Good day to you, I hope all is well and that Father in Heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ are moving in and blessing your life. I tell you, give your life to Him and study to find out who He is and what all this is about. When you are done, it will change your life. But alas, you will never be done finding out the wonders of God because when you think you have figured it out, there are new things to learn about Him. But that is not a bad thing….. because the more you know… the more you can feel His love and experience the peace that comes from knowing the Creator of all things.

Ya know, last week as I was giving the message, I came to a realization, I was telling you to come to Christ and trust Him with your life. That may be well and dandy for those of you who understand who He is, but for those that don't quite get it or to unbelievers who have no concept who Christ is, it means nothing or very little. Ultimately, I must give the message that the Spirit gives me and leave the rest to Him. In teaching or learning about Christ unto salvation, we are all links in the chain that will lead an unbeliever to Jesus and Eternal Salvation. So the part I play will be the connecting part that someone else had been. So if your ministry seems to lack some areas that you feel you should be teaching or serving in, it might just be that it is not your responsibility to handle that and Jesus will send someone else to fill that gap that you are leaving out. Don't worry, all is in God's hands! But this week, I am being led to tell you what Jesus is.

You have been told that Jesus is the Way,… know Jesus know peace, no Jesus no peace,… trust the Lord,… turn your life over to God,… get saved,… and etc. and etc. But what do these catch phrases mean and who is this Jesus that is the Way, that we need to trust and who saves us? In short, He is the most wonderful person, both fleshly and spiritually, that has ever been known to this world. He is the Creator of all things seen, visible and invisible. He is love and He wants to share His love with all creation.

That being a brief overview, let's get more technical. He is the Sacrificial Lamb, that's right, a slaughtered lamb that pours out blood on an altar. In the culture of the Israelites, when you sinned you brought an animal to the High Priest and he would sacrifice it to cover your sins. After you left, you were clean until you sinned again. Here is what took place, you would bring the appropriate animal in and would hold it down on the altar by the head and stare into its eyes. Then the Priest would slice it's throat and collect the blood in a bowl, you then would stand in front of the Priest while he would dab some of the blood on certain parts of your body and then he would take an hyssop branch and dip it in the blood and then splash it all over you. When you left, you would be covered in blood and you would be considered clean unto God and your sins forgiven. But eventually, you would sin again and have to do this all over again. It was endless!

In that same way, Jesus went to the cross as our sacrificial lamb and spilt His blood for us. When we ask Him to forgive us, in the spiritual realm, our High Priest,.. Jesus,.. Hebrews 2:17,.. then sprinkles us with His blood to cover our sins. Hebrews 9:22 says, In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. And the first sacrifice with the shedding of blood came in the Garden, when Jehovah God slaughtered animals to give clothing to Adam and Eve. Or to say, a covering of sin, Genesis 3:21. But the beautiful thing about being made clean by the Sacrificial Lamb is that once you have stood before Him and been sprinkled with His blood, you are clean forever and that blood that He covers you with, keeps cleansing you and cleansing you….. 1 John 1:7-9… But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

When did He do all this? He did it when He went to the cross. Let me explain further so we can understand this Sacrificial Lamb business. This is the essence of Christianity and if you study it, it will do two things, it will blow your mind away at the revelation of what Jesus did for us and secondly, it will clear up all the confusion of our faith and will give you the understanding that you need to live the victorious Christian life.

On the day that Jesus was crucified, was the day of preparation for the Passover. There are many things that the Jews did for their celebration, and still do, but I want to address only a couple aspects of them. The Passover celebration had been changed from the original Passover that the Israelites had done that first Passover in Egypt when the Destroyer came and dealt the curse on that land. But the gist of the ceremony included all of the original things in a way that they could remember and teach the young children, so they would remember the event, as God had commanded them to.

On the beginning of the day, a lamb would be brought to the high priest and he would examine it to prove that it was without defect. If it was proven without defect, then it would be sacrificed in accordance with the lamb that was eaten at that first Passover. In the same way and at the same time, the Lamb,.. Jesus,.. was being examined to see if He was without defect by the "high priest", Pontious Pilate… Luke 23:1. Pilate "examined Him" and pronounced Him clean, … Luke 23:4,… Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, "I find no basis for a charge against this man." Jesus was without sin and was clean, without blemish. He is the only man that has walked this earth that can claim that. This is amazing stuff and with careful study of the Word of God, you will see that Father does not waste words in His Word and that all things have meaning and are relevant to our faith. Gems like this are found all through Scripture and with careful study, they will be found and bring enlightenment to us.

Now the Lamb was found to be clean and worthy to be sacrificed for the Passover. He was led to the altar, the Roman cross, for slaughter. The Bible tells us at 3:00, He died. It was at this same time when the high priest was sacrificing the Passover lamb for the festival. Can you see the similarity and the meaning why Jesus dies then? When Christ died, the Temple veil that stood in between the people and the Holy of Holies tore from top to bottom. This signified that a man would no longer be the mediator between God and man but that all could enter into the presence of God. The Holy of Holies could only be entered by the high priest and only once a year, but now God reached down and ripped that curtain apart to let us know that He would speak to us, One to one.

Jesus was our Passover Lamb, if you remember the story of that first Passover, the Israelites were to cover their doorposts with blood from the lamb that they slaughtered and then ate. Later that night, the Destroyer came and killed the firstborn of all the families that did not have the protection of the mark of the blood on the door. He passed over those homes that did have the mark of the blood and the firstborn children were safe and were saved. In the same way, Jesus' blood has covered the doorposts to our souls and when the Destroyer comes to kill, he passes over those hearts that have been painted with the Blood of Christ and we are saved.

Ok, we have seen how Jesus was the sacrifice for us and how His blood covers us and ultimately cleanses us and gives us that right to stand before God on the Judgement day in righteousness. Because when God judges us, if we are covered in the Blood of Jesus, He will not see our sins… but will only see the Righteousness of Christ and the cleansing power of His blood over our very being. Jesus' job was not done yet; one more thing had to be done to redeem us.

He had to pass over into Eternity on our behalf; He had to lead the captives to freedom. Peter stated at his message on the day of Pentecost, that Jesus was our Prince,… Acts 3:15,… the word prince used here was a nautical term that was used for a man that would dive off a ship and swim to shore and secure a rope to land. Then the rest of the men on the ship would grab that rope and use it to get to shore themselves. It was a dangerous thing and done when the seas were not so forgiving. That is what Jesus did for us! He jumped ship and brought the lifeline into eternity and we need to grab that rope and let it lead us into salvation and Eternal Life. But we must not let go but keep a firm hold onto it until we reach safety.

That same word, prince, can also be translated captain, Jesus is our Captain and He has secured our way and is the Leader for us to follow. He has made the path secure and has passed through those rough waters that we might find security and safety from dangerous waters onto a safe haven.

So you see, Jesus is the way to Eternal Life. He has broken down all the stumbling blocks and has cleared the way for us. He is the Leader and we are the followers. If we choose not to follow, then we perish… because there is just one way and that way is Jesus.

Which way will you choose, will you follow the Captain to firm ground and life.. and that eternal? Or will you choose to blaze your own trail and trust in your own good works? As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one… Romans 3:10. You can trust in your own righteousness and you will perish, or you can stand underneath the altar known as the Cross and let the blood that Jesus shed cover you and cleanse you. This is the only way to become righteous before a Just and Holy God, your righteousness and good works are nothing in the face of the cleansing, healing power of the sacrifice that Jesus made and died for you.

I ask you to make a decision now, ask Jesus to cleanse you of your sins and then repent of your old ways. Your old wicked ways. Repentance means to turn totally around and go the opposite way that you were before. Not only will He cleanse you but He will strengthen you to overcome the wickedness that you lived. He will empower you to overcome all things and live that life unto righteousness, if you only trust Him. The Christian life is not a hard thing, and it is not a boring thing. With the working power of the Holy Spirit in your life, life is easy. And when you become Christian, you will still dine out, snowmobile, go on vacations, play football or whatever is your hobby of enjoyment.

Turn to Him now and ask Him to come into your life, pray this with me….. Jesus, Micaiah is telling me that I need a Saviour to live in Heaven, he tells me that without You in my life, there is no way I can get there. Please come into my life and give me the assurance of Your healing touch over my life. Please make me righteous, so I can stand before God on the Judgement Day and enter Eternal Life forever with You. Thank You for the sacrifice that you made and for leading the way so I could come to be with You. Give me peace and joy, and send the Holy Spirit to help me live the Christian life. Thank You, amen.

If you prayed that prayer, please let us now and we can help you further in your walk with the Lord. It is a great life to live and it is never boring for those that love Jesus and have the assurance that He loves us! See you next time. God bless you to overflowing. Amen and Amen.

Church of Another Spirit