(Breath of Life Theme Music)
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Sermon #B633 - The Blood
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John chapter 6, verse number 47.
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I'm going to read from the King
James version, I recognize many
of us, if not most of us, that's
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what we have in our possession.
So I'll read from there. John
chapter 6, verse number 47.
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John chapter 6, verse number 47
if your happy to me you say
Amen. [Congregation: Amen]
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Alright, the word of God says
"Verily, verily, I say unto you.
He that believeth on me have
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everlasting life. I am the bread
of life. Your fathers did eat
manna in the wilderness are
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then, this is the bread, which
cometh down from heaven, that a
man may eat there of and not
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die. I am the living"-- What
everybody? [Congregation:
Bread.] Bread, which came down
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from where? "If any man eat of
this bread, he then should live
forever. And the bread that I
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will give is my flesh, which I
will give for the life of the
world. The Jews therefore strove
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among themselves saying, how can
this man give us his flesh to
eat? Then Jesus said "Verily,
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verily as I say unto you, except
ye eat the flesh of the son of
man. And drink his blood, ye
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have no life in you, who so
eateth my flesh and drinketh my
blood had eternal life and I
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will raise him up, at the last
day. For my flesh is meat indeed
and my blood is drink indeed, he
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that eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood dwelleth in me
and I in him, as the living
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Father hath sent me. And I live
by the Father so he that eateth
me, even he, shall live by
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me.This is the bread which came
down from heaven, not as your
fathers did eat manna, and are
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dead, but he that eateth of this
bread, shall live, forever".
When you go home this afternoon,
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I want you to read the rest of
the chapter. It will give you
context, to what we will briefly
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share at this time. Father God
now, speak Lord, your servants
heareth. Prepare our hearts and
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prepare our minds to receive
these symbols. Symbols of your
broken body and your shed blood.
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Lord we're so unworthy, but we
thank You that because of Your
blood, You make us worthy today.
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We pray this prayer in the name
of Jesus, asking you to bless
the word today. Let everyone say
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Amen. [Congregation: Amen.] And
Amen. I want to zero in one more
time. On verse 56-- 54. "Who so
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eateth my flesh and drinketh my
blood, him, her, they have
eternal life". Verse 56, "He
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that eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood dwelleth in
me". Now, if Jesus were
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pastoring today and walking up
and down the streets of
Huntsville, talking about
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"Unless you drink my blood, and
unless you eat my flesh", I
believe there would be some
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people that would try to arrest
him or maybe even commit him to
a mental institution. Because if
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any preacher, anywhere, was
talking like that, you would
think they had lost their mind.
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Now, I believe that you love me
and I want you to know that I
love you too. But if I started
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telling you to drink my blood
and eat my flesh, somebody would
probably call Daniel-- Call the
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conference office, or maybe even
we'd lose some members because
you'd probably say "Pastor Byrd,
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has bumped his head. Pastor
Byrd, has lost his mind. His
elevator doesn't go up all the
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way anymore. He has resorted to
cannibalism". And you'd tell
visitors and people, that you
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had invited to church, "Let me
get you some of his old tapes.
Some of his old DVD's, before he
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lost his mind". Do I have a
witness in this place? You
weren't supposed to say Amen.
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Alright. But yet, that's what
Jesus said, "If you're going to
be connected to me. If you're
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going to be one of my followers,
if you want life, you must drink
my blood and eat my flesh". When
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Jesus started saying this, the
Bible says, after you read the
entire chapter, that the
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disciples started leaving Jesus.
Because Jesus was saying these
stuff. And when they all started
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leaving him, Jesus, the Bible
says, then turns to Peter and
says "Will you leave me too?"
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and Peter said "But if I leave,
where will I go? You have the
words of eternal life. I'm not
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going anywhere". Some of us,
even when we don't understand
what God is doing, we can't
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afford to get offended, because
we have to trust that God is
working out his sovereign will
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and purpose in our lives. God
never promised to explain
everything that He is going to
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do to you. Because the Bible
says, "The secret things belong
to God". As the old folks used
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to say "We'll understand it
better, by and by", so sometimes
then, in life, you've got to
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walk by faith and not by sight.
Sometimes, you've got to be
obedient to trust Him, even when
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you can't trace Him. Peter said
"Look, I have no choice. I have
no place to go, because in you
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are the words of eternal life.
So if that means I've got to
drink your blood, that means if
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I've got to eat of your flesh
then I must do it". Now,
sidebar, if you attend at
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Oak-wood a comparative religions
class, and they start talking
about various religions in that
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class, one of the criticisms
that comes up on Christianity,
is that Christianity is a bloody
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religion. Unlike Buddhism,
Confucianism, which teach higher
thoughts of reasoning by
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principles, philosophies and
ideas through meditation and
reflection, Christianity is a
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bloody religion. Throughout the
Bible, from Genesis to
Revelation, The Red Cross is
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always making appeals for blood
donors. it talks about blood.
How then in our current world,
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we however, don't appreciate the
blood. Because we don't have to
do what the old testament's
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saints had to do. You know, in
old testament times, instead of
bringing Bibles to church, the
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people brought lambs and goats
and bullocks and animal
offerings to church. And when
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you were trying to find a
church, you didn't have to see
how many miles you were from it,
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you didn't have to look for a
street sign to find it, nor did
you have to use a GPS to locate
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it, but you could smell the
church. You could smell the
stench of the burning, bleeding
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animals that were being laid on
brazen alters. And you knew that
something was dying, so that
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something else could live.
Somebody's going to get this in
the minutes. The people knew
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that a sinless animal, had given
up its life and was dying
innocently in their place, so
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they can continue to live. The
judgement that should've been
executed on the man, was now
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being executed on the lamb. So,
the lamb took the death of the
man, so that the man could take
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the life of the lamb. So, even
though you got away and you were
able to walk away free and
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clear, you walked away with a
certain awareness, that
something died in your stead.
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Now, remember, lambs, goats,
bullocks were just shadows,
types, models of what was to
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come. Because when Jesus came,
there was no longer need for
lambs, goats, bullocks because
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behold the lamb of God, which
taketh away the sins of the
world. So, now when you come to
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church, now when we come to
Oak-wood, the only reason we're
not bringing lambs, goats and
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bullocks anymore is because, the
blood of Jesus on Calvary's
cross, paid for your salvation
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and your sins are washed away.
Keep reading the text, the night
Jesus was betrayed he said to
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the disciples-- This is not just
the pass over you're taking,
this is not the commemoration of
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some lamb that Moses put on the
door post thousand of years ago,
but Jesus said "This is my body,
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that was broken for you" and he
gave them the bread, then he
gave them the cup and he said
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"As often as you do this, you do
so the Lord's death until he
comes", but why did he say that?
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He said it because he was going
to die, once and for all. That
we wouldn't have to come back
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once a year, every year, and ask
him to die again. That there
would be no other earthly
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reminder, to remind us again, he
said "Whenever you get to
Oak-wood, whenever you come to
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church and you take communion,
just remember that the life
you're now living was purchased
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with my dying". Every time we
come here, on communion sabbath,
it's a reminder that you belong
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to Jesus and Jesus belongs to
you. When you take the bread,
the symbol of his broken body,
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when you take the cup, a symbol
of his shed blood, understand
that's what paid for your
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healing. Your healing was not
paid by all states, it was not
paid by State Farm, it was not
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paid by Progressive or Geico or
some health insurance plan, but
your healing was paid for by the
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blood. And when we talk about
the blood, it's a kind of test
for us. It's something to
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meditate upon, it's something to
hold up to our lives to act as a
measuring stick, it's a blood
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test. What am I talking about?
Well, the doctors and the
scientists in this church will
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say that "When we think about
blood, we know there are
different types of blood". You
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have A blood, B blood, AB blood
or O blood. And even though
they're talking about different
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types of blood, A positive, B
positive, O positive, all these
types of blood focused and
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function I should say, in the
same way. They all take oxygen
and nutrients and remove carbon
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dioxide and other toxins from
the body. When the blood is not
working right and the organs,
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such as the liver and the lungs,
are not working right with the
blood, it can cause major
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sickness and even death. Why?
Blood is life for us. Jesus said
"Verily, verily I say unto you,
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unless you drink the blood and
you eat my flesh, you will not
have life". And when we test
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blood, when we have a blood
test, we can identify many
things about a person. When we
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have a blood test, we can find
diseases and infections and
problems that are happening in
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our bodies. That's why, before
we go to the doctor's office,
for our annual physical, we have
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to go a few days earlier to give
blood. Because, they need to
take a blood test, to find out
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what's going on in your bodies.
And when we come for communion,
it's a spiritual blood test. A
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spiritual examination. It's all
about introspection, it's about
looking at our lives and seeking
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out help with God's spirit. What
areas in our lives need to be
changed or corrected? Jesus said
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"Unless you drink my blood,
unless you eat of my flesh, you
will not have light" and so
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today, I thank God for the
blood. It purchased me, it
delivered me, it redeemed me, it
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saved me, it cleansed me, it set
me free. I thank God for the
blood. And one day when
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everything is set and done, at
the sound of the last trumpet,
when the dead in Christ shall
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rise first and we which are
alive remain to be caught up
with them in the clouds to meet
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the Lord in the air. When the
angel says "God, who are these
that we see coming and walking
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towards us?", God will say
"These are they, which have
dipped their ropes in the blood
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of the lamb, they've been washed
and they are now white as snow".
What can wash away my sins?
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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I thank God for the blood one
day when I was lost. You died
upon the cross and I know it was
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the blood for me. Somebody today
is happy in Jesus, somebody
today can clap their hands in
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Jesus, somebody today can stomp
their feet in Jesus. Why?
Somebody got a blood
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transfusion. There's a fountain
filled with blood, drawn from
Emanuel's veins and sinners
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plunge. Beneath that blood, lose
all the guilty stains. They
often run low on blood supply.
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If you remember after 9/11 and
the twin tower catastrophe in
New York, they stopped you from
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donating blood, because they had
so much blood they just needed
you to stop for a while. Because
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they can keep blood, preserve
blood and use it for a long
time. But any hematologist, any
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blood doctor will tell you they
can't keep blood forever,
because sooner than later your
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blood will lose its power. But
2000 years ago, Jesus left his
blood for anybody who had an
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emergency. So now I don't have
to dial 911, but I can dial 111.
1 for the Father, 1 for the Son
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and 1 for the Holy Ghost. And
after 2000 years, heaven has
never had to have a blood drive,
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because the blood of Jesus has
never lost its power. It still
reaches to the highest mountain,
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it still flows to the lowest
valley. I'm talking about the
blood of Jesus that gives me
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strength from day to day. It
will never lose its power. I
know that we like to get
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contemporary and I know we like
to get post-modern, but today
can I just give you some old
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time religion? It worked for my
great grandmothers, it worked
for my grandmother, it works for
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my mother, it works for my
father, it works for my wife, it
works for our children, it works
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for me, it will never lose its
power. I don't need Buddhism, I
don't need Confucius, I don't
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need Hinduism, I don't need
anybody else's blood, but the
blood of Jesus will never lose
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its power. "Unless, you drink of
my blood. Unless you eat of my
flesh, you will not have life".
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Today I offer you the blood, it
will never lose its power. You
don't have to worry about it
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losing its potency. You don't
have to worry about it losing
its strength. But the blood will
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never lose its power. I don't
care what you did last night, I
don't care what you did last
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week, I don't care what you did
last year but the blood will
never lose its power. So, unless
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you drink it, unless you eat it,
you will not have life. Jesus
said "I came, but you might have
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life and you might have it".
More of that sing it.
[background singing] It reaches
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to the highest mountain. It
flows to the lowest valley. The
blood that gives me strength
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from day to day, It will never
lose its power. It reaches to
the highest mountain. It flows
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