Monday 9/21/15 Blood (1)

Dear Father in Heaven: I love You. Thanks for trusting me to work for You. Thanks for permitting me to witness for You this day. Lord, I pray today for peace, peace across the world, peace in our cities. I pray for those who are carrying Your cross and helping lead in the lost ones. I give thanks for family and friends. I ask Your healing hand on my dear wife and I ask that You carry some of her pain. Please, Lord, help me with the message today and then to get it dispatched. And Lord, thank You for shedding Your blood to cover our sins. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters, today I had an early morning doctors appointment at the cardiologist to be cleared for surgery coming on October 5th. I was NOT cleared. I need to go back on Friday for a stress test and some other tests. Please pray that those tests go well. I really need the upcoming surgery. We have put it all in the hands of God, and I know He hears prayers and also heals, and maybe He will just heal this hernia and my knees and I will not need this surgery.

Please keep praying for the safety of the Pope. Also please pray for safety in our cities, and please pray that all the shootings in the cities come to an end. Pray please for our police, firefighters and all who work to keep us safe. Pray for rain to put out the fires in the west. I guess what I am really saying is please take more time to talk to Jesus.

New subject today which I am just going to call "Blood."

Proverbs 6:16 - There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him. 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood. (NIV)

Yes, today I want to talk to you about Blood, so I have brought that out in the scripture that is above. But first I want to bring out a few things. First, and I learned this a long time ago, when we peel back the outer wrapper, our skin, we all bleed red. Most of you will remember old Archie Bunker and his ways. I remember one time he needed blood and to make a long story short, he was given blood from a black lady. Yes, we even have the same types of blood. Over the years I was blessed to be able to donate blood and even though it was not much, I donated over 3 gallons before cancer made me stop. Last week I mentioned a person, not by name, but one who had/has a giving heart. This person has donated over 10 gallons. I also know that during one of my back surgeries, I had laid back four pints but had to be given a few more from the blood bank. I do not have a clue whose blood went in me, but this one thing I do know. I KNOW WHOSE BLOOD COVERS ME. Someone please say amen to that.

In our scripture we see that our Lord hates hands that shed INNOCENT blood, meaning that if one who has shed blood of another in war or maybe in their work such as a police officer they are covered, He does not hate that. Let me put it another way, God hates what is going on today with all the murders, our cities are just out of control. Fighting over drugs, drive-by shootings, brother against brother, children being caught in the cross-fire. And over the weekend another shooting in a church.

One thing that can cause people to fight and shoot at each other or cut each other is when they get to drinking too much. And what is being billed all over the place, more places to drink. Yes, more happy hours, more booze, more places to purchase it. Even our food stores are starting to open places where you can sit down and GET DRUNK. And if you watch the news, it is on all the time, the chefs putting together a meal and yes, of course a mixed drink to go to with it. Oh, now I like a mixed drink now and then. Try this one. One half glass of milk, and the other half, diet cherry Pepsi. Oh or this one. Two scoops of ice cream in a glass with milk over it.

This week we are going to look at scripture that talks about the Blood, and we are going to look at some old hymns that sing about the blood. Speaking of blood, I can remember years ago, back when I was about 10 or so, we would take a pin and stick it in our fingers, and rub that blood with a playmate and we called it being "blood brothers." I can think of a much better way to use the blood to become blood brothers or blood sisters. We go to Jesus, get washed in His blood and then confess our lives over to Him, be born again and become BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST. Now I know all of you have blood in your veins, but I ask you this, ARE YOU COVERED WITH THE BLOOD OF JESUS TODAY? I would love to hear from you, please let me know. Are you washed, are you washed in the Blood?

Dear Father in Heaven, I pray that all are covered with the blood of Jesus, and I pray for those who are lost that they will come in for their blood bath. I pray in the name of Jesus and give thanks for the "blood shed on Calvary." Praise You, Jesus. Amen.

Now go forth loving Jesus and getting covered with His Blood. In Jesus' Name. Amen.