March 22 – Romans 12:1-2; Titus 3:3-8; Hebrews 13
Lesson: He Sacrifices
Dear Lord, bless our time with you today. Meet us where we are at, guide our minds, and hold our hearts as we search for Your truth.
First, do your own quiet time with God and 4R journaling. When you are complete, come back here for the lesson.
Request Gods’ help
Read Romans 12:1-2; Titus 3:3-8, Hebrews 13
Record a verse that stands out to you
Respond to God
Tip for today’s lesson: Keep your Bible handy, we are going to do quite a bit of reading today!
A Living Sacrifice. This term is commonly used amongst followers of Jesus, but what exactly does it mean? God makes it clear that we need continual forgiveness and covering for our sins. Even while in the completion of offering sacrifices in the Old Testament, sin needed to be covered immediately once again! Those sacrifices were never meant to be the way to redemption. In Hebrews it’s very clear that the intention from the beginning was that Jesus would be that way. And yet, even then our daily spiritual sacrifices aren’t enough. We need the Holy Spirit to make them acceptable for God.
(If this is confusing to you, and if you want to dig deeper, I suggest reading a couple more lengthy passages here for some extra support in our understanding. Take a look at Leviticus 22:17-31 and Hebrews 11:36-12:31.)
But what do spiritual sacrifices look like? We know that when we become born again, we are a new creation. We need to think, act, and talk differently. And our spiritual life is no different. In Titus 3:5, we learn that we need renewal that causes a transformation. It’s not enough to have a godly character or bear spiritual fruit’s, we must do all things to God’s will! May everything that we do, say, think, and walk be according to His will only. May all that we do be not of this world. Instead, Let’s have our eyes so fixed on Him that we have no choice but to seek and do His will.
What are these things? Let’s just go ahead and list ways to live out our faith sacrificially from what is found in Hebrews 13.
Continue in brotherly love.
Show hospitality to strangers.
Remember those in prison.
Hold marriage honorable.
Keep life free from love of money.
Be content with what you have.
Remember your spiritual leaders who speak truth.
Imitate the faith of truth speaking leaders.
Do not be led away by false teachers.
Have discernment.
Continually offer praise and acknowledgment of His name.
Obey and submit to our spiritual leaders.
Prayer for our spiritual leaders.
Is this all we have to do? No! But it does lay the ground work and it leaves no part of ourselves un-spotlighted. We must give to God our whole selves, every bit, everything back to the One who created us. We are to sing His praises and worship Him with all that is due Him. We cannot do this on our own, we must have that Spirit within us making it pleasing and acceptable to Him. On our own, it’s not enough. But with the Spirit, it is!
And now, I will leave you with one of the most beautiful reminders found in the Bible that we are not alone.
Hebrews 13: 20-21
“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.”
Dear Heavenly Father, to You be all glory forever, for You are merciful and gracious. We offer our lives to You, that they may be pleasing and acceptable. We offer our praises and our worship for You and only You are the giver of life. And we thank You for being just as You are.
What’s next?
As the Spirit leads, in the comment section below, share what He has laid on your heart.
Then join us again tomorrow to learn about the ministry of selecting overseers.
