HONOR - A DEBT OF SACRIFICE

MEMORIAL DAY

Sacrifice VIDEO

Romans 13:7 KJV 1900

7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

Honor is a command in scripture

I challenge you to find anything of any eternal value that does not require sacrifice.

Well PD, the Gospel is all about love, God is love....

John 15:13 TPT

13 For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.

John 3:16 NLT

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

sacrifice [sak-ruh-fahys] noun

the offering of animal, plant, or human life or of some material possession to a deity, as in propitiation or homage. the person, animal, or thing so offered.the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.

Matthew 10:39 LEB

39 The one who finds his life will lose it, and the one who loses his life because of me will find it.

Matthew 10:39 MSG

39 If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.

Matthew 16:25 TPT

25 For if you choose self-sacrifice and lose your lives for my glory, you will continually discover true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will forfeit what you try to keep.

Matthew 16:25 MSG

25 Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.

Romans 12:1 TPT

1 Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.

Honoring Your Debt Through Devotion

The the follower of Jesus, he will have preeminence in all things.

Malachi 1:6 NLT

6 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name! “But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’

Malachi 1:7–10 NLT

7 “You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar. “Then you ask, ‘How have we defiled the sacrifices?’ “You defile them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect. 8 When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 9 “Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 10 “How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings.

TWO DEADLY SERIOUS ADMONITIONS FROM SCRIPTURE: Matthew 6:24 & Mark 7:13

One will cause you to despise God...

Matthew 6:24 (NLT)

24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

One will make God’s word powerless...

Mark 7:13 TPT

13 Do you really think God will honor your traditions passed down to others, making up these rules that nullify God’s Word? And you’re doing many other things like that.”

Isaiah 29:13 LEB

13 And the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with its mouth, and with its lips it honors me, and its heart is far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught,

Honoring Your Debt by Honoring His Body

1 Corinthians 11:29 NLT

29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.

1 Corinthians 11:17–19 NLT

17 But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together. 18 First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it. 19 But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!

We live in an age where corporate practice of your faith seems to be optional or even no longer a part of the Christian faith. But remember, Jesus didn't abolish the laws and the prophets; He fulfilled them. What then do we do with this scripture?

Leviticus 17:3–5 AMP

3 If any man of the house of Israel kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp or kills it outside the camp 4 And does not bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting to offer it as an offering to the Lord before the Lord’s tabernacle, [guilt for shedding] blood shall be imputed to that man; he has shed blood and shall be cut off from among his people. 5 This is so that the Israelites, rather than offer their sacrifices [to idols] in the open field [where they slew them], may bring them to the Lord at the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest, to offer them as peace offerings to the Lord.

Hebrews 10:25 TPT

25 This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing, because we need each other! In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.

Christianity, like the Father, its above all relational. To ignore Christian relationships is to ignore Christ. You can't love the head and reject the body.

Remember, our demonstration of true Christian community in the earth is the evidence that we are disciples of Christ.

Honor or dishonor for God is evident in the treatment of people.

Proverbs 14:31 LEB

31 He who oppresses the poor insults him who made him, but he who has mercy on the poor honors him.

Jesus always ups the ante!

Matthew 5:43–48 TPT

43 “Your ancestors have also been taught ‘Love your neighbors and hate the one who hates you.’ 44 However, I say to you, love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you, and respond to the very ones who persecute you by praying for them. 45 For that will reveal your identity as children of your heavenly Father. He is kind to all by bringing the sunrise to warm and rainfall to refresh whether a person does what is good or evil. 46 What reward do you deserve if you only love the loveable? Don’t even the tax collectors do that? 47 How are you any different from others if you limit your kindness only to your friends? Don’t even the ungodly do that? 48 Since you are children of a perfect Father in heaven, you are to be perfect like him.”

Matthew 25:40–45 TPT

40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Don’t you know? When you cared for one of the least important of these my little ones, my true brothers and sisters, you demonstrated love for me.’ 41 “Then to those on his left the King will say, ‘Leave me! For you are under the curse of eternal fire that has been destined for the devil and all his demons. 42 For when you saw me hungry, you refused to give me food, and when you saw me thirsty, you refused to give me something to drink. 43 I had no place to stay, and you refused to take me in as your guest. When you saw me poorly clothed, you closed your hearts and would not cover me. When you saw that I was sick, you didn’t lift a finger to help me, and when I was imprisoned, you never came to visit me.’ 44 “And then those on his left will say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty and not give you food and something to drink? When did we see you homeless, or poorly clothed? When did we see you sick and not help you, or in prison and not visit you?’ 45 “Then he will answer them, ‘Don’t you know? When you refused to help one of the least important among these my little ones, my true brothers and sisters, you refused to help and honor me.’