"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1
In the Old Testament God required that the priests bring Him a sacrifice and place it on the altar. They could not just bring any sacrifice. They could not go out and get the one that they wanted to bring to God. They had to bring the one that He had required, otherwise He would not accept it.
While the command to bring a bull, a goat, a lamb, etc. has changed, the requirements for the sacrifice have not. God still has a sacrifice that He will accept and one that He won't.
The Bible says that we are now the sacrifices- "living sacrifices". The question is, "Are we presenting ourselves to Him in a manner which is acceptable or unacceptable?" There are a lot of people within the church who are bringing the Lord the kind of sacrifice that they want to bring Him. They present themselves to Him through religious behavior. They present themselves to Him through lips that are full of pride, lies or profanity. They present themselves through their "talk" about Him, instead of personal knowledge of Him. They present themselves through religious behavior, and they even present themselves through a sinful lifestyle. Even though they are "presented" to God, these are still unacceptable sacrifices.
There is one sacrifice that He requires and that's a "holy" sacrifice. Does your life represent one of "holiness"? Are you being a holy sacrifice? Do you worship the Lord in spirit and in truth? Do you give Him the glory, honor, reverence and respect that He deserves? Are you patterning your life after Jesus' example? Are you following His commandments and desiring to line your life up with them? Are you allowing the word of God to transform you? Are you having communion and fellowship with the Lord on a daily basis? Do you give Him first place in your life, relinquishing control to Him? Are you seeking to do His will and not your own?
One of two things happen when we present ourselves as those living sacrifices to God- He will either accept it or reject it. I don't know about you, but I want Him to accept mine. Therefore, I must make sure that I am living in a manner that pleases Him.... and it will be.
Have a great day. What type of living sacrifice are you? A holy, acceptable one?
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
"Faith And Works"
"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James 2:26
There are times when we are to "be still and know that I am God". It's in those times that there is nothing we can do but wait on the Lord- wait on Him to move, wait on Him to intervene, wait on Him for the answer. But more often than not, are the times when we should be putting some works to our faith. As was the case with the woman with the issue of blood.
This woman had faith. She had the faith to believe that Jesus would heal her. She knew in her heart that He was, not only the healer, but her healer. She had no doubt. But her faith alone did not bring healing to her body. It was her faith accompanied by her actions. Faith acts. She could have taken her faith and set down waiting for Jesus to do something- waiting for a miracle to happen. If so, she would not have been healed.
She believed, no doubt about it, but she had to act upon her faith and get up and press through the crowd and reach out and touch the hem of Jesus' garment- no sitting there waiting for some supernatural thing to happen just out of the blue. Can God move in our lives like that? Yes, He can. Will He move in our lives like that? At times He will. Does He need us in order to make it happen? No, He can do it without our help. But faith without works is dead, so there will be times we have to put some works- some feet, some movement, some stepping out- along with our faith. Peter had to step out of the boat, the lepers had to go show themselves to the priest, the man had to go wash in the pool, Abraham had to go to the mountain with his son. The Bible is full of examples of faith with works.
If you are standing in faith this morning for an answer, the first thing you need to find out is- is this a time to be still and wait on the Lord, or is this a time to put some works behind your faith. Like I already said, it will more often be the latter.
Have a great day. Faith requires some action some time.
There are times when we are to "be still and know that I am God". It's in those times that there is nothing we can do but wait on the Lord- wait on Him to move, wait on Him to intervene, wait on Him for the answer. But more often than not, are the times when we should be putting some works to our faith. As was the case with the woman with the issue of blood.
This woman had faith. She had the faith to believe that Jesus would heal her. She knew in her heart that He was, not only the healer, but her healer. She had no doubt. But her faith alone did not bring healing to her body. It was her faith accompanied by her actions. Faith acts. She could have taken her faith and set down waiting for Jesus to do something- waiting for a miracle to happen. If so, she would not have been healed.
She believed, no doubt about it, but she had to act upon her faith and get up and press through the crowd and reach out and touch the hem of Jesus' garment- no sitting there waiting for some supernatural thing to happen just out of the blue. Can God move in our lives like that? Yes, He can. Will He move in our lives like that? At times He will. Does He need us in order to make it happen? No, He can do it without our help. But faith without works is dead, so there will be times we have to put some works- some feet, some movement, some stepping out- along with our faith. Peter had to step out of the boat, the lepers had to go show themselves to the priest, the man had to go wash in the pool, Abraham had to go to the mountain with his son. The Bible is full of examples of faith with works.
If you are standing in faith this morning for an answer, the first thing you need to find out is- is this a time to be still and wait on the Lord, or is this a time to put some works behind your faith. Like I already said, it will more often be the latter.
Have a great day. Faith requires some action some time.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
"Pick And Choose"
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12
Last night I pulled out my children's illustrated Bible story book to read to my eighteen month old granddaughter. Of course we didn't get very far with the reading- she was more interested in the pictures. She loves ponies and puppies so all she wanted to do was turn the pages- back and forth- looking for puppies and ponies. I wonder how many of us are guilty of doing the same thing with God's word. You know- skipping the parts we don't like and turning to the ones we do like.
Do you skip over the commands in order to look for the blessings? Do you only want to hear the parts that tell you what God's responsibility toward you is but quickly turn past the passages that point out your responsibility toward Him? Do you overlook the verses that talk about sacrifice, self denial, repentance, taking up your cross? Are you more interested in reading about God's love but neglect to read about His justice? Do you like the promises but look past the conditions that you have to meet in order to receive the promises?
You can't divide the Word of God- you can't dissect it into pieces and take only the pieces you like. You can't receive some of it and reject the rest. You can't have the blessings and promises without the conditions. You can't have the glory without the suffering. You can't have the victory without the battles. You can't have it your way, picking out only what you want.
God gave us the "whole" word, we have to have all of it- what we like and what we don't like, what is good and what seems bad, the conditions and the promises, the do's and the don'ts, the blessings and the chastening, the sacrifice and the rewards. The whole Word of God works together for our benefit- every chapter, every verse, every word, every part.
Have a great day. It's like one man said, "The Word of God is not a buffet; you can't pick and choose what you want".
Last night I pulled out my children's illustrated Bible story book to read to my eighteen month old granddaughter. Of course we didn't get very far with the reading- she was more interested in the pictures. She loves ponies and puppies so all she wanted to do was turn the pages- back and forth- looking for puppies and ponies. I wonder how many of us are guilty of doing the same thing with God's word. You know- skipping the parts we don't like and turning to the ones we do like.
Do you skip over the commands in order to look for the blessings? Do you only want to hear the parts that tell you what God's responsibility toward you is but quickly turn past the passages that point out your responsibility toward Him? Do you overlook the verses that talk about sacrifice, self denial, repentance, taking up your cross? Are you more interested in reading about God's love but neglect to read about His justice? Do you like the promises but look past the conditions that you have to meet in order to receive the promises?
You can't divide the Word of God- you can't dissect it into pieces and take only the pieces you like. You can't receive some of it and reject the rest. You can't have the blessings and promises without the conditions. You can't have the glory without the suffering. You can't have the victory without the battles. You can't have it your way, picking out only what you want.
God gave us the "whole" word, we have to have all of it- what we like and what we don't like, what is good and what seems bad, the conditions and the promises, the do's and the don'ts, the blessings and the chastening, the sacrifice and the rewards. The whole Word of God works together for our benefit- every chapter, every verse, every word, every part.
Have a great day. It's like one man said, "The Word of God is not a buffet; you can't pick and choose what you want".
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
"The Pain- Part 2"
"And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." 2 Samuel 12:13
Yesterday we talked about how pain makes us aware that there is something not right in our body that needs attention, and if we ignore it it won't go away. We used this as an analogy to sin. Conviction alerts us to the fact that there is sin in our lives and we should not ignore it but give it our attention. I left you with this closing thought, "Ignoring pain won't make it go away. Ignoring sin won't make it go away either."
I received a reply from my cousin and she made the statement, "You can even mask both temporarily, but that doesn't make them go away." That is so true. I finally wound up at the doctor last week with my hand. After giving me a diagnosis, he decided to treat it with an injection. May I tell you that the next day my hand was almost 100% better- the pain was gone, I had back full range of motion, I could barely tell I had an injury. But then two days later, the pain started coming back, the movement was limited and today it hurts.
The point? The injection "masked" the pain. The problem was still there even though it did not "feel" like it was. Like my cousin said, masking it only "temporarily" deals with it. It's the same way with sin. You can "mask" it too. You can try to justify it, try to reason it away, try to make excuses for it, but it is still there. You may not "feel" it for a while. You may feel that you have peace in that area. You may feel that because it is "out of sight" that it has been taken care of, but it is still there. Don't think so? Ask King David.
David tried to "mask" it by sending Uriah to the front lines, by marrying Bathsheba, by raising their little child. He tried to hide it under the "crown"- he thought his "position" would take care of it. But it didn't, it was still there. How do we know it was still there? God sent the prophet Nathan to tell him so.
Two questions this morning: Are you ignoring your sin? Are you trying to "mask" it? Either way, it's still there, it hasn't gone away. It may "feel" like it has. It may "feel" better. But that "feeling" is false, it's just a mask. It hasn't healed it, it hasn't washed it away, it hasn't taken care of it. Only repentance- as was in the case of David- will take care of it. Repentance brings true healing. Stop ignoring your sin, stop trying to hide it under a "mask" because eventually it's "pain" will come back and you will have to deal with it sooner or later. Why not sooner?
Have a great day. A mask only covers up what's really there. Take the mask off and deal with the sin, then it will go away.
Yesterday we talked about how pain makes us aware that there is something not right in our body that needs attention, and if we ignore it it won't go away. We used this as an analogy to sin. Conviction alerts us to the fact that there is sin in our lives and we should not ignore it but give it our attention. I left you with this closing thought, "Ignoring pain won't make it go away. Ignoring sin won't make it go away either."
I received a reply from my cousin and she made the statement, "You can even mask both temporarily, but that doesn't make them go away." That is so true. I finally wound up at the doctor last week with my hand. After giving me a diagnosis, he decided to treat it with an injection. May I tell you that the next day my hand was almost 100% better- the pain was gone, I had back full range of motion, I could barely tell I had an injury. But then two days later, the pain started coming back, the movement was limited and today it hurts.
The point? The injection "masked" the pain. The problem was still there even though it did not "feel" like it was. Like my cousin said, masking it only "temporarily" deals with it. It's the same way with sin. You can "mask" it too. You can try to justify it, try to reason it away, try to make excuses for it, but it is still there. You may not "feel" it for a while. You may feel that you have peace in that area. You may feel that because it is "out of sight" that it has been taken care of, but it is still there. Don't think so? Ask King David.
David tried to "mask" it by sending Uriah to the front lines, by marrying Bathsheba, by raising their little child. He tried to hide it under the "crown"- he thought his "position" would take care of it. But it didn't, it was still there. How do we know it was still there? God sent the prophet Nathan to tell him so.
Two questions this morning: Are you ignoring your sin? Are you trying to "mask" it? Either way, it's still there, it hasn't gone away. It may "feel" like it has. It may "feel" better. But that "feeling" is false, it's just a mask. It hasn't healed it, it hasn't washed it away, it hasn't taken care of it. Only repentance- as was in the case of David- will take care of it. Repentance brings true healing. Stop ignoring your sin, stop trying to hide it under a "mask" because eventually it's "pain" will come back and you will have to deal with it sooner or later. Why not sooner?
Have a great day. A mask only covers up what's really there. Take the mask off and deal with the sin, then it will go away.
Monday, July 27, 2009
"The Pain"
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9
A couple of weeks ago I hurt my hand. For the most part it has been all right, but certain movements would cause some severe pain. Even though the pain has subsided, and I am on the mends, if I strain it, or do a lot of repetitive movement or lift something heavy it will send me a "painful" reminder of the injury. The pain maybe mild or it might be a sharp shooting pain, but I know it when it happens.
My point to telling you this? Sin in the life of a believer should be like this. Even the slightest movement in it's direction should cause a "pain"- a quickening and conviction in our spirits. We should "feel" it. We should be sensitive it to and well aware of it's presence. I believe there is something wrong when we can continue to commit the act of sin and we don't feel any remorse, conviction and aren't repentant toward it. It can only mean that we have allowed our hearts to be hardened or our conscience sheered.
Pain is not necessarily a bad thing. It alerts us to the fact that something is not right. It is also a warning that there is a problem in the body that may need attention. We have been given a conscience and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to "alert" us when there is a problem spiritually. We don't need to ignore its warning signals. When my hand is sending me a signal of pain, I try to rest it, wrap it to give it more support or do something that will help it.
Let me ask you, are you ignoring the warning signals that the Spirit is using to get your attention concerning a matter of sin in your life? Are you heeding His warnings? If I continue to ignore the signals my hand is sending I will only make it worse instead of better. Don't think you can ignore the warnings that are alerting you to sin and think that it's going to get better- it won't. These warnings have to be heeded and the sin issue has to be dealt with. It won't just "go away", it won't just "get better" on its own. You must confess it, repent of it, and turn from it. That is the only thing that will bring it "healing" to the sin issue.
Have a great day. Ignoring pain won't make it go away. Ignoring the conviction of sin won't make it go away either.
A couple of weeks ago I hurt my hand. For the most part it has been all right, but certain movements would cause some severe pain. Even though the pain has subsided, and I am on the mends, if I strain it, or do a lot of repetitive movement or lift something heavy it will send me a "painful" reminder of the injury. The pain maybe mild or it might be a sharp shooting pain, but I know it when it happens.
My point to telling you this? Sin in the life of a believer should be like this. Even the slightest movement in it's direction should cause a "pain"- a quickening and conviction in our spirits. We should "feel" it. We should be sensitive it to and well aware of it's presence. I believe there is something wrong when we can continue to commit the act of sin and we don't feel any remorse, conviction and aren't repentant toward it. It can only mean that we have allowed our hearts to be hardened or our conscience sheered.
Pain is not necessarily a bad thing. It alerts us to the fact that something is not right. It is also a warning that there is a problem in the body that may need attention. We have been given a conscience and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to "alert" us when there is a problem spiritually. We don't need to ignore its warning signals. When my hand is sending me a signal of pain, I try to rest it, wrap it to give it more support or do something that will help it.
Let me ask you, are you ignoring the warning signals that the Spirit is using to get your attention concerning a matter of sin in your life? Are you heeding His warnings? If I continue to ignore the signals my hand is sending I will only make it worse instead of better. Don't think you can ignore the warnings that are alerting you to sin and think that it's going to get better- it won't. These warnings have to be heeded and the sin issue has to be dealt with. It won't just "go away", it won't just "get better" on its own. You must confess it, repent of it, and turn from it. That is the only thing that will bring it "healing" to the sin issue.
Have a great day. Ignoring pain won't make it go away. Ignoring the conviction of sin won't make it go away either.
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