Ministry Killers and Accelerators pt. 3

Indulgent Living vs. Sacrificial Living

This world is calling you to focus on you.

It tempts you to chase after pleasures

It beckons you to focus on your desires

It whispers in your ear “You deserve it.” Sometimes even adding “God would want you to be happy.”

It twists words into compromise

It makes you look at others and say “Why not me?” “Everyone else is doing it?”

This world and the your enemy are screaming at you to live for you and you alone.

For those of us who know the Word though, we understand that Jesus has called us to a different life. He has called us to lay down our lives for Him and for others.

As we continue in our series “Ministry Killers and Accelerators”, tonight I want us to look at two opposite roads to walk.

Self vs Sacrifice

James 4:1-4 “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Self-Seeking is a ministry killer. If I give into that lifestyle I make myself an enemy of God! How’s that for killing the ministry?

So many ministers have fallen because they gave into the flesh. They were tempted by money, lust, power and materialism. The witness they bore was not of Jesus even though they did it in His name.

How are you representing Jesus?

Do you carry His name, but live for yourself?

Matthew 23:25 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.”

We all struggle with this at times. The key word is struggle. The enemy wants you to give into it.

2 Timothy 3:2-4 “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,”

Why is selfishness such a killer?

James 3:16 “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.”

Selfish living is a direct open door for the enemy to come into your life.

Jesus came and showed us a better way. He came not live for Him, but to serve others.

Mark 10:35–45 NKJV

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.” So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Philippians 2:1-4 “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

Accelerator- Sacrificial Living

Exodus 20:24-26 “An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it. Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’”

God told His people to build an altar.

Altar- The place of slaughter

Surrender builds altars, but the flesh builds monuments. (King Saul built a monument to self)

Rocks build the altar, but ambition, greed, whining and excuses build monuments

Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Hebrews 13:10 “We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.”

They could not use hewn stone. The rock was God made and it could have nothing man made in it. The altar is Jesus!

Matthew 16:24-26 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Old Saying- Build a bridge and get over it

Build an altar and get on it!

2 Focal Points for Sacrificial Living:

Fasting

Generosity

There are others, but these are the two we are focusing on tonight.

Fasting

Ezra 8:23 “So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.”

Exodus 34:28 “So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.”

Matthew 6:16-18 ““Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

Fasting is about your heart not your hunger.

True fasting is about aligning our heart with God’s heart. It is denying our flesh the thing it craves the most.

In fasting we are declaring that God is more important than even the things that sustain our life in this world.

We crave Him more than we crave the appetite of this world!

Isaiah 58:1–12 NKJV

“Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord? “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

Radical Generosity:

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.””

2 Corinthians 9:6 “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”

Deuteronomy 15:9-10 “Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the Lord against you, and it become sin among you. You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand.”

Matthew 6:19-21 ““Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

What has your heart?

The proof is in your bank account and your willingness to surrender that to Jesus.

Does Jesus have you or does the world have you?

Trauma’s/Fear- Wounds from not having anything can keep you afraid that you will go back there. It will keep you from acting in faith!

Luke 21:1-4 “And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.””

Most of us give out of our abundance, not our lack.

Giving is rarely a sacrifice for us. We give what we are comfortable with giving.

Story by Pastor Vlad Savchuk

A pig and a chicken were walking down the road and they came across a poor farmer. They talked about it and decided to make the farmer breakfast. The chicken said “I’ll make the farmer an omelet and you pig can provide the bacon.” The pig looked at the chicken and thought for a moment. Then he said, “If you give eggs for the omelet that’s an offering, but if I give bacon that’s a sacrifice.”

Most Christians only give eggs…never bacon.

Bacon requires trust. Bacon hurts. Bacon shows true care for the farmer.

If you give bacon God will honor you!

The world and the enemy are calling you to live for you! God is calling you to live for Him and for others!

If you need a breakthrough tonight then you need to BREAK THROUGH your flesh and do whatever Holy Spirit is telling you to do!

You need to put whatever God puts on your heart on the altar and sacrifice it!

Deny yourself! Get on the altar of Rock. THE ROCK and lay yourself there! Climb on your cross and hand Jesus the mallet and nails.

Sacrificial living is not easy…but you will experience more breakthrough, more power and more fulfillment if you live this way.

Matthew 17:21 “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.””

If you want a more effective ministry, you need to be less effective at feeding your flesh. Deny your desires and chase after the desires of your Heavenly Daddy!

Don’t give what you think you should give.

Don’t give to who you think you should give to.

Don’t fast when you want to or how you want to.

Surrender to what God is calling you to!

Sacrifice and Selfishness both bring resurrection.

Dying to self- brings resurrection of life.

Living for self- resurrects the old you, the old ways, the old destruction.

Luke 17:33 “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”