Sacrificially Thankful

Good morning Church!

Announcements:

We will be starting a new study on Sunday Nights on Revelation!!!

Next Saturday, April 30th, all ladies are invited to attend a facial party @ 2:00 PM @ Dowelltown Community Center. Please let Mrs. Gail know by Wed April 27th if you plan to attend.

Next Sunday night we will be redrawing names for our fellowship groups.

May 8th is our Mother’s Day Breakfast. It will start at 8:30 AM before the service.

May 14th is our Spring cleaning day here at the church starting at 9 AM.

The last week of July will be our VBS. Our theme this year is Zoomerang!

Praise Reports:

We had a wonderful time with our youth last night as we went to Pleasant View Baptist in Woodbury for a youth conference. There was amazing Praise and amazing preaching.

Prayer Requests:

Joe Thomason

Nelson Sandlin

Tithes

Children’s Church

Doxology:

This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart that I might not sin against God! Amen!!!

Open Bibles To: Hebrews 13:8-16

Context

I am so excited for the message today! We started a new series a couple of months ago that was titled “Building T.E.M.P.O.” Then we moved into a brief series for Easter on the Holy Week. That finished up last week, and so now we are heading back into our previous series, but Easter is just so important. It is the most important time of the year, because of what it stands for, what it means, and how it moves us as we praise the name of Jesus. He is worthy to be praised!!!

With that being said, today’s message is going to serve as a segue between Easter and our series. Because of what all God has done for us, He deserves our praise. That is the next letter of Building T.E.M.P.O. that we are going to focus on: P = praise. We started with the “O”, and now we are going to focus on the “P”.

Content

His Perfect Consistency (v. 8)

Is there anyone here tonight who can relate to this verse in a personal way. I mean, we live in a world that is constantly changing. The fads of today are gone tomorrow. Emotions are great one day and horrible the next. Relationships come and go. Wants, desires, and dreams are ever-changing. Truth is relative (what is good for you, may not be good for me), churches are on every corner of every street and none of them are teaching the same thing, and the list can go on and on. Can anyone relate to what I am saying. It seems as if there is plenty of movement in our culture, but not a lot of progress. It seems as if everyone is standing on something, but no one is standing strong. It seems as if everyone has an opinion, but no one’s opinion really matters.

I don’t know about you, but I am thankful that I have a God that never changes. He is the same today as He was yesterday, and as He will be tomorrow. He is a consistent God. Not only is He consistent, He is perfectly consistent in all things. He never changes. That means that the same God who provided for Elisha in the middle of a drought, will provide for me. The same God who loved Peter through all of his mistakes, will love me through mine. The same God who taught His disciples what absolute truth was, will teach me the same thing. The same God who went through the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, will go through the trials of life with me. The same God who took all of Joseph’s burdens and turned them into blessings, will do the same for me. The same God who built His church on rock solid faith, will do the same today. The same God who brought peace in the middle of a storm, can bring peace into my life. The same God who raised a valley of dry bones into a mighty army, can still do it today. My friend aren’t you glad that He is consistent. I am thankful tonight, that my God never changes!!!

His Propitiating Contribution (v. 12)

This word sanctify carries with it various different meanings, and I think more than one applies here in this verse, when read in context. Remember, a text without a context, is but a pretext. Adrian Rogers used to say that, and he is absolutely right.

The bible tells us in Heb. 9:22 that there can be no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. When we apply this biblical truth to this verse, we now understand what is meant by the word sanctify in the text. It speaks of a cleansing from sin. It speaks of not just a cleansing, but a necessary cleansing that brings us into fellowship with Almighty God. But notice how it brings us there, through the blood. Who’s blood? Jesus’ blood. Jesus Christ gave His life on the cross at Calvary that it might cleanse the sin of all of those who might believe on Him. What a contribution!!! Not just a simple contribution or a standard contribution, but the ultimate contribution that has propitiating qualities.

See God created man perfect. When Adam sinned, he took on a new nature, that was contrary to God. Since that fall in Genesis Ch. 3, God has unfolded a beautiful, flawless plan to redeem mankind back into fellowship with Him. Sin separates us from God. In order for sin to be forgiven, something must die (the shedding of blood). The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were temporary and had to be reenacted over and over again, but with the right sacrifice, it could be done once and for all. God is a just God which means that He cannot overlook sin. Sin must be punished. Jesus became the substitutionary sacrifice for all of mankind and God poured His wrath out upon Jesus so that we did not have to suffer it ourselves. Propitiate means to satisfy or appease. Jesus satisfied the penalty of sin from God upon the cross, so that you and I can stand before a God righteous and Holy. Our righteousness and holiness is not because we ourselves are righteous and holy, but because the one who hung in our place was. Jesus bridged the gap between man and God and made it possible for there to be fellowship once again. Aren’t you thankful for His contribution?

His Persistent Cultivation (vv. 12, 9, 10)

If we will continue to examine the scripture before us, we will find that this word “sanctify” carries with it a meaning that is broader than that of cleansing. It goes beyond a one-time event. It goes beyond a single moment. It speaks of a cleansing that brings one into purpose. It is not just so that one can be cleansed of their sin, but also that one can, from that moment forward, live an exchanged life through the presence of God in our hearts.

If we back up to Vs. 9 we see that that says we are to be established with grace. This means that we not only trade in our sin for salvation, but it moves forward from salvation into sanctification. Vs. 10 goes on to say that we have an altar through Christ that we are to eat from. This is not physical food, but spiritual. We are to spiritually feast on the goodness of Christ. It is a continual process. But notice what must happen in order for this to take place.

a. Vs. 11 – High Priest would burn bodies outside the camp.

b. Vs. 12 – Jesus suffered outside the camp.

c. Vs. 13 – we are to go outside the camp, to where Christ is, if we are to participate in His sacrifice.

• We can only be cleansed if we are to go outside the camp. We can only be a part of something bigger than we can provide for ourselves if we go outside the camp. We can only be forever changed if we go outside the camp. We can only come into fellowship with God if we go outside the camp. We can only experience the blessings of God if we go outside the camp. We must go outside the camp.

• This word sacrifice speaks of a cleansing. It speaks of a cleansing that brings one into a new life of purpose. It speaks of a cleansing that brings one into a new life of purpose that is designed to make sacrifices. I told you that the title of the message was “Sacrificially Thankful”. True thanks proves itself by what comes afterwards.

• How can we be thankful when it seems God is asking so much? Turn to Romans 1 and we will illustrate this. That my friend, depends on what you are focused on. Are you focusing on what you are being separating from, or what you are being separated unto?

Commitment

The Sacrifice of Praise (v. 15)

Praise is showing our thankfulness to God. We are told to offer up the sacrifice of praise to Christ. He deserves our praise. He went outside the camp, went out into dangerous territory, out into the haters, out into the judgmental, out into the murderers, out into the sinners. He came unto us!!! Jesus came out of the religious camp unto those who did not know what religion was. He then crucified religion on a cross and showed us what it meant to truly live for God. He did it for all of us. He died for all people....

Men and Women

Boys and Girls

Tall People and Short People

Skinny People and Big Boned People

Poor People and Rich People

City Folk and Country Folk

Black people and White people and every shade in between.

Mentally Gifted and Mentally Challenged

Those who have book smarts and those who have common sense.

Those who are good with computers, and those who are good with their hands.

Introvert and the Extrovert.

Loud People and Quiet People

Those who got it together and those who are a total mess.

Adults and children.

Strong and the Weak.

Those who work too much and those who are lazy and don’t work at all.

Those who are supernaturally beautiful and for those like me who are just normal.

Those who stand out and those who don’t want to be seen.

Those who don’t worry at all and those who worry about everything.

Those who struggle with:

anxiety

depression

worry

pride and think they’re better

doubt and think they’re worthless

addictions

judgmental

The Sacrifice of Works (v. 16)