THE BLOOD - Exploring the 7 Places the Lord Bled

Most people think that Jesus only bled at the cross, when he was dying for our sins. But as we have been discovering on Sundays...there was actually 7 different places where the Lord shed His blood. Each on of these places is significant in it's symbolism to us as Christians and what Jesus paid for us with His shed blood.

Last week, we asked ourselves the question, "Why did Jesus have to shed His blood?" I mean if you think about it, "Why did Jesus have to go to the cross in the first place?" If it was just about dying, there would be alot of ways to die that would be much easier to go through.

However, the reason is, Jesus had to bleed. For the bible says, where there is no shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. So Christ shedding His blood was just as important as Him dying for us. Let's explore the 7 different area's where the Lord Bled:

1. Jesus Bled at Bethlehem.

Most people miss this, but the first place that we find Jesus and blood is when He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. Bethlehem literally means the place of bread. Bread is significant of 2 things... Revelation and Covenant.

What we see hear is a picture of Jesus ratifying a new covenant in the earth through His blood, that would be established on better promises. In fact, Paul said that if the Old Covenant had glory, how much more glory shall we experience in this new covenant. Hallelujah!

This new covenant is summed up in this, "Grace!" I know this may shock many of you, but you cannot be a sinner saved by grace. You are either a sinner, or you have been saved by grace. I don't know about you, I am planning on being saved by grace.

This new life of grace brings health, healing, wholeness, and liberty. To sum it up, it brings life itself.

There are six more areas...stay tuned for next weeks post.

Something to think about,

pastorj

For Leaders: Making Your Mark by Andy Stanley

Hey Leaders,

I thought this teaching would really bless you. It's from North Point Community Church under the direction of Pastor Andy Stanley. In this teaching, he talks about the importance of leaving your "mark" on the world and who should be responsible for leaving that mark. It's only about 20 minutes, so sit back relax and enjoy it.

Listed below is also a link to download it, if you want to put it in your iPod. Have a great day.

Pastorj




Download for iPod Here:
http://www.divshare.com/download/10649387-a85

I LOVE MY CHURCH - A house of Excellence

I don't know about you, but "I LOVE MY CHURCH..." One of the big reasons for my love of my church is because it is a house of excellence. For far to long, churches have been the by-products of musty basements, pizza party's, and bad 80's music. (if I have to hear "Our God Is An Awesome God one more time... and by the way the song doesn't get any cooler when you remix it...").

So am I just hating on Rich Mullins anthem...absolutely not...it was GREAT in it's time. However, when we don't move with the times, we can suffer from what I like to call "professional deficiency!"

Let's get something straight, just because we are the church, doesn't mean that we have to be corny, nonprofessional, and tacky. Sorry to say, but that doesn't bring God any glory! God gets glory when we walk in excellence in everything that we do.

Excellence is simply this, "Doing the BEST that you can do, with what you have." It's not perfection. It's not just good enough. It's doing your best! That's all God asks of us. God will never ask for more than you can give, and the reality is, we can always give our BEST.

You know why I love my church...Because it's a house of EXCELLENCE.

Something to think about,

pastorj