We will observe the Lord's Supper this Sunday night, August 23, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. The Lord's Supper is a memorial instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ as a reminder of His sacrificial and substitutionary death for us on the cross. The bread and wine beautifully symbolize the body and blood of our Lord given for us. Let me encourage you to attend this service. We are also encouraging our Life Groups to attend and sit together.
Dr. W. A. Criswell, longtime pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, was once invited into the palatial home of one of his wealthier members. As they stood in the beautiful walnut-paneled library, Criswell saw an oval picture. The man of the house said, “That is my mother.” Then, as tears came to his eyes, he continued, “I never saw her. She died in childbirth when I was born. Someday, when I get to heaven, after seeing my Savior, I want first of all to see the face of my mother.” Criswell later wrote, “I could have exclaimed, ‘That is your mother? That is nothing but a piece of paper and cardboard covered in ink!’ But I did nothing of the kind. I knew what he meant. ‘That picture represents my angel mother. I never saw her, but some day in heaven I shall see her face to face and love her aboundingly for giving her life to me.’” Criswell continued his message on the Lord's Supper by saying, “It is exactly so with our own Lord Jesus. This is his body, and this is his blood, and it pictures our lovely Lord until that preciously beautiful day in heaven when we see him face-to-face and thank him for giving his life to us.” W. A. Criswell, Criswell’s Guidebook for Pastors (Nashville: Broadman, 1980), 202.
"And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you'" (Luke 22:19-20).
