OUR COMMUNION WITH CHRIST: DR MENSA OTABIL, 30TH AUG. 2020

ONLINE SUNDAY SERVICE MESSAGE BY DR. MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) ACCRA, GHANA)

TOPIC: “OUR COMMUNION WITH CHRIST.

DATE: 30TH AUGUST, 2020

TEXT: LUKE 22:7-12

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!! Hallelujah!!!

Shall we make our DECLARATIONS OF EXCELLENCE in this very Special Year of Excellence.

… Are you ready? – SAY WITH ME:

Out of Zion, the Perfection of Beauty, God shines forth. The Lord my God causes the Righteous to shine forth as the Sun.

His Awesome Hands has formed me; His Creative Spirit inspires my mind. He Skillfully guides my hands.

Therefore, I boldly declare: I am Set Apart for Excellence. The Ruler of the Universe has exalted my horn among the Nations. He sets my feet on high! In His Strength, I rise!

By Faith, I Press forward towards the Prize of my Highest Calling.

I believe in my heart, and confess with my mouth: that Jesus is Lord! He is the Vine, I am the Branch; in Him I abide, in Him I Blossom.

As it is written: God, who commanded Light out of darkness, has Shone His Light in our hearts.

We have His Treasure in Earthen Vessels. That the Excellence of the Power may be of God, and not of us!

In this Year, I commit to EXCELLENCE, I commit to EXCEPTIONALISM, I commit to do the EXTRAORDINARY.

In Jesus’ Name – Amen and Amen and Amen and Amen.

And we give God all the Praise and all the Glory for bringing us into His Presence this morning.

And you may be seated wherever you are or reading now on the Label of DMC – As we honour God for the life that He has given to us.

So, my Message today is Titled: “OUR COMMUNION WITH CHRIST.”

And my Text is going to be found in Luke’s Gospel 22:7-12 (NKJV)

7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed.

8 And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”

9 So they said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?”

10 And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters.

11 Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’

12 Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.”

Do this Passage opens with the Preparation for the celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorated the deliverance of Israel from Egypt – It was a seven (7) day’s Feast that was celebrated by the People of Israel. It began with the Passover Night.

And the Bible calls it the Passover because on that day (at the first Passover); Destruction PASSED over the children of Israel.

It is also called Passover, because that was the time they MOVED and began the Exodus from Egypt into the Promised Land.

1. On that Night (the first Passover of Israel), Four Hundred and Thirty (430) years stay in Egypt came to an END.
2. On that Night, years of Slavery and Bondage and Oppressions against Israel came to an END.
3. On that Night, Israel received a Reward for all the years of Service they had rendered to Egypt without been paid.
4. Overnight, years of Servitude was Rewarded – Financially Rewarded.
5. Overnight, years of Bondage was reversed;
6. Overnight, Places that had become home and a Place of Restriction for four hundred and thirty (430) years changed.

So, the Passover was a very Significant Time for Israel – And this was what the Feast of Unleavened Bread was all about.

On the the first (1st) Passover Night, God instructed the Israelites to kill a lamb, use its blood at their doorposts, and eat the flesh of the lamb, and eat Unleavened Bread: To show that they were quickly about to get out of bondage.

So, anytime we think of Communion, we must have this image in mind: The image of DELIVERANCE, the image of God’s Separation, the image of God’s Reward and God’s Blessing and God’s Deliverance for us.

And God instituted it for Israel.

And this Feast is what Jesus is asking His Disciples to go and Prepare for them to celebrate.

The Disciples came to Him to ask for arrangements for celebrating the Passover.

This is something that all Jews did; and they had to go to Jerusalem, from wherever they were, to go and celebrate.

And the reason why the Disciples came to Jesus to ask for Preparation was because Jesus was not from Jerusalem, He was from Galilee. And Galilee was a distant from Jerusalem – Actually, a Village.

And Jesus and His Disciples had moved from Galilee, now to go to Jerusalem. And He was not the only one who would do that!

Many other People would move from different Parts of Israel and congregate in Jerusalem. And because there was all these massive gathering;

It is almost like having huge International Conference in Africa – People would have to make Hotel arrangements, Accommodation arrangement, for where they would celebrate or Partake of whatever it is!

And so they were asking Jesus: Have You thought of arrangements for the Passover?

And Jesus gave them strict Instructions for Preparation.

And some would see this as Supernatural Thing that Jesus did, but it was not Supernaturally.

It just tells you that He was a very Methodically, Planning Person.

He had Planned ahead, where the Passover should be, He had Booked a Place, He had made Preparations for how direction would be made to that Place and He had set everything in order!

And Jesus shows us: We can be full of Faith and full of Planning at the same time – He PLANNED for where the Passover will be celebrated.

And Peter and John were sent to go and Prepare the Place in a hurry.

Normally, what will happen if you are a Jew and there was Passover – If you are Peter and John, will you get the Passover Lamb.

And supposedly they went to town and bought a Passover Lamb – That is what they were going to eat in the evening, to celebrate the event.

And then they would take the Lamb to the Temple.

And when they take the Lamb to the Temple, the Lamb would be killed at the Temple; the blood would be used to sprinkle the Altar in the Temple.

Then later on, the Lamb would be roasted and it’s meat would be given to the People who had brought the Lamb because that is what they are going to eat in the evening.

… These are all very important!

And then in addition, they would go and get bitter leaves and some bitter herbs. And then they would get Unleavened Bread. And they will get some spices;

They would put them all together and then go back to the Place that Jesus had arranged for them meet.

So, the Disciples of Jesus then sat down, according to this OLD TRADITION.

And the Disciples had no idea what was going to happen.

For them, it was a Passover – This is the first (1st) day of the Passover. What they have done as Jews, all their lives.

It is normal Passover celebration – They knew what to do, they knew where to get the Lamb, they knew how to do all these sacrifices.

… They went out and they sat at the Table with Jesus.

Now, the Jews believed that the Messiah was going to appear on the Passover – That was their expectation!

Because the first (1st) Passover from Egypt – that was when they were delivered.

So anytime they celebrated the Passover, it was also in expectation for the Coming Messiah.

So, Jesus did all these elaborate Plans together!

And then they sat.

And when they sat to eat; they had gone through all the rites (as a Jew would do).

Then He did something totally different from every Passover – Nobody had experienced this, nobody had done it before.

Jesus, began to REDEFINE the Passover; He began to do it in a totally strange manner!

And that is what we read in Luke 22:19-20.

After they had done the traditional thing, look at what He did:

19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying,

… Now, this is what they normally did. The head of the family would do that!

Then this is what He said: “THIS IS MY BODY which is given for you; DO THIS in remembrance of Me.”

Jesus Christ is saying: This is no longer a deliverance from Egypt. This is totally different: THIS IS MY BODY which is given for you; DO THIS in remembrance of Me.”

Verse 20: Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This Cup is the NEW COVENANT in My blood, which is shed for you.

By doing that, Jesus says: What you have been expecting all these years, since Moses delivered you from Egypt, has now happened here.

“I Am the Bread, I Am the life. My Blood is the blood. It is no longer the blood of the Lamb (that delivered you from Egypt).

This is the Blood of the Lamb that has delivered you from the Old Covenant into the NEW Covenant.

Jesus became the Sacrifice of the Passover.

And if you know your Bible well, it was after this that Jesus took His Disciples to Gethsemane – He went to Pray, He was arrested on the Passover Night, because He was the Passover LAMB.

He was arrested on Passover Night, just hurriedly. Throughout the Night, He went through Judgement, and the next day, He was nailed to the Cross – To bear the sins of the whole world.

Jesus, at this Supper, became the fulfilment of the Promise of hundreds of years of Practice.

He Proclaimed Himself to be the Lamb of God. And He Proclaimed the Lord’s Super of the Communion, to be the New Celebration of His Disciples.

So today, when we Partake of the Holy Communion; we are reenacting something that Jesus Himself did.

And I am going to focus on two (2) things for our Celebration today:

Jesus said: Do THIS in REMEMBRANCE of Me.

You know, many times we Partake of the Communion and we forget about Jesus – We think about ourselves;

We remembered ourselves. Sometimes we remembered something in our Past. Sometimes we remembered a Church Tradition – Practice that we have grown up with.

But, Jesus says: When you come to the Communion, your Mind should be on Him;

… Do THIS in REMEMBRANCE of Me.

The word REMEMBER is very interesting – Because if you look at it in the English Language, there are two (2) words there: ‘RE and MEMBER’.

RE and MEMBER! MEMBER simply means different Parts.

So, Jesus says ‘REMEMBER’.

The opposite of REMEMBER is DISMEMBER.

When you DISMEMBER, you take different part and SEPARATE them.

When you REMEMBER, you take the Parts and put them TOGETHER AGAIN.

Jesus says: When we come to the Communion, we should not DISMEMBER Him; we must REMEMBER!

In other words: You put all the Parts of Jesus, and bring it together into one WHOLE.

… Jesus Christ the Healer, the Deliverer, the Baptiser. Jesus Christ the soon Coming KING – we REMEMBER Him!

We remember His Life, we remember His Miracles, we remember His Sufferings, we remember His Death, we remember His Resurrection.

Each time you take the Communion: If you are sick, He will heal you. If you are a sinner, He would make you righteous. If you are down, He will lift you up. If you are in a storm, He will still the Storm. If your enemies are coming against you, He will be your Deliverer. If men want to condemn you, He will say: Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more!

This is the Jesus we are REMEMBERING: and we want Him to be Present at our Table, we want Him to be Alive at our Table. And we want Him to be Active in our Lives.

On that day, Jesus took the Bread – representing Himself. And He broke it.

The Bible says: His Body was BROKEN. And literally, the Body of Jesus Christ was broken in many Places.

They Placed a crown of thorns on his head – To BREAK the muscles on His head, the flesh on His head.

The Bible calls it: The Chastisement of our Peace was upon Him.

When they broke His head, when we take Communion; He puts the head together.

In other words: Whatever has disturbed your Peace; whatever has broken your Peace, whatever had disturbed your mind, whatever is a disturbance to you, whatever is a worry to you, whatever is an anxiety to you – That makes you feel you are losing your Mind, He will put your Mind back together!

… We remember Him as the One who PUTS our Mind together.

The Bible says that His back was WHIPPED – His back was broken.

Not with simple cane as we know them but this thing that eats your flesh – It breaks your back.

And He was given those stripes on His back; the Roman Soldiers would normally give you thirty nine (39) of those lashes.

And each one would break His back.

But when His back was broken; anytime we celebrate the Communion, He is Putting our back together.

The Bible says: By His Stripes we are healed.

Where He was broken, we are been put together.

I don’t know what sickness has broken you, what the enemies have sent against you to destroy you – It may be a sickness in your stomach, it may be in your heart, it may be in your blood, it may be in your bones. It may be somewhere in any organ of your body. If it had been torn apart by sickness, Jesus is REMEMBERING – He is putting it back together (Amen).

And by His stripes, you are HEALED – Amen.

There is HEALING, in Jesus Christ this morning or as you are reading now on the Label of DMC.

His Hands were broken, and nailed to a cross.

His Feet nailed to a Cross – So, He could not move wherever He wanted to go.

But today, because He was NAILED, you will be released – Amen!

And whatever had nailed you in life and stock you in a Place and told you: This is how far you would go, you cannot go any further; I want you to know that Jesus Christ that we are REMEMBERING is coming to you – Amen. He says He is getting you OUT of the things that had NAILED you, and you are coming out – Amen.

Somebody says: I AM COMING OUT!

His Side was broken.

And the reason the Bible says: They Pierced His Side with a Spear, it struck His heart – It BROKE His heart.

But in the Communion, He comes to give help to the broken hearted.

If you have been broken hearted – Your heart has been broken, your heart is bleeding, you have been badly treated, you have been betrayed, you have been denied. Somebody you trusted has just turn you in, and Pierced you so badly, you have feel you can’t break again, you can’t survive; I have Good News for you, this Morning or as you are reading: As you REMEMBER Jesus, He will heal your broken hearted; He will put the pieces back again, and He will make you Whole – Amen.

Also listen to the audio here: The Significance of Our Communion With Christ – Dr Mensa Otabil

Whether it is your Peace of Mind that is broken, He will make you whole – Amen.

If it is your Side, your back, your body that is broken; He will make you Whole – Amen.

If you have been Nailed somehow in life, and you cannot get out – He will set you Free – Amen. And if your heart is broken; this same Jesus will be your Healer – Amen.

And anytime we Partake of the Lord’s Table, we REMEMBER – We are Putting all of these together: The Chastisement of our Peace, the Healing of our bodies, the Deliverance from everything that holds us back, the broken hearted of our lives.

And if you eat the Communion with Proper Understanding, you will Partake of Him and have deliverance – Amen.

This morning or as you are reading now on the Label of DMC, let Jesus Christ put you BACK together. Let Him put the Pieces back together!

In 1 Corinthians 11, the Apostle Paul, reminding the Corinthians Church of what Jesus did says in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26:

“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same Night in which He was betrayed took bread: And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is My Body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in My Blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.”

The Communion is a REMEMBRANCE and it is also a PROCLAMATION.

A Proclamation is a Statement you are making.

So, anytime we Partake of the Lord’s Table, we are making a Proclamation; we are also making a Declaration.

We are Proclaiming the Lord’s death, we are Proclaiming the Lord’s Victory because it was in DEATH that He gave us Victory; it was in DEATH that He gave us life.

So, when we Proclaim the Lord’s death, we are also Proclaiming our Life, our Deliverance, our Resurrection, our Return!

So today, we REMEMBER the Lord, and we make a Proclamation. We are making an Announcement.

Whenever you Partake of the Holy Communion, you making an Announcement that: That I am Delivered – My PEACE is restored to me, my HEALING is received; my DELIVERANCE come, my BROKEN HEARTED is healed.

… That is the Proclamation we are making!

As we think on all of these, as we REMEMBER the Lord, and as we Proclaim it:

1. We REMEMBER His Power to Heal, and we Proclaim it.
2. We REMEMBER that He gives us Peace, and we Proclaim it.
3. We REMEMBER that He delivers us from bondage, and we Proclaim it.

So, when we Partake of the Holy Communion – You put the bread into your mouth, and you eat. And then you take that cup and you drink: You are making a Proclamation; you are Remembering and making a Proclamation.

GOD BLESS YOU!

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