ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: THE TABLE OF THE LORD V
Reprinted January 20, '23 9:39 AM
By Regner Capener
Greetings and Salutations!
I'd intended to get this Coffee Break out earlier, but here it is the 25th and
the date of the expected massive Islamic prayer vigil.
Your prayers have paid dividends. The news media reported that somewhere
between a thousand and 3,000 people gathered on the lawn in front of the
Capital. That's a tiny fraction of the organizers' expected assemblage of
50,000-plus. The Washington Post editorialized that most of the anticipated
"pray-ers" stayed away because they feared
a Christian backlash, or that they were simply afraid of a confrontation with
Christians. Interesting, huh? "Afraid of a confrontation with
Christians?" What does that tell you about their confidence in their god,
Allah? Hmmmm.... Come to think of it the prophets of
Baal had to acknowledge that "The Lord, He is God!" when Elijah
confronted them and fire fell from Heaven. Since Allah is a modern incarnation
of Baal, that spirit has good reason to be afraid of confrontation.
We've been participating here at River Worship Center in a conference in
Spokane (by streaming video) hosted by Cal Pierce and the Healing Rooms. Bill
Johnson was sharing last night and made the statement that we all needed to be
praying for a real visitation of the Lord in the midst of this Muslim
gathering. We did just that! More than that, we prayed that the wind of the Spirit
would blow through their midst with a revelation of the Lord Jesus. I'm sure
that we'll receive many reports like this, but Beni
Johnson (Bill's wife) shared a live report this morning from some people she
knew who were just leading some of the Muslims who did attend this event to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God! Our united prayers are paying dividends!
(September 29) I've mostly been offline for the past few weeks because of an
incredibly busy schedule. Della has been canning fruits and vegetables, doing
dried apple chips and all that, and we've been picking several hundreds of
pounds of apples. There's more ahead during the next week or so, but things
should begin to slow down. We'll harvest some Concord grapes later this week
and I'll help Della do her annual juicing. From just one vine, we get enough
real grape juice to last through most of the year. I can promise you that this
kind of grape juice is not the watered-down variety you buy in the stores. This
stuff is powerful. We frequently use this for Communion.
Anyway, on with the day. Coffee's on. Both the French Press and the Expresso machine are full. If you're in the area, stop by
and have a cup! Kathryn King Marquis was talking a couple days ago about a
coffee she's been buying called "Freakin' Good
Coffee." Comes from a Canadian company (http://www.equator.ca/).
Haven't had a chance to try this coffee out yet, but I will. I'll give you my
"educated taste-bud" (grin) opinion when I do.
(By the way, while I'm talking about Kathryn, visit her website. You can find
her at: http://users.bandzoogle.com/kathrynmarquis/fr_index.cfm.
This lady knows how to worship!)
Once again, here's the apostle Paul's statement (and a most-misunderstood and
applied statement) in Hebrews 9:27.
"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the
judgment:"
In our previous Coffee Break, I shared with you something that Jesus said (See
John 6:50-51, 53) that really shook up the religious world.
"This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat
thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any
man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and
the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world ......... Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life
in you."
The life Jesus speaks of, of course, is eternal life. But there's more. There
is a revelation here that people need to see. We live at a unique time in all
of history -- a time when most of those now alive will see the end of this age
and the beginning of the thousand-year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth
-- that period often referred to as "the Millennium." Throughout the
years, I've shared a very personal word from the Lord Jesus with a very few
individuals, but for the first time in sixty years, I have the liberty to share
it openly.
I've shared in past Coffee Breaks my early experiences of growing up with
angels and seeing them on a continual -- almost daily -- basis for some three
years. When I was seven years old, I awoke one morning very early to see Jesus
standing at the foot of my bed. He unfolded many things before me that day --
one of which was a picture of the restoration of the nation of Israel and the
ingathering of Jews from all over the world, along with the recognition among
the Jews of Jesus as their Messiah.
Perhaps the most singular thing He spoke to me that day -- and one that has
rung in my ears continually since (especially during times when the Enemy has
tried to take me out) -- was this: "You'll never die or know death as men
know death. You will be here to see my return in Glory."
When I shared it over the breakfast table with my parents later that same
morning, their first reaction was, "Hmmmmm......"
From that point, though, the discussion centered around the return of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and a recognition that His return could well be within their
lifetimes as well. (The Lord did come to receive them, but not after the
beginning of the millennial period as they had hoped.)
Because of my parents' initial reaction to my sharing what Jesus said in spite
of the fact that they overcame their natural instinct, it was obvious to me
that this was not something I could freely share. Throughout the past sixty
years, I've perhaps shared this with a few dozen folks at most.
Because of the somewhat confrontational nature of the realm of ministry God
called me to, it seems that I've often been the focus of controversy and -- at
times -- real persecution where people have tried to take me out. Then there
have been the deliberate attempts of evil spirits to kill me in
"accidents": car accidents, airplane crashes, fires, so-called
"close calls," etc.
Della and I were just talking this morning about some angelic deliverances
we've both known.
I remember a time when I was flying from Fairbanks (Alaska) to Kotzebue on a
Wien Airlines Fairchild F-27. We were seriously overloaded with freight (all
but a little over a dozen seats had been removed to accommodate all the
freight) and the seats were full. Just past the halfway mark, we lost an
engine. The pilot was unable to restart the engine and began to slowly lose
altitude. Although I didn't actually see the angel(s) holding up the aircraft,
I was very much aware of the fact that we were experiencing supernatural
deliverance, and an angel of the Lord was holding the plane aloft. By the time
we made Kotzebue, the aircraft was barely 500 feet above the ground. We all
arrived safe and sound.
Then there was that time when I was driving in the Santa Cruz mountains on my
way to a Teen Challenge meeting with David Wilkerson. We hit a loose patch of
gravel in a turn and I lost control of the car. Screaming "JESUS! at the
top of my voice as the car headed over a cliff, I heard the audible voice of
the angel of the Lord as he spoke peace into my being with the words,
"Nothing is going to happen to you." Sure enough, although the car
was totally demolished, I walked away without so much as a scratch -- maybe a
little loose glass in my hair from the broken windows.
At age 41, I dropped dead in the shower from a massive heart attack. Della was
well aware of God's promise to me, and she wasn't about to put up with this.
She knew it was nothing more than an attack of Satan to take me out. She
dragged my body from the shower into our bedroom, heaved me up onto the bed and
began to speak life back into me in the name of Jesus. About 15 minutes went by
before I returned, but when I came back, the Lord had healed previous defects
in my physical being and a medical doctor who gave me a thorough going-over a
few days later told me I had the health of a 20-year-old.
These are but a few incidents (there are literally dozens -- a quick count
tells me of some 36 separate occasions) of events like this in my life) where
Satan has tried to kill me and prevent the plan of the Lord from coming to
fruition. But you see, I have the specific promise of the Lord! It was and is
to this day a rhema in my being that no one can take
away, or talk me out of.
The Table of the Lord has become a reality to me in the sense that Jesus kept
my appointment with death. I have no more appointments with death. If the Enemy
tries to take me out, Jesus simply cancels out anything that he does.
One of the statements that Jesus made that same day when He was talking to His
disciples about eating and drinking of Him was this: "And this is the
will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth
the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him
up at the last day." (John 6:40)
Now I know this verse has more applications than this one, but are you seeing
how it was applied in my life when the Enemy sought to take me out? Jesus has
the last Word! He has the final say. Satan thought he snuffed out my life and
successfully thwarted God's promise to me. But it didn't work. Yes, Della spoke
the Word that brought me back from the dead, but it was the Word -- the Lord
Jesus Christ -- who had the final say. He raised me up "at the last
day." I know that's not how we normally view Jesus' statement, but the
essence of what He is saying is that He has the final Word; He has the final
say in the matter. The curse of death has been broken. We just have to believe
it!
There's another application I'd like for you to consider.
Every sickness, every disease, every infirmity and every pain is rooted and
founded in the death process. Although our bodies were designed to replenish
every cell every seven years, the curse of death means that not all cells are
replenished or replaced. There is a dying process taking place. Every sickness
derives its existence from the imbalance that occurs when certain cells in our
body fail to rejuvenate or replace. Every infirmity gains its existence when
muscle cells, tendon cells, joint-lubrication cells (or some other set of
cells) become damaged or fail to rejuvenate.
All of them are based in death and in the curse of death. Yet there is a
revelation that takes place at the Table of the Lord that God's people need to
receive. Jesus made clear the fact that when we eat of His flesh and drink of
His blood, we eat and drink of eternal life. Jesus IS the Bread of Life. But He
is more than that!
Think about what Jesus said (See Luke 24:38-39) when He appeared to the
disciples following His resurrection. "And he said unto them, Why are
ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my
feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and
bones, as ye see me have."
WHAT? What did He just say? "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye
see me have." Why didn't He say, "a spirit hath not flesh and
blood?" Because the life that was in Him following the resurrection was
not blood any longer: it was spirit! That is how the apostle Paul could say the
following:
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2)
Get it? The life that now exhibited in Jesus was the life of the Spirit. And
now we have an understanding of why the Table of the Lord and Water Baptism
were the only two commandments that Jesus gave. The two ordinances exhibit the
same thing!
With the Table of the Lord, we eat of the Word of Life in Christ Jesus and
drink of the Spirit. With Water Baptism, we show to demonic principalities and
demonic powers that the flesh they once had access to is now dead. That which
comes forth out of the water is a resurrected person, raised to new life in
Christ Jesus, resurrected from the dead by the Spirit. The life that we now
live is by the Spirit -- NOT the flesh and blood.
If Christians could just get this revelation, it would radically transform the
way they think and the way they live. Folks, as believers in Christ, we are
free from the Law of Sin and Death. Jesus kept our appointment with death.
The problem in today's world is that we are programmed continually with the necessity
to protect ourselves from death, from premature death, from
"accidents" and a whole host of sicknesses and diseases. It's a funny
thing, but I've lived most of my life without life insurance or health
insurance. When I worked for the television networks (FOX, NBC, Telemundo, etc.) they provided me with some pretty spendy life insurance and health insurance. Honestly, the
only time I've ever really gotten sick to the place where I was out of
commission for several days (and once for a couple of weeks) was when I had
health insurance.
Maybe you've never thought of it like this, but you gamble every time you
purchase life or health insurance. The insurance company makes you pay them to
gamble. They gamble that you are not going to get sick, and you gamble that you
will. They gamble that you won't die prematurely, and you gamble that you will.
Insurance companies make billions of dollars every year from people who gamble
that they will lose their home, their automobile, their health, their life, or
whatever. The medical industry makes billions of dollars from people who --
because they believe they are subject to disease, sickness and infirmity --
gladly pay out their life's earnings in order to gain or preserve what Jesus
freely provides at His Table.
Is there something wrong with this picture? YES!!! God's people are supposed to
be the picture of life and health and strength and vitality. It has been
provided by and through the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. Why are
Christians today suffering from heart attacks? Why are Christians suffering
from tumors, from cancer, from stress, from nervous conditions, from every
disease known to man?
The simple answer is that most do not have a revelation of the Table of the
Lord. Most "believers" don't realize that the thief (and, brother, is
he ever a thief!) is stealing what Jesus freely provides. This is why Della and
I have come to the place where there is not a day that goes by without our
partaking of the Table of the Lord. We do so with the understanding that each
time we eat of the Bread of Life, we eat of the health, the vitality, the
wholeness and the provision that Jesus has in His very Being! Each time we
drink of the Cup, we drink of the Cup of Life that Jesus offers.
When Paul was writing to the Christians in Corinth, he reminded them of what
Jesus said (I Corinthians 11:24-25), "Take, eat: this is my body,
which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me." Jesus also
said, "This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me."
Are we doing this in remembrance of Jesus hanging on the Cross? Are we doing
this in remembrance of Jesus shedding His blood? Nope! And yet, we do to a
certain extent. The remembrance is not the Cross, nor the blood that was shed
as much as what Jesus accomplished by His sacrifice. The real picture is that a
new covenant was made for us -- a covenant between the Lord and us -- a
covenant of total provision, a covenant of death cancellation, a covenant of
health and life, a covenant that provides complete healing when Satan seeks to
steal from us our health, a covenant that replaces whatever provision Satan has
stolen from us in an effort to keep us in poverty and continual need.
But this covenant requires something of us. It requires believing that Jesus is
a covenant-keeping God, that He will give us and do for us exactly what He said
He would! Satan has sold much of the body of Christ the lie that sickness is
the will of God for us. How insane is that? He has also sold many Christians
the lie that a life of poverty and need is true humility, and that it is more
"spiritual" to have barely enough, or not quite enough, than to have
an abundance of resources. Brother! What a lie! What a canard!
But this revelation of the Table of the Lord grows even more once we begin to
understand the significance of Isaiah's prophecy (Isaiah 53) as it relates to
eating and drinking of the Lord.
That's where we'll go next. There's more to this revelation, lots more!!!
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself
for me." (Galatians 2:20)
Be blessed!
Regner
A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER
WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email
Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
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