in fellowship. He doesn't want. No. He wants us to get right with God. Right now. Verse 30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you. And many sleep. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily. Eateth and drinketh damnation to himself. The Lord's Supper is not something to come to lightly. It is not something to be come to flippantly. Just saying. Where are you going? I am just going to meet Him. Don't we say that. I am just going to meet Him. We don't say. I am going to the Lord's Supper. I am going to remember the Lord. I am going to see the Lord. Where two or three are gathered together. So we seem to get distracted. We get into our religious traditions and rituals. And we go to meet Him. Instead of. Go to remember the Lord. Go to see the Lord. Go to offer something to the Lord. Remember the priest. Not to come in with their hands empty. That is speaking with the meal offering. They were to come in and fill their hands. And they were to come in and offer to the Lord. So what am I talking about? It is coming with a heart. Not remembering the Lord. Yes the Lord does speak to us. And all of a sudden a brother gets up and prays. And impressing you with true worship and adoration. And then we have this idea about self discipline. And verse 30. We have a couple of thoughts here. You know there are some people that come to meeting late. You can set your clock by them coming in 10 minutes late. Isn't that true? So some people say well you are supposed to be waiting for that brother. Well you know I was thinking. If you take 50 people and you multiply that by. From the collective group of people. So that person really has to think about the others. The idea is consideration one of another. You know last week I had plans to be at a certain meeting. I was never so embarrassed. Trying to get her there. Anyway the whole idea is to think about one another. And then in verse 34. If any man hunger let him eat at home. That you come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come. In 1 Corinthians chapter and verse 26. You have when you come together. Let all things be done unto Edith. Ephesians 4 and 11. He gave some apostles. The reason why I read these verses. One time I was in El Salvador. And a brother said. Hey let's go and show a gospel. And you can preach the gospel. I wanted to get her there as fast as I could. I went with this brother. To help him out. And I certainly didn't want to go back to a place. So the whole idea. The Bible gives us some wisdom. And I'll just close with this thought. It talks about education, exhortation and comfort. So we have the exposition, explanation and application of the word of God. That the Lord's Supper is a time that God has given to us. He has commanded us. He said this do in remembrance of me. You come to a prayer from God. You come to a teaching meeting. It's a time to live. Even though it was of the Jews. The door was open to Gentile believers. And whosoever will may come. We think about the Lord Jesus' own words. He came on to his own. Received him. To them gave him. We're thankful for the clarification. They seem a little bit difficult. Until we hear that we realize it. But meanwhile. We will continue to remember the Lord Jesus Christ. In the breaking of the bread. And the drinking of the cup. Until he comes. We give you thanks Lord Jesus. We thank you Heavenly Father. For this opportunity. In the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.