Weekly message: “Broken bread and poured-out wine” By Rev. Katherine Liu Bruce

 Weekly message: “Broken bread and poured-out wine”                                 10/2/2022

By Rev. Katherine Liu Bruce    

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts& Gospel music; Pastoral ministry & Counseling

 

                When you prayed such prayer and obeyed to God’s call “Here I am, send me”, you will experience being made broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way! God’s hand will squeeze you, until He makes you broken bread and poured –out wine for other. Before you wear a golden crown, you will wear an iron crown.

              I like grapes and grapes juice as I prepare the Holy Communion, I don’t drink nor use grapes wine, but some people like and use grapes wine. If ever we are going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed; you cannot drink grapes, grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.

Sometimes God uses someone whom we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, and makes those the crushers, we object.

Joseph sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true. The king sent and released him; the ruler of peoples set him free. He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed, to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom.  (Psalm105:18-22)

 I wonder what kind of finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? And you have been like a marble and escaped? You are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you, the wine would have been remarkably bitter. To be a sacramental personality means that the elements of the natural life are presented by God as they are broken providentially in His service. We have to be adjusted into God before we can be broken bread in His hands. Keep right with God and let Him do what He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.

We are earthen vessels, simple jars of clay, in which God has placed the treasure of the life of Jesus. As weak vessels, we face a variety of pressure points, tight spots, and difficult circumstances, especially as we follow Christ. Yet each of these struggles is not the end of the story. We may be afflicted, but we are not crushed. We may be perplexed, but we do not have to despair in the face of the perplexity. We may be persecuted, but God never forsakes us. Even when we are struck down, we are never destroyed. In each of those situations, the life, the image of Jesus, the fruit of Jesus, and His reigning life can be seen and experienced as we yield and trust Him.

While we see our outer bodies decaying, weakening, even struggling, we can know that God is doing a renewing work, making us newer and newer on the inside. Ultimately, Jesus will reveal the promised “eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” Then, all the stuff we endured for Christ’s sake will be seen clearly as well worth it. Like Joseph, and Apostle Paul, we must walk in faith, keeping an eternal perspective knowing that all we see now and all we endure in this timeframe is not all there is. We are in the foyer of life- the grand design will be fully revealed in the grand celebration of eternity.

My friends, No matter what you are facing? Struggling? Weakening? outer bodies decaying?  God working things together for good, God is working His image, His fruit and His reign in you and through you.

 

Bibliography,

 

Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV). Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986. 

            Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest. NY: Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc, 1935.