In search of what's next

Monday, October 03, 2005

Power in the blood...

One thing I really like about my church is my pastor doesn't just preach a sermon and pat us on the back and send us on our way for the week. He gets up and tells us what we need to be doing to be followers of Christ then he tries to get us involved in the process. He teaches us how to pray and how to interact with one another by Godly standards, not worldly standards.

One of those things is that he lets members of the congregation handle the communion portion of the service. Yesterday was my turn. It's truly an honor to get to do this, not an obligation. It's also pretty cool to see how different people see what communion means to them and how it fits into their daily lives. The pastor doesn't tell us how to do it. He gives us guidelines as to what means what and let's us speak in our own words. Absolutely cool I think.

To those pharisees who beleive that the pastor and elders should be doing this, all I can say is your missing out big time. I've heard some wonderful comments, mini sermons, thoughts and the like from several people. It helps people to learn to not be afraid to speak publicly, and more importantly, about Christ.

I, being the musician I am, decided we needed to sing a song and we sang the old hymn "There's Power in the Blood". I related it as the bread represents the bodily sacrifice that Christ made and the juice represents His blood that was shed. The body was the ultimate sacrifice. Christ did it so we wouldn't have to sacrifice animals for our sins any more. We only had to acknowledge and accept it. The blood has power.

2 Peter 1:2-4 (New King James Version)

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
This divine power is something we as mortal men cannot comprehend. Man is only after physical power. He is mesmerized with power. It's very addictive. But as Christians, we must not succumb to this temptation. God's authority usurps physical power.

Zechariah 4:6

Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

So, if God's spirit trumps physical power, and there is power in the blood as the song says, then it must be spiritual power. The verse above from 2Peter says He has given us all things through His divine power. Christ demonstrated this power on the cross when he died.

Matthew 27:50-53 (New King James Version)

50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

The veil of the temple ripped in half from top to bottom. The earth quaked and rocks were split apart. Then dead saints were raised.

Now that's POWER!

I may be able to rip a piece of material in half, or even split some rocks with a sledge and a wedge, but I personally can't raise dead guys. So, if I have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness thru God's spirit, then I just might see the dead raised.

That would be cool.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home