June 21, 2021
https://www.facebook.com/Encountertexoma/videos/2642887839344409
- Sacrifice is a key component to obedience
Our kids have to make a sacrifice when we tell them do something
“okay, do I want to be good and do what mom and dad say and not get in trouble or do I want to ‘drive fast and take chances’?”
We have to make the same sacrifice when God asks us to do something
Abraham and Isaac
Genesis 22:1-13
- How far will your love take you?
Hosea and Gomer
Hosea 3:1-4
Jesus is the picture of Hosea and you and I are the picture of Gomer
Romans 12:9-21
- We have been given the assignment to change our world
Matthew 28:16-20
We have the authority and the power to reach those around us who are lost and hurting and to teach them the ways in which we should live. If you won’t do it, who will?
1 Corinthians 13:1-8,11,13; 1 John 4:8-21; Colossians 3:12-14
- Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice!
John 3:16
He took a beating!! 39 lashes to his back. Each time ripping another piece of flesh from his back. The cross he carried was believed to be around 300 pounds. He was supposed to carry it a mile and a half. They forced the crown of thorns onto his head. When they finally got to Golgotha, they put him on the cross and they nailed his wrists to the board. Then they put his feet one on top of the other and they drove a nail through the middle of his feet.
They hung the cross up and by this time, It was hard for him to breathe. Every time he took a breath, his back rubbed against the cross, digging deeper into the flesh on his back.
They shoved a spear in his side and because all the blood had ran out from his body, he began bleeding water. They tried to give him something bitter to drink. When he rejected it, they laughed at him and mocked him. “save yourself”!! He never said a word to them.
I don’t think we understand just how easy it would’ve been for him to have called down angels to take him away. It would have been easy for him to say “forget these people. Let them figure out how to get to heaven on their own”. The only thing he did was ask God to forgive them for what they did. He hung his head and before he took his last breath he said “it is finished.” And by finished, he meant his job on earth was finished. Everything he set out to do, he accomplished. There was nothing left for him to on earth, at that moment.
Jesus doesn’t care where you’ve been or what you’ve done. He only cares about you
running to him and accepting what he did on the cross and giving your life, your struggles, your pain, your worry and your past to him. He’s calling out to you today “I love you this much!!” That’s why He died for you. That’s why he died for the people outside of these walls who don’t know him. You’ve been given as assignment to change your world. He sacrificed so that we would have the freedom to do that.
What’s keeping you from running to him today? What’s keeping you from telling those you come in contact with, who you know aren’t living for Him, that God loves them and longs for them to be in relationship with Him? What’s holding you back from giving your all to Him?
Let me ask you, friends, what sin have you committed that the cross can’t cover?