My Epic Journey

With the help of Brad Clark, we finished our 40 Days of Worship series last night in EPIC.  Our topic was being a living sacrifice.  Our text:  Romans 12.1-2.

Here are the teaching notes:

The believer is to present his body as a living sacrifice to God. Note three facts.

1.  God demands the believer’s body. God is not only interested in man’s spirit; He is vitally interested in man’sbody. His interest could not be any stronger nor made any clearer. This is clearly seen by contrasting the world’s view of the body with God’s view.

2.  The believer is to present his body to God. The dedication…

·  is not to be made to self: living as one wishes; doing one’s own thing.

·  is not to be made to others: living for family, wife, husband, child, parent, mistress, companion, sexual partner, or employer.

·  is not to be to something else: houses, lands, property, money, cars, possessions, profession, recreation, retirement, luxury, power, recognition, fame.

The body is to be offered to God and to God alone. God demands the body, demands that it be presented to Him. God wants the body to be sacrificially living for Him.

3.  The believer is to present his body to God as a living sacrifice. Note the believer’s offering of his body is to be sacrificial. This is the picture of Old Testament believers taking animals and offering them to God as sacrifices. The believer is to make the same kind of sacrificial offering to God, but note the profound difference. The believer’s offering is not to be the sacrifice of an animal’s flesh and blood. The offering and sacrifice of the believer is to be his body: he is to offer his body as a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice means at least four things.

·  A living sacrifice means a constant, continuous sacrifice, not just an occasional dedication of one’s body. A person does not sacrifice his body to God today, and then take his body back into his own hands and do his own thing tomorrow. A living sacrifice means that a person dedicates his body to live for God and to keep on living for God.

·  A living sacrifice means a sacrifice of a person’s body wherever the body is. A particular place is not needed. The sacrifice of the body is a living sacrifice; it can be made while the body is living right where it is. And the offering of a living sacrifice is to be made right now while the body is living.

·  A living sacrifice means that the body sacrifices its own desires and lives for God. The body lives a holy, righteous, pure, clean, and moral life for God. The body does not pollute, dirty, nor contaminate itself with the sins and corruptions of the world: neither the lust of the flesh, nor the lust of the eyes, nor the pride of life. The believer’s body is sacrificed for God and dedicated to live as He commands.

·  A living sacrifice means that the body lives for God by serving God. It means that the body sacrifices and gives up its own ambitions and desires, and it serves God while upon this earth. The body gives itself to the work of proclaiming the love of God and of ministering to a world reeling in desperate needs. The body sacrifices itself to serve God and Him alone. The body is dedicated to God as a living sacrifice.

In summary, the believer is to dedicate his body to God as a living sacrifice in the home, church, school, office, plant, field, restaurant, club, plane, car or bus. No matter where the believer’s body is, his body is to be sacrificed for God. Sacrificing to God is not something that is transacted in a church. Sacrificing to God is transacted in every act of the human body. The world, that is, the whole universe, is the sanctuary of God; and the believer’s body is the temple of God. Therefore, every act of the believer’s body is to be an act of service to God.

Thought I would share the points from Day #2′s Chapel lesson.

Ken Rudolph spoke on the Life of Joseph.  Here is his outline:

Living Life From God’s Perspective

Genesis 37-50

• God uses terrible things in your life for something great.
• You must have the perspective that God is doing something special in your life.
• When you know God, you know He is just and fair.
• God prepares us in very unique ways.
• Can you trust God for 13 years while in difficult circumstances?
• The only one who can mess up your life is you!

A little while ago, I wrote about being a balanced person.

I took a break from school for a couple of days and picked up the book, The Importance of Being Foolish, by Brennan Manning. 

The book is a great reminded that Jesus doesn’t call us to a "feel good" Christianity or to a Christianity that is just about TALK.  Instead, Jesus calls us to a life of action.  Action to love and serve the poor and ungodly to fight against the egotism and arrogance of people who talk about God more than do things for God.

In the very first chapter of the book, Manning makes this statement about balance, "A truly balanced person retains a capacity for wonder and the willingness to express it in the very confession of creaturehood, the spontaneous acknowledgment that his is a human being and not a god, a being with limitations who, far from having embraced infinity, is happily and hopelessly engulfed by it."

Quick thoughts:

• When was the last time you just allowed your mind to wonder about the incredibleness of who God is and why He created you? (Psalm 139.13-18)
• When was the last time you reminded yourself of the who you are and who God is?  (Isaiah 6.1-8)
• When was the last time you put that all together and lived a life in harmony with the personality and characteristics of God? (Philippians 2.5-7)