Embracing Christ's Sacrifice: A Call to Commitment

as you hold the bread and cup in your hand he says when you take the bread you know when he did that with his disciples he broke it because he wanted to give a graphic example of how his body was going to be broken torn apart for them and he says this is my body that was broken for you and when you take of this bread I want you to remember my flesh that was torn apart for you so as you take of the bread and stick it in your mouth just remember his body was torn apart for you [00:15:39]

and the cup was to represent his blood that was shed for you because the Bible teaches that without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sins that you can't be forgiven without the shedding of blood and he says when you take of this cup think of it as more than just a cup of juice or a cup of wine this is to represent the blood that was trickling down his feet from his wrist think about that as you take the cup [00:16:36]

Jesus told his disciples this is what's going to happen he says they will mock him insult him spit on him flog him and kill him but then he says but on the third day he's going to rise he says they're going to do this to me I'm going to take it I'm going to sit there and I'm going to take it and they're going to spit on me they're going to mock me they're going to nail me to a cross they're going to stick me in a tomb but then Watch What Happens 3 days later I'm going to get up out of the Tomb and I'm going to walk around and then the whole world would know this guy is who he claimed to be [00:18:18]

and not only did he die for our sins but he defeated death and showed that he had power over death and there's a rejoicing that takes place in this at the end of the story is a good one and that's why the sting of death has gone because of what Jesus did for us not only did he pay for because if he didn't do that we would be sitting in this room going hey we're going to die any day and then God's going to punish us for everything we did wrong [00:18:58]

instead we can sit here and say Jesus took it all for us he paid for it for us that's where our joy comes from you know and we can look forward to that day when we resurrect and we don't have to fear death in fact yesterday yesterday was one of the greatest Memorial Services maybe the greatest in my lifetime um last Saturday a guy died and I I say this one of the most glorious deaths it was one of our missionaries one of the missionaries that you guys support died last Saturday [00:19:36]

Dr Nathan Barlo he was the missionary to Ethiopia who helped the people in the mossif foot region remember the pictures I showed you the people whose feet would swell up their legs would swell up and all the infected and and uh he died last Saturday and I say what an awesome death because he was 90s something years old and had devoted his life to this his life in fact let me just read some things from his uh his memorial folder that was given out at the the service [00:20:12]

stories were told yesterday you know one about this family that brought their little boy in and and and it was not unusual for this guy to see about 80 patients a day he's the only one there just caring for the people loving them and sharing the gospel with them and and this family talks about this this little boy that was brought in that was dying of pneumonia and his whole chest was filled with mucus and poison and and he was choking to death right there before him [00:21:48]

so he quickly asked for one of those suction things those tubes that that you would stick down in the chest you know it's kind of a primitive way of sucking the stuff out but they didn't even have that they said the US hasn't sent us anything like that and so without a thought he just stuck his mouth to that that boy's mouth and sucked all the poison out of his chest cavity just you know just all the Flem and spit it out repeatedly and they saw and they watched this boy breathe again come back to life [00:22:48]

Jesus heals a guy who's blind okay and it is significant and here's why is is he's going down to Jerusalem right and and and so are a lot of other people a lot of a lot of devout Jews are making the Trek down to Jerusalem because it's Passover and so when Jesus is heading down he's probably got a caravan of people that he just he walks and there'll be all sorts of people walking and there's already been a lot of talk like oh that's the guy you know that was doing Miracles or you know they've been already there just buzz about Jesus [00:24:46]

The Story of Lazarus takes place he gets that certain part where they go hey Jesus I wish you had been here a few days earlier you know last has died and he's been dead for 3 days and his body's already decaying it's in the Tomb and I wish you had been here sooner you know but you're too late and Jesus says no I'm not you see I'm the resurrection and the life he who believes in me will never die and then he says Lazarus come forth speaks into a tomb it says Lazarus come forth and this man walks out of the Tomb [00:25:52]

the Bible teaches that all of us are born spiritually blind okay just like that man was physically blind we're spiritually blind that we as natural people in our own human flesh in my my my you know Skin and Bones you know blood me I can't understand in this head I cannot get spiritual truth it says the natural man cannot understand spiritual things 1 Corinthians 2 you can read about it there and so what has to happen is that God has to open my eyes to actually see the spiritual truths and actually get them [00:28:10]

do you really want to know how much of your finances I really want do you really want God to tell you exactly what you ought to be giving do you really want to know how much of your time should really be spent sharing your faith do you really want to know from God's mouth how much you ought to be serving others and caring for people and how little you should be spending for yourself do you really want to know do you really want to know exactly where on the earth you ought to be right now and what you ought to be doing [00:31:00]