Benefits of Regular Communion
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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.
Introduction.
Introduction.
One of the loose ends that Bro. Branham tied up for us was Communion.
At the time the Message came, denominational communion had become a joke. Crackers out of a box and grape juice.
Paul dealt with the same thing in the Corinthian church, where communion had become a potluck.
When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
This was not communion at all, so they didn’t receive any of the benefits of obeying the Word.
How often should we take communion?
Every church is absolutely sovereign.
I believe that we should take it as often as possible when we come together without making it merely a formality.
this lack of sincerity caused many Pentecostals to reject communion altogether.
78. Can you find anywhere the apostles took Communion after Pentecost? Did Paul mean people do not discern the Word? Holy Ghost was the only way to worship God? If you take wine and crackers, sickness and sleep fall on you?
59-0628E - Questions And Answers
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
54 That was a doctrine of the apostles and of the early church, that every time they came together they taken Communion. Every time! Now, I know you Christian people who go to the Christian Church..
(Church of Christ)
...you say, “We take it every Sunday morning. We got the Scriptures on it.” You have a better Scripture on it than the Branham Tabernacle does.
(sovereignty)
The Branham Tabernacle takes it once a month. But the Scripture is that, as oft as you come together. That’s right. That’s every time.
59-0628E - Questions And Answers
55 See, each time the apostles, holding these prayer groups, meetings in the temple, house to house; every time they met, they broke bread, taken the Communion.
64 Now therefore, I believe that the eating of the cracker…Now, I do not believe that kosher bread should be substituted for a cracker. I believe that it should be a holy unleavened bread, the type of the unleavened bread that was made in Egypt. And I believe that the Blood should not be grape juice, but it should be wine. Grape juice sours, and spoils as it gets old. But wine gets better and stronger as it gets old; it never loses it’s strength. And the Blood of Christ doesn’t sour and spoil; as it gets older, it gets stronger and better as the days goes by to the believer. And it is a literal wine and bread. Communion bread should be made by people who’s dedicated themselves and consecrated themselves to God.
65 I went to a church once where they taken this old loaf bread, where sinners cursing and carrying on, and filth, and cut up that old bread and stuck it out there with some kind of a juice to drink. To me that was—that was ridiculous. I believe it should be just exactly the way the Scripture said it should be; not vary one speck from the Scriptures, stay right with It.
59-0628E - Questions And Answers
Benefit No. 1: Physical Healing
For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
162 Now we’re going to have communion service, just in a few minutes. How many believes in communion? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] Thank you. That’s what Jesus Christ asked us to do, said, take the broken parts of His body, and to do it until He returned again. And if you who believe this to be the Truth, and would like to have this little time of fellowship with us, around the Word of God here, we’d be happy for you to stay with us and have this time. If not, we’re going to dismiss, just in a few moments. We’d like for you to stay with the rest of them, anyhow, so that you’ll be able to see the way we take the communion. This is not only…
163 This is for, also, for Divine healing. Do you know that? When Israel eat the type, the lamb, the passover, they journeyed forty years in the wilderness, and come out without one feeble person in their midst. Think of that, not one feeble person, forty years. The communion, a sign of believers.
54-1003E - Jubilee Year
Bro. Branham taught us not to base our faith in communion, but it is a benefit of obeying the Word.
73 Do you know that communion has Divine healing in it? When the Israelites, in the type, took the communion, and marched forty years. And when they come out of the wilderness, there wasn’t a feeble one among them, two and a half million people. There is power of healing in the communion.
62-1104E - Ordination
In Indianapolis, Indiana, there was a boy dying with polio in the iron lung. And I went into the upper room of the man’s house and prayed. The Lord came down and give a vision and said what was the matter with the boy to take him the communion, because one time he’d been refused to take the communion on account of his age. And they had no communion at this house, so I went to Brother Hoekstra’s, and he furnished the communion. I take it and give it to the boy in the iron lung and pronounced the blessings of God on him and the boy’s living in Indianapolis today. We thank the good Lord for His mercy for that.
54-0725 - Do You Now Believe?
Benefit No. 2: Fellowship
We come together for communion, and it forces us to focus on what we have in common.
(quote)
38 But now when we come together in this way, there God comes down. And the—the communion table is, actually, break, broken, bodies of the Body of the Lord that we separate among us. Now, that is the literal Body, of the bread that we break, representing the Body of Christ.
39 Did you notice on the Day of Pentecost, what a great thing we have there? That, God, Who led the children of Israel through the wilderness, He, that great Pillar of Fire. And on the Day of Pentecost, this great Fire fell, and then divided Itself among His people. Oh, to think how that He wants us to sit together in Heavenly places, then, each one enjoying that warmth of the Fire of the Holy Spirit. “Cloven tongues set upon them like Fire, licks of Fire,” God dividing Hisself amongst the Church. Oh, wouldn’t that, though, just set our hearts burning. That’s when we can come together in Heavenly places.
40 Now, we know that His table, where the people set together and commune with Him, is like an oasis in a desert. And an oasis, in the desert, where there’s a great spring, where weary travelers come and set around this oasis in the desert, and refresh themselves, and then remembering how it got there.
41 And that’s the way it is in the Church, that, this table of communion where all the blessings of God, the full Gospel, everything that God has for His Church, is brought out, laid out among us. And it’s like an oasis in this hot, burning, sinful desert that we’re traveling through. And then when we come in, and talk of, read the menu, and then we see that He turns back around, and He’s not fresh out of this, or fresh out of that, or this struck off, but He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. He’s got everything on the menu, ready to give it out. That’s the good part. Then we can just look over the menu and just take the whole thing. I just like to…I like the complete course. Don’t you? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] I just like to take it.
42 And while we are enjoying these blessings, each one feeling His Presence, and saying, “Amen. Praise God! Hallelujah!” so forth, in that we can remember the One that brought it to us and made it possible, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Remember Him.
63-0122 - Remembering The Lord
Benefit No. 3: Examining Ourselves
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
Lexham Theological Wordbook δοκιμάζω
δοκιμάζω (dokimazō). vb. put to the test, examine, prove. Describes the quality of being approved or the act of testing or proving.
The verb dokimazō is used in the NT in the sense of testing, evaluating, proving, or examining both things and people (Luke 14:19; Gal 6:4; 1 Thess 5:21; 1 Tim 3:10). It can also be used in metaphorical references to testing buildings (1 Cor 3:13) and precious metals (1 Pet 1:7). It can indicate measuring Christian character (Rom 5:4; Jas 1:2–3); testing the will of God (Rom 12:2; Eph 5:10); examining oneself (1 Cor 11:28; 2 Cor 13:5); and regarding a person as approved or qualified (1 Cor 16:3; 2 Cor 8:8, 22; 1 Tim 3:10).
To make your religion work when you need it, test it on a regular basis. Examine yourself.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
They did not examine themselves.
157 Every Christian should take communion. It’s your duty. It’s a showdown. See? Jesus said, “If you don’t take it, you have no part with Me.” See?
158 “But he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself.” That is, if you’re still out with the world, and doing things of the world, and people see you taking communion, you’re doing wrong. You’re only bringing disgrace to you. And it’ll only harm you. It isn’t that it’ll harm God. It’ll harm you. And so a person should examine theirselves.
159 And before we approach this sacred moment, you ask God to search my life. And if I’ve done anything that’s not right, forgive me for it. I—I don’t mean to do it. I’ll make it right if He’ll reveal it to me. And I’ll ask the same thing for you. Said, “When you come together, tarry one for another.” That’s, “Wait on one another, and pray for one another.”
160 We want to take this communion. And if we don’t do it, we have no part with Him. That’s what He said.
59-0301E - What Does Thou Here?
Footwashing is just as important.
Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
We should want to be in the Communion service.
40 You don’t take the Lord’s supper by a tradition. You take it because it’s the love of God in your heart, in keeping the commandments of God. See, that’s what you take it for.
41 So if you don’t take it in sincerity, just it’s a tradition, “Well, our church observes communion once every Sunday, or once every month, or twice a year,” and you go up, say, “Well, it’s my time,” and then take the communion, why, it’s a stink to God! See, that’s just a tradition.
42 Even like anything else, you—you’ve got to be sincere. God wants the depths of your heart. You remember, the very God that brought you here on earth is the One you’re serving. See?
43 You’re doing this because He said so, because it’s His order. Then we want to come up with deepness of sincerity, knowing that by God’s grace that we have been saved. And we love Him and we feeled His Presence, and we see It change our lives. Our whole being is changed. We’re different people. We don’t live like we used to, we don’t think like we used to.
65-1212 - Communion
Conclusion.
We want to take advantage of the benefits of obedience to the Word.