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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

Sacrifice

David Wright

Life: The Final Goal of All Sacrifice

The Reproach of Those Closest

God Wants To Hear You Sing

Salvation: An Expensive Gift

Sacrifice: Leftovers or Copper Coins

Never Enough

Sin Spotters

Sacrifice Required

Sacrifice for the Gospel

I know that's a little bit small, but Time Magazine did an article back in 2008, I believe it was, in September, that asked this very question, 2006, I'm sorry.

What exactly is the prosperity of the gospel?

On the headline it says, or on the front page, does God want you to be rich?

I believe that's a Rolls Royce with a little cross on it.

And then some of the books up here, Your Best Life Now.

And this talks about miracles and healings and special service taking place in Jerusalem and you can request your own prayer cloth to be sent to you.

Another book, 8 Steps to Create the Life that You Want.

This is just what Time Magazine had reported.

But what exactly do you believe is this prosperity gospel and do you believe in it?

You know if you go to Google they will define it this way, it's a religious belief among Christians that financial blessings and physical well-being is always the will of God for them and there is a result of this gospel, faith, positive speech, and donations will increase.

It is also known as the health and wealth gospel or the gospel of success.

Now don't get me wrong, there's plenty of very wealthy, not just a little wealthy, really wealthy people in scripture, right?

Abraham was very wealthy, Job was very wealthy, and there were others.

So I don't believe that wealth is necessarily the problem, But when we follow God, when we choose to trust in Him and to follow Him, is this a guarantee that I'll be rich and wealthy and healthy and and nothing will ever go wrong in my life?

I would suggest friends that following Jesus by no means is an easy life.

That's why he told his disciples, oh here's another slide, I forgot about this 1, prosperity gospel, why wait for heaven to get your mansion?

But what did Jesus tell his disciples in John 16, 33?

In me ye might have peace, But in the world ye shall have tribulation.

Doesn't say you might have, it's possible.

If you don't do everything just right, if you don't believe enough, it says you will have tribulation or trouble or trials.

In me you will have peace, in the world you'll have tribulation, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world." And that's good news.

We're continuing our series this week on week number 3 on sacrifice.

We've looked at the character of sacrifice as Abraham was asked to offer up his only son, Isaac, the thing that he valued and treasured most.

It was a big test, so that was the character of sacrifice.

Last week was the sacrifice of relationships, sometimes family, friends, those closest to you don't understand, they don't agree with where you are spiritually.

They don't believe the same way you do and they might mock you, they might ridicule you.

And this week we're going to look at physical sacrifice.

And I know this congregation knows all about what it means to suffer in a physical sense.

In a couple weeks we'll look at sacrifice of the Son and a few others, pride and self-reliance, how sacrifice is required and the sacrifice for the gospel.

But I wanted to put this text on the screen, Mark 8 35, for whoever desires to save his life will lose it.

This is kind of our theme verse, except this one's taken from Mark.

This one's a little bit different, but same idea.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.

Or could this in fact be speaking about physically as well?

Losing my physical life might be required.

But if I give it up for Christ and for the sake of the gospel, am I really giving anything up?

That's what this verse is asking me to think about.

If you brought your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Acts chapter 16 and we're going to look at a story there that's a very interesting story.

It's a story that challenges me considerably.

It's a well-known story, I'm sure you've heard of it before.

Acts chapter 16 And we're going to begin in verse 16.

I'll be reading from the New King James Version.

So Acts chapter 16, verse 16, And there we read, now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl, possessed with the spirit of divination, met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling.

So we have a slave of the devil, a slave of man as well, and the devil and this man are exploiting this girl for financial gain.

Verse 17, the girl followed Paul and us and cried out saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God who proclaim to us the way of salvation.

But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.

Now this word annoyed really can also be translated as greatly distressed.

If you have a King James Version, it says being grieved.

American Standard says being sorely troubled.

But Paul is annoyed or grieved because this is hindering the Lord's work, what she's doing.

And she's constantly following them and badgering them and hindering their ministry.

And so in the name and the power of Jesus Christ, There's a lot of power in that name.

Jesus in fact had given himself, had given his disciples authority to cast out demons.

And so in the name of Jesus, in ways that the disciples and others had done before, he asked the spirit to leave this girl.

And verse 18 it says, and it came out over that very hour, verse 19, and when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities." You see, the marketplace was the center of just about everything.

Not just social, not just business, it also was where they administered justice.

And so they dragged Paul and Silas to the marketplace, and then in verse 20, and they brought them to the magistrates.

Usually there was 2 of them, and they had the power to inflict punishment on offenders.

And so they dragged them to the magistrates and said, these men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city.

These Christians over here, They're the problem.

And they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.

You see, Jews could practice, but they couldn't proselytize.

And so what they're doing, this is against the law.

And they're causing a ruckus in the entire town.

Verse 22, Then the multitude rose up together against them.

So here you have this big crowd mentality now.

It's not just a few, but a multitude rose up against them, and the magistrates tore off their Paul and Silas clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.

And when they had laid many stripes on them, does that sound pleasant?

They threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.

And then verse 24, having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks.

How could you do this to any Roman citizen?

Some people ask, how come he doesn't object here?

People weigh in differently, but my assumption here is that the multitude is so upset, so angry, you don't try and rationalize with the multitude or an angry crowd.

You might try, but you won't get very far.

And so they free a girl from demon possession.

The people get upset, take them to the judge.

There's a mob mentality, they're stripped of their clothing and their dignity, they are beaten with rods to the point that they are bruised, their skin is broken open, they're bleeding, and now they're dragged over to the prison and put not just in prison, but in the inner prison.

You see, the outer prison might have had a window, might have had fresh air, might have had the ability to get some sunlight.

But the inner prison, that was solitary confinement.

That might have been extra small on purpose, not tall enough that you could stand up, if you even had that privilege.

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Series

Sacrifice

God Wants To Hear You Sing

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Flip the Script

01 How Bible “Buts” Change Trials Into Triumph

1h 2m

All Things Work for Good

58m

The Book of James

The Book of James: Prayer, Healing, and Restoration

58m

Gold Tried in the Fire

58m

Making God Feel Like A King

53m

And Hope Does Not Disappoint

46m

Joseph

Imprisoned and Forgotten

41m

Bible Buts & Band-aids: How to Apply God’s Word for Trauma Healing

Bible Buts & Bandaids: How to Apply God’s Word for Trauma Healing 2

44m

Faith in Action

Making Sense of Suffering

54m

The Sweetest Song I Know: Authentic Musical Worship Deepens Our Experience with Christ

How Can I Keep from Singing?

56m

Finding Purpose in Pain

1h 5m

Secrets To Answered Prayer

42m

Sound Doctrine