One of the recurring themes we see in the Bible is the 'cup of God', and it follows through from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and right up to the end of the book of Revelation. In the gospels, Jesus was teaching His disciples about things related to His death, burial and resurrection, as well as to what it means to be a true minister of God. Jesus asked them if they could drink from the same cup that He was about to. That's a really good question, and one we would do well to consider.

"But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" Mark 10:38 (KJB)

In the Church Age that would follow the gospels, Saul was on the road to Damascus one day, looking for more Christians to kill, when he met the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Many things would take place during that encounter, and it would result with Saul taking a good, long drink at the cup of God. When I look around at the professing Christian Church in our day, I do not see the cup of God. I see a self-centered, self-focused and lukewarm form of Christianity that lines up perfectly with the falling away Paul prophesies about. On this Sunday Service, let's reacquaint ourselves with the biblical 'cup of God' that presents itself in two ways – service and judgment. The first cup is what everyone who will follow after Jesus will drink from, and the second cup is for everyone who rejects the first cup.