Sister Sue Sunday School 11/11/12

Sister Sue Sunday School 11/11/12

Mic 6:8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Romans chapter 12 shows us how to meet this requirement.

Rom 12:1  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.

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Until we present our bodies a holy and acceptable, living sacrifice we can never do Micah 6:8.  It is required of us.  Beseech means entreaty.  Entreaty is the Gospel way. 

2Co 5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

We are ambassadors.  As God beseeched you, beseech  others.  Though He has the authority to command, for love’s sake He rather entreats.  Many are more easily won when beseeched and more easily led than driven.

1Co 6:12  All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

1Co 6:13  Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

The body is for the Lord.  Present yourself a living sacrifice.  The offering was sacrificed by the priest but it was presented by the offerer.  We no longer have the right, title, or interest to our self when presented to God.

1Pe 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

‘Ye present’: this is our part.  It implies a willingness.  God doesn’t want our offering if it is not willingly offered.

Exo 35:5  Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass,

Take ye willingly.  It is a requirement for us to present our bodies if we are to do Micah 6:8 but the requirement is for us to be willing.  If we don’t know how then He will teach us.  It is hard to teach someone that knows everything.  We must be teachable.  We want to be humble and realize that we don’t know everything. 

God wants us to know what is required and how to fulfill that.  He is on our side.  He will lead us.  We will make mistakes, Peter did.  Even though he had Jesus right there in the flesh he made mistakes; yet he kept right on going on.

1Co 12:27  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Remember how Jesus presented himself.  He got tired and He rested.  It is not a bad thing to need to rest.  It is ok to be tired.  Jesus presented to unbelievers, sick, and the devil possessed. 

We come in contact with many different kinds of people.  He was a perfect example of a living sacrifice.  He said to Zacheous, “Come down, I’m going to your house.”  He healed the devil possessed.  We can take His example any time.

We are what He has to work with.  Our living sacrifice is what He is showing the world.  We want to be our very best.  We want to be a living fence.  In Dixon a girl has bushes and shrubs that is a living fence.  It is shelter and shade to the birds and other creatures; most of the time it is beautiful.  Are we a living fence, or a post with wires that have barbs on them?

Isa 38:19  The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

Mat 22:32  I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Jer 17:13  O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

Jer 17:14  Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

The use of the body is to be as a servant in service to God. 

1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

We need to engage our bodies in the duties of worship, diligent in His service, and willing to suffer for God.   

We cannot wing it.  We have to be prepared and study.  We need to be prepared to give an answer to every man that asks a reason for the hope that is within us.

Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Liven up, look alive, act alive.  Bodily exercise alone profits little.  Exercising our body in the will of God brings profit to God.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

This is the whole ticket.  We cannot do it in ourselves.  It takes Christ in us.  People that try to do it in themselves are always pushing and struggling with it.  With Christ in us it works like a well oiled machine.

Holy love kindles the sacrifice.  There had to be a fire with the sacrifice. 

Rom 12:11  Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

We want to have heat in our service.  Put life in the duty.  If it wasn’t for His mercy and grace then where would we be?  God is a merciful God so present your body to Him and He will use it kindly.  He will not ask of us more than we can give.  God knows how to consider our frame because He is of infinite compassion. 

We receive from Him every day the fruits of His compassion.  I’m thankful everyday when I get up that I can walk, see, and that I can hear.  Those are all mercies of God.  He lets us have every day, have a roof over our head, and have food in the cupboard.

After recognizing what Christ offered at Calvary we should be asking God, “What can we give in return for all of this?”

Acceptable to God:  In the end we should all be laboring towards being acceptable.

2Co 5:9  Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

God doesn’t impose upon us anything unreasonable or hard but only that which is agreeable to the principles of right reason. 

‘Labor’ in this scripture means strive and study.  We are seeking to know the fullness of God’s will to us.   He doesn’t give it to us all at once.  He wants us to continue to grow and strive to enter into that perfection.