Sermon Notes 5/26 – Freedom in Sacrifice

Sacrifice Shows Love
Sacrifice Shows Commitment
Luke 9:23
Jesus was asking us to not only Pick up the cross voluntarily but to do it daily

Picking up the cross in our spiritual life

We Naturally know Sacrifice, especially for the things we care for

Sacrifice means Life or death….

Jesus made it very clear……In order to receive freedom in your life you must sacrifice daily.

I Needed to lay down my ideas and thoughts and trade them for the mind of Christ.
I needed to see things the way that Christ sees them
I needed to take Voluntarily “take up my cross daily” To see different

John 5:1-9

Ways that We can Sacrifice our thoughts and Ideas and allow our faith in Jesus to bring victory and move us forward

Quite naturally, the man couldn’t think of any other way for his need to be met
Like us today, we may not see our way out of the situation we are in

He had hope, or would never have come to the Pool of Bethesda.

Just like the Lame man, we too can
Be dependent on others
Fixated on a very worldly way of victory
Be a slave to others
Loose hope (see no end to our situation)
1. Don’t lose Hope

Could his Hope be translated into Routine? ( the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over expecting a different result)

Hope is more than Just a word, it needs to be put into action.

God has a miracle, do you want it?

Jesus asked the Question because there were things that this man was not willing to give up in order to receive his miracle

Are you willing to give up and to take up your cross?

Hope to the world: A wish or a strong desire
Hope in the Word: the confident expectation of what God has promised

How we know the promises of God: We read the Word, Pray the Word and repeat the Word

live as if there are no exceptions

2. Check your Surroundings

This man was surrounded by people just like Him

It’s hard to see or receive our miracle…To pick up our cross daily, when we spend all of our time around people who don’t see God’s goodness and perfect will.

WE need to surround ourselves with people that want to and most importantly have been transformed by Jesus

What is the Norm for you?

God has given us free will, dont you think that He wants us to do our part and turn to the direction of change?

Fear and doubt, insecurities will give you the impression a miracle is not in store for you.

The enemy can use your surroundings because they are most comfortable to you.

3.Stop the excuses

We cant expect the Lord to move in our lives if we are full of excuses

Excuses are a reason to believe a Lie

So we need to exercise our faith, like training at the gym…..

Miracles will come as we stop the excuses

Stop looking at self and start looking to Jesus!!

Don’t be distracted
Matthew 14:29-31

When Peter was asked to get out of the boat and walk toward Jesus, we was fine until he focused on his surroundings