What Do I Have That God Wants?
What Do I Have That God Wants • Sermon • Submitted
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What Do I Have That God Wants?
What Do I Have That God Wants?
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Confession of Faith
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name!
Royal Priesthood
You and I are chosen by God! We are a royal priesthood! We are a holy nation! We are His special people!
Why? So that we could tell the world, share the praise of the one person who brought us out of a dark place into the His marvelous light!
See, in the Old Testament the people of Israel had priests.
These priests were responsible for offering the sacrifices to God on behalf of the people.
They were the “middle man” between God and the congregation.
But in the New Testament instead of “having” priests we “are” the priests.
We now can come boldly before the throne of God and offer our own sacrifices, praise and worship to the Lord.
We can fearlessly step into the Holy of Holies and declare our petitions before God!
Old Testament Sacrifices
The Old Testament priests would bring the sacrifices of others to the altar of God.
People would bring Doves, goats, rams, bulls and other animals were offered for a particular sin committed.
There were also offerings of flour and other vegetables depending on the sin that was committed.
Here’s the deal
The blood of animals proved to be of no effect in the long run because all it could do was cover sins for a short time
but then something awesome happened –
Jesus Christ
– God in the flesh – came and gave His life,
He shed His own blood for the sins of all mankind. This time the blood was perfect and spotless and instead of covering sins for short time
The blood of Jesus Christ became the ultimate sacrifice for the cleansing of sin.
New Covenant
Now we live in a new covenant – a new relationship with the Lord.
He no longer requires the blood of bulls and goats because He has paid the price.
He does however still REQUIRE A SACRIFICE!
What are the sacrifices we can bring to God in this new and living covenant?
What are the sacrifices that would please God today?
Well there are many ways we can please the Lord!
What Do I Have that God Wants?
What ability and talent do I have that God would want?
What assets do I have that God would want to use in His kingdom?
Today I want us to consider the first sacrifice we can offer to the Lord and that is
OUR PERSON!
Josiah
25 Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since.
Josiah was a king that sought to honor God.
He first began by rebuilding the temple of the Lord. One day while work was being done in the temple someone found the book of the Law and took it to Josiah.
He was so moved by the words of the Lord that he commanded the entire book be read to the people of Israel.
He became a tool in the hands of God.
He destroyed the idols that people were worshipping.
He went up into the high places and tore down the altars that had been built to false Gods.
All of the witch doctors and those who practice horoscopes were smashed.
The houses of prostitutes were brought to ruin so that Israel would live again by the law of the Lord.
Josiah became a King after the heart of God and was used to usher in a time of great revival and renewal to God’s people.
Today God we see people who are giving themselves to God! Sacrificing all for what is right, what is good, that God may get the glory!!
God wants you!!
Notice these text– with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his strength!
As men stood before the congregation of Israel and read the words of the Lord I can see Josiah listening. The readers came to Deuteronomy and these words pierced the heart of a young man and changed him forever…
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
What can we learn from this man?
We learn this – GOD REQUIRES THE SACRIFICE OF SELF!
Josiah gave his WHOLE HEART to the things of God and the Lord requires no less today!
1 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.
1 So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship.
Before we can make any further advances in the Kingdom there is an all-important sacrifice that must be made to the Lord.
What is that sacrifice? It is a LIVING sacrifice!
The Lord is calling you and I to “present” our bodies to him and to give way or yield to His work in our life.
Now I’m are not just talking about the flesh - being offered to God. I’m talking about YOU the whole person – spirit, soul and body.
You see before our body can give over the work of the Lord our inner man has to first give way.
Our body will do nothing that hasn’t first been settled in our spirit and soul.
The Lord is challenging us to VOLUNTARILY offer ourselves up to Him.
He is urging us to sacrifice our life to the cause of His kingdom – but not by physically dying but rather by LIVING!
What good are you to the kingdom plan if you are physically dead?
The sacrifice the Lord is looking for is someone who will die out to their:
Fleshly desires and lusts
To their evil thoughts and ideas
Now I realize to some of us this seems tough and restrictive.
I see in the Christian world today an attitude that says, “As long as I call myself a Christian I will be OK with God but don’t ask me to change my behavior!”
I hear people say, “Let me worship and sing but don’t ask me to give up my evil ways and actions!”
This attitude is not right!
Today you can tell no difference between Christians and non-Christians.
The experience of God’s grace and mercy in our life should cause a DESIRE TO CHANGE.
What You Were Before Christ
Looking back at what we were before Christ should cause us to stand in awe of the power of this Holy God.
If you are the same now as you were before you repented then I would suggest you find a place to repent again.
Any relationship that does not change us is not worth having.
Give your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole might to the things of God.
Stop Signs
I read this story recently, the author said When he was a teenager he walked to school.
On the way there was a pretty steep hill we had to get over. Fortunately, there were sidewalks along the road to help us keep safe.
One day a young man decided he didn’t want to walk on the sidewalk and began walking in the middle of the road.
A car came over the hill. The driver did not see the young man until it was too late and hit him. He did not die but was severely injured.
A few weeks later the city put a STOP sign at the start of that hill in order to get everyone slowed down and looking for pedestrians.
The STOP sign had no effect whatsoever. People just jumped it and went on their merry way.
Never even considering why the stop sign was put there in the first place.
The Lord has put some stop signs along this road called life.
When you come to one of these signs we have a choice we can stop and see what the Lord is trying to show us or we can just jump it and go on!
What do you have that God wants? He wants YOU!
Jesus is urging us – pleading with us – begging us to yield to Him so His perfect work can be done in us.
Being a living sacrifice is not easy. Sometimes we crawl away from the altar and do our own thing but still the call of God comes to us.
Everything I am talking about can be summed up in one great big word –
CONSECRATION!
That simply means – setting something apart for the worship and work of God. That something the Lord wants us to SET APART is our person – our self!
WHY SHOULD I SET MYSELF A PART?
You mean something to God! He Loves you! He wants to be with you! He wants to show you all that he has in store for you now and forever!
He has no other plan but to help you and prosper you in all areas of life.
Remember this – whoever you give yourself to that is who you are going to serve.
Hear Me: If you give your body to drugs and alcohol – you will become the slave or servant of them.
If you give your body over to sex then you will become the servant of sex.
If you give yourself over to money then you will become the servant of money.
Ladies and gentlemen this is not what God intended for your life.
He never planned for you to become a vessel of dishonor but rather a vessel of honor!
Look at what the scriptures tell us:
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.
21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
You are valuable to God! You matter to God! He does not want us to be controlled by any other power than Him.
Your body, your spirit, your soul belongs to God and we should use them to glorify God.
Sex before marriage (fornication), sex outside of marriage (adultery), lying, cheating, stealing, bad attitude, drunkenness, fighting and manipulating people out of their possessions are still WRONG and SINFUL even today.
Participating in these things will cause the vessel that God has given you to become stained and worthless.
Look at how Paul explained it…
15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never!
16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.”
17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.
19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,
20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
If you choose to set yourself apart for the worship and work of God your vessel – your body will become like gold.
17 Every good action and every perfect gift is from God. These good gifts come down from the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars, who does not change like their shifting shadows.
I am going to wrap this up!
HOW SHOULD I SET MYSELF A PART
There are four things that you should consider when you make the decision to give your whole heart to Jesus.
These are the things you have to offer him along with your body:
1. Love – give him all your love and the body will naturally follow in the direction your love is pointed…
5 Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got!
2. Obedience – out of love comes a determination to obey the Word of God and God of the Word…
2 Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts.
3. Trust – love and obedience produces trust. Because you love him, you obey Him and you learn that He never fails and trust results.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
4. Repentance – because you trust him you can come to him with any sin and any shame in your life and ask for his forgiveness and mercy.
12 That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
I realized that in this life I have very little control over anything but what I do have control over is giving to God those things He desires most – MY LOVE, MY OBEDIENCE, MY TRUST AND MY REPENTANCE.
He Wants You!
Have you given to the Lord this morning the very thing that He wants – YOU!
It is a lot and it may take awhile to give yourself over completely but today would be a great time to take that first step onto the altar of sacrifice.
This morning would be a good time to let go of the excuse “I am not good enough!” Let me set you free – YOU WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH!
In yourself there is nothing that can impress God – there is only one thing that you have, that you own, that you can offer to the king of kings as a gift that is worthy of His position – what is that gift – THAT GIFT IS YOU!
Yes, even with your sin, your shame and your pains the greatest gift you have to give tonight is YOU! Gold, diamonds, rubies and all the precious stones in the world would not cause God to turn His head. But the sound of rocks falling off the altar as you climb on top of it to offer YOURSELF will cause the Lord to stop what He is doing and give you His full attention.
Would you like to take that step ! Would like to find the secret to a full and wonderful life? It begins with a sacrifice of YOU because – he that seeks to save his life shall lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake shall gain it!
What do you have today that would be worth giving to God?
What kind of gift would you bring to this altar that would be good enough for God: Money, possessions, land, houses, cars and the material things of the world?
None of these things would ever please the Lord.
There is only one thing that God wants you to bring to the altar – YOU! And in exchange for your offering of repentance the Lord will give you a gift –
Eternal Life
Next Steps:
Read Old Testament :
Proverbs & Ecclesiastes
New Testament :
1st & 2nd Peter