More God

• Pray

 Text: - 2 Cor 10: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

By default – If we believe in Jesus, we believe in Satan – Good vs. Evil

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly

1.    Spirit world (can’t see) / natural world (can see)   

a.  although we can’t see it spirit world far more real than the world we live in.

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual

forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

               

                2. Forces influence our behavior

a.    Things going on in spiritual world behind scenes that we would not believe –

b. Influence negative or positive

1.    only two choices – only two choices in spirit realm Christ or no Christ

CHOICE is the keyword – John 3:16

·         God made a choice to send His Son

·         Bible full of choices – good and bad

·         God chose - re-establish kingdom,

·         God chose to -have fellowship with us, creation, etc.

Joshua 24:15 (Amplified Bible)

15  And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord

·         We must make choice – good or evil

·         Good choices – good life / bad choices – bad life

·         what we choose  will influence the way we live and ultimately what happens in our lives and those around us – we effect others ( It’s A Wonderful Life)

           

3.Inspite of us choosing to do good, will bad things still happen to me?

1.    of coarse – sin entered world & all things bad.

2.     Gen 3 fall of man  -  disobedience

4.  For the most part – if we always do the right thing we will be rewarded

1.    Job, Daniel. Jacob, Moses,

2.    Jesus, Paul, Peter

a.    these all martyred – what’s good?

b.    Obedience for it own sake

c.    They knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the reward that awaited them.

                                                                  i.    Disciples -Lived with Jesus (God on earth)

                                                                ii.    Paul saw Jesus and heaven

                                                               iii.    Jesus told them (disciples) about His Kingdom

                                                               iv.    They accepted obedience to God as being it’s own reward

                                                                v.    When we make up our minds to do this we will start to find our purpose and live fulfilled lives.

                                                               vi.    Do the right thing on purpose – by staying connected to The Word, we put ourselves in position to serve others by being used by God. He can only bless us if we have a heart to bless others. When we display what Paul call the fruits of the spirit – people are attracted to us and we can truly help them

5. they came to realize they did not need less (fill in the blank)

 THEY NEEDED MORE GOD!

·         Chris – grass seed to choke out weeds, not weed killer to kill weeds.

THE SAME IS TRUE WITH US! – WE ALL NEED MORE GOD AND NOT LESS (FILL IN BLANK)

When we choose more God, we will not have to choose less (fill in blank) it will all ready be chosen, and we won’t want anything but more God anyway!

The Last Sacrifice

• Text: Mar 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
• Pray
• God demands blood in sacrifices – blood has to be involved

Hebrews 9:22-23 (New Living Translation) ²²And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. ²³ That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals

• God set system of sacs. for children of Israel so they could stay in  relationship with Him. Sacrifices were  temp. until  He solved permanently disobedience prob. / Jesus. This system set in place as soon as man sinned  -  Gen. 3:9
  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

a)  Goats, lambs, bulls, pigeons – remission of sins

Praise, food (grain) – worship / special ceremony, balance diet priests

b)   Circumcision – blood rite / signify God’s 1^st covenant : Gen. 17:10-11

c)   Heb 10:1-13 Message  Bible

1.    Jesus was last sac.

¹ The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. ² If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. ³ But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. ⁴ For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵ That is why, when Christ^[a] came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer”.
 ⁶ You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin.”
 ⁷ Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—
      as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”^[b] 8 First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). ⁹ Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. ¹⁰ For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.¹¹ Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. ¹² But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ¹³

·        He pd. Price or debt for us – Colossians 2:11-15 (Message)

             ¹¹ When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.^{[c] 12} For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. ¹³ You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ In this way, he disarmed^[d] the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

·        Pd our ransom (definition) – redemption of prisoner or kidnapped person, redeem from punishment (set captives free)

Jesus called Lamb Of God – John 1:29, Ezekial  45:15,

Rev.7:10 (KJV)

 ¹⁰And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb

• Lambs always are sacrificed when mentioned in Bible

• Jesus’ call was to be the last sac. – to be redeemer – reconcile man back to God – Scripture on Blood Of Christ (at least 25 direct)

1. God can’t be around sin -
2. if God’s Kingdom in man’s heart, that man must accept perfect sac. Of Jesus and have Him (who knew no sin) live in them

a)            for gift to be complete, must be accepted

b)            a gift must be free – salvation is ; Eph 2:8,9

3. Shed blood of Jesus then washes away their sin – God made sure;

 John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,

Romans 8:38 NLT ³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

Christ was the last sacrifice needed by God – he paid the price (forgiveness for our sins of the past, present and future