FOR SALE?
Or Not For Sale!
Key Text:
I Kings 21:1-16(Read)
Key Verse :
James 4: 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
As we learn here Naboth did not want to sell his vinyard.Most Christians don’t want to give up on God but it seems when things get hard they sell out to the devil. To try to get out of trouble, But most of the time they find there selvs in more trouble than they counted on. Or we can hold on to the Lord and he will help us through our problems. One way or another. If we would only sell out to him. So tell Satan your not for Sale.
Living for God may cost you your life or possesions But it will be worth it after all (Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.) So let Satan fight we are SOLD OUT TO THE LORD!!! No matter what he offers Hell is the end result. Is it worth it, or are you sold out to Jesus.
Do you think he knew man would cost him so much? How Much is God Willing to pay for us? (Luke 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold itbegin to mock him, 30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
ICor.7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.)
God Prepares Jesus And counts the cost
II Tim.1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Rev.13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Ye are bought with a price
I Cor.6
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
I Cor.7: 23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
Here are a few examples of men sold out for Jesus. Look what it cost them..
Now for a Few Martyrs from history.
1.Andrew simon peters bro. It is said was led to be crucified, and led to the place of execution and seeing the cross waiting for him, never changed his expression. Neither did he fail in his speech.
His body fainted not, nor did his reason fail him, as often happens to men about to die. He said "o Cross, most welcome and longed for! With a willing mind , joyful, and desirously, I come to you, being the scholor of him which did hang on you, because I have always been your lover and yearned to embrace you.
2.Polycarp, the venerable Bishop of Smyrna. Three days before he was captured, Polycarp dreamed that a pillow under his head caught fire, and when he awoke, he told those around him that he would burn alive for Christ’s sake.
Hearing his captors had arived one evening, Polycarp left his bed to welcome them, ordered a meal prepared for them, and then asked for an hour alone to pray. The solders were so impressed by Polycarps advanced age and composer that they began to wonder why they had been sent to take him, but as soon as he had finished his prayers, they put him on an ass and brought him to the city.
As he entered the stadium with his guards, a voice from heaven was heard to say, "be strong, Polycarp , and play the Man." No one nearby saw anyone speaking, but many people heard the voice.
Brought before the tribunal and the crowd, Polycarp refused to deny Christ, although the proconsul begged him to "consider yourself and have pity on your great age. Reproach Christ and I will release you."
Polycarp replied, "Eighty six years I have served him, and he never once wronged me. How can I blaspheme my King, Who saved me."
Threatened with wild beasts and fire, Polycarp stood his ground. "What are you waiting for? Do what ever you please." The crowd demanded Polycarps death, gathering wood for the fire and preparing to tie him to the stake.
"Leave me," he said. " he who will give me strength to sustain the fire will help me not to flench from the pile." So they bound him but did not nail him to the stake. As soon as Polycarp finished his prayer, the fire was lit, but it leaped up around him, leaving him unburned, until the people convinced a solder to plunge a sword into him. When he did, so much blood gushed out that the fire was immediately extinguished. The solders then placed his body into a fire and burned it to ashes, which some christians later gathered up and burried properly. { from Fox’s Christian martyrs of the World}
