STUDIES FROM BRETHREN IN CHRIST

8/26/2018 ~ Sacrifice

♈   SacrificePM.mp3 (39m 03s)   Sacrifice.pptx Darkness has nothing to offer. Time refines a heart to see truth or one remains oblivious to its revealing. Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, ... ~ Psalms 96:8-9        ┏► Obedience is the highest calling of God. ... Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, ... ~ 1st Samuel 15:22 "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?" Says the LORD. ..." ~ Isaiah 1:11 Without knowing the will of God how can one be in Him? ◄┓           For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. ~ Hosea 6:6 To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. ~ Proverbs 21:3                                                                ┗► God looks for sacrifices of heart. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And put your trust in the LORD. ~ Psalms 4:5 ... The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart - These, O God, You will not despise. ~ Psalms 51:16-17 ... what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? ~ Micah 6:8             ┏► A relationship with God means understanding His will. "But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. ..." ~ Matthew 9:13 ... "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." ~ Mark 8:34 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. ... ~ Mark 8:35-37 "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, ..." ~ Matthew 3:8 "And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." ~ Mark 12:33 ... though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. ~ 1st Corinthians 13:3                ┗► Loving is key to freeing a heart from the depths of misery. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ..." ~ John 15:13-15 ... by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ... ~ Romans 12:1-2 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in ... ~ Galatians 5:24-26 The fullest life rises to touch the heavens. ◄┛                                         God's Call is Clear for all to Know     Walk in the Spirit:               ● Not become conceited               ● Not provoking one another                           ● Not envying one another ... never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. ~ Hebrews 10:1 ... But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. ... ~ Hebrews 10:2-4 ... In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. ... ~ Hebrews 10:5-7 ... He takes away the first that He may establish the second. ~ Hebrews 10:8-9 ... every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ~ Hebrews 10:10-11 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, ... ~ Hebrews 10:12-14 ... as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, ... offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ~ 1st Peter 2:5 ┗► Actions of heart turn the ear of God.                               Sacrifices pleasing to God   ● To obey   ● Repentance   ● Righteousness and justice   ● A broken and contrite heart   ● Mercy and knowledge of God   ● To do justly, love mercy, walk humbly   ● Love God and neighbor   ● Praise to God of our lips   ● Giving thanks to His name   ● Do good and share ... let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. ... ~ Hebrews 13:15-16 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. ~ Ephesians 5:2 Sweetest sounds are what God gives us to hear. ● One needs to make offerings in worship of the Lord ● The Lord has no pleasure in insincere sacrifices ● The Lord looks for mercy, righteousness, and justice ● The Lord accepts a broken and contrite heart ● God expects - do justly, love mercy, & walk humbly ● All called to follow in pursuit of the ways of Jesus ● Destiny is declared by desire for God or the world ● A life without love leaves no sacrifice ● Reasonable service is to our life as a living sacrifice ● Control passions & desires free of conceit & envy ● Sacrifice of Jesus sanctifies all who believe & obey ● God wants spiritual sacrifices through Jesus Christ ● Vocally praising God & doing good pleases God God has sacrificed that we might have eternal salvation. Darkness holds the hollow of emptiness.