 Amen. All right, well we're there in Amos chapter number five. Let's go ahead and start reading in verse number 21 of Amos chapter five. There the Bible reads this. It says, I hate, this is God speaking of course, through the prophet Amos, I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings and meat offerings, I will not accept them. And neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me of the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy vials, but let judgment run down his waters and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? Would ye have borne the tabernacle of Moloch, and chew in your images the star of your God, which ye made to yourselves? Therefore, I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, sayeth the Lord, whose name is the Lord of hosts. So, here we're talking about the animal sacrifices. Of course, we're going through this on Sunday mornings as well. In a way, we're talking about the Levitical priesthood, and in that case, the garments of the High Priest. But if you've read the Old Testament, and especially the first five books, you know that God takes the Levitical priesthood very seriously. Actually throughout the Old Testament, several people died. When God's way of the Levitical priesthood was not done properly. This was something that was very serious. People died because they did not do it the way God wanted it to be done. But it's kind of interesting here because God's obviously upset about them doing the sacrifices. So it seems a little counterintuitive. He's using a pretty strong language. He says, I hate. People today don't think that God hates anything. Well, he does. He hates a lot of things. Actually earlier in this same chapter, you will recall, God talks about how we also should hate the evil and love the good. We shouldn't just be loving everything. There's a lot of things we should hate if we're going to hold fast to that which is right and true. But notice here, God's upset about the sacrifices. You say, why is that? Well, you don't have to turn there. But Hosea 6-6 says this. This is again God speaking. He says, for I desired mercy and not sacrifice in the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Here God is, there's a major theme in the Old Testament. There's a major theme where God is explaining, turn to Micah 6-6, we'll go one more. Where God's explaining that, yes, he's very specific about the sacrifices and he wants them done. But the point is, if the children of Israel or anybody, these people doing these sacrifices, if they're going to be living a rebellion against God and be doing all these wicked, evil things, worshiping all these false gods, God says, I'd rather you not even do them. I'd rather you not even do them. There's things I much rather you do than worry about all these sacrifices. You know, there in Micah 6-6, here the speaker is asking some rhetorical questions. He says, in chapter 6, wherewith? Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? He's saying, what does God want? What should I bring Him to please Him? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with 10,000 rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul? He's saying, what does God want? What should I offer? What should I sacrifice to Him? Verse 8, he hath showed thee, O man, what is good? He says, God showed thee what he wants more than this. He has showed thee, O man, what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. Here God says, here's what I really want. I want you to do justly, keep my commandments. I want you to be merciful. I want you to, just like I was merciful with you and I want you to walk humbly with me. I want you to have a walk with the Lord. And it's funny because Jesus rebukes the Pharisees, you don't have to turn there, but in Matthew 23, 23, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees and he brings up pretty much the same three things just in a different way. He says to the Pharisees, because they were doing this, this is exactly what they were doing. The Pharisees were all obsessed over all these little rules and all these commandments and they were looking down their noses at other people and they were, this is what they were doing but then the major parts of God's word, the major commandments, they were completely left undone. Jesus says, what one do you ascribes the Pharisees, hypocrites? See, why were they hypocrites? What about it made them hypocrites? He says, for ye pay tithe, the mint and anise and cumin, which is good. Those are things they should have been doing but here's the problem, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law. Judgements, mercy and faith which are in a way very similar to the three things we saw in Micah 6 which is interesting. But here he's saying, it's not, he says these ought to have to done. He's like it's good that you're doing these things but not to leave the other undone. Verse 24, he says he blind guides which strayed at a net and swallowed camel. Here these Pharisees, just an example, they may look down at someone or rebuke someone because they didn't have the borders of their garments the right color or because they didn't do this or that or they didn't pay the tithe as they should have been paying which they should have been doing but at the same time the Pharisees were forsaking the much more important things of God's law. Which is why God was rebuking them here in Amos. He's rebuking them here in Micah 6. He's saying just don't even do it then. He's like he got to the point where God he says I hated when you even tried to do the sacrifices. Because you're here, you are, you're doing all these sacrifices, you're keeping it by the book but then you're worshiping false gods at the same time. These he ought to done and not to leave the other undone. So where are we going with this? So turn to Hebrews 13. Hebrews chapter 13. So today the Levitical Priest is long gone. We don't offer animal sacrifices anymore. We're under the new priesthood of Melchizedek of Jesus Christ. So we don't do these sacrifices anymore but notice Hebrews 13.16 which of course is in the New Testament where the Bible says this. He says but to do good and communicate forget not. Notice this, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. So we don't do sacrifices anymore. Well we may not do those sacrifices anymore but there are things that even in the New Testament are considered sacrifices, things that God still wants us to do. The title of the sermon this evening if it had a title is Boomerang Sacrifices. So what does that mean? Well right here I have a boomerang. This is a boomerang and the point of this boomerang if you throw it right it's apparently difficult to do but if you throw it correctly the point is it's a frisbee of sorts that you throw it and it will come back to you. And the reason the sermon is called Boomerang Sacrifices is we're going to look at four things this evening that the Bible considers sacrifices. It calls them sacrifices but they are things that while we do to God they will come back and benefit us. Like many of God's commandments it's not just a one way thing. If we do them God will bless us. If we do them it will be well with us. Think about how many times in the Old Testament God said obey my commandments that it may be well with you. God wants it to be good for us so we're going to look at these four things this evening that are boomerang sacrifices they will, if done they will come back and benefit us as well. So turn to Psalm 4-5 Psalm 4 chapter 4 verse 5 the first one of these this evening is righteousness. You're there in Psalm chapter 4 look at verse 5 Psalm 4-5 the Bible says this it says offer, notice this the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. Look God wants us obviously it's not part of salvation we're saved simply by trusting in Jesus Christ but after salvation God expects us he wants us to live righteous lives and obviously you know this is when we're talking about the word righteous here we're talking about in comparison just to to other because the Bible says in Romans 3 there's none that do it good there's none that's righteous well that's comparing us to God but in comparison to the world in comparison to those around us God expects us to live to a higher standard God expects us to live Job was a righteous man in Abraham the Bible says was a righteous man and because they lived righteous lives in comparison to the world around them by following God's standards for example you don't have to turn there but 1 Corinthians 1534 says awake to righteousness and sin not we're talking the first thing this first boomerang sacrifice this evening is righteousness within that I'd like to give because we're talking about how it's good for us how it actually will improve our lives if we do these things so I'd like to give you three reasons this evening to give you righteous life just within this point three reasons to live a righteous life turn to Ephesians 4 the first reason that you should want to other than just because God said so the first reason that you should want to live a righteous life is because it's a critical part of salvation but it's something that it's a critical part of salvation it's not you don't do it to be saved of course but after salvation it's something God expects of you to live a righteous life to put on the new man there in Ephesians 4 look at verse 21 it says this it says if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him talking about Jesus as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and notice this and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness in true holiness so the Bible is saying if you're saved if you've heard the word of God and you're sealed and you're saved you should be renewed the spirit of your mind the way you think the way you should you should put on the new man you should live a righteous life you should go back to the way you were you shouldn't just go back to the life you were living it's not a part of salvation but it's something God expects us to do think about it like this when we got saved the old man died but how healthy the new man is is up to us kind of like in James faith without works is dead it can be dead it doesn't mean it doesn't exist it's still there but it can be dead your spiritual life can be dead it shouldn't be that way it ought not be that way St. Corinthians 4.16 says this for which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day look living in the spirit walking in the spirit it's not see salvation's easy salvation's you believe on Christ and you're set for life that's it you believe on Jesus Christ and you're good to go you never have to worry about being saved again however living in the spirit it does require daily effort it does require something that you pursue and you keep up with you can't let it expire you can't let it go away it's not as easy as salvation turn to 1st Peter 3 1st Peter 3 so being righteous why should we want to be righteous well one it's something God expects after salvation but two is another reason you should want to God provides special protection for the righteous God provides special protection for the righteous now of course just a couple of disclaimers here this does not mean nothing bad will ever happen to you this doesn't mean a prosperity gospel this doesn't mean nothing bad will ever happen to you it does not mean that God's protection will always be what we consider protection it doesn't matter it will always be in the form that we expect it to be in and it does not mean that evil people cannot get away with evil all these things are disclaimers but there is a definite difference in the Bible with how God deals with evil people and how God deals with those who are righteous it's an important theme that ought not be ignored and there in 1 Peter 3 it was started in verse 10 it says for he that will love life do you like life and see good days do you want to have a good life and see good days within your life you know Jacob talked about in the Old Testament Jacob said if you and evil have the years of my life then if you don't want that to be you and you want to have a good life so to speak notice what it says here let him refrain his tone from evil and his lips they speak no guile so we're talking about the blessings of God here let him seek good let him seek peace and ensue it here's why for the eyes of the Lord are over everybody is that what it says and of course God sees everything he sees everybody but here's God's here's the people that are at the top of his list over the righteous it says and here's the ears are open unto their prayers but the face of the Lord so the righteous God is watching but on the other side but the face of the Lord is against them to do evil look the people can be saved and do evil okay since you're not saved as a result of your character or the life you live you can be saved to be righteous or you can be saved and do evil and here it's saying that God's over the righteous he's watching them but he's against you if you're doing evil so notice the difference on how God deals with these two groups verse 13 and who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good but then if you suffer for righteousness because again there's that disclaimer right you will go through persecution if you're saved but then if you suffer for righteousness and the sake happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled so you get the idea here how God is over the righteous he protects the righteous turn to psalm 91 psalm 91 you don't have to turn there while you're going to psalm 91 psalm 347 says the angel the Lord encampeth about them that fear him and delivereth them so again who is the angel the Lord protecting who is God protecting it's those that fear him those are the people that will be delivered psalm 91 let's start reading in verse 1 says this says he that dwelleth in the seeker place of the most high shall abide into the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord he is my refuge and my fortress my God and him will I trust surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from noise and pestilence he shall cover thee with his feathers and trust his truth shall be thy shield the buckler so this person is very blessed or who is being described here these blessings these are a lot of blessings from God say why why is this person being blessed well look at verse 9 we could go through the whole chapter it's just more blessings verse 9 here's why this person is blessed because that has made the Lord which is thy refuge even the most high thy habitation this person is walking with God this person is God is who they're dwelling with there shall no evil befall thee neither shall any play come neither thy dwelling for he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways for they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone of course this is if you know the story in the New Testament of when the devil was tempting Jesus this is what he quoted when of course when he took Jesus at the top of the temple and he said cast yourself down the bible says see Jesus knew that disclaimer we were talking about where it doesn't mean nothing bad will ever happen to you that's what satan's misunderstanding was but God will provide by special protection so by casting yourself off the temple so to speak you are tempting God because you know you're basically saying oh God oh God always protect me don't tempt God God can do what he wants whenever he wants let's keep reading verse 13 and also tread again it specifies again because he have said his love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high again because he have known my name he shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honor him with long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation so we definitely see the emphasis in the bible especially in Psalms on how God will protect the righteous he will protect the people who are with God who are on his side turn to Psalm 40 here's the third reason that you should be righteous because your righteousness affects it benefits others benefits other people it's not just you that will be benefited by it but other people can be greatly benefited by it you're there in Psalm 40 again we see the context of the of how righteousness is like sacrifice verse 6 sacrifice and offering that it's not desire mine ears that has to open burnt offering and sin offering has to not require then said I lo I come the volume of the book is written of me I delight so God does want sacrifices what does he want I delight to do thy will oh my God yea thy law is within my heart but notice this this person who's doing God's will he loves God's will look at the side effect of this I have preached righteousness and the great congregation I have not refrained my lips oh Lord thou knowest again I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation so this person is of course following God's will but he's saying I haven't hit it I haven't hit it you know it's like this is your saved person who doesn't preach the gospel they're saved they have this truth that is able to take someone from death and tell anyone else have it they won't tell anyone else about it not this person this person's preaching righteousness they haven't hid God's righteousness look here's the idea many people will go to hell because no one was righteous enough to preach the gospel because no one was righteous enough to benefit other people with that no one was able to benefit other people and lead them to the Lord likewise many people will who are saved will go into an affordable life because there was no church there was no church in their area or no one in their church cared no one was righteous enough to be there and start a church for them or even if there was a church to help them and lead them in the right way so your righteousness will greatly affect other people both with salvation and just helping people in their Christian life that's the point of a church a church is for saved believers but we're encouraging each other we're provoking each turn to Titus 3 8 Titus 3 8 we're turning there I'll read to you Daniel 12 2 it says in many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt and they that be why shall shine as the brightness of the permanent and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever so you see how it just keeps repeating we go and we preach the gospel to people and people get in church and start living a righteous life themselves and then their turn to righteousness and then they can do the same thing to somebody else that's the cycle that God has laid out we preach the gospel to someone they get saved and they preach they learn how to give the gospel that's how we can affect other people in a positive way they're in Titus 3 look at verse 8 it says this is a faithful saying this is a preacher he says affirm constantly be reminding people this don't stop preaching about this which have believed in God these are saved people might be careful to maintain good works notice what he says about it these things are good and profitable unto men look all righteousness can be profitable to other people both in saving them from hell and helping them out in their Christian life turn to Psalm chapter 50 Psalm chapter 50 so we're talking about boomerang sacrifices right things that we do that have a positive benefit in our lives and to other people well the first one we saw is righteousness the second one this evening is thanksgiving thanksgiving thankfulness they're in Psalm 50 let's start reading in verse 7 Psalm 50 in verse 7 the bible says here oh my people and I will speak oh Israel and I will testify against thee and God even thy God I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings to have been continually before me I will take no bullock out of thy house nor he goats out of thy folds for every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills I know all the fowls of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine if I were hungry I would not tell thee for the world is mine and the fullness thereof will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats so God saying you know I really need sacrifices I'm not hungry I don't need it to survive if I need an animal I can take one whenever I want I own the world but look at verse 14 here's what you should give God offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high turn to Psalm 100 Psalm 100 so here it's saying that again it's comparing another thing to a sacrifice which is thanksgiving you should be thankful to God you should be thankful to God first Thessalonians 518 you know the turn there says in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you it's God's will that we are thankful to him you're there in Psalm 100 look at verse 1 Psalm 100 verse 1 says make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with singing know ye that the Lord he is God it is he that has both made us and not we ourselves we are his people in the sheep of his pastor enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts of praise be thankful unto him and bless his name why? why should I be thankful unto God? the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting his truth and dearth to all generations so when you come to church when you read your Bible when you pray when you serve God with your life when you do all the things you're supposed to be doing you should be doing that because God did a great thing for you and you're repaying you're not repaying it but you're doing what you can to show your thankfulness and your appreciation to God turn to Luke 17 Luke chapter 17 Luke 17 we'll start reading verse 11 it says and it came to pass let's talk about Jesus here as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee and as he entered into a certain village there met him 10 men that were lepers which stood afar off and they lifted up their voices and said Jesus, master have mercy on us and when he saw them he said unto them go show yourselves unto the priest and he came to pass that as they went they were cleansed and one of them when he saw that he was healed turned back and with the loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet giving him thanks and he was a Samaritan and Jesus answering said were there not 10 cleansed but where are the nine? there are not found that return to give glory to God save this stranger and he said unto him rise go thy way and thy faith hath made thee hold and I think we read this story and we think that's pretty bad I mean he held 10 people and he only got a 10% rate on that only one out of 10 people came back to thank him for doing this great thing for them and we say that's pretty bad but it's I think it's a lot worse today to be honest because we go we preach the gospel to people Jesus Christ saves them he saves them from hell and way less than one in 10 people come back to serve God with their life way less people than one in 10 will actually say you know what I was given something I don't deserve I have the option of just continuing my life the way it is and living my life under the chastisement of God and just never doing anything for God but way less than one in 10 people are committed to saying you know what I'm going to do what I can with this life since God has had everlasting mercy on me I'm going to serve him with my life and commit to that how many people do that I mean think of all the people that get saved where are they now where are they now they're saved they're somewhere they're still living their life but where are they what are they doing well they're not being thankful I can tell you that much turn to Psalm 103 it's interesting this is actually something when the Bible speaks in Romans 1 about people have rejected God this is actually a main characteristic of what they did when they rejected God Romans 1 21 says because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God that's the first thing they did but the second thing neither were they thankful but it became vain and their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened it talks about that's something that reprobates is they look at they hate God and they reject God because they're not thankful they're not thankful of the error they breathe of the life they were given of everything that God has granted them the chance to be saved the chance to have salvation these people rejected that because why because they weren't thankful they were not thankful God forbid that's us right because we can also not be thankful about what Christ did for us we can also not be thankful we were saved but we can also choose to be unthankful for everything that Christ has done for us they're in Psalm 103 let's look at verse 1 Psalm 103 1 says this bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits notice this verse 3 this could be a set of all of us if we're saved who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases we had a terrible disease of sin and we had many iniquities that were condemning us and Christ forgave all of them Christ forgave all of them I'd like to read you you know in America we complain rightfully so we criticize a lot this entitlement attitude if you ever heard that before there's actually I have an article here it's actually from WebMD and they're not claiming you know they are mentioning it's just a it's an attitude it's not a disease or anything but WebMD is actually written an article on what called what is an entitlement mentality it says this it says what is the sense of entitlement the entitlement mentality is defined as a sense of deservingness or being out of favor when little or nothing has been done to deserve special treatment it's the quote you owe me attitude entitlement is a narcissistic personality trait it's not known exactly how this mentality develops and it goes on but it goes to talk about this is the real thing this is the real thing that people have written about and noticed but it's when you you look at something you're given that you don't deserve you've done little or nothing to deserve it and you think you're owed it or you don't appreciate it you expect it either expect it or you think you're owed it and you know we can apply this to tons of other areas just in general out in society in life but this evening I just want to apply this to not being thankful because you see why do people getting here's the answer to their question we have an entitlement mentality because they're not thankful they're not thankful for whatever it is they think it's expected they think they deserve it and I believe that people do this with salvation we can do this with salvation we have not deserve salvation but yet we wouldn't say that we deserve it but we kind of it's something expected or it's something that we forget about we're not thankful for it and all the blessings have gotten in our life I think we can deserve we can sometimes get an entitlement attitude to it things don't go the way we planned and we're upset why? because we think we should get that we think we're entitled a certain you know subconsciously we think we're entitled to a certain quality of life we're entitled to a certain thing we want that's not how it works it goes on to say when you believe you're entitled to better treatment than others or that the rules don't apply to you you're more likely to suffer in the long term it goes on to talk about having long term damage with relationships on happiness disappointment depression it just leads nowhere good and as much as we talk about other people having this in our society which is a major problem in our society but we do this to God and in the same way it can damage our relationship with God because and here's how it affects us here's how it's something here's why it's a boomerang sacrifice because God is not going to bless someone who is unthankful God is not going to want to do more for someone who just got when God does help them and when he does do something for them they just have no thankfulness it's the same thing in your life if you had two friends I think we've all had both of these friends but if you have a friend that's thankful and that's always trying to you know you're trying to help them out they're trying to help you out and that's a great relationship with their friend but when you have a relationship with somebody and they're always the one trying to take advantage of you and they're the one who is unthankful of what you do for them and they expect they expect you to do things for them and so on and so forth who do you want to do more for who do you do more for right which of those two friends have you devoted yourself to more it's the person who is thankful and it's no different with God you know regardless of the quality of our life we are not entitled to anything as mentioned this morning what we're entitled to is hell that's what we deserve that is what you know we're saved and we're not going there but if you added everything up that we did it would be in the negative by infinity that is what we deserve you don't have to turn there but Psalm 28 verse 7 says the Lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusted to him and I am helped this is a great song because it explains this so he's saying he's my strength he's my shield I'm helped he's answered my prayer therefore since he's done this for me my heart greatly rejoices and with my song I will praise him he's saying God help me therefore I praise him and I think it's interesting because many times in our life we may be praying for something we may have something that even more than normal we're praying for we're concerned about and we pray and we pray and we pray and we want so bad for God to answer our prayer and he does and we don't even spend a second to thank him for it sometimes we can do that sometimes because what do you think how do you think that makes God feel God says this person has been begging me for this and praying for this for so long and I finally give it to them and they're like thanks God that's it let's go back to the life they were living or whatever that's not thankfulness that's not thankfulness turn to Psalm 141 so boomerang sacrifices the first one is righteousness we should be righteous we should live righteous lives the second is thankfulness we should be thankful to God the third one is prayer the third one is prayer Psalm 141 look at verse 1 the Bible says this Lord I cry into thee make haste to help me give ear to my voice when I cry into thee and notice how he the light he puts prayer in verse 2 he says let my prayer be set forth before the as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice prayer is another thing that is compared to a sacrifice and again it's something that it's not just something we do to God it's a picture it's something that will actually benefit our lives greatly greatly turn to John 15 John chapter 15 while you're turning there I'll read you Luke 11 9 it says and I say unto you ask in it shall be seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you this is something I think about sometimes think about in your life how many blessings will you never receive only because you never ask you think about that how many things you know how many troubles you know it's like that that him I believe it's 353 what a friend we have in Jesus it's like oh what needless pain we bear all because we don't pray how many troubles have you gone through in your life that you didn't even need to go through that you would not have gone through if you just would have if you would have prayed for God's protection or just asked God to help you with it he can do a much better job than we can with solving troubles can he not there in John 15 the Bible says this if he abide in me in my words abide in you ye shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you here he's saying if you're abiding in me if you're walking with me here's a characteristic of that you will be you will ask you shall ask what you need and you will ask what God will give it to you Jesus is saying it's a sign that you abide in Christ if you were praying and you were asking here for help in your life you don't have to turn there but Jeremiah 3033 we've all heard it before says call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou know as not an example I thought about this is let's say you're with someone in your car and you're driving and you get a flat tire you pull over to the side of the road and you jack the car up you're gonna replace the tire I have an example here for this and you need to figure out how to get the tire off and someone says oh here this was in your trunk here you go it's the perfect socket size you can use this to take the tire off and you're like no no you're like I'll use this and you take needle nose pliers and you're trying to undo the bolts in your car and you're stripping out the bolt and they're like here just use this it's the right socket size and you're like no no I got it I got it I'll just use this and they're like you know use this you're gonna ruin the bolts that is how it works with us is God is here and he has he can answer he has the perfect solution he has he's the he's the perfect solution to the problem we're trying to solve and it's we're trying to fix it with the needle nose pliers we're trying to fix it with our own means and and running around trying to fix things ourselves instead of just praying and asking God to help us with it that's exactly what we're doing we're taking the perfect size socket and we're just throwing it away like no I'm gonna use needle nose pliers because it feels better that I'm using my own way of doing it that is what we do to God and think about how many bolts we've stripped out in our life because we just won't we just won't take the tool that's right there that's right there for us you know I think you know prayer is arguably the greatest weapon we have or the greatest tool we have as Christians and also I think it's the most underused one the most underused you know a tool that we have they're in Luke Luke 18 I'm sorry Luke 18 turn to Luke chapter 18 I think about it sometimes is that people look at prayer like you know it's like the fire extinguisher on the wall in a building it says breaking case of emergency the glass that's what prayer is to most people it's that things are really really bad and you've tried the needle nose pliers you've already stripped out the bolts then you call the mechanic right but it doesn't have to be that way it doesn't have to be that way prayer is something that you the first one you go to with your problems not once everything else has failed not once everything else has failed and nothing else has worked then you go to God it's the other way around why don't you use what works first you're there Luke 18 look at verse 1 the Bible says this and he spake a parable unto them to this end that man ought always to pray and not to faint see prayer will help you you won't faint it will strengthen you even I've thought about this before prayer it just it strengthens you to pray it strengthens you to ask God for help and to have that closer walk with God even regardless of the outcome of your prayer verse 2 saying there was so Jesus getting an example here says saying there was in a city a judge which feared not God neither regarded man and there was a widow in that city and she came unto him so this widow is going to this judge he's not a good man he's not just he's just a selfish person this widow comes to him saying avenge me of my adversary and he would not for a while but afterward he's saved within himself though I fear not God no regard man yet because this widow trouble with me I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me saying I don't care about this lady I don't care about what she's dealing with but just because she's being annoying and I don't want to hear her anymore I'll just give her what she wants and the Lord said hear with the unjust judge and shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear along with him so he's saying if this unjust judge is giving this widow what she wants just because he's annoyed how much more will God who's perfect and loves you and cares about you how much more will he give you what you want or what you need more accurately verse 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily and then this is interesting nevertheless he's talking about prayer and asking God he says when the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the earth if Christ was to this is of course not how the rapture would work but if Christ was to be here right now and he was to look at us God's looking at our lives right now does he see faith in us does he see people who have the faith that you know what this just happened this is going wrong the most effective thing I can do right now is to pray and ask God for help because that takes faith the needle nose players because we want to do something that we can it's like it's why people think they can work there with heaven because they want something that they can see and that they can see that they're doing and it takes faith takes faith to pray and believe that God is the most effective resource you have so in this idea of prayer Christ is asking shall he find faith on the earth does God see faith in us right now when we and how we choose to deal with problems that we have just something to think about turn to Psalm 51 Psalm 51 so the last thing we talked about righteousness we talked about we talked about prayer we talked about thankfulness the last thing the last sacrifice we should so to speak do to God that will benefit us is what the Bible refers to as a broken spirit I think this one's really interesting Psalm 51 verse 16 the Bible says this is David speaking to God for thou desires not sacrifice else would I give it thou delight is not and burnt offering the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart contrite meaning you know meaning sincere remorse or guilt contrite heart of God that will not despise turn to Psalm 41 sorry Isaiah chapter 40 Isaiah chapter 40 so there's two aspects of it you say what's a broken spirit I believe there's two aspects here when he's talking about this I believe he's talking about an attitude when you have an attitude of a broken spirit I believe you are in a attitude of absolute humility and absolute reliance on God I believe is what this is talking about talking about being contrite and having a broken spirit you're in a low place you're fully trusting on God Psalm 34 verse 18 you don't have to turn there says the Lord is nigh into them that are of broken hearts and save as such is be of a contrite spirit there's that theme there either in Isaiah chapter 40 start reading verse 27 Isaiah 40, 27 the Bible says why say is now a Jacob and speak as though Israel my way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God so Israel is saying here so to speak we're doomed God doesn't see us our way is hid from him he doesn't he doesn't care he doesn't see we're doomed verse 28 he knows what God says to them he says how's though not known how's though not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the creator the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding he's saying haven't you seen the news haven't you heard are you living under a rock you don't I see everything I have strength I have I don't faint I don't get weary verse 29 he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength even the youth shall be faint to be weary and the young man shall utterly fall and then the familiar verse they that weighed upon the Lord those that are of a broken spirit those that are relying and trusting on God shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not be faint look why why would we try to get by on our own limited power this is like if you're driving down the road you see your friend sprinting somewhere you're like hey you want to ride he's like no I got it I only have 300 miles left he's like just get in the car we'll be there like to me no I got it why would you try to run why would you run God's in the car just rely on God he has infinite power you don't need strength you don't need you don't need power God's strength is perfect in your weakness instead of trying to get by and your power that will run out that will get weary why don't you just rely on God why don't you just have a broken spirit and a humble spirit and say I'm just going to trust God I'm not going to try to get by on my own power I'm just going to put all my faith and trust in God I'm going to pray and ask him for help I'm going to trust that he has he does not get weary you're there just turn over if you're there in Isaiah 40 look at verse Isaiah 41 verse 10 Isaiah 41 verse 10 the Bible says fear thou not I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee I will help thee I'll give you a ride I will uphold thee with the right hand to my righteousness behold all day that we're incensed you're worried about people who are against you who are attacking you behold all day that we're incensed against thee shall be ashamed to confound it don't even worry about it I'll take care of it just ask they shall be as nothing they that strive with thee shall perish thou shall seek them and not find them even as they that contended with thee they that shall be as nothing as a thing of a knot for I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee fear not I will help thee look God wants to help us God doesn't want to see us I mean he will judge us if we live a rebellious life and if we don't go through pain if we don't trust on God and choose to get by in our own power but God doesn't want that for us God wants us to God wants us to receive the blessings of these sacrifices that's why he wants us to do that that it may be well with us turn to Isaiah 43 so in conclusion this evening I just kind of want to recap with all these things the whole idea is that God wants to help us God wants it to be well with you he wants the best for you you know these things in the Bible these commandments they're not just things we do because God said so there's a reason that God wants us to do them that it may be well with us that other people can be benefited that we can be benefited turn over to Isaiah 43 we'll end here Isaiah chapter 43 we'll look at verse 22 Isaiah 43 22 I was just reading this this morning I thought it was interesting but that was not called upon me oh Jacob but that was been weary of me oh Israel you wanted nothing to do with me you were weary of me that was not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings neither has thou honored me with sacrifices you're doing nothing that I told you to do I have not caused thee to serve with an offering or weary thee with incense that was brought to me no sweet cane with money neither has thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices that was weary me with an iniquity so he's saying you haven't done these sacrifices to me you weren't you weren't doing anything I told you to do instead you're serving me with instead of serving me with with these offerings you're serving me with your sin that's what he's saying you're just serving me with your your filth your sin you refuse to put aside you refuse to get rid of yet despite all of our sins just notice verse 25 this just shows that you're just you're just in sin you won't do what I want verse 25 I even I am he that blotted out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins he's saying look I've wiped your sins away you're saved verse 26 put me in remembrance let us plead together declare thou that thou mayest be justified God's saying it doesn't have to be like this like the way your sin let us plead together remember me let's why don't you why don't we why don't you just live a righteous life why don't you put that away and it really shows the attitude because yes God will judge us if we don't live a righteous life and if he needs to he will he will scourge us as sons and daughters in Christ but ultimately that's not God's plan A for our life God's plan A for our life we offer these sacrifices to him that is well with us so we can bless us so we can get other people saved so people so other people can get other people saved that's God's plan for our life that's ultimately that is what God wants for us he doesn't want to just like God doesn't want anyone to go to hell look a lot of people are going to go to hell most people are going to go to hell the very last verse of Isaiah is actually talking about how people in heaven will look upon the carcasses of those that have progressed against God and are burning in hell because God will do that God will send people he's the perfect judge he will send people to hell for their sin and he will judge his believers on this earth who do not obey him but ultimately that's not what God wants God doesn't want people to go to hell and God does not want us to live unprofitable lives so this evening let's just keep that in mind instead of just fighting against God woe into him let's strive with his maker instead of just striving against God and fighting against God look let's just let's just do these sacrifices if anything for for our own benefit because God wants us he wants to bless us in our life and he wants the best for us let's choose that this evening over just fighting against God let's give God the sacrifices that he really wants from us let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer