Our Proper Response To Christmas
Empowered by Promise
SUMMARY
ROMANS 12:1-2
Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.
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RESPONSE 1: We break strongholds – we don’t have to think like the world.
Old beliefs, rules we judge others by
Religious beliefs and practices that bind us and do not release us
Most of life’s battles are won or lost in the mind
Life you have is a reflection of the thoughts you think
Jesus came so that we could change our minds. Release us from shame condemnation and guilt…
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RESPONSE 2: We surrender to the promises…
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ROMANS 12:1-2
Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.
2 Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.
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LIVING SACRIFICES – FULLY ALIVE
Sacrifice – ZOSAN – Fully alive
Same word used when Peter described being born again; Adam being made alive in 2 Corinthians; whenever Jesus resurrected someone;
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1 Peter 1:3 (TPT)
Celebrate with praises the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has shown us his extravagant mercy. For his fountain of mercy has given us a new life—we are reborn[a] to experience a living, energetic hope[b] through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
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Life not just going through the motion
This describes that when we give up something (sacrifice) and take on what delights God’s heart – we can have an incredible fully alive life.
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Respond to Jesus: Accepting His Promise
John 10:1010 A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter,[a] and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, [b] more than you expect[c]—life in its fullness until you overflow! (TPT)
EXPERIENCE ALL THAT DELIGHTS HIS HEART (PROMISES)
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Know – Accept – Believe – Activate
Israelites sacrifice process —> Abraham
Surrender to Promise (The delights of His heart)
Abraham and Isaac
Abraham and Isaac Story
Difficult to accept his promise
We have our own promises that we want to live out… Or we have our own ideas of how that promise will come about (Messiah vs. Christ)
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Even Though He Could Not See It… (Faith)
Hebrews 11:8. By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
Expectation though not yet beheld… (Hebrews 11:1)
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Hebrews 11:17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
Abraham and Isaac could offer the ultimate sacrifice, they had the power to overcome their own flesh and respond to God’s promise… Empowered by Promise
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Relationships are based on trust…
He sent His promise to actually walk amongst us…
We Surender by trusting Him
When we start believing His promises we begin to see a life that is delightful and powerful and beautiful…
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CONCLUSION
Genesis 22:14
14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
God had provided a ram for Abraham and Isaac to sacrifice as a burnt offering. Abraham built an alter and named the place Jehovah-jireh which means “the Lord provides”.
Mountain = a place where they received Gods word, direction and promises.
He provides His promise – The Word (Jesus)
He activists that promise – The Christ (Jesus)