Blood – The Jesus Chick

Posted in Bible Journaling, Christian Service, Evangelism, Faith, Life Inspiration, salvation

The World Needs a Hero

Written by talk2shari Published July 2, 2020July 2, 2020 Discussion Leave a Comment

So yesterday I shared a post on Facebook from Dennis Prager, the founder of Prager University, an online source for information “to promote what is true, what is excellent, and what is noble through digital media, we make exceptional video content that advances Judeo-Christian values. By reaching millions of people every day, they educate, influence and changes minds.” Or so their website says. His “Fireside” chat about neither blood nor race mattering in the scope of love was great. And while I agree, and even responded about how much my friend Gloria, a non blood relative meant to me, I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind…

“Blood does matter.”

As I went to sleep last night, that thought was there. As I awoke this morning, that thought was there. Obviously the Lord wanted me to address it.

I married David Johnson, August 16th, 1980. My first and only love. We will celebrate our 40th year of marriage this year. Unbelievable! As they say, it’s not a record, but it’s not the norm anymore. To look back and see how we survived each other is only by the grace of Almighty God. David is not my blood relative. (No matter what they say about West Virginians.) So when Mr. Prager said as a child he realized that love wasn’t about the blood, he was correct. And while his catchy title in this day of argumentativeness over race was effective on getting my attention, blood does indeed matter in the scope of eternity. Not mine. Nor David’s, but the blood of Jesus matters.

Contemporary churches of today have all but removed the blood from the church. They’ve taken it from hymnals, they no longer preach it, they no longer use it for the premise of salvation for it offends the world. Why is that? Why is blood so important in the matter of families, but offensive in the matter of faith?

I will confess that the site of blood makes me queasy. I couldn’t watch the movie “The Passion of Christ.” It was far too graphic for me. I am however glad to have seen images from the movie, because it gives me an greater understanding of the price my Lord paid for my freedom and my eternal relationship with Him. Those images are seared into my mind, but I doubt they do the reality justice. Satan wanted to destroy Jesus. And he thought he had as Jesus hung on that cross suffering, as He was removed and placed in a tomb. As they sealed it up… Oh, I’m sure Satan did a little victory dance. But then the tomb was found empty! Woohoo and Glorrraaaayyy! It was a new day in Dodge! But it wasn’t the Calvary that had shown up to rescue the world, it was the same Jesus that hung on the cross as meek as lamb, but returned with the vengeance of a Lion.

Without the blood of Christ, there would have been no hope of salvation for man. There’s not enough critters in the world to atone for the sins of this fallen society. But the world doesn’t want the blood. Not the blood of animals, not the blood of God. They want Heaven, they want some type of eternal peace, but not the humility of Christ’s sacrifice. If we genuinely see that in the context of the cross, we know, “I can do nothing to repay Christ for His suffering.” His blood mattered.

So how do we explain that to a fallen world who wants nothing to do with the blood or the Savior? How do we explain that it needs to matter to them too?

They must first see the effect of the blood in the lives of the children of God. The evidence of Christ’s love for us was written and testified of throughout the scriptures. The Spirit reveals the truth of it through His word, be it in preaching or reading. Christ set the example of how we are to live and conduct ourselves as children of God, and then closed that chapter with the ultimate sacrifice, that when it was witnessed, His followers were willing to do the same. They had seen the power of the blood. Have we? Has this world?

Some have. Some have witnessed God do miraculous things, I’ve witnessed it. But how quickly those times are forgotten when the world garners our attention with its evil. We forget about the power that is in the blood. The blood that Christ took back to Heaven (Hebrews 9:12)

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

There was no other blood pure enough to enter that holy place, other than the blood of God’s only begotten Son. That blood on that day, took the price and the burden of sins away from all mankind, whether or not they accept it or desire it. And that has to be seen as evidence in the life of a child of God. Even in the face of this adversity we are in, we have got to continue to live in the victory of Jesus, that He will bring us through this crisis. If the world sees Christians falling apart, then they will not see that His blood mattered.

Satan continues to try to rid the church of the blood, to give a counterfeit version of all that God provides, but He cannot find anything that replaces the blood of Jesus. Which is why it’s so important for him to get it out of the church. And why it’s so important for us to fight for it to stay.

When you think of the blood of Christ, how does it make you feel? As I thought about it this morning, I imagined me as the child of a the greatest Warrior and Hero of all time. He is ya know? How do you see Your Savior. Is He Your Savior? Have you accepted the price He paid for your peace and freedom on the cross of Calvary. If not, follow this 👉🏼link, or message me, and I’ll tell you how to to have the greatest day of your life!

Posted in Bible Journaling, Life Inspiration, salvation

The Signficant Three

Written by talk2shari Published November 18, 2017November 18, 2017 Discussion Leave a Comment

I heard it said and fear its true, in that “We’re raising a generation that doesn’t even know the basics” when it comes to Bible. Twenty years ago at the age of 34 I didn’t know beans about the Bible. Even the acronym B.I.B.L.E – Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth, sent me into note taking frenzy. I’d never heard even something so simple. What a concept! Every preaching service I’d sit on the edge of my seat like I was being spoon fed pure sugar from Heaven, and Hallelujah and I’m still the same. The Word of God has never gotten old because as a young Christian I heard the power of the Spirit, the Water and the Blood.

As a product of what was probably the first generation that took the gospel too lightly, the blood wasn’t something my squeamish stomach liked to hear about. It made me very uneasy to hear about the sacrifice of critters and then to hear about the sacrifice of the Son of God was a horror my mind couldn’t fathom, until, through the preaching of the Word, I began to understand that were it not for that sacrifice I would have busted Hell wide open. And I knew that there had been several times in my 34 years where I was inches away from gate. When I came to that realization the preaching of the blood no longer bothered me, but I’d raise my hand and shout Amen with the rest of those crazy Baptists because the Spirit inside of moved me and bore witness that there was a well of Living Water within me and I was seated in Heaven with the Lord Jesus.

But in the modern age of today the blood is being preached on less and less and is being traded for a lukewarm version that no longer allows people to understand there’s more to getting to Heaven than just showing up to church.

Oh… the work is done. But there’s a head and heart knowledge of 1 John 5:8 that must be understood.

The significant three

Spirit

February 18^th, 1996. That was the first time I remember feeling the Spirit in such a way that it made my heart well up inside of me to the point I thought it would explode! It missing in many, many services today, because that Spirit is a part of a threefold message. And without the other two, it’s not a complete message.

Water

At least 60% of the adult human body is made up of water and we can’t survive without it. A child of God won’t survive spiritually without the water of the word either. I was taught as a new Christian that if I wanted to grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, I needed to read and study the word of God for myself. It was then that I realized it truly was like water; flowing through my body and encouraging me as the world around me did everything within it’s power to discourage me. A few days without it and I would begin to feel my soul drying up and crying out for a drink from the well called “The Word.”

Blood

Medical minded people could give you far more information than I on the purpose of the blood for living, but I will only tell you of the blood that made all the difference! When God sacrificed the first animals to cover the newly discovered naked bodies of Adam and Eve, I can imagine their gut wrenching horror of that act. The act that they, through sin, had made necessary. It was my same reaction when I realized that through my sin, I had caused the very Lamb of God to be sacrificed on the cross as payment for my sin. I can’t watch movies like “The Passion of Christ,” because the images are just more than my heart can bear. Reading it in the Word and having the Spirit bear witness to me is enough to make me understand the blood was applied to my wicked heart and made it white as snow so that I could have a relationship with God.

I’m grateful for the preaching of the Word and that Saints of God took their role of discipling me serious. I pray I never take the significant three for granted, and that I never fail to take the opportunity to instill in this generation the basics of salvation. That is why the world is in the shape that it’s in. The basics have been forsaken for words that appease the flesh. I know that if my heart had not felt the piercing conviction of sin through the preaching of the Spirit, the Water and the Blood, I’d still be headed to Hell.

If you’ve know that word… thank a preacher!

Posted in Easter, Life Inspiration, salvation

What Makes Good Friday Good?

Written by talk2shari Published April 3, 2015 Discussion Leave a Comment

The year was 1996, and it was my very first Easter as a baby Christian. Everything was new to me, even though I had likely heard it for 34 years. But the tradition of the nails in the cross during Good Friday communion was definitely a new experience. As I recall there were 100 or so folks attending the service and invited to take communion as a family or group of friends. But prior to their taking of the bread and drinking of the cup each family member would take a long heavy duty nail and pound it in to the old rugged cross on the platform of the church. Again and again the hammer hitting the nail echoed as soft music played in the background.

Clang…. Clang… Clang….

Each family or group that went forward was a testimony of what the Lord had done in their life. Sobs could be heard throughout the building as the heaviness of situation laid on hearts. Christ wasn’t on the cross, but every nail was a reminder that we each were accountable for the crucifixion of our Lord. He did that for me; it was my sins that nailed Him to the cross, and it was His love that brought Him down and His resurrection that allows me to live with the hope of victory over death and the grave.

Good Friday. Not a good day for Jesus that year, but a great day for Shari Johnson. The sacrifice of sin was too high for me to pay. What piddlely little sacrifices I make are nothing in the scope of eternity. Thousands of lambs were slaughtered in Old Testament days but were only a symbol of the worthy blood that would spill on the cross of Calvary.

The Price of Victory

Victory over death…

Corinthians 15:55

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Victory over circumstances…

1 Corinthians 15:57

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Victory over the attacks of the world…

1 John 5:4

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

There is nothing that was not covered on the cross that day. Yes, it was our sin that caused the crucifixion, but it was His blood that fixed the sinner. If we are born of God, born again as Christ described to Nicodemus in

John 3 [Full Chapter]

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. …

Then we are to live in Victory! It’s us who live in defeat… and that’s not a worthy attitude for what Christ did. I pray today finds you with an attitude of Awesomeness! Because Christ believes you are. And that friend makes Good Friday Good!