BREAK BREAD

Dining with Jesus Christian Episodes

PASTOR RYAN LADEN – DEVOTIONALS

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The other day, my wife and I were invited to a friend’s house for dinner. They invited a few other people to join us in this shared meal. As we sat around the table, we told stories, laughed, and generally grew closer to one another. That time around the table was important for my wife and me as we were excited to make new friends in a place where we did not have access to old connections and family. 

The Lord created us to connect to one another. The Lord stitched into us a powerful desire to see others eye-to-eye, on the levelled playing field of the table. In the passage from Acts chapter one that we have been studying, we hear about another time when the Lord used a meal to communicate with his people. 

4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

(Acts 1:4-5 NIV11)

Meals

Here we have another in a long line of examples of times when the Lord broke bread with his creation. We do not know if the Lord shared a meal with Adam and Eve in the Garden, but we do know that Abraham was invited to the table with the Lord (Genesis 18:1-18).

We also know that the Lord met with Moses and the Elders of Israel on the Mountain of God (Exodus 24:9-11). The Lord also provided the children of Israel with manna, quail, and water. He also provided sustenance for Elijah while he was in a state of despair (1 Kings 19:4–8). 

Reality

These meals helped provide a real connection between the Lord and his people. These meals also helped the people who received them to see the reality of their circumstances. They were with the Lord and not in a dream. In the same way, the resurrected Jesus Christ chose to eat with his disciples in Emmaus, in the upper room, and by the lake in the Galilee. 

These meals helped the disciples connect to the physical reality of the resurrection. Jesus was not a vision, not a ghost, not a god pretending to be alive. He was physical in substance while being glorified in his new life, and the meals helped make that point. 

Stay – Gather – Wait

The Lord gave the disciples a simple set of commands. He told them to stay, gather, and wait. They were to stay together, gather together as one. The Lord did not want them to go back to their old lives but rather to accept their new calling as disciples of Christ and join as one. 

The people were also called to wait.  They were to follow his instructions and wait on the gift that God was about to provide for them in the work and person of the Holy Spirit. 

Baptized

Jesus told his people that they would soon experience something different, something amazing. 

They would be immersed, filled, and surrounded by the Holy Spirit of God. In the same way that John once immersed them in the waters of repentance, Jesus was promising that his disciples would undergo a baptism into the Spirit. 

The people of Jesus had been through a lot of change in the last three years. Their lives would never be the same after seeing and experiencing the work and person of Jesus of Nazareth. But their time of change was only beginning. The Spirit of God was about to envelop and fill the people of Christ in a way that would soon change them irrevocably. 

Questions

  •   What do you think of when you think about being enveloped or immersed in the living Spirit of the Lord?
  •   If you have any fears or worries about being someone who has been baptized into the Spirit, where do these concerns come from?

Meditation

  •   As you go through your day today, consider openly asking the Lord to help you understand more about the person of the Holy Spirit. 
  •   If you are willing, ask the Lord Jesus Christ to immerse you into the promised Spirit of the Lord. Do not be afraid of being enveloped by the love, kindness, and power of the Lord. 
  •   If you are willing, look for evidence of the Spirit’s work in your day. Listen for the urging of the Spirit to draw closer to the Lord and to be of greater service to the Kingdom of God. 

In Christ, 

Ryan Laden

PASTOR RYAN LADEN

Senior Pastor at PARK HILL BAPTIST CHURCH


Worked at MTN. CHURCH

Former Senior pastor at Warnbro Community Church

Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at Baylor University

Studied at Texas Tech University

Went to Castle Hills First Baptist

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