God Is With Us

Immanuel is the Hebrew name meaning 'God is with us'.  So, no matter how your position is within your designated church, God is still with you in all things.  You cannot get excommunicated from the Church by man, since only God can abandon you.  But that is not right either, since God never leaves us or abandons us, because we choose to leave Him.  What is Hell?  The best interpretation that I have heard is that it is the condition of being without God.  So, if God is with us, we cannot be without Him, no matter how some church group or church leader decides to pass judgement on you.  It is the spirit that quickeneth, not the physical bread given in church communion or any part of a physical phenomenon here on Earth.

If you read the 6th Chapter of John, you will find out where the origin and observance of The Lords' Supper came from.  Jesus said that He was that bread of life that came down from heaven.  It is a spiritual thing, to read, study, keep the words of Jesus Christ in you heart and mind, and believe what Jesus says.  It is the essence of Communion, not the symbolic taking of bread from a Priest or Church Preacher.  They actually have no power at all, except through the words of Jesus Christ, and His Spirit that inhabits our mind and body, as a result of the words of Jesus Christ.  It is the Holy Ghost that makes the transformation within our body, mind, and spirit, not the symbolic bread, which still should serve as a reminder and to do it on regular occasions in the church.          

John 6:53 - 6:58

53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-6-53_6-58/

 John 6:63

“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-6-63/

It is the words of Jesus Christ that is the bread of life, and it is His words that actually make the Communion with God.  No one human being can excommunicate you from God, as long as you have the words of Jesus Christ within your heart.  Immanuel, God is with us, and always will be for all eternity, when the words of Jesus Christ are taken into our spiritual being and find a home, our eternal soul.  We become as one in the Body of Christ, the living Church.

So, from this brief history we arrive at The Lord's Supper, where the disciples and Jesus gathered together in an upper room and celebrated the action of His physical body and blood being broken, but also the spiritual fact that His words and being, the new testament, would remain within the souls of the disciples and humanity for all eternity.

Mark 14:22 - 14:24

22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.

23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.

24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Mark-14-22_14-24/

Mark 13:31

“Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Mark-13-31/

July 6, 2024

Cliff Rhodes Christian Ministry