Shane Idleman emphasizes the transformative power of remembering God's faithfulness and the importance of maintaining a reverent relationship with Him. He urges the congregation to reflect on their past experiences with God, particularly during communion, as a means to reignite their passion for Him and combat spiritual complacency. Idleman highlights the dangers of selfishness within the church, calling for humility and a spirit of service to others, while reminding believers of the significance of the new covenant established through Christ's sacrifice. He encourages self-examination and repentance, asserting that true remembrance leads to a deeper relationship with God and a commitment to living out His commandments.

The title of the message this morning is The Amazing Power of Remembering. The Amazing Power of Remembering. And I'm often reminded as I read scriptures, like in Deuteronomy, God reminds the people take care lest you forget. Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His statutes. In other words, remember who God is. Have that reverence. Have that respect. Remember what God brought you through. Remember, when we do communion, it says remember the body that was broken, the blood that was shed, and you remember the power of the cross. Oh, there's power in remembering. How many marriages would be restored if they remembered the first day they fell in love? Oh, remember? Remember? Used to call me. My wife used to drop off roses on my car every day or once a week. What happened? Got to get back to that. Remembering. Remembering. The power of remembering. Jesus actually said that's a cure as well to lukewarm living. Shame. Where? In Scripture. Well, read Revelation 1, 2, and 3. The church in there, Jesus says, remember where you have fallen. Another church, He said, return to your first love. See, there's always going back. And I don't know what your experience is with God, but it's powerful when you can remember what God did in your life. And God, I remember that day You visited me and You anointed me with Your Holy Spirit. I remember that day when I had joy unspeakable, when You meant everything to me. I remember that day. And you take your mind back to that and you begin to have this passion for God instead of worried about the future. It's all where our mind takes us. And there's power in remembering. Power in remembering the Scriptures. Anybody ever gotten out of a bind that way? Or just me? Lord, Your Word says, no temptation has overtaken me. What I'm going through right now is common to all men, but You are faithful. You are faithful. You will not allow me to be tempted beyond what I am able to bear, and You will open a door of escape. I'm remembering the Word of God. I remember to put nothing wicked before my eyes. I remember to be holy and righteous and to serve You. I remember the power of worship. You have to take your mind back to God. Because your mind left to itself will not take you back to God. It will take you where? Further away from God. And that's why you'll hear that term often, carnality. It means a Christian is living out of their carnal nature. It means they look like the world, not like Christ. Many times it's because their mind has been unkept and it just takes them back to the things of the world. And we have to bring that back. Remembering. That's what sometimes the altar can be full sometimes when people remember what Christ did for them. Oh, I want to get back to that. Do you remember that first love? And there's a calling of the Holy Spirit drawing you back to Himself. So there is so much power in remembering. But I'm going to start right at 11. 1 Corinthians 11. It's a good habit to bring your Bible. We're a Bible-believing church. We believe in the authority and the inerrancy of God's Word. 1 Corinthians 11. I'm going through 1 Corinthians on Sundays. In chapter 11, verse 20, this is what I call problems at the potluck. So they're having a potluck and there were some major problems. And what we would call potluck, they really called it an agape feast, a love feast, where they would come together as believers. And they used to come together a lot more. That's one thing the church has lost. They used to come together more and fellowship more and they would eat together. What communion was, was they would remember Jesus when they ate together and they would take communion. And so that's what's happening here. Therefore, Paul said, when you come together in one place, is it not to eat the Lord's Supper? For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others. And one is hungry and another is drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. So I was thinking this week, if this is important enough to put in the Bible, and if this is important enough for Paul to write a letter to the church, part of his letter, this is a pretty big deal. Because Scripture is God breathing, God wanting to speak to His church. This would be considered a letter to the church in Corinthians. And we can glean from it and learn from it as well. So here's what's happening in a nutshell. Selfishness. Selfishness has taken over in the church. But that doesn't happen here, right? No. No, it doesn't happen here, right? Other churches. Other places. So selfishness is happening. Basically, they're bringing food and they're eating all their food. If you want to call it cliques, they're coming together and they've got their food. And the poor and maybe the timid are being rejected. There's no more food left. They're just... Don't let me do that again. They're eating food and they're drinking and people are not being blessed by it. Selfishness comes in. Why is selfishness so destructive? Because it's the opposite of humility. And only a humble person can be filled with God's Spirit. God says, the humble I teach my ways, but the proud I will resist. That might be a word for someone this morning. If you want to take a word from God's Word, it could be that. God will resist you if you're proud. And you might be saying, I'm hitting roadblocks. God seems distant. I just feel like God is stopping me at every turn. Are you proud? Because God will resist the proud. Shane, how do you know? Because He's resisted me quite a bit. That proud heart. And He says, but I will give grace to the humble. So are we giving up our seat for another person? We could apply that today. Are we greeting people? Are we witnessing to those in need? A living church should be a church that's wanting to greet people, wanting to give up their seat, wanting to give something of themselves. But many people... Now, I've been here. I can slip into this camp very easily. But we come to church to get, not to give. And it wasn't designed that way. We should get full and then fill others. So if all we're coming to do is get fed and get fed and get fed, are we giving? And I've heard people leave. They say, I'm just not being fed. I'm just not being fed. Well, if I've got a full church and they're being fed, what's the problem? Might not be the cook. And I went over like a pregnant pole vaulter. Couldn't resist. But isn't it... Get that on your way home. This is a serious sermon. But isn't that true? Isn't that true how selfishness, my seat, my things, my this, and I'm with you. I've went to church many times. But God also says, what can you give? Can you imagine if people coming and receiving here would also give? Did you know we're always looking for helpers in every area of ministry? Every area. I got an email last week that the hospital homes, we go and visit hospital homes, the sheet is almost blank. We've got patients that aren't going to be visited on Sunday in November. And it's hard to fathom why can't we just go out and serve? Children's ministry. Now there's nothing wrong with being fed. We have to be fed. That's really one of the reasons we are here as a church is to equip the saints, you, to go out and do the ministry. And so many people, instead of evangelizing, they try to, come on, you've got to come listen to Shane. No, you evangelize at work. They might not come. They might not want to hear Shane. They might want to hear you. And so this idea sometimes, it's really part of our American culture. You won't find this in the underground churches and different things. They're fully sharing and giving in many areas. But in the American church, we've been taught microwave Christianity. We've been taught to give and get and get and get. How many Bibles do we own? Want to get convicting? How many Bibles do we own? How many commentaries do we own? How many apps do we own on our phone? How many radio stations? And listening to God's Word and being fed and being fed and being fed. But when it comes to serving, I'm just too busy. So this is a similar problem. It's selfishness. And Paul is summing it up here. What was intended to unify, coming together, taking communion, it actually made things worse. A church historian said this many years ago. Within their own limits, this group of Christians had solved the social problems which had baffled Rome and baffles us still today. They had lifted women to the rightful place. They restored the dignity of labor. They abolished beggary, which was people being poor. And they abolished the sting of slavery. So what was the secret of this revolution? Well, they didn't have race or class or status. They had forgotten all of that in the Lord's Supper. Basically, it was coming together regardless of nationality, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of public standing or of money. And I kind of joked about that word earlier, cliques, but isn't that true? There are some cliques. Now, sometimes that's not necessarily bad. What I mean by that is we gravitate towards those we know. We're not trying to be, oh, you can't come in my group. But some people view it as that way. There's a clique. I can't be a part of your church. There's a bunch of cliques. No, not really. It's a lot of people who just know each other. And if you want to be a friend, if you want friends, you have to be a friend to others. You have to approach things differently. So what you think is a clique might not be a clique. It just might mean you need to engage people and become part of that relationship or become part of that group because it's human nature to kind of gravitate towards what's comfortable, right? Kind of gravitate towards what we prefer. And that's why I think there's a big push out there. There's a lot of racism in the church. And there is, don't get me wrong. But from my perspective, there's not a lot of racism in the church. There's a lot of preference. We prefer certain ways. And we're going to go to a church that we prefer. So it's not really racist. It's just we prefer different things. I share with the First Service, and I'll share with you, that if you've ever went to let's say a primarily black church, they can worship, right? My Lord! You think Jamie and Blessing can worship? Man, they've got it down. I try to get that rhythm down. I'm like watching the people next to me. And I watch them like, how do you do that? And they're just swaying and going. And they're worshiping God. And there's maybe a long service. And it's just different. So what's not racism is sometimes preference. And I think we need to allow people that preference sometimes. But I also think we need to blend the churches together, of course, a lot more. And we need to learn from each other and grow in that, of course. So the poor brought little into these events, and they actually received little. So that's what was happening. The poor didn't have much to bring. People were going ahead of them. They were eating food. And they were not thinking of others. Believe it or not, we've had some events next door where we've had potlucks or different things, church events. And many people go through the line twice. And we actually run out of food before other people start eating. We're like, uh-oh. Next time we need to make an announcement, you know, one time through, or we're going to have people serve you. And, of course, a lot of people don't do it on purpose. But that's what was happening, is they were being left without. So when believers come together, what he's saying here, when believers come together, we remember why we are here. Do you know why you're here? We are here not to be seeker-sensitive. What do I mean by that? Well, a lot of churches are seeker-sensitive. It means, okay, I'm going to have people coming in that are struggling with sin, people struggling with same-sex attraction, people struggling with strongholds, addictions. I'm going to have these people seeking God, atheists, maybe agnostic, and they're seeking God. So I need to be seeker-sensitive. Now, on one hand, you know, you want to be sensitive to those in your audience, and you want to make sure you don't just, you know, just go off on someone and go off in anger and different things. But the church of the living God is really not called to be seeker-sensitive. Our focus is to be Christ-centered. And from that, we come and we worship God. Now, you can come in and listen, but if you struggle with something, I might name it. I might call it out. I might preach sin. I might preach hell hot and heaven sweet. I might step on toes. I might ruffle feathers because that's what the Word of God does. It is living. It is powerful. It's sharper than anything we can make. It pierces the soul and the heart. It's a discerner of our thoughts and our intents. So you've got to let the Word of God loose and let it cut the hearts so we can't be seeker-sensitive. Well, I'm going to offend that person. Jesus could care less who He offended. But He didn't go out seeking it. He just, hey, I'm just telling you the truth. And that hurts sometimes. Can you imagine sitting in front of this many religious leaders, and He said, you whitewashed tombs? You look real great on the outside. You're all cleaned up, but inside you are dead man's bones. You travel land and sea to win one proselyte. And when you convert someone, you make him twice the son of hell as you. Why? Because He was calling it out. If you're going to get people to change, you've got to wake them up. That's the problem with America today. Nobody wants to preach sin and repentance. But that's how you build a nation and that's how you convict a nation. That's how you convict a heart is you preach repentance and that need to go back to God and remember what God did in our lives. Remember that He built our nation. Yes, there is sin. Yes, there is bad choices. But at the foundation of what we have here, God's Word was honored in many different areas of life. So we remember the amazing power of remembering. So now I'm going to read verse 23. William Barclay said this about going into this next verse. No passage in the whole New Testament is of greater interest than this. For one thing, it gives us our warrant for the most sacred act of worship in the church. So communion actually shouldn't be something that's taken lightly. Well, I guess it's communion. It's a sacred act of remembering Jesus on the cross. But it also does this. Since the letter to the Corinthians is earlier than the earliest of the Gospels, so Corinthians they say was written before they started to pen the Gospels, this is actually the first recorded account that we have of any word of Jesus. This is right to that beginning of Jesus speaking. And that's why Paul said, for I receive from the Lord that which I also deliver to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed and took the bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke the bread and said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Another translation says, this is my body that was given to you. It's called a textual variance. It's not anything you need to worry about, but some manuscripts disagree on how the translators translated that Greek word broken. The bottom line is, Jesus' body was given for you. And he said, do this in remembrance of me. And it's interesting, it says, the same night He was betrayed. Psalm 41 says, even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me. How many of you have ever been wounded by a friend? Friendly fire hurts. Friendly fire, the one you fellowshiped with, the one you trusted, when they turn on you it is hurtful, it is painful. Oh, how many people play games with God. They show allegiance on Sunday, but they betray Him on Monday. The bread is not only to remember, but it is also an illustration of our relationship with Jesus. So when we take that bread, the wafer, whatever you use, see, it's not important, is it, what do they call that one? Oh, unleavened. Is it Ezekiel bread? Is it wonder bread? Is it grape juice? Is it this? It's the remembering, the remembrance part of it. So he said here, the bread is not only to remember me, but also to illustrate our relationship. So we take that bread, and we remember, this is a relationship I have with Jesus Christ, for those who have a relationship with Him. This is not meant for someone who doesn't truly know God, because then they're not identified. How can you identify with communion if you haven't repented and believed? And that's why Paul was forced to say to the church in Galatia, you know the church in Galatia, who has bewitched you, Galatians? Are you taking on now another gospel? You're adding works to the cross? You don't need to add works to the cross. Paul said, I have been crucified with Christ. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Let me tell you, many years ago, Shane Eidelman had to die. Shane Eidelman had to die. That old man, that old nature that didn't want anything to do with God. I have been crucified with Christ and the life I now live, I live in total abandonment to Jesus Christ. Well, don't clap because it's not perfect. There's flaws. The old man knocks at the door sometimes in your life too, right? Remember the good old days? And whatever you struggle with earlier in your life, that's usually going to be the key, that he's going to go back and try to bring you back to that old life. Mental challenges, anxiety, anger, depression, jealousy, envy, strongholds, whatever that was, he snared you. There's no new tricks. He's going to use that same thing to pull you back away from God. That's why it's so important to remember, like it said here, I have been crucified with Christ. And so it does beg the question for me this morning, have you truly been crucified with Christ? Is it all about you still? I mean, you'll go to church, I got it. You might touch a Bible. You might say a quick prayer before dinner. But have you truly been crucified? In other words, my life is dead. He who seeks to save his life will lose it. He who seeks to lose his life will find it. He who denies himself, pick up his cross and follow me. One of the greatest lies the enemy has ever told our current millennials or our young adults or even many of us is this, the moment you follow God, you become weird and life becomes boring. Right? Come on. If you would have said, Shane, when I was in my 20s you were going to be a pastor, I said, just kill me. There is no way that has got to be the most boring thing. Commit your life to Christ. Man, I'm having fun. Are you really having fun? How are the hangovers doing? How is the constant depression? How is the constant not knowing what life has in store for you? The constant fear, the anxiety of double-mindedness and unstable in all your ways and the confusion and the lack of God in your life and just not knowing where the future... How is that working for you? Because that's what the enemy will tell you. There goes all your fun. There goes all your enjoyment. And let me tell you, the spirit-filled life, the life full of God, the life full of the Holy Spirit is a wonderful, incredible life. It's a life of what? What's the fruit of the Spirit? Think about the fruit of the Spirit. This is what's going to come out of you. Anger and lust... Oh, that's the wrong list. Love, joy... So do you lack love? Shane, you're asking Christians if they lack love? You better believe it. Because that's one of the biggest problems today is Christians not filled with the love of Christ. A true love where they weep for those who tell them about sin or something going on in their life or you see the condition of our nation or condition of our state. There's a love. There's a joy. Joy unspeakable. Praise God. I've never had so much joy in my life the last 20 years or so. But I've also never had this many challenges. But see, why we sing that song... I know some of you have heard me talk about this before. There's another in the fire. That means that when these three Hebrew boys were thrown into the fiery furnace in the book of Daniel. Read it for yourself. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. God, I remember when I was little and it gets hard to remember. They're hard names too. I don't know why they chose those names. But anyway, it wasn't their real names. I think that the king put these names on them because of the positions they held in that culture. But they would not deny God. This is going to come true. This is happening right now. I just told some of you that article I wrote in the paper last week. LGBT agenda. It's not tolerance. It's about bowing down to their agenda. Tolerance is still sin. They removed it from Facebook. They will not ever publish it again. And it was just written in love. I said, hey, here's the truth. Here's the truth. And the culture was going to come against you. You're going to go through hell. You're not going to be in the majority. You might not be the moral majority. You might be the holy minority. And the culture is just pushing and pushing. And they said, you will bow to the culture. You will bow to the God of this culture. You will not challenge it. You will be very tolerable. Funny they're not tolerable about anything else other than you being tolerable for them. They won't be tolerable for Christianity, trust me. And so they said bow to the culture. And these boys, they actually said bow to the king. And they said we will not bow to the king. We will bow to the one true and living God. We will not bow to the king. And they said we're going to throw you into the fire. See, another in the fire. It's going somewhere here. And they were not being devoured by the flames. And the king said, what is going on? We only threw three into the fire. Why is there a fourth one in the fire? And he resembles the Son of God. Could it be that there's another in the fire? Could there be that there's another holding you and holding the flames back? Could you imagine if the enemy was just let loose on your life? We would be destroyed. So there's another in the fire holding back the flames. There's another in the water holding back the sea. There's another there that is holding you and guiding you and sustaining you. We better start recognizing the true source of our strength and encouragement. And it's from Almighty God. The Bible is clear so many times. You get weighed down and then you see the waters will not overflow you. The flame will not scorch you. I am your God, the living God. I will not let harm touch you more than what is within my sovereignty. No weapon formed against you, although it's formed, it will prosper. Nothing coming against you that I don't want to happen is going to happen. God says that's what His Word says. When the enemy comes in like a flood, have you ever felt like that? I've had weeks like that, like what is going on? When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the living God will raise up a standard and say, No, you cannot, who's going to break down that block wall? When God puts up a standard, who's going to break that down? Answer me that question. God told Job, when I imprison a man, there is no release. When God makes somebody in a prison, there is no release. When I put up a wall, a standard, a hedge, whatever you want to call it, you can't batter that down. You can't break through that. God says, here it is, I stand, and He calls you to stand. Having done all, stand. Stand, therefore, with your loins girded about with truth. Hold up the standard of truth. You hold it up. I'm the standard. God says, I'm the burden bearer. It's my wall that they have to break down. Just stand. Just hold the line. And I'm convinced the reason we are in this predicament is because we have not held the line. We've cowered back. We've become politically correct. Christian leaders, go on, talk shows. So, pastor, is abortion a sin? Well, I'm not really to say. Really. All these lost opportunities. All these lost opportunities. Can you imagine if we held arms and linked a chain across our nation and said, hey, we're just standing for truth. We love you. We're not going to hurt anybody. We're not going to be mean-spirited. But I dare you to try to push and remove God's Word from our culture, from our schools, from our families. I will not bow to you, culture. And you think things are just going to work themselves out in the end? Some of you don't know it, but you are soldiers enlisted in the army of God. I don't want that. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. You can't choose this battle. This battle chose you. I can stop. We're just going to worship. I'm ready to worship God after hearing those songs. Speak the name. Oh, don't get me started on that song. Just speak the name. Do you know when I get letters and they write mean editorials in the paper, atheists, oh, this guy, this guy. Even you will bow your knee to Jesus Christ. Every knee will bow. The God-haters, the God-destroyers, those who mock His truth, those who redefine who He is, and they put rainbow colors all over the church as if God doesn't care. He says, I will not change. I told Malachi, I am the Lord thy God. I will not change. I cannot change. Just speak the name of Jesus. And you watch the demonic realm tremble. And I pray for people sometimes, just speak Jesus. If you think you're possessed or have this devil, just speak and cry out to Jesus. And if you can't, something is wrong. Because that name is above every other name. Every knee will bow, every tongue. That name, when you say the name of Jesus, you can go to many countries and acknowledge their higher power, acknowledge their God, acknowledge whatever, but watch out when you name the name of Jesus. I could upset you this morning, but I'm not going to do that. There's court cases in California. I know a Christian attorney is representing these people. One little old lady, cute as can be, I saw her speak, she just wanted to start a Bible study in a veteran's home, and now she's being sued for elder abuse. Can you repeat that? She's starting a Bible study, and because the word of God is so powerful, and you're naming the name of Christ, that is elder abuse, and there's a lawsuit against her. We have lost what's elder abuse. Elder abuse is when you're mean to old people. You're abusing them. By the word of God? You see how they have to twist that. They have to come against the culture. There has to be another in the fire. Is there another in your fire? Is there a name that no other name will come against you because you named the name of Jesus Christ? In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Verse 25, this do as often as you drink it, so as often as you come together, that's how communion was set up, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. It's a reminder. It's a reminder in communion that the cross has not lost its power. The cross is still the powerful image that it is, the representation of the shed blood of Jesus Christ that came in and abolished the old covenant and began to give us a new covenant. What is that? Well, I'm glad you asked. The old covenant was based on keeping the law. You had to keep the law of God. Can you imagine walking around keeping the law? And that's why I felt really bad and wrote this article for the Jehovah Witness. I had this sensing that I have to walk, I've got to do this, I've got to knock on doors, I've got to keep doing this, I've got to keep doing this, I've got to keep doing this, and hopefully I'll make it at the end. That's not biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity is Jesus paid the price, I will make it to the end because He secured me with the blood and His redemption. It's the second covenant. It doesn't make the old covenant bad. What it does is Jesus said, I once and for all shed the blood, the blood of animals used to make atonement for the sins of the people once a year. The high priest would go into the holies of holies, only Him, and He would make atonement for the sins of the people. And they were good for a year. And then they've got to walk in the law of God, they've got to obey the law of God. But now with the new covenant, Jesus, I'll read it here, this cup is a new covenant and it cost my blood. That's what He's saying. So because of that new covenant, I have freedom in God. And I have to read this, this is so encouraging. Barclay again, commentator. Under the old covenant, a man could do nothing other than fear God for He was ever in default since He could never perfectly keep the law. Under the new covenant, He comes to God as a child to His Father. You should be excited about worship. If you're bored in worship, I don't know what to tell you. Something's wrong in your heart. You should be excited because as a child to His Father. Now, people say, well Shane, you're giving permission to sin. No, I'm not. You actually, I believe under grace, you live under a higher standard. Because of the price Christ paid for me, I do not want to sin. Obedience is still a major factor. But now I do it because God, You are my Father, You are my God, You are my Savior. I want to obey You. I want to follow You. I don't want to live in the misery of sin. So now I don't do it from a position of positionally I have to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. What spouse is going to say to their spouse? I guess I can't cheat on you. I have to remain loyal, blah, blah, blah. Gosh, I really wish I didn't have to. How's that going to make them feel? Versus you do it because of the relationship. You want to keep that relationship together. Same with our relationship with God. If you have that relationship. Many in the church, one of the great shockers to me as a Christian, when I came back to the Lord, I'm on fire for God, I'm talking to people, I'm like, boy, not everybody's a Christian who says they're a Christian. I would ask you, are you a Christian? Yeah, I was born a Baptist. Okay, but are you a Christian? Yeah, I was born in America. Are you a Christian? I was raised in a Christian home, Shane. You guys answer my question. And you have to be careful. Now, people say this, I'm not down talking it, but many times when I ask people, they're like, oh, I've been a Christian all of my life. That's not possible. There has to come a point in your life where you recognize I'm a sinner and rebellion to God. I need Jesus Christ to save me. And you should say, I was set free at 10, I was set free at 12, I straddled that fence and I drifted, but I came back to God. I've been a Christian all of my life. You're not John the Baptist with the Holy Spirit in your mother's womb, most of us. There has to be a point of... And the reason I say that is not to make people mad, but to challenge them. They say, I've never thought about that. Have you ever repented and believed? Have you ever repented of your sin? I don't think I have. I've always been a Christian. My mom taught me, I went to Christian... And they realize they've had religion, but not a relationship with Christ through the redemptive work on the cross. See, when you experience, when you're carrying the burden of sin and repentance takes place in the cross of Christ truly sets you free. Not everybody's felt that experience. Not everyone can sing that hymn we sing that's the most requested hymn of all time, sung 10 million times a year. What hymn is that? You know. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a nice person like me. Did you know that that line offends many people? Don't do that version. A wretch like me? John Newton was a slave trader in early colonial history. And God wrecked his life. And he saw his utter dependence and need on God. And that's why he could pen those words. It's Amazing Grace, how sweet that sound that saved a wretch like me. I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. T'was grace that taught my heart to fear. T'was grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear. The hour I first believed. See, something, there's a transition. You know when you've been born again. You know when you've been born again. So these people that aren't sure, amen to that. You know it. They're like, I'm not sure. I think something happened. No, you went from death to life. I went from walking in the darkness I went from walking in the darkness to walking in the light. I went from on a highway to hell to I'm on a road to heaven. I went from the broad road that leads to destruction to the narrow path that leads to eternal life. I went from error to truth. I went from fallacy to reality. Because when the living God changed and you become born again, it's a radical experience. As much as physical birth is an experience, isn't being born again an experience? You experience God. Who are these people that say, you don't have to experience God. What planet do you live on? I want to experience God. You experience the power of God to change a man. What kind of man can be a convicted felon, a murderer, in jail, on the road to death? They call it death row. The walk of death. And they come to know Jesus and they're not scared to die and they repent of their sin. What in the world happened? Born again. Oh, Nicodemus. Oh, Nicodemus, you're a teacher of the law. You're a teacher of the law and you don't even know these things. You have to be born of the water and of the Spirit. You have to be born again. How can I go back into my mother's womb? You can't. It's a work of the Spirit. It's Spirit. If you're like me, you're like, Why are Christians so divided in our nation? They believe this stuff and I believe this stuff. Are they born again? Now, you're going to have differences on the border or different things. I understand people's hearts. But there should be a... Born again believers will be against the murdering of little babies. Ask Kanye. He's upset in all of Hollywood right now. You should be against the aborting of children. You should be for the sanctity of marriage. There are things that are non-negotiable. So it really irks me when people try to put everything on a level playing field. You can rip a child from a mother's womb limb by limb and that's the same as building a wall? Are you kidding me? Shedding the blood of the innocent children is not something... God actually requires that. He says, I require of a nation who sheds the blood of innocent. I will require that upon you. Jesus actually told the religious leaders of His day, He said, their blood is going to be required of you from righteous Abel to Zechariah who was shed, whose blood was shed between the altar, the temple there. He said, that blood is going to be required on your generation. There's something about shedding innocent blood that God does not like. Alright, that was my political tirade. Let me get back on track. The Father... Oh, this is hard. The Father allowing the Son to suffer is a hard concept, but I'm not too concerned with what I don't fully understand in the Bible. I'm concerned with what I do fully understand. Do you know that it pleased the Father to bruise the Son? Isaiah, it pleased the Father to crush the Son. I had somebody challenge me a week ago on this from this other religion. How can you believe that? The Father bruised... That doesn't make any sense. Why would God take pleasure in that? Well, could it be that... Just could it be... Hear this out. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes shall not perish. Could it be that God's love for the world overruled the pain that Christ felt on the cross? That's exactly what happened. For God so loved the world and Jesus wasn't forced. He went to the cross. He said, I willingly lay down my life. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider robbery to be equal with God, but He made Himself of no reputation and He took on the form of a man. And I've given you this analogy before. It'd be like you hopping into a septic tank fully full and coming out and saying, now I'm ready to start a ministry. That's what happened when He took on sinful man. The flesh, God Himself came down and He took our spot on the cross. So the nails didn't hold Him there. The Roman soldiers were not intimidating Him. I'll tell you that much. He gave up Himself willingly. Willingly, I go to the cross. Willingly, I lay down my life. For this purpose, I have been sent. A baby born to die. You see this little child? Mary holding this little child. That baby was born to die for the sins of the world. That is a foundational belief of the Christian faith. So when Mormon or Jehovah Witness or any other religion downplay the cross, downplay that Jesus is God, a creature is going to take our place and fulfill all of prophecy and take on the sins of man. It had to be Almighty God. We are obligated to say that is wrong and that is a cult. That is heretical. That goes against historical, biblical Christianity of what Paul wrote and of what other people wrote. Shane, do you get any mean emails? I do. Mainly on these types of points. Who are you to say? Who are you? That is so arrogant, is it? I believe that arrogance challenges truth. Humility submits to it. There's a big difference there. Jesus willingly laid down His life. Therefore, whoever eats of this bread or drinks of this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, verse 27, so if they eat of this bread or drink of this cup, so if we go to communion in an unworthy manner, he will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. That's pretty hardcore. If He's teaching what we read, and He is, of course, what is happening? Well, whoever takes this in an unworthy manner, what's an unworthy manner? If I'm going to continue... Does anyone have any pet sins? Oh, I just want to hold on to this one. I hope not. But a lot of people do. It's like they cherish it like a little baby. And we hold on to these besetting sins, and we say, I don't care. Thank you, Jesus, for dying for me. I'm going to take communion and hold on to this sin or hold on to selfishness. The context is selfishness in the church. I'm going to take communion. I'm going to not be concerned about other people. And we take it in a worthy manner. The only way to take communion in a worthy manner is to take it with humility and confession and repentance. Communion is not for perfect people. It's for those like us. But we don't come with sin on our hearts. We come with a repentant heart. So we see here the magnitude of selfishness. We also see the context is division. So every person that takes communion, based on what I'm reading, I would look at your heart. Are you holding in envy or strife or anger against another? I don't care. I'm still going to take communion. That's what the context is. The context is selfishness. Now here's the kicker, verse 30. For this reason, people are taking communion in an unworthy manner. They're not confessing or repenting of their sin. They're just taking communion. God says many are weak and many are sick and many of them sleep, which have died. So could it be that sin has consequences? Could it be that unrepentance is sin? So if I keep taking communion, but I'm going to hold on to my sin, could it be that some are weak? What does weak mean? Without strength. Could it be that some people are dying spiritually? They have no strength in God. They don't know much about what I'm talking about. They're just going through the motions. Could it be they're holding on to sin? Yeah, for sure. Because sin drains us. It causes us to be weak. Sin is to you what kryptonite was to Superman. Let me give you that analogy to think about. I know it's not real, but go with me here. That's what sin does. So many are weak, but many are sick. Could it be that sin causes sickness? Sometimes. Sometimes. James talks about going to the elders, having them pray for you and confess, and if your sickness is linked to sin, you will be healed because confession takes place. You often see that sickness is a result of sin. Not always. Sickness could be a demonic attack. Sickness could be caused by sin. And sickness also could be caused just by our body falling apart. As you get older, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Viruses, bacteria, our immune system, sometimes it happens. We don't know exactly. And he even says some people could possibly be dead because of this besetting sin, unrepentant sin, and God saw fit to take them early. For if we would judge ourselves, so if you would examine ourselves, we would not be judged. And I often wonder, I'm like, Lord, if that man would just examine himself, he would not be going through this. If they would just look at their own heart, they would not be judged by God. They would not be going through this. Because those God loves, He disciplines. Can you imagine being left to yourself without any discipline from God? Just let that thought run through your mind for a minute. You can do whatever you want, you're not going to be disciplined by God. Those He loves, He disciplines. He chastens, He brings them back. What's the point of a discipline to bring you back? For if we judge, examine ourselves, we would not be judged. This is why I constantly emphasize brokenness and humility and repentance, because it's self-examination. And I've prayed with people, they've come back later and they said, Shane, my sickness lifted. This thing I've been dealing with for years, whether it's a migraine headache or this cold or this depression, it lifted when I repented. It lifted when I fixed that relationship with my family. It lifted when I got rid of what God has been telling me to get rid of. How? Because it was linked to that sin. Again, don't leave here and say, Shane said all sickness is because of sin. Well, technically, it's because of sin's fallen nature, but if that was the case, we'd all be sick. Right? Right? You sin, you're sick. But I think God knows how to get our attention. God knows how to wake some people up through sickness, some people up through financial disaster. Some people wake up when their spouse says, I'm out of here. Some people wake up when they see that their children are not going in a good direction and it wakes them up. People need different things to wake them up out of their spiritual slumber. So I'm going to leave you with this closing thought. Never forget the power of remembering. The power of remembering. God says, remember my word, remember my statutes. Do you know your kids? You should have your kids remember what God did in your life. Do any of you have a testimony of what God did in your life? Tell your children. Tell your kids. Tell your grandkids. And you say, remember what God has done. I know you're going through a lot, but remember what God has done for you. Remember what God has done for our family. And you take them back. It's like Joshua building that monument after they crossed the river. Why are you building that? Because they'll remember what God brought us through. Sometimes you've got to remind your family what God brought you through. Remember that you were on your way to hell and God saved you and delivered you. Remember our family was falling apart, but God reached in by his grace and his mercy and he saved us. Oh kids, remember the goodness and grace of God. That leads us to repentance. And you remind your kids of the goodness of God. Stop feeding your kids with a bunch of fear and anxiety and the news and the world's falling apart. The world's not falling apart as long as God is sitting on the throne. And God says, I will always sit on the throne. If Israel ceases to exist, I will cease to exist. God said, I've got everything in the palm of my hand. My sovereignty will not be overruled. My control will not be thwarted. My plans will not be discouraged. I, the Lord, the true and living God, I sit on the throne of eternity. I pull up one king and I put another king down. Will the nations mock me, says God? No, they will not. Because I am ultimately in control. Oh God, would you show me again. Anyone want to pray that this morning? God, take me back. I love that song. Take me back to the place that feels like home. Take me back to the people I depend on, to the faith that's in my bone. Oh, he goes on to say, take me back to a preacher who's preaching in the church the word of God that registers to my soul to a hungry and dying world. The word of God is living. It's nourishment. Job said, that is nourishment to my soul. David said, it is nourishment to my soul. Jesus said, the word of God is nourishment to my soul. Did Jesus eat? They said. He said, I have eaten a food you know not of because doing the will of God is my nourishment. It's my food. Remembering that. I need the word of God on a daily basis. I need that encouragement. Amen. And so do you. We have to remember the power of the word of God and go back to that.