Faith For Sacrifice

[0:00] Thank you for choosing to listen to today's message by Reverend Dr. David Entry. We know you will be blessed as you seek and serve God. We believe that this message will stir up a desire for more of God, even as you listen.

[0:13] Be blessed. Father, we thank you for this morning. Thank you for your word. We pray that as we're here, deposit yourself into us and change our stories in Jesus' name. Amen.

[0:24] All right, quickly in 20 minutes or less. 15. Should we do 15? How much time should I do it?

[0:36] As you flow, you know, if you give me five hours, I'll use it. But today, actually, I wanted to continue where I left off last year, the seven churches of Asia.

[0:52] But I'm not doing that. I wanted to continue. I've got seven churches. I dealt with Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Titeria.

[1:02] We are left with Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. But I would possibly go on to that. Because January, we are fasting.

[1:13] So I was dealing with prayer and the Holy Spirit. And last weekend, the other one, I dealt with faith. Because this is our month of faith steps.

[1:25] I want to still continue slightly in the direction of faith, but particularly as it relates to our theme of our year. A year of sacrifice.

[1:36] For me to live this past. A year of sacrifice. For me to live this past. So I want to talk more about faith for sacrifice. Amen. Just briefly, I'll see how far I can go.

[1:49] The Christian life is a call to sacrifice. Many people are not aware of that. Jesus Christ, in John chapter 12, verse 24, he said, Except a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies.

[2:07] Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides or remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. So the production of much grain is a direct function of the dying of the grain.

[2:22] If the seed does not die, it abides alone. God can't do much with your life until he breaks you. And the breaking, God taking us to breaking, God does not impose it on us.

[2:41] He always invites us to comply with him. To cooperate is actually the right way. So for God to be able to do anything in your life, it requires your cooperation.

[2:55] He does not force blessings on people. He does not force instructions on people. He does not force things on people for them to do. In the same way, he does not force answer prayers into people who are not praying.

[3:09] God, Bible, Paul puts it this way. He said, we are, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 10. He said, we are laborers together with God. Okay. So he said that we are, verse 9.

[3:23] Sorry, let's go to verse 9. Verse 9. He said that we are fellow workers. We are God's will end. We are God's building. So he said, we are fellow workers. We are working with God.

[3:36] Building together with him. So God does never do it alone on earth. So when he wanted to do something on earth by himself, he actually had to come.

[3:49] Bible says that he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. Romans chapter 8, verse 4. So he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. Romans chapter 1, verse 3 talks about God sent forth his son, born of the seed of David, according to the flesh.

[4:08] So when God wanted to manifest himself, he had to come as human being. Because it takes only human beings to do things on earth. So when God wanted to save you and I from our sins, he had to be a human being in order to save you and I from our sins.

[4:27] And God never had a body. In John chapter 4, verse 24, it says that God is a spirit. So God has never had a body.

[4:40] But on that fateful morning when the angel, or that fateful day when the angel spoke to Mary, according in Luke chapter 1, verse 26, that was, the angel told Mary, you'll be pregnant.

[4:51] You shall have a child. And you shall call his name Jesus. And the Bible says that in verse 38, Mary said, let it be, I may have made you of God, be it unto me according to your word.

[5:04] And immediately she, the word became flesh. So John chapter 1, verse 1, is, the beginning was the word and the word was God. And the word was God, the word of God.

[5:16] Verse 14 says, and the word became flesh. So the word became flesh. God being the word, he became flesh. So Jesus said that no one has seen God except the only, John 1, 8, who was in the bosom of the father, verse 17, so John 1, 18, sorry, 17, 18, verse 18 particularly, has declared him, okay?

[5:39] No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten who is in the bosom of the father. He actually was one with God. According to Philippians chapter 2, he was one with God, verse 5, verse 5, that was, and he came down to be flesh.

[5:53] Why? Because God can only, watch this, God can only reach out to men through men. That's why the Bible is different from the Quran.

[6:04] In what way? The Quran, it was dictated. The Bible was not dictated. It was written. The Bible says that godly men were, 2 Timothy, 2 Peter chapter 1, were carried by the spirit of God.

[6:18] So godly men, holy men of God wrote as they were moved. So they did the writing and God did the moving. And yet God did not violate their feelings, violate their thinking.

[6:31] So they felt like, okay, I want to write. As they were writing, they were writing just by themselves. But because they were holy, the spirit of God used them to produce the word of God. Quran is different.

[6:44] Quran, it was dictated by acclaimed angel somewhere in a cave. And they had it. To one man.

[6:54] The Bible, 40 different men. Over a period of 1,400 years. Different. Some of them have never met each other. Never of a style. Even 100 years different.

[7:05] Sometimes you'll meet anybody. Let alone 1,400 years. Some of them lived on different continents. Different backgrounds. Different backgrounds. All kinds of things. The Bible says in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16.

[7:19] All scripture. Say all scripture. I quoted it earlier. So it's not some of scripture. Not part of scripture. All scripture was given by the... Actually, the right word is not inspiration.

[7:32] It's expiration. We call it. Inspire is... But God, the Greek word is theonopsis. Theonopsis. The breath of God. And when we talk about the breath of God, we are not talking about...

[7:43] There are two types of breath. There's simple breath. And you know, when someone is trying... The Greek... The Hebrew word is ruach. The Hebrew word ruach is the one...

[7:54] The forceful breath. So God practically... He breathed and gave us the scriptures. How did it come? Through cooperation of men.

[8:04] So I'm trying to say that God does not reach out to men without men. That is why Jesus Christ had to become a man. To reach out to man.

[8:17] That is why I'm standing here preaching. For God could have appeared to you in your house, in your room privately and dealt with you privately. But he doesn't operate like that.

[8:29] Saul, when Jesus Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus, in Acts chapter 9, Bible said, Saul said, what Jesus appeared.

[8:40] He said, I'm the one who you persecuted. He said, what do you want me to do? And then he says, go into the city. You'll be told. There are men there. And then in verse 11, God went to a disciple. Say disciple.

[8:51] Disciple. He went to a disciple called Ananias and said, Paul is waiting. He's praying. And in his prayer, he has seen you come and pray for him, for him to be healed.

[9:01] So go. He said, I can't go. No, they have already seen you. Just get up and go. Now, God had to go. Jesus appeared to him, but I had to send someone to go and continue on the work. The initial appearance was just to...

[9:13] And Jesus never appeared to anybody in that way, to convert them. The only time after his resurrection, the only time he appeared was when he came to Revelation. So apart from Paul, when he came to Revelation and he gave us the letters, the book of Revelation, that one, it was Jesus dictating it for the epistle.

[9:32] He said, all that you see, write. So he was the one who was writing, but he wasn't writing his own ideas. He was writing what he was seeing. And so when I told you, when you read Revelation, he kept saying, write it.

[9:43] Sometimes God's so overwhelmed by the things he was seeing. He said, write. Write. And send it to the churches. Not to the church, but to the churches. All right. So it's important to understand that God will always use men.

[9:56] Except a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies. It abides alone. But if it dies, the secret is in your dying.

[10:08] The secret of what God can do with your life is in your dying. Appetite might die. The fleshly appetites is one of the biggest trouble on earth.

[10:21] And Satan loves to use it. I'm not talking about just appetite for food. I'm talking about appetite for things.

[10:32] Appetite for pleasure. Appetite for sex. Especially in our time. Appetite for sex is being fine. Most men, you may decide that now I'm going to just concentrate on God.

[10:44] And it will be coming to you. Those days you have to go and buy it. Or go and just. Now you don't have to go. It's coming to you. And many women are also available because they are not afraid of sicknesses or pregnancy anymore.

[10:58] Because there's a solution for that. So they are also available. Previously, the women were even afraid. Even if you want to mess up, many women will not allow because they are afraid. But now they are not afraid.

[11:09] Even if they miss condom, they will get money after. Oh, you know, I'm talking about. There's somebody here last night.

[11:19] You were spending the time with your boyfriend in your boyfriend's house. I'm prophesying. I know it. I know it. I'm not. I know it. God showed me. I know it. It's not necessary. I'm telling you. And if not once, it's been happening.

[11:30] But then today soon, I don't know. You are either getting close to the end of the cliff. Spend nights in a man's house or in a girlfriend.

[11:44] But this one is a particular woman. You are here. Spend the night and woke up. Go yourself ready. Came to church. At least you did well for coming to church. Tell somebody, well done.

[11:54] Well done for coming to church. In Lagos, we just say, part of the greeting is like, good morning.

[12:09] The next thing he says, well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. Well done, sir. Well done, sir. Sometimes, well done for what Barry said. It's normal. But many of my good friends are from Nigeria.

[12:23] And well done, sir. Well done, sir. So I've learned it. When I meet my friends, well done, sir. Well done, sir. How many of you know what I'm talking about? So if you meet somebody, just learn the language.

[12:34] Well done. Well done. No, it's well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. Tell somebody, well done for coming to church. So appetites must go.

[12:53] But to be human and to be physical, to be in the flesh means that you are stuck and locked with appetite permanently. That's why when church folks see others fall and they make so much noise about it, come on.

[13:08] Stop making the noise about someone you saw maybe drinking or getting drunk, which they shouldn't be. Or you know what I'm talking about.

[13:20] Because there are genuine people who are genuinely born again who don't want to do it but end up doing it. How many of you know what I'm talking about? If you are, if you dance, I'm like, don't lift your hand. But if you know what I'm talking about, you can lift your hand.

[13:32] You know what I'm talking about. Yeah. It does happen now. So it's not so much. Why do you, Pastor, why do you always mention sex? Because a lot of people are always thinking about sex.

[13:43] And most of the difficult areas of people's work is the area of sex. It's the area of sex. Especially in our generation.

[13:56] There are people here who are so horny. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. So easy. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey.

[14:06] Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Sorry, let's get serious. Let's get serious. Let's get serious. I said, let's get serious. Let's get serious. Why did I say that? Because it's human. Free us. And there's nothing you can do about it, boy.

[14:20] Learn how to live with it. Yes. And serve God with it. I like the way Bishop Daqusit. Young people, when you feel so sexually charged, it's a sign that good, there's energy.

[14:33] Don't condemn yourself. You have energy. Convert the energy to do outreach. Do outreach. Do outreach. Do infantilities. Go out there. Religious people will make you feel, oh, how come you have these feelings?

[14:50] Listen, it's part of life. That's right. That's right. That's right. Feelings are part of life. Did you hear what I said? Yes. Feelings are part of life. Right from bishops, the pastors here, they all have children, more than one.

[15:04] Oh, yeah. And you're planning for more, isn't it? No. But you told me you're going for more. And we changed our minds. You just... You just... You're just... You're just... And the trauma – my God. No.

[15:15] This... I'm having trouble. Who is this? Who is this? Who is this? Who is this? What point is this? commits to martyrdom, to martyrdom, in a living, to cry in anger in anger.

[15:27] What I'm trying to say is that appetites are part of life. You must find a way to deal with it. And there is a way to deal with it.

[15:38] There's a way to deal with lust. So you don't always have to feel guilty when you are in church. You always have to feel guilty. Anytime God shows up, you want to go back because, God, I vow, I vow, I vow.

[15:52] How many times will you keep vowing? You can automatically do well spiritually if you are not feeding your spirit.

[16:04] It's not a matter of the will. It's a matter of the spirit. The flesh lasts against the flesh, the spirit, and the spirit lasts against Galatians 5, 15, 16, 17.

[16:18] So that you are not able to do, they are in constant warfare. Your flesh is fighting your spirit. So whoever gets fed will win. Whoever gets fed, so you are a believer and yet you are messing up.

[16:33] You are doing pornography all night. Pornographic brother. Pornographic tone talker. Pornographic tone. Why do you say? Kata-ma-da-ba-ba-ba. Kata-ma-da-ba-ba-ba.

[16:44] And now the images begin to show. Are you guys what I'm saying? Are you getting what I'm saying? Man, you got to fight for your life.

[16:57] Fight for your life. That's why you have to get a message I preached on faith last Sunday and the previous one. Because we all thought being a Christian is based on just the things you do.

[17:12] No, it's based on who you are. And because of who you are, you feed who you are so you begin to behave like how you should behave. But if you don't feed who you are, can you imagine?

[17:25] You can be a perfume seller if you don't wash. You understand that? Naturally. You're a top fashionist.

[17:36] You're a top beautician. But you haven't had a chance to take a shower for a few days. Your beauticianship, your perfume and drink.

[17:49] So what I'm trying to say is that if you are not feeding your spirit, naturally you will fall. And you'll be caught by others and they will say you are a hypocrite.

[18:01] What unbelievers like is to brand Christians hypocrites. As though they know what it means to be a Christian. Exactly. You didn't hear what I said.

[18:13] Unbelievers don't know what it means to be a Christian. They can't see the signs of someone God. But what it actually takes to be a Christian, unbelievers don't know it. But someone must believe God.

[18:27] So when God gave me the theme of sacrifice, one of the things that was so strong in my heart and I shared with Pastor Will is sacrificing in little areas that we normally overlook.

[18:40] Start from the little things. Don't wait for the big one. If you don't, you are not supposed to, you know it's not good for you to eat after 8 p.m.

[18:51] Start enforcing the sacrifice in that area. It may be something very natural. But start it. Don't be waiting for huge sacrifices.

[19:05] Start the little forces that spoil the vine. Last Sunday I said, if you are not waking up to pray, sacrifice just five minutes and start.

[19:18] Call it a sacrifice. You actually didn't intend to, but call it a sacrifice and do it. Non-tithers. And non-giving believer.

[19:32] What kind of believer is this? Because believing makes you give. When you believe, it will show in your giving.

[19:44] It's not your money, by yourself. You give yourself first, according to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. They give themselves first, before their substance.

[19:57] But if you have not given yourself, then you become very, very economical with your substance. You're struggling with your substance because yourself hasn't gone.

[20:09] It's easy for a woman to know a man who doesn't really love him. He finds it difficult to give. I'm not talking about wives, husbands. The dynamics of husband and wife is deep-powered.

[20:22] It's a lot. The commitment to your life alone is an expression of love. So let's say this. So that commitment is actually love in expression.

[20:40] But generally speaking, oh, I love you. I feel that. If you feel very nice about me, you do nice things for me, even before yourself. Amen. Amen. Yes. Amen.

[20:50] Yes. Somebody say sacrifice. Sacrifice. Our supreme example of sacrifice is Christ. But before I go into that, in Romans chapter 12, verse 1, it says that, I beseech you, therefore, by the message of God, that you present your bodies.

[21:08] Wow. I like that one. I like that one. Let's all read it together. Let's go. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the message of God, that you will change your bodies as they be sacrificed for me and self-worth to God.

[21:22] Which is your original word. How do you, what should you present? Your bodies. As what? For me and self-worth to God. It's interesting. When I, it struck my attention when I saw your bodies.

[21:35] Because really, the body shouldn't be something that we give to God. He's a spirit. But I realized that until you get your body involved, your worship is deficient.

[21:51] And it cannot be complete. Present your body. So it's not only, it's all the tripartite human being. Your soul, your spirit, and your body. And all is even mentioned in Romans chapter 12.

[22:02] Verse 1 says, present your body. Verse 2 says, present your mind, which is the leading part of your soul. So verse 2 is your soul. Did you see that? So he said, don't just bring your body.

[22:13] Bring your soul. Because if you present your body and your soul is not in the best of shape, so long as God is concerned. In fact, it talks about in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 23. Be that renewed in the spirit of your mind.

[22:26] Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. In the spirit of your mind. Your mind is the leading aspect of your soul. If your mind follows your emotions and your will, it will also follow.

[22:43] So it's necessary that your mind gets renewed. He said, be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind. Romans chapter 12 verse 2. He said, be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

[22:54] Then you go to verse 11. It says that being fervent in spirit or burning in the spirit. A presented body.

[23:05] Genuine Christian church life is a product of a presented body. A transformed mind. And a burning spirit. You need all the three. Not lagging in diligence.

[23:16] Fervent in spirit. It means burning in the spirit. You can't be an effective Christian and for that matter, you can't live the effective church life.

[23:26] God is going to reward us based on your church life. You can't live an effective church life if your spirit is not fervent. If your mind is not renewed. Or if your body is not present.

[23:40] Add your body. So those who say I don't have to be in church to worship God. They don't understand Christianity. And may I say this. They are not spiritual.

[23:54] They are not spiritual. Christianity is church life. What is church life? Koinonia. Fellowship life. One another.

[24:04] If you are not in church. Oh, I don't like this kind of. Find the one you think you like that can help you grow. If you are a Christian, you will belong.

[24:15] You have to show us your spiritual address. I'm talking to somebody here. You go to church. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anytime you want. Floating believer.

[24:26] Yes. That's the right. You are a floating believer. Floating. Anytime you feel like today I'll go. I'll go. Tomorrow I'll go. Or today.

[24:37] Someone told me years ago. He said, when I wake up in the morning, I pray and the Holy Spirit shows me what church to go. The Holy Spirit does not. Watch this. The Holy Spirit does not operate like that.

[24:50] It's not the Holy Spirit. It's probably another spirit. It's either the human spirit or because church. Watch this.

[25:01] Being part of a church means that you are known and you know. You are seen and you see. Those who watch it online, no one is seeing you.

[25:13] You are seen and you see. Paul said, I desire to come to you that I might impact spiritually. I want to see you. Romans chapter 1 verse 11.

[25:24] I want to see you to impact. So genuine church life includes seeing and being seen, serving and being served, forgiving and being, for giving, accommodating annoying people and you annoying person being accommodated.

[25:47] Is somebody getting something? Well, you can't live the Christian life without sacrifice. So he said, present your body as a living sacrifice.

[26:01] God is part of this acting. It's God who is the living God. It's part of this action. So some things must be impacted in your life.

[26:12] Your body must feel it. Something must give. Sacrifice means that the losing of something or the loss of something.

[26:24] Something must be lost. Intentionally, willingly, you let it go. You make a choice to let something go so that God can be what he has to be in your life.

[26:36] And in 1 Peter 2, verse 5, he says that we are living lively stones, okay, built up into a holy temple to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.

[26:53] So we have been called to offer sacrifices. And the sacrifices start with your body. Years ago, when I used to be in Ghana, we used to sing a certain song, praise song.

[27:06] That is a praise song. You know, we have all kinds of praise songs that are not really praise songs. It says, my body, now God, I go give him. I'll give my body to God.

[27:20] I mean, it's so scriptural. Sister, give your body to God. Yes. Can I go there? Yes. It's about time you let some guys know that, hey, my body belongs to Jesus.

[27:35] Yes. Yes. Yes. Tell him. This is someone's word.

[27:48] Tell him. Yes. You have already given up your body to God. Yes. Yes. Yes. That's right. Is it not sad to say sometimes the way some of the ladies dress, you can tell their body doesn't belong to Jesus.

[28:02] Oh. It's on sale. Oh, God. What did you say? It's on sale. It's on sale. Ah. I'm not talking about only when you come to church.

[28:17] I'm talking about generally, the way you present. But let's get more serious about these things. He said that we have been called, built into a spiritual house to offer up spiritual, holy house to offer up spiritual sacrifices.

[28:33] Say spiritual sacrifices. Spiritual sacrifices. Say it again. Say spiritual sacrifices. Spiritual sacrifices. Spiritual sacrifices. The greatest person who should be our example, according to 1 John 3, verse 16, is Christ. Christ gave us example of sacrifices.

[28:50] Christ lived a life of sacrifice. Christ, he lived a life of sacrifice. But we are talking about faith for sacrifice. It says that Galatians 2, verse 20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I.

[29:07] And the life I now live, I live by, how do I live? By faith. How do I live? By faith. Are you presenting your body to Christ? Yes. Sacrifice to Christ.

[29:17] Come on, let's then flow with me. How do I live? By faith. How do you live as a Christian? By faith. How do you sacrifice? By faith. You have to do it by faith.

[29:30] When we say faith, we are not talking about feelings. We are talking about feelings. We are talking about actions. We sacrifice by faith. Yeah.

[29:41] Without faith, you would think you are wasting your time. Yesterday I was having a chat with Pastor Charles. And I was having a chat with Pastor Charles.

[29:52] And then I was telling him that, you know, anything spiritual requires constant faith. Yeah. How many of you have done some spiritual things and it gets to a time you feel like, okay, it's okay, I've done enough.

[30:10] You have to continue by faith. That's right.

[30:42] Chapter 4, verse 22, somewhere there. When he says that today the scripture is fulfilling your hearing. Bible says that. And they all bore witness. Bible, they all bore witness with him.

[30:54] And marvel at the great show. What he said, in themselves, they could feel that it's true. But then their minds kicked in. He said, but we know him. So their minds kicked in to focus on his humanity.

[31:08] Instead of flowing with the witness they were having within them. Are you guys what I'm saying? Listen. So all bore witness to him. And marvel at the gracious words.

[31:19] The words he was speaking were gracious words. But suddenly their minds kicked in. But we know this guy too much. He's a carpenter. A carpenter comes and he's speaking the way he's speaking. The other time, even when I went to collect the table, I asked him to make.

[31:36] I was so happy I recommended him to everybody. And people like him. He was a known carpenter. How come he says he's a son of God? And yet, as he spoke, they could bear witness that the thing is true.

[31:47] But the knowledge of his carpentry, carpentership, I like that one. Carpentership was, guess what, was disrupting the flow of their spirit.

[32:00] So you cannot only flow when you switch to faith. Yes. So it is a psychological, that's where I'm going. It's a psychological issue. The more you hear negative things about pastors, the less you are able to receive from pastors.

[32:18] But usually, when you encounter a pastor or someone the Spirit of God is in, you do, ooh. But some of you, as you came, some of you, you came, but you are still struggling.

[32:30] You came, you came, wow, wow, I feel it. But you say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't believe this. You are struggling now. You are just like the Nazarites or Nazarenes or the people in Jesus' home town.

[32:44] They were struggling. They could bear witness, but their minds were struggling. That is why to even receive from a man, you have to be walking by faith. A man of God, you have to receive work by faith.

[33:04] To receive. So, most people, you see, what people can't stand is, and God's servant said, what's your problem? God's servant said.

[33:18] I called this great man, I said, you are receiving an offer. Didn't you receive it? Didn't I say it? I'm going to say, somebody's receiving a miracle.

[33:30] It looks like those of you here are not interested. Somebody's receiving a miracle. Those here, somebody's receiving a miracle.

[33:49] It looks like those at the back here, you are missing out. Somebody's receiving a miracle. Please be seated. Bible says that. Watch this. God confirms the words of his messengers.

[34:01] The words must be spoken for him to confirm it. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And he makes divineness mad. In Isaiah, he tells them backwards.

[34:14] Yes, yes. So, it takes faith to receive from your man of God, who God has sent to help you. Amen.

[34:25] When the angel came and spoke to Mary, in Luke chapter 5, chapter 1, all the, pastor, all the angel was looking for, for Mary, is for Mary to release her faith to believe what has been said.

[34:38] So, as soon as Mary said, behold, I'm the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to your word. You know, Zachariah couldn't believe. And he said, hey, I stand before God.

[34:50] Angel said, listen, I stand before God. I won't come and just be talking to you like that. I stand before God. But Mary, when she was struggling to believe because of her complexity of her situation, the angel had to pull somebody's testimony.

[35:07] Yes, he has to pull out testimony and say, see, it has happened already. It's you who don't know what's going on. A lot of people are receiving. They say, ah, be it unto me according to your word. The angel left and she was pregnant.

[35:19] So, actually, she determined whether she'll be pregnant or not by the exercising of her faith. Therefore, when she went to Elizabeth, Elizabeth said, blessed, verse 45, blessed is she who believes. For there shall be a performance.

[35:32] See, so it's a blessed is she. Wait, wait, wait. Elizabeth said, blessed is she. He's talking about particular. She believed. For there shall be a performance on the things that were told her from the Lord.

[35:44] And it came to pass that God visited Sarah as he has said. God is visiting somebody. All right, let's get on the sacrifice quickly.

[35:56] I have to stop now. So, you have to understand that it is necessary to exercise faith to be able to live the life of sacrifice.

[36:07] I'm about to say something nice. Most of us have faith to claim, faith to receive, but not faith to sacrifice. I receive.

[36:20] When it's offering time, you will know whether you really have faith. I'm telling you. After church, when you go home, and the person who has offended you, and you know in your spirit, you bear witness in your spirit, you have to forgive.

[36:36] And he said, that's when it really hits home. Most of us have received here, but it couldn't manifest because your lack of sacrifice blocked it. He says, except a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies.

[36:48] It's a bias alone. The multiplication, the miracle is at the point of dying. Something needs to die for the miracle to show up. So, if I preach and prophesy to you, and I don't show you that something needs to die for the thing to be birthed or multiplied, I have given you a half gospel.

[37:07] An incomplete message. Something needs to die. Something needs to die. There's a young lady in her midst here. She's sitting here. She's screaming and shouting, I just thank God for her faith.

[37:19] Last year, she suffered some sickness. And the sickness was looking like it had a terminal effect. It was a bad sickness.

[37:31] And this girl, this lady was losing weight. Losing weight regularly. She would go to scan upon scan. Today they said this. Tomorrow they said that. You remember how I'm talking about your care group member?

[37:42] She said this. Tomorrow they said that. And she kept struggling. And then one day there was, and this lady, I called her a few times, prayed for her. I said, you must be free. You know, listen to this.

[37:55] Find, believe God to catch the man of God's attention. Yes. Amen. It does something for you. There are some people out of compassion. I'm moved.

[38:06] They have not even asked for prayer. But I'm moved. Like the lady I called, I said, you can't be in this church. Because she's too faithful and her husband. You can't be in this church and remain sick. I had to, in the prime of the flow, I called her out and spoke.

[38:19] And it happened. Yes. There are others God will show me our prayer. Others God will not show me. But I just feel like, no, this girl, you must get the testimony. This gentleman, you must get the testimony. Some of you, you are going to be married this year.

[38:30] Amen. And I prayed for her a few times. I kept, I kept praying for her. I kept praying for her. Watch this. And I think she was in a relationship.

[38:43] Pastor, I think she was in a relationship. And then she, and I think nothing was getting healed. And one day she said, she said to herself, I'm receiving prayer from my pastor. He's doing everybody.

[38:54] I'm still entertaining this relationship, which I know I shouldn't. And she came to Pastor, she said, Pastor, I decided that my mind of God has been speaking. Why don't I just obey?

[39:07] And she decided to obey. Now you remember. She decided to obey. And as soon as she obeyed, she went back to the hospital or something like that. Is that her story? And she went back.

[39:19] Is that not her story? You know her story. You know her story. It's her. And she went and supernaturally, the doctor said they can't see the traces.

[39:30] She's been battling with her health until one day she said, why don't I obey my pastor? And just take this step. I obey my pastor by faith. And she did it. Healing guarantee. So all the prayers we were praying were not taking effect because she was blocking it.

[39:46] Not intentionally or knowingly, but because of the direction she was going, she was not willing to sacrifice that boy. Some of you don't know that boy in your life has blocked, it's blocking your marriage.

[40:04] Yeah. Yeah. It's blocking your marriage. At the moment, you are 28. We will be here 38 and it hasn't gone. Yeah, because. Over 10.

[40:15] Over 10. Over 10. No, this one, you have to let him go. Don't say over 10. Let him go. That's losing.

[40:35] You are not listening to me. Oh. Are you listening to me? Yes. Wow. Some people must go out of your life until luck goes. God will not tell you lift up your eyes and then see.

[40:47] Mm-hmm. You are clinging so much to Ishmael. Isaac won't come. Amen. Come, sir. Let's see. Come, please.

[40:59] Abraham went to God. He said, God, I can't do this. God said, listen to what the woman is saying. Amen. Listen to your wife and let Ishmael go. Listen to your prophet and let that relationship go.

[41:13] Amen. Amen. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. Someone shall have faith. Faith. Do you have faith to receive them? Let that faith be translated into sacrificing some things.

[41:26] Amen. Faith. Oh. It's not. It's not. By faith. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 4. By faith. Amen. Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice.

[41:40] Your sacrifice is not complete until you engage faith. Amen. Amen. Somebody shall sacrifice Shall sacrifice Jesus was number one Person who kept sacrificing for us He sacrificed And sacrificed And sacrificed Today I have to As I draw your attention You have to engage faith to sacrifice Other than that you'll be able to sacrifice Because you'll feel it You will feel it You will feel it Take that step And please I don't want us to focus on big big huge sacrifices Small Small Basic Your initial obedience Is what qualifies you for your next instructions Or your current obedience Is what qualifies you For the next instructions Jesus Christ

[42:43] Lived a life of sacrifice His sacrifice According to Hebrews chapter 9 verse 26 Bible says that what Jesus did Was a sacrifice for us Hebrews chapter 9 verse 20 Let's look at these scriptures And then I'll close For them as he often have suffered Since the foundation of the world But now once In the end of the world Has he appeared to put away sin How did he do that?

[43:08] How did he appear to put away sin? He came to sacrifice himself Chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10 When we read from verse 10 Verse 11 Verse 11 will tell you that They were sacrificing the oldest Verse 10 says that Verse 10 In Hebrews chapter 10 By the which we Will we By the which will We are sanctified Through the Offering of the body of Christ Once and for all Okay So how are we sanctified Through the offering of his body?

[43:43] Look at the next verse Verse 11 Every priest standing Daily ministering And offering Offering times The same sacrifice So what do they offer? Sacrifices They're offering They couldn't do it Then Jesus Look at verse 12 But this man Talking about Jesus Christ But this man After he offered One sacrifice For sin So Jesus offered One sacrifice for sin And sat down So what he came to do Is actually a sacrifice That's why we are where we are Ephesians chapter 5 Verse 2 Talks about The sacrifice of Jesus He sacrificed himself Ephesians chapter 1 Walk in love As Christ also has loved us And give himself to us Offering and a sacrifice to God Somebody say sacrifice Say sacrifice So Christ came to sacrifice himself 1 Corinthians chapter 5 Verse 7 Talks about Christ Our Passover sacrifice So Christ is our ultimate sacrifice Right Therefore Purch out the old living That you may be a new lamb

[44:44] Since you truly are the old living For indeed Christ Our Passover Was sacrificed for us So Christ was sacrificed for us Let's say Christ was sacrificed for us Now so for us to follow The one whose example we can follow When it comes to the matter of sacrifice Is Christ It's Christ And we have to go through How did Christ sacrifice In his obedience So you can't sacrifice Disobediently Okay Do you understand what I'm saying?

[45:18] You can't sacrifice In disobedience You block ability to sacrifice That's why I said The little thing Sometimes you are going to Call a friend And complain about What the other guy did And then the spirit of God Will tell you Don't suck it Leave it Sacrifice that zeal To talk Yeah So you are thinking about Huge things You are sacrificing a house You are sacrificing a cow You are sacrificing a car You are sacrificing a shoe No It's basic things Yeah Little thing Little thing Sacrifice a sleep Yeah Yeah In obedience to God Sacrifice bitterness Somebody has done something You are very angry You have vowed that You sacrifice it Sacrifice your pride Sacrifice the things That you enjoy Yes The areas of sacrifice Appetite Pride Or ego Ego Ego Husband For there to be A godly peace in your family Ego Choirister For you to do well

[46:19] In your assignments In a church As a choirister Learn how to sacrifice Your ego You are a professor In music And yet You are in the choir And this choir director Is making so many mistakes It doesn't matter Humble yourself Sacrifice the ego Some of us can't sacrifice To be part of anything I'm too busy I'm too busy I'm too busy To do anything for God In his house Excuse me In his house In his house I'm not saying Just going to town Looking at people Who are in need And feed them You are doing for God What shows that You are doing for God Yeah Yeah It's you have chosen To do it Yeah Yeah That's what makes you feel good Do you know when you do Good to people Oh Can I give you a Can you imagine You want to give somebody A right And they turn it down You don't feel good at all Yeah But if you give you a Yeah Yeah You feel good at all I want to buy a shoe for you And you feel good I want to So most of the things That we do Philanthropic activities

[47:20] Is for ourselves Yeah Sacrifice is not for yourself If you are too busy Or too important To join a department And self There's a problem Of sacrifice Present your body As a living sacrifice And it's disobedience You're operating in Wow So I'm saying Receive it You are wondering Why it doesn't manifest What that testimony You have Is just at the tip Of the iceberg The main thing Hasn't come Yeah Yeah Yeah Christ was working In obedience Bible said He learned obedience He didn't learn philosophy He learned obedience Right at least He suffered Somebody shout obedience Obedience Your sacrifice And your faith Will be tested Yeah By how well You're able to serve In church There are people When they come to church Usher's Give them a seat They are upset How come Usher tell me to send you Listen Calm down Calm down He's the one in charge There are times You know those

[48:20] Temporal traffic lights Especially the one That the workers The manna one They turn it Go and stop And when it's your turn You're in hurry Then they turn it You have to stop You're very upset With this guy But you have to stop That's the same Way usher's operate Usher says Sit here Just follow Follow them By your friend Is going there It doesn't matter The usher says Go Later when you go They tell her Can I go To the Pastor Some people go as far As saying that This usher doesn't like me You have a problem As long as you begin To entertain that thought You will never do well In a lot of areas So long as church life Is concerned So let me finish on this But Jesus is obedient Jesus was obedient In five ways Number one Number one At the age of twelve According to Jewish law A twelve year old boy

[49:21] Is like When you are twenty one here Is it now eighteen or twenty one? Eighteen He used to be twenty one Now he's been brought to That means your parents Can give you the keys Go and you can come Anytime Because you are now An adult Alright eighteen In Jewish times He's a twelve year old boy So you can't just Be instructing twelve year old boy When now He's now of age So they went into The Into Jerusalem And he didn't come with He didn't go back with them Luke chapter two And then The mother Verse forty eight Went back They were looking for him The mother saw him And he said Son Why have you done This to us?

[49:57] Your father Say your father Say your father Your father And I have been looking for you And Jesus said Don't you know I have to be about my He said Joseph is not my father Please Let's get it right Joseph is not my father I have to be about My father's business Now that I'm twelve I have to start My father's business Before I become a carpenter Just for you to know My father's business So he said I have to be about My father's business Watch this And he said Don't you know I have to be about My father's business Look at the next verse But they did not Understand the statement Which he had spoken to them The next verse Then he went down With them And came to Nazareth And was subject The words are Obedient He knew who he was But he willingly Went and submitted Wow He willingly went That's his first level Of obedience Willingly went and said Number two When he came to baptism John the Baptist Has not He's the only Baptist Who was not baptized John the Baptist

[50:59] He wasn't baptized So when Jesus shows up In Matthew chapter 3 From verse 11 He said After giving the introduction Who is coming After Jesus comes And says baptize me He told Jesus No I can't baptize you You should rather baptize He wasn't baptized So you should rather baptize me And Jesus Look at Jesus' comments It's very important John said Indeed I need to be baptized By you So he wasn't baptized And you are coming to me Look at the next verse Jesus answered And permit it to be so For that it is Fulfill For that it is Fitting For us to fulfill All right I have to do it That's why Jesus said All the prophets He was the least Greatest by Was the least In the kingdom Because he wasn't baptized But he said I have to do it Are you listening to me Yes John the Baptist said Jesus said Do it He had to obey To be baptized Second level of obedience Third level of obedience Satan showed up After the baptism Satan showed up

[52:01] And came to tempt him With the pleasures Of the world With the power Of the devil And with the Passions of the flesh The three temptations The passions Of the flesh The pleasures Of the world The power Of the devil He said I'll offer this to you Now When you study The temptation Of Jesus Very carefully It will help You won't understand The temptation Well Until you try Don't think about What Don't try to understand What was in the mind Of Jesus Think about What was in the mind Of the devil What was in the mind Of the devil Was more important About the temptation Than what was in the mind Of Jesus What do I mean Satan wanted Jesus To disobey God And obey him That was his objective So that should tell you That it was a subject It's a situation Of obedience Are you getting What I'm saying Yes sir In Romans chapter 5 Verse 19 Bible says that Adam fell through Disobedience And because of

[53:02] The disobedience Of one man All became sinners Also because of The obedience Christ was obedient He was obedient So when Satan Tempted him He said No I won't fall for this He said Turn Turn Stones into bread To feed your Personal needs We have to be careful How you are so desperate To meet your Personal needs It can be emotional needs It can be mental needs It can be physical needs But it can make you vulnerable Satan operates In those areas Very easily You have to look out How to fulfill The needs of God Through meeting The needs of others In the church And his way Amen Amen So Satan said Turn bread into Stone into bread Jesus overcame that He said Look If you can Bow to me I'll give you all this Jesus overcame that He said Jump And he'll give his angels In charge of it Jesus overcame that All the three areas

[54:03] Of temptation Jesus was obedient Unto God So that's obedience Number one Three Obedience Number four I'm just giving you five Obedience Number four Was when Jesus said Me doing The will of my Father is my bread So all his life He wasn't doing Anything by himself He was doing What God wants him To do Are you getting What I'm saying In John chapter Four verse 34 He said My meat is to do The will of him Who sent me So he Actually The entirety Of his human Living Was embedded In obedience He went to places Where God Wanted him to go Obedience I'm trying to Help you to Understand When you talk About the Sacrifice of Jesus So it's not Just the cross He went He said Okay I sacrifice But his entire Life From when he Was a child He walked In a life Of obedience It was all The part Of the sacrifice Program Sacrifice Program So in other words What I'm trying To say is You cannot

[55:03] Live a life Of sacrifice If you don't Have a mind To obey Obey who Obey God Am I communicating To somebody Your obedience Will place you At the top Of God's list So then the Final one Is just At the cross Before he went To the cross Matthew chapter 26 verse 39 He went to Prayer He said Father If this Be your Will May it Come to Pass Not as I will Let your Will be Done And guess What Now It's very Interesting for you To know That when he Said not My will Your will Be done The focus Is not So much On the Will But on The done It's It's Not It's It was An active Obedience No well If it's your Will Or let your Will be Done But he Said Let your Will be Done I'm going To make Sure that What you

[56:03] Want That's what I'm going To act On Do you Understand That It was More of An Action It wasn't Just I'm trying To look For a Word I Mentioned At that Time Not a Passive One But Well It wasn't Just he Was there Okay Let your Will be Done No The focus Is not On the Will But the Focus Is on The Done Do you Understand What I'm Saying You You Must be The agent Of What God Wants Being Established Don't say Well Let it Be No You Have to Make Sure God Is Having It Does Make Sense Yes God Have It Somebody Says I'm Backsliding You Have to Chase The person You Backslide So long As I'm Alive You Never Backslide You Have to Enforce Not Force The people Enforce In Prayer And Encouragement That This person Will Not Fall Out Of Church There Are People Here Who Saw Others Fall Out Of Church And You Need To Do Anything Saw

[57:09] Someone Was At The Brink Of Falling Out Of Church And You Were Able To Rescue And Stabilize The person In Church And God Was Reward You For That So When We Are Shouting I Receive Oh Yes Yeah Make Sure The Other Factors Are Working Together Because All Things Work Together It's Not Only One Thing That Works On Its Own All Things Work Together For Good Are You Getting What I'm Saying So In Conclusion Jesus Nived A Life Of Obedience Philippians Chapter 2 Verse 5 Bible Says He Was God Though He Being Equal God Did Not Count It Robbery Equality God Something To Grasp On But Humbled Himself Say Humble Bible Says He Made Himself Of No Reputation Taking Upon Himself Taking The Form Of A Born Servant And Becoming The Likeness Of Men Verse 8 Watch This Being Found In Appearance As A Man He What Did He Do He Humbled Himself And Became What I Can't Hear He

[58:09] Became What I Know You Are Tired He Became What He Became Obedient To Death That Is The Ultimate Sacrifice Something To I I And This Year I Thank God For I Told You That This Year Will Be One Of The Most Unique Years In The History Of This Church And That's The Only Thing He Said God Told Him He Is A Prophet And The Prophet Said God This Year Is Going To Be Amazing For Many People Here No Wonder God Is Leading Me To Teach These Things Because It's The Root It's The Highway Of Divine Favor Sacrifice After This Service You Must Walk Gently When You Go And Believe God By Faith To Clear Some Things Out Of Your Life Bitterness Let It Go Anger Let It Go Gossip Let It Go A Certain Toxic Relationship

[59:10] Let It Go Ungodly Associations Let It It It Certain Things That You Are Keeping You Are Holding On To It Poisoning Your Work With God Let It Go And What Is Interesting Jessica Just Little Little Things Not Big Things Little Things Most Of Us Are Ready Want To Sacrifice The Big Things But Little Things We Are Not Ready To Little Things Little Things Wow Wow Little Things But That's The Challenge To All Of Including Me Including Me When God Told Us That Year Of Sacrifice I Understood It Very Clearly I May Have To Cut Down Maybe Eating Even Though I Don't Eat A Lot There Are Sometimes I Want To Eat Like Last Night I Was Very Hungry I Went For Events And I Was Tired And I Wanted To Eat But Saturday Night Is Not A Good Time For A Pastor To Be Eating So

[60:13] I Said No I Have To Start Obeying This Sacrifice In Every Way I Said Should I Get You Something I Said No I I About God God God God Is Asking Of You Sacrifice And See How God Is Going To Smile On Your Life You Can't Live A Life Of Sacrifice Without Obedience And I Pray That May God Give Us All Grace To Move Into Strange Levels Of Sacrifices In Jesus Name And All Shall Say And All Shall Say We Thank God For Using His Servant Reverend Dr.

[61:06] David Entry Remember To Stay Connected With Us On Facebook Instagram YouTube And Twitter For Regular Updates On What God Is Doing Here At Karis Ministries Stay Blessed