Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living from The Global Church of the Nazarene in Lenexa, Kansas, United States for Tuesday, 28 July 2015 - "Living Sacrifice" Scripture: Zechariah 7:1-14

Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living from The Global Church of the Nazarene in Lenexa, Kansas, United States for Tuesday, 28 July 2015 - "Living Sacrifice" Scripture: Zechariah 7:1-14RG AUDIO 072815

Zechariah 7:1 In the fourth year of King Daryavesh, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev, a message from Adonai came to Z’kharyah. 2 He sent Sar’etzer and Regem-Melekh with his men to Beit-El in order to ask Adonai’s favor, 3 as they inquired of the cohanim of the house of Adonai-Tzva’ot and the prophets, “Should we go into mourning and abstain from pleasure during the fifth month, as we have been doing for all these years?” 4 It was then that this message came to me from Adonai-Tzva’ot: 5 “Speak to all the people of the land and to the cohanim. Tell them, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months throughout these seventy years, were you really fasting for me? Was it for me? 6 Rather, when you eat and drink, it’s just to please yourselves, isn’t it? 7 Isn’t this just what Adonai proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Yerushalayim was inhabited and prosperous, as were the cities around her; and the Negev and the Sh’felah were inhabited?’”

8 Then this message from Adonai came to Z’kharyah: 9 “In the past Adonai-Tzva’ot said, ‘Administer true justice. Let everyone show mercy and compassion to his brother. 10 Don’t oppress widows, orphans, foreigners or poor people. Don’t plot evil against each other.’ 11 But they wouldn’t listen, they stubbornly turned their shoulder away and stopped up their ears, so that they wouldn’t have to hear it. 12 Yes, they made their hearts as hard as a diamond, so that they wouldn’t hear the Torah and the messages that Adonai-Tzva’ot had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. This is why great anger came from Adonai-Tzva’ot; 13 and it came about that just as they hadn’t listened when he called, so Adonai-Tzva’ot said, ‘I won’t listen when they call; 14 but with the power of a whirlwind I will disperse them among all the nations which they have not known.’ Thus the land was left desolate after them, so that no one came or went. They had turned a pleasant land into a desert.”

"Living Sacrifice" by Author: Tabita Rothmann Gonzalez
Doing the right thing requires a good dose of sacrifice. Yes, sacrifice! Whenever we tell ourselves we did nothing wrong; we just enjoyed life and did the best we could, and yet we sought only what was good for us, we fail God’s Kingdom standards. Doing what is just, showing mercy and compassion to others, always requires us to stop looking at ourselves and look at the person next to us, seeking for their best interest.
Only when I sacrifice my comfort zone can I truly administer compassion. Jesus proved that with His own life. Remember when He laid aside all His glory and position as a master and teacher and did the work of a humble servant, washing the feet of His disciples? And what can we say of His choice to take our place on the Cross, to receive in His body suffering and death, so that we could live?
God’s constant invitation is for us to follow Jesus’ example. Maybe we won't physically die for others, but we can offer to God our time, self-interests, comfort, and passions as lifing sacrifices–ones who give ourselves to God and others. Only then will we become Jesus to others.
Hymn for Today: "A Charge To Keep I Have" by Charles Wesley

1. A charge to keep I have, 

a God to glorify, 

a never-dying soul to save, 

and fit it for the sky. 

2. To serve the present age, 

my calling to fulfill; 

O may it all my powers engage 

to do my Master's will! 

3. Arm me with jealous care, 

as in thy sight to live, 

and oh, thy servant, Lord, 

prepare a strict account to give! 

4. Help me to watch and pray, 

and on thyself rely, 

assured, if I my trust betray, 

I shall forever die. 

"Suffering was not the end of the story for Jesus, and it will not be the end of our story if we faithfully follow Jesus' example"[Daniel Powers]
Please pray

For the development om Christian leaders in the Republic of South Sudan.
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