You are invited to step out of religious performance and into a genuine relationship with your Creator. Take a moment to break bread and share a cup, remembering that Jesus broke down the walls between you and God so you can walk in freedom today. Start by confessing your need for Him and receiving the life He offers right now.
Welcome to the Real Church podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
Into the battle, your name is breakthrough. Into the battle, your name is victory. Our praises get louder because nothing can stop you. You hold the power, Jesus, because you're the king. Father, I thank you, and I praise you.
You are the king. *Lord*, I thank you that you love us. Lord, I thank you, father, that you're here. Lord God, that we can commune with you. We can exchange our intimate thoughts and ideas with you, but not only that, we can know your voice in a real way.
This isn't religion, it's relationship, Father God. And Teach us, Lord God, what it means to really walk with you. Not just so other people can see, but in the quiet space of our our living room, or our home, or our closet, Lord God. In the quiet space of our hearts and our mind, let us experience your peace when we're in the midst of battles and and our thoughts. We're in the midst of battles and what we think other people are thinking, Father.
We can be set free because you love us, because you've set us free from us, and we can be set free from others. Think of us because you've created us for your peace. *Lord* God, let us experience your peace, Lord God, and we experience that peace, I know, as we commune with you. So, teach us about communion today. Speak to us in a way that will impact every aspect of our lives from now into eternity.
God, I give you this message. Lord, I give you this time, every distraction, I rebuke it in Jesus name. And Lord, let it be your anointing, your voice, your words coming out of my mouth. Let it drip with life. In Jesus name, amen and Amen.
Once again, welcome to Real Church Online. It's an honor to be the pastor of Real Church and it's an honor that you would take the time to listen right now. We're gonna be talking about, as we've already said, we're going to be talking about *communion* today, a word that means community. Right? But if you look it up in Webster's dictionary, it says, it's the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level.
See, number 1, in your notes, take this down. We are created for *communion* with God. God is not distant. You're created to intimately share your thoughts and ideas, your feelings with him, but also to hear and to know his voice, to know his intimate thoughts, ideas, and feelings about you and about your future, to be led by him. See, we see this closeness and this communion in the end of the book in Revelations chapter 21 verses 3 and 4.
We see that it's it's God's endgame. It's his plan. Let's look at it. *Revelation-20* 21. Give me a second to get there.
Here we are. It says, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. This closeness closeness, this communion. Verse 4, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Think about that heavenly Father, it's like me "wiping the tears" away from my daughters, from my 8 year old son. The personal aspect of that, that's the closeness that you are created to know your Creator with. You're created for that kind of closeness. There will be no more death or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. See, but now on this earth, in this life, like, that is a a a super closeness with God that we're created for on this earth, in this life.
We still know God. We just have a taste. We have his spirit in us. We have a taste of what's to come. See, this kind of *communion* was his plan not just for the end, but it was his plan from the beginning.
Think about Adam and Eve in the in the very beginning. God was walking with them in the garden, but he was he had a a deeper plan than that. He put 2 trees in the garden, and they were told not to eat from 1 of the trees, but it was God's plan for them to eat from the tree of life, which they never did. See, what was the tree of life? What is the tree of life?
Jesus himself said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No man comes to the Father except by me. Jesus is the life. If Adam and Eve would have eaten of the fruit of the tree of life, they would have been taking in Jesus. They would have been receiving the very life of God in them.
Let's look at Jesus' own words in *John-6* verses 53 and 54. It says this, very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will have no life in you. That sounds pretty crazy. Right? Verse 54, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has *eternal* life, and I will raise them up on the last day.
See, once again, the tree of life was Jesus. The fruit was his body, the juice, his blood. If Adam and Eve would have taken and eaten of the fruit, they would have been taken the very life of God into himself into themselves. See, eternal life, as Jesus defined it, is knowing God. It's communing with him.
What is communion again? It's the the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and ideas and feelings. We are created for communion. Mankind is created for communion with God. Remember from the verse I read or the verses I read in the very beginning, *John-14*.
And verse 17 says, the spirit of truth, the world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. It goes on to say, because I live, you will also live. On that day, will realize that I'm in my father and you are in me, and I am in you. This is a statement of communion. So *Jesus* prayed in John-17, and watch what he prayed because it it continues to get deeper.
In John-17:22 through 23, he says, I have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be 1 as we are 1. I in them, and you in me. Do you see the intimacy here that we're created for with God? So that they may be brought to complete unity, then the world will know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. See, the most effective world, the most effective form of evangelism, the most effective form of the world knowing that God loves them, that God has sent Jesus so that they can know him, is unity between the body, unity in the church.
And how does that happen? Bible says, Jesus said, I in them, and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity. See, if I have Jesus inside of me, I have the Holy Spirit in me, then I'm in communion with the Father. And if you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, then you're in communion with the Father. But because of that, then you have his Spirit, I have his Spirit, then we're also in communion with 1 another.
The connection runs deep. Remember in 1 John-1:7, it says, if you walk in the light as he is in the light, you will have *fellowship* 1 with another. Meaning, if we're in communion with God, we will be in communion with 1 another. It's a promise. So number 1, we're created for communion with God, but number 2, we're created for communion with 1 another.
Let me show you something. Okay? So so just stick with me here. In *1 Corinthians-10* and verses 16 through 17. It says this, is not the cup of thanksgiving, talking about the the cup of communion.
Right? The cup of thanksgiving, which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ. It is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ because there is 1 loaf. We who are many are 1 body, for we all share in the 1 loaf. If we were together, I'd have you say, everybody say 1 loaf.
Like 1 loaf of bread. What is it talking about there? Like really? Why does it keep going about this 1 loaf? See, in Leviticus-23:17, 18, 19, and that that little section there.
What it's Paul is referring to a a festival that that was called Shavah. It's also the feast of weeks or they would they were celebrating the giving of the law. And so the the priest would perform what they called a wave offering. He'd take 2 loaves of bread and he'd wave the loaves of bread around, wave offering, and then right afterwards, they would perform a sacrifice, which was a a peace or a fellowship offering. And really then, they didn't know what it was represent representing, because in the Old Testament, it was a type and shadow, a physical representation of of what God was going to do spiritually in us today.
But let's let's see what is that exactly was it meaning. Watch this in Ephesians-2. Verses verse 14 says this, for he himself is our peace who has made the 2 groups 1. Right? The the the peace offering that they did with sacrificing the animal, Jesus is the peace offering, making the 2 groups, the 2 pieces of bread that he was waving around at the wave offering, making the 2 2 pieces of bread 1 loaf.
*Jesus* is the peace offering that brings us together. Period. See, in Ephesians-2:2 14, the context, in 1 sense, is talking about the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews, this 1 race separated from all other races of people. Like in in today's context, we would think, man, that's that's a bunch of racism.
But but what it's saying is *Jesus* brought Jews and Gentiles, these races of people together because of him, because he is the peace. But not only that, look at this. Verse 14, for he himself is our peace who has made the 2 groups 1 and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. What is that dividing wall of hostility it's talking about? The dividing wall of hostility was the *sin* divide between mankind and God because of our sin, because of our choosing not God?
We were separated from God for eternity. And and not only that, it says, how did he get rid of the the dividing wall of hostility? By setting aside in his flesh the law and its commands and regulations. What does it mean there? How does setting aside in his flesh or another version says, abolishing, 1 of my favorite scriptures, by abolishing in his flesh the law and its commandments.
How does abolishing the law get rid of the *sin* divide? Watch this. In *Romans-5* and verse 20 or 21. No. No.
Verse 20, it says, the law was brought in so that this trespass or the sin might increase. See, the purpose of the law was was to make you sin more, to show you your need for a savior. So the law was brought in so that this barrier, this dividing wall of hostility would increase, not decrease, to show us that there's no way by our own effort that we could make it to God. And if we're separated from God who is love, then that same dividing wall of hostility is dividing sin, is dividing us from our fellow mankind. It's keeping us separated.
It's keeping us divided. But not just that the law doesn't just cause us to sin more, which is what Romans-5:20 says, it also in Romans-3:20, it says, no 1 will be declared righteous by the law, but rather through the law, we become conscious of sin. So not only does it cause us to sin more, the law also makes us conscious of our separation, conscious of our sin, conscious of our inability to make it to God, of our guilt and of our shame. And if we're conscious of our sin here, then we're also conscious of our sin here between mankind. We're conscious of the divide between race.
We're conscious of the divide between people, between rich, between poor, between all kinds of stuff because of *sin*, because of the law. But what did Jesus do? He took out the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in his flesh the law and its commands and its regulations. So what does that mean? That means instead of being so conscious of our sin, see Jesus, when we receive him, he wipes away our sin as far as the East is from the West.
We're completely and totally forgiven and made new. And now, because instead of being conscious of our sin, we're conscious of Jesus. We're conscious of our forgiveness. We're conscious of our right standing with God. So now when I look up, I no longer see how how separated I am from God, But now I see that I can commune with him.
I can share my intimate thoughts and ideas with him. But not only that, because I'm not separated by the the sin barrier anymore. It's been wiped away. I can hear God. I can hear his intimate thoughts and ideas from my life.
It's amazing. But because now I'm in communion with God and God is love, joy, and peace, now I can be in communion with my fellow mankind. There doesn't have to be a dividing wall of hostility between brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, and that was the purpose. That was part of the purpose. Watch.
It says, his purpose in the continuation of verse 15, Ephesians-2, his purpose was to create in himself 1 everybody say 1. I can't hear you. You're on the other side of the screen. But say 1. 1 new humanity out of the 2, thus making peace.
And in 1 body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which he put to death their hostility. The answer to all of the hostility between you and your husband or you and your wife and your family is the cross. It's Jesus. The answer to all of the hostility between you and your kids and your and your relationship and your family struggles is the cross. It's Jesus.
The answer between for for you for all of the hostility between you and other races of people, it's the cross. It's Jesus. Jesus is the answer. He brings peace not only between you and God, but also between you and your fellow mankind. Verse 18, For through him we both, you and I, have access to the Father by 1 Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people in 1 household. We are fellow citizens. I don't care what you look like. I don't care where you came from. I don't care about any of that.
What I do care about is do you know Jesus? And if you know Jesus, then you have the blood of Christ running through your veins, and Jesus' blood is thicker than even family ties. It's thicker than than what color your skin is. We're connected because of the blood of Jesus. And if you've never received Jesus, then you need to.
You need to experience the the dividing wall of hostility, *sin* being being cut down and washed away as far as the east is from the West, so that you can know the love of God. Let me let me let me just prove it to you. Some of you are are still a little hesitant about our connection because of Jesus. And maybe because you've been tainted by all the stuff in social media and all the stuff in the news and all the stuff going on. The answer is Jesus.
Let me show you. In *Galatians-3* and verse 26, it says, so in Christ Jesus, you are all, everybody say all, you are all children of God through faith. Outside of Christ Jesus, you're not a child of God. As a matter of fact, the Bible says a child of the devil. The the the Bible says that that if you're not following Jesus, then you're following yourself, and by following yourself, you're following the devil.
But God died for you. The father sent the son. Jesus is God in the flesh, and he paid his life for you so that you could become an adopted son or daughter of God, and no longer follow your own desires, no longer follow the devil, but follow Jesus, and be connected to his body through 1 Spirit. He loves you. He loves you.
He loves you. But it says this, so in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. Have. It's done.
It's a done deal. A lot of times we take off our eyes off of what has already been done and get distracted by what's going on. Let's put our eyes back on what has already been done. Let's keep our eyes on Jesus and move forward in him. Watch this.
Here's the good part. There is neither Jew nor Gentile. That's 2 races of people. And and and Jesus is saying, no, in Jesus, or Paul is writing this. So Paul's saying, as led by the Holy Spirit, in Jesus, there's neither Jew nor Gentile.
Race does not matter. You're either in the kingdom of heaven or you're in the kingdom of this world, and that's the way I look at you. And if you're in the kingdom of this world, I gotta tell you about God's love for you so you can be a part of the kingdom of heaven. He doesn't hate you. He's not mad at you.
No. He sent his son so that you could know him and receive him. And if you're in the kingdom of heaven and getting caught up in the things of this world, stop it. Let's keep our eyes on Jesus, and let's portray his love to those around us. Let's become that love, and unify those around us by becoming that love.
There is in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free. Meaning, your social status doesn't matter anymore. Whether you're a business owner or whether you're a worker, it doesn't matter. We are unified as 1 in Christ Jesus. Unified as 1.
Neither slave nor free. Slave or free man. Unified as 1 in Christ Jesus. Completely and totally. Whether you're homeless, or you're a millionaire, or a billionaire, whatever.
Whether you're a doctor, or you work at McDonald's, we're all 1 in Christ Jesus. And socioeconomic status doesn't matter anymore because of Jesus. We're connected by 1 spirit, the spirit that is in you, the Holy Spirit if you receive Jesus, and the spirit that's in me. Neither male so it's there's neither Jew nor Gentile, racist, neither slave nor free. Right?
So your your status doesn't matter anymore. There's neither male nor female. Some of you need to put down your feminism and put down your chauvinism or whatever ism there is and say, no, no, wait a second. We're all connected in Christ Jesus. There's neither male nor female in Christ Jesus.
We are there's 1 status and our eyes are focused on him and reproducing his love by becoming his love in this world. It's vital. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. You and I are co heirs together with Christ of our heavenly father, and that is our number 1, that is our first identity. So stop making it out as if other things are identity.
Your main identity is a child of the king, and we're living out by living out our main identity. The results of that are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, and self control. Let's let's reproduce those things and live boldly in that. Calling people, calling our brothers and sisters to that, and unifying the church. Cause remember, the most effective form of evangelism, the most effective form of the world knowing Jesus is unity in the body of Christ.
So whether you're black, you're white, you're red, you're yellow, you're Chinese, you're Indian, you're South American, you're Latino, you're African, you're European, you're African American, or know what? If you have Jesus, I consider you my brother and my sister in Christ Jesus. I love you and I wanna lock arms with you as we do life together in Christ. And if if you are any of those colors and you don't know Jesus, I want you to know that God loves you, he cares for you, he died for you, and because God loves you that much, I'm willing to lay my life down for you so that you can know the same love that I have in me. It's not just me.
We have a church full of people that's willing to do the same. So we're about to take communion. And in taking communion, Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me. We're taking the bread or a cracker as a, you know, it was broken for our healing. His body was broken for us.
We're taking the blood and remembering that, and whether it's you're drinking water or juice today or wine, whatever it is, we're taking that and remembers that Jesus' blood was poured out for our forgiveness to take down the dividing wall of hostility, so we can be in communion with him and communion with 1 another. So as we take communion across the screen today, realize by you taking communion, 1, you're remembering that you're in communion. You can share your intimate thoughts and ideas and and passions and feelings with God, but also you're declaring that you're in communion with the body of Christ. You're in communion with me. You're in communion with your other brothers and sisters in the local church.
You're in communion with other brothers and sisters around the other side of the globe, being able to share your intimate thoughts and ideas and and and to become close friends and brothers and sisters declaring communion. You're declaring unity by taking communion. So we're about to go into worship. And what I'd like you to do is go get a cracker. You don't you don't have to have the little special wafer from church.
You can if you have 1 of those if you happen to, but if not, just go get a cracker or go get a pita chip or a piece of bread. Hand it out to your family. Go get some some grape juice if you have some, if you don't use orange juice or use water. You know, this is about it's not about the ritual as much as it's about the ritual causing you to remember Jesus. Remember that you're in relationship.
Remember that we're in relationship. It's about communion. It's about remembering. It's about knowing what he's done and remembering your standing and the benefits that come with that. So why don't you get up, go get the elements, whatever the elements you have at your disposal for your family.
And in taking communion, we're remembering what Jesus did for us and laying his body down for our healing, our deliverance, and pouring out his blood for our forgiveness, taking down the dividing wall of hostility between us and God, so that we can have relationship there. But also because of that, we can have relationship with 1 another. Before we take communion, if you've never received Jesus, you've been watching this, you're like, man, I don't know God. I've played church, I've played religion, but I don't have a relationship. When people ask me if I know God, just say I go to church.
But do I really know him? No. If you'd like to personally have a relationship with God where you can commune with him personally day in and day out. If that's you, would you just say yes? That's me.
And let's pray together. You can receive *Jesus* into your life right now. You can be born again. Have a relationship with the God of the universe and Him wipe away your sin, your guilt, and your shame, and you can experience life. What does it take?
You ask. Believing. Believe. And by believing, you're saying, Hey, you know what? I I wanna confess.
I I believe that that life with you is better than me being in control. So I'm confessing you as the Lord of my life. If that's you, if you wanna receive Jesus, start a relationship with him. For the first time, let's let's pray this together. Say this with me.
Say, Jesus, go ahead and say it out loud. Jesus, I need you. Jesus, I believe you died for me and you rose again so that I could have your life. Teach me what it means to follow you. Teach me what it means to know you.
I give you my *life* and I receive your life. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Now, let's all together confess this with me. Say thank you, Jesus, that I am forgiven.
Thank you that I'm yours. If you prayed that for the first time, your son or daughter of the king, all guilt, shame wiped away as far as the East is from the West. God loves you. He calls you his son or his daughter. Let's take communion together.
Let's do this in remembrance of what he did for us. You can pray this with me or listen or pray your own. Once again, it's personal. Thank you, Jesus, that you your body was broken for me. Your body was broken so that I can walk in healing, so I can walk in complete healing and deliverance.
Thank you, Jesus, that you were taking all of my sickness by every stripe, every lash that went against you. *Lord*, it was taking my pain and my sickness on yourself as you carried your cross to Calvary. You were taking my shame. You carry your cross bruised and broken and bleeding. You were carrying my shame.
Thank you, Jesus, that you did this for me. And I don't ever wanna forget, and that's why I choose to continue to take communion. *Lord*, day in and day out, as I'm reminded by you, I'm doing this right now. We're doing this together as a body in remembrance of you, thanking you that our body is healed. That you took our cancers, you took our hurt knees, arthritis, you took it in your body broken for our healing.
Thank you, Jesus. We remember and we believe. Let's take together. And thank you, that your blood was poured out for our forgiveness. Because your blood was poured out, I'm in relationship with you.
You have **washed my sins away** as far as the East is from the West. When you look at me because of this, you see me as clean. You see me as pure. You see me as holy. You see me as in right standing with you as 100% forgiven.
So when I see myself because I remember you, I see the goodness of Jesus. I don't have to be conscious of my sin anymore. I can be Christ conscious. Thank you, Jesus, that I can have relationship with the heavenly father now because of you. I can hear his voice because you spilled your blood.
You chose to die for me. You knew everything that I would be doing. You knew all of the times that I wouldn't believe, all the times that I would doubt, all the times that I would run from you, And you chose to die for me anyway, saying, Father, forgive him for he doesn't even know what he's doing. Thank you, Jesus. We take this cup remembering that we're in connection with you because of your blood.
We remember you. Thank you, Jesus. Let's take together. Now, by taking communion together, we've we've we've remembered Jesus, but we're also declaring to the world we're in communion with God, but we're also in communion with 1 another.
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