SPEAKER_00: 1 Chronicles chapter 11, not Corinthians, 1 Chronicles chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00: And also, would you pick up Genesis chapter 8?
SPEAKER_00: 1 Chronicles 11, Genesis chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: While you're turning there, I want to thank those who prayed for me this last Monday.
SPEAKER_00: Had a unique opportunity to uh speak on a at a memorial service at a cemetery up in Wilman Wildemar, and it went very, very well, had some uh good results, and I just wanted to tell you if you're laboring together in that in prayer, or you pray for me, uh you'll have a part of that uh later on.
SPEAKER_00: You won't see it until we get to the judgment seat of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, nothing we do falls to deaf ears with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Chronicles chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Chronicles chapter 11 and Genesis chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: You ready for a Bible study tonight?
SPEAKER_00: All right, good, good.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Chronicles chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not, get yourself ready.
SPEAKER_00: Just kind of gear yourself in, and by about halfway through it, it may just kind of engage in gear, and everything will be fine.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Chronicles 11, look at verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15, if you would.
SPEAKER_00: Now three of the thirty captains went down to the rock to David into the cave Adalam, and the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Raphael, and David was then in the hold, and the Philistine's garrison was then at Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: And David longed and said, Oh, that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate.
SPEAKER_00: And the three, talking about mighty men, the three broke through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: Evidently they were somewhat surrounded, or if you would, down at Bethlehem was where the Philistines' garrison was, if you look at verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: And those three risked their life, and they broke right through the garrison there, and they went for one purpose to get what?
SPEAKER_00: Water.
SPEAKER_00: Water for their leader, the king.
SPEAKER_00: And so they break, they get the water out of the well at Bethlehem in verse 18 that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that something?
SPEAKER_00: David's kind of daydreaming, I guess, and he says, Man, if I could just get some water out of that spring down at the gate thereof.
SPEAKER_00: Three guys heard it and said, Sure.
SPEAKER_00: Down they go, risk their life, bring it back, and say, Here, David.
SPEAKER_00: And brought it to David.
SPEAKER_00: Look at it.
SPEAKER_00: But David would not drink of it.
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, we're talking about a man after God's own heart.
SPEAKER_00: But poured it out to the who?
SPEAKER_00: To the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And said, My God forbid it me that I should do this thing.
SPEAKER_00: Shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy?
SPEAKER_00: For with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore he would not drink it.
SPEAKER_00: These things did these three mightiest.
SPEAKER_00: Now listen, think about this from a logical standpoint.
SPEAKER_00: These guys come up and bring the water to David.
SPEAKER_00: How would you uh think they might feel if David says, No, I can't drink of this water, you guys just risk your life, and then he pours it out.
SPEAKER_00: If you weren't spiritual, you'd say, Well, how do you like that?
SPEAKER_00: Man, we risk our lives, we go get the water David wants, and what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He dumps it out.
SPEAKER_00: But what you see there is this they sacrificed themselves to do something for David, and David, in turn, even though he longed for the water, he sacrificed and denied self and gave it as an offering to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, what he did was honor them in the greatest way he could honor them.
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't you agree?
SPEAKER_00: He says, No, listen, you guys have risked your life for this.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm not gonna satisfy my little old self with this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna dump this thing out to the Lord, and in that way I'll give you honor.
SPEAKER_00: They sacrificed, he sacrificed, and I'm just gonna tell you, I think the Lord was pleased.
SPEAKER_00: Sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of it has to do with denying self, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: When we start thinking of sacrifice, we start thinking of putting self in second place to whatever it is we're doing for the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you would look at Genesis chapter 8, stay with me.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: In Genesis chapter 8, Noah gets off that boat.
SPEAKER_00: He's been on that ark for quite some time, went through uh quite a wild ride with those animals, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've ever been in a boat before about this size and locked up in there, but I'll guarantee you there was some uh there were some moments where you say, oh no, they were just all common there, playing Monopoly or something.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00: I think it was quite a ride in there, and uh I understand where you know that hibernation comes in and all that type of thing, and I understand uh why God started hibernation, and some of those animals don't hibernate, amen.
SPEAKER_00: They just had a lot of work to do all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And you you talk about the storms and the windows of heaven and the waters from the deep coming up and everything, and rocking back and forth and taking care of those animals.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, you know, the thing of baits and they come out.
SPEAKER_00: First thing Noah does in verse 20, and Noah built an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl, and offered what?
SPEAKER_00: Burnt offerings on the altar, sacrificed.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord smelled a sweet savor, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, neither will I again smite any more everything living as I have done.
SPEAKER_00: While the earth remaineth seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord, the first thing Noah did, he says, You know what we're gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna sacrifice to God right there.
SPEAKER_00: And you know that's why God put them on in uh in how many pairs?
SPEAKER_00: Two by two, but how many?
SPEAKER_00: Of clean and of yeah, of seven.
SPEAKER_00: Because there was going to be a sacrifice, and God knew that.
SPEAKER_00: And evidently, Noah, evidently, when he came out, the first thing he thought about was, I'm gonna do sacrifice here unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let me talk to you a little bit, just a little bit about practical sacrifice tonight.
SPEAKER_00: David's sacrifice, and it he had to deny himself from some pleasure, if you would.
SPEAKER_00: Noah's sacrifice, and maybe it didn't cost him a whole lot, but please look up here.
SPEAKER_00: He did it because his mind was on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: When we get our mind off the Lord, you know we don't sacrifice like we normally do.
SPEAKER_00: When we get our mind off the Lord, we don't sacrifice that time in the morning to his word or that time at night to his word.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Now we some of us could bow our heads right here and have an altar call.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And all I'm saying is when self comes up and gets in the way, sacrifice is not as prevalent.
SPEAKER_00: And it starts, you know, with the basic things like reading our word.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, sometimes I'm sure people come to our church and they say, Man, they require so much of you there.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, the the pastor uh expects you to be there Sunday morning, and then he tries to encourage you back Sunday night, and then he tries to encourage you back Wednesday night, and then he tries to encourage you out souling, then we try to encourage you to get into a ministry, then we try to encourage you to tithe and give offerings, then we try to encourage you to get in your Bible in prayer every day.
SPEAKER_00: You know what we're talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Sacrificing.
SPEAKER_00: And after a while, it doesn't seem like a sacrifice anymore, it's just a way of life.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you wake up and sometime during the day you do some prayer and you do some Bible study, and and Wednesday night comes around, and I know some of our people work, you're not working, you're in church.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, some of our speakers have been amazed.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Man, you got a pretty good Wednesday night crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Well, our people is just normal and should be normal.
SPEAKER_00: You know what'll happen over the summertime?
SPEAKER_00: Not only I'm talking about people who have vacations, but you'll see some people dropping off on Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Self.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if they got a job or something like that, but I'm talking about some of our people will be home watching TV.
SPEAKER_00: You know what the problem is?
SPEAKER_00: Talk to me.
SPEAKER_00: Self.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Self rises back up again.
SPEAKER_00: The more we can keep self dead, the more we're able to sacrifice willingly.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not that laborious.
SPEAKER_00: It's not labor to us, it's just we do it.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: So uh this part uh was no big deal to him.
SPEAKER_00: He just he just sacrificed.
SPEAKER_00: Look if you would with me at 1 Samuel 15.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 15.
SPEAKER_00: Some sacrifices take more than others when you start thinking about it.
SPEAKER_00: And God certainly hasn't asked many of us, some of us may, but he hasn't asked many of us to sacrifice like some in this Bible.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 15, hold your place there.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, think with me just for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Abraham, God said to Abraham, Take thy son, thine only son, who?
SPEAKER_00: Isaac.
SPEAKER_00: Take him up, and I want you to do what?
SPEAKER_00: Sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you think that caused some mental turmoil?
SPEAKER_00: His only son, the one he waited for for for years and years and years to be born the promised seed.
SPEAKER_00: There was mental sacrifice, and maybe it didn't seem logical, and yet sometimes with sacrifice we fight.
SPEAKER_00: How logical or illogical is this thing up here?
SPEAKER_00: And there's going to be some mental turmoil.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about Jephthah.
SPEAKER_00: Remember Jephthah in the book of Judges?
SPEAKER_00: He said the Lord, if you'll deliver me in this battle, first thing that comes out to greet me when I come home, I'll sacrifice it.
SPEAKER_00: You know what he was thinking?
SPEAKER_00: Animal.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you know he was thinking animal?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: He was thinking, hey, there's some little animal that'll run out, and I'll sacrifice that thing, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: What came out of the house?
SPEAKER_00: His daughter, his only daughter.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I've got to perform my vow.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the the part of that must have been a lot of anguish and and and and turmoil, if you would.
SPEAKER_00: Sacrifice when self is dead is easier than when self rises up again.
SPEAKER_00: So the more we can keep self under submission, the easier it is to attend church regularly.
SPEAKER_00: And tithe.
SPEAKER_00: And not be grievous about it.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm not going to be able to pay my bills this month.
SPEAKER_00: Here.
SPEAKER_00: Man, that don't work.
SPEAKER_00: Man, when you when you really look at it and say, this is just a way of life.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we come off the ark, we burn the sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: We we have a victory, we burn the sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: We get a paycheck, we pay the tithe.
SPEAKER_00: It's no big deal.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Now, if that's a big deal to you, uh, please don't expect God to give you big things.
SPEAKER_00: If God can't trust you with that which is least.
SPEAKER_00: And see, here we go again.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says, well, you're putting the pressure on.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not putting the pressure on.
SPEAKER_00: This is just normal Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: This shouldn't be abnormal.
SPEAKER_00: This is normal.
SPEAKER_00: To me, coming to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, going soul-winning, working in a ministry, uh, tithing, prayer, and Bible study, that's just that's just normal stuff.
SPEAKER_00: We haven't got.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I understand this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking to a Sunday morning crowd.
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't put them down this way.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Sunday morning crowd would be going, Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Well, what do you mean you want us to do all that?
SPEAKER_00: And they'd be offended and walk out, say, well, you know, uh, they don't have any love there or something, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But it's nice to see some of those Sunday morningers starting to come Sunday night and slipping in Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_00: It's nice to see people coming out soul winning for the first time.
SPEAKER_00: And why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you just want a bunch of numbers?
SPEAKER_00: No, because they're sacrificing to God.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, that's why we're teaching our teenagers.
SPEAKER_00: Get involved, get involved, get involved.
SPEAKER_00: Look at 1 Samuel 15, please.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 15.
SPEAKER_00: And notice what it says in verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Saul was commanded.
SPEAKER_00: Now go and smite Amalek.
SPEAKER_00: And do what?
SPEAKER_00: Utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not.
SPEAKER_00: But slay both man and woman, infant suckling, oxen sheep, cam on ass.
SPEAKER_00: Now you look at that, and logically you say, Why?
SPEAKER_00: Why would the God of love tell them to wipe out a whole culture?
SPEAKER_00: Look what he says there.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to go in, I want you to slay every man, woman, and what?
SPEAKER_00: Infant.
SPEAKER_00: And suckling.
SPEAKER_00: Ox and sheep, cam on ass.
SPEAKER_00: You say, do you mean God said destroy the people?
SPEAKER_00: And everything in there?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just telling you what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: This was a wicked, evidently, culture that God did not want to infiltrate Israel.
SPEAKER_00: So he says, go in and wipe the whole thing out.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Well, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: That just doesn't sound logical.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't have to sound logical.
SPEAKER_00: If it doesn't sound logical, praise the Lord, you're in the dispensation of grace.
SPEAKER_00: I don't expect God to command me to command you to go destroy El Cahon.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: We'll stop there.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says, How about North Park?
SPEAKER_00: We'll stop there, anyway.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15, stay with me.
SPEAKER_00: If you live in North Park, my apologies.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: And Saul said, look at it.
SPEAKER_00: So Samuel comes up and he says, Hey, what's this verse 14?
SPEAKER_00: What's this bleeding of the sheep in mine ears and lo in the oxen which I hear?
SPEAKER_00: And Saul said, now stay with me, they have brought them from the Amalekites.
SPEAKER_00: For who?
SPEAKER_00: The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen.
SPEAKER_00: To do what?
SPEAKER_00: Sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, listen.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Samuel, what what why you got a problem with this?
SPEAKER_00: The people, they decided it'd be a good idea to just to save the best sheep and the best oxen, and we're going to sacrifice it to God.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, the rest who?
SPEAKER_00: We have utterly destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: That's the way it goes.
SPEAKER_00: Saul is a great politician.
SPEAKER_00: They kept everything, but only the best to sacrifice, but the rest, we, me and them, have utterly destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: So what he was saying is, they they did wrong, but me, I did everything that was right.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: Look what he says.
SPEAKER_00: But the people took the spoil.
SPEAKER_00: Took of the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of things, which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice the Lord thy God in Gilgal.
SPEAKER_00: So again, but here's the point.
SPEAKER_00: Who was responsible?
SPEAKER_00: Saul.
SPEAKER_00: Saul was responsible for the actions of the people and the sacrifice that was supposed to go on.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't supposed to be a sacrifice like they thought.
SPEAKER_00: It was supposed to be back at the city that was supposed to destroy everything there.
SPEAKER_00: Saul's still responsible.
SPEAKER_00: And he could not shirk his responsibility and blame it on the people.
SPEAKER_00: God held him accountable.
SPEAKER_00: Yes or no?
SPEAKER_00: I believe this.
SPEAKER_00: I believe God holds me accountable for my family.
SPEAKER_00: I'm accountable.
SPEAKER_00: I'm accountable for whether my teenagers go soul winning or not.
SPEAKER_00: I'm accountable.
SPEAKER_00: I'm accountable for whether or not when they're able, they're working in the ministry.
SPEAKER_00: I've got a couple of children that are working now.
SPEAKER_00: I'm accountable to make sure that they tithe.
SPEAKER_00: And I ask them.
SPEAKER_00: I go into their room and ask them.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says, you know, once they get a certain age, you don't go in your room.
SPEAKER_00: It's my house that God gave me.
SPEAKER_00: And if I want to go in their room, I'm going to knock on the door courteously.
SPEAKER_00: And if they don't let me in, I will break the door down and come in.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Every once in a while I go in there and check, see what's going on in those rooms.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Now I've never had to rip anything down off the wall or anything like that, because they know better than that.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Where's my crew?
SPEAKER_00: There's part of them.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand what I'm saying, though?
SPEAKER_00: It's my responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, my teenage daughter, you know, Lord, I just don't have any controls over here.
SPEAKER_00: What, what, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Man, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I'm still responsible.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta do the best job I can.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I understand we all have prodigals.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have a prodigal, I'm not trying to get on your case.
SPEAKER_00: Give them grace, give them time, pray for them, wait.
SPEAKER_00: They'll come around.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that.
SPEAKER_00: Wait, I could point to prodigals in here that are now adults that were prodigal in their 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 22, 25, 22, 22, 28.
SPEAKER_00: Here.
SPEAKER_00: But they're back.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Wait.
SPEAKER_00: But my point is, my job as the head of the home is to do my best to have some standards and some control over what they do in the areas of sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And I gotta tell you this, every once in a while I dump in a little extra money.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you say, well, you just got it to dump in.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: I dump in a little extra money because Job did.
SPEAKER_00: Every once in a while, Job did just a little extra sacrifice just in case his sons weren't.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: So every once in a while, I just toss a little bit extra in.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody, I get a 20 somewhere, I just dump it in.
SPEAKER_00: Just to say, boy, if one of those children, no, boy, that's a covering out.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to ache it in my house.
SPEAKER_00: You say you're taking that seriously?
SPEAKER_00: I certainly take it seriously.
SPEAKER_00: Now, probably not as seriously as I should.
SPEAKER_00: I can't control what's going on in your home, nor do I want the control of your home.
SPEAKER_00: But you ought to search it out and see what's going on in there.
SPEAKER_00: If they're doing more sacrifice in front of the TV than there are in their Bible, you got a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's summertime.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: Look if you would at 1 Samuel 2.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to be hard tonight, but this is a Wednesday night crowd.
SPEAKER_00: You say, come on, preacher, I want to walk out feeling good.
SPEAKER_00: You will.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to feel good.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 2.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this real quick.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And part of sacrifice is denying self some pleasure for God's purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_00: Part of sacrifice sometimes is denying self some pleasures for God's purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Look, if you would at 1 Samuel 2, and notice if you would, verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: You know this story, but I want to relate it.
SPEAKER_00: The sons of Eli were sons of Belial.
SPEAKER_00: They knew not the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Priest customs with the people was that, when any man offered what?
SPEAKER_00: Say it.
SPEAKER_00: Sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, everybody, say it.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: The priest's servants came while the flesh was in seething, with a flesh hook of three teeth in a hand, stuck it in the pan, kettle, or cauldron, a pot.
SPEAKER_00: All that the flesh brought up, the priest took for himself.
SPEAKER_00: So they did in Shiloh and to all the Israelites that came thither.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Also, before they what?
SPEAKER_00: Burnt the fat.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you know, everywhere in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the fat is the Lord's.
SPEAKER_00: You cut off the fat and you burn the fat.
SPEAKER_00: That's like God's tithe.
SPEAKER_00: He always gets the fat.
SPEAKER_00: You know what they were doing?
SPEAKER_00: They were robbing God's tithe, but worse than that, they were messing up the people's sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Because they were dipping this in and pulling this out and the fat wasn't getting burnt to the Lord properly, they were messing up these people's sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: The priest servants came and said to the man that sacrificed, give flesh to Rose for the priest, for he will not have sod and flesh of thee, but raw.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on to say, if you won't give it, nay, we'll take it by force.
SPEAKER_00: They were messing up the people.
SPEAKER_00: The leadership was messing up the people's sacrifice by greed and self.
SPEAKER_00: Now we have to look at ourselves sometimes in what we lead and say, hey, now how am I doing with this thing of leadership in my area?
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't you agree with this as a church?
SPEAKER_00: I should preach the whole counsels of God, and I should be provoking people to love and good works.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, we're not a new evangelical church.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying they're all wrong and going to hell or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: You've got to learn something.
SPEAKER_00: God has all kinds of churches out there to reach all kinds of different people.
SPEAKER_00: And God's spectrum goes a long way.
SPEAKER_00: But we're not a new evangelical church.
SPEAKER_00: We're a little more militant.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to tell you, we're going to stay that way.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that means not everybody who walks to the door will like it here.
SPEAKER_00: But we're not going to throw rocks at them on the way out.
SPEAKER_00: And we're not going to push them out.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to encourage them and say, come on, you know, because why?
SPEAKER_00: Because what we're trying to do is we're trying to teach people that sacrifice is a way of life.
SPEAKER_00: Get used to it.
SPEAKER_00: It's normal.
SPEAKER_00: Sunday morning church, Sunday night church, Wednesday night church.
SPEAKER_00: Soul winning sometime.
SPEAKER_00: A ministry, tithe, prayer, Bible study, special events.
SPEAKER_00: Bus days.
SPEAKER_00: Big days.
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, it seems like your whole life is wrapped around the church.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So you wrap your life around a job for 30 years, and they give you a gold watch to say thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I'd rather wrap my life around a church, work a job, and you don't get a gold watch, you get crowns that are infallible and uncorruptible.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, part of my job is to make sure that, number one, I don't rob you of your opportunity to sacrifice, but also to provoke the love of good works, but not to make it in such a way that you get to the place where you feel oppressed.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to feel oppressed.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to feel guilty.
SPEAKER_00: I say, what a terrible thing to say.
SPEAKER_00: God uses guilt.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Not every message is a guilt-ridden message.
SPEAKER_00: Every Sunday night it is.
SPEAKER_00: Half of the Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_00: It comes Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a nice guy.
SPEAKER_00: For the most part.
SPEAKER_00: But the idea is, as leadership goes, it's supposed to be such that we provoke people to sacrifice, sacrifice correctly, and please look up here, sacrifice continually.
SPEAKER_00: Not just in for a while, out for a while.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about a way of life, a habit.
SPEAKER_00: When you come into church, you would be disappointed if there wasn't a preacher.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't you?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: You expect that.
SPEAKER_00: You know there are times when I don't feel like preaching.
SPEAKER_00: Bind them hand and foot.
SPEAKER_00: And there are f times you don't feel like listening.
SPEAKER_00: But but don't ever use the pulpit as a whipping post, amen?
SPEAKER_00: There are times you fall asleep on me.
SPEAKER_00: How much you know?
SPEAKER_00: I've never fallen asleep preaching to you.
SPEAKER_00: I've closed my eyes a few times.
SPEAKER_00: But that's so I wouldn't have to.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I won't go into that, amen?
SPEAKER_00: But there are times you don't feel like coming.
SPEAKER_00: It's all that way, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Self.
SPEAKER_00: And I understand we're tired sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: We've got a lot of mind sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: There's, you know, there's two or three families out tonight with sick children.
SPEAKER_00: They'd love to be here.
SPEAKER_00: Some are on vacation.
SPEAKER_00: Some are who knows where.
SPEAKER_00: We'll try to find them, try to encourage them back.
SPEAKER_00: And if they say leave us alone, we will once.
SPEAKER_00: We'll try to encourage them again, then we'll leave them alone.
SPEAKER_00: Because God wants free will.
SPEAKER_00: Sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: But we're not throwing rocks at anybody.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to throw rocks at anybody.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I won't go into that.
SPEAKER_00: Look if you would now at uh look at Mark 14.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says, all right, give me a reason.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this.
SPEAKER_00: Mark 14.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to tie Jesus in here, amen?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: He is the captain of our salvation.
SPEAKER_00: He is our example to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: So look at it very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Mark 14.
SPEAKER_00: You say, did he have sacrifice on his mind?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Mark 14.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 36.
SPEAKER_00: Would you look there?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 36.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee.
SPEAKER_00: Take away this what?
SPEAKER_00: This cup from me.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, not what I will, self, but what thou wilt, sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: What I will is self.
SPEAKER_00: What he wants me to do often incorporates sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: The thing that was on Jesus' mind, though, was that cup.
SPEAKER_00: Look back at Matthew 20, real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 20.
SPEAKER_00: Woman comes to him, mother of Zebedee's children, asks for special favor.
SPEAKER_00: Two sons sit on the right and left.
SPEAKER_00: Look what Jesus said in verse 22 of Matthew 20.
SPEAKER_00: Ye know not what ye asked.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye asked.
SPEAKER_00: Are you able to drink what?
SPEAKER_00: The cup that I shall drink of?
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about that sacrifice, that suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.
SPEAKER_00: And they said unto him, We are able.
SPEAKER_00: And he said unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup.
SPEAKER_00: You know what he said?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sacrifice and suffer.
SPEAKER_00: But he goes on to tell them, hey, who sits on my right, who sits on the left?
SPEAKER_00: That's the Father's business.
SPEAKER_00: Look, if you would again one more place.
SPEAKER_00: Look at John, please.
SPEAKER_00: John 18.
SPEAKER_00: I've got to say this, when we were born again, we were born again to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: We were born once to self.
SPEAKER_00: We were born twice to sacrifice for God's purpose.
SPEAKER_00: John 7, I'm sorry, John 18.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: John 18, 10.
SPEAKER_00: Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it.
SPEAKER_00: Smote the high priest's servant, cut off his right ear.
SPEAKER_00: Servant's name was Malchus.
SPEAKER_00: Then sent Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword in the sheath.
SPEAKER_00: Huh?
SPEAKER_00: They're coming to get you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: No, just put your sword up.
SPEAKER_00: The what?
SPEAKER_00: The cup, which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about sacrifice here.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Sacrifice takes on a lot of different shapes and forms of suffering.
SPEAKER_00: It'll always cause discomfort to self.
SPEAKER_00: Self sooner or later says this.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had self say this to you?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you doing that?
SPEAKER_00: Like you're out door knocking, or you're out giving out gospel tracts and nobody's responding.
SPEAKER_00: And self says, Why are we out here?
SPEAKER_00: Or you put that money in and you don't have enough money to pay your rent and your whatever, new car or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: And self says, that's foolish.
SPEAKER_00: Or self says, Why are we going to church tonight?
SPEAKER_00: You didn't get anything last Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_00: Or Sunday night, we're tired, we worked all day.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: See, self is what has to be dealt with in the way of the sacrificial.
SPEAKER_00: Look, if you would with me, stay with me.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Matthew, I'm sorry, yeah, Matthew 19.
SPEAKER_00: And would you also pick up 2 Samuel 7?
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 19, 2 Samuel 7.
SPEAKER_00: If you are sacrificing, keep doing it.
SPEAKER_00: If you're used to and you're not, get back to it.
SPEAKER_00: If you never have, enter into the joy of the Lord with us.
SPEAKER_00: Who are?
SPEAKER_00: You say, joy.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't sound very joyous to me.
SPEAKER_00: Depends on how you look at it.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Matthew 19 and 2 Samuel 7.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you something here real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 19, 2 Samuel 7.
SPEAKER_00: You're doing well tonight.
SPEAKER_00: I'm watching your time.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, are you too cold?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: How many's cold?
SPEAKER_00: How many's hot?
SPEAKER_00: How many's just right?
SPEAKER_00: How many sacrificing?
SPEAKER_00: Charlie, run up and just turn up one notch.
unknown: Hey!
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: So you're cold.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to uh take care of that.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 19, look at this.
SPEAKER_00: I won't go to the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's a young man, it's a rich young ruler.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to show you to you and lead you into something else.
SPEAKER_00: He asked Jesus how he might enter into eternal things, heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20, the young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up.
SPEAKER_00: What lack I yet?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: And thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: You know what Jesus said?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, son, you're a ruler, you're a leader, you're young.
SPEAKER_00: Go give up everything that you have.
SPEAKER_00: But when the young man heard that saying, he went out how?
SPEAKER_00: Sorrowful.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Self.
SPEAKER_00: Those things had become too important to him.
SPEAKER_00: For he had what?
SPEAKER_00: Say it.
SPEAKER_00: Great possessions.
SPEAKER_00: He had a lot of boy toys.
SPEAKER_00: He had a lot of things that made him comfortable, and he didn't want to give them up.
SPEAKER_00: So, really, what had happened, those possessions had become idolatrous.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Anything that we have that we're not willing to give up for God is potentially an idol.
SPEAKER_00: I know that's a tough statement, but it's true.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm not willing to sacrifice loved ones.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not talking about like that guy in the Old Testament did when he burned his son on the wall.
SPEAKER_00: But there's if there's not a sacrificial type of mindset, if they become more important than God, then potentially it's an idol.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, is that true?
SPEAKER_00: Look to your right, look to your left.
SPEAKER_00: I'm losing some people now.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: Because God may ask some things of us along the way that you say, well, what if God asked me to sell everything and give to the poor and everything?
SPEAKER_00: Well, if God showed you that and you knew for sure, then you ought to do it.
SPEAKER_00: I've given up everything a couple times.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what's the great thing?
SPEAKER_00: He always gives back.
SPEAKER_00: Now, somebody says, Well, that means you can't have anything, man.
SPEAKER_00: I'd rather go to a church where they preach the truth and you almost preach this thing where everybody's got to be poor.
SPEAKER_00: Now, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Look at 2 Samuel 7.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't say that.
SPEAKER_00: God gives us all things richly to enjoy.
SPEAKER_00: Look at 2 Samuel 7.
SPEAKER_00: I don't believe that everybody ought to give up everything, just if God shows you to.
SPEAKER_00: You just don't want to get to the place where you're not willing to give it up.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Samuel 7, look at this, brethren.
SPEAKER_00: Came to pass when the king sat in his house.
SPEAKER_00: Lord had given rest to all about, verse 1, about all his enemies, 2 Samuel 7, 1, this David.
SPEAKER_00: That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, see now, I dwell in the house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: David had a nice place.
SPEAKER_00: And Nathan said to the king, Go do all that's in thy heart.
SPEAKER_00: You know, David sacrificed a lot of things, but he had a nice house.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think there's anything wrong with having nice things, as long as you're sacrificing the way God wants you to.
SPEAKER_00: Look just a little bit farther because sometimes we don't balance this thing out.
SPEAKER_00: Look at 1 Kings 7.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Kings 7.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think there's anything wrong with having things.
SPEAKER_00: The things just don't shouldn't become idols.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing wrong with I see some people getting new cars.
SPEAKER_00: I don't see anything wrong with that.
SPEAKER_00: But make sure things are in a priority.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I wouldn't want that tithe to be sitting out in the parking lot.
SPEAKER_00: And nobody knows but you.
SPEAKER_00: We don't, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to check you.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Kings 6, the last verse.
SPEAKER_00: The last sentence of the last verse tells us that Solomon took seven years to build the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Look at chapter 7, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: But Solomon was building his own house how long?
SPEAKER_00: 13 years.
SPEAKER_00: And he finished all his house.
SPEAKER_00: Now, hey, somebody says, well, see, Solomon was always getting.
SPEAKER_00: Solomon built the temple and he built his own house.
SPEAKER_00: And it tells you a little bit about it.
SPEAKER_00: Look at chapter 9.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 9.
SPEAKER_00: It's not wrong to have some things, I don't think.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're one that lives on very little, fine.
SPEAKER_00: Don't condemn those who have a little bit more.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: If you're one that lives in a pup tent, don't condemn somebody that has a five-man tent.
SPEAKER_00: And say, oh, they're not right with God.
SPEAKER_00: How do you know?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, to live in poverty doesn't mean you're spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to balance this out.
SPEAKER_00: Because we have a nice church doesn't mean we're unspiritual.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're meeting in a seventh-day Adventist church doesn't mean we're unspiritual.
SPEAKER_00: We've heard that one already, too.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Kings 9.
SPEAKER_00: I have a few videotapes they can watch if they think that.
SPEAKER_00: One would be called the Big Day.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Kings 9.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: And it came to pass at the end of how many years?
SPEAKER_00: Twenty years.
SPEAKER_00: That when Solomon had built what?
SPEAKER_00: The two houses.
SPEAKER_00: The house of the Lord and the king's house.
SPEAKER_00: Now, who provided for all that?
SPEAKER_00: David.
SPEAKER_00: And who provided for David?
SPEAKER_00: God.
SPEAKER_00: And God must have provided enough not only for the temple, but for the house.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I live in a nice house.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's not a Taj Mahal, but it's a nice house.
SPEAKER_00: It's a practical house.
SPEAKER_00: You can come to my house.
SPEAKER_00: You can see my house.
SPEAKER_00: Considering the source, don't come.
SPEAKER_00: Any other questions?
SPEAKER_00: It's not a good night to do that tonight, amen.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a little spiritual tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Normally I let you get away with it, but not tonight.
SPEAKER_00: The idea is though, it's practical to us.
SPEAKER_00: You know what though?
SPEAKER_00: If you go back in Ohio or Boaz, Alabama, or Michigan, or a few of these places, and say, hey preacher, uh, housing out there is kind of expensive.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, how much is the house you cost living?
SPEAKER_00: I got a five-bedroom home.
SPEAKER_00: It it costs more than$150,000.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, wow, you're living that way?
SPEAKER_00: We're paying you for that.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta see the miracle the way God worked it out for us to get in there.
SPEAKER_00: And go back and look at the house we lived in for a while that now the shavers live in.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, we're not we're not uh trying to, I don't have any chandeliers in my home or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: Just in the church.
SPEAKER_00: We have practical things like ceiling fans and things like that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you you don't have a nice place, but if I told them that it was over 150,000 back there, they'd go, they think I'm some kind of you know, prosperity preacher or something like that.
SPEAKER_00: Packing$20 bills on my eyelids or you know.
SPEAKER_00: Now you may say tonight, man, I didn't know you you had that kind of home.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, go price homes.
SPEAKER_00: Where have you been?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I live in, well, I did too.
SPEAKER_00: And uh we used to, and we're moving, you know, in a church a little bit nicer, and God's gonna do this and God's gonna do that.
SPEAKER_00: But my point in saying that is it's not a judgment of spirituality all the time, what you have.
SPEAKER_00: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_00: It's just if you're not holding on to it to where he can't have it.
SPEAKER_00: If he can't have it, then self is too strong and you're not willing to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And every once in a while, God will put you through a test and say, you're willing to give it up?
SPEAKER_00: Look at Job, real quick, one.
SPEAKER_00: Job one and Job 42.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, stay with me.
SPEAKER_00: We want to go through the whole thing here.
SPEAKER_00: Job 1 and Job 42.
SPEAKER_00: Was Job a rich man?
unknown: Yes, he was.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Was Job someone God considered to be an upright man?
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: So then it's possible to be an upright man and have a few things.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I want to I want to balance this thing out because some may be called to live somewhat sacrificially.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking about Brian and Tina Gerard.
SPEAKER_00: They're living sacrificially over there.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, my wife and I, when we were over there, hey, we lived sacrificially on a boat.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we were willing to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Our lives didn't revolve around coming back here and having all this.
SPEAKER_00: Job chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: There was a man in the land of Uz, Uz, whose name was Job.
SPEAKER_00: And that man was perfect and upright, and one that feareth God and skeweth evil.
SPEAKER_00: Now God wrote that about him.
SPEAKER_00: And there was born unto him seven sons, three daughters.
SPEAKER_00: His substance also was seven thousand sheep.
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of lamb chops, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Three thousand camels.
SPEAKER_00: So that's uh, well, we won't go into that.
SPEAKER_00: Five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she asses, and a very great household.
SPEAKER_00: And a very great household.
SPEAKER_00: So that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest.
SPEAKER_00: Evidently he had quite a few things.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: God blessed him, God honored him, God said he's a perfect man.
SPEAKER_00: But please look up here, and God took it all.
SPEAKER_00: Is that right?
SPEAKER_00: Now look at Job 42.
SPEAKER_00: Let's consider the end of the matter.
SPEAKER_00: Job 42 and 12.
SPEAKER_00: So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Say it again.
SPEAKER_00: More than his beginning.
SPEAKER_00: For he had how many sheep?
SPEAKER_00: 14,000 sheep.
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot more lamb chops, amen.
SPEAKER_00: And 6,000 camels, a thousand yolks of ox, and a thousand she asses, and on and on it goes.
SPEAKER_00: The idea is, he needed to be willing to give it up.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't have to give it up.
SPEAKER_00: He just needed to be willing to give it up.
SPEAKER_00: Sacrifice is sometimes denying self.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, most of the time it's denying self.
SPEAKER_00: One last scripture, 2 Samuel 24.
SPEAKER_00: Didn't say the end of the message, last scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Samuel 24.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, I want to make this practical for you.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Samuel 24.
SPEAKER_00: Living a Christian life should bring a little discomfort, a little displeasure.
SPEAKER_00: It's a battle between God's Holy Spirit within us and self.
SPEAKER_00: Now I understand the Christian life can be a life that can be lived without, you know, a great deal of constant conflict.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you would say that it's just always easy, because when you're living a life by faith and pushing out and trying to do something for God, my experience is it's not always easy.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, please look up here.
SPEAKER_00: Fasting isn't easy.
SPEAKER_00: Fasting is a way of denying self.
SPEAKER_00: Fasting is a is a is a uh New Testament doctrine of sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Fasting is uh, I don't think it's that easy.
SPEAKER_00: It gets more common when you do it more frequently, but it's never easy.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, I can I get asked this sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's going into a fast, and they'll say, uh, Pastor, when you fast, do you get headaches?
SPEAKER_00: I said, sure.
SPEAKER_00: Like between the 12th hour, when I first start, and the 36th hour, my head is constantly throbbing.
SPEAKER_00: Constantly.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you lay down at night, it's ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom.
SPEAKER_00: You get up in the morning, ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom.
SPEAKER_00: I just know that between hour 12 and hour 36 is 24 hours a headache.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Sugar withdrawal.
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
SPEAKER_00: Just me withdrawing from sugar.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you don't use much sugar, your head won't throb as much, but it'll probably still throb.
SPEAKER_00: You're looking at me like, this is some strange new doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: Not in our church, it's not.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna bring it up from time to time because it's another way of sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: When will they do it?
SPEAKER_00: When the bridegroom's gone.
SPEAKER_00: Then the children shall fast.
SPEAKER_00: So uh fasting is a way of sacrifice, and uh, for me, I use a little sugar from time to time in different events in my life.
SPEAKER_00: You say, well, I don't.
SPEAKER_00: If you eat ketchup, you use sugar.
SPEAKER_00: Now, even just natural food sugar, you're gonna get a little bit of that throb just from the sugar withdrawal.
SPEAKER_00: You say, I don't get that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, now, don't take this wrong, but maybe you're doing one of those NIV fasts.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you've got a medical condition, I understand, but if you don't and you're honestly trying to fast, that doesn't mean you drink Pepsi and Coke and coffee with sugar in it and juices and all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: You're not getting the full benefit of a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm really suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Give me another big gulp.
SPEAKER_00: No wonder your head's not throbbing.
SPEAKER_00: You say, well, why should I go through that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, why do it at all?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, now if you've got a medical condition and you need that for diabetes or whatever, I don't know how it all works, fine, I don't mind that.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm saying if I have any influence over you, if you're gonna really sacrifice, do it.
SPEAKER_00: Better to go three days and just use water.
SPEAKER_00: Or better to go one day and just use water and go through the throbs than three days, you know, dumping down every sugar and coffee and everything you can because really it's your your body's sucking everything it can from that.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going through the sacrifice part.
SPEAKER_00: Is this is this unkind for me to say this?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, throw that water down.
SPEAKER_00: Drink two gallons your first day.
SPEAKER_00: You say, where will it go?
SPEAKER_00: We'll figure it out.
SPEAKER_00: That's why you don't sleep the first couple of three or four nights.
SPEAKER_00: Not for more than two hours.
SPEAKER_00: I can say that, can't I?
SPEAKER_00: Because people are scared to do it.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I just get a headache.
SPEAKER_00: Had a guy that started a fast, he's not with us tonight.
SPEAKER_00: He said I'm starting to fast, he said, Does your head hurt?
SPEAKER_00: I said, sure.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 24 hours, 12 to 36 hours after, and after 36, it hurts, but not all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And then you start the rest of the stuff at two days to five days, you get real weak, and you get this pit in your stomach, and you feel like you're gonna throw up all the time.
SPEAKER_00: That's poison coming out.
SPEAKER_00: It is poison.
SPEAKER_00: It's the way we eat.
SPEAKER_00: Just face it.
SPEAKER_00: Even if you eat right, you're gonna face some of that.
SPEAKER_00: So don't be scared of it.
SPEAKER_00: Five to seven days, new and exciting things begin to happen.
SPEAKER_00: But once you do it a few times and you're used to it, you know what to expect next.
SPEAKER_00: It's no big deal.
SPEAKER_00: You just say, this is we say, well, let me ask you something, Pastor.
SPEAKER_00: How how do you do it?
SPEAKER_00: You focus on the purpose of why you're sacrificing.
SPEAKER_00: And you compare the purpose to a hamburger, and a whopper is nothing.
SPEAKER_00: You look at the purpose for the reason you're doing it.
SPEAKER_00: And you really believe in the purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And you really have faith in the doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: And you really study and saturate yourself that fasting is a real doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: When you do it, you'll think about the Lord's throne and say, if Jesus could do what he did for me, I can avoid that pizza pie that I'm smelling right now.
SPEAKER_00: Oh God, am I fast over?
SPEAKER_00: Can I eat?
SPEAKER_00: I've done all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Now you want me to move on, don't you?
SPEAKER_00: Every once in a while.
SPEAKER_00: Even when you say, well, when the Lord leads, if he hasn't led in a year or two, just put yourself in one for a day.
SPEAKER_00: Just to remind your body that you're in control, and it wouldn't hurt to get the poisons out, too.
SPEAKER_00: If I had anybody lead the church over this, come on.
SPEAKER_00: This is part of the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: You won't hear this in a lot of churches.
SPEAKER_00: You won't hear it in some of the uh isn't it interesting though, uh, in some of these new evangelical groups, they're getting this fasting thing up.
SPEAKER_00: What happened to all the amens?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: We just need to do it a little bit more.
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: It's a way of sacrificing.
SPEAKER_00: Denying self.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Samuel 24.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm feeling terrible, Pastor, now, man.
SPEAKER_00: I tell you what, I just feel terrible.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you talk about church attendance, you talk about tithing, you talk about, you know, going soul winning, the ministry, the fasting.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm just a terrible Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Don't take it that way.
SPEAKER_00: Look at it as some encouragement and say, hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Let me just say this and listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have a militant-style church because we're trying to get the potential of our people to where God is pleased.
SPEAKER_00: We may not grow as fast as some other churches.
SPEAKER_00: We'll grow.
SPEAKER_00: But may not as fast.
SPEAKER_00: If I start watering down some of these messages as far as what I believe, I guess we could gather bigger crowds.
SPEAKER_00: But potentially, wouldn't I be like Saul and not telling the people to utterly destroy?
SPEAKER_00: Huh?
unknown: Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_00: Or wouldn't I potentially be like Hopfni and Phineas sooner or later and dick my flesh hooks in and say, well, you don't have to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just just give it to me.
SPEAKER_00: Look at 2 Samuel 24.
SPEAKER_00: I'm for you tonight.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not against you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm part of this thing.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: King said this guy, he's going to buy this threshing forth from.
SPEAKER_00: Nay.
SPEAKER_00: But I will surely buy it of thee for a price.
SPEAKER_00: Neither will I offer what?
SPEAKER_00: Burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.
SPEAKER_00: You know what he says, if I'm going to offer a sacrifice, it's going to cost me something.
SPEAKER_00: This is David, a man after God's own heart, brethren.
SPEAKER_00: He says, it's going to cost me something.
SPEAKER_00: And brethren, our life is going to cost us some things if we live it as unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to cause a little sacrifice, cause a little hardship.
SPEAKER_00: It might cause some anxieties because of doing things by faith.
SPEAKER_00: But in the end, it'll be worth it all.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing is done in vain to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Our labors in that which we do is not in vain.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want to make something clear tonight.
SPEAKER_00: I am not saying in any way, shape, or form, if you don't read your Bible today and pray and come to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and tithe and go soul winning and work in the ministry and fast and pray.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying if you don't do all these things that you're unspiritual.
SPEAKER_00: That's between you and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: But if he's dinged you a little bit tonight, look at it this way: summertime's coming.
SPEAKER_00: This is a pre-summer message.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Summertime self can rise up and begin to take over, and before long, we are just going through the motions.
SPEAKER_00: And we want God's power and God's blessing on what we're doing here.
SPEAKER_00: And we need our children to continue to see the example set before them.
SPEAKER_00: And the other day I was going through a little fasting period, and uh first one, my daughter Heather, she looked at me, we're in the car.
SPEAKER_00: She looked at me and got a little smile, and she got those big teeth still and everything.
SPEAKER_00: She looked up at me and she said, I know you're fasting, aren't you?
SPEAKER_00: I looked at her and said, Well, she said, I know.
SPEAKER_00: And she started smiling at me.
SPEAKER_00: She says, I know you are.
SPEAKER_00: A couple days later, my son said, Hey Dad, you fasting?
SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, son, no.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Yeah, I thought you were.
SPEAKER_00: One of my other daughters said, uh, hey dad, you fasting?
SPEAKER_00: How long this time?
SPEAKER_00: That's the big that's the biggest question I get.
SPEAKER_00: How long this time?
SPEAKER_00: You know what I thought?
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad my children are going to have some of those remembrances.
SPEAKER_00: Not that I'm anything great or spiritual or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: I don't look at it that way.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you can't because of medical reasons or something like that.
SPEAKER_00: But if your children don't see you in your Bible once in a while, your children don't see you praying once in a while, or your children wonder why you don't come to church, or your children wonder why you're not in the ministry, or your children wonder why, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Why does the plate go by and we never drop anything in?
SPEAKER_00: They're learning by example.
SPEAKER_00: And we need to look at that, and they will pick up on our good habits and our bad habits.
SPEAKER_00: And I say, well, hey, I got a solution for that.
SPEAKER_00: I'll just find a church that doesn't preach all this stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I'll just find a church that's uh more uh liberal.
SPEAKER_00: Moderate.
SPEAKER_00: That's the word moderate.
SPEAKER_00: You guys are a little too fanatical.
SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute now, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Peculiar is the word.
SPEAKER_00: Zealous of good works.
SPEAKER_00: And all these things are good works.
SPEAKER_00: We are his workmanship in Christ Jesus created unto good works.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he created us.
SPEAKER_00: So shouldn't I stand up every once in a while to a Wednesday night crowd?
SPEAKER_00: You say, Well, we all do all this.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you talking about us?
SPEAKER_00: This should be a Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: I say, we don't all do it.
SPEAKER_00: And we need to be stirred up, reminded of the things, even though we know them.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Now I feel like, not even going forward, I feel like Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, come on.
SPEAKER_00: God's got a plan for us.
SPEAKER_00: And we ought to be a sacrificial people.
SPEAKER_00: God put us together and God gave us a Bible that we believe.
SPEAKER_00: The whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: How's your Christianity tonight?
SPEAKER_00: Just a minute, we'll stand, we'll be dismissed, everybody will shake hands and we'll walk out.
SPEAKER_00: If you heard all this and nothing changes, be careful.
SPEAKER_00: We can get hardened to what's in here.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I just don't quite go as far as some of those things.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: But are you going farther than you were last year?
SPEAKER_00: Or really, is there a little bit of backing up a little bit?
SPEAKER_00: And if there is, don't back up too far.
SPEAKER_00: You know a good test for those of you who are able?
SPEAKER_00: Plant a day one day in the month of uh, here we are, coming to June.
SPEAKER_00: Plant a day in there and say, uh, I'm gonna fast one day.
SPEAKER_00: Whether God leads me or not, I'm just gonna fast.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Just to remind the body who's in control.
SPEAKER_00: I just can't do it.
SPEAKER_00: I get so hungry.
unknown: Sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Now wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I'm gonna put my mind on you.
SPEAKER_00: And when I'm consumed with you, then I can do this with your help.
SPEAKER_00: The key is I've got to be consumed with you.
SPEAKER_00: When I'm consumed with you, I can tithe, no problem.
SPEAKER_00: When I'm consumed with you, I can go to church, no problem.
SPEAKER_00: When I'm consumed with you, I read my Bible, no problem.
SPEAKER_00: When I'm consumed with you, I don't just pray once in a day.
SPEAKER_00: I pray, pray, and pray and pray.
SPEAKER_00: When I'm consumed with you.
SPEAKER_00: But you know my problem right now, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: I'm really, I guess, let self creep in a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: I need to get more consumed with you.
SPEAKER_00: Brethren, I want to make this statement, I'll close.
SPEAKER_00: What I preach tonight is not everything that I do consistently, listen to me, and all the time.
SPEAKER_00: If I preached what I do all the time, we would have just lowered the standard of this book.
SPEAKER_00: So I don't preach to you what I am, I preach to you what I know we should be.
SPEAKER_00: There's a big difference.
SPEAKER_00: If you walk out of here and say, well, that preacher, he just thinks he does all.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: I preach and try to preach what's in this book.
SPEAKER_00: What we should do, not what I do.
SPEAKER_00: I don't expect me to be the standard.
SPEAKER_00: If we have, we just lowered our standards.
SPEAKER_00: I'm inconsistent at times also.
SPEAKER_00: And I need to be reminded too.
SPEAKER_00: Does that put us all on the same playing field?
SPEAKER_00: But we still need to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: But if God blesses you receive it.
SPEAKER_00: Just don't let it be something that's an idol.
SPEAKER_00: Stan.
SPEAKER_00: If you've never received Christ as Savior, He's already sacrificed for you.
SPEAKER_00: The ultimate.
SPEAKER_00: Greater love have no man than this.
SPEAKER_00: And a man would lay down his life for his friends.
SPEAKER_00: That's the ultimate sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: That goes above tithing and church attendance and fasting and prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Soul winning, laying down our life for somebody is everything.
SPEAKER_00: Tonight, what I've talked to you about is sacrificing time.
SPEAKER_00: We all have time that we can give to God.
SPEAKER_00: Sacrificing some of the things we have consistently to give to God.
SPEAKER_00: Material.
SPEAKER_00: Putting self sometimes back in its place.
SPEAKER_00: So we can be a living sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: So we can be a living sacrifice, which is just our reasonable service.
SPEAKER_00: Tonight.
SPEAKER_00: But it would be good for us to take a few moments and reflect on where we're at.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be like me, and I don't have to be like you, and your home does not have to be like my home, nor mine like yours.
SPEAKER_00: We just have to be pleasing to the Lord individually.
SPEAKER_00: Tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be embarrassed if you need to bow your knee and sacrifice just a little bit unto Him.
SPEAKER_00: Self would be the one that would get in the way.
SPEAKER_00: So tonight, if you need to use an old-fashioned altar or take some time of prayer, let's give ourselves a couple minutes here to do so before we leave.