Pastor Ray…
Father, thank You for Your presence… we are hungry for You… thank You for working inside us, changing us, transforming us… thank You for Your Word…
I was reading through John chapter 7 this morning and I wanted to share a couple scriptures. I want to share something with you about the cross and the blood. These two scriptures always stand out to me. It was at the time of the feast. Jesus came when He was ready to come. He went to the feast. His brothers wanted Him to go. They didn’t actually believe in Him, along with a lot of other people. They wanted Him to get out there and reveal who He was, basically. So He went to the feast. In the Amplified, it says this was the final and most important day of the feast. He had been ministering in the temple. Jesus stood and cried in a loud voice, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” Verse 38 says, “He who believes in me who cleaves to, trusts in, relies on Me as the scripture has said from his innermost being shall flow continuously springs and rivers of living water.”
In my Bible I wrote, “There is an inflow. We drink. But there is an outflow.” There are other scriptures that we could read about it. He asked the question in a loud voice, “Is anyone thirsty?” Yes! Then let him come to Me and drink. And he who believes on Me, from his innermost being shall flow continuously springs and rivers of living water. That’s all Him. That’s His power. That’s the anointing. That’s a revelation of His love for us that He showed to us on the cross at Calvary when He went all the way through. I just wanted to start with that this morning and then we’ll worship for a little bit.
Annie led group in worship…
♪ Oh the blood of Jesus… it washes white as snow… there’s power in the blood of Jesus… we are washed by the blood of Jesus… we are saved by the blood of Jesus… made new by the blood of Jesus… it was love that held Him there… burdened by the world’s despair… stripped and scorned, the Son of God… love would choose what nails could not… giving life that I might live… losing all that I might give… light and hope for me they … is the cross and the crown… oh precious blood of Calvary, with every drop He thought of me.. and gave His life, love’s mystery… the precious of Christ… of precious blood… every drop explodes with love… a ransom paid, o what a price… the precious blood… oh precious blood… every drop explodes with love… ♪
Pastor Ray…
That song is beautiful and it’s actually what I wanted to read about today. “Every drop of the blood explodes with love.” Wow. I love it.
Annie shared…
I got that song as a picture. It was like a picture of Him choosing. Jesus said, “Don’t you think I could call and there would be thousands of angels here?” They didn’t have the power to do crucify Him, except He allowed it. Why did He allow it? For you and for me. He chose to allow them to do that to Him. When I saw the drops of blood falling and exploding with His redeeming love. Every single drop of His blood is so precious because of who He is. And because of who He chose with each drop. You and I are His reward. It’s for us that He went to the cross. Thank You, Jesus! They marveled when He was being tried before the leaders. He wouldn’t say anything in His own defense. Pilot said, “Aren’t you going to say something? Don’t you realize I have power to crucify you or to set you free?” He didn’t say anything because His words had so much authority, that if He had defended Himself, it would have made it impossible for them to crucify Him. So He kept His mouth shut. For you and for me. Precious blood of Jesus. Every drop explodes with His blood. Oh, hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord!
Pastor Ray…
I want to read this from Andrew Murray’s book called, “The Blood of the Cross.” There were three categories that he went in-depth about. One was the nature of the cross. Two was the power of the cross. Number three, the love of the cross. There are just a couple paragraphs I want to share with you. This is what he said.
The Nature of the Cross
We are so accustomed, in speaking about the cross of Christ, to think only of the work that was done there for us that we take too little notice of the source from which that work derives its value—the inner nature of our Lord of which the cross was only the outward expression. Scripture does not place in the foreground, as most important, the weighty and bitter sufferings of the Lord which are often emphasized for the purpose of awakening religious feelings. But the inner nature of the Lord, which led Him to the cross and inspired Him while on it—this Scripture does emphasize. Neither does Scripture direct attention only to the work which the Lord accomplished for us on the cross. It directs special attention to the work that the cross accomplished in Him, and which through Him must yet be accomplished in us also.
Pastor Ray commented…
I’m reminded of that song “even when we don’t know it, can’t feel it, can’t see it, He’s working.” The blood is working. He’s working. He goes on to say.
The Lord Jesus had to bring to naught the power of sin. He could do this only in His own person. Therefore, he came in the closest possible likeness of sinful flesh, in the weakness of flesh, with the fullest capacity to be tempted as we are. From His baptism with the Holy Spirit and the temptation of Satan which followed, up to the fearful soul agony in Gethsemane and the offering of Himself on the cross—His life was a ceaseless strife against self-will and self-honor, against the temptation of trying to reach His goal—the setting up of His kingdom—by fleshly or worldly means. Every day He had to take up and carry His cross. That is to lose His own life and will by going out of Himself and doing and speaking nothing except what he had seen or heard from the Father.
Can we find in the cross deliverance from this infirmity, the healing of all this disease? Cannot “the blood of the cross” make us partakers always, without ceasing, not only of the blotting out of guilt, but also of victory over the power of sin?
It can. Draw near to hear once more what the cross proclaims to you. It is only when we understand aright and receive into our hearts the love of which the cross speaks that we can experience its full power and blessing. Paul indeed bears witness to this: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I life; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
Faith in the love of Him “Who gave Himself for me” on the cross enables me to live as one who has been crucified with Him.
The cross is the revelation of love.
Pastor Ray commented…
There you go. That’s the song we just sang. It’s a revelation of His love. He goes way in-depth on the power that is in the cross and the blood. But when I was reading this, that statement stood out to me like 3D! The cross is a revelation of His love. So I was blessed when you sang that, Annie: “every drop is an explosion of that love.” When we get that revelation, you’ll shout just like Annie did.
I’m going to take a few minutes to share something.
It was 26 years ago, a pastor friend of mine and another younger man went to Toronto, Canada to attend the move of God that was happening there. We were hungry and thirsty for Him. We were late for the service. The music was finished. We came in time for the offering. Then came the ministry of the Word on the compassion that Jesus walked in. Then there was an altar call. We went up to the front along with about 100 other people. As I walked up to the front… I’m sharing this experience with you of what I saw in that statement that the cross is a reflection or it is His love. I’m walking up the aisle and I have my eyes open. There is no background on the platform. It’s in a warehouse. There is no nice looking background. I’m walking up the aisle and right over the top of the stage, slanting toward me there was a cross. I didn’t have time to think about it. It happened so fast, I thought, “What is this about?” It was a huge cross, it would be five times larger than this cross. No one else saw it. It was an open vision.
Then fast forward, we received prayer. Many, us included, went for prayer several times. Because we were thirsty for God! We came back to Minneapolis and I remember one of the pastors here picked me up at the airport and asked, “How was it?” I said, “It was great.” He asked, “Do you think we should all go?” I said, “I don’t know.” He asked, “What do you think happened to you?” I said, “I don’t know.”
I know what took place but I didn’t know what happened inside me. It was three days later when some things happened in our old building. The Spirit began to speak up so loud within me I couldn’t deny Him. The voice of the Spirit. Words began to come forth through me for others. I was changed. Changed from one degree of glory to another. When I read that the cross is a revelation of God’s love for each of us… Because of that, I have an attraction to the cross. It means something to me. A revelation of His love for us will cause you to do things we would never otherwise do. It will cause us to speak out and prophesy and pray for people. It’s all in the revelation of His love for us that is represented on the cross. It caused me to want more of Him.
I want to speak for a minute to speak to those of you that are tuning in on the Internet. Father, I declare that same revelation of Your love for us that was demonstrated on the cross at Calvary would be in you. That you would be willing to drink the water from heaven. To receive into you a furtherance in you for Him. Just receive greater revelation of what He has done for you personally. I plead the blood of Jesus over each one of your families… covered in His blood. The Word tells us to testify about the blood, about what it has done and will do.
Prayed…
Some things that were broken are being restored in this day… so open your eyes to see what the Spirit has brought unto thee… and cooperate with Me and My love will flow through you from heaven above… living waters… and a greater revelation of My love through My Son unto each of you… Thank You for the blood of Jesus… No, we’ll not brush it off or make light of it… we’ll not treat it casually… we reverence the power in the blood… so how will it work out? It’ll work out right, saith the Lord… My blood has done it… it’s not too late to know… and to see… to do and speak… to be who I have called you to be… no, we’ll not be contained… we’re moving out and through… we’ll not be held back… or boxed in… thank You, Father…
I saw this today in the back of my Bible. “All who are thirsty, all who are weak, come to the fountain.” What is that? The blood and His power, that over flow of rivers of living water that will flow through us.
We’ll keep our interests up, our expectation high till we reach a higher level that we can move from to another level… I keep getting this about things that were out of sync or broken… There had been something like a separation. Restoration today! Health, wholeness and prosperity in every way… entrances, new … new doors of opportunity… new steps, new ways of seeing some things … I know what it is! Paradigm shifts… I never called you to stay the way you’ve been… to stay the way you are… I called you to move up… continually out…thank You for the power of the blood of Jesus… lies, inaccuracies, untruths, rumors, deceiving ways, you are under our feet… for we have overcome by the blood of the lamb… more than overcomers… we break out of our old patterns… that’s part of the paradigm.. a new way of seeing some things…O Father!.. some things that you thought were so big… words that you heard that were trying to call you down, you’ve already begun to come out of that. The blood has set you free. There is freedom in the blood. Annie, let’s sing about the blood again. I want us to magnify it.
Annie led group to sing about the blood…
