And let's get into the Word of God.

On Sunday mornings, we're going through 1 Corinthians chapter by chapter, verse by verse.

And today we're in chapter 11 and our text will be verses 17 through 22.

1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 17 through 22.

Once you find you way there, if you're able, I'll ask you to stand. You can follow

along as I read. If not, that's all right. Beginning in verse 17, the Apostle Paul writes,

In the following directives, I have no praise for you. For your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place,

verse 18, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you,

and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval.

So then, verse 20, when you come together, it is not the Lord's supper you eat.

For when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers.

As a result, one person remains hungry and another

gets drunk. Can you imagine this? What a church. Verse 22, don't you have homes to eat and drink

in? Or do you despise the Church of God by humiliating those who have nothing?

What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter. Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for your word.

This is pretty tough stuff here that we're dealing with in Paul's letter to this church.

And Lord, we know that there's a reason we have it in the pages of our Bibles. So would you minister to us that reason,

that which you have for us, and that which you would desire to minister to us, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen. He can be seated. Thank you.

Today's teaching is part one of a new series I've titled, Why Communion is so important. Before we jump into this, there's a couple things that I think I need to point out that will be germane to our understanding as we make our way through the rest of this chapter. First, it's important to remember

that Corinthians is a corrective epistle in the sense that this church there in Corinth

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