The 30 Day Challenge
Have Communion every day for 30 days (you pick the start day) and watch it become the most important 30 days of your life! You will begin your friendship with the Son of God. You will learn how deep His love is for you when He smiles at you. You will know His touch that calms your heart in an instant. You will see glimpses of His glory and eternal Kingdom. He will meet you where you are, as you are, for who you are. You will know its Him because His presence will be real. He will make known to you everything He has heard from His Father. He will share His hidden treasure with you. You will become His friend and He will become yours. (2 Corinthians 3:18 and 4:18)

Jesus is the eternal reality. He is the Truth.

Jesus spoke most of His parables about the Kingdom of God. Truth is defined as reality. There is only one reality that is eternal and that truth is Jesus. That I may know Him on all levels. On the level of His resurrection and on the level of His suffering and even on the level of being conformed to the image of His death. How well do you know Jesus. I am not saying know about Jesus. I am not saying what you know the scriptures say about Jesus. I am talking about knowing Jesus Christ as Savior through the new birth. Knowing Jesus as Lord through baptism. Knowing the risen Jesus  through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Knowing Jesus as your Shepherd who leads you to His Table. We get to know Jesus as Elohim, Jehovah, Jehovah Shalom, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Roi - by "Walking with Him in the paths of righteousness for his 'names' sake. If Jesus is your friend then you are constantly being transformed by His presence as you know the many facets of who He is, His nature and His character. One day as provider and the next day as your peace. Who is Jesus? 

In a previous blog we had a series on the New Worship Model. Knowing Jesus through the intimacy of personal Communion by revelation of the Holy Spirit in CommunionFire. The more time we spend with Him the more His presence transforms us from glory to glory. Jesus said the day is coming when true worshipers will worship me in Spirit and in truth. Truth = Reality. Jesus is our house and we have become His House. Jesus prayed that we become one as a dwelling place for His name - His story - His testimony. Through Communion we are first hand witnesses of the ever increasing story of Jesus. His story is the reality of His testimony. "The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy." Revelation 19:10

The truth is the presence of the Lord. The truth is where we meet with Him. That is the reality that is eternal. The Holy Spirit projects this reality to us in much the same way that the television networks project the reality of the World Cup to the world. "Now we see through a dark glass - like a blank, dark television screen. When we have Communion it is like turning on the TV with God's remote. The Holy Spirit picks the channel. When our eyes are opened it is like the television coming on to reveal what is being broadcast. Part one is just "Seeing". Part two as Jesus illustrated so well in Luke 24 - is "Recognition". When we sit at His Table - we are sitting in front of His screen. When we have Communion the "CommunionFire" turns on and we see something. When we are watching and we recognize Jesus then we are ready to receive what He has prepared for us to "feast on". He shares His life with us. It is only for a moment, but that is long enough. He shows us something, says something by the voice of the Holy Spirit or even does something (comforts, heals or makes us aware). Whatever it is is is a seed that grows in our hearts and minds all day. Throughout the day it becomes a part of our garden or like a tree. 

The reality is Jesus. Jesus = Truth. His body and blood is the way that reveals the truth of His reality and then we receive His life - the bread of heaven. We feed on His presence and we are nourished by His reality. "Jesus is the bread of life! If you eat His flesh and drink His blood you have life in you and He will raise us up on the last day."

The 30 Day Challenge
Have Communion every day for 30 days (you pick the start day) and watch it become the most important 30 days of your life! You will begin your friendship with the Son of God. You will learn how deep His love is for you when He smiles at you. You will know His touch that calms your heart in an instant. You will see glimpses of His glory and eternal Kingdom. He will meet you where you are, as you are, for who you are. You will know its Him because His presence will be real. He will make known to you everything He has heard from His Father. He will share His hidden treasure with you. You will become His friend and He will become yours. (2 Corinthians 3:18 and 4:18)

I never knew you, depart from me you worker of iniquity! What? Really? But lord, we cast out demons in your name! But Lord we did this and we did that in your name? Huh? Who are you people? They talk the talk and walk the walk but they did not and do not know Him! 

Coming to the Table of the Lord and spending a few quality moments a day with Him eating the bread, His Body and drinking the wine His Blood and then feasting on His presence and listening to what He has to say to us allows us to know Him. He wants to share with us. He wants to share His life. This life is the light of His presence. In His presence there is no darkness, no shadow, no dimness. We encounter the floodlights of His eternal Kingdom. The King is the light that lights the entire Kingdom. His presence is wonderful, magnifiscent and delightful. 

While having Communion with friends in the Village Gathering last night during our sharing in the overflow I watched below my seat as 'Holly the Cat' rolled and cajoled beneath my wife's chair next to me. In an earlier Communion time last week I saw a cat walking behind me and then in front of me then dashing across the room. The Holly Spirit said, "Jesus is like that cat. He is always there but we don't always see Him." Watching Holly the Cat last night playing the Holy Spirit reminded me, "Jesus is happy and playful like the cat you are watching - He so enjoys when His people gather to break bread and share the cup. He loves sharing His presence with you.

Really Pastor? A cat? Well we learn many things in His presence. The Lord meets us where we are, as we are for who we are. His presence applies the same to every one. He is the same yesterday today and forever. When we meet with Him in Communion He chooses how He wants us to recognize Him in whatever way He can speak to us. This is a relationship not a classroom. Just being in His presence is all we need for transformation to occur. He is perfect. He is complete. When we are with Him He shares Himself with us and guess what happens? Because we are imperfect and incomplete - being with Him makes us more perfect or more complete. Perfection means the same thing it does in the wine industry. The perfect wine is the wine that is matured. 

So I have had two or three episodes with Jesus that related me to a cat to understand something physical to understand something spiritual. That is how He brings us into His dimension - into His reality. His reality is eternal while our reality is temporary. He sometimes shows us things in the context of our reality to bring home something that has an 'eternal weight of glory". Another word for glory is "expression". Jesus knows just how to express Himself in ways that help us know it is Him and in ways that we can personally relate to. He takes responsibility for building the relationship. He no longer calls us disciples but friends. We know Him and we know He knows us because we spend time with Him at His Table. The love grows and our understanding and transformation grows as we spend time with Him. He may plant a seed in a moment during Communion and by evening it may grow into a full tree! This transfer of His reality into our lives gives us life. He is the bread of life. His life intoxicates us by the new wine of the Holy Spirit, like the sip of wine His blood. The natural meets the supernatural. The temporary is transformed by the eternal. If you spend time with someone and it is a special relationship it has an effect on behavior, attitude and even decisions about time and life. It is even more powerful being in the presence of the Lord coming to Him as He asked us to "Do this" speaking of Communion. 

He designed a way for us to cultivate our personal relationship with Him so that in that day He will say, "Hi (fill in your name) my dear friend! Enter into the eternal fullness of my joy!" and not "I never knew you, depart from me."  Its a relationship not discipleship. Transformation happens because we know Him.

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ vs. John 15:15 "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."

The 30 Day Challenge
Have Communion every day for 30 days (you pick the start day) and watch it become the most important 30 days of your life! You will begin your friendship with the Son of God. You will learn how deep His love is for you when He smiles at you. You will know His touch that calms your heart in an instant. You will see glimpses of His glory and eternal Kingdom. He will meet you where you are, as you are, for who you are. You will know its Him because His presence will be real. He will make known to you everything He has heard from His Father. He will share His hidden treasure with you. You will become His friend and He will become yours. (2 Corinthians 3:18 and 4:18)

"I am of Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Jesus!" 1 Corinthians 1:12, 3:4 Or...I am of St Athanasius or St Francis or John Wesley or Billy Graham! I am Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Independent! At what point does this reflect the Communion of God's People that Jesus prayed for in John 17? If I keep the Covenant of my church then I know we are closer to being "right" than most others. This leads to divisions, enmity, strife and even hatred. "That they may be one as we are one that the world may believe that you have sent me." At what point are we in genuine Communion with one another? We should each be the first to say with great joy, "My Communion with Jesus and my relationship with Him in His glory brings about a sharing of that Communion with one another." You bring nothing to the Table that will let you "create unity" or the Communion Jesus is speaking of. We are helpless! 

The more we stay in a deepening Communion with Jesus the more our Communion with one another deepens. Everything else happens from there." If we do not see Jesus and listen to Him we will not know Him. If we do not know Him we will not know each other in Him. His presence in our life is how we relate to one another. We share our encounters with Him and then what He shares with us we share with one another. Remarkable things happen that defy all odds. Only Jesus can write His story on our hearts and only we can share the life He shares with one another.

For those of us having Communion and experiencing CommunionFire every day, we understand what Jesus meant when He said, "I don't call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn't know what his master is doing. But I've called you friends, because I've made known to you everything that I've heard from my Father." John 15:15

Slaves (doulos) do what they are told to do. A slave does not have a personal relationship with the master. A slave or a servant is taught what to do and does it out of duty because of ownership or contract. The only communion is sharing about how to do it right. How to do it better. How to improve. All is based on our effort not dependency on His supernatural infusion. He feeds us with His ability. He feeds us with His thoughts and attitude. We see in Him how to relate to each other. We hear from Him and the lights go on. We see each other as He sees us.

The word for friend here (philos) means: "a personal, experienced-based, relationship". It is an intimate, treasured and a prized relationship. It is expressed as an 'experienced-based, growing love and affection'. 

Understand that when "God 'so loves' the world" - His love (agape) is a 'decision-based love'. He loves us without condition as His own choice whether you accept it or not. He will keep on loving you. 

"Philos" means there is a a loving exchange producing experiences "remembrances" in the relationship. Like a parent and a child, two best friends, or between each one of us and Jesus, this love produces a bank of memories that gives ongoing value to the relationship.

That's why Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of me" (so that our relationship produces memories that belong to us and you can share with others). "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" for "when the Holy Spirit comes He will give you power to become my witnesses" (of my Testimony) and "He will lead you into my presence bringing all things to your "remembrance" that I share with you." 

What Communion reveals to us is that we have a supernatural, first-hand, personal relationship with Jesus. He shares His love, life and treasures with us. He opens our eyes, ears and hearts to the truth of His presence, His intimate ways of showing affection and care and speaks clearly to us of those things He knows will bring us into a deeper and deeper relationship with Him. When we share these encounters with each other with one another, the Holy Spirit dynamically knits our hearts together as we share about our personal relationship with Jesus. Each Day His love, grace, peace, goodness and mercy works in us. We are partakers of His divine nature. He knits us together almost without us being aware of it until we look at each other and and see Him and when we speak to each other we begin to hear His  voice.

He is the reason we "flock together"! "Tell me what Jesus shared with you today in CommunionFire"! We talk about Him! We talk about our process of discovering His deepening grace and increasing glory in our lives. When we talk about Jesus based on a personal encounter with Him, we lift Him up - not ourselves. Division is snuffed out by His love, our love for Him and sharing His love with one another. "Love each other as I love you!"

The 30 Day Challenge
Have Communion every day for 30 days (you pick the start day) and watch it become the most important 30 days of your life! You will begin your friendship with the Son of God. You will learn how deep His love is for you when He smiles at you. You will know His touch that calms your heart in an instant. You will see glimpses of His glory and eternal Kingdom. He will meet you where you are, as you are, for who you are. You will know its Him because His presence will be real. He will make known to you everything He has heard from His Father. He will share His hidden treasure with you. You will become His friend and He will become yours.

The Early Church developed a problem within the first 100 years. They lost their first love! 

Their primary love for Jesus got crowded out by trying to function as Christians while being friendly to religion, friends, neighbors and the world around them. Persecution stopped and their hearts stopped pumping with passion for Jesus. They taught and learned about Jesus. They replaced the relationship at the Table with chairs in a classroom. They went to try and find the Lord by seeking Him through worship instead of worshiping as a result of being with Him. They tried to find Him through scriptures instead of being with Him who is the Word. When we are in fellowship with Jesus the Holy Spirit "quickens" the Word (gives it life and infuses us). 

The Last Days Church has a similar problem. They are so lukewarm they have no passion. 

Its impossible to tell what a genuine Christian looks and sounds like. "Christianism" replaces the Jesus People. Lukewarm means they 'get along with everyone' without any specific allegiance in their citizenship in the Kingdom of God. They blend in with everyone else while acting out what they are told to do. There is no salt or light in their life. You cannot see the glory of God on their life or sense God's presence because they have just been with Him. The fire is gone because they spend no time in His presence anymore. Communion means nothing. It becomes a ritual. There is no more revelation, vision, passion, fire or joy, only attempts at doing good and being nice. It is an attitude that repulses the Lord and quenches the Holy Spirit.

The problem with the early Church and the Last Days Church is much the same. Many 'become disciples' of the way of Jesus instead of spending time supping with Him. We do not have the capability, even on our best day, to become like Jesus. On our best attempt we come up like dirty rags. It is knowing Him in Communion that brings transformation and nothing else can replace that. Both stopped having an active personal relationship with the Lord through Communion. They left His Table and never came back. They lost their witness and stopped hearing His testimony. They try to replace it by learning from others instead of seeing and hearing from the Lord by the Holy Spirit. . The power of the New Covenant becomes neutralized and the Table remains empty. Yet, Jesus still waits. He never leaves or forsakes His friends.

You can say - I know the Lord through the scriptures. You can say I know the Lord through prayer. You can say I know the Lord through serving Him. You can say I know the Lord through those older and wiser than me. One problem. That's not how friends get to know each other. They do that by spending time, real time with each other! Let me ask you another question. How much time have you spent in the last week, month or year sitting down at Jesus' Table and letting Him share His life with you? Letting Him share His goodness and glory with you? Listening to what He has to tell you?

The solution: Spend time at His Table. Enjoy deepening Communion with Him. If every Christian made a decision to have Communion everyday it would dissolve the mega-marketplace of the "Discipleship Industry" that is diverting the attention of many would be friends of Jesus to becoming His servants or slaves of 'other masters'. Bible-study is fine and so is personal and group prayer and worship. Or is it? What? 

It is not second or third hand relationships with the Lord that accomplishes transformation. Transformation is not based on our ability and strength - it is totally based on change that happens because you know Him - first hand! Being His friend changes your perspective. Communion in His presence opens the eyes of your spirit and you recognize Him. When you are with Jesus at His Table, the Bible comes alive. You see Jesus in the scriptures. Worship is a result of the relationship you experience not the means. Fellowship happens because His presence becomes the joy that we share with each other. Without Communion, as Jesus says, "You have no life in you." John 6:53


The 30 Day Challenge
Have Communion every day for 30 days (you pick the start day) and watch it become the most important 30 days of your life! You will begin your friendship with the Son of God. You will learn how deep His love is for you when He smiles at you. You will know His touch that calms your heart in an instant. You will see glimpses of His glory and eternal Kingdom. He will meet you where you are, as you are, for who you are. You will know its Him because His presence will be real. He will make known to you everything He has heard from His Father. He will share His hidden treasure with you. You will become His friend and He will become yours.

Pastor Wade Burton has served the Lord for over 60 years as a Southern Baptist Pastor, Author and Bible Teacher. He is well known for his caring and loving faith that has nourished and raised God's people for over half a century. On one occasion a young man came to him to inquire about an experience he had called the Baptism of Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues. Pastor Wade just nourished the young man's faith and he went on to become one of the most prolific publishers of the Charismatic era. His name was Jamie Buckingham.

My wife and I met Pastor Wade and his lovely wife WIllene last week at our neighbor's house (his daughter Sharon) to share about our story on the Miracle we call CommunionFire. We had a wonderful time sharing the Lord's Table together and witnessing the presence of the Lord as each of us shared the bread and the cup. Soon after he wrote the following which we received permission to share with you.              

He originally published this article in his daily email devotional "Burton's Bantering" on June 24, 2104. 

IN COMMUNION WITH OUR LORD
"Take, eat: this is my body which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me."  
I Corinthians 11:24 (Read 1 Cor. 11:20-28)
 
"If doing communion with you is just a ritual, then you ain't doing it right."
 
We met Pastor Bob and Camille Bonnell at Sharon and Sal's home this past  Wednesday. These two are in a special ministry teaching personal communion with Christ through "the Lord's Supper."

"In remembrance" is remembering more than His death for us on a cross. We are to remember when He was first in Heaven, then sent by the Father to meet humanity's need. Born of a virgin, He showed earthlings the Father's love and compassion. We are to see Him reaching out and touching mortal humans in their sins and their selfishness. We are to see Him changing the hearts and lives of the small and the great. We are to see Him walking on waters that He created.  We are to look into His eyes and see ourselves reflected there. See Him crucified, entombed, resurrected --ascended back to the Father where He is getting a place ready for our eternal dwelling.
 
Communion, called "The Lord's Supper" among Baptists, is extraordinary. It opens the channel to remember Him, to see Him, to interact with Him.
 
And yes, Willene and I plan to have communion each day during our time of devotion. We will partake of the bread and the wine - and then sit for a time in reflection and oneness with our Lord. ("I can hear, "Burton, that is not taught in the Bible."  SHOW ME! Show me, not in tradition, but in the Word.)
                                                                                  
                                                                                                                      --Wade Burton 6/24/14
 
Burton's Bantering:  
Oh, I wish I had learned this over 50 years ago. I confess most of my participation in the Lord's Supper has been ritualistic. Little more.
 
Prayer: Father, I know that You know my heart.  Search me, and see if there be some wicked way in me. And cleanse it by Your divine forgiveness.  Amen.
 
Humor:  A doctor found that cheerful people resist disease better than chronic grumblers. He concluded that the surly bird gets the germ.
 
Trivia: "If people laughed 15 times each day, there would be fewer doctor bills.


If you would like to receive "Burton's Bantering" in your email box each day please let him know by email at burtonsbantering@nctv.com


Wade Thompson Burton was born in Anderson, South Carolina. He grew up in a home of two sisters and four brothers. He is the father of a daughter, Sharon DePalma, and a son, Michael. He was married to Geraldine Ashley for 56 years, now deceased. His present wife is Willene Butler McGee. Wade attended Seneca and Ware Shoals High Schools in South Carolina. He is a graduate of Erskine College in Due West, S.C., and attended Erskine Theological Seminary. Wade served as pastor to seven churches throughout his 52 years of ministry. He has served in the South Carolina Baptist Convention on local and statewide agencies. He was chaplain at Emerald Center in Greenwood, S.C. He is now retired for the third time, and serves churches without pastors in and around Greenwood, S.C. It is his sincere desire to meet you some day in God's Heaven. "As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith" (Galatians 6:10)