Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The Gospel in a Cup

Reinhard Bonnke
The primary aim of every church service - the prayer meeting, the Bible study, the young people’s meetings, the choir practice and the communion service - should be evangelistic. Why shouldn’t every service be for outsiders? Especially at communion, when the emblems of bread and wine are taken, make sure the church is full of the godless. That cup of red wine is the greatest preacher in the world. It is the Gospel in a cup; an opportunity to invite lost sinners to accept the sacrifice of the Cross. Some churches exclude outsiders. What a lost opportunity! The precious blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Is it only the clean who should come to the fountain?

If a church has tried and failed in its attempts at evangelism, it is time for a serious evaluation of its efforts. Evangelism demands the most intensive thinking. The finance committee’s job is soul saving, not money-saving. Any surplus funds should go into the true business of the church - saving the world.

This is Reinhard writing, and I am an evangelist. Am I overemphasizing? What would you say?

THIS IS GENE WRITING:
The position Reinhard has is more and more the pentecostal potion on communion. Over time I have watched the position morph into what looks like a Traditional Lutheran or Reformed position. Real Presence, not transubstantiation, but presence and the power to cleanse of sin. Reinhard defines it well. Isn't it interesting.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

See...us "looteruns" wore you down!

Anonymous said...

Why did Paul write as he did about examining oneself, etc. in 1 Cor.11,and why does the Word seem to indicate that only Christians participated in the Lord's Supper? (Acts 20:7; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinth. 11). Didn't the early church observe the Supper in its worship gatherings only AFTER the catechumens were solemnly dismissed? They were receiving instruction for baptism and membership, and they were not impenitent sinners who happened to pop in at a worship gathering! Yet even they did not participate. I surmise that today there are some who are sure that the others of us have it all wrong. After all, today, repentance and faith and instruction should not be a "requirement". That would be too legalistic.
How many today know what the Lord's Supper is all about? The deliberate and divinely-directed way of thorough instruction in the Word (by which alone the Holy Spirit teaches the heart and mind and soul) is too time-consuming, old-fashioned, and not needed in a "get-it-now" society.