Koinonia And The Lord's Table

I want you to turn in your Bible with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 1 Corinthians. We've been in this series of koinonia. The word koinonia meaning fellowship, to be a participant, a partaker, or to share in.

It's a Greek word. It has been used in the English language. It got so used in the English language that they adopted it, but it's not so common now.

But koinonia is that place of deep, intimate, communion, fellowship, integrated, and working together. And so that's what we've been dealing with. And week by week we've explained what it is.

We've gone to many of the scriptures where the word koinonia is used, or one of the family of words associated with it. And as we look at those verses, we begin to understand what koinonia is. In today's church, most who talk about koinonia, they're just talking about this fellowship together, just being together, just chit-chat, social gatherings after a meeting.

That's generally what they mean. But we've begun to see in this it means much more. Koinonia goes to the very heart of the Godhead.

So reading from 1 Corinthians chapter 10, my message tonight, I almost called it koinonia with demons. That would get people's attention. But I've more correctly called this tonight koinonia and the Lord's Table.

Reading from 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 1. Moreover brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell on one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed as serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

Now all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall. There has no temptation taken you, but as is common to man.

But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able. But will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many, are one bread, and one body. For we are all partakers of that one bread.

Behold, Israel, after the flesh, are they not they which eat of the sacrifices, partakers of the altar? What say I then, that the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God. And I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils.

You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Let's pray together. Father, we bow our heads and hearts before you this evening.

And Lord God, we ask, O God, that you make us wise. Lord God, to learn how to walk in the way of holiness, and purity, and righteousness. We want to enjoy koinonia, Lord God, at the Lord's table.

We want to partake of the blood of Jesus Christ. We want to enjoy the blessing of it. We want to enter into the full provision of the blood of Christ, O God.

We want to enter in, and enjoy the koinonia of the body of Christ. Lord God, we're asking of you, that you'd separate us out. That you'd save us, O God.

That you'd convict us. That you'd keep us. That you'd preserve us from sitting at the table of demons.

Lord God, that you'd save us from every influence of the evil one. Every power. Lord God, every unction of the evil one.

Every desire. Every enticement. Every temptation of the devil.

Lord God, we come to a faithful God. And you said that you are our faithful God. You're faithful not to allow us to be tempted beyond what we're able.

You're faithful, O God, to give us a way out every single time that we are tempted. You give us an exit. Lord God, a means to run.

Lord God, we thank you for your grace and your mercy and your love. And O God, we ask tonight, O God, that you'd set these two tables. The table of the Lord and the table of demons before us.

In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. I want to preach part 7 of this series, Koinonia.

Koinonia and the Lord's Table. As always, I preach messages on things that others don't on those things and subjects. Why is that? That I have a tendency to preach in around a subject messages that others don't.

It's only one reason. I preach the Word of God. Why don't others preach the Word of God? I don't know.

There is a famine. There's a crisis in the church. Men, preachers, pastors, do not preach the Word of God.

That's where everything goes wrong. If they preach their opinions, their ideas, their desires, their own thoughts, they'll lead the church astray. But do you know what? If we preach the Word of God, do you want to know what Koinonia is? Preach the Word.

Study the Word. Go back to the scriptures. We've already seen time after time.

Like with 1 John chapter 1, Koinonia is mentioned time after time. Certain chapters, you get this thought and this word Koinonia. Koinonia being explained, being defined, and talked about.

And again, we have it here in 1 Corinthians 10. This is one of the great chapters that explains Koinonia. Do you want to understand Koinonia with God and Koinonia with the church? Fellowship, real, intimate, unique, satisfying, deep fellowship, then you need to study these chapters.

It's very, very important. Now, we dealt just slightly with Koinonia and the Lord's Table at the end of part 3. It was my fourth point or last point in that particular series. I just mentioned it in person.

But I want to preach an entire message here on Koinonia and the Lord's Table. Or what it is that we do each Lord's Day as the Lord's people on a Sunday morning. We break bread together.

We have the Lord's Table together. That's what we generally do in the midst of our service. It says in Matthew 26, 26, and this is the Lord Jesus giving the Lord's Table to his disciples or leaders.

This is what he says. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread. Notice it was as they were eating.

They had already been eating. They were taking the Last Supper. They were taking the annual Passover meal.

The lamb, the bread, the herbs. They done it once a year, the Passover. Christ's parents, Mary and Joseph, went up to Jerusalem every Passover.

Passover was an important feast. So, here is Christ gathering his disciples. And it says that as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, take it.

This is my body. Then notice in Luke 22, verse 20, what it says. It says that he done this after supper.

Now, you might think, why am I emphasizing this? I have to emphasize it. Because all through the church in the contemporary, charismatic, evangelical house group churches, do you know what they emphasize? They mock that we take a cup or a container of juice. They mock that.

They laugh at it and say, no, it was a meal. It was a supper. It was a Passover.

And they say the real Lord's table, the real breaking of bread is an entire meal. I want to point out to you before we go into this message. That is error.

It is erroneous. It is false and it's unbiblical. Anyone who tells you we ought to be going back to a joint meal and that that is the breaking of bread or that is the last supper, it's a load of rubbish.

And since you need to learn to test all things by the Word of God, just stick with the Word of God. So it says, after supper, Christ took the bread and the cup. Or listen, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 25.

It says, supper being ended. Do you see that? Supper, the last supper, the Passover meal, it being ended, the Lord took of the bread, of the cup, and he took these as emblems, symbols. It wasn't a meal.

It was a symbolic tokens of his blood and of his body. He took it after supper, after the meal, after they'd eaten, after the last supper. That's when they took it.

I'm only saying that in passing because we've got to learn to study the Word of God. Do you know in every verse, there's little words, little statements, little phrases that are there for a reason. So now in the church, I watched it for 30 years, how a new movement sweeps across the church and they begin mocking, preaching, and sermons, and breaking of bread, and all manners of things, and leadership, and they laugh at it and say, no, no, no, no.

Let's go back to a biblical pattern. Yes, let's go back to a biblical pattern. After supper, let's take a bit of bread.

Let's take a cup. That's the real, genuine breaking of bread. I've got four points I want to deal with here.

In this chapter, 1 Corinthians 10, we actually have two tables set before us. The table of the Lord and the table of demons. And this is a message to Christians, to the church, to genuine believers.

And examples are taken from Old Testament Israel for the New Testament church. In other words, they sometimes sat at the table of Christ and sometimes sat at the table of demons. The same people, but always Israel.

Now and again, some of them periodically went and sat at the table of demons. So this entire message is showing you that you can sit at the table of the Lord, and you can sit at the table of demons. And you know what? There's koinonia at the table of the Lord, and there's koinonia at the table of demons.

This isn't just superficial, memorial, remembering the death of Jesus, mere symbols, a mere service. No, it's more than that. You partake of something spiritual.

You join yourself to spiritual powers. You experience an influence that is not natural, either at the table of demons or at the table of the Lord Jesus Christ. My first point, koinonia with Christ at his table.

Look at verse 16. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of one bread. Notice first of all the word communion, the communion of the blood and the communion of the body.

That word communion is koinonia, the koinonia of the blood, the koinonia of the body. So there's an actual fellowship or union or experience of the blood and of the body here in this verse. Now I want you to notice these verses.

He says the cup of blessing, the koinonia isn't with the cup. The cup that we take at the Lord's table, it's a little cup with juice in it. And I know different churches might use different things.

Some will use wine, some will use Ribena, some will use grape juice. They'll use all sorts of things. But do you know what? That cup, there's no koinonia in it.

It's not the cup. See the cup is a physical cup containing some juice. The cup is the symbol, the emblem, the token, the outward.

But it points to communion with the blood. The actual cup is not communion or fellowship. It is pointing, it represents something that is happening right there, right now.

But what happens throughout your Christian life? There is a communion with the blood of Jesus Christ. Every time you take that cup, what you're testifying is there is a koinonia in the blood. There's literally fellowship in the blood of Jesus Christ.

There is a bond of intimate interaction and communion. There is fellowship in the blood. There is a sharing in the blood.

And so he says here, the cup of blessing. It is a physical cup. It is a real cup, but it points to the blood, the koinonia of the blood.

It represents koinonia in the blood. Saints, where are you going to find real koinonia? In the blood of Jesus. That's what draws you in.

Only the blood of Jesus can forgive you. What did Jesus teach about the blood? This is the blood of my covenant made with you. It's through the sharing of the blood of Jesus that you're actually brought into fellowship, into koinonia.

Every time you partake, you sit at the Lord. See, this is the Lord's table. And we did it Sunday.

We sat at the Lord's table. It's just a natural table, but it's on that table. We take of a cup and that cup represents koinonia in the blood of Jesus.

See, that cup speaks of intimate connection with Jesus Christ himself. It speaks about his influence upon your life. In other words, when you sit at this table, it is his influence.

You're hearing about him. You're looking to him. There's an influence at this table.

You can't come in this church without being influenced. You can't sit at this table without being influenced. You walk in here, you can feel a thousand things out there.

You come in here, you begin to get convicted. You begin to get stirred. You begin to feel the drawing of the Holy Spirit.

You begin to repent. You begin to deal with issues. You begin to feel the presence of God.

Here you are. There is an effect of the blessing of this cup. It's not restricted merely to hearing, but it is a vital part of our experience of the blood.

Learning to have faith in the blood. When we sit and take of the cup, I'm reasserting saying, my faith is in the blood. I believe the blood was shed for me.

I believe I'm forgiven. I believe I'm made clean in the blood of the Lamb. Saints, can I tell you at the communion table, actually when we break bread, something is going on.

There is a special communion with the blood at that time. There is a special communion, partaking, sharing, enjoying, experiencing of the blood of the Lamb. It's not just a symbol.

The cup is a symbol. The bread is a symbol, but they're pointing to something very real, and it's experiential. It's the koinonia of the blood and the body.

It is an experience, and you know what? In the body and the blood, there is power. There is influence. There is cleansing.

There's redemption. There's a set and free. There's a liberty.

It brings you into the presence of God. We're not just remembering something from the past. We're not just looking forward to something.

We are now, at that time, experiencing by faith. These are symbols. They're only symbols.

They're not special, but I tell you, koinonia in the blood is very, very special. He actually says here, the cup of blessing which we bless. The cup, he actually calls the cup of blessing.

The word blessing there and the word bless means the very same thing. It actually means to speak well, well speaking, to speak well, speak a blessing, to praise, to pour forth and open your heart. So this cup that we hold to give representing the blood, it represents your entire redemption, your forgiveness, your entire salvation, your relationship with Jesus Christ.

That cup represents the key to it all. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin. There's no forgiveness apart from the blood.

You don't get forgiveness in the mass or through a priest or through religion or through morality or through trying better. Even as a Christian, you don't go down and say, I'm trying my best. No, you go back to the blood.

My salvation depends on the blood, only the blood. Because of that, I then live right. But I'm never saved by doing right.

It's always by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is the blood of the new covenant, a new relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ. It's a new testament which is shed for many for the remission of their sins.

It's the communion of the blood of Christ. It's a koinonia in the blood. Saints of God, we need to learn to experience these things.

There's real experiences at the Lord's table. When you sit at this table, it's not just some symbolic thing that has no influence. And listen, I'm coming to the devil's table.

And you better realize you can't sit at the devil's table without there being an influence and an impact and an effect upon you. It's not just harmless to sit at the devil's table. There's something behind that.

There's demon powers. And I want to tell you behind this table, there is spiritual power, the power of Christ, the power of the blood, the power of the body of Christ. This isn't just a mere symbolic table.

There's a power behind it. Look at everything we have. So simple, isn't it? Our worship, our gathering, our church.

We are so simple. There's no crosses on the wall. There's no statues here.

We don't need a big building. We gather here. You could feel down, discouraged.

You could feel empty when you come in here. And yet the power of God is here. God is here working in the midst of his table.

You know why? We're sitting at the table of the Lord. We sit before the Lord. And you know what? We take these emblems.

They're only symbolic, but they represent something very, very real. And you know what? This cup of blessing, when you take this cup of blessing, it is filled with blessing. It speaks better things than the blood of Abel.

It is a speaking cup. It has a message for you. You're forgiven.

You're redeemed. You get to start all over again. There's always hope for you.

When you come to the table of the Lord, you know that there's many blessings. And it says when we take, and you guys who do the Lord's table, you remember this. When you take the cup, it says to bless the cup of blessing.

You're meant to bless it. That cup, when we stand here and break bread on a Sunday morning, and we do it every week because it's very biblical to do it often, frequently, not once a month, not once every three months, frequently, regularly, and not at home with your wife or your husband or Billy Jones down the road. Well, we can have communion anywhere.

No, it says when you come together. Of course, you can do that. That's fine if you want to do that.

But biblically, it's when the entire church comes together. We do this in remembrance of Jesus Christ. It's not to be just you and your wife or some other person.

It's not to be you in isolation. It's the body taking the cup and we're blessing it. And so it says concerning Christ in Matthew 26, it says Christ took the cup and he blessed it.

Or in Mark chapter 14, he took the cup and he gave thanks for it. To bless it means to invoke a blessing. To give thanks means to be grateful and express gratitude.

So when on a Lord's day, a Sunday morning, we're coming to have koinonia with the blood. There's an experience here. We are blessing this cup.

We're speaking well of all the provision of God. That blood, that cup speaks of all the provision of Christ for you. You can enter in saints.

When one of the brothers stands here and begins to exhort you, let faith arise. Let the spirit of God move on you. Be drawn out.

Let your heart begin to thank him and praise him and worship him for his salvation. It also speaks about the communion of the body of Christ. Look what it says in the latter part of verse 16.

The bread which we break. Is it not the communion of the body of Christ? Again, the bread. It's not anything special about the bread.

It's a bit of physical bread, wafer, cracker. Originally, it would have been part of the Passover meal. It was unleavened Passover loaf.

Some people like to argue and debate and says it's not biblical unless you have unleavened bread. Come on. It never says it has to be unleavened bread.

You need to be careful how you interpret scripture. It simply says Christ took a bit of the bread and he broke it and he gave it the bread which we break. Is it not the communion of the body of Christ? The bread is not special.

The bread is not koinonia. But what the bread represents, there's koinonia. So, he's shown again the bread is a symbol, an emblem, or a token.

But it points to the body of Christ broken for us. There's koinonia in the body of Christ. Not only the blood.

Don't just stop at one. Also in the broken body of Christ. Do you remember what the old prophet said? The prophecy about Messiah when he would come says, not one of his bones would be broken.

Not one. Remember when the Roman soldiers came to the cross? They came and said, are they dead yet? They broke the legs of the two thieves. Broke their legs.

You know why Christ was already dead? And they pierced his side with a spear and blood and water poured out. See, he was already dead. If he'd been alive, they would have broken his legs.

But the prophet several hundred years before said, not a bone of his body. It fulfilled the type of the lamb in Exodus. It was without blemish.

No broken bone. The lamb must not have a broken bone. He was the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

And yet it says here, break the bread. It represents the body of Christ. The broken body of Christ.

His bones weren't broken. His body was broken. He was pierced.

He was beaten. He had his beard plucked. His hair plucked.

It says in Isaiah that you couldn't even recognize him. His feel, his back was like a plowed field. He was pierced.

He was in agony. This was a man of sorrows. Saints of God, when you realize what Christ went through on the cross for you.

And yet the Bible here says there is a koinonia of the body of Christ when we break bread. When we actually break bread and give that bread, not only the cup, but the bread broken for you. Here at the Lord's table, there is a koinonia for you.

You need to remember. You need to be mindful. You need to stir up your faith that the broken body of Christ was for you.

His body was broken on the tree. Pierced. Remember what it says.

He was wounded for you. He was wounded for you. The wounds weren't for him.

Not just for God. They were for you. There's only salvation by his stripes.

I am healed. Peter applied that to spiritual healing. In other words, no forgiveness.

If he hadn't been striped on his body, if he hadn't have been whipped on his body, if he hadn't have bled on the tree, there'd be no forgiveness. You are healed spiritually, emotionally, and physically through his broken body. There's provision there.

Saints, these aren't just dead, spiritual, symbolic, mystical things. There's a koinonia. Saints, I think so many people in the church, we preach, we present, we teach the full koinonia of the work of the cross.

You sit there, guilty, not even entering into the koinonia. They're struggling. He was wounded for you.

You're not meant to carry the burdens and the guilt and the condemnation. There's healing physically for you and spiritually for you and emotionally for you. Reach out and touch him.

See, koinonia at the Lord's table. This table isn't a dead table. It's a table of full provision.

He says, come and dine. The master calls you. Who has called you to this table? Jesus Christ.

You're born again, washed in the blood. Come and dine. It's only symbols, but it's symbols of something amazing, of the table of the Lord, the full provision of the Lord.

It points to Christ's body broken for us. Now notice, it is not transubstantiation. The Catholic priests down the road, all over this city, they say, oh, the bread turns into the body, the actual physical body of Christ.

No, it doesn't. That's air. That's heresy.

They say the blood, they act, that's why they call their table an altar. They don't call the table. They call it an altar because they say Jesus Christ is crucified afresh every time we break the bread and we do communion every time.

That's blasphemy. Do you know what Hebrew six says? That's Christ being crucified afresh. It's apostasy.

If you teach that Christ is crucified afresh and new for sin, it's apostasy. It's an abomination. It's a departure from truth.

It's a rejection of the entire gospel message of the New Testament. So it's not transubstantiation. There's no such thing taught in the Bible.

Remember when Christ said, this is my body, gives the bread. Hold on, his body's there. How can the bit of bread be his body? He was saying that represents, it's a symbol.

It points to his body, to his full provision. Christ's body is his own body, but also there's another truth here that you're going to see. And please notice, it's not a sacrifice, not transubstantiation.

It's not a sacrifice. When we come to this table, Christ is not being sacrificed afresh. What does Hebrews say? He was sacrificed once for sin, never to happen again.

Hebrews is very clear. One sacrifice for sin. It can never happen again.

So what we're doing when we come to the table, we're experiencing the full provision constantly, every time, all the provision of that one sacrifice. It's not a sacrifice. The sacrifice was made.

The body of Christ was sacrificed once, never to be repeated again. It never will. He cannot be re-sacrificed.

But notice it's not only the body of Christ that's represented here. Look at verse 17. For we being many are one bread.

The bread represents the body of Christ, his personal body. It represents his body on the tree, on the cross. It also represents we, the church, the local body.

It's actually saying here, we being many are one bread, one body. When we take that little bit of bread on a Sunday morning or whenever we do it, we're actually saying we're one body. We are one koinonia.

Not only do we have koinonia with the body of Christ, the provision of Christ, all that he accomplished for us. But Christ being the head of this body, we have koinonia with the entire body. Through the cross, through his broken body, we are made one bread.

Saints, I have unity with you. I'm made one with you. I actually am brought into a spiritual family with you through this koinonia by the broken body of Jesus Christ.

And it says, for we are all partakers of one bread. We are one bread and we partake of one bread. The word partakers means to share, to participate, or to belong to each other.

Notice in this verse, he says in verse 16, we bless. He says then, we break. Notice he doesn't say the priest, or the minister, or the pastor, or the leader.

He says we, the body of Christ. We bless the bread. We break the bread.

And then in verse 17, for we being many, it's talking about the entire body. Communion. You know what? I do not need an ordained minister to stand here to break bread.

Official. We do not believe in sacramentalism. We don't believe in Episcopalianism, that hands had to be laid on head after head, all the way from Pope Peter, or Bishop Peter, or call them what you want, all the way down.

And there has to be an unbroken laying on of hands all the way through, or there's no ordination. What a load of rubbish. The Bible doesn't speak about such things.

You know, we reject all of those things, absolutely. We bless. We break.

We are that one body. Since when we sit at the table of the Lord, there is a koinonia. Things happen at the Lord's table.

I'm teaching you what the Bible says. When you take that cup, and when you break that bread, there's a koinonia, a koinonia of the blood right there, right then. There's a koinonia of the body of Christ.

And it's true. It's all through. But this is teaching you to drink.

This is teaching you on how to eat spiritually. It's a real thing. Let me give you just a couple of little snippets of things that happened to me at the Lord's table, real things that happened.

There was one in Scotland many years ago in my early 20s. I sat in a powerful gathering of God's people about to break bread. But my heart had been so impacted during a conference that I wanted to give more.

I mean, I was busting. I loved him. I mean, I'm madly in love with Jesus Christ.

I want to give him everything. I have given him everything, but I want to give him more. I sat in that meeting and the Lord's table's getting closer and closer and closer.

And I said this to my prayer. I said, Lord, I do not want to partake of this table until I give you more. I come to this table, but I didn't know how to do it.

I was searching my heart saying, Lord, I want to give more. I want to give myself. I want to give everything, but I didn't know how to.

I was sitting there in the service going, I don't want to partake of this table until I give something more. But I didn't know what to give. Suddenly I hear a voice as clear as day.

And it says, you come to this table to commit yourself afresh to me. But I say unto you, I come to this table to commit myself afresh to you. Since I broke at the Lord's table, here I am trying to give more.

And he comes and pours out upon me. I know in one sense he can't give more, but he gives more as far as pouring his love and his mercy and his grace out. I was drenched with the love of God sitting in my seat.

I wept and I wept at the Lord's table that day. I come taking the emblems of bread and the cup, weeping, rejoicing, thanking that he's given more of himself, unbuttoning his heart and revealing more of himself. Since it's real what happens at the Lord's table.

That was an encounter with my God in heaven at the Lord's table. Another time I was in a meeting about to come and I know I've said these things before, but to remind you another time coming to the Lord's table and I was out of search with another brother in the meeting. We had had a clash and here we are sitting in the meeting.

I'm sitting thinking going, I can't take the Lord's table. I can't do this. But I don't know what to do.

I go, here we are stuck in the meeting. I'm going to be preaching that morning. What do we do here? And I'm going, I can't take that Lord's table.

I'm not taken of it. I'm out of search. I need to talk to him.

I didn't think it was me. I thought it was him, but I can't take of this without being right. You know, all of a sudden all this has rolled just a few minutes before we break bread.

I've seen him stand up and go for the door. I go, I'm not staying here. I'm not sitting here.

I got up, I pursued him, chased him all the way down the corridor. I said, we need to speak. We sat in the room, never told anyone else.

We're there 45 minutes or an hour. Who cares about the meeting? Let them get on with it. I had a put right with my brother.

We spoke, we wept, we prayed together. We came into fellowship. You know what? That's Koinonia.

That's real Koinonia. Not just going through ritual or gatherings or meetings. Saints, I believe God was there working in our hearts in a very, very real way.

If only we had realized with these things, there's real experience. There was one other time I was sitting, another brother stood, not this church many years ago. I sat, another brother stood to share at the Lord's table and all of a sudden my heart, I find these thoughts suddenly out of nowhere rise up going.

I can speak better than him. I looked down on him. I disdained him.

I mean these thoughts came out of nowhere. The one and only time that's ever happened and immediately I was disgusted with myself. I was convicted of the Holy Spirit.

I sat there going, here I am sitting at this place where we're one body, remembering the blood and the death of Christ and I'm looking down saying, I can speak better. I can do it better than you. I could give a greater exhortation.

I was utterly disgusted with myself and I went, Lord, I don't want to take this table. Forgive me. Cleanse me.

I don't want this in my heart. I've got to get this out of my heart. This mustn't be in my heart because it's a contradiction of the Lord's table.

How dare I allow that to be in my heart? Second of all, koinonia with devils at their table. I've just told you about koinonia at the Lord's table with the Lord Jesus. But look at verse 18 here.

Look what it says. Behold, sorry, verse 20. But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God.

And I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. Fellowship with devils. The word fellowship there is koinonia.

Koinonia with demons. Who's he speaking to? Christians, the church, church gatherings. He's actually saying, I would not have you to have fellowship with devils, demons.

What are devils? They're demons. They're fallen angels. Lucifer is a demon.

He's a devil. He's the devil. But all demons are also devils.

They're demonic powers. They're invisible powers. What are demons? They're evil powers.

They're dark powers. They're principalities. They're spiritual powers.

See, we know physical power. A tank could drive through this building tonight. Be no bother to us.

See, we know physical power, but there's spiritual power that's invisible, not natural, that you can't see with your eyes. There are powers. There are dark principalities.

There are influences. There are words. There are thoughts.

There are imaginations. There are fiery darts. See, demons are very, very real.

And you know what this tells me? Is there is a table of demons. The following scriptures talk about this, the table of the devil. Not only fellowship with the devil, but the table of the devil.

So, in other words, how do you have fellowship? You've got to sit at his table. We're going to look at what his table looks like. And so, there's a table of the devil.

You can sit at the table of the Lord, and there's koinonia with the blood. There's koinonia with the body of Christ. When you sit at the table of the devil, you have koinonia with demons through certain means.

Not bread and a cup anymore. But there's other things there with spiritual power behind them. Look at what he actually says here in talking about this.

He says, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice to, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would that ye not have fellowship with devils. When you look at the two previous verses, 18 and 19, you begin to see he's talking about idolatry, the sin of idolatry.

Behold Israel after the flesh. They which eat the sacrifices partake of the altar. Verse 19.

What say I then, that the idol is anything, or that which is offered and sacrificed to idols is anything? He's speaking about idols, images, statues. How do you fellowship with devils? Idols, images, false religion. You can actually enter into koinonia with demons.

Just like with Christ, you can have experiences with him. You can hear things from him. You can be led by him.

He can share with you, and you can share with him. There is a table of demons. There is a koinonia.

Koinonia with demons isn't just some passive things of ideas. It's an influence. It's a fellowship.

It's partaking. It's interacting with demons. Men do it.

And one of the ways is idolatry. What is idolatry? It is worshiping statues. It's the use of images, icons, idols, statues in worship.

It's using statues to help you worship. You may say, I don't worship the statue. I worship God.

It's just an image of the God I worship. But that is idolatry. Idolatry is using an image of the thing that you worship.

Idolatry in the New Testament is image worship or the use of image in sacred worship. It is the veneration of sacred images. It is a hard attitude of a worshiper.

It is an attitude of heart towards a image, a physical statue. You know what Paul says? You're not just worshiping a statue or a God because it's not God. When you use statues in worship, you're interacting with demons.

You cannot use a statue of Buddha or Mary or Jesus or angels without interacting with demons. There's koinonia with demons. People all over this city don't realize this.

The Jesuits some years ago, I seen a newspaper report. I think they paid something like 50,000 for a new statue of an angel to go on top of the church to decorate it to enhance its veneration. You know what they're doing? Enhancing their idolatry.

They're koinonia with demons. You can't put an angel in that church and say we're worshiping God. We're a spiritual people.

You'll have spiritual experiences. See the founder of the Jesuits, Loyola. Do you know he had real spiritual experiences? I've looked through his book on spiritual experiences.

You know all the charismatics now. They sort of followed the spiritual teachings of Loyola. Isn't that strange? It's all these evangelical groups, Bible-believing groups that read Loyola's secrets to spiritual discipleship.

You go back and read his original works. He says when he started having spiritual experiences, he took his sword. He was a soldier, Spanish soldier, a great soldier.

He went to a monastery that used to be a monastery dedicated to a mother goddess, a pagan goddess. He laid out his sword on the altar. He started to have manifestations and apparitions of a woman.

Oh, but that wasn't the first. He started having apparitions of a snake and of demon powers. He at first thought this was God, and then he said, oh no, this is good powers.

This is spiritual power. This is Mary. This is the saints.

This is the angels. So the founder of the Jesuits interacted, and I'll tell you what, the Catholic church excommunicated him. And in many Catholic countries in Europe, they banned the Jesuits and said they were pure occultists.

They were operating in witchcraft and demonology. They got that right. They got that right.

You see, you can begin experiencing idolatry, and you enter into koinonia with demons. There's people in this city having experiences, and you'll never convince them of the gospel. You know why? He said, I had an apparition of Mary.

I got healed. I had this. I heard a voice.

I seen things, or someone I know did. I prayed a prayer, and Mary answered me. I asked Saint so-and-so, and something happened.

Or I touched that old satanic glove that brings healing. You've got all of this, since what you have is interaction with demonic powers. Remember the second commandment in Exodus chapter 20, verse 3. Listen to what it says.

Thou shalt have no other God before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.

For I, the Lord God, am a jealous God. The second commandment of the ten commandments says you're not to make an image of what you're worshiping. You're not to bow down before it, and you're not to serve it.

That saturated the whole Catholic church. Saturated it for thousands of years. And this land, for a thousand years, since what are they dealing with? Paul says, they're not gods.

When you get caught up in idolatry, it's a demon behind the statue. Behind that statue. It's not just a harmless statue.

It's not just harmless religion, or harmless icons. Behind that is a demon power. In other words, people who worship statues, and carry them around in their handbags.

I think even Eve, the first time she turned up, she had things in her handbag. Mary, first time we went to her house, the house was saturated in statues. And then she thought she was getting really spiritual, and she thought she could move them.

And she asked me, she says, would it be okay if I just moved them an inch every day, closer to the door? Well, Ian's son helped her by throwing them in a bag all over the wall. That was it. Our God is a jealous God.

Do you realize there's real demonic powers? Dead religion isn't harmless. Oh no. Do you know what the Catholic church does with the Ten Commandments? It either does one of two things.

Either deletes the words about idolatry, and not making a statue. The Catholic church has done that for centuries. Just removes the words from the second commandment.

Or it joins it to the first commandment, and then it splits the tenth commandment in two, to make ten. Go check it. I'd call that deception.

Why would you do that? Do you know what's hidden behind that is idolatry, or koinonia, with demons. A statue of Buddha. You're communing with demons.

Oh, it's harmless. It doesn't affect me. I don't have any strength.

There's an influence on you. It affects you. Third of all, let me move quickly here.

The choice of two tables. Look at verse 21. It says here, in verse 21, you cannot drink of the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils.

Oh, so there's a cup of the devils. There's koinonia. What else is there? And you cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and the table of devils.

So, look at the two things. You have God's table, God's cup, God's bread. You also have the table of demons, and you have their cup.

There's a cup you partake of. That cup represents something. The doctrine of demons, their ideology, their influences, their desires, their teachings, their doctrines.

If you sit at the table of demons, and partake of that table, you begin to get influenced, and drawn in a certain way, and begin to think in a certain way. If you sit at the table of the Lord, and partake of his cup, you begin to think in a certain way. I'm washed in the blood.

I believe in blood atonement. We're sinners outside of salvation. I need the grace of God.

I want to walk wholly. I want to walk purely. And so it says, do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Which table are you sitting at? Because it says here, you can't drink of the cup of the Lord, and then go and drink of the cup of devils.

A cup speaks of doctrines, ideas, belief systems, ways of operating, opinions, thoughts, actions, deeds. That cup is literally filled with the doctrine of Christ, or the doctrine of demons. He says you can't do both.

You can't drink of one on a Sunday morning, and then go out and drink of some other cup on a Saturday night, or a Monday night. You can't do that. You can't sit at the table of demons, and drink their cup, and then come in, and just change back and forth.

You cannot do that. You can't mix that. You know why? God is a jealous God.

Oh, God understands. No, he doesn't. There's no room for Buddha.

No room for Mary. Mary was a good woman. She was a great woman, a holy woman, a special woman, a unique woman, an unusual woman, a handmaiden of the Lord.

She was blessed of God, but she needed a savior. She herself said it. My savior.

She wasn't divine, mustn't be prayed to, since we need to realize that all across the of our day. See, you might say, oh, I'm not an idolatry. Okay, let's look at some of the other things, because this cup and this table isn't just idolatry, and worshiping statues are using statues.

There's a list of things here. Let's just for a moment look a little bit closer at this of the choice of two tables. It says in verse three of this chapter, concerning Israel, they did all eat the same spiritual meat.

Look, he's using Israel in the Old Testament as an example. They ate spiritual meat, not just physical, and they did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them. That rock was Christ.

So look at Israel in the Old Testament. They were drinking and eating of Jesus Christ. They're drinking from the rock.

Christ was the rock. He was the bread, the manna they ate. He was the water that they drank.

So Israel in the Old Testament were sitting at the table of the Lord. They were experiencing Christ. They had the full provision of Christ, and here they were drinking.

They were eating spiritually. Yes, they done it physically, but when they drank from that rock, they were spiritually drinking from Christ. They drank physically from a rock.

They ate physically of bread from heaven, but it was spiritual, really. That's what it was, spiritual, and the spiritual was Christ himself. Now that people, it says in verse six that these things were our example, are written for our example, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things.

Now look, he's going to list five examples that Israel done in sitting at the table of demons, five examples. One of them we've already dealt with, idolatry, but he says they were literally drinking and eating from Christ, and yet in five things they ate and drank from demon powers. They were five natural things, but behind those five things were demonic influence.

See, most sinners out there, the drug sellers, drug users, prostitutes, the Catholic priest, whoever it is, they don't realize behind certain activities is demonic power. They say, oh no, this is just natural things. No, it's not, because what you are, what you become shows the power having an influence in your life.

Whatever you become, I can tell you what you're worshiping. You become what you worship, not what you eat. You're not what you eat.

Maybe naturally you are. You are what you worship. Who you really worship, what table you sit at, you become that in your mind, your thoughts, your actions, your deeds.

So look briefly at these five things. Verse six, he speaks about lusting after evil things as they lusted. See, if you lust after evil things, you are sitting at a table of demons.

You're entering into fellowship or koinonia. What is lusting after evil things? Means to crave or to long after evil or worthless things. Things which are of little or no importance whatsoever.

When you go back to the Old Testament and look at Israel, you get examples of this. They lusted after meat. That was their great lust.

They were so lusting. Now, meat's a very natural thing. You'd say, there's nothing wrong with meat, a hamburger, a steak.

Are you saying we shouldn't desire a steak? No, I'm not saying that. But do you know what? To the point of getting angry with God, frustrated with God, we want meat. Something so natural, so normal in life, they lusted after evil things or natural things.

They craved, they longed, they were driven, they were motivated by natural things, daily things. I met people like that in the church, normal things they put before God. They had put a meal before God, their food before God, their house before God.

They crave, I've got to have. What about God? I don't care. I've got to have.

In fact, out of all that, how they dress, how they live, what they eat, God doesn't even come into the equation. There's no conviction of God. I've got to have meat.

I lust for it. I crave for it. I've got to have it.

Saints, that's sitting at the table of demons where you're driven by your own desires and God has no power over that. There's something wrong with that. Don't think that's natural.

That's not natural. And see for a member of Israel or a member of the church in the New Testament, anyone in the church who's driven by their natural appetites, I've got to have that. That is the one thing.

I'll get angry at God. I'll get annoyed with providence. I need to eat steaks.

It's ridiculous. But yet that's the appetites of the flesh. The second thing he says here in verse seven, neither be idolaters as were some of them.

As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. When did that happen in the Old Testament? Exodus 32. They made a golden calf.

They were idolaters. Israel, who'd just seen the miracles, the fire, the presence of God, the power of God, the manifestation of God. They had a godly leader, but he left for a short time to go to the mountain.

What did Aaron do? Made them a golden calf. Can you imagine someone who worshipped the God of the Bible bowing down to a statue? Israel did. Don't tell me it can't happen in the church.

Will you literally create a golden calf? I believe the false revival in 1994 was a golden calf that men began to worship at. I've got no doubt about that. I could preach a whole sermon on that.

But I believe idolatry can come into the church. The third thing is in verse 8. It says, neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day. Three and twenty thousand.

Where did that happen in the Old Testament? Numbers 25. When the young Moabitess women came into the camp of Israel. You remember when Balaam, the enemy hired Balaam, paid him to curse Israel.

Tried to curse them and he couldn't curse them. Blessings kept coming, prophecies, truth kept coming. He couldn't curse God's people.

You can't curse God's people when they're right. No one can curse you when you walk with God. No curse can come on a real Christian.

Never, not at all, if they're walking with God. But do you know what the enemy knew? Just get them to sin. God will curse them.

Get them to sleep with young Moabitess women. God will curse them. Badness will come upon them.

And so that's what happened in Numbers 25. And so he warns, he's warning the church. Do you know what fornication is? Sexual fornication when it comes up in the church.

When a famed preacher commits adultery, gets caught out and he gets exposed. He's been committing adultery for five years but preaching to hide off everyone. Do you know what he was doing? Sitting at the table of demons.

He was experiencing koinonia from demons, sexual gratification, sexual lust. He was experiencing a power that got a grip of him that destroyed his soul. Saints, I'm talking about real things here that are broken in on the church at times.

We must not sit at the table of demons. There are powers. Stay away from idolatry and false revivals.

Don't lust after natural things. Don't commit fornication. The fourth thing, tempting Christ.

Verse 9, neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed as serpents. You tempt Christ, you get destroyed by serpents. Who's Paul preaching to? Who's he preaching to? The church.

He's using Israel as an example and said, they are an example for you. They, all of this is written about them so you can learn from it. Every single story.

Don't say, they're Israel under the old covenant. We're under the new covenant. We can't experience that.

That's written for you as a warning. Serious warning. Do not tempt Christ.

Where do you get them tempting Christ? Exodus 17. It says that they chided, that their souls were in bitterness, that they began to speak to Moses and say, is God amongst us? Where's the water? Why is there no water? Why are we thirsty? They began to tempt God, asking him to act outside of his character. Begin to question who he was just because he didn't provide them water for a few days.

Saints, you need to be careful of tempting Jesus Christ. See if you tempt him, you're sitting at the table of demons. You begin to tempt him and say, where's God? Why aren't you? You should be very careful where you get to.

You can find yourself influenced by demons who want you to tempt Christ, asking him to do what he shouldn't do and can't do and won't do. Asking him to do, to act against his character. Now look at verse 10 for a fifth and last one.

Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Do you realize at the table of demons partaking of their cup, murmuring gets tolerated in the church. Murmuring is actually a real sin.

What's murmuring? Grumbling, complaining, criticizing, just rambling on all the time. All of us have murmured. All of us know what it is to murmur or to get to a point where we murmur.

But this is talking about a state of heart, a condition of murmuring, day in, day out murmuring. I'm going to tell you, if you're a murmurer by character nature, you are actually sitting at a table of demons. You're having koinonia with demons.

Murmuring isn't just innocent. It isn't just harmless. Murmuring is very destructive.

Have you ever seen someone who's a murmurer? Soon you don't want to be around them. You know why? That murmuring is very destructive. It's very soul destroying.

Always murmuring, always complaining, always moaning. Stop it. It's sin.

Repent. Get back to the table of the Lord. See, if you sit at this table, there's another power here.

You're going to have power to stop that. You're going to be repenting over your sin. You're going to be searching your heart.

You're going to be examining yourself. Don't let me murmur. Don't let me have lustful thoughts.

Don't let me tempt God. Since it's very real. Look at verse 11.

Now all these things happen unto them for in samples and they are written for our admonition or correction or edification upon whom the ends of the world are come. So everything that happened Israel happened is written for the church upon whom the ends of the world come. Who's at the end of the world? We are.

We're the church right at the end of the world, the end of the age. And he says, you know what? All those things, all through the ages, all through the Old Testament, all through the New Testament were written for you. Written down in scripture to be an admonition, a warning, a correction to you to keep you from these sins.

In verse 12, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Some people say I'm saved. Once saved, always saved.

I'm fine. And they go and sit at the table of demons. I can murmur.

I can lust. I can get critical. I can be an idolater.

I can get caught up in false revivals. I'll be fine. I can run after Todd Bentley or after the latest gimmick or the latest teaching or the latest teacher.

I can do all that, but I'm fine. I'm saved. I know what I'm doing.

You need to be very careful what table you're eating at and drinking at and feasting at and sitting at. Since even in the church, you've got to be careful that you're not coining me in with demons. You've got to be separate from things.

Fourth and lastly, let me finish. There's help to always eat at the right table. Aren't you glad? Let me finish very quickly.

Verse 13. And there's a beautiful way for us to end here. So we've seen the table of the Lord.

We've seen the table of demons. We've seen that we've got a choice in many things between two tables. There's two different influences, but fourth and lastly, there's help.

The Lord promises help. He gives a warning, but doesn't stop at warnings. He then says, okay, let me make promises.

Let me make provisions. Let me help you because it is a war, isn't it? And we're all vulnerable, aren't we? And he's already said, wherefore, let him that thinketh, he standeth. Oh, I'm standing.

I'll be fine. Let him that thinketh, he standeth. Take heed lest he fall.

I've seen better men than me fall. You say, Malcolmson couldn't fall. That's not right.

And you know what protects me is I knew I could. And that keeps me watching and careful and not being slack and not saying, oh sure, it's okay. It's not okay.

But listen to this. Verse 13. There is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.

Now notice that first of all, this is the Lord speaking to you concerning temptation. These two tables, there's temptations. What's the temptation? Being drawn.

Remember God doesn't tempt you. The devil tempts you. God never tempts you.

You're tempted when the devil comes on your lust, your natural thoughts, your flesh is drawn. That's temptation. God never tempts a man or woman.

The devil tempts. He is the tempter. And you're tempted by something in you.

Have you been tempted today? It's because there's something in you. It actually shows you where you're weak inside. Everyone gets tempted.

Everyone gets approached. Everyone is temptable. Nobody is beyond temptation.

And if a man ever tells you he is, you can be sure that man's already fallen into temptation because he thinks he hasn't. And so it says there has no temptation taken you, but as is common to man. You're not unique.

There's not some special temptation that you're facing that multitudes, vast multitudes in the church do not face. What is your temptation? How does the devil approach you? What is the thing that you're vulnerable to? Where is the danger point in your life? Where does temptation come to you? What does it look like? Since there is a power behind temptation. Listen to me.

Behind every temptation is a power, a demonic power, an influence. And believe me, temptation just isn't harmless. There's an influence wanting to take you to a certain table to feast on certain things.

There is a very real power. But he goes further than just saying temptation is common to all of us. But God is faithful.

God is faithful. That is an issue of His character. God is actually saying, I'm faithful to you in temptation.

Are you tempted? Are common temptations common to you? Don't be surprised. We're all tempted. We're all tempted.

I'm tempted. You're tempted. No one's beyond temptation.

Maybe the further you go with God, the more the temptation, the stranger the temptations. But you know what God says? But God is faithful. In other words, when you're tempted, you can rest yourself in saying, how do I get through this? I don't look to myself and say, am I strong enough? Am I able enough? You don't do that.

You look to God and say, He is faithful. You've got a great high priest praying for you. You've got a great high priest in the book of Hebrews.

He says, are you tempted? Come on to me. I'll suck you. I'll help you.

I move with compassion. Do you think temptations are when you're fighting between do I obey God or do I sin? Do you think God disdains you? Are you standing there going, let's see if I catch him out. Let's see if he gets through this.

No, the Bible doesn't teach that. He's saying temptations are, I am faithful to you. I want to help you.

Call on me. I'm actually moved with feelings. You know what Christ said? He said, I've been tempted in every manner and so I move with compassion towards you.

I feel what it's like to wrestle, to wrestle over sin. Are you the son of God? Come down off that cross. The agony.

Don't you know God is faithful when you're tempted? And listen how He is faithful. What does His faithfulness look like? Who will not suffer you to be attempted above that you're able? Are you being tempted? I promise you, you could be tempted far worse. I actually believe if the devil was allowed to do everything he wanted to, maybe we wouldn't stand.

Every one of you in this room I believe are protective. And then there's times he allows things to come. God allows.

See the devil can't even tempt you. The devil doesn't have free range in your life. It's restricted.

He's chained. He's held back. So when he brings temptation, he's the tempter.

He's the evil one. But Christ is always holding him at bay. You're never able to tempt that person, that believer more than I allow you.

And I'll tell you what, do you know what the gauge is? More than you're able. So if you're being tempted, it's different if you go and sit in a bar and you're prone to drunkenness and you go in there, you're foolish. You're putting yourself in temptation.

You'll fall. But if it comes pursuing you when you're at home seeking after Christ, that's different. Christ will help you.

So he will not suffer or allow you to be tempted above that you're able. But will with the temptation also make a way to escape? Every time temptation comes, there is an escape. God ordains escape.

You may not see it. You may say, oh, but there's no way of escape. That's not true.

Look for the escape. Run to the escape. Look for the exit sign.

He doesn't allow it to be more than you can handle. And he always makes a way of escape. You can run for your life.

Many years ago, I was on a train back to my camp in Germany. And I got speaking to this young Italian girl, two of them, two friends traveling for the first time to Germany. 17 years old.

I was about 20. And I helped them out. They didn't have the fare or the cash, whatever it was, when they got into the train station to get to their accommodation.

So I helped them out. Who wouldn't? I was telling them, I'll help you. And so they said, well, look, here's our address.

Come down. At least let us make a meal for you and we'll give you the money back. And I was thinking, great, I can evangelize.

I could go down to that accommodation. They all eat together. They all cook together.

I'll go in. I'll be able to share the gospel to these foreigners in the midst of this city. They're all away from home.

What an opportunity for Christ. I didn't put myself in the way of sin. And I arrived at the place that I'm looking for such and such.

I said, come with me. I'll show you. They steered me into a room.

All of a sudden, she comes out of the shower with a towel around her. And I said, oh, God, get me out of here. I absolutely panicked.

I didn't put myself in the way of temptation. But do you know what? As soon as I, I'm thinking old time, as soon as I get this meal over, you know, she started popping up to the camp, said Keith Malcolmson here. I'm a friend.

Forgive me. In my entire life, the times I've lied deliberately, very, very few. But I told that sergeant, tell her I'm in Guatemala in South America.

In fact, I didn't tell a lie. I just didn't tell the full truth. I say, tell her that my entire squadron is going there, which is true, but they're leaving me behind.

So I was staying behind. They're all going by. I said, you tell her that we're going there for six months.

Don't come looking for me since that's a simple thing. I panic. Temptations are real.

You know what? I'm not so stupid to put myself in the way of temptation. I ended up in her room in that situation. But I said, this won't happen again.

Never happened the second time. My entire life was a one-off, but I knew the dangers of that. You run for your life.

There's a hundred other thousand other things I can tell you of, of how the Lord protects since he's always faithful to tables. You're either going to have coin in the, at the table of the Lord or the coin in the of demons and behind that temptation, behind that seduction of the devil, there is a demonic power that is alluring designed to destroy. It's not harmless.

There is a power and influence. You can't just send and say, I am not a partaker of the devil. The devil is behind sin and he's out to condemn you, to wear you down, to save you, to weaken.

You can't stop. You're walking with God. He'll at least try to handle you.

Let's stand together. Let's pray here. Since we need his help, we need them to come and protect us, to guard us.

We're not strong of our own selves, but we've got a mighty savior father. I love you. I thank you tonight.

I thank you for my brothers and sisters nor God. I pray for them and Lord God, we pray for one another right now. Nor God, we believe your word.

We're asking of you for your grace and your love and mercy. Help us so God to face, to eat at the right table, to eat at the table of the Lord. Oh God, to eat of the bread of Jesus Christ, to drink of his cup.

My God, we're asking for victory over the tempter, the evil one. Nor God, deliver us from evil. Don't allow us to be tempted beyond what we can manage.

My God, in every single temptation, give us a way out, give us an exit, give us an escape route. Make us to run like Joseph of old. Nor God, I pray for every individual in here, whether it's drugs or alcohol, whether it's murmuring and complaining, whether it's idolatry, whether it's some sexual sin.

Father, I pray. Nor God, none of us are strong. You have warned us so God, to not think of us more, ourselves more highly than we ought to.

We're but weak vessels that lean on you and feed on Christ and rest in him. Nor God, wash us in the blood. Lord God, let us have koinonia.

Nor God, that strengthens us against the evil one. Nor God, I pray for the sweet koinonia at the table of the Lord. Even this coming Sunday, will you meet with us around this table, that we would have an experience of the blood of the lamb, that we'd have an experience of the body of Christ.

Let the koinonia of these two things be made manifest in this church, that we might be fed for the journey ahead. In Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah.