Introduction
1. Email Funny
2. A couple weeks ago, my family had a wonderful time at the YMCA...
Lora and Jason played soccer...
and then afterwards, there was a special event planned on the Y grounds...
Lunch was provided free of charge by Sonny’s BBQ...
There was a Christian band playing music...
Cotton candy and snow cones...
A moon bounce for the kids...
everything was free
And we really enjoyed several hours there...
They were doing this event to raise awareness about the 5 points of life...
There were a group of bike riders who were riding their bikes from Ottawa Canada...
all the way to South Beach Miami...
And all along the way, they shared their story about how different aspects of the 5 points of life had affected them personally...
It was very meaningful and moving...
3. What are the Five Points of Life?1
The Five Points of Life program represents the five ways that you can share life with others...
1. is donating blood...
when people donate blood...
Each donation is separated into red cells, platelets and plasma
and each donation can help three different people.
Red cells carry vital oxygen and are used for surgery patients and accident victims;
they can be stored for 42 days.
Plasma provides fluid often needed by trauma and burn patients,
it can be frozen and stored for one year.
Platelets only last five days;
they help the blood clot and are needed by many cancer patients, especially those in chemotherapy.
that blood has the power to save or extend the life of someone who is sick...
Perhaps some of your or someone in your family has received donated blood...
Maybe you yourself have donated blood to help others.
2. is apheresis,
I’m not real familiar with apheresis...
but it involves donating blood...
and the blood being separated into it various components...
and donating only the specific component of the blood that the patient needs...(such as plasma, platelets, or white blood cells)
and returning the rest of components to the person who donated it.
3. is bone marrow...
bone marrow donors provide stem cells needed for patients having transplants.
These cells build a new blood supply for the patient.
Bone marrow transplants are for people with leukemia, serious blood diseases and other disorders.
Bone marrow is not collected from a donor unless it is needed for a specific patient
4. is Organ and tissue donation...
Organ & tissue donations can help a wide variety of patients.
Kidneys, hearts, livers, lungs, corneas and more can be transplanted to replace damaged or diseased organs and tissues.
One donor often helps several patients regain normal lives.
People who wish to donate their organs and tissues should tell their families and sign Organ Donor Cards.
As Christians, we know that we don’t take it with us...
And even after we die, we are able to really help other people.
5. is Cord blood from the umbilical cord.
this is collected immediately after the birth of a baby from his or her umbilical cord,
it contains a high concentration of blood-forming stem cells.
The cells can be frozen and stored for more than 10 years...
Cord blood is used as an alternative to bone marrow for patients needing stem cell transplants.
Most cord blood transplant recipients have been children
4. As I began to think about the 5 points of life...
I began to realize that there is a spiritual application here as well...
Let me share with you the SPIRITUAL 5 points of Life
Body
1. First of all The Blood of Jesus (Hebrews 9:22)
A. Jesus is the ultimate blood donor...
without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin...
During Jesus’ life...He impacted many people...
but with His death on the cross...
and by the shedding of His blood...
He is able to bring life to every person who has ever existed!!
All we have to do is believe in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us...(John 3:16)
Repent of our sins...(1 John 1:9)
And live for Him!!
B. The songwriter wrote:
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!!
O precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.2
2. Stewardship (apheresis) Matthew 10:8
A. In Matthew 10...
Jesus sends out His 12 disciples so that they can serve and minister to others...
And Jesus says, “Freely you have received, freely give.”
We have been given so much...
God blesses us in so many ways...
He blesses us spiritually...
He blesses us with material blessings...
He blesses us physically...
Just every way imaginable...God blesses us...
Since we have received so much from the Lord...
The Lord is asking us to give unto Him by giving and serving others.
B. I mentioned that apheresis is a method where a donor can donate just a portion of the blood that the patient needs...
the rest is returned to the donor.
I liken apheresis to stewardship...
In stewardship, most people give a portion...
In financial stewardship...many people start by giving a tithe...
Just 10%...
They don’t give 100%...
They give 10% and they get to enjoy the 90% that the Lord has blessed them with...
But stewardship means more than just our money...
What about our time?...
We don’t need to give 100% of our time in service to the Lord...
The Lord desires us to have time to spend with our families...
time spent sleeping...time spent just enjoying life...
But certainly, the Lord would desire us to spend time in worshipping Him...
That’s why it is so important for Christians to make their way to God’s House on the Lord’s Day...
We are giving the Lord just a small portion of time in worship and prayer and praise and service to Him...
3. The 3rd point of life...The Word of God (marrow) (Hebrews 4:12)
A. The writer to the Hebrews says that the word of God divides even the marrow and joints...
Bone marrow can provide new life to a child suffering with Leukemia...
The Word of God provides life to everyone who believes...
Peter tells Jesus in John 6:68...
“you have the words of eternal life”...
Certainly a patient who receives a bone marrow transplant can receive a new lease on life...
But, remember, it is only a lease!...
At some point, until the Lord returns...
everyone will experience death...
But God’s Word contains the words of Jesus...
God’s Word contains the words of eternal life!!
God’s Word has a way of getting to the inmost part of a person...
it divides the soul and the spirit,
the joints and the marrow;
it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
B. The word “marrow”, if you look it up in the dictionary as various meanings...
Marrow also means...the inmost part...the best part...the essential part...the choicest part.3
God’s Word contains the best part about life...
The fact that we can have ETERNAL life through Christ Jesus our Lord!!
God’s Word contains the essentials of life...
If you are looking for answers...
If you are looking for direction...
If you are wondering which way to turn along life’s journey...
you need to spend time in God’s Word!!...
God’s Word gets to the Heart of the matter.
4. Our legacy (compared to organ donation) Deuteronomy 6:6-9
A. In organ donation...
when we die, we can give our organs so that other people will be able to have a better life...
For our SPIRITUAL 5 points of life...
What are you leaving behind after you die?...
Are you leaving a spiritual legacy for your children?...
Are you leaving a spiritual legacy for your friends and neighbors?...
After you die...are you going to leave more than a lung or a kidney?...
are you going to leave behind the example of a life lived for Jesus?...
Jon Mohr wrote:
May all who come behind us find us faithful.
May the fire of our devotion light their way.
may the footprints taht we leave, lead them to believe,
and the lives we live inspire them to obey.
May all who come behind us find us faithful”
B. I trust that even now, we are working on leaving a spiritual legacy behind...
Death can be traumatic enough...
But, if our loved ones have the knowledge that we have loved and served the Lord faithfully...
if they realize that we are with Jesus...
If they remember the godly words of wisdom and guidance and direction that we have left behind...
then, long after we die, we can leave behind a legacy of life!!
5. Witnessing (cord)
A. In 2000, a young boy from Ocala named Austin Cash had a type of Leukemia4...
Austin’s parents weren’t able to donate bone marrow because they didn’t match...
A search was done of a registry, and an umbilical cord that was donated in 1997 was found.
Donating an umbilical cord has no adverse affects on the mother or child...
when the umbilical cord is taken...
it is typed and frozen for later use...
Because a woman agreed to donate her baby’s umbilical cord in 1997,
It literally saved the life of Austin in 2000.
B. Witnessing is the cord of life...
we are able to share our knowledge of Jesus Christ...
And that knowledge can save the life of someone else!!
That umbilical cord is like a lifeline for an unborn baby...
When we share the love of Jesus Christ...
In a way, we are extending a lifeline to another person...
Picture people that are dieing...
only, in this case, the cause of death isn’t leukemia...
cancer or some other dreaded disease...
In this case, the disease is sin...
And we have a miracle cure that is in our power to share with others...
What are we going to do?...
Are we going to extend the Cord of Life to others?...
Or are we doing to just turn our backs on a lost and hurting world?
Conclusion
1. A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.
“What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered -
he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Running out to the farmyard, the mouse cried out the warning.
There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said,
"Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."
The mouse turned to the pig and told him,
"There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr.Mouse,...
but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.
Be assured you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow and said
"There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The cow said,
"Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose."
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected,
to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house --
like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.
The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught.
In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.
The snake bit the farmer’s wife.
The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup,
so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.
But his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.
To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer’s wife did not get well; and later she died.
So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
2. The next time you hear about someone in a horrible accident...
or someone having major surgery...or an organ transplant...
don’t think it doesn’t concern you,...
we are all in this thing together...
We are all involved in this journey called life.
We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.
Certainly, if you can be involved in helping someone in their physical health through the donation of something we have talked about...
the 5 points of life...I would hope that you would...
3. But, even more important than helping someone’s physical health...
We have the ability to help someone’s SPIRITUAL health...
1. Jesus was the ultimate blood donor...by the blood of Jesus...
we have forgiveness for our sins...
2. By our stewardship...we are able to give back a portion of what we have been blessed with so much...
3. The Word of God contains the Words of Life...
4. Our legacy...what will people remember about us after we are gone?...
Will those memories encourage people to follow Christ?...
5. Witnessing...When was the last time that you shared your faith in Christ with someone else?...
4. Sometimes we make it so difficult...
telling others about Christ...
When we were at the YMCA the other day...
One of those bike riders came over and talked to our kids’ soccer coach and his wife...
She talked to them about donating bone marrow...
I just happened to be sitting nearby...
I was very impressed by this woman’s passion...
She was genuinely concerned about bringing life to sick children...
and she was telling them about donating bone marrow...
With heartfelt words, she told how we can have a life-changing impact on someone else through signing up as a bone marrow donor!!
She told how easy it was...
just 4 swabs with a q-tip in the cheek to check your dna...
and then, if you ever match with a patient to needs a bone marrow transplant...
they will call you...
yes...if you happen to be called upon to actually donate bone marrow
it can make you a little sore for a few days...
But look at the trade off...for just a little soreness on your behalf...
you are able to save someone’s life!!!
I found myself moved to sign up...so I did...
as did our coach and his wife...
5. But what has really stuck with me about all this is...
We have something far more valuable than our bone marrow...
more valuable than our blood or organs or tissue...
We have Jesus Christ!!!!
We ought to be sharing Jesus with just as much passion as that lady was sharing about donating bone marrow...
We have the cure for life’s worst disease...the disease of sin...
and all we have to do is tell someone else about it...
Once that lady shared about donating bone marrow...
then the responsibility fell to me...
it was my choice, whether to sign up or not...
And once you tell someone about Jesus and what He means to you...
It up to them, whether they will sign up or not.
You just let them see your genuine passion for Jesus....
I can save someone’s life!!
