What Kind Of God Do You Believe In?

In this message from 1 Samuel 2:1–11, David Platt urges us to view God based on the picture he reveals to us in Scripture, which should lead us to submit to him gladly.

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Transcript

Resource And Scripture Reading

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Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from radical dot net. Numbers chapter twenty eight, verse eight, like the grain offering of the morning and like its drink offering, you shall offer it as a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

Offerings And A Pleasing Aroma

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So this section in Numbers describes all kinds of different offerings that God's people would give in worship to God. And the phrase I want to hone in on and lead us to pray according to is at the end of verse eight here, where this food offering is described as having a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And what a picture of worship that before God is like an aroma that brings pleasure to God. That really does describe the essence of true worship. True worship is offering that which is pleasing to God, honoring to God, glorifying to God. And here in Numbers, it's a list of all kinds of different offerings.

Living Sacrifice In Romans 12

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But I think about Romans chapter 12, when I picture this pleasing aroma to God, when Paul writes, I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice as an offering, holy and acceptable to God, pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship. And this is where these verses in numbers and these offerings that we don't give in the same way today are such a helpful picture for us. Because yes, we don't give the food offering and the drink offering in the same way. We give our bodies as an offering to God in a way that would be pleasing

Making Daily Life True Worship

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to him. And I just want to encourage you to think about your life today in this way. What would it look like to live all day today as an offering that is pleasing to God? What would it look like today for our thoughts to be a pleasing aroma to God? For our desires to be a pleasing aroma to God, for our words all day long today to be a pleasing aroma to God, our actions, our interactions with other people, that they would be like an aroma that is pleasing to God.

Prayer For Thoughts Words And Actions

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Oh God, we pray for this in our lives today. We want to worship you with every single thing we do today. God, we pray that you would help us to think in ways that are pleasing to you today. To desire that which is pleasing to you. God, we pray that our every word would be pleasing to you, that you would guard our lips, our mouths, and our fingers as we're texting or sending messages, that it would all be a pleasing aroma to you. God, we pray that decisions we make today, actions we take, interactions we have, God help us to interact with other people today in ways that are pleasing to you. God, we want our lives to be a sacrifice, an offering before you today, holy and acceptable to you, pleasing to you. God, we pray that it'll be so by your mercy, just like Romans 12 says, Jesus, we praise you for your love for us, for your ultimate sacrifice and dying on the cross for us, rising from the dead, so that we can have new life, a life lived that is pleasing to God. Yes, God, may it be so in us today. Help us to live by the power of your spirit in us in a way that is pleasing to you, so that our temples, our bodies would be an aroma that is glorifying you, honoring you, exalting you, making you known in the world around us. God, we pray that you would use our lives today to shine your light, show your character to others around us that would be pleasing to you and would be attractive in the sense of drawing people to you. God, we pray for this around the

Prayer For An Unreached People Group

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world. I think about this people group we're praying for today, the Mulla Miwat Buhoi people of India, Hindu people group, 700,000 strong, worshiping all kinds of different gods as they work, many of them along the Ganges River, and how this river is worshipped as divine. God, we pray that the Mulla Miwat Boyoi people of India would be reached with the good news of your love, Jesus, your salvation, so that they might be safe from their sins, restored to relationship with you, to live in ways that are pleasing to you, that their lives, instead of being offered to the worship of all kinds of false gods, that their lives would be offered in the worship of you, the one true God, and they would find life in worshiping you as the one

Final Plea And Amen

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true God. God, we pray that for them as we pray for each of our lives today, help us to be living sacrifices holy and acceptable, pleasing to you in all that we do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.