Nothing but the Blood

The following post is brought to you by Senior Pastor Jim Bolich of Prince Street Church Shippensburg, PA

(ok, not really, it is me writing it but only because I was so extremely inspired by the sermon I heard this past Sunday at church. Thanks Pastor Jim!)

If you grew up a Christian, you know the story of Easter. You know and believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and the only way to get inside of Heaven's gates is through that very salvation. I think sometimes we become numb to the story (it has almost the same effect as the Christmas story on us) and we forget to stop and truly think of the sacrifice that Jesus made for OUR sins. 

Today, I want to remember that sacrifice. I want to take a moment from my day's schedule and reflect on what Good Friday and the cruxification is all about and what it means for my personal salvation. 8 years ago (almost down to the month) I was on spring break to Georgia with a organization at Ship University called Christian Fellowship. We were pairing up with Habitat for Humanity and Quinnipiac University (from Boston) and were going to work on building houses for a week in a small community south of Atlanta, Georgia. Every night our group met in a small pavilion outside our cabin for a daily dose of devotions. Each evening had ended in a worship/jam session. On one such particular evening, we closed our session out with the song Nothing but the Blood and the spirit just moved me. I have no other way to describe it. I sat in that pavilion and bawled like a little child just thinking about the unbelievable sacrifice that Jesus did for us so we could be forgiven of our sins.

Ephesians 1:7 states "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace"

Pastor Jim reminded this weekend

• "The cross is a symbol of Jesus' strength"
• "The cross is a revelation of Jesus' heart"
• "We are the ones who put Jesus on the cross because of our sins"
• ""The cross shows us that there is more love in God than there is sin in us"
• "The cross is a reflection of Jesus' glory"
• "The cross is a celebration of the awesome power of God unleashed into the human experience .... a reflection  of Jesus' glory"