-Obviously, blood is absolutely essential to life. No human can live without blood.
-For those who have experienced massive blood loss due to great trauma, a blood transfusion can be the difference between life and death
-For those with anemia, low red blood cell count, or thrombocytopenia, low platelet count, in their blood, a blood transfusion can save their lives
- In addition, individuals who suffer from hemophilia or sickle-cell disease may also require frequent blood transfusions to keep them alive and well
-According to the Mayo clinic about 25% of Americans will need a blood transfusion at least once in our lives
-However, only 5 percent of eligible donors actually give
-The military used to be a huge supplier of clean blood to the American Red Cross
-I remember at West Point, we used to be marched in formation down to Eisenhower Hall in order to go through the process of giving blood. Every quarter the Red Cross would show up and we’d all donate a pint. I ended up donating a couple gallons while I was going to school there.
-I don’t know anyone whose life I saved by donating but I’m sure that I have.
-Each unit of blood can help to save three people since each unit of whole blood is broken down into its component parts: red blood cells, platelets and plasma
-On average, a hip replacement typically uses one unit of blood, a cardiac bypass 2 units, a heart transplant 2 units, and a liver transplant 10 units!
-Because of the blood that I’ve donated, I’ve saved at least 48 lives. {PAUSE}
-That’s a little like what Jesus was saying in this section of scripture
-Of course, Satan likes to mock what God has instituted as blessed
-Satan takes God’s good gifts and turns them into curses
-Satan takes sex, divorces it from the marital union that it is supposed to bless and turns it into pornography, adultery or prostitution
-Satan does the same thing with the Lord’s Supper
-First, Satan conjures up in people’s imaginations that idea of vampires and folklore is borne
-According to folklore, it is the blood of humans, not Jesus’ blood, that is the means of giving life
-No longer does Jesus’ body and blood provide humans with everything they need to grow spiritually but according to legend, the blood of humans sustains the physical life of these fictitious, once-dead creatures {PAUSE}
-Secondly, Satan confuses the mind of many of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ
-Instead of simply accepting the words of Jesus at His last Passover celebration, “This is my body” and “this is my blood” they reject His word and come up with their own imaginings {PAUSE}
-It is akin to what Satan did in the Garden of Eden
-He undermines the words of God asking, “Did God really say?”
-And he tempts them to question God’s character
-Satan says, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." {PAUSE}
-So how about you?
-Where is it that you doubt God and His Word?
-Do you doubt God created the world the way that He records for us in His book?
-Do you believe in evolution or some semblance thereof like theistic evolution that combines evolution with creationism which ends up not really being creationism at all?
-Do you believe that Jesus is coming back the way that He says that He is or do you believe in some made up hocus pocus about Jesus’ invisible return to rapture all the believers only to return at some later point?
-Do you believe that Jesus is who He really says that He is, God incarnate, God in the flesh?
-Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross of Calvary on Good Friday, was dead, and buried and rose bodily from the dead on Easter morning?
-Do you believe that Jesus commissioned his disciples new and old to make Christians by baptizing them and teaching them God’s word?
-Do you believe that God’s word is true in every facet and every detail?
-Do you believe that Jesus’ body and blood given and shed for you on the cross comes to you in, with and under the bread and the wine in the Lord’s Supper?
-Do you believe Jesus’ words, “This is my body” and “This is my blood”?
-If not, you make God out to be a liar and God help you.
-Fortunately, God did help us
-God sent His Son Jesus Christ TO suffer and die for your sins of not trusting God’s word
-God DID raise Jesus from the dead to confirm that He is the promised Messiah
-God DID forgive all your sins by Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for you and for me
-May God the Holy Spirit continue to work His miracle of faith in our lives, especially as we come to the Lord’s Supper and receive His body and blood given in order to strengthen our faith in what Jesus has done
