Precious Blood Do You Appreciate audio video notes What do you deem precious? If you made a list of your precious things what would you list include? Perhaps your list would include your family, your spouse, your children, or grandchildren, and your health? Perhaps your list would include some of your prized possessions and wealth. To the apostle Peter, the most precious item is the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Do you appreciate the blood?
PALM SUNDAY
By Pastor Delbert Young
Understanding the Value of the Precious Blood of Christ
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Precious Blood Do You Appreciate audio video notes
Scriptures: 1Peter 1:18-21, Leviticus 17:11, John 15:13, John 6:53-54
What is PRECIOUS to you? What have you obtained and enjoyed you deem precious? If I asked you to make a list of your precious things, what would your list include? Perhaps your list would include your family, your spouse, your children, or grandchildren. Would the list include your health? Perhaps your precious list would have in it some of your prized possessions and wealth. To the apostle Peter, the precious possession is the blood of Christ.
1Peter 1:18-21 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Was the blood of Christ in your list? Probably not. Even though THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST gives a person the greatest gift possible, we seldom think about or appreciate his PRECIOUS BLOOD.
Phrases referencing the blood of Christ seem bizarre to our modern culture. Allow me to give you a few biblical references. How about “brought near through the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:13). The thought of blood does not draw us near. It actually repels us. We turn from it. We do not want to touch it, and we do not want it on us. So we wash it off as quickly as possible. Yet, Peter says, THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST. Is it precious to you? How about the biblical phrase “washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev 1:5)? To us, blood stains, not washes. However, the truth is the blood, and only blood, keeps us alive by its ability to wash. Blood is literally the cleansing agent of life. Without its cleansing ability, we would all die within minutes.
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood…
ILLUSTRATION: Take a normal blood pressure test kit. Put it on your arm and pump it to 200 mm of mercury to stop the blood flow. Perform any task with your arm for a short time. At first, you will do just fine. Next, weakness will come. Then discomfort and pain will come followed with muscle cramps. You hand will no longer function as it did. In a few minutes comes agonizing pain like needles in your arm. You will begin to see the discoloration in your palm and fingers. Release the pressure and blood rushes into your arm.
Suddenly, your muscles move without restriction or pain. It feels so good. What happened? While the blood flow stopped, the cells in your arm and hand continued to produce waste products called metabolites normally washed away instantly in the bloodstream. The cells were not “cleansed” by the blood. Within minutes, you felt the agony caused by the toxins in your arm and hand. Imagine, if you can, your entire body experiencing this. Blood flowing through your body constantly removes waste and brings oxygen to supply every living cell.
This is what the blood of Jesus does for us.
It brings a rush! Do you remember when you first came to Jesus and the rush you felt? You may have cried, or laughed, but an exhilaration (rush) happened. When you became a believer and received his blood, it flooded your being – spirit, soul, and body. You thought and talked differently. You desired spiritual things. It immediately washed the waste – “metabolites” of your past and began changing your life into something good. It redeemed you! Things immediately got better. It washed you from the bad and made your bad past into something good. HALLELUJAH!
The blood does wash and cleanse! DO YOU APPRECIATE THE BLOOD? Is the blood of Christ precious to you? Maybe one day you cut off the circulation. You got away from Jesus. At first, you went on as normal. Then stuff began to happen – metabolites. You began to feel strangled. You began to hurt. It felt like needles all through your life. The hurt became or will become, excruciating. You needed cleansing and when you get it, there is a rush of his love and life!
Previous generations saw blood as more precious than my generation.
My generation is the first “bloodless” generation. Let me explain. Blood was an everyday substance to our not-so-distant ancestors. The slaughter of their supper and the spilling of the supper’s blood was a daily event. It was not until the 1920’s Frigidaire developed what we call the “Refrigerator.” Still, it took years for people to have one in their homes. Until then, other than salting it down, there was no way to keep meat eatable. They killed chickens, cattle, and hogs. They cleaned freshly caught fish. So they saw blood on a daily basis.
Today, we find our meat in shrink-wrapped packages already drained of blood. We do not relate to the slaughter and the blood. When was the last time you saw the blood of a fish, animal, or fowl you ate? Did my statement cause you queasiness? Many of us have never seen the blood of the animal, fowl, or fish we ate for supper. This is what I am attempting to relay to us. We do not appreciate the blood. The fish, animals, and fowl gave their blood so you could eat and live.
When it comes to “Easter,” the importance of Christ’s blood is totally lost, or at least greatly obscured, in chocolate bunnies and Easter egg hunts.
We think about those items at Easter much more than we think about the blood of Christ. We give great thought to egg hunts and baskets of chocolate bunnies. Also, we make certain our children and grandchildren get to go on egg hunts and have a basket full of candy. However, do we make certain they APPRECIATE THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST? Is it precious to you?
Our entire belief in Jesus Christ is all about his PRECIOUS BLOOD. Remove the blood and there is no redemption, salvation, or heaven when you die. Yet, our modern society moves further and further away from the appreciation of blood penetrating our Bibles.
When Mel Gibson released The Passion of the Christ, some parents objected. They said the movie was too violent for their children to watch. The Italian author Riccardo Zucconi would not allow his son to see The Passion of the Christ. Instead, he allowed him to watch a different movie called The Gospel According to Matthew. He said, “That film is very deep and you don’t see a drop of blood.” I am sorry, but God did not allow the cross to be as bloody as it was for us to sanitize it. We cannot sanitize the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST because blood means life and there is nothing greater a person can give.
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
True story: A doctor explained to a little boy how his sister needed a blood transfusion to survive a disease the little boy recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor. “Would you give your blood to Mary?” the doctor asked. No one really understood why Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, “Sure, for my sister.” Johnny grinned at weak Mary as the transfusion began and watched the blood flow through the tube leaving his body and going into Mary’s.
With the ordeal almost over, Johnny’s shaking voice said, “Doctor, when do I die?” Then the doctor realized why Johnny hesitated and why his lip trembled when asked to donate his blood. He thought giving his blood meant giving his life. In a brief moment, he made his decision to die for his sister. Of course, Johnny did not die, but he was willing to die for his sister. This is what Jesus did for you. He died and gave his PRECIOUS BLOOD so you could live. Is his blood precious to you?
True Story:
In 1949, a man returned from WWII to find his grandmother very ill with a kidney problem. The doctors said she needed a blood transfusion immediately or she would not live through the night. The grandmother’s blood type was AB negative, a very rare type, and with no blood banks in those days, it looked bad. No one in the family had this type of blood and the hospital had not been able to find anyone with the rare type. The man’s dad decided to go home, change clothes, and return to be there for the death of his mother. As he drove, he passed a soldier in uniform hitchhiking.
He was not going to pick up the hitchhiker, but something compelled him to pull over. The soldier got in, but the man said little to the soldier. The soldier noticed the man was upset and asked what was wrong. He told the soldier his mother was going to die because the hospital could not find anyone who could donate AB-negative blood. He told him he was heading home to change clothes and go back for the end. It was then he noticed the soldier’s open hand holding dog tags reading AB negative. The soldier said he would give the blood. The woman recovered because of the blood and lived 47 more years. Jesus died so you could live an abundant life.
As blood comes, life comes. When the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST comes into you, there is a transfusion of his life into you. It is a victorious, wonderful, and eternal life.
John 6:53-54 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
On January 27, 2005, there was a Los Angeles Metrolink train wreck. Eleven people died and many others were injured. They found a man trapped in the debris. The man’s name was John and he left a written message on the back of a seat to his wife and children… using his own blood. It said, “I love my kids. I love Leslie.” They found the message and relayed it to his family. This is what Jesus did for you and me? In his own blood, he left us a message telling each of us how much he loves us. DO YOU APPRECIATE THE BLOOD OF CHRIST? Is it PRECIOUS to you?
The PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST must be on you.
TRUE STORY:
A man tells a story about a car crash years ago when he was 5 years old. It was before seat belts and airbags. His family, driving home at night on a two-lane road, saw a car cross the centerline and head for them at a high speed. The boy sat in his mother’s lap. The drunk driver hit them in a head-on collision. After the crash, the man remembers being covered in blood from head to toe. However, it was not his blood. It was his mother’s blood. When she saw the car heading for them, she instinctively pulled the boy to her chest and curled her body around his. Her body slammed against the dashboard. Her head shattered the windshield.
She took the impact of the collision so her child would not have to. In a more significant way, Jesus Christ took the impact for our sins and crashed lives. His blood covers us. He took the crash for you. As he pulls you close into his chest to hold and protect you, he cannot help but get his blood on you. As the blood of the boy’s mother covered him to save him, THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST will cover you. It’s precious. He wants what he did on his cross to take the impact for you. It’s not bizarre. It will draw you near. It will wash you.
Do not lose the importance of the precious blood in eggs and bunnies. Tell your children about the blood of Christ. Let his blood transfuse/transform – redeem you. He has a covenant written in his own blood to do just this. Allow him to take the crash for you today.
Precious Blood Do You Appreciate audio video 
Precious Blood Do You Appreciate audio video
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Feasts Of Israel Part 1 The Blood Of The Lamb audio
Palm Sunday Sermons Page video audio notes
Remember Me this Way – Palm Sunday sermon video audio notes
Eric Reed, Wheaton, Illinois; source: USA Today (4-6-04)
Kim Huffman, Precious Blood, www.sermoncentral.com
Jeff Strite, Illustrations, Preaching Today
Jeffrey Ebert, Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching