Dreams & Mysteries - The Mystery of Sacrifice and Obedience

from the beginning of mankind man has always wanted to find a way to please God or to make God happy and get his own way at the same time whether it's eating from the tree in the garden like Adam and Eve sitting on a tall pillar for 39 years the Saint Simeon did in the fourth century or the self-flagellation movement in the 13th century where man would beat themselves and cut themselves with a cat of nine tails to prove they love to God more than their bodies the question at the crux of sacrifices this will sacrifice actually bring anyone closer to God sacrifice is pretty simple you offer something to God that you value with no hope of ever getting it back ultimately as in the law of Moses you could not get it back because it was either dead or burned or was changed into another form such as the gold ear rings and necklaces that were melted and became the lampstand sacrifice always involves the choice of the person who makes the sacrifice obedience however is far broader and as connotation than sacrifices obedience involves not only doing what we've heard God tell us to do but obedience takes the doing and the action one step further the elevated step involves the attitude we have while obeying attitude in the doing adds a condition far more involved than just the action we take o being with joy even when we do not understand is true obedience it's easy to obey with a poor attitude it's hard to obey with a good one and we learned this when we were just a child how many times have you seen a child stick out their bottom lip and sulk as I do what the parent has said or even we adults have done that yes the child obeyed but the attitude was not good truth be told we would rather do anything it's his dreams and mysteries with John Paul Jackson we're first introduced to the idea that obedience is better than sacrifice in the biblical account of Saul Samuel and a gag you can read this account in / Samuel chapter 15 but here's an overview of the event God tells the prophet Samuel to go to King Saul and tell him to go to war against the Amalekites he's to do this as punishment for King mlx attempt to destroy the children of Israel in the wilderness God's going to give Saul a great victory because of this Saul though has conditions he is to utterly destroy every living thing human and animal and bring nothing living back into the Land of Israel well this so far this command seems to be really really clear God made it just very very plain do this with all goes to war and achieves an incredible victory but it destroys only the despised and worthless animals along with most of the people however Saul did not kill everything he brought King Agag back to Israel and he saved the best of the livestock was him who comes and confronts him because he hears the bleeding of the Sheep and he sees a gag there and he confronts all over this whole issue Saul starts making excuses immediately and actually says I performed the commandment of the Lord in other words Saul saw nothing wrong with what he did Saul goes on to say that he saved the best of the land to sacrifice to the Lord so what can be wrong with that you might ask then as man has done since Adam and Eve in the garden he blames the people and he says they made me do it to all of Saul's excuses samuel responds by saying something startling and what samuel said is the focus of our mystery in this episode samuel says has the lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams for rebellion is as a thin of divination and presumption is as the iniquity of idolatry this concept that obedience is better than sacrifice makes a huge difference in our conduct well we've defined sacrifice I think at this point it's important to define what the word obedience means in this passage sometimes one word in one language is actually a long sentence in another language yet we try to interpret it word for word with one word instead of interpreting it more of a sentence form often that leaves the deeper meaning out of the text and this is true regarding the Hebrew word in this passage for obedience which is the word Shama Shama means to hear and obey or take action with a joyful attitude Shama is the same Hebrew word used in Deuteronomy 6 when Moses shouted to the Hebrew people hear o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one the Samuel was saying to kingsalt when you hear from God you're to take action or obey what you're told with a great attitude to not do this is equal to divination or rebellion and as such is equal to witchcraft I'm convinced that it was this lack of obedience or rebellion that opened a saw to eventually seeking the services of the Witch of Endor as I said earlier here is where Saul thought he could please God by doing what God said but by doing it his own way have you ever found yourself longing to be more like the champions and heroes of the Bible the power and authority package will teach you what God requires to be one of his champions learn the six traits that separate the great from the average come to a place where your sufficiency is in God and not yourself remember the first battle starts with in know the difference between power and authority get free from mental strongholds God is looking for you to become a champion he wants to war on your behalf for your gift of $40 or more to the ministry we would like to send you the power and authority package including six signs of a rising warrior recapturing your spiritual Authority strongholds and power and authority to order the power and authority package visit dreams and mysteries.com or call one eight hundred five three eight five two eight five you know the game of chess one will often sacrifice one of his men in order to gain an advantage over the opponent preferably to put the opponent in checkmate but in life to sacrifice means to give up or relieve yourself of something that you have no hope of getting anything in return for for this money or whether its possessions or maybe even a part of yourself now I'm not saying that sacrifice you're giving of various things or even spiritual disciplines are not important they are and I myself practice those very issues however I've learned this sacrifices only represent that you acknowledge God they don't necessarily mean that you're following what God is telling you to do obedience is another thing altogether when most people think of the word obey they think of something close to slavery something negative and maybe even something evil as if dough base someone or a base something is wrong and any thought of obedience or submission is to be viewed as a barbaric notion whose time has come asked I suspect that the reason sacrifices embraced by so many religions is that most religious systems or sacrificial systems reduce God to a formula this is one of the weaknesses of the Old Covenant you could sacrifice your firstborn lamb and your sins would be covered with no change of heart now let me say that again when you have a formula to serve God you do not need to change your heart you just do the formula and everything is supposed to be okay this is precisely what Jesus was wanting to communicate when he spoke to those in the Galilee and hillside right after he explained the Beatitudes he continued to talk to the disciples and here Jesus was saying that the law of Moses and the interest into the kingdom of heaven had issues that separated the two this passage found in Matthew 5 Jesus was telling the people that there was to be there was more to the law of Moses than they thought one example of what Jesus said at the moment was this you heard it said to those of old you shall not commit adultery but I say to you that whoever even looks on a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart here's a prime example of the difference between sacrifice and obedience the sacrificial law says sacrifice your passion and don't commit adultery and you'll be ok but Jesus was saying that entrance into the kingdom of heaven requires more than sacrifice it requires obedience obedience or what we might call submission submission is the attitude of a heart what do we do with the attitude of our heart when we're obeying again Jesus is addressing the the internal condition of obedience or submission combined with action and attitude when he said for out of the heart in other words the internal part of a man out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications that false witness blasphemies once again Jesus was saying obedience is better than sacrifice because it takes a change of heart to obey that's why Jesus firmly told us in Luke 17 that the kingdom of God begins within us thus we can serve God with our lips while a heart is far from him but we can't into the kingdom of heaven that way in Romans 12:1 Paul urges us to present our bodies as living and Holy Sacrifice as acceptable to God what does this mean in practical terms though is Paul actually asking us to build an altar and sacrifice ourselves upon it of course not that's not what Paul's saying at all Paul is using the sacrificial language as an illustration of obedience Paul is urging us to set aside our stubborn wills our wayward carnality and our self-centered egos in order to force them to submit to the commandments of God when we set aside our own personal desires and inclination for the sake of obeying God we're actually sacrificing ourselves our desires for the sake of heaven instead of offering a bull or a goat or lamb to God as a gift we offer something even more precious we're offering ourselves at this level of obedience the greatest sacrifice is seen a great example of obedience being greater than sacrifice as Abraham's almost sacrifice of Isaac as Christians we understand the deeper meaning behind such a seemingly incomprehensible command from God I mean sacrifice your son is pretty radical and will often need the Holy Spirit to help us understand a God who once in a while is not easily understood but those unfamiliar with the story of Abraham and his near sacrifice of Isaac it goes something like this God finally gives Abraham the son he's always wanted after 99 years God tests Abraham Abraham lives a faithful and righteous life God grants him great respect and favor amongst his peers God further tests Abraham by asking him the ultimate question which is this would you give up that which you've waited all your life for and be obedient to me Abraham says yes he proceeds to bind up his only legitimate son Isaac and lay him upon a sacrificial altar Abraham raises his large knife and prepares to sacrifice Isaac God is pleased with Abraham he stops the sacrifice and saves Isaac all because God desires obedience more than sacrifice sometimes we're going to find that it's difficult to separate sacrifice from obedience until we've completed the task God has asked us to do are you looking to uncover more mysteries with over a hundred videos free downloads and new videos added monthly streams media plus offers you teaching and training on biblical subjects as a member you will have exclusive access to dreama pedia a dream mentoring program and beyond an interactive program where John Paul answers tough spiritual questions from subscribers $10 a month gets you connected to everything in our library at home in the office or on the go get started today at dreams and mysteries.com in Jesus Christ we find the perfect model of obedience and obedience to the Father Jesus cast aside his deity and he humbled himself to become like man in addition he only did that what you saw the father doing he only spoke as the father spoke he even said when you see me you see the father now that perfect submission yes Jesus walked in perfect submission as he heard and saw what the father said and did scripture tells us that as his disciples were to take on his nature as well as his mind and we're to follow Christ's example as well as his commands our motivation for that measure of obedience is our love for him yet we far too often think that we're justified in our petty indiscretions because we give up certain things for God within church we type we even give to missions into the poor and just because we make one or two sacrifices for God we somehow think that those sacrifices allow us to continue to commit sinful acts and God will simply look the other way well deep in our heart we say God look at all I've done for you you owe me it's only fair we say we demand heaven from God but we retain our right to do we want to do with our lives here on earth all we need to do we think is to make sure we throw God a few sacrifices every once in a while to keep him happy this is the attitude of sacrifice that saw personified obedience however is the response of someone who's in relationship of trust with God we trust God we depend on him we're interactive with him but he is the one who takes the lead obedience is better than sacrifice because we're letting God be God and staying in relationship with him as we gain dependence on him and as we surrender to his will in return we find that blessings always seem to follow those who are obedient to God nonetheless when we reduce following God to a formula there's a temptation to perform certain religious duties and procedures rather than to truly obey God taken together we see several reasons why obedience to God is better than making sacrifices or offerings to him even when the sacrifice seems to be what needs to be done scripture says disobedience is an act of rebellion and rebellion is witchcraft disobedience is sin it also said disobedience is a form of idolatry disobedience disrespects God's Word disobedience is based on looking good to others rather than looking to be good in the eyes of God Jesus criticized subscribes and the teachers and religious leaders of his time for similar practices in Matthew 6 Jesus notes three religious activities publicizing fasting publicizing prayer and publicizing giving one might say what's wrong with prayer and what's wrong with fasting what's wrong with giving the answer is nothing unless your attitude is wrong to all those who are publicly doing such their acts were a form of sacrifice a sacrifice they wanted everybody to see they craved attention and they wanted everyone to know that they sacrificed and what they sacrificed so everyone would know how godly they were Jesus was chastising them and they didn't even know it he was letting them know that this was not a sacrifice at all but merely a means of gaining the attention of the people around them like King saw the Pharisees wanted to look good in front of other people rather than to honor God as in first name of 15 the problem with prayer fasting and giving was not the sacrifice of prayer fasting and giving but the disobedience of God's command and the desire for the approval of people rather than the approval of God hmm no wonder King Solomon wrote in proverbs 21 3 to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice and why Jesus said unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven I'm riding my bicycle down a path and into a forest as I'm riding I feel as if the Sun is following me I come to a crossroads and I need to make a decision whether or not I should go left or right I choose to go to the left I come to a place on the path that is covering trees and a light shines on me I feel peace and at that point I decide to get off my bike and push it while I enjoy the presence I woke up feeling refreshed pretty remarkable dream it sounds simple when you first listen to it but this full and rich with metaphor this dream is the dream is about the dreamer the dreamer is the focus of the dream she's she's the one riding the bike she's the one taking the risk she's the one that's getting off the bike and so on but and every dream not only do you want to look for the focus but there are key words sometimes our sub focuses and a key word in this dream is the word crossroads so let's take a look in light of crossroads what does the crossroad represents a crossroad represents a time in your life where you have to make it a change you're either going to go one way or you're going to go another way you're either going to go to the right as like in this dream are you going to go to left you're going to go to a career change or you're going to keep doing what you're doing but you'll get the same results now in this particular dream she has the choice of going right or left not straight ahead right is what you have faith to do there's lots of times we'll continue doing what we're doing because we're comfortable there and when we're comfortable we have a measure of faith that everything is going to at least not kill us when we when we keep going but she chose to go left left stands for what you're called or your birth to do what your gifting what your anointing is really all about so she chose to go to the left riding a bicycle by the way talks about personal ministry it's your efforts that are working yes God's working with you and that of course but it's not like flying a jet aircraft it's it's a one-on-one level type of ministry where you as an individual touch individual people in this process she is going down a pathway the pathway represents that which God's called you towards but it also gives you some clear boundaries usually you don't deviate from a pathway or at least you don't get off the pathway for very long in the pathway or following the pathway she comes through a forest and the forest represents our trees represent leaders leaders then cover her so this person the dreamer is actually dreaming a dream about personal ministry and the leaders recognized the calling and the gifting upon the dreamer and they cover her when this happens light goes with her as wealth almost like the Sun s n vs the SU n the Sun light is covering her and as is covering her she feels the most incredible peace she's ever felt the dream basically says we walk in our callings or giftings why God has created us to do not maybe what we were trained to do many people are trained one way but God's called them to do something else when we walk in what God's called us to do created us to do we'll walk in the greatest peace we've ever walked in in our entire lives and sometimes we have to come to a crossroads before we can make that decision great drink the dreamers got a great future and it's on its way she's at the threshold of walking into what God's called her to be over the last 30 years john paul jackson has studied how God speaks metaphorically through dreams parables and proverbs in the Bible God wants all believers to understand their dreams and that includes you for your gift of $60 or more we'd like to send you the essentials of dreams bundle this bundle includes a 2-cd set teaching the basics of dreams and visions John Paul's advanced 6 CD set essentials of dreams and visions and a three CD set on the biblical model of dream interpretation also included the moments with God dream journal +4 dream cards to help you understand your dreams order your essentials of dreams bundle today visit dreams and mysteries calm or call one eight hundred five three eight five two eight five the Prophet Hosea wrote that God desires mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings sacrifice as a religious act can merely be an outward performance of a religious duty in the Old Testament many of God's children were quick to offer up sacrifices to him yet their hearts were far far from him they honored him with the lips but God saw their hearts were to obey God out of our love for him all of our good works all of our good deeds have little meaning to God if our hearts are not right sacrifices are not bad if offered with the right attitude I believe there are seven sacrifices that God loves if you think of them as sacrifices viewers still carry them out Psalms 4 verse 5 the sacrifice of righteousness where we become a slave to righteousness instead of a slave to worldly lust Psalms 27 6 the sacrifices of joy but we do not think of being a Christian as a burden but as the Apostle Paul said we press onward for the everlasting joy of heaven that is set before us Psalms 51 verse 17 the sacrifices of a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart where pride and pretense are never seen or even felt Psalms 107 verse 22 the sacrifices of Thanksgiving and declaring his works with rejoicing where we rejoice and we recognize the grandeur of how great God is Psalms 141 verse 2 the sacrifice of prayer and the lifting up of our hands when we sacrifice our time and effort to focus on his desires Romans 12 one the sacrifice of offering our bodies so as to abstain from worldly vices Hebrews 13 verse 15 the offering of the sacrifice of praise will we gain a new perspective of the greatness of God's acts and the frailty of man the character that you develop in obedience or submission to what God wants you to do and what you hear God's say is clearly seen by those who observe you when you obey God you walk with a deeper confidence knowing who you are in him you will feel God's hand on your life and you'll have a greater chance of succeeding in all you do submission to God will give you a firmly grounded confidence and it shows and everything you do and everything you say you'll understand God's ways at a far deeper level because you've obeyed God and the way he has asked you to travel the thinking of the world will not confuse you because you're in relationship with he who overcame the world you hear from God more frequently because jesus promised us in Matthew 13 that God will speak more often to those who hear him and act on what he says yes obedience is better than sacrifice because obedience is the greater sacrifice to obey you have to give up your desire in order to act on God's desire and you can rely on this truth this level of personal sacrifice may be invisible to man but it is never invisible to God we have an ambitious goal to restore the awe and wonder of God through this groundbreaking TV series would you like to take part then join us in spreading the gospel by calling 1-800 five three eight five two eight five and has to become a monthly TV partner thank you for watching and may God bless all ago

Channel: Dreams & Mysteries

Views: 88,888

Rating: 4.8944955 out of 5

Keywords: John Paul Jackson, Streams Ministries, Dreams & Mysteries, dreams, dream interpretation, Daystar, Christian TV, Christian, Holy Spirit, sacrifice, obedience, dreams and mysteries

Id: x7Z6e3-xQgw

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 24 2015