The Healing Power Of The Holy Communion
Sunday, 24 February 2019
These are notes on the sermon, The Healing Power Of The Holy Communion, preached by Pastor Joseph Prince on Sunday, 24 February 2019, at The Star Performing Arts Centre, Singapore. We hope these sermon notes will be an encouragement to you!
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God has given His children a powerful gift so that none of us would be sick, weak, or die young. In this bondage-breaking message, Pastor Prince reveals from Scripture how you can break free from the curse of sickness through the Holy Communion!
We hope these notes will help you:
Beloved, take up the invitation to partake of this divine meal. You’ll find yourself healthier and stronger in the days to come!
The church is the many-membered body of Christ. It is not a building; it is made up of believers coming together.
The Bible calls us “living stones” (1 Pet. 2:5). Stones that lie scattered on the ground are common, but once they are used to build a house, they become “living stones.”
We are also like living water, not stagnant water. We are meant to be constantly flowing and moving.
The Bible describes the Spirit as “rivers of living water” (John 7:38–39).
Don’t neglect the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is praying in tongues.
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
— 2 Timothy 1:6–7 NKJV
We flow with the Lord when we stir up the gift of God, which is the gift of tongues that we received through the laying on of hands.
Tongues is the only gift of the Spirit that we can stir up at will—any time, any where. When we pray in tongues, we are supplied with power, love, and a sound mind.
Don’t neglect this gift of the Spirit. Let it flow.
You might find it a little difficult if you haven’t done it in a while, but don’t stop. If you keep on pressing on, it will become a flow.
Then your life will start to flow smoothly too. And you’ll be used by the Lord.
Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.””
— John 7:37–38 NKJV
We are all thirsty for Jesus.
Our thirst for eternal life was quenched once we received Jesus as our Lord. But now, there’s a thirst for His presence.
We all have the same standing as the righteousness of God in Christ, but some of us are closer to the Lord in terms of relationship.
“... Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”
— Matthew 8:17 KJV
The focus is on Jesus Himself.
You can be the righteousness of God in Christ but out of touch with Jesus. And it feels like you’re drying up.
But when you’re in touch with Jesus, when you open up the Word, you feel a connection to Him. You feel a current, like electricity flowing when all the wires are in the right place. You experience a connection to Jesus when you read His Word that causes light to come on inside of you.
Pastor Prince encourages all of us to have this close relationship and connection with Jesus.
King David had many mighty men, but some did their mighty works for the kingdom, and some did them for the King.
Let’s have a heart for our King, Jesus.
God didn’t send angels to carry our diseases and our pains, He sent His own Son. He sent Jesus Himself.
In the rapture, it is the Lord Himself who will be sent from heaven. He will come for us with a shout, with a voice of an archangel (see 1 Thess. 4:16).
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Today, we are continuing the teaching on the grain, the wine, and the oil.
The grain and wine represent the Holy Communion.
Sometimes, we have to go deep into the Scriptures (even into the original Hebrew and Greek languages) so that we can understand it. Then when people come against us, our faith will not be shaken. Our faith will be robust.
There are many times that the words “judge” and “condemn” appear in the New Testament of the English Bible.
We who believe, as the Scriptures say, that we are no longer under law but under grace, need to understand the true meanings of these words in their New Testament context.
Romans 6 and 7 tell us clearly that we are no longer under law but under grace. Romans 6 tells us that because of what Christ did, sin is no longer our master. Romans 7 tells us that we are no longer married to the law.
So today, we no longer operate by the knowledge of what is good and bad. We operate by God’s Spirit who leads us on the inside.
As human beings, we were all born subject to sin and law. All men sin. All men have an innate understanding of right and wrong (therefore we have a conscience).
But the law no longer has the right to speak to us. The law can only speak to those who are alive, not those who have died and risen in Christ Jesus.
When we received Jesus as our Lord, His death became our death and His resurrection became our resurrection. Today, we are in Christ, dead and risen.
Even if you feel like you’re not living in the resurrection life, the reality is that you are!
Judgment is behind you. Death is behind you.
This is why for believers, we are not looking forward to death. We are looking forward to the rapture. When the rapture happens, we will all get new bodies and we will feel more alive than ever before.
The Bible tells us that the rapture can happen any time. We are seeing all the signs of the last days.
Spiritually now, we are dead and risen in Christ. And now we live for Him.
We are called to live a heavenly life. When people are vulgar and profane, we choose to have no part in it. When people say bad things about us, let’s just smile and walk away. We don’t have to come down to people’s level of pettiness.
The law is holy, but it has no claim over someone who is dead and risen in Christ.
Even though we are in the flesh, God doesn’t look at you in the flesh but in the Spirit.
More and more, Pastor Prince’s ministry is receiving testimonies from people who received their healing because of the Holy Communion.
Pastor Prince shares 3 of these testimonies:
Disputes about the Holy Communion
You can tell how powerful something is by the level of attacks the devil brings against it. There are many attacks against the Holy Communion, just like there were many attacks against the reformation brought about by Martin Luther.
Luther was raised by God. He had a good friend called Zwingli, and they had a dispute over the Holy Communion.
Back then, some people believed that the bread was the literal body of Jesus. Others believed that the Communion was only a symbol of Jesus—nothing more.
Luther and Zwingli had this argument: Luther said that when one partook of the Communion, the presence of Jesus was "underneath" the bread and the cup. Zwingli believed that the Communion was only a symbol of Jesus—nothing more. They fell out over this disagreement.
Pastor Prince shares that one of the biggest disputes surrounding his teaching on the Holy Communion is that people say, “Believers should only take the Communion in church and not on their own.”
But according to Acts 2:46, the early church believers “broke bread from house to house,” which means that they did it on their own.
“Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
— Matthew 26:27–28 NKJV
From this verse, we can’t tell whether the disciples drank from the cup before Jesus explained what it meant or whether He explained it before they drank from it.
The order in which they partook (whether Jesus explained it first or the disciples drank from the cup first) will tell us whether the Communion is a symbol or it’s literal.
The account in the book of Matthew does not tell us the order, but the account in the book of Mark does.
Of all the gospels, the most chronological account of Jesus’ ministry is the gospel of Mark.
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.”
— Mark 14:22–24 NKJV
This account tells us that the disciples drank from the cup first, and then Jesus said, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.”
This tells us that when you partake of the Communion, the bread and juice that you hold in your hand are common (not holy, not set apart) UNTIL you partake of it. After you partake of it, after it goes into your body, then it becomes holy and uncommon—Jesus’ body broken for your health and Jesus’ blood shed for the remission of your sins.
The Holy Communion is the substance of the shadow in the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament, the shadow of the Communion was the Passover Lamb.
On the night of the Passover in Exodus 12, God told the children of Israel to take a lamb for every household. They were to eat the lamb roasted with fire (symbolizing Jesus on the cross). They were not to eat it with water (symbolizing an appreciation of Jesus as the divine sacrifice, not a watered down version of Jesus as simply a good man).
While the Israelites ate the roasted lamb, judgment was happening outside their houses. The Angel of Death was going around killing the firstborn child of everyone who did not have the blood of the lamb on their doorposts.
Even if some Israelites didn’t have faith, even if they were crying and afraid in their homes, as long as the blood of the lamb was on their doorpost, they were saved.
Their security lay in the blood, not in their faith.
Similarly, even if the Egyptians were calm and had a “positive mindset,” they would have still died if they didn’t have the blood of the lamb on their doorpost.
It’s not about positive thinking, it’s about the blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
Jesus died for you. His blood has been shed for the remission of your sins.
Partake worthily of the Communion by being conscious of this truth.
The Communion must be important for the church for God to have told Paul about it and Paul to have included it in his writings.
Paul received more revelation from Jesus than all the disciples who walked with Jesus. He was taken up to heaven and received visions and revelations from God’s throne directly (see 2 Cor. 12:2–4).
God raised Paul to write three quarters of the New Testament. Paul explained what happened when Jesus died for us, why Jesus had to die and be resurrected, what Jesus is doing now at the Father’s right hand, etc. These are direct revelations from the Lord.
And the Holy Communion is so important that God personally revealed it to Paul too:
“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:23–32 NKJV
Without a revelation of the Communion, “many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.”
The Lord watches over this revelation. It is important to Him.
He wants you healthy. He wants you strong. He wants you to live a full life.
The Communion is more powerful than you realize.
When a Gentile woman came to Jesus for healing for her demon-possessed daughter, Jesus told her that healing is the “children’s bread.” The woman replied, “... even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” And Jesus healed her daughter (see Matt. 15:22–28).
Even the crumbs can drive a demon out. The crumbs can drive cancer out.
And you, child of God, don’t just have a crumb. You have the whole piece of bread.
God uses the weak things to confound the mighty (see 1 Cor. 1:27).
God used a housewife to kill Israel’s enemy king with a hammer and a tent peg to the head (see Judg. 4:21).
God is not asking for more than what is in your hand. The Holy Communion might be small, but it is mighty.
The Communion is so powerful that the devil is terrified of it.
Even in the early church, he attacked it. The time of Communion became twisted, and people drank the wine to get drunk.
Paul confronted this problem.
The Holy Communion is God’s provision for us so that we don’t have to suffer the sickness and death that the world is suffering.
God is saying, “I have given you a provision—the body and blood of my Son. If you would partake of it, you will escape the condemnation and sentence on the world.”
There’s a sentence on this world because of sin: sickness and death.
Christians are not to suffer that sentence because Jesus’ blood was shed for the remission of our sins.
We do get sick sometimes, but we can be sure that when we are sick, it is not God’s will for us. We don’t have to wonder, “Maybe God gave me this sickness to teach me something.”
No, sickness is a curse. There was no sickness or death until Adam sinned. So sickness is not God’s plan for us.
The same way God hates sin, He hates sickness and death.
The #1 thing Jesus did besides preaching is healing all who were sick. He NEVER gave anyone sickness.
He was always providing. Always supplying.
Don’t just hear about the Communion. Actively partake of it.
“In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:25–26 NKJV
Proclaiming the Lord’s death is powerful.
When the Philistines attacked Israel in 1 Samuel 7, prophet Samuel offered a suckling lamb as a burnt offering to God. This is a picture of proclaiming the Lord’s death. So God fought for Israel, and Israel overcame the Philistines.
Because of a little lamb, the armies of strong men were defeated.
When David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, he offered animal sacrifices every 6 paces of the way, and blessings followed him.
“Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:27 NKJV
When you partake of the Communion conscious of your sins, you are partaking of it in an unworthy manner.
“But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:28 NKJV
“Examine” — This word in Greek is “dokimazo,” which means “to prove with a view to approving/approval.” In other words, to search for something good.
So this proves that we are not to examine ourselves for sin when we partake. We are to examine ourselves for approval. This means saying, “I know the purpose of the Lord’s Supper. I know that Jesus’ body was broken for my diseases. I partake, receiving His health. I know that His blood was shed for my sins. I partake, receiving forgiveness. I am proving that I am approved of because of Jesus’ finished work.”
“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:29 NKJV
“drinks judgment to himself” — “To himself” is a reflexive noun in Greek. The person who partakes unworthily judges himself, it is not God who judges him. He is sin-conscious, he feels judged, he drinks judgment to himself.
If you are sin-conscious, you’re partaking unworthily. Because the cup is PROOF that your sins have been removed. If you don’t believe that, you’ll be receiving your own judgment.
“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:29 NKJV
“not discerning the Lord’s body” — The word “discerning” in Greek is “diakrinō,” which means “to distinguish” or “to separate.” This portion is talking about the importance of discerning the bread and the cup.
This word “diakrinō” also appears in Mark 11, when Jesus talks about faith.
“And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” So Jesus answered and said to them, “... assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt (diakrinō) in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”
— Mark 11:21–23 NKJV
“does not doubt in his heart” — The word “doubt” in this verse is “diakrinō.” What Jesus is saying is, “Don’t make a distinction between the cursing of the fig tree and the moving of a mountain. Don’t think that cursing a fig tree is a small thing and moving a mountain is a big thing. There’s no difference.”
“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning (diakrinō) the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:29–30 NKJV
It is because people don’t make a distinction between the bread and the cup that many are sick. It is not for the lack of exercise. It is not for the lack of a certain diet. It is for the lack of discerning Jesus’ body broken for your healing and Jesus’ blood shed for your forgiveness. For this singular reason that many are weak, sick, and die before their time.
Many people misunderstand the word “judge” that appears many times in this verse:
“For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:31–32 NKJV
They think it means judgment and condemnation from God. But that’s not what it means.
“For if we would (1) judge (diakrinō) ourselves, we would not be (2) judged (krinō). But when we are (3) judged (krinō), we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:31–32 NKJV
(1) The first time “judge” appears in this verse, it is the Greek word “diakrinō.”
“diakrinō” means “to distinguish” or “to separate.”
“For if we would judge (diakrinō) ourselves” — This actually means “if we would MAKE A DISTINCTION between us and the world...”
(2) & (3) The second and third time the word “judge” appears, it is the Greek word “krinō.”
“Krinō” has many different meanings: Separate / approve / to have an opinion / to determine / to judge, to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong / to pronounce judgment, to subject to censure (scolding or correcting)
The most applicable definition of “krinō” in this verse is the last one.
“if we would judge (diakrinō) ourselves, we would not be judged (krinō).” — This means that if we make a distinction between ourselves and the world by partaking the Lord’s Supper, we will not be subject to correction.
This instance of “judge (krinō)” is not referring to condemnation by God. We can be sure of this because:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn (krinō) the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
— John 3:16–18 NKJV
John 3 tells us that the world is “condemned already,” and Jesus came to save us from it.
So “judge (krinō)” in 1 Corinthians 11:31 cannot be referring to condemnation by God.
It is referring to correction by God.
What the verse is actually saying is this:
If we distinguish ourselves from the world by partaking of the Lord’s Supper—judging ourselves healed because of Jesus’ body and forgiven because of Jesus’ blood—we will not be subject to God’s correction.
God wants you to partake of the Communion.
“But when we are judged (krinō—subject to correction), we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:32 NKJV
“chastened by the Lord” — The word “chastened” in Greek is “paideuō,” and it means “child trained.” You only child train those you love, your children, those you care for.
No correction is enjoyable, but afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness (see Heb. 12:11).
“... we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:32 NKJV
“condemned with the world” — The word “condemned” is the Greek word “katakrinō” which means “to pass sentence upon.”
When God corrects us so that we take the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner, He is separating us from the world so that “we may not be condemned with the world.”
What does it mean to be condemned with the world? To have weakness, sickness, and death.
Why? Because He loves us.
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How to practically partake of the Communion when you’re sick or weak
One of the things that the Israelites did when they partook of the Passover lamb (a picture of the Lord’s Supper) was that they ate the head. So when you partake of the Lord’s Supper, imagine Jesus’ head bearing your Alzheimer's, your dementia, your forgetfulness. Partake of the bread as if you are partaking of Jesus’ healthy and sharp mind.
The Israelites also partook of the lamb’s legs. After that, there was “none feeble” among them (Ps. 105:37). Are you having difficulty walking? When you partake of the Communion, see yourself partaking of Jesus’ healthy and strong legs.
Sometimes, the healing does not happen instantly. It happens incrementally. But it will surely happen.
“Father in Heaven, I thank You for everyone under the sound of my voice. I ask in the name of Jesus that as they step into this coming week, they’re stepping into a week that has already been blessed and prepared by You, Father. You cause Your angels to be stationed all around them and their families to deliver them from harm and evil. I pray, Father, that You put them far from evil. They will always be at the right place, at the right time. Cause them to enjoy Your goodness and Your free favors everywhere. Wherever they go, let Your presence be so evident and cause Your heavenly life to flow out of them. When people meet them, they’ll be able to sense that there’s a heavenly touch on their lives. And I pray, Father, that You put an evangelistic spirit in the hearts of Your people here so that they’ll go out and share the good news of Jesus Christ and His love. In Jesus’ name and all the people say? Amen.”
We hope these sermon notes blessed you! If they did, we encourage you to get the sermon and allow the Lord to speak to you personally as you watch or listen to it.
© Copyright JosephPrince.com 2019
These sermon notes were taken by volunteers during the service. They are not a verbatim representation of the sermon.
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