True Communion [circa 2022] (Part 2) | Ep. 200

Jesus says “eat my flesh” and “drink my blood,” and the reaction is immediate: offense, confusion, and people ready to walk away. We slow down and follow his own explanation, that “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life,” then trace how that changes the way we understand communion, discipleship, and spiritual growth. If you’ve ever felt stuck between a literal reading and a deeper hunger for meaning, this conversation is built for you. 

We explore bread as a sign that points to taking in Christ’s Word, hearing it, trusting it, and obeying it until it bears fruit in real life. From there we move into light and darkness, showing why refusing the Word is never neutral, and why abiding in Christ is the only way to produce lasting fruit. We also challenge the idea of “church” as a building project, returning to a biblical picture of God’s people being built up by the seed of the Word and shaped by doing the will of God rather than chasing our own glory. 

Then we turn to the cup through Leviticus 17 and the claim that the life is in the blood, connecting it with James’ teaching that the body without the spirit is dead. That thread opens up the New Covenant emphasis on the Holy Spirit: the Spirit gives life, the letter kills, and sowing to the Spirit leads to eternal life. We also connect living water in John’s Gospel to the fountain of life promised in the Scriptures, pointing to the gift of God and the promise of the Father. 

If this helped you see communion, the Holy Spirit, and obedience with fresh clarity, subscribe, share the podcast with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find it.

Transcript

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Blood Cells As A Spiritual Picture

Speaker 0:03

The vision received was that of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much-needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are spent, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose.

Eating His Flesh Means Obeying

Speaker 0:26

But if you eat of the bread that I provide, you shall live forever. So since we realize that these words are not to be interpreted naturally, then we must seek the spiritual understanding. Jesus emphasizes the literalness of his flesh, being meat indeed. He emphasizes the literalness of his blood, his sangre, as they say in Spanish, as drink indeed. But the meat referred to doing the will of the Father, obeying his words. So what is the blood? Have not spoken about that quite yet. If we eat of his flesh, hearing and obeying his word, others will know that the Father is in us. And we are in the Father. That's why they wonder at us. That's why they cock their head like a dog's hearing something sounding like off, and he cocks his head. They look at us and they cock their head. What is going on? What there's something weird, there's something strange that they speak in these words because they don't understand that they are detecting a difference in us. And that difference is Jesus only. So if we abide in Him and He abides in us, we're gonna bring forth a lot of fruit. This is just another analogy, like the eating of His flesh is an analogy of hearing and obeying his word. We abide in Him, we hold on to Him, and He and us, when we hear and obey His words, we bring forth fruit. But without him, without his Spirit, just like Jesus said, you can do nothing.

Walking In Light Or Darkness

Speaker 2:22

Now, John the apostle speaks about walking in the light. He is the light. Psalm says that the word, that bread, that flesh, is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. We need to walk in the light of the word. Because otherwise we will walk in darkness. There's nothing but light or darkness. If we refuse to walk in the light of the word, if we refuse to open our mouth wide to be filled with his word, then we walk in darkness. We are choosing that for ourselves. Now the eating of the flesh and the drinking of his blood was difficult. I gotta admit. I probably would have thought the same. Not having a spiritual understanding, I guarantee you, I would have thought the same. And I'm pretty sure all of us will admit, yeah, I probably would have thought the same too. That guy's off his rocker. I'm not sure if I'm following him anymore. I mean, I saw him do a lot of miracle working things, but but but that no, no, he's gone off his rocker. But listen to what He says. Because He continues. You thought he went past the bar, you thought he would stop right there with adding on. No, yeah, you also got to drink my blood. But he continues on in verse 61 through 64. He says, Does this offend you? What and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you that what you don't believe. You're closing your mouth, you're stopping your ears, you're putting the hands over your eyes, you won't even believe what you believe is your lying eyes. So Jesus solidifies this spiritual understanding. His words are spirit and they give life. They seem to be contradictory. But as he said previously, you must eat his flesh. The words that I speak, the words that I speak, they are spirit, they are life. But just like the Israelites of the old covenant, they would not believe. So Jesus continues in John chapter

Knowing Doctrine By Doing God’s Will

Speaker 5:14

7. He said, My doctrine, you know the things that I'm teaching, they're not mine. We don't teach what we think is right, we teach what the Lord has spoken. Jesus said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. He'll recognize it, his spirit will agree with it, will witness in your spirit that yes, that's from God. But he that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory. He that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true. There is no unrighteousness in him. So by doing his will, we are seeking his glory. Not our own. Not our elevated pulpit, not our church thermometer where we're trying to raise funds to just build up a church. The church is not a building, the church is the people of God that have been called out of darkness into his marvelous life. We need to build up each other. That's the church. The seed is the word of God, Jesus said. He spoke that in the parable of the sower. He said, My mother and my brother and my brethren are they that hear the word of God and do it. Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. So for all this above, I want to submit to you that when we take this bread in just a few minutes, that we think about the real significance of taking the bread that we're just using here as a token, where we do it in remembrance of him. It was about listening to his word, taking it in and obeying it.

The Life Is In The Blood

Speaker 7:20

The element of this wine I have not spoken of, but I will do so now. I think it goes back to Leviticus in chapter 17, in verse 11 through 14, or I'll just read 11 and 14. It said, For the life of the flesh is where? It's in the blood. If we lose out all our blood, we lose out our life. The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes an atonement for your soul, for it is the life of all flesh. The blood of it is the life thereof. This is why I said unto the children of Israel, You shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. But Jesus just said, You need to drink my blood. But they didn't understand. It's not a natural thing, it's a spiritual thing. So, naturally speaking, the life of our bodies is in the blood. But when the blood of someone or some animal is shed, what does that mean? It means his life is taken. Because naturally speaking, the life of the flesh is in the blood. But James spoke this for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead. So now James just gave us a revelation. The natural is the life of the flesh is in the blood. But the spiritual, James says, Well, the body without the spirit is dead. Oh, oh, I could see the connection. The spirit is akin to the blood. That's the spiritual significance. That's the spiritual discernment. Because the body without the spirit is dead. Just like a blood, or excuse me, a body without the blood is gonna die. John the apostle said, and he wrote of the man Jesus Christ, in him was life, and the life was the light of man. Do you think he was talking about in him was his own blood? It says in John 3 that in Jesus he was given the what? Without measure. You see, the spirit quickeneth. The flesh profits nothing. Get away from the natural understanding, receive of the spirit, because that's what quickeneth. That's what gives you life. God was in Christ. God is a spirit. God giveth not the spirit to this man without measure. So Paul said to us in Romans, get this connection. Who also made us to be able ministers of this new covenant, not of the letter, not of the natural, but of the spirit, because the letter, the natural, killeth, you die in the natural, but the spirit giveth life. And so Galatians, Paul also says to them, if you sow to the flesh, you'll reap corruption. But if you sow to the spirit, you shall reap of the spirit life everlasting. The spirit is life, the spirit gives life, the spirit or sowing to the spirit, you then reap eternal life. Not to the natural. So there is a synergy, if you will, between the two.

Living Water And The Gift

Speaker 11:18

So remember when Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4, right? He used the same terms in John chapter 4 as he did in John chapter 7. He was speaking about this living water. This living water was not a natural water. The Samaritan woman didn't understand. She was talking about the oh, the coolness of this water when I draw it up from a bucket. But that's not what he was referring to. It becomes what he was referring to: a well springing up to everlasting life within the heart of an individual. So the terms water, fountain, life, they were not introduced in the scriptures in John chapter 4. Jesus again was quoting himself in the old covenant. And he said in Psalms, O God, therefore, the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings. And he says in verse 9, For with thee is the fountain of life. In thy light shall we see light. He said to Jeremiah, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. And he says to Jeremiah again, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water. See, when he was saying about the living waters to the Samaritan woman, she did not understand that he was referring to the Lord. Come to the Lord, and you will receive this living water, not this water in this well. You're gonna thirst again if you drink the water in this well. But if you hadn't known, if you had understood whom you were speaking to, you would have asked him, Give me this fountain of living water, because you would have understood that I am the fountain of living waters. The living waters was spoken of as the gift of God. John 4.10. It was spoken of as the blessing of Abraham in Galatians 3.14. It was spoken of as the promise of the Father in Luke 24, 49 and Acts chapter 1, the Spirit of God is the Holy Ghost that we all fell in love with when we partook of the divine nature and tasted of the gift of heaven. So when Jesus said, Come unto me and drink, not natural water, come unto me and drink of the blood. Come unto me, he was referring to drink of my spirit. Open your mouth wide for my words, which is the manna, but open your mouth wide and drink of my spirit. So Jesus said, Men do not put new wine into old bottles, do they? The bottles are gonna break and you're gonna waste that gift, that new wine. No, no. When you receive my spirit, which is why John the Baptist preached in the kingdom of God, and Jesus continued the message, the first thing he said was, Repent. Because that's how you get yourself new. Because if you try to receive the gift of God, continue to walk in your old ways, you're gonna waste that gift. So we're told by Paul that we have been made to drink into one spirit. By one spirit we are all baptized into one body. Whether we be Jews, whether we be Gentiles, whether we be bond, whether we be free, whether we be white, whether we be black, whether we be Irish, whether we be Japanese, whether we be African, whether we be from Hawaii, whether we be from Eskimo in Alaska, whether we be from the Philippines, it doesn't matter. There is only one race, there is only one blood. He made one man that needs to be redeemed into the new man. So when Jesus spoke of drinking his blood, he was referring to receiving his spirit. So have you all now made the connection?

Communion As A Faithful Token

Speaker 15:44

What is this communion? What does this have to do with communion? So, since the manna, the bread, the flesh was referring to Jesus' words, and since the blood and the wine is referring to receiving Jesus' spirit, we apply that interpretation. And this is just a token. But if you partake of it by faith, you will activate, and there will be a power you know not of, because you're tapping into the virtue that is found in the Word of God. So I would like you all to come up and take of the elements right now. Yes, right now, come up in a line and take of the elements of the bread and the wine. Because as they did eat on the night of the Last Supper, Jesus took the bread first. So when you come and take of the elements, we're gonna take of the bread first. You said, take eat of this bread. This bread was broken for many for the forgiveness of sins. But it was blessed, was it not? So we take of this bread, we bless it as it signifies the body of our broken Lord who suffered for our sins. And we take eat of this bread and we say, Thank you, Jesus, for doing what we could not do for ourselves. This is my body, says the Lord. And he took of this cup, and he also gave thanks. Thank you, Lord, for the blood that you shed with the cat of nine tails, as they whipped you and they beat you, and they put a crown of thorns on your head and they stuck you to a cross. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the blood of your new covenant that was shed for many for the sins of all the world. Thank you, Lord. So, Father, we remember your sacrifice today. And we will have it be our motivation to hear, to obey, and to be led of your spirit.

A Warning Against Spiritual Death

Speaker 19:23

So, brothers and sisters, I think that you would all agree that if we don't hear and obey his word, if we don't walk in his spirit, if we don't walk in his light, in his revelation, that given enough time, our disobedience is gonna lead to our death. Both physical and spiritual. So simply eating or not eating of natural bread that perishes, or drinking or not drinking natural wine, that's not gonna save us. But again, let us not be as natural men. Spiritual men, discerning the word spiritually. Because the greater spiritual significance is eating and drinking of the word and his spirit. Father, we love you this day. We magnify you, we glorify you, we thank you, Father, that you have given your disciples revelation. When they come unto you and they ask, Lord, help me understand. Explain what you just said, you give the revelation. You do not hide it from us. It is not a mystery to your disciples what you are truly meaning with your words. So, Father, we desire to hunger and to thirst and to continue longing and yearning for you, Jesus. Father, burn in us a fire, burn in us this hunger, Father. That we would cry out your name for any and all things that pertain to fulfilling the will of God. Lord, let us not forget your word also commands us to love one another. Because I could speak about how you washed the disciples' feet that night. And we could think naturally, and we could think, oh, we got to go to each and every brother's house to wash our feet. But Lord, you did something marvelous and miraculous when you washed us with your blood. When he washed us with our blood, he forgave us. So, how do we cover one another's multitude of sins by forgiving our brethren and not holding it against them, but asking the Lord to forgive them as we forgive them, for the Lord says, if you will not forgive, my heavenly father will not forgive you. So, Lord, we don't want that, but we want to fulfill the first commandment, and the next commandment that's just as important. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind. This is the first and great commandment. But my Lord, you said the second is just likened unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself on these two commandments, hang all of the law and all of the prophets. This is also God's word, and we endeavor to walk in it and be led of his spirit to complete it. And the saints that love the Lord said, Amen. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

Prayerful Support And Simple Sharing

Speaker 23:43

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