The Sacrifice of Obedience

• 1 Samuel 15

     Trusting in Jesus for everything in your life will bring you to obedience to the Laws of God.  It will be a sacrifice on our part because it doesn't come naturally to us.  In order to find out what exactly we are to obey we must look to the Bible as it is the revealed Word of God.  God's commands that we are to obey are all found within its pages and we must read it and study it to find them so we can apply them to our lives.
     Denial of one's self-will is important for true obedience to take place.  We can reform our ways to make it appear as though we are obedient to God, but if it doesn't come from our hearts our obedience is forced and our religion has become ascetic.
     God wants willingness on our behalf to fall in with His designed plan for our lives and for the entire world.  Our response will impact more people than just ourselves.

tightrope walking

     Nick Wallenda recently walked across the Niagara Falls.  The falls created their own winds, a mist that continuously settled around him.  He had to focus on what he was doing so he would not fall off the cable that was his stability.  As he walked across the cable swayed under him seeming to the watchers to be treacherous.
     Life is like a tightrope with you walking across the thin cable that sways under your steps, and the constant "wind" and "mist" would hamper your progress unless you retain your focus on Jesus Christ.  Any other focus would be disastrous to you and would result in your demise.

Keep Jesus In Your Focus

and

All Will Be Well!

Sacrifice of Discipline

     Our flesh has a bent toward wickedness thus our natural tendency is to do evil.  Many people do not recognize this tendency and think they are "good", but we all go against the established laws that God has set up for our protection.
     Disciplining yourself to avoid wickedness is a sacrifice your flesh will have to make. We cannot expect to indulge in the pleasures of this world and receive intimate fellowship with a holy God.
     We must learn to discipline ourselves in every area of our lives.  The act of making a life-long sacrifice must be a discipline that comes out of a heart of love.  If we are following Jesus Christ, we are his disciples and are learning His disciplines.
     When we discipline ourselves we are training ourselves to do things that do not come natural for a wicked man (person without Jesus Christ) to do.  The disciplines of Jesus Christ are living a life of sacrifice to Him, and godliness which can then be broken down into smaller areas.
     Godliness will uphold a life of purity, mercy, and faith that is stretched yet firm in the Lord, etc....  To be honest, discipline and sacrifice go hand in hand and cannot really be separated.
     It takes real discipline to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God.

Sacrifice of Praise

-Hebrews 13:15
     It will not be a sacrifice unless it comes from our heart.  We can say words, sing songs or whatever, but that is all it will be unless our love for God has moved us to praising His name.
     If we are truly moved by our love for God, we will praise Him even under pressures that try to rob us of our peace.  The sacrifice of our praise is not determined by our circumstances, but by love.
-Hosea 14:2
     Instead of sacrificing calves upon the altars of Israel, we now can give the sacrifice of our lips or praise whenever-wherever you want.

PTL

The Lord alone 

is

Worthy of

our

Praise!