Most evangelicals underestimate the meaning, power and purpose of the Lord’s Supper. The Apostle Paul calls the Supper, a koinonia in the body and blood of Christ, a communion by intimate participation (1Cor. 10:14-16). Our partaking of Christ is described in the Supper as “eating” and “drinking” so that we’d never think that the lifeContinue reading “The Real Presence of Christ in the bread and wine”
Author Archives: John Estorge
Communion by Intimate Participation
On the Festive Day of Rest, called the Lord’s day there is a standing invitation to all those who love the Lord to share in His Fellowship and Worship. And on this day, He often hosts a spiritual banquet for us to experience a greater intimacy with Him. We call this banquet The Lord’s Supper.Continue reading “Communion by Intimate Participation”
How should I spend the Lord’s Day, that Festive Day of Rest?
In defining the gift of the Christian Sabbath, I think the Heidelberg Catechism strikes a lovely balance of creating anticipation, expectation and freedom about this day which the Lord of the Sabbath made for man without the restrictiveness of creating rules and policy. The question is asked: What is God’s will for you in theContinue reading “How should I spend the Lord’s Day, that Festive Day of Rest?”
The Christian Sabbath IV: A Gift
I have bemoaned that most of the teaching I have heard on the Sabbath has been unsatisfying to me because it is either viewed as a policy with a list of joyless regulations or as an old-fashioned obsolete shadow of the past. The sabbath policy people imply that God loves the Sabbath and created manContinue reading “The Christian Sabbath IV: A Gift”
The First Day of the Week: Christian Sabbath Part III
B.B. Warfield nicely captures the first century transition from Jewish Sabbath observing on Saturdays to the Christian observance of the Lord’s Day on Sundays. His words follow… Our Lord, too, following the example of his Father, when he had finished the work which it had been given him to do, rested on the Sabbath—in theContinue reading “The First Day of the Week: Christian Sabbath Part III”
The Christian Sabbath: A New* View Part II
The Christian Sabbath is a day unlike the other six when work ceases and God’s people pause to worship together; a day designed to take us back to Eden and the perfect Creation while simultaneously launching us forward to taste Heavenly Rest. It is my belief that because of the popular positions held regarding theContinue reading “The Christian Sabbath: A New* View Part II”
The Christian Sabbath: A New* View Part I
This week I am going to write a series of four or so blog entries about the Christian Sabbath attempting to explain my personal view. Most of the teaching that I have heard on the Sabbath has been unsatisfying to me because it is either viewed as a policy with a list of joyless regulationsContinue reading “The Christian Sabbath: A New* View Part I”
Receiving uncomfortable grace
Too often we bury ourselves in the busyness of following Jesus and serving others instead of relaxing and receiving uncomfortable grace from Him. Our hearts are often resistant to love that it poured out on us, a resistance that forces our bodies to tighten up inhibiting us from receiving. I think about the tender actContinue reading “Receiving uncomfortable grace”
A Parable about Salvation
The Parable of the Carrot by C.H. Spurgeon Once upon a time in an old kingdom, there was a gardener who grew an enormous carrot in his garden. Now this man loved his sovereign, so he came and presented the carrot to the king, saying, “This is the best carrot my garden will ever grow.Continue reading “A Parable about Salvation”
Spiritual Depression
“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring backContinue reading “Spiritual Depression”