Sermon

Sacrifice that Honours - Pastor Solomon Yirenkyi

The Church of Pentecost, S.K. Baidoo English Assembly

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  1. When life. Belongs you are Tempest or when

  2. you are this kind of thinking of is lost count your many

  3. blessings in them once I won and it will surprise you what the

  4. Lord how's your blessings men them one by one how God blesses

  5. men them one by one. How's your blessings?

  6. And I'm one by one. How's your many blessings?

  7. Do what? Go on when I like you, when you

  8. are desperate thinking Lord is Lord, come your baby, bless his

  9. name, come one by one and into a praise.

  10. You are the Lord of God called your blessed his name #1 by 1.

  11. But your blessings see what God has your blessings man down 1 by

  12. 1 cause your many blessings see what God has done how you every.

  13. Hello from here. Does that cross seem heavy?

  14. You are called to how's your many blessings begging on the

  15. fire and you will be singing as that days go by count your

  16. blessings. Never come one by one count your

  17. blessings. You want to come as that, count

  18. your blessings, bring down 1 by 1 cause your many blessings.

  19. See what God had done. When you look outside as with

  20. your lies and God think that Christ has promised you his

  21. world on top. Count your many blessings.

  22. Morning. Come on by.

  23. You're rewarding heaven or your home on earth.

  24. Count your blessings. Let them one by one.

  25. Count your blessings. You are called eyes down.

  26. Count your blessings. Let them one by one.

  27. Count your many blessings. She was gone.

  28. Eyes down. May the conflict where the.

  29. Great or small do not be despaired.

  30. God is so far all come show many blessings and just will I turn

  31. help and comfort give you to your journey.

  32. And come show blessings, name them 1 by 1.

  33. Count your blessings, see what God are done.

  34. Count your blessings, leave that what my wife.

  35. Count your baby blessings. See what God walk out your

  36. blessings. Walk.

  37. Out your blessings. Walk out your blessings.

  38. Walk out your blessings. Touch your blessings.

  39. Make them one by one. Catch your many blessings.

  40. Be. What God has done, count.

  41. Your blessings, Name them one by one.

  42. Count your blessings. See what God has done count.

  43. Your blessings. Oh, give a clap off it unto

  44. Jesus. Let's clap, let's clap, let's

  45. clap. Yes indeed.

  46. Today we are celebrating our CCA anniversary.

  47. I think this is today. I've, I've, I've, I've heard

  48. something nice in my ears. Yes, oh, if you have also done

  49. the same, yes, give a club of pronoun to our choir and we are

  50. praying that as they have started, their encomium will be

  51. something extraordinary. Oh Hallelujah.

  52. And as you have seen them wearing their encomium shirts or

  53. their T-shirt or lacos or whatever, if you don't have

  54. yours when we close, please sit them and get yours so that that

  55. day we all go and support them and give praise unto Jesus.

  56. Hallelujah the day. Today is the day that the Lord

  57. has made and Bible said we have to rejoice and be glad in it.

  58. We are clamacing our local week and also our six years

  59. anniversary in the house. We are so fortunate and we are

  60. so grateful to have our daddy and our mommy in our meets.

  61. Oh. I said I'm a kind romantic.

  62. I said we are fortunate to have our own mommy and our own daddy

  63. in our meets. Yes, we have our father, Pastor

  64. Emmanuel and our mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Jose Acosta in our

  65. midst. Let us all give a clap of

  66. finance to them. Let us all welcome them once

  67. again. You are welcome Daddy.

  68. And now leave the podium on to our father.

  69. Let's give up a clap of finance. Our daddy mounts the puppets.

  70. Oh praise the Lord. We thank God for today and we

  71. have every cause to be thankful to him.

  72. Today we are celebrating God's goodness.

  73. Six years. Last time I was trying to

  74. recount that we need to thank God that six years we have our

  75. own place where we worship God. That alone we should thank God.

  76. Some locals have been in existence for 50 years and they

  77. don't have a place of worship. So if we are blessed to have our

  78. own space and we are blessed to have this beautiful hall, we

  79. need to celebrate God for that and the many things that the

  80. Lord has done, we need to thank him.

  81. Six years is not a little journey.

  82. It is God's grace which has kept us as we thank God and we end

  83. the week, we have in our midst a servant of God, a minister of

  84. our church. I mean CEOP, he is currently

  85. stationed at the Dion Qantas area in a district called Bro

  86. Sankro moving in Anka Bro Sankro meaning he said Abrasenbach or

  87. one story of a building long ago that there used to be just one

  88. story building over there. So when they are going, oh, Udu

  89. Kruna Bro Sankar or not, but now they have multiples, they have a

  90. lot of them there. So if you want to get the

  91. location is from in between Beecham and Tepa, very close to

  92. Tepa. So it's a very they're almost

  93. now almost messed with it already.

  94. And he's here to visit us. Oh, I said he's here to visit us

  95. and when I when we had a call on phone, I told him that he was he

  96. will preach and he said, yes, you, you preach.

  97. So church, I am happy to inform you that we have Pastor Solomon

  98. Quay CUNG in the house and and he was called from Medina area

  99. in Accra here. So he now he's a boy already.

  100. So he is a boy from Accra now a very strong man from Accra.

  101. So church, I will now humbly hand over to Pastor Solomon

  102. Yenchi and as he's LED. You preach.

  103. Unto us. But today you were late and

  104. today I don't know what Spirit is telling you to come late.

  105. There are still many of us who are still on the way, but we

  106. can't wait for you. We have to go on.

  107. So listen to the wet weather. You minister in wet and you also

  108. minister in prayer. Put your hands together as you

  109. see Pastor Solomon. Praise the Lord, you can do it

  110. better. On to the Lord.

  111. Hallelujah, this morning we are so blessed to be here and we

  112. thank God so much for the space and opportunity granted us.

  113. Honestly blessed be the name of the Lord.

  114. Hallelujah. I also want to thank Pastor and

  115. Mrs. Hakosa for the space to come into your midst to

  116. fellowship and let us bless them for us.

  117. I was with Mama throughout the week at BCC for a certain

  118. assignment about God's grace. We finished yesterday.

  119. My in law stays around, she stays close to one of the

  120. assemblies up there. So we had a family funeral, my

  121. wife, my wife's uncle, the wife passed.

  122. So we had to come around and I had to call pastor.

  123. Pastor was my area secretary when he was in the ion quanta,

  124. and he's a very good friend and boss.

  125. So I called him and I told him that I'm around.

  126. So he requested that we come around.

  127. I'll be leaving for Thanksgiving service at I think the United

  128. Church or something. Yeah, later on.

  129. So he told me about coming to join you and we accepted because

  130. it's been about 3 months since they left us and we long to see

  131. them again. So this morning we will be

  132. ministering. The word of God.

  133. And I have titled my message sacrifice that honest, Sacrifice

  134. that honest as per the directive given to us by leadership.

  135. So I've shared the slides with them will be projected very

  136. soon. I want us to sing this song and

  137. the choir can help me. My lifetime.

  138. I will give God my lifetime, my lifetime I.

  139. Will give God my lifetime. If I give God my life.

  140. I want you to sing it in faith. Oh.

  141. He will take. Care of how many of us believe

  142. this? Oh, he will never ever let me

  143. down. Oh, I will give God blessing

  144. once again. My lifetime, Oh my lifetime.

  145. I will give God my life, my lifetime, my lifetime, Oh my

  146. lifetime I will. Give.

  147. God my lifetime or if I give God my life.

  148. He will take care of. Me.

  149. He will take care of Hallelujah. He will never ever let me die.

  150. I will give God my life. Thank you so much, God bless

  151. you. Oh this.

  152. This song often gives me nostalgia because I remember

  153. singing it all the time during my childhood.

  154. I come from a very deprived background and looking at the

  155. sentence per the fee that I had gotten, my only trust and hope

  156. was God. So I always sing the song and I

  157. had that confidence that God never thinks, God never fails.

  158. If there is someone to testify to you this morning, that

  159. testimony is right in front of you that God never fails.

  160. Wherever, whenever you commit your life to Him, you give him

  161. your all. He's going to repair you.

  162. So this morning, sacrifice that honest.

  163. I want us to take a team text from Second Samuel chapter 24,

    2 Samuel 24:24

  164. verse 24. Second Samuel chapter 24, verse

    2 Samuel 24:24

  165. 24. Then the king is sent to Aruna.

  166. No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, nor will

  167. Ioffer bent offerings to the Lord my God with that which

  168. costs me nothing. So David bought the threshing

  169. floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver.

  170. So there's a spot of the theme text that we were given.

  171. There's a story of happening in Israel where David, after going

  172. against the Lord by numbering the people of Israel and God,

  173. had become so angry with him. And in the punishment he gave

  174. him three options. Either he was going to cause

  175. there to be a famine. He was going to make David flee

  176. before his enemies for three months.

  177. Then the last one was that God himself was going to handle him.

  178. Then he he told God that God, men are wicked, and if you allow

  179. men to deal with me, I'll die. Let me fall in your hands and do

  180. whatsoever you want to me. So in God's own wisdom, the

  181. punishment was that he was going to allow an Angel come and he is

  182. going to go through the land and struck the people down.

  183. So the Angel started from morning and by noon he had

  184. killed 70,000 people. It tells you how merciful God is

  185. sometimes when you look at the things we do and the things we

  186. engage in sometimes human beings.

  187. Are lawless so lawless and. For some of us we are overly

  188. stubborn that it is only God who can manage us.

  189. So when God leaves us to the angels, they would have killed

  190. all of us. So from morning till noon 70,000

  191. they were gone. Then God looked at the Angel and

  192. what he was doing. In that short space, 70,000

  193. people, if I don't stop this Angel, he's going to cause

  194. havoc. Then God told the Angel to

  195. restrain his hand, and David, in his bid to thank God for his

  196. mess, wanted a place to sacrifice.

  197. So he went to this man called Aruna.

  198. He had a treashing floor where he used to trash his wheat.

  199. Then he told him that he should give the place to him.

  200. So he could sacrifice to the Lord.

  201. Then Aruna, being a native of Israel, knowing what was going

  202. on, offered to give his trashing flow and everything that it

  203. consisted of. To David for free so that he

  204. could sacrifice to the Lord. Then in David's statement,

  205. that's where we read from. He says that please, I will pay

  206. you. Because for me, doing something

  207. for my God has to cost me. It has to, it has to touch

  208. something. It has to bring me.

  209. It has to bring me to the point of paying a price.

  210. So I will not allow you to sacrifice or offer anything to

  211. the Lord that will cost me nothing.

  212. So the Bible says that David bought the treasure.

  213. Floor and the oxen everything that he had for 50 shekels of

  214. silver. I want to submit to all of us

  215. that one. The meaning of sacrifice is that

  216. it is an act of devotion or commitment to a supreme being or

  217. deity where 1 is where one let's go of his interest and benefits

  218. at the expense of a higher authority or good so.

  219. It is when someone let's go of his interest.

  220. But when we talk about sacrificing, it will get to you.

  221. You are going to lose something. You are going to let go of

  222. something. You, you, you have to do without

  223. something. Something that brings you

  224. comfort, something that brings you that kind of joy and peace

  225. that you always wish you have. But when it comes to sacrifice,

  226. you have to let go of something. So sometimes it will have to be

  227. letting go of your resource. Letting go of your skill,

  228. letting go of something that is of priority to you.

  229. That is what it's called sacrifice, and it is an act of

  230. devotion. So how devoted you are

  231. determines the magnitude of your sacrifice.

  232. Let me state that again. How devoted you are determines

  233. the magnitude of your sacrifice. So little devotion results in

  234. little sacrifice. Great devotion results in great

  235. sacrifice. Many Christians in this

  236. generation are unable to sacrifice holy because their

  237. devotion is not deep. So a man without deep devotion

  238. cannot give deep sacrifice. Let me paint the picture of

  239. Abraham to you. Abraham was a man.

  240. Who was 75 years when he was scored by God.

  241. Then at the time of a scholar, he was 75, his wife was 65.

  242. They had no child. So making all the calculations,

  243. you understand that for all the years they were married, 75.

  244. In today's world, if you are 75 and you are not married, it

  245. means that you can never you you are.

  246. You haven't given birth. It means that you are past the

  247. age of childbearing. So 7560. 5:00 But when God

  248. called them, he made them a promise, and they placed their

  249. hoop on their promise. So after working with God for a

  250. while, about 14 years, the Bible recalls that when he was 89.

  251. The reason why you can deduce that he was 89 was that when God

  252. came to him. The Bible talks about the

  253. period, the 14 year period when he came to him after he had

  254. given or he had taken his wife's maid servant and had given birth

  255. with her. Then God appeared after a while.

  256. He had not spoken to him for a long time.

  257. So from 7585 God revealed himself again.

  258. Then he made that mistake of taking Hagar and giving birth.

  259. With her then after 14 years at 99.

  260. God appears and tells him that Abraham I am the Lord, walk

  261. before me and be blameless. He was making a statement of

  262. intent, telling God, telling Abraham that for me I don't

  263. forgo my covenant. But you humans, you are the ones

  264. with the problem. So he tells Abraham that the

  265. promise I have made. To you that you give birth to a

  266. child by Sarah will come to pass.

  267. It still stands. Hallelujah.

  268. So whatever promise God has given to you, it will come to

  269. pass. It doesn't matter how long it

  270. takes. Sometimes.

  271. Maybe you have received the prophecy and it seems like the

  272. the trajectory of your life does not give any indication that

  273. this thing can happen. But I want to assure you that.

  274. God never thinks he is good and. He is kind.

  275. And He will always keep to His word.

  276. The Bible says that He does not lie.

  277. I told my wife one thing some time ago.

  278. I told her that God has never disappointed anyone and He will

  279. not start with me. Little me, who am I?

  280. What is my background? That God will risk his

  281. reputation to lie to me. Same applies to you.

  282. Whatever promise, whatever revelation, whatever profess

  283. that you have been given, I stand here as a servant of God

  284. and on the authority of the Word of God that it will come to pass

  285. Hallelujah. So wrapping up the illustration,

  286. Abraham after all these years when his wife had given birth at

  287. the age of 90 and he was 100, God knew that there was going to

  288. be a challenge. That was why.

  289. First of all, in my opinion, I think he was upset with you.

  290. Then Sarah, I believe strongly that God stirred that up in her

  291. spirit, because according to God's promise, the Son who was

  292. to take over from the Father, and it's a typology of Jesus

  293. Christ, was Isaac, not Ishmael. So one day Sarah begins to

  294. observe that Ishmael is going to be a trouble for Isaac.

  295. Then she starts troubling Abraham.

  296. Let. This boy go.

  297. Now when you when you carefully observe Ishmael is not related

  298. to Sarah, but Ishmael is related to Abraham biological.

  299. So for Sarah, she can freely say that let Ishmael go, but for

  300. Abraham. It is his son.

  301. And what will be your response for the wife?

  302. She is protecting the sons inheritance, but for the father

  303. they are booth his sons. So Sarah keeps troubling

  304. Abraham. The Bible says that every day,

  305. every day. And he I don't believe he would

  306. have ever heeded her petition. But one day God comes into the

  307. equation and tells Abraham that Listening to your wife.

  308. Then, because Abraham is a man of such great devotion, early in

  309. the morning the Bible says that he prepares Hagar and Ishmael

  310. and sends them off. And it is not like today where

  311. when you send someone off, you can keep track of them.

  312. Sending them off means that cutting ties with him,

  313. dissociating him from everything.

  314. But God gave him a promise that because he is your lineage, I am

  315. also going to make him great. But it was such a difficult

  316. thing because that was the last time he was ever going to set

  317. eyes on the boy. Then he goes.

  318. Then the long and short of my illustration is that this same

  319. God, after some years, comes back to tell Abraham one morning

  320. that Abraham take your son, the one you love at that.

  321. Point per my investigation, Isaac would have been around 40

  322. years. Also then calculating Isaac's

  323. age to Abraham's age. If he's 40, indeed, he'll be

  324. around 1:40. So if he.

  325. Sacrifices this boy. When again is he going to give

  326. birth? When again is he going to

  327. nurture the boy? When again?

  328. This is a tough request, but like I submitted earlier, a man

  329. of great devotion is able to make great sacrifices.

  330. So God tells Abraham that take your son and he.

  331. Hits to God's voice. Hallelujah Christianity is

  332. premised on sacrifice. Christianity is premise on

  333. sacrifice, God's love for the world and the subsequent

  334. offering of his only begotten Son.

  335. So the Bible says in John 316, next slide, he says that for God

  336. so loved the world, for God so loved the world and he gave.

  337. So the Christianity we are enjoying, the liberation we

  338. have, the peace that we have, the hope that we have is

  339. premised on someone's sacrifice. How many of us will be willing

  340. out of your three or four children to give up 1?

  341. For a cause. How many of us?

  342. How many of us? But the Bible says that for God

  343. so loved the world that he gave us only so it tells you that God

  344. was not ready to withhold. The Bible says that He made Him

  345. who knew no sin to be sin for us.

  346. So God freely gave his Son, so that many of us seated here or

  347. have what we have. Hallelujah.

  348. I often tell my friends and those who are close to me family

  349. that maybe for our generation we didn't come to experience the

  350. the the things our grandmothers and our grandfathers went

  351. through. But many of us, if you go home

  352. and you ask of your background, you will see that God is good.

  353. God is good. One of my friends was telling me

  354. that for him, he had a privilege to come and meet his great

  355. grandmother and she tells him that she was such a great

  356. priestess in their their hometown and for her when she's

  357. in the spirit. She's taken by the fetish

  358. spirit. What they do is that they start

  359. preparing fire so that she can do her incantations, and when

  360. they prepare the fire, she jumps into the fire.

  361. Then when she jumps into the fire, she she uses that as a

  362. springboard. Then from the fire chanting in

  363. the fire, then she jumps up, then she begins to walk on the

  364. rooftops. Then she can walk for about such

  365. a distance from about here to let's say in Cocoa.

  366. Then after the Spirit has left her and she comes back to her

  367. realization. Maybe she stays here in this

  368. vicinity. Then the spirit will live there

  369. at in Cocoa. So how is he going to come back?

  370. So without Christ, this would have been a succession.

  371. The mother or the father or the uncles would have inherited.

  372. Then he would have inherited. And when that spirit begins to

  373. torment you, who will save you? But for Christ, but for Christ?

  374. But for Christ, the Bible says that.

  375. Thanks. Be to God.

  376. Because he has given us Jesus Christ who always gives us VV

  377. over the devil, so we are able to say no.

  378. Growing up, I saw my aunties when there is time for a

  379. festival in my hometown, we celebrate ujra.

  380. They go and fetch the festival by a spirit and when they come,

  381. I witnesses. I witnessed it first hand.

  382. And my aunties, my aunties, my father's sisters.

  383. They will be carrying pots, following the people.

  384. Then you see that they are possessed by spirits.

  385. And my grandmother herself used to be feeding the gods in my

  386. hometown. So from my generation to hers is

  387. not that long. The only person who is

  388. intermediate is my father. So from my Father to me, if not

  389. for Jesus Christ, but God so loved the world and he.

  390. Gave his only begotten Son. Christianity is premised on

  391. sacrifice. The second point under that is

  392. that Jesus acceptance and his subsequent obedience to the

  393. latter. So Jesus also accepted.

  394. So God gave him, but he also accepted Jesus.

  395. He freely decided that I am going to give myself for this

  396. task. If Jesus had not given up

  397. himself, it wouldn't have happened.

  398. So when you read the Bible in Luke chapter 22 verse 42, the

    Luke 22:42

  399. Bible says that and he said, Father, if it is your will, take

  400. this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but

  401. yours. So it tells you that he freely

  402. gave himself. The Bible says that he lays down

  403. his life. While we were yet sinners, God

  404. showed forth his life. So Christianity is premise on

  405. sacrifice. That's Christianity we are

  406. enjoying today. Even the.

  407. Church we have today, the Church of man is premise on sacrifice.

  408. Those who who who pioneered this mission, James Machion.

  409. When the foreign missionaries came, they were just dying, and

  410. a prophecy came that Machion should live the United Kingdom

  411. and come to a place in Africa called goggles and come and

  412. propagate the gospel. Pet the history and what they

  413. were hearing. Reading one material, they were

  414. saying that even for some of the missionaries, when they were

  415. leaving, they add their caskets. They add their caskets because

  416. they know that for this. Mission.

  417. They won't come back. So Christianity, the one we are

  418. enjoying today, is premise of sacrifice.

  419. Apostle regular to Addison was saying that in in their time

  420. when they go for evangelism, sometimes they'll be walking

  421. through thick darkness. And maybe they would have had

  422. cuts and scratches on their feet and other parts of their bodies

  423. because of that thick darkness and the zeal and the adrenaline

  424. flow of blood in them because of fear.

  425. They will not realize till they get to where they are going.

  426. Then they realize that they are going through things.

  427. Praise the Lord. Now I want to talk a little

  428. about features of sacrifice. When we talk about sacrifice,

  429. what does it entail? 1 Sacrifice always involves

  430. making a choice. So when it comes to sacrifice,

  431. we are, we are saying that you have to make a choice.

  432. Their choice is always with you. In sacrifice there is the

  433. subordinate and the higher authority, the one making the

  434. demand and the one being requested of, but it is always

  435. dependent on the one responding to the request.

  436. So when God told Abraham that I want you to bring your son, if

  437. he had said. No, that would be the end.

  438. So one again and at that point the choice of Jesus to

  439. accomplish his tax despite the great distress he faced.

  440. So I want to use Jesus example a little when you look at the

  441. distress he faced. Let's read from Mark chapter 14,

    Mark 14:33–35

  442. verse 33 to 35. 33 to 35, Mark 14.

  443. He took Peter, James and John along with him and began, if you

  444. can give me NKJV, I'll be, I'll be glad if you have that good.

  445. And he took Peter, James and John with him and began to be

  446. troubled and deeply distressed. What this means was that he was

  447. not comfortable with what was going to happen and what he was

  448. going to go through. He knew it.

  449. I tell people that for Jesus before he came on earth, they

  450. read their manifesto, they give him a description of everything

  451. he was going to go through. He knew it.

  452. So when that time came here, so you realize that after he he had

  453. chosen his disciples, after a little while he started telling

  454. them of his death because that thing was, was a bedding on him,

  455. was a bedding on him. And at this point that thing had

  456. become so close and it felt so real.

  457. And sometimes when you are going through certain things, people

  458. don't get you. You are the one facing the

  459. danger and that and the troubles.

  460. And sometimes it feels like your spirit has even left you.

  461. Then the Bible says that he began to be troubled and deeply

  462. destroyed. This is Jesus, this is Jesus.

  463. Next verse please. Then he said to them, My soul is

  464. exceedingly sorrowful. So sometimes in making

  465. sacrifices, you'll be distressed.

  466. Praise the Lord. Oh respond, praise the Lord,

  467. you'll be distressed. Yesterday I was sharing a bit of

  468. my my life story with one of my friends.

  469. I was telling him that what God did to me, I have not recovered

  470. from it even up to now. I decided to go outside to stay

  471. and to do for me my my mindset or my dream or my vision was

  472. that I wanted to become very useful to God both spiritually,

  473. physically, financially in every aspect.

  474. So I had, I had wanted to go outside, steady work, do some

  475. establishments, come and do ministry, not ministry as in the

  476. one I'm doing now, but the one Chairman Yamiche has told all of

  477. us that we are involved. So as I, I, I envisaged this.

  478. He always gave me joy. So I prayed about it and I felt

  479. that it was a good decision. Then I told my wife we had

  480. before we had, everyone had the Aviki.

  481. We sold them the money we had, we gathered them, we made

  482. provisions. Then I had gone for a document

  483. that was going to assist me to travel, and that day I brought

  484. it home, placed it somewhere safe.

  485. Now it was time for me to take the document, go for validations

  486. and make some two or three processes.

  487. Then I'll be through. Then I went to the place I I

  488. hardly misplaced things. I went to the police.

  489. I pleased it. Then I searched, I couldn't

  490. find. Then I asked my wife, have you

  491. taken this thing? She said no.

  492. Then I began, we have two girls and they are quite troublesome.

  493. Began getting angry with them because I thought they are

  494. taking it. I was giving everyone pressure

  495. in the house because it involved a lot.

  496. There was a lot at stake. Everything I had I had worked

  497. for, I had done in life, my wife's own included.

  498. Gone. Then this thing is missing.

  499. Then one old retired minister called me one day and told me

  500. that God had told him that I am running away and that is not his

  501. will for me. Then I sat down quietly and I

  502. was wondering so God, if you knew that you would not allow me

  503. go through this, why do you let me sacrifice everything like

  504. that? Why?

  505. Why then after I prayed our prayer, in fact, since that time

  506. whenever I was going to church, I was I was down spirited.

  507. Then one day I had clearly God told me that why are you

  508. trouble? I can use a minute to.

  509. Change your life around. Turn your life around.

  510. I can use AD to let you recover everything you have lost in 10

  511. years. I can use AD.

  512. Then that day upon hearing that, I became encouraged in my

  513. spirit. Then the next morning my wife

  514. told me that one of her family members, we hardly engage with

  515. them, but she said that one of her family members one morning

  516. called and asked her that she need a car, a VQ.

  517. Then just like that, the person gave us money to go and purchase

  518. a vehicle. Just like that.

  519. Just like that. So one of my troubles where I

  520. used to stay when I was in Accra, it's quite far from my

  521. workplace, my church place. So without a vehicle we

  522. struggle. My children's school then.

  523. We had a vehicle just like that. Then the thing came together,

  524. pieced together. Then, interestingly, after I'd

  525. finished my Bible school or my ministerial formation, I was to

  526. leave for my station. The week I was packing that same

  527. box, I placed the document I picked.

  528. The box here was the document and it had expired three years.

  529. I picked it. My wife was the one searching

  530. when she saw it and she mentioned my name.

  531. Where are you Come when we looked.

  532. At each other's face, she told. She just said that God took it.

  533. God took it because I can say by what I knew, I searched.

  534. I searched. Praise the Lord, So sacrifice

  535. sometimes will cause you to be distressed.

  536. When that thing happened, that thing that I am talking about,

  537. it easily like that, the distress he gave me, I couldn't.

  538. Sleep because more than 50,000 was gone at that time.

  539. Even today, 50,000 is no small money at that time. 50 gone.

  540. Gone. So the Bible says that my soul

  541. is exceedingly sorrowful even to that.

  542. Stay here and watch. So he tells them for them, they

  543. don't have any problem, so they will sleep.

  544. Sometimes when we are making sacrifices, it's not just about

  545. giving offerings, monetary offerings, sacrificing your

  546. time, your skill, your, your, your, your ability, all these

  547. things are important. Some will be sleeping.

  548. So sometimes it seems like in this house that we have come, it

  549. is our Father's house. But it seems that some people

  550. are more of God's children than others.

  551. So in this example, Jesus goes to pray, telling them his

  552. challenge, expecting them to bear him up, but they went to

  553. sleep. So sometimes we want to achieve

  554. a purpose. Maybe there is a project we have

  555. been given a focus or a vision. Let's all gear up towards it.

  556. Once some are burden, some are asleep.

  557. Then he said to them, OK, next slide he went a little further.

  558. And fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible

  559. that our might pass from raise the law.

  560. I will conclude very soon, Hallelujah, the choice of David

  561. to pay the cost instead of choosing to take it for free.

  562. So that is another aspect or feature of sacrifice always

  563. involves making a choice. So David could have said that I

  564. am the king, give it to me, but he choose.

  565. So in making a sacrifice, you always have that time or that

  566. free will to make a choice. So what choices do you make?

  567. What choices do you make? We are going for environmental

  568. care campaign. Someone would say that all

  569. throughout the week I've been working, I'm tired, I want to

  570. sleep. But it is part of the vision God

  571. has given us. You see someone too.

  572. He's the Czech tankers he will become.

  573. He involves making a choice. All right.

  574. Another choice that sacrifice is involved with is the widow.

  575. So our text Mark chapter 12, verse 41 to 44.

    Mark 12:41–44

  576. Well, I'm still on sacrifice involves making a choice.

  577. So I'm giving you illustrations. The widow pair our theme text

  578. again. So offerings are being given in

  579. Jerusalem and Jesus well goes to stand by the offering book.

  580. Then he looks at all of them. Then let's read now Jesus said

  581. opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into

  582. the treasury and many who are rich pretty much so look at the

  583. the the weddings many who are rich putting much so to them

  584. they are sacrificing. So most of the times.

  585. We all assume that we are given a sacrifice, but Jesus is

  586. observing. So in this church, Jesus always

  587. observes. And before you make the step, he

  588. knows your heart and he knows the motive.

  589. Always remember this, Always remember this.

  590. We gave up. An offering About six months

  591. ago, I had given offerings. I had gone around giving

  592. offerings, invitations, my own church and in my area.

  593. Then we we wanted we wanted to do a project.

  594. Then that day was fundraise. Then my my wife asked me how

  595. much are we going to give. She supposed that because I've

  596. been given offerings I didn't have much.

  597. And it's true I didn't have much.

  598. I didn't have much. Then she suggested an amount to

  599. me. Then I laughed and I told her

  600. that God had told me to give this and she looked at my face

  601. and she was shocked. But I told her that God knows

  602. that I don't have, but He's requesting of me when I went to

  603. prayer. That is what He is impressing on

  604. my heart. So what do I do?

  605. I don't have to give any excuse. The one who gives.

  606. Seed to the sewer and bread to the eater.

  607. He will take care of all these things.

  608. So when it comes to offerings, when it comes to sacrifice,

  609. Jesus is always watching. So he saw how they're rich.

  610. So I always tell. People, when it comes to Titan

  611. offering, making sacrifice, it's not about the abundance.

  612. Now let's continue. 42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two

  613. mites. So per physical standards, if it

  614. were the presiding of this who were observing, they wouldn't

  615. regard this woman. No, no, no, no, no.

  616. Yeah. Near brave we are.

  617. We are serious looking for or targeting 100,000 and you bring

  618. 5 CD. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

  619. no no no. We won't appreciate it, but.

  620. She threw in two mites which make a quadrants.

  621. So it means that even quadrant a quadrant.

  622. She struggled before she could get and she had to get that 2

  623. mites. Two mites were the lowest of the

  624. denominations in those days. It is like.

  625. One pesua today, and to get, let's say 2 pesua or five pesua,

  626. she has to put that 2 together and bring it.

  627. So she dropped two mites, then 43.

  628. So he called his disciples to himself, and said to them,

  629. Assuredly, I said to you, This poor widow has put in more than

  630. all. Who have given to the.

  631. Treasury more. Why is he saying he has given

  632. more for us? We will argue Jesus is not true,

  633. but Jesus is not looking at just the substance.

  634. He is looking at the heart. He's looking at the motive.

  635. He's looking at the. Intent.

  636. How do you sacrifice? Do you sacrifice out of your

  637. luxury? So I remember when we were in a

  638. crowd, one lady told me that people you can't force them

  639. because they have chosen to serve God and they are doing

  640. their best. And I said, who told you that is

  641. not Christianity? Your sacrifice must be out of

  642. distress. It must cost you.

  643. You must lose something, praise the Lord.

  644. OK, so another feature of sacrifice main point.

  645. Sacrifice must be willing. It must be willing.

  646. One must not be cajoled or manipulated for some people

  647. before they sacrifice the. Convincing you have to do

  648. sometimes. My ambassador told me that the

  649. most the most complicated assignment on earth is to work

  650. on people. Because you are trying to help

  651. the person. The person also has his own

  652. mindset. And you are convincing the

  653. person to help the person. If you ignore them to problem

  654. sometime you have to cajole them then.

  655. So I find it hard when let me use monetary offerings.

  656. We are giving offerings then they will have to be using many

  657. methods if come and pay for insurance.

  658. Give offering on the head of your children.

  659. Meanwhile, you have the money there, so we have to be cajoling

  660. you, so you'll be bringing them 1 by 1.

  661. Sacrifice must be willing. It must come out of the depths

  662. of your heart and the recesses of your spirit.

  663. You must decide that I will give this and I'm not looking back.

  664. It doesn't matter what it cost me.

  665. It doesn't matter how distressed I will become.

  666. I am ready to give it up. I had a young man in one of my

  667. locals and he he is an electrician so he was asked to

  668. fix funds and he was engaging the local church like a

  669. professional. Then I was told about it.

  670. That time I left that look up and I called him.

  671. Then I asked. Him for you, you that I knew you

  672. don't give any good offerings. You don't give your time for the

  673. service of God. You you are not doing anything

  674. to impact the look up. Now you are in the church and

  675. there is this opportunity to save God with the skill He gave

  676. you. Then you want to engage the

  677. church professional. Then I told him that you have

  678. challenges if you continue like this because Jesus is watching.

  679. Praise the Lord. I want to wrap up.

  680. So one must not be coerced. So you must not be cajo or

  681. manipulated for some people. Recently, as of our KUSA left

  682. us, we we held a prayer meeting and one, one woman came in.

  683. Her testimony was that she had she was having a challenge with

  684. a leg for five years and she had done all she could, attended all

  685. prayer meetings she could. And and someone suggested that

  686. there was a herbalist somewhere she should try him.

  687. And she went there and you had it.

  688. Then the herbalist told her that bring thousand CDs and she said

  689. she negotiated I don't have 1000, let's make it 700.

  690. And she give the herbalist 700 CDs.

  691. And at our place when you look at some of the people and they

  692. are mentioning that amount, you will be shocked.

  693. And after the herbalist had administered the helps and all

  694. that he had on her, it didn't work out.

  695. Then she came for a prayer meeting.

  696. Just by one prayer. If you are sick, in the name of

  697. Jesus, may it go out. Then she said that from that

  698. prayer, she was who she didn't feel the pain again after five

  699. years, five years. Then after when she was given

  700. her testimony, one woman, an elderly woman, she's a dickness.

  701. That day I was late. And when I sat down, she told me

  702. that pastor, this woman, she has given a testimony.

  703. She went to give someone 700 CDs.

  704. Nothing happened. And she said that you, you

  705. prayed and she was healed. So she is owing you if you don't

  706. take care if you the least you should take from her.

  707. Is 500 CDs the least. But as she told me that I I, I

  708. inquired that what amount of offering or how much did she

  709. give for offering and when. I will not mention the amount

  710. but when I had it, I was sad. Some people want to be

  711. manipulated, manipulated. Recently, a lady, one of a lady,

  712. one of the ladies in one of my locals told me that she had gone

  713. to the hospital diagnosed with HIV AIDS.

  714. She said she was. Weeping pasta.

  715. After I am not in contact with any man, I do nothing anymore.

  716. I don't know, I just went three times.

  717. They checked and it's confirmed that I have HIV.

  718. Then before I prayed for her, I told her that if God heals, you

  719. don't. Hide this one.

  720. Testify about it. Praise him and make a great

  721. sacrifice for him. Not only monetary, but your

  722. life, your time, everything. Then she agreed.

  723. I prayed. By the grace of God, she's

  724. healed. I'm just looking out that she

  725. will keep her end of the bargain.

  726. Please let us not sacrifice in this manner.

  727. Don't wait till you are cajoled. Sometimes you see God measures

  728. as He knows. Someone will say that I can't, I

  729. don't have, but when issues of priority arise, the person who

  730. is saying that I can't, I don't have, they can't be, will have.

  731. True or not true Jesus? Is watched.

  732. Praise the Lord. Sacrifice must be cheerful, so

  733. you must give sacrifice cheerful.

  734. David found himself privileged to give to God.

  735. He says that what am I and what is my house?

  736. What are you and what is your house?

  737. My in law. She is very influential, but

  738. even in her influence, many people still don't know her.

  739. Many people don't know she was. She is the former director of

  740. one District 1 Factory, former director, very influential.

  741. But many people don't know her because when we come together.

  742. As a people, it is only a few of us that are so important that we

  743. are going to be given preference.

  744. But look, God, the creator of heaven and earth, everything

  745. that it consists belongs to Him, visible and invisible, and he is

  746. requesting of you. Look at how small we are.

  747. Look at this building. It doesn't even occupy was the

  748. space of this this vicinity, and we are in it.

  749. And look at where you are seated and this big.

  750. God is requesting something from you.

  751. Shouldn't you be happy if the president request of you that he

  752. give, he puts a call through that tomorrow.

  753. He wants you to come and do an assignment for him.

  754. I bet you everybody will hear. Everyone will hear.

  755. Everyone we, your family, your friends, everybody social media,

  756. everyone we hear. So sacrifice must be cheerful.

  757. You offer us instructed not as intended.

  758. So when you are being requested of the Bible says that, I

  759. beseech you, brethren, that he says that we should, we should

  760. offer our all, offer our all besieging us, that we should

  761. offer our hope. So God requests that your

  762. spirit, your soul, your body, everything you give it out to

  763. him. So I want to ask of you, how

  764. many of us throughout the week spend time every day?

  765. With the Lord, it is part of their sacrifice.

  766. You are very busy, but your sleeping hours.

  767. You are not going to truncate it for anything because it's

  768. important to you. Hallelujah, you offer as

  769. instructed, not as extended. Exodus 25 as to speak to the

  770. children of Israel, that they bring me an offering from

  771. everyone who gives it willingly with his heart.

  772. You shall take my offering. So God is saying that I am

  773. requesting they should bring me. So like I told you, you are not

  774. the one who determines the sacrifice.

  775. God is always the one who places the demand in conclusion, your

  776. sacrifice to God, material and immaterial is an it's an

  777. opportunity to show reverence and Anna to God.

  778. So whenever you are sacrificing, it is an opportunity for you to

  779. show God that God I respect you. I Anna God says infer some more

  780. that those who Anna me, I will Anna.

  781. So it's an opportunity when God is requesting something of you,

  782. maybe your pastor has called you.

  783. We need someone to do this or we need help with this.

  784. You can do it. Then you see people giving

  785. excuses. I met a pastor in the beginning

  786. of the year and he was making a complaint to me and I was sad.

  787. I was sad today. When you are looking for people

  788. to carry out assignments you won't find and sometimes the

  789. church, you have to be engaging people professionally and and

  790. the monies that we are trying to gather to help the cause of

  791. mission, then we will still have to be using them.

  792. What do you do? What do you have that you did

  793. not receive? What do you have that you did

  794. not receive? So in conclusion, I'm asking you

  795. this question when you go home, ponder over it.

  796. Paul says in First Corinthians 4 verse seven that for.

  797. Who? Makes you differ from another,

  798. so who makes us different? Look as look at us.

  799. I was saying somewhere that look at us, we over 8 billion on this

  800. earth. Today being the first time I've

  801. come here, I don't know, maybe pastor didn't inform you that

  802. anyone is coming. But if I'm going somewhere and

  803. they say, oh, a pastor is coming, you can imagine,

  804. envisage or whatever. But when I appear, you realize

  805. that you've never seen the face anywhere before, and the face

  806. looks different, is it not? Even your own sibling, you look

  807. different. You can resemble your mother,

  808. your father, your uncle, whoever.

  809. But you look different. And Paul is asking who makes you

  810. different from one another. So as we are seated here, we

  811. know each other, but look at our faces.

  812. Even for twins they are different.

  813. And his accent. And what did you do?

  814. Do you have that you did not receive?

  815. What do you have? Beauty, money, time.

  816. If God says. Today that from this evening,

  817. like the rich food, the parable he gathered into his bands and

  818. he was telling him, Oh my soul, rejoice for your years ahead is

  819. going to be glorious. But that time that he had, he

  820. forgot that someone gave it to him.

  821. That opportunity someone gave it.

  822. You have been able to go to school, gone through school, and

  823. now you have an occupation and it is fetching you something.

  824. Who gave it to you? One, one guy I know.

  825. He's a secular humanistic person.

  826. Very, very strange philosophy that he has.

  827. He says that, oh, I'm the one who wakes up and goes to work

  828. and when whenever he's talking, my wake my OK.

  829. Now if you didn't receive it, why do you boost a sieve?

  830. You did not receive it. Why do you boost?

  831. Your sacrifice to God is a continuous proof or test of

  832. obedience and loyalty to God. So please your sacrifice, as

  833. long as you remain alive and as long as you are a child of God,

  834. God will still test you. At each point He will test you.

  835. So as you receive, be ready for tests.

  836. Praise alone and I have told you that the deeper your devotion.

  837. The deeper your sacrifice. So between us, God will not give

  838. us the same test or make the same request of us.

  839. He has every question. But you see, whenever God is

  840. requesting something from you, He tells you.

  841. And even if you don't hear through mediums that you can

  842. comprehend, He will tell you. So sometimes the persona and I

  843. will come and say something. God is talking to you.

  844. And for some of us, even when we're here, we pretend not to

  845. have had because you didn't like what you had.

  846. Hallelujah, this one. I've never said it.

  847. Anywhere before, but I think I can see here because I'm out of

  848. my jurisdiction. We went for ministers and wives

  849. and for as pastors. It is by God's grace and your

  850. benevolence that we are sustained.

  851. Then as I was praying, I was going for one of the sessions.

  852. I was sitting in a friend's VK. Then I had God telling me

  853. clearly one of my locals, their structure had collapsed and God

  854. told me that I should give them a huge sum of money, a huge

  855. amount to help them in constructing their.

  856. I had it emphatically. So before Pastor came in a

  857. Javier report, I made a donation.

  858. That was why I made that donation and sometimes I have to

  859. gather all the money that I have to go ahead.

  860. God is telling me I've had. So when I say that I didn't hear

  861. it well, but if God had told me that I am blessing you, I'm

  862. bringing you a car, I am opening this door, you will hear that

  863. one this morning. If you give him your lifetime,

  864. if you give him your all, he's going to take care of you.

  865. My challenge is that after hearing this message, it's not

  866. about feeling sorry, but it's about taking it in good faith

  867. and making a resolve that I am going to move in this step and

  868. let us see what God will do Amen.

  869. Let us rise up on our feet. Please lift your hands gently.

  870. I want to pray. What did God speak to you behind

  871. the voice? You heard the human speaking,

  872. but I know that God was speaking to someone.

  873. What did you hear God say to you?

  874. Sister, you have come to God, not to any man this morning.

  875. He requires greater sacrifice for you, deep devotion, deep

  876. commitment to Him. We want to pray in this short

  877. while. As you stand before God, I want

  878. you to go to him. God, help me, help me to fall on

  879. the altar. Help me to give, to give me you

  880. my all. Help me so that I will let go of

  881. my interest, my will, my desires, and pursue that which

  882. is yours. And out of that, God's divine

  883. grace and blessings will always look at you.

  884. Want to pray? Lift up your voice now.

  885. Let us pray, Church. Let us pray as you had.

  886. Pray with faith in the name of Jesus.

  887. Lord, we pray. Lord, we pray help us.

  888. Let me ever be firmly grounded upon Thee, ever in thy works

  889. abide ever in thy wounds recite. Help me Lord, brother, sister,

  890. God is waiting on you. He expects you to come.

  891. He calls you. Come, come, come, come.

  892. Let us reason. Come, let us walk together.

  893. Kabai, MO. Shanda baa baa ba ba baa.

  894. To Jesus, that Savior, I surrender.

  895. I surrender. Hallelujah, I surrender.

  896. Listen, recently God has given me this intuition that when we

  897. come before him and we hear messages like this and pretend.

  898. Someone pretend they don't like what they are hearing, but they

  899. will be pretending. When you pretend, Jesus sings.

  900. But I want you out of your spirit and a good heart and

  901. resolve that God help me and he's going to hold your hand.

  902. He's going to help you. God is telling me that for some

  903. of you He has greater heights for you.

  904. He wants to take you places, but He's waiting for you.

  905. Let's sing finally. Then we launch it to pray again.

  906. I surrender. Now let us go to God and pray

  907. once again. Pray, pray, pray.

  908. Tell him that I am surrendering. I am surrendering my life.

  909. I am surrendering my time. I am surrendering my skill.

  910. I am surrendering my gifts. I am surrendering my resources.

  911. I surrender them all to you. Bye.

  912. None. I surrender to you.

  913. I surrender to you. I surrender to you.

  914. I surrender to you, Lord. I surrender.

  915. I surrender. I surrender.

  916. Yeah. Thy thy will oh while I am

  917. waiting, O you then, and still while I am waiting, O you have

  918. thine own way, Lord. And make me.

  919. Someone is contemplating how am I going to be able to do this as

  920. a possible those who work in sacrifice work hand in hand with

  921. God go told Abraham that now I know now I know we want to pray

  922. that after this encounter. May our lives be a sacrifice

  923. unto God. May we not turn back to living

  924. for ourselves, living for our desires, living for our own

  925. accomplishment, living for the world.

  926. But may we live for God, and the heavens will be at our response.

  927. Let us pray. Pray God have thine own way.

  928. Have thine own way in my occupation.

  929. Have thine own way in my family. Have thine own way in my

  930. personal life. Have thine own way in the name

  931. of Jesus. Let me wake up in the morning

  932. always seeking to live a life that is sacrificial.

  933. Let me go to work always then with that mindset, living a life

  934. that is sacrificial. Let me come to church always

  935. with the mindset of living a sacrificial life everywhere I

  936. find myself. Have thine own way.

  937. Mode me, Lord, Mode me take my fears.

  938. Oh Mashanda Basai da ba ba ba ba ba.

  939. Lord, address my fears, Address my anxiety.

  940. Ha ba ba ba ba ba the uncertainty in my heart.

  941. Lord, deal with it. Ha ba ba ba ba.

  942. Talk to him. Talk to him, you not return the

  943. same after this morning. May your life change.

  944. Have died on way. I am the friend, You are the

  945. brother. Have died on way.

  946. You have a purpose. You have a desire.

  947. You have a design for my life, for my existence.

  948. Lord. Have died on way.

  949. Messiah. Humbly sing the song with me.

  950. Sing it out of the depths of your spirit.

  951. Take my moments and my days. Let them flow with ceaseless

  952. praise. Take my life and let take my

  953. life, Lord, O God said. Great Lord, to thee, O take my

  954. more man. It is you we have come to.

  955. You have never failed, You have never disappointed, You have

  956. never lied, and for your name's sake, you always keep us to the

  957. path of righteousness. This is the word you have given

  958. to us. We pray that it blesses our

  959. spirits, we pray that it causes an action in US, it ignites a

  960. desire and that we are able to take a stance.

  961. That from this morning we will no longer leave for ourselves,

  962. we will no longer exist for anything, but all we do will be

  963. to your glory. And in this we know that great

  964. gain and blessings will be our reward.

  965. We pray that. Let this word always remain

  966. alive in our hearts. In the mornings, let it minister

  967. to us. In the afternoon, when we go

  968. about our duties, let it remind. Us, when we retire to bed in the

  969. evening, may it come as a revelation and may you keep us

  970. in the spot always. We bless your name.

  971. We pray, pray that if there is anyone with anybody, if anyone

  972. is distressed, if anyone is inconvenienced, in the name of

  973. Jesus, may you bring. Liberation and peace to

  974. everyone. Here we pray that you make

  975. connections, you sought out every need, and you bring

  976. responses. We thank you for a blessed time

  977. and an answered prayer. Jesus mighty name we have prayed

  978. and then all the same shouts a big Amen.

  979. Three eyes together for the Lord and what I.