🫶Sacrifice or Reciprocity🫱🫲

 For God so loved that He gave the only Son He had to keep you and I from perishing. 

Merriam-Webster says that Sacrifice is “the act of giving up or losing something of value for the sake of something else” On March 8 1965 President Johnson sent 3,500 Marines, our first combat troops, to Da Nang Vietnam. Some young men were drafted but others enlisted. Out of all those who served all made a sacrifice some gave all but all gave something of  value for the sake of something else. 

The Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 12 and verse one  “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Paul said I beg you therefore. My Pastor taught me that when I see the word “therefore” to see what it’s therefore. Let’s see what it’s therefore.

In Romans Chapter One we learn that Salvation is not by works, not by what we do. We can’t do enough good works to merit Heaven. It’s not by our works but instead it’s by God's Grace He saved us. Therefore because of what God has already done for us we should be willing to give up or sacrifice for our Heavenly Father. In Genesis chapter 22 we read of Abraham being asked by God to take his son Issac to a mountain that He will show him. God asked Abraham to do the unthinkable, sacrifice Issac your only son. Oh my 😲‼️Abraham is about 115 years old and Issac a young teenager. Why do I say this? Because Issac could easily overtake his dad I would think. Yet Issac let his dad bind him up on an altar. Now Abraham believed that God could and would raise his son from the dead. Those who know their Bible know that God didn’t allow Abraham to kill his son. Abraham raised his knife to sacrifice his son Issac  but God stopped him. Abraham obeyed God not knowing what would happen, that’s faith. You see faith is not faith if we know the outcome.  

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Are we willing to make any sacrifice for what God has done for us? Are we willing to read and study our Bible? Are we willing to Memorize and Meditate on our Bible? Are we willing to hear the Bible taught? We will never do the things God wants us to do until we do the things God wants us to do even when we don’t want to. God is not going to force us to serve Him. He shouldn’t have to.The day God saved me I wanted to serve Him. Why? Because I knew He had forgiven me. In other words I wanted to sacrifice because of what He had done for me. Reciprocity that simply means a psychological principle where people feel the urge to give back to those who have given to them. When I understand what God has done for me I want to give back to Him. 

That is not just reciprocity, it’s sacrifice.  

👉🏿This Way Please🚶🏻‍♂️‍➡️

 The way may seem impossible. Is that what you see? Then look again I’m Possible.

How can we know the way? The way to where? Anywhere. When I first started running a pest control route I was given a book. That book looked almost like a magazine except it was full of pages with different maps. Now on those maps were streets, highways, freeways and such. If I didn’t know how to get to the address I was given I would look at the map and it would show where and how to get there. Once looking at the map I would follow the roads or direction of the map and I would go to where I needed to be. In other words I trusted the map book, why? Because it was the record showing me where the address was located. One of Jesus' disciples named Thomas asked that question in John chapter 14 he said “how can we know the way?" Jesus turned to him and this is what He said  

John 14:6 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. It was early in the morning  when Jesus went into the Temple. The Bible tells us that even though it was early we read that  all the people came into the Temple and Jesus sat down and taught.  While Jesus was teaching a woman was brought unto him and Jesus was told that this woman had been caught in the very act of adultery. Wow, that is interesting, sounds like a set up to me. Anyways she had been caught and now she is standing in front of Jesus.  They tell Jesus that the law of Moses said she should be stoned. Well it does but there is one problem here, see if you notice the problem. 

Leviticus 20:10 (KJV) And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. You have heard the phrase that it takes 2 to tango. Looks like we only have one victim. 🤔Maybe I read it wrong, let me read it again 

John 8:3 (KJV) And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, No, I was right it says (a woman) not a man and woman. Oh this doesn’t make it ok but why was the man not brought? You see why I say that it looks like a set up? The point I wanted to make here was in order to know something is wrong we must first know which is right. Is the Bible the record book for us to follow? I say yes, not because someone else told me it was and neither should you.  A record is  

a book or on parchment, for the purpose of preserving authentic or correct evidence of a thing. Such as, to record the proceedings of a court; to record a deed or lease; to record historical events. The first time we read “Record” in the Bible is here.

Exodus 20:24 (KJV) An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 

In all places where I record my name. Now that is interesting, you think we might be blessed if we go to the Church house? 1 John 5:11 (KJV) And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

We hold in our hands the Record book of Jesus Christ therefore we can know the way to Heaven. The Record book is going to get us to the right address, Heaven. The Crabb family singing a song don’t you want to go. Here are some of the lyrics.

“There's a building program

Going on in Heaven

Construction carried out

By God's own hand

Fifteen hundred miles wide

Mansions standing side by side

The streets are paved with gold

Throughout the land

Now they say

They'll be no dying in that city

No sickness

And no sorrow will be known

The feeble will be young

No division all is one

Eternal celebrating going on

Don't you wanna go

With me to God's new city

Don't you wanna hear

That heavenly choir sing

Don't you wanna touch the nail scarred hands

That brought this great salvation plan

Can't you feel it stirrin' in your soul

Don't you wanna go”

Go on YouTube and listen to the whole song. I think you will enjoy it. 

https://youtu.be/WoRC_J7D270?si=MZ60nkC0cnumMqPH

☔️Aren’t You Glad🥳

 ⛈️

☔️Aren’t You Glad🥳

🤕Responsibility😇

  Winners take responsibility. Losers blame others.

Brit Hume

Just the other day I was driving and got to thinking. There were 100’s of people driving and they all had or should have had a driver's license. In order to have a driver’s license we had to take a written test and also a driving test. What was all that for? It was to make sure we were responsible. Sometime I think we may not have all taken the same test the way some drive and I’m sure they think the same way about me. Responsibility is not something we are just given. Webster says this 

about RESPONSIBILITY  “The state of being accountable or answerable, as for a trust or office, or for a debt. ” Go to the bank and before they loan you money they will check your credit score. If it is a low score then that on paper says you are at high risk or not responsible. The Bible teaches us responsibility. We are to be responsible to God as well as to others.

OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO GOD:

1. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO OTHERS:

5. Honour thy father and thy mother.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet.

Exodus 20:20 (KJV) And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

I’m sure you quickly realized that these were the 10 commandments. These commandments were not written to save from sin but to convict us of sin. 

Have you or have you ever had an unwanted feeling, memory or a condition? We can all hold our hand up and say yes to that I am sure. That is what we all need a purging. Now this purging may be to remove ourselves from others or places or things that cause these unwanted feelings in our life. Also the law given to us to keep sin from ruling our lives. When we read “and that his {God} fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.” A constant awareness of God’s presence and my accountability to Him for my actions. It’s been a good while back, I may have been 4 or 5 years old when my dad told me to behave myself in Church. I heard what he said and I understood what he said. That wasn’t the problem at all. The problem was I didn’t do what he said and because I didn’t he took me to the car. When we arrived in the parking lot of the church where he had parked the car. He opened the passenger's front  door and the back passenger's back door. He then told me that I did not obey him when he told me to behave. Then in between those doors he whipped me, dads had to stop doing that but in those days it was ok; and I am glad my dad took the Bible at what it said.  Proverbs 3:12 (KJV) For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Oh my dad loved me alright.

Proverbs 13:24 (KJV) He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.(Soon; in a short time) when my dad said behave it was my responsibility to be accountable. The 10 commands are there for us to know our responsibilities. Like the road sign we see when driving; men working, speed limit 55, curve ahead those signs tell us what’s ahead. They make us aware.

Romans 7:7 (KJV) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

The Apostle Paul said “I wouldn't have recognized what sin is if those laws hadn't shown it to me.

That is how we know what sin is. Break the law and pay the price. God wants us to know we are responsible for our actions  and we are. 

🫡Unselfish Sacrifices Touching Skin🫆

  I believe in one thing, that only a life lived for others is a life worth living. Albert Einstein

What’s that? Webster say this about unselfishness “not unduly attached to one's own interest.”

Sacrifice “To destroy, surrender or suffer to be lost for the sake of obtaining something.To devote with loss. Sacrifice of interest to pleasure, or of pleasure to interest.” 

Lost! We don’t like lost, I don’t like lost. For 20 years my wife and I have sacrificed every Friday night to help those who have let a addiction of some kind destroy their lives. Why? I was at one time one of those that had left an addiction desteoy my life.I could make excuses of how my life got there but that’s all they would be excuses and blaming others for my wrongful actions. I was the one that let myself get there, I was the captain in control of my life’s ship and I had let it run ashore. Oh but it is much easier to blame others, others didn’t make the bad choices that led me there, I did that all by my selfish self. Fortunately I was delivered and my life was put back together. I know the way out and I have wanted to help others and show them the way. So for 20 years my wife and I sacrificed Friday nights in doing just that. 

Galatians 6:1 (KJV) Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Galatians 6:2 (KJV) Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

How could I sit by knowing how the Lord could use me to help others. This world has convinced others that it’s not their fault. Then whose fault is it? When I learned that the buck stops here was a great day for me. Don’t get me wrong this is a major problem in many lives today. Marriages destroyed, children’s lives destroyed, jobs lost, businesses gone and the list could go on and on. Yes there are those that if they ever taste, feel, see, hear or touch will never be the same. Like Adam and Eve, once they ate they were never the same. Now they did not know the cost and neither do we but once that decision is made the door is opened. What’s the answer? There was a man not far from where I lived that had the answer written on a 2x8 bolted to the bumbler of his green 55 Chevrolet. It simply read “Christ is the answer.” I, like others, paid it no attention. We just thought he was a religious nut. Just like that kid at my high school that walked around with a big pen on a bottom that had a  question mark. Ask him what that meant and he would tell you about Jesus Christ, oh yeah he was a religious nut too. You know what? Those two were not related but they both had the right answer. It took me years to find that out but when I did my life changed for eternity. I know the way out and it wouldn’t be right not to help others, so I willingly sacrificed Friday nights, went into jails and many other places. I didn’t go to condemn others that will never help, only hurt.😢 The man or woman drowning that doesn’t grab the life jacket will die. Grab the life jacket and stay above water until they can get them to safety. Who wouldn’t want that for themselves? You would be surprised. Just like I was standing on the outside looking in, listening to others who have no clue themselves. Love God with the outer man by yielding to the inner man, and love others by giving up our own pleasures for the benefit of others. That doesn’t mean we are to give up everything and have no pleasures in this life, not by a long shot. Helping others is giving up a little of our time for the importance of helping others. Somebody touched my skin. What that means is somebody set some time aside out of their busy schedule to help me. Call it pay forward or whatever but I wanted to do the same for someone else; touch their skin. What an honor, what a privilege for someone to say that you touched their skin. Jim Smith touched my skin, Ray Hill touched my skin, James Peppers touched my skin and a few others and I want to do the same for the lives of others. 

🪣There’s My Buck List📋

  One can never raise the floor by lowering the ceiling. 

Our Heavenly Father told Adam that he and Eve could eat freely of all that was in the garden. 

Genesis 2:16 (KJV) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

God then said BUT.

Genesis 2:17 (KJV) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Now that is water under the bridge and I can do nothing about it, l wasn’t there and if I had been I don’t know what I would have done. Now I am here and what do I want? We hear things like where will you be in 5 years, ten years? Can we know? I understand we need a plan but we must also have a plan for the end of this life. We hear talk about a bucket list, things we would like to do and see. Nothing at all wrong with that but what about when the time comes to die? Is there more? I believe there is, for those who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ. Now when we  place our trust in what Jesus Christ has done for us all there should be some signs in our outward life and the Bible calls them fruits.

Galatians 5:22 (KJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Galatians 5:23 (KJV) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

When you and I asked the Lord to forgive us, at that point something happened. The Spirit of God moved in and there was a notable difference in our life. We began to change and change for the best. A new life with new fruit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness. All this doesn’t happen at once or does it? Could it be like the Polaroid camera that came out when I was a kid? With this camera you could take a picture and then watch the picture you just had taken develope. At that time it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. It took a minute but right there in front of your eyes the picture would slowly appear. That is what happens when I trust Jesus Christ as my savior. The love came, the joy came, the peace came, Patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulnesss, gentleness along with self-control. It’s there and God is still working on me and I’m so glad He is. Now when I lose my self-control I don’t say, well they had that coming. Oh no I say to myself why? I need to go an apollazie for my actions. After you do that a couple of times you start learning to control your actions. I’m still working on my patience’s and to tell you the truth I’m still working on all of these fruits; but not by myself. It’s with the help of my Heavenly Father as the Holy Spirt helping me day by day working with me teaching me through His Word, my Bible.

I don’t look at where I will be in 5,10,20 years. Oh no I am looking way further than that. I’m looking, expecting and excited about where I’ll be in enterity. I don’t have a bucket list and you may ask why? Oh sure there are places and things I would love to see but a bucket list takes something I don’t have, money! Now in this world we live in there are some wonderful things to see without doubt. The Apostle Paul said this  1 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

There’s my buck list and I’ll have all the time I need to see it all. Many think that kind of thinking is a bunch of boloneney and when you close your eyes in this world that’s it. I don’t! As the song says “I once was lost but now I’m found.” I have experienced all I have written about. I know the Bible is the Word of God. It tells us about God and His great love for man kind. Now let’s say you are right and I am wrong. Then I will never know I was wrong. Now on the other hand what if you are wrong and I am right. Which one of us has the greatest lost? Something to think about. There are more than one examples of that kind of thinking in the Bible. The first one that comes to mind are the 2 thieves dying beside Jesus on a cross. One can read about it in the book of Luke; that is the third book in the New Testament. Luke chapter 23 and verse 32 to verse 43. One of those thieves has a promise of going to Paradise and the other thief has no promise of going to Paradise. Which one of those men would you rather be on that day at that time?

😭Selfish and Self-Centered😇

  Be yourself; Everyone else, well, they are already taken.

It is simple, all one has to do is watch their children or other children. A brother or sister has a toy that they haven’t played with in a week, haven’t even touched it. Their brother or sister comes into the room and goes and picks it up. All of a sudden instead of sharing they are all upset and begin saying it’s mine, that my friend is being selfish. Self-centered is thinking about yourself more than others. We may say we are happy for what others have but inside in our unpoliced area that is not how we really feel at all. Why is that? Remember back in the book of Genesis God created Male and female.

Genesis 1:27 (KJV) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. This gave them a body. That is great but we need way more than a body so God gave Adam and Eve a Soul.

Genesis 2:7 (KJV) And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Now that body can move and function. Now what else is needed? A way to communicate with God our Heavenly Father, and this is how they did it. 

Genesis 1:2 (KJV) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

This is very important and here is how we will know our Heavenly Father.

When we go to the New Testament the very first time we read the word spirit it is here in  

Matthew 3:16 (KJV) And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

Remember what God told Adam?

Genesis 2:16 (KJV) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: Eat as much as you want any time you want; BUT!!

Genesis 2:17 (KJV) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Don’t eat of the tree of “good and evil” what will happen if we do?

“in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” What is DIE? What dying is, is not important, what is important is what God said not to do, obey God. Then it happened, Adam and Eve took and did eat. What happened? Did they die? No they didn’t drop dead physically. Then what died? What changed?  

Genesis 3:7 (KJV) And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. They hadn’t made anything up to this point and their eyes were already opened? Just what God said was going to happen; they both died but it wasn’t physically. Then what died? Their spirit within that which communicates with God. They that Worship God must!

John 4:24 (KJV) God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Adam and Eve ate, their spirit died. When God came looking for them they hid from God. Why? Because what God had given them to communicate with Him was now dead! That is why  today we are still hiding. Somehow we think going to Church will be enough. Giving money to God’s work will be enough. Helping others will be enough. Being a good person will be enough, and whatever else one can think up will be enough. No! We must have that spirit to communicate with God. We are born with a body and a soul but not a spirit. That is why Jesus told Nicodemus this. 

John 3:5 (KJV) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Just as Adam and Eve were removed from the garden of Eden we can’t enter into heaven without the Spirit. That is why it doesn’t bother some of us when we do things we know are wrong. Taking something small that doesn't belong to us is not like taking something big. We must have the spirit and then the truth of what God has said will mean a lot more to us. That is what Paul said.

Romans 7:7 (KJV) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

No one had to teach us to do wrong, be selfish, self-centered and we will never know it’s wrong if we are not taught that it is. That’s why we see the real us in children and that’s why we teach them. Don’t you want your child to know how to share? God wants us to know too, that’s why we need that spirit to be born again within us. What Adam and Eve lost God has made away for to have. Isn’t God good?