The Sacrifice God does Not Want

[0:00] They'll go around and visit churches, I think about a dozen churches over the summer. And so you probably saw the camper out there, and that's what they live in for about 12 weeks in the summer.

[0:11] And they go from church to church and help put together and run BBS programs. And this is our first time doing this in many years, so we said, hey, let's get some help here, at least for our first time.

[0:23] And maybe next year, maybe we can do it on our own, we'll see. We'll see how it goes, right? Okay. But they're here to help, but this is a big part of what they do, and Bible Doctrines to Live By has done this for many years.

[0:36] I don't know. But the history of Bible Doctrines to Live By was started by a guy named Lee Hamoke. He went by Cowboy Lee Hamoke, and he started this back in the 80s or early?

[0:48] 83. And he's actually from our area. He actually pastored a church over in Tip City and then decided to start this ministry. And it's been a fruitful ministry ever since 1983.

[1:01] And so back on the table, you'll see resources and books, I think, from their ministry that you can avail yourself of. But we have gotten to know our family, the Turners.

[1:12] Did we first meet you in South Dakota, or I think that's when it was. There's a family camp out in South Dakota that we went to last year. We met the Turner family for the first time. And then they came out here, if you remember.

[1:24] We had a family conference here at our church last September. And we're actually going to have another one coming up in October. We're going to do it again, and the Turner family will join us for that, as well as other families from across the country.

[1:37] But we've become great friends with the Turners and appreciate them so much. So I would encourage you after the service and throughout the week as they're here to try to get to know them.

[1:49] We have a sign-up sheet for bringing meals to them that comes with fellowship. So you bring food, and then you stay for the fellowship, and you'll love getting to know them. There's still some empty spots on that sheet, so check it out in the hallway, and there's still time to sign up and bring them a meal and get a chance to get to know them better.

[2:07] So, Paul, I'll have you come up, and everybody give them a nice warm welcome. Let's sing a song, and you don't want to hear me sing.

[2:29] So just use this one. Can I use this one for right now? Okay. Normally, our family would stand around the piano. My wife would play the piano. But we actually wanted to try something different this morning.

[2:41] Every night of Bible school or every morning of Bible school, we will end with the song that we are about to sing. And the name of the song is Stand for Truth. And if you've never heard the song, it's really an anthem that all of us should sing.

[2:57] And we teach it to these children. And if you can't be here at all this week, come Thursday at around 1130 and stay for the closing and listen to these kids sing this song, because it will send chills up your spine.

[3:12] It is wonderful to hear kids sing about standing for truth. And so we're going to come and we're going to sing this. Instead of with the piano, I'm going to play it through a speaker back here.

[3:25] We're going to play it. But you're all going to help us. You're going to stand. And I know you don't know the song. You don't know the words. But please, the words will be up here. Please sing along with us.

[3:37] And listen to the words as you sing them, because there is a problem in our society today. There is a problem in our culture. And the answer is not coming in Washington.

[3:48] The answer is not coming in a voting booth. The answer is in you and I. Christ in us. And we need to take that message to a lost and dying world.

[3:59] And to do that, we need men, women, boys, and girls who are willing to stand for the truth no matter what the cost is. So stand with us. Sing these words together. And I'll get this up here.

[4:16] I'll get it. All right. There's a war within our land.

[4:38] A battle for the right. The lives of the enemy are coming at the light. But God has placed his banner high.

[4:51] He falls for no retreat. As faithful soldiers let us stand. Plain his victory. Stand for truth. Stand for truth.

[5:04] Though you're standing all alone. Stand for truth. God will help to make you strong. Run with courage in the fight.

[5:16] Walk in faith and not by sight. Stand for truth. Stand for truth. Stand for truth. Stand for truth. And so the battle rages with choices every day.

[5:35] Will we search the word of God or toss the truth away? Let us hold on to his promises and sing the higher call.

[5:47] Listening for the victory. Listening for the victory cry. Giving him our all. Stand for truth. Though you're standing all alone.

[6:00] Stand for truth. God will help to make you strong. Run with courage in the fight. Walk in faith and not by sight.

[6:13] Stand for truth. Stand for truth. Stand for truth. Stand for truth. Know you're standing all alone.

[6:25] Stand for truth. God will help to make you strong. Run with courage in the fight. Walk in faith and not by sight.

[6:37] Stand for truth. Stand for truth. Run with courage in the fight Walk in faith and not by sight Stand for truth Stand for truth I usually forget this too The kids who are going to children's class I think this is probably a good time I'm glad that we did that song Before releasing them But for kids going to the children's class You can do that right now Alright How many of you have ever heard that song before?

[7:36] Yes How many of you think that song is something That you should hear again? If you come this week to Bible school You'll get to hear it repeatedly It really is just a powerful message, isn't it?

[7:48] And I love the chorus Stand for truth Even if you're standing all alone I'd rather stand alone With my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Than a crowd not standing at all So, you know I want to make one more introduction Before I get going Back here in the back row on this side We have friends of ours from Wisconsin Don Menting and Mary Van Andel They came down to help us this week And help the church with Vacation Bible School So they will be faithful servants Of the Lord Jesus Christ this week Have them and Don's grandson Maverick is with them You saw him running around here He'll be around all week as well So it's good to have them with us See some faces from back home So I just wanted to share a little bit And Nathan did a great job Of introducing our ministry And everything like that And through the week I'm going to highlight different books And items that we have on our table back there Because they tie in

[8:49] We brought selective items From our ministry catalog That tie in directly With different messages each night As we cover different topics Or each morning As we cover different topics Throughout the week But I wanted to highlight Just a couple of things this morning First of all The theme this week Is revival or bust And we're going to be talking about What biblical revival is Not what oftentimes Christianity presents as revival And so we're going to be looking At biblical revival And Lee actually wrote A Bible brief Called Entitled Wanted Revival So I'm going to have A couple of my daughters Hand these out To you At least as far as We will get So revival is something That is not only needed In the church today But it is It is wanted as well And so we're going to be looking At biblical revival Another item that we have back there That I'm not going to share this week But I'll share this morning This is something that Grace Publications Just came out with These are cards

[9:49] For every book of the Bible These are very interesting cards Every book of the Bible Has its own card On the front There's a picture On the back There's information So I know you can't see this Even if you have perfect vision You can't see this But it gives a basic summary Of the book of the Bible It tells The date it was written The time period That it covers The human author The scope of what it is In this case Genesis Is a book of history In the Pentateuch How many chapters are in the book There's a basic outline Of the book It lists the key verse In this case Genesis 3.15 It lists the key people Involved and listed In the book of Genesis And then down at the bottom It has the dispensations And it's the dispensational Placement of content So it goes through And checks all the boxes Of the dispensations That that particular book Of the Bible covers So those are available Back on the table Back there I wanted to share that With you this morning That's good for If you have If you're young or old

[10:50] If you have kids I was thinking You could go through that I'm going to give this back to you Because I pulled that card out And it needs to get back Where it goes But You know Just to learn The books of the Bible Learn what the books Of the Bible are about It's a great tool For that Our prayer cards Are back there Please pray for us And I will share with you Just one story Of this summer's travels We've seen 26 kids Come to a saving knowledge Of Jesus Christ Since we left In the week after Memorial Day So that's exciting to me And we pray for more fruit We have four more Bible schools Including this one Or after this one After this one So this is This is kind of like Our midway point Of the summer But we blew a tire In Virginia That happens Especially when you drive Over metal stakes That are in the ground But I blew a tire So we had lots of help Show up And jack up the truck

[11:50] And put a new front tire on Put the spare on And we drove it On the spare To West Virginia It was about 90 miles To the next church That we were going To do Bible school at And this is just The hand of God I don't know How else to explain this Other than The hand of God We called ahead Told them what the problem was That we were going to need Two new drive tires On the truck And they made arrangements For what they felt Was a reputable Tire dealer In the area Near the church That they were acquainted with And at the same time The truck was not shifting Right And so a man A friend of a friend Drove an hour and a half To look at the truck In West Virginia And I thought That was really great That he would drive An hour and a half To look at our transmission And clutch And he test drove the truck He is a He works in a Ford garage He is very good At what he does And he looked the truck over Test drove the truck first

[12:51] And he came back And he said It's transmission and clutch Are just fine I said So you're telling me It's operator error And he said Yeah Yeah it is I said okay I can live with that I'm a humble guy But he said I'm here So I drove an hour and a half Let me look the truck over And see what I can find If there's anything else And I just had the truck Completely gone over We had a new transmission And clutch put in So that's why I was questioning And he looked the whole truck over And he said You have a leaking brake line And he showed it to me And he touched it And I could hardly see anything On his hands And I said I don't know if I'll get to that This week Can we get to New Jersey With that Now mind you We are 45 feet long 26,000 pounds And we're driving through The mountains of West Virginia And he said I wouldn't drive it that far I said really I can hardly see anything He said yeah I wouldn't go far with that Okay You're the expert So the place That was doing the tires Also was A repair shop for brakes So it was three miles From the church To the repair place

[13:52] And I drove Pulled out Drove down the road We had just come through The mountains of West Virginia You know Mountains of West Virginia And We I pulled in To the To the place That was going to Look at the brakes And change the tires And when I stopped On the road Everything was fine When I pulled Into the parking lot I thought That brake pedal Kind of Felt soft And I pulled in Had to make a turn Got down in And backed up Yeah That brake pedal Definitely feels soft I got out Walked inside And told them I said You know The brakes felt A little soft But You know They were planning To look at it Anyways So good enough I came walking Back out When I pulled Into the parking lot The brake line Completely ruptured They told me It looked like It had been sliced And brake fluid Just was running All over the parking lot And I thought Thank you Lord If we had left At 26,000 pounds In the mountains Of West Virginia

[14:52] I can promise you We would not have Been here today We would have Probably been with Bruce Because Which would have Been far better But So we are thankful For God's provision So we appreciate Your prayers And support In that way So please Pray for us We can't do what we do Without people praying for us And then There are copies Of Truth of Flame Back there So you can pick up that That's our free publication That you can get And we send those out Quarterly To all who are On our mailing list So please take advantage Of that Not much is free today But that certainly is And will be As long as As long as we can So be in prayer for that Take your Bibles And open them to Mark chapter 10 Mark chapter 10 This morning We are starting Our week long Family Conference And as I said The theme is Revival or bust And so we are going

[15:52] To be looking at What revival What true Biblical revival is I believe we are At a cultural crossroads And I don't say That lightly I think last night's Events Was certainly Just further indication Of the cultural Crossroads at which We find our society But the cultural Crossroads that I Believe we are Standing at Is a cultural Crossroads that the Church needs to Address Not because of The world's culture But because of The culture I see Taking place In the church You see for me To say That the church Needs revival Is really an Accusation against The church Because revival Is to bring Something Back To revive Something To breathe life Back into something That had life Before Now we have Life in Christ We addressed that I think pretty Thoroughly in Sunday school This morning But we have Life in Christ But the church Is not functioning

[16:54] Often times Like we have Life in Christ We are functioning Like we need Revival Like we need To get back To something That we have And we need To breathe that Life back Into the church And so To some degree What I'm saying Is the church Is dead And so We're going to Address that This week We're going to Get back to What is revival What is needed For revival We see revival Mentioned It makes the news Oh there's a revival Here This revival Is taking place That revival Is taking place But what is True Biblical revival I appreciated Nathan sharing Philippians 121 This morning Philippians 121 Is really the Keystone Of revival For to me To live Is Christ If we are Living anything Less than that If we can't Substitute Our name In that verse For to me Insert your name

[17:54] For to Paul To live Is Christ If that doesn't Describe you For to Grace Bible Church Springfield To live Is Christ If that doesn't Describe this church Then we need To look at What is revival What does it mean For to me To live Is Christ So we're going to Look at that This week In the four Mornings that we Have together We're going to Look at what True biblical Revival is And what is Necessary To be revived But I had you Open your Bibles To Mark Chapter 10 Mark chapter 10 And I want to Look at something Here this morning But I want to Begin With a quote Now we'll see If anybody knows Who said this Alright This is the quote This is your test This morning The quote is as follows You know I love hymns And Christmas carols I feel at home In the Christian ethos

[18:55] I feel that we are A Christian country In that sense I'm a cultural Christian You know who said this I can tell by the look On your face That you know who said that Does anybody else know I want you all To hear this again Because I When you hear who said this And you haven't heard this before It might cause your jaw to drop You know I love hymns And Christmas carols I feel at home In the Christian ethos I feel that we are A Christian country In that sense I'm a cultural Christian First of all Before I tell you Who said that What he's really saying Is he wants to embrace The effects of Christianity Without the cause Without embracing The cause of Christianity Which is Christ The man who said that Is the author of a book Entitled The God Delusion He's a devout atheist Sir Richard Dawkins A man who has dedicated His life To standing against

[19:55] The delusion of Christianity And yet he had He in one statement Was able to make the leap From I'm an atheist To I'm a cultural Christian And when I heard that statement It really made me think I thought you know If an atheist A devout atheist A committed atheist Who makes his living Who his entire identity Is wrapped up in The fact that God Is just a delusion If that man Can just so easily Make the leap To identifying As a cultural Christian And the church today Is filled with Christians Who in many ways Are just living culturally And not living out Our true identity In Christ If an atheist Can make the leap To being a cultural Christian How easy would it be For a cultural Christian To make the leap To just being an atheist It's a fair question

[20:56] Isn't it? If we're not living Our identity in Christ If we want all of the Bells and whistles Of Christianity Without really Resonating with the cause Of Christianity Christ Then won't it just be Easy enough Just to walk away from Walk away from Him And be not that much Different than Richard Dawkins And maybe Your children Will walk away Even further And your grandchildren Further yet Just stepping further And further away From Christ Because we've chosen To live As cultural Christians I had you open Your Bibles To Mark Chapter 10 Jesus is dealing With His disciples Specifically James and John The sons of Zebedee They wanted to sit On His right hand And on His left In the kingdom They wanted these Special seats of authority

[21:57] And Jesus sees this In His earthly ministry He sees this As a teachable moment And He says to them In verse 42 But Jesus called them To Him And said unto them Ye know That they which are Accounted to rule Over the Gentiles Exercise lordship Over them And their great ones Exercise authority Upon them But so shall it Not be among you But whosoever Will be great Among you Shall be your minister And whosoever Of you be the chiefest Shall be servant Of all For even the son Of man Came not to be Ministered unto But to minister And to give his life A ransom for many Jesus is teaching Them a very Important lesson That I believe Christianity Needs to be Reminded of Frequently He's telling them Listen This is how The world In this case It's leadership But this is how The world's

[22:57] Leadership Operates But He said Your leadership Should look Very different We should live And act And function Differently Than the world Is choosing to It's interesting And I shared this This morning But the Greek word In Luke chapter Or Mark chapter 10 Verse 42 Where it says Exercise lordship You could say Exercise dominion Which is the same Word The same Greek word That is used In Romans chapter 6 Verses 9 and 14 Where it says Sin shall not have Dominion over you You see The world's Leaders That Jesus Was speaking of Here The world's Leaders Who were Exercising lordship And exercising Authority They were being Consistent With who they are The problem was

[24:00] And the problem Is today That often times Christians Today Function in that way Versus Functioning Differently Because This book Is the authority Because he Is the authority In our lives We should be Functioning Differently But we're not And so what I want To do this morning Is I want to answer A question In the time That we have You see The lesson That he's teaching Them here Is really the same Lesson that the Apostle Paul Was teaching In Romans chapter 12 Verses 1 and 2 Romans 12 1 and 2 Says I beseech you Therefore brethren By the mercies Of God That ye present Your bodies A what A living Sacrifice And then he goes On to say And be not Conformed to this World but be Transformed by The renewing Of your mind That ye may Prove That ye may Demonstrate What is that Good and Acceptable And perfect Will of God So Paul is Writing and He says I want you

[25:00] To be a Living Sacrifice I want you To be Fully committed To your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ But how Does that Take place That takes Place by Romans 12 2 Right Renewing Your mind And that's Not something That you do When you come To church On Sunday And Pastor Nathan Is up here Waxing eloquent And teaching And teaching And preaching That takes Place on Monday And Tuesday And Wednesday As you Personally Spend time In the Word of God And if You're a Father Your responsibility Is to spend Time with your Family Or making sure That your family Is spending Time in the Word of God Learning And growing And being Challenged That's your Responsibility As the head Of your home And so God Has called Every one Of us To be a Living Sacrifice Right Oh come on The questions Get harder Right God has

[26:01] Called every One of us To be a Living Sacrifice Thank you That's better We'll get You there If you Believe that Jesus Christ Died on the Cross for Your sins Was buried And rose From the Dead For your Sins You are Saved You have Been called To be a Living Sacrifice So this is The question That I want To answer This morning You ready For this If God Has called Us To be a Living Sacrifice How How is it That we Cannot Be a Living Sacrifice That's not The question That sounds Like a Question Doesn't But that's Not the Question If God Has called Us to be A living Sacrifice How can We not Be a Living Sacrifice And yet Convince Ourselves That we Are the Best example Of a Living Sacrifice This world Has ever Seen Because we Do that Don't We We

[27:01] Convince Ourselves That We're Really Living For the Lord We're Really We're Sold Out We're Committed A friend Of mine Who's With the Lord Now Used to Say Nobody Can lie To me Like I Lie to Me We are Very Good at Convincing Ourselves That we're Pretty Good And so The question That we Need to Answer This Morning Is How Can Christians How Can People Who Know Jesus Christ As Their Lord And Savior If You Were In Sunday School This Morning How can How can People Who Have the Righteousness Of Jesus Christ Who have Everything That we Talked About in Romans Chapter 1 Who are Saved Who are Completely Identified With Jesus Christ Death Burial And Resurrection How can We Who have That Who are Blessed With all Spiritual Blessings Your Bible Verse For this Month Who are Blessed With all Spiritual Blessings In Heavenly Places In Christ How can We Not Live As the Living Sacrifices God Begs Us To Be In Romans 12 1

[28:02] How can We Not Do That And Yet Convince Ourselves Somehow That We Are Being That Living Sacrifice I Want To Show You Three Ways This Morning In The Time We Have In Which We Can Think We're Being The Living Sacrifices When In Fact Maybe We Are Maybe We're Not And The Answer To This Question Lies In Looking At Israel Romans 15 4 Says Those Things Were Written A Four Time Were Written For Our Learning For Our Benefit There Are Things That Israel Did Mistakes That Israel Made That We Can Learn From Hopefully There Are Good Things That Israel Did That We Can Also Learn From But I Want To Go Back And Show You Three Fatal Mistakes That Is Disconnected Okay That Would Be My Phone Decided No Longer To Be Connected Okay Three

[29:02] Fatal Mistakes That Israel Made That Really Sent Them Down A Path That I Don't Think Any Of Us Want To Venture Down Okay You Ready For This Turn With Me To Second Kings Chapter Twenty Second Kings Chapter Twenty Two Second Kings Twenty Two Begins With Information About King Josiah He Began When He Was Eight Years Old To Reign Reign For Thirty One Years He Was A Good King And It Says There Let's Start In Verse Eight Verse The First Seven Verses Are Really Just Summarizing There's Work Being Done The Temple Is Being Restored There's Renovations Taking Place Verse Eight And Hilkiah The High Priest

[30:02] Said Unto Shaphan The Scribe I Have Found The Book Of The Law In The House Of The Lord And Hilkiah Gave The Book To Shaphan And He Read It Now Shaphan Was A Scribe What What Do Scribes Do What Was Their Role What Was It They Copied The Book Of The Law Right So If If The Book Of The Law Was Missing Scribe Really Wouldn't Have A Lot To Do On A Day To Day Basis Right And If The Book Of The Law Was Found You Would Think That Shaphan Would Get A Little Giddy About The Fact That We Found It After All This Time We Found What Was Missing Now I've Got Questions Right From The Start How Did You Lose How Did You Lose It What Were You Doing That You Lost God's Word For You In That Dispensation They Had To Live According To The Law Or Die According

[31:03] To The Law And So They Had Lost The Book Of The Law And Here It Says They're Doing Some Renovations On The Temple And They Have Found The Book Of The Law Now I've Got Other Questions Too And I Really Don't Have Time To Discuss Them But I'm Going To Mention This What Were They Renovating I Mean I Know They Are But What Were The Renovations They Were In The Temple What Kind Of Renovations Are We Putting In What Modifications What's Taking Place I Mean These Are The Questions That Run Through My Mind Now Verse Nine And Shaphan The Scribe Came To The King Now If You're The Scribe Who's Just Found The Book Of The Law And You're Now Going To The King What Are Going To The Book Of The Law Right Shaphan The Scribe Comes To The King And Verse Nine It Says And Brought The King Word Again And Said Thy Servants Have Gathered The Money That Was Found In The House And Delivered

[32:03] It Into The Hand Of Them To Do The Work Them That Do The Work What's His Focus On Not What It Should Be His Focus Is On The Finances Hey The Lord And Shaphan The Scribe Showed The King Saying Hilkiah The Priest That Delivered Me Up I Love That It's The Next Word You've Just Been Given The Book Of The Law That Has Been Missing You Go To The King You Scribe Whose Focus Is On God's Word To You And Making Copies Of It Because You Didn't Have A Plethora Of Copies Laying Around Your And So They They Rediscovered The Law He Doesn't Lead With That He Leads With The Money Because That Never Causes It Christians Are Never Distracted By The Finances Right The Focus Is Always On

[33:03] God's Word And Then Finally He Mentions Oh And We Found A Book This A Book Has Been Delivered To Me And Then It Says And Shaphan Read It Before The King And It Came To Pass When The King Had Heard The Words Of The Book Of The Law That He Rent His Clothes He Ripped Them He Tore His Clothes You see The Word Of God Has The Power To Convict Us Doesn't It And The Book Of The Law For Them Had The Power To Convict Them And So He Rent His Clothes He Tears His Clothes He's Feeling According To All That Which Is Written Concerning Us And It Goes On Down Through There Thus Sayeth The Lord God Of Israel Verse 15 Tell The Man That Send You To Me Thus Sayeth The Lord

[34:04] And Verse 17 Is The Verse That I Want You To Look At Because They Have For Me And Have Burned Incense Unto Other Gods That They Might Provoke Me To Anger With All The Works Of Their Hands Therefore My Wrath Shall Be Kindled Against This Place And Shall Not Be Quenched That's The Word Of The Lord To These People Who Were Renovating The Temple Whose Focus Was More On The Finances Than The Word Of The Lord Because They Didn't Even Know Where The Word Of The Lord Was But They Weren't Sitting by Doing Nothing While The Book Was Missing They Were Busy In The Temple The Next Chapter 23 Verse 4 The King Commanded Hilkiah The High Priest And The Priest Of The Second Order And The Keepers Of The Door I Think It's Interesting That He Mentions Pretty Much The Entire Hierarchical Structure In The Temple Because They Were All In What They Shouldn't Have Been In In In In In Because They Didn't Even Know What The Word Of God Said And He Tells Them To Bring Everything Out All

[35:04] The Vessels That Were Made For Baal And For The Grove And Burn Them Without Jerusalem That Was The Command Obviously Josiah Made The Right Choice But How Did Israel Get To This Point How Did They Hit This Low Point They Probably Thought Here We Are In The Temple We Serving The Lord We Faithful The Priests Are Still Serving The High Priests Are Still Doing All These Things And Then The Word Of God Proved Them Otherwise Didn't It You See How Do We Today Think We Are Being Living Sacrifices When In Fact We Are Not Being The Living Sacrifices God Has Called Us To Be Because Just Like Israel Sometimes We Just Don't Know What The Word Of God Says If You Says Right So It's Important That You Are If Nothing Else At A Minimum You Are Reading It Just

[36:05] Just Just Read The Word Of God That's Not That Hard Is It Just Read Just Start In Genesis Read Revelation Just Just Read It Every Day Spend Time Reading The Word Of God If Only For A Few Moments But There's Another Way That Is More Insidious Than That To Think We Are Being Living Sacrifices When In Fact We Are Not Being The Living Sacrifices God Has Called Us To Be The Second Way That We Can Think We Are Being Living Sacrifices Turn Back To The Book Of Leviticus Leviticus Chapter 18 Leviticus Chapter 18 Verse 1 And The Lord Spake Unto Moses Saying Speak Unto The Children Of Israel And Say Unto Them Now Listen

[37:05] Very Closely And If You Don't Understand What I'm Going To Read In These Next Few Verses Please Put Your Hand Up And I Can Promise You There Is Probably Nothing In These Verses That Is Not Fully Comprehendable By All Of Us This Is What He Says I Am The Lord Your God Everybody Tracking With It So Far Verse Three After The Doings Of The Land Of Egypt Where In Ye Dwelt Shall Ye Not Do Everybody Got That Don't Do What The Egyptians Did And After The Doing Of The Land Of Canaan Whither I Bring You Shall Ye Not Do Don't Do What You're Going To See In The Land Where I'm Taking You Neither Shall You Walk In Their Ordinances Ye Shall Do My Judgments And Keep Mine Ordinances To Walk Therein I Am The Lord Your God Ye Shall Therefore Keep My

[38:05] Statutes And My Judgments Which Of A Man Do He Shall Live In Them I Am The Lord Everybody Got That Right I Mean This Was As Straight Forward As The Lord Could Be To Them And It Goes On Starting In Verse Six To List A Whole Bunch Of Things That Were The Ordinances And Judgments Of The Lord Statutes Of The Lord That They Were Not To Be In Or That They Were To Be In Now Look Down At Leviticus 18 Verse 21 Says And Thou Shalt Not Let Any Of Thy Seed Pass Through The Fire To Molech Neither Shalt Thou Profane The Name Of Thy God I Am The Lord Do You Think Anybody In Israel Did Not Understand The Simple Clarity Of Those Verses

[39:05] And Yet What Did Israel Do Did They Obey Verse 21 Or Did They Offer Their Children To Molech Did They Cause Their Children To Pass Through The Fire In Fact You Know What Is Even Worse Than That They Made It Convenient To Make Their Children To Pass Through The Fire Because They Could They Could Leave Through The Gate Of Jerusalem Hang A Right Go Down To The Corner Of The Wall And Be In The Valley Of Slaughter Right There Where They Could Offer Their Children To Molech Imagine The Sounds That The Wall Didn't Insulate From Or The Smells And They Made It So Convenient You Don't Want To Have To Be Inconvenienced By Sin Right By The Way What Is Sin Sin

[40:07] Is All The Bad Things Everybody Else In Church Does Right What Is Sin Sin Is Missing The Mark Right Sin Is Just Not Doing What God Has Called Us To Do So Do You Realize That It's Possible To Do A Lot Of Good Things And Yet Do Them In The Flesh And It's Sin It's Possible To Do A Lot Of Good Things But Do Them For The Wrong Reasons It's Still Missing The Mark Walking In The Flesh And Making It Look Good Is Still Missing The Mark Looking Like A Christian But Doing In The Flesh Is Missing The Mark But The The Israelites You See It Wasn't Just Enough That They Way That We Can Fall Pre To Thinking We Are Being A Living Sacrifice When In Fact We Are Not Being A Living Sacrifice But Think We're Being Pretty Good But Worse Than Not Knowing What The Word Of God Says Is

[41:09] Not Caring What The Word Of God Says To Just Not Care I Know What The Word Of God Says But I'm Going To Do It Anyway Christians Never Do That Do They We're Never Guilty Of Knowing What The Word Of God Says Knowing The Clear Commands Of Scripture But Choosing To Walk Like The World Because We Like It And If You Think That Those Two So Two Ways We Can Think We Are Being A Living Sacrifice When We're Not Is Not Knowing What The Word Of God Says And Not Caring What The Word Of God Makes The Cake And We're Not Going To Turn There I'll Give You This One It's First Samuel Chapter Fifteen First Samuel Chapter Fifteen That's Where Samuel

[42:09] Is Sent Out Or Saul Is Sent Out To Wipe Out The Amalekites Right The Amalekites He's Sent To Wipe Out The Amalekites And He's Sent Out With A Very Clear Command Kill The Men Kill The Women Kill The Children Kill Everybody Now God Is A Righteous Judge And He Was Justified In His Righteousness For That Decision And Scripture Accounts For That And It's Interesting As Saul Goes Out The First Thing He Does Is He Goes Among The Amalekites To Those Who Are Living Among The Amalekites And He Says You Need To Leave He Sends Out A Warning You Need To Leave Because We're Going To Kill Them So When I Read That The First Thing I Thought Was Here's A Guy Who's Seeking To Obey God's Word He Knows He Has A Very Clear Order

[43:10] And He Can't Kill Those He Hasn't Been Told He's Allowed To Kill And So He Gives Them The Warning And Guess What They Do They Leave And So It's Israel Versus The Amalekites And They Have A Very Clear Order Of What To Do And The Verse In The Passage That We Are All Familiar With If There's One Verse In That Passage That We Will Be Familiar With It Is This To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice And What Than The Fat Of Rams I Forget How It Says That But That That's The Verse That We Are Familiar With Right Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice But It's The Events Leading Up To That Verse That Are So Critical To Understand What Is It To Heed Than The Fat Okay So So He There Is This Command To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice That's What Samuel Tells Saul

[44:11] But That's In Condemnation Of What They Had Done You See What Had They Done Well First Of All They Saved The Best Animals And They Were Going To Offer A Sacrifice To The Lord Because They Thought That Would Be A Noble Thing To Do That That Would Be A Good Thing To Do God Would Appreciate That Because Scripture Is Full Of Sacrifice So God Must Really He Would Like That If We Did That For Him No God Just Wants Us To Obey Him Right So Here's My Question In That Passage Saul First He Tells The Other Group To Leave So The Amalekites Are All That's Left And They Go In And The Battle Takes Place Now If You Were Saul And You Were Told By God Kill Everybody Men Women And Children And You Who Would You Spare The Women And Children Or

[45:12] Maybe The Children Just The Babies Who Does Saul Spare King Agag He Kills The Women He Kills The Children And Then Samuel Shows Up And Begins To Question Saul And Saul Responds With I've Obeyed I've Done Exactly What The Lord Told Me To Do I Mean That's My Version Of The Of The Account But That's Basically What He's Saying And You Know What When I Read It I Think He's Sincere I Think He Sincerely Believes I Did Exactly What The Lord Asked Me To Do I Mean After All He Killed The Entire Group Except One Man I Mean That's About As Close To Obedience As You Can Get Right Here's My Question Why If you Killed Everybody Else Why Would You Spare One Why Not Just Finish It Because Samuel Does

[46:12] Doesn't He But Why Did Saul Choose To Spare The King And Then Think That He Was In Obedience The Answer Is Very Interesting To Me Because Culturally At That Time When Nations Went To War It Was Customary According To The Culture To Spare The Royalty To Save The King Everybody Else Is Expendable But You Show Mercy By Allowing The King To Live And So What Was Saul's Mistake What Was His Downfall He Took The Clear Command Of God's Word And Viewed It Through A Cultural Lens You See I Believe Saul Knew What God's Word Said He Knew What He Had Been Commanded To Do I Also Believe He Kared Deeply About

[47:13] What God's Word Because When He Says There I've Obeyed I've Done He Wasn't Trying I Don't Think He Was Trying To Hide Something I Think He Was Sincerely Saying I Obeyed Because He Felt That He Was In Obedience The Problem Was The Mistake That He Made Was He Viewed His Obedience To The Command Through A Cultural Lens And This Is My Question How Can We Who Have Been Called To Be Living Sacrifices Think We Are Being Living Sacrifices When Sadly Often We Are Not Being The Living Sacrifices God Has Called Us To Be Maybe It's Because We Don't Know What The Word Of God Says Maybe It's Because We Don't Care What The Word Of God Says But I Would Probably Argue That Most Of The Time It's Not Because We Don't Know Or We Don't Care It's Because We're Looking At God's Word And Viewing It Through A Cultural Lens In Our Case We're Viewing It Through An Americanized Westernized

[48:13] Lens Versus Just Seeking To Understand What It Meant And How Am I Supposed To Obey The Clear Command Of Scripture All Three Of Those Don't Know Don't Care And Viewing It Through A Cultural Lens All Can Be Summarized In The Same Pitfall That We Are Capable Of Falling Into You See There Is A Sacrifice That Far Too Often Christians Make That God Does Not Want Us To Make See The Sacrifice God Doesn't Want You And I To Make Is He Has No Desire For Us To Sacrifice His Word On The Altar Of Our Lives See Maybe For You It's You're Not The Living Sacrifice God Has Called You To Be Because You're Just Not Familiar With What The Word Of God Says Maybe You're The One Who's Here This Morning

[49:13] Who Is Just Not Caring What The Word Of God Says But Maybe You Know And Maybe You Care But You're Viewing It Through A Faulty Lens Doesn't Matter How It Is That We're Not Being The Living Sacrifice God Has Called Us To Be The Answer Is To Not Sacrifice God's Word On Our Lives But To Simply And Humbly Come To The Word Of God And Allow God's Word To Be The Authority In Our Lives This Week In Bible School We're Going To Be Looking At Five Wells That We Need To Be Drinking From And Well Number One If We Want To Experience Revival Well Number One Is The Authority Of The Word Of God It Needs To Be The Authority In Our Lives I'm Going To Close In Prayer There's A Song That's Going To Play That Someone Brought In

[50:13] And So It's Going To Play So Don't Get Up And Run Out The Name Of The Song Is Nobody I Believe Is The Name Of The Song Anyway I'm Going To Close In Prayer And Then That Song We'll Play Play Let's Pray Father Thank You For This Morning Lord Thank You For The Time That We've Been To Preach Your Word And Lord I Pray That Each Of Us Examine Our Own Lives To See Whether We Are Being The Living Sacrifices You Have Called Us To Be And Lord I Pray That We Are Not In Any Way Ignorant Of What Your Word Says That We Are Not In Any Way Not Caring What Your Word Says And Lord That We Are Not Culturally Viewing Your Word Through A Cultural Lens Lord I

[51:13] Pray That None Of Us Individually Or Corporately Are Sacrificing Your Word On The Culture Of On The Altar Of Our Lives It's In Your Son's Name I Pray In The Name Of Jesus Christ Amen Er Him Bye We episode every awhile I Swe By heavens Thank you.

[52:37] Thank you.

[53:07] Thank you.

[53:37] Thank you.

[54:07] Thank you.

[54:37] Thank you.

[55:07] Thank you, Pastor Paul. And we'll see some of you.