Sacrifice of Praise
Text:
1 Peter 2:4-5, "Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
Hebrews 13:15, "Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise of God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."
"Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name." (Amp)
Through Jesus Christ that is the only way you can be a sacrifice. He is desiring for us as a church to become a spiritual habitation for Him. Not the kind of place that people are comfortable with, but the kind of place that God is building. He takes each of us and He says to us, "Okay, here we have a lively stone over here in sister _____ and I am going to take her and place her in the wall because I am building Me a place to live. There is sister _____ over there, I'll take her and put her in the wall, the same wall." Why? Because He is building a house, a spiritual place for Him. Then He looks around and sees brother _____. "I can use him let's bring him over here and put him int he wall. Put a little spiritual mortar around there and there we go, now we are starting to get someplace. We have to add some young people. We cannot forget the older folks, either. Brother and sister _____ put them in the wall. We can't forget the kids from the newborns on up. They are lively stones for the the house of God, for a spiritual place that is why we are having church today. Not because the AG tells us we need to have service every Sunday morning, but because God wants to build a house. And He is looking for some priests, I don't mean with clerical collars that go back there and take confession. No. I mean priests who give confession!! Not who take it in some little booth, but who give it wherever they go. That is what God is after, priests.
Say: "I am a priest!"
You didn't know that you are a priest, did you. You are from a different order. You are from the order of Melchizedek (Gen 14). Through Jesus Christ, what are we suppose to do? Let us continually offer. What do priests do? They offer sacrifice to the Lord. In the Old Testament in the tabernacle or in the temple the priests and the Levites ministered to who? Not the people, they ministered to God. The people brought their own sacrifice and the priests took care of it. They spilled the blood on the altar so that they were covered. We are more than covered now!! Our sins have been washed away. How did that happen? Through Jesus Christ, that is how it happened! And because of what He has done, now we continually offer up the sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips. You have to say something if you are a Christian; you have to say something is you are a priest; you have to say something if you are a worshipper! We don't have any secret service agents for the Lord sneaking around. No! He wants you right out front, over and above, confessing Jesus as Lord, is what you confess.
You know what I hear people confess all the time? They confess that they are sick; they confess that they are tired; they confess that they are miserable; they confess that they are poor; they confess that they are fat; they confess that they are ugly. And you know, they are all those things. Do you know why? You are what you confess!!
It is time we start saying what God's Word says instead of what we have been taught all those years. Just because someone told you that does not mean it is true. I want to point out what the Word of God says. "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is the word of faith which we preach) that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus..." (Romans 10:8-9) The word of faith is where? It is near you, it is in your mouth. What are you suppose to do with it? Speak it out there as a confession that Jesus is Lord. If you want to be sick, you go right ahead and be sick. Talk about it all you time and you'll be sick. If you want to be whole then you confess wholeness. You confess what God has to say about you. If you want to be fat, then you confess being fat, and you eat like you want to be fat. But if you want to be less than fat then you need to change your confession. "That if thou would confess with thy mouth." Who do we confess? JESUS!!!!
Many of us get up Tuesday morning, and things are not going well, what do we usually do? We confess what our circumstances dictates to us, that is what most of us do. What are we suppose to do? Continually offer the fruit of our lips giving thanks. We need to interjet Jesus into our confession. You have to confess Jesus, even in the minor things. In everything give thanks! What you confess is what you are going to get. So many people today in Christianity are confessing death(negativity) and that is what they get. They are miserable. Now, if you are miserable you can come here to church, but I have a warning for you, you won't stay miserable because I do not like misery and neither does God and if you get around us we are going to try to influence you to change what you confess. Because I do not want to confess misery, I want to confess Jesus is Lord!
You might say, "What kind of sacrifice is that?" It is one that God requires of us. Let's face it, we find ourselves in day to day situations on the job in our home that are less than ideal, we don't like them, so we have a choice. We can confess out of our natural man out of what is happening in the circumstance or we can confess Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord!
Some of us talk like Jesus is Lord once in a while but our confession doesn't bear that up. If you get around someone who calls themselves a Christian, then see what happens when things do not go their way. You'll find out what their confession is like. I do carpentry work and everyone always wants to know what the Pastor says when he hits his thumb. I don't hit my thumb often, but when I do it is usually so hard that I cannot say anything. We need to confess Jesus. The first thing we do in the morning is confess Jesus, we pray, "Lord, this is Your day, we give it to You. Help our hands to be productive today." We do that because we are not working for those people that we build for, we are working for Jesus,"because everything that your hand finds to do, do it heartily as unto the Lord." (Colossians 3:23) That is our confession. We confess that Jesus is Lord and His protection is on our families. God protects His own people, why? Because they confess Him as Lord. They confess Him as Lord! Here is what some of our confession ought to be:
"I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord." (Psalm 116:17)
"And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believe and therefore I spoke, we also believe and therefore speak." (2 Corinthians 4:13)
So what do you speak? What you believe. So confess that on a continual basis. Do not tell me you believe in divine healing and walk around sick all the time. Confess Jesus, and what He says about your health. I am not saying that if you are sick then you are in sin. The Bible does not say that. The Bible says that God has made provision through His Son Jesus Christ for our healing, for our health and we can grab a hold of that and we can proclaim that and we can profess that; we can confess that until we receive it, "because faith calls those things that are not as thought they are."(Romans 4:13-18) Even though my physical body tells me I am not feeling well the Word of God tells me I can be made whole. "When I am weak, He is my strength."(1 Corinthians 4:10) So, let's change our confession! When you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, offer it of you own free will that is what Leviticus tells us. (Lev 1:1-3) Here is what Hebrews 3:1 says, "Therefore, holy brethern, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus." So, when you get into a circumstance or a situation consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ. Let's consider that continually not once in a while not when you feel like it; not when circumstances are okay but you continually offer a sacrifice. A sacrifice is when you have to give up something. So, what do you give up? Doubt. Unbelief. Misery. Anger. Bitterness. All of those things. You give those up. Why? Because you don't want them being an influence in your life. You confess the Apostle and High Priest of your confession.
Matthew 10:32-33, "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven."
You know what that is saying to you? I fyou don't confess Him, you are not making it! Jesus is not going to help you. The sacrifice that He made on Calvary is going to be of no effect in your life because you will not talk about Him; you will not exibit it; you will not demonstrate it.
Here is a good way to witness: The Youth Group have a lot of Christian t-shirts with sayings on them, that is a good way to witness. Whenever I go out many times I'll put on one of those t-shirts hoping someone will say something to me. Why? Because I'll tell them why I have it on. Why I think it is important. If I wear my Red Sox cap, someone is going to mention the fact that I am a Red Sox fan, and that just opens up the way for me to talk to them about Jesus, because I am a Jesus fan more than a Red Sox fan. If you will talk to me for a minute about the Red Sox I can get Jesus in there some place.
It should be continually. You get around someone, you can tell what they are all about, because they are going to talk about it all the time. Someone that likes NASCAR, they are going to talk about it all the time. They have their hats and their jackets of whoever their favorite driver is. If we are right into Jesus, then people ought to know that we are. The first thing we can do is to notify our face that we are saved. We need to say to our face, "Look, face, we know Jesus therefore lighten up." Do you know that it takes 60-something muscles to frown, but only 13 to smile, so give your face a rest and smile. There are so many people out there that are unhappy. If you see someone with a big smile, you think they are up to something. You might wonder what ails them. Jesus is what ails them.
"Therefore, brethern, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He cansecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."
(Hebrews 10:19-23) Now, why can we confess and keep on confessing, because the one who we are confessing to is faithful to keep that confession until He comes. He is able to do that. He is able to hold that confession. You see ball players today saying that they are going to win today, then they go out and lose. They cannot really back up what they say, but God can. We can confess to Him and what should we confess, His Name. And this is what the name of Jesus brings to us, it brings healing; it brings victory; it brings peace; it brings holiness; it brings righteousness; it protects us from the enemy; and He is with us where ever we go. "Lo, I am with you always." (Matthew 28:20) Let's confess Jesus, whatever your circumstance is.
Five ways we can offer the sacrifice of praise:
1. Determine beforehand that we are going to praise God at all times and in every circumstance and situation. We determine that! We say continually we are going to offer up the sacrifice of praise. Isn't that what David did. He said, "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." (Psalm 34:1) The fruit of our lips giving thanks, David said, "I will." Determine beforehand!! It does not matter what circumstances you are in you are going to continually praise the Lord.
2. We are going to praise Him right now!! You cannot do it continually unless you start it. So, PRAISE HIM!
3. When trouble comes our way, when we find ourselves in difficult situations we are going to tell ourselves, "Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God." (Psalm 50:23) So in the midst of our difficulties we are going to say to ourselves, "I'm going to start praising God, because 'whoever offers praise glorifies Me.'" God is going to show glory to you. How many of you want to see the glory of God? Then offer praise to Him, that is the fruit of your lips giving thanks.
4. Sometimes situations are going to make it so we do not feel like praising the Lord, so we're going to praise the Lord by faith. We are going to give vocal thanks to God, even though we do not understand what we are facing; even though it seems like God hasn't given us an answer; even though we cannot understant why we are where we are at. We are going to praise Him. Why? Faith is going to tell us that is what we need to do. You all have probably been in an unpleasant circumstance in your life, what happened? How did you deal with it? How did you get through it? You get through with it and deal with it a lot better when you offer to God the sacrifice of praise. "All things work together for good"(Rom 8:28), it doesn't say all things are good.
Illustration: Our little baby girl, she got sick when she was a year old and a little over 2 years later she passed away. That wasn't good, but it worked of good. I know a number of people who know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior because of those circumstances. It wasn't good, I wouldn't want to go through it again but I can praise God that because that happened, people know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
By faith, you can say I am going to praise the Lord. God is my Refuge and my Strength, a very present help in trouble (Ps 46:1). I am not in this all by myself, I have got Someone who is going right with me in and through everything and in everyway. When you walk through the water He said, "I will be right there with you." When you walk through the fire you will not be burned. Why? Because He is there. Did the three Hebrew children have a hard time in the midst of the firey furnace. No! What happened to the gallant men of Babylon who threw them into the furnace? The heat was so strong it killed those very powerful strong men. Here you have three teenage boys, and they are in the furnace having a great time. When they walked out they were not tied up anymore. They didn't even smell like they had been in a fire. Praise God!! Praise His Holy Name!! Why? Because when you walk through the fire it is not going to burn you, you are not going to be consumed. Why? Because He is a very present help in trouble, to thank Him for it. That is the fruit of your lips giving thanks.
5. Now that you have determined to begin, and you have begun, keep it up. KEEP IT UP! Now that you have the momentum going and you decided that you are going to Praise the Lord anyhow, then praise Him anyhow. And everyonce in a while you ought to let the spirit of Praise overtake you, where it just comes running right out of you, where you just do things that just is not you. Every once in a while you need to get up for a little run. Every once in a while you need to let out a shout of hallelujah and praise the Lord. Every once in a while you need to do a little dancing before the Lord and a little praising to God. Let praise overtake you.
Understand that part of maintaining the being filled with Holy Spirit is speaking to Him in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and singing and making melody in you heart to the Lord and giving thanks. Those are a few of the things that help you stay filled with the Holy Spirit. Worship, praise, giving thanks. Let it overtake you. Let it come upon you. How that happens, is you get into God's presence, and start making church wherever you are at. Church isn't this building, it's you. So, when you go out there you can have church wherever you are. Give thanks regardless! Then soon you will be able to give thanks because those circumstances that bound you, that have controlled your like, those thoughts and memories, from the past that have dominated you won't dominate you any longer because what dominates you is through Jesus Christ and your confession, because you have changed your tune. You've put a new album or cd into the machine. You've changed. Why? Because you got tired of that story you didn't want to hear it anymore, you didn't want to listen to it anymore so you changed your tune. You said, "I will bless the Lord at all times, this is not going to dominate me any longer. God sent His Son, He died on the cross and I asked for forgiveness, therefore I'm going to be different. My like is going to be different. I'm not letting my circumstances dog me any longer, I'm going to confess Jesus Christ is Lord." And when you do that things will change. How do I know that, because the Word of God tells me so.
In a few minutes we will be having communion and with communion we are going to confess Jesus Christ is Lord because the Word of God tells us, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes."(1Cor 11:26) So every time you take communion you are confessing to yourself and to anyone else within earshot of you or eyesight of you that Jesus is Lord. He won the victory on the cross of Calvary and you're saying God has made provision for you, because when you take the bread you're saying His broken body made provision for me to be healthy. His broken body made provsion for me to have food and clothing and shelter. When you take the cup, you're saying the precious blood of Jesus Christ washed away all of my sins, all those bad memories, all those things of the past, they are gone becauseof the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen.
It is our job as priests. If you know Jesus you are a priest. The Bible said we are priests. What do priests do? We offer sacrifices. One of the sacrifices that we are suppose to offer is from our lips giving thanks to God, making confession that Jesus is Lord. The Bible tells us that you can confess now or you can confess later, but bless God, you are going to confess. You might say that you are never going to confess Jesus as Lord, guess again. One day every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess. I would rather do it now and not be made to do it, because those that are made to do it later are not going to enjoy His presence. We have a Heaven to gain and a Hell to shun, and we need to confess that to people. Will you be priests with me and confess Jesus is Lord?