Thursday, May 17, 2012

Study of Blood- Part 2


While reading 2 Corinthians 12, I was hit with the theme of authority. That word spoke to me in a deep way and I realized- if I have any authority to speak, it only comes from His word, from His Holy Spirit, gently, thoroughly pulling me into my calling. Combining my passion, my desire, my longing heart to make a difference, to write, to speak his words. I have a fire in my belly. To learn and share about the blood of Jesus, and what it means for us. Today. Right now.

So I'll go back a bit in time....
Moses carried the laws of God on his back from Sinai. Moses spoke with God, face to face. He wrote and proclaimed all the details that God wanted. He outlined everything he wanted to have done to atone for sin. It's not an easy read. He wanted his temple just so. He wanted the blood of animals. He wanted people to understand how much sin was not to be tolerated.

The purpose of the offerings was for them to take the place of sin. For a perfect, without blemish, cherished animal to take that sin. To become that sin, so that it's death represented the death of that sin, and our freedom to return to union with God.

He had so many details for how to live, how to look, how to reject uncleanliness because he called his people to be seperate. To be holy. For them to stick out like a sore thumb among others, so that others could look as His people and see exactly who they were, and who they represented. A sabbath for absolutely no working. Circumcision. Traditions like living in booths for a certain ammount of time to remember how they had lived in booths in the wilderness. He did call for a noticeable seperateness, to make a long story short.

The passover lamb was established in Exodus, the blood of the lamb to be placed over the doorframe, as protection from the angel killing the firstborn, when the Lord was showing his glory through the plagues, to show his power and to enable the Children of Israel to not only leave Egypt, but to plunder it as well and let his name become known throughout the world.

Ephesians 2:11
Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh- who are called Uncircumcision by what is called Circumsision made in the flesh by hands,--that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Isreal and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the word. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

It can be really easy to take it for granted, that I, a gentile, am a partaker in the promise of the God of the universe.

1 Corinthians 5:7 says "...Indeed Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us."

That is why he came. He came to tell people about His Father's kingdon, to testify what the Father put into his mouth. He came to die and to leave us the Holy Spirit to be with us all.

1 John 1:6
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

These are some basic truths. I think it's really time to go to the basics because there is an enemy spreading  lies and basically it's a really dark world out there, saying that sin isn't real. And if there is no sin, then Jesus sacrificed himself for nothing. 

 May the Lord speak directly to you and give you passion for His Word, His love, and His presence. Amen.

Katie

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Study of Blood- Part 1


Blood. It goes through our veins, it keeps us alive. It keeps everything in working order, spreading oxygen and nutrients to every inch our bodies. And for people aware or not of their sin's, shortcomings, wrongdoings, faults, blemishes (and any other synonym anyone can think of, I'm open to suggestions) requires it. 

Jesus has a lot of names, and descriptions as well, but one that should get a bit more attention is that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the God of the Old Testament. And just like we should take Good Friday to remember the time before he rose again, to remember the pain and anguish of his loving sacrifice, we should also take the time to remember what the world was like before there WAS a new covenant. When the Old Covenant was only available to God's chosen people. When the necessary requirement for sin involved a long drawn out process to keep the picture very clear in people's head how much sin was hated.

There is a fairly common practise in the United States, well, at least in a lot of places I've been to in the US, to give a “secret” altar call. It's a valid first step, and I'm not here to step on the toes of Pastor's methods. I want people to just look at it. A secret altar call is where an invitation goes out, if anyone wants to receive Jesus, they can raise their hand, and pray a prayer, right where they are sitting. Everyone will have their eyes closed and their heads bowed, so no one will be watching. But man, God calls for more than that. We have to acknowledge our sin! Back in Old Covenant days, of sacrifices and tents, people couldn't deny the fact that they needed forgiveness. Job made sacrifices for his children just in case they had sinned. We must show a little more thankfulness for what he has done, for the sacrifice that Jesus made once to make us clean from all unrighteousness. This is not an attack on introverts or introversion. This isn't so much about a church setting in front of people, but about our own hearts Thankfulness and the Holy Spirit inside of us gives us the strength to do what we can't do in our own strength. 

1 John 1:6
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanes us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we decieve ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Acts 20:28 Says we are the church of God, purchased with his own blood, and that is something that is worth studying, so that is why I'm going to talk about Jesus' blood for awhile, because it's an important topic, and I'm finding so much in the bible about it, that I could easily write a book! I want to go deep into what it means to be purchased by his blood, and why he chose to die for us, the Holy Spirit's role in transforming us, and some basic, fundamental principles about what it means to be a Christian, not according to what Katie says, but according to what the Word says.
Thank you for reading, and may you be transformed by the Lord,and may He expand your faith.  

Katie