He who eats the bread and the wine in a right spirit will find himself drawn into closer communion with Christ, and will feel to know Him more, and understand Him better.

Right reception of the Lord’s Supper has a “humbling” effect on the soul. The  sight of the bread and the wine as emblems of Christ’s body and blood reminds us how sinful sin must be, if nothing less than the death of God’s own Son could make satisfaction for it, or redeem us from its guilt. Never should we be so “clothed with humility” as when we receive the Lord’s Supper.

Right reception of the Lord’s Supper has a “cheering” effect on the soul. The sight of the bread broken, and the wine poured out, reminds us how full, perfect and complete is our salvation! Those vivid emblems remind us what an enormous price has been paid for our redemption. They press home the mighty truth – that believing on Christ, we have nothing to fear, because a sufficient payment has been made for our debt. The “precious blood of Christ” answers every charge that can be brought against us. God can be “just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” ( Romans 3:26).

Right reception of the Lord’s supper has a “sanctifying” effect on the soul. The bread and wine remind us how great is our debt to our Lord, and how thoroughly we are bound to live for Him who died for our sins. They seem to say to us, ” Remember what Christ has done for you – and ask yourself whether there is anything too great to do for Him.”

Such is a brief account of the benefits which a right-hearted communicant may expect to receive from the Lord’s supper.  In eating that bread and drinking that cup, such a man will have his repentance deepened, his faith increased, his knowledge enlarged, his habit of holy living strengthened. He will realize more of the real presence of Christ in his heart. Eating that bread by faith, he will feel closer communion with the body of Christ. Drinking that wine by faith, he will feel closer communion with the blood of Christ. He will see more clearly what Christ is to him, and what he is to Christ. He will understand more thoroughly what it is to be “one with Christ and Christ one with him.” He will feel the roots of his soul’s spiritual life watered and the work of grace in his heart established, built up, and carried forward.

 

 

A Brazilian bible college student felt called by God to do missionary work for the Xiao people, a people in the remote province in the north of Asia which is restricted from any Christian witness.

This is her story of how she evangelised this tribe:

“I live in Japan and I am a non-resident missionary to the Xiao people. I went to visit as a tourist and discovered they had no health care, no Scripture in their own language, no hospitals or schools, no gospel radio transmission and was not aware that anyone was praying for this group.

I prayed for wisdom to get help to evangelise. I got all my churches in my denomination praying and fasting for this group. Then I approached many Christian organisations for help. I challenged the Christian businessman’s organisation to negotiate with the Chinese government to build a hospital for them. The government agreed that if the Americans would fund the three millions to build itthey could have a Christian identity and witness in it.

God led me to two Christian nurses from a neighbouring country who were willing to come and work in the hospital and train staff.

I pleaded with Wycliff Bible Translators to start translation immediately which they did. The International Bible Society said they would publish the translation when it was finished.

I approached the Far Eastern Broadcasting Company and Christian Communications Ltd to start Gospel Radio broadcasts which they agreed to do.

I contacted Korean Christians and they offered to make and deliver to the Xiao  transistor radios preset to receive the gospel broadcast. Campus Crusade has also agreed to translate the Jesus Film into the Xiao language.”

Praise God for this lady’s zeal. Do you have such zeal for this outreach?

Between 1904 t0 1905 Wales experienced a great revival. While by no means the best known of revivals, it was one of the most dramatic in terms of its effect on the population, and triggered revivals in several other countries.

The ma God chose to use to lead this revival in Wales was Evan Roberts, a twenty-six year old Welsh coal miner. After witnessing a revival in a neighbouring town, he returned to his home village in hopes of preaching the gospel.

The minister wouldn’t let him preach on Sunday or at the Monday prayer meeting, so Roberts took it upon himself to simply preach  afterwards. He ended up preaching night after night, with people staying past four o’clock in the morning.

Over 30 000 people were converted in the first few months, and more than 100 000 came to Christ in less than a year.

Five years later, 80% of the converts were still walking with God. The social change was drastic: judges had no cases to prosecute. Police went unemployed, so they started church quartets.

 Illegitimate  births dropped 44% within a year. Mining operations slowed down because coal miners stopped cursing and the horses couldn’t understand their new language.

Though this revival was short-lived, it certainly had a significant impact on Welsh religious life. The movement spread to Scotland and England, with estimates that a million people were converted in Britain.

Evan Robert’s famous prayer: “Lord bend us.”

A prayer of Moses, the man of God. “ Lord, You have been in our dwelling house in all generations.” (Psa 90:1)

Here is a remarkable sentence indeed. It was written by a solitary Moses back in the Beginning, long before there were any real generations. But now it stands in these last days as the confession of millions; whose personal and collective histories span thousands of generations.

 Moses was a prophet, and in that gifting, he penned our confession of faith long before we were even born.

 Think about your own storied journey. As you look back over the years and reflect upon all the places you have been, all the things you have seen and done, along with all that you have experienced-good and bad alike- don’t you find your heart rallying to this singular line? “ Lord, You have been in our dwelling house in all generations.”

In each circumstance throughout a single day, “ Lord, You have been in our dwelling house in all generations.”

He is our Temple, the centre of our worship. He is our Home, the seat of our security. He is our Lair,the site of our rest and repose. He is our School, the stock of our wisdom and knowledge. He is our Retreat, the source of our rejuvenation.

He is our Marketplace, the success of our labours. He is our High court, the supply of our peace and righteousness. He is our Heaven, the satisfaction of our eternal longings.

Rightly did the Psalmist say, Whom have do I have in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. ( Psa 73 25-26)

This is the Place where you live, and I pray you live well.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor and a theologian.

His writings on Christianity’s role in the secular world have become widely influential, and his book The Cost of Discipleship became a modern classic. Acute and subtle, warm and perceptive, yet also profoundly moving, the documents collectively tell a very human story of loss, of courage, and of hope.

Due to theological influences in Germany he was a liberal theologian.

He taught systematic theology for some time in the University of Berlin. Deeply interested in ecumenism, he was appointed by the World Alliance for Promoting lnternational Friendship through the Churches.

While earlier in his life he was really just an academic theologian interested primarily in the intellectual side of Christianity, some time later he underwent a personal conversion, and became a dedicated man of faith, fully resolved to carry out the teaching of Christ as is revealed in the Gospels.

While he is well known for his theological writings his greatest legacy is his bold stand against the Nazi dictatorship. He was a vocal opponent of Hitler’s euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews. He was one of a small handful of German Pastors who recognised the evil of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party and was prepared to stand against it. He was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. He was to pay a very high price for his stand against Adolf Hitler. He was executed by the Nazis in 1945 for his part in the “officers’ plot” to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

Bonhoeffer’s story is particularly relevant to us today, in that he stands as a witness to all Christians to have the courage to stand against wickedness and evil.