Make Me a Sacrifice

Greeting

Lighthouse Students!

Let’s give it up for our team who did such an amazing job leading today. Shout out our student stories.

What an amazing night we are having this evening.

So, I want to be clear with you all. If you’ve been wondering where Pastor Peter and Ruthie are, I am responsible for their disappearance.

Let me explain.

As the Pastor of this church, my main concern is for the souls of the flock.

I’m not here for likes, shares, influence, or to grow a big church. I’m here to care for the souls of everyone who calls this church their home, including your Youth Pastors.

I felt like they needed some rest.

To just leave the chat.

Unplug. Get rest. And just recharge.

And they’ve done that and I’m sure that they are ready to come back and lead this group into it’s future.

So when you see them tomorrow, please go out of your way to tell them that you love them and that you hope that they got some good rest.

We’re not going to say anything negative about this group while they were away. Tell them that Charlie did awesome and that there was zero issues.

Sound good everyone?

Let’s take a moment and pray and then we’re going to get to work.

Image

You know one of the really great things about growing up in church today is that you all get to do some pretty cool things with teaching the bible.

I need to show you what they used in my day. In the 1900’s…

This is a flannel graph and this is how we brought stories to life.

Crazy, right?

Now, let me show you this video that I found that brings our story to life.

How many of you know what I want to talk to you about?

That’s right, Abraham and Isaac.

It’s a crazy story about a father who is told by God to sacrifice his son in worship. And this story has many elements that I believe can help this generation really understand what God asks of them.

Subject

And that’s why I want to talk to you about being a sacrifice. That’s actually the name of my message, Make Me a Sacrifice.

Need

And this is such an important topic for today because what I see different in this generation from previous generations is that your generation wants the authentic.

They aren’t looking for an easy faith, they want a real faith.

I can’t say that I have seen this in generations before yours.

There was a falling away from previous generations, but your generation. Your generation is turning it’s hearts back to Jesus and I see a generation that does not want the fake.

And here’s what I know about real things and fake things.

Real things cost you more.

The fake stuff is cheaper, and there’s a reason for that.

But if you want the real thing, it’s going to cost you.

So since you want the real thing, I need to show you what it is going to cost you.

Reading

Romans 12:1 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Text

Let’s go back to our video for a moment and then we’ll get back to our text.

When Abraham is 125 years old, God tells him,

Genesis 22:2 NIV

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

This was a wild command and unlike anything we know about the nature of God.

Now, most people will point out that God was testing Abraham, and he absolutely was. God spoke to Abraham. His command was towards him.

But what isn’t spoken about very often is how Isaac was willing to go along with the plan.

Yes, at first Abraham, who is believed to be 125 years old, kept it from Isaac, but eventually Isaac had to become a part of the plan.

Genesis 22:9 NIV

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

I need you to see that here in the text.

Isaac is in his late teens at this time. This is not an infant sacrifice. This is a very old Abraham telling his son in his late teens who his strong, he’s filling out his body, and he’s got youth over his Dad.

When I look at my son Jaden, I can still take him 100%

But if I was 125 years old, my money would be on my son Jaden.

And in 3 years, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to take my son anymore…

But here is the point, Isaac became a willing sacrifice.

As much as this was a test for Abraham, if Isaac was going to receive the promises of God over his life, he would have to be willing to step into the sacrifice of his father, even if it meant He was the sacrifice.

Generational Sacrifice

I see throughout the Bible that when God speaks to people, he often times speaks generationally.

He called Abraham, but the promise was for Isaac if he was willing to make the sacrifice.

God called Noah, but the promise was for his children if they were willing to make the sacrifice.

God called David, but Solomon also reaped the calling.

But we also see the opposite.

The priest Eli’s sons

The prophet Samuel’s sons

David’s son Absalom

Evidence of the Sacrifice

First, we need a heart towards worship .

When Abraham, told Isaac that they were going to the mountain he said, “we are going to worship.”

This is where every single person must learn to worship God.

You might be wondering, “what does that look like and what does that even mean?”

Great question. But every single day is a new opportunity to worship God.

Worship is:

reading your Bible in the morning through a plan

read the verse of the day and journal

pray or prayer walk

listen to Christian music when you are alone

participating in the worship at church

The amazing thing about worship is, it is personal and it’s not the same for everyone.

God doesn’t tell us how to worship but he does draw near to us when we worship Him.

Second, a willingness to carry the burden.

Genesis 22:6 NIV

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,

This is kind of a crazy moment in the text. Not only does Abraham know that he will need to sacrifice his son, but then he makes him carry the things he will use.

I think right now, this is the tension that some of you are facing. Will you carry the burden?

What is the burden? Not doing everything your friends are doing!

This month I took a stand on opening up the eyes to your parents that these little devices are meant to turn you into addicts.

Earlier this week, my son Jude was unable to call me because his football practice ended early, and one of the Mom’s looked at me like I was weird for not giving my 11 year old a phone.

Now, this is going to be completely unpopular right now, and I am in no ways trying to correct what your parents have decided for you.

But whatever your parents decide for you, even if you don’t agree, there is a blessing in carrying that burden.

So whatever sacrifice they ask you to make, carry that burden. Willingly. It’s for a short while. I promise, once you are older and can make your own decisions, you can decide on whatever is best for you, based on your relationship with God.

I grew up in a church where the burdens were well defined!

No pants

No make up

No sports on Sunday

No worldly music

And the church thought that all of those things would turn us towards God.

But the burden was backwards.

When I so desire to be close to God, there’s a lot of things that I’m not going to want to do.

So here’s what I want you to do…

Develop your closeness with God.

Carry the burden of letting things go that God is telling you to let go.

Third, trust the process.

Genesis 22:7–8 NIV

Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

You don’t have to understand the process to trust the process.

I know that is counterintuitive for some of you, but God asks for your faith.

It is not faith if you understand it all.

Faith is saying yes to what appears to be incomplete.

“This doesn’t make sense!” you yell… and God, who is looking at your future simply says, “Trust me. It’s all going to work out!”

Conclusion

You are walking through such a pivotal time in your life.

This is the time of your life that the moments you make will be the memories you carry.

So many times when we talk about sacrifice it has this negative feeling.

But what we need to do is remember that God calls us to be living sacrifices.

We are to live a life that demonstrates that we are sacrificing things that others do because this is our true and proper worship.