"Sacrifice of Thanksgiving" By Jesse Rairdon November 15th,
2015
Continue to give God a praise as
Brother Rob comes to lead us in prayer for the message. Rob: Lord Jesus, God, I
thank You for this day and for Your mercy and Your goodness, and for allowing
us to wake this day, and having another day to serve You, Lord God, and to seek
Your face, and grow in understanding and wisdom of Your Word, Lord God. I pray that You bless and anoint Jesse as he
brings today’s message, Lord Jesus. I
pray that Your Holy anointing will be upon him, and that Your Holy Spirit will
bless him, and fill hi with words of wisdom and understanding, Lord God. I pray that Your Spirit will direct and guide
him, and that he’ll speak Your Word with boldness and compassion and with all
love, Lord God. I give You glory, I give
You honor, and I give You praise. In
Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. Please remain standing as we read the
Scripture for the month together: Ezra 3:11 And they sang together by course in praising
and giving thanks unto the LORD; because He is good, for His mercy endureth for
ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they
praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. Our text for today is in
Leviticus. You say, “Brother Jesse,
that’s the Law! That’s the Old
Testament! That was a long time ago! That was even before the time of Christ! What does that have to do with us, today?” Well, we’re going to find out, because these
things are types and shadows of things to come (Hebrews 10:1); these things are
for our learning for our lives today.
Because Jesus didn’t come to do away with the law, He came to fulfill
the law (Matthew 5:17). We’re going to
see how that all applies today as we talk about the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Leviticus 7:11-15 And this
is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the
LORD. If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice
of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers
anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his
offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace
offerings. And of it he shall offer one
out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the LORD, and it shall be
the priest's that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings . And the flesh
of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the
same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning. Four points I would like to cover
today: 1. God’s
Peace and being thankful belong together.
They belong together. 2. God
desires us to give thanks willingly. God
desires us to do it willingly. 3. Giving
thanks returns the glory to God. That’s
the heave offering. 4. Be
thankful today. Now, before I get into those four main
points, I’d like to go over a little of the history of these offerings and
being thankful. Thanks, being an
offering, by definition, or the sacrifice of thanksgiving, it’s a spiritual
offering, under the Law of Moses. This
is also termed the thanksgiving offering. The Hebrew term תֹּודָה, (Todah)
"thanksgiving" is derived from the verb yadah (יָדָה), which means "to
praise." In Psalm 107:22, and elsewhere, no physical offering, only
praise, is implied. Thanksgiving also
means—Kirk gave me this definition as we were fellowshipping, earlier this
week—an extension of the hand, as to how a gift is presented. An extension of the hand, as to how a gift is
presented. So, thanksgiving is an
extension of the hand in how a gift is presented. Amen? There were five main offerings in
the Old Testament. There were many
feasts, and many gatherings, and many things to cover from, but there were
five: there was the burnt offering, the
grain offering, the peace offering—which, part of it is the thanksgiving
sacrifice offering, which is what we’re talking about today—the sin offering,
the trespass offering; that’s it. Those five.
Burnt offering, grain offering, peace offering, sin offering, trespass
offering. OF all these offerings, the
offerer, the person giving the offering, the only part that he took in any of
it was the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and the sacrifice that follows, which is
part of the peace offering. All the
other ones he just gave. These
particular offering he took part in the sacrifice. We’re going to come back to that a little bit
further, okay? One of the things that Pastor
Ulysse recently challenged us, the preaching team, was to go back and look a
little bit more into the culture, and a
deeper understanding of the words, so that we get better understanding of what we’re talking
about. Sometimes the words, in the
English, even in the King James Version, get a different meaning when you talk
about them in the Hebrew, or when you talk about them in the Greek in the New
Testament. So, in your studies, take the
concordance, and start to look at what they mean, the definition of your words
in your personal study, and God will open up the scriptures a whole lot
more. So, our first point: 1. God’s Peace and Being Thankful Belong Together Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of
God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye
thankful. It’s because of God’s peace we are
thankful. If you’re not tankful, you’ve
got to consider, do you have God’s peace?
I mean, if you go to work, and it’s always just about the bad things,
the negative things… If you’re listening
to all the garbage that’s going on in the world—there’s a lot of crazy stuff
going on in the world, isn’t there?
Thank God I have peace. The peace
of God has to rule. If you have a lot of
turmoil in your life, and a lot of issues, maybe you could go back and be a
little more thankful. Start to maybe remember
all the things God has done for you. And
even thank Him, like Sonia was saying, for this day. We can’t just live on yesterday’s blessings,
we’ve got to thank Him—that’s going to be later in the message. Stop looking at what you don’t
have and start looking at what you do have.
Do you have a roof over your head?
Do you have food on your table?
Do you have shoes on your feet?
There’s many that don’t have those things, or are wondering how they’re
going to keep them. Maybe living in
their car today. There are some key ingredients to
this Thanksgiving offering. Pastor
Ulysse talked about the key ingredients in your walk with God, and faith is one
of the key ingredients, but there’s a lot of key ingredients to this
Thanksgiving sacrifice. So, let’s look as those
ingredients a little more closely… Leviticus 7:11-12 And this
is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the
LORD. If he offer it for a thanksgiving,
then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled
with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil,
of fine flour, fried. Leviticus 7:13 Besides the cakes,
he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of
thanksgiving of his peace offerings. So, that’s the part that we bring;
we’re the unpure, the leavened.
Okay? This is where the good and
the bad meet. This is why we give
thanks. So, anoint (Mashach) means: 1. to
smear, anoint, spread a liquid 2. to
anoint, to consecrate 3. (Niphal)
to be anointed for a specific use Unleavened means: 1. free
from leaven or yeast 2. of
the unleavened loaves used in the (paschal) feast of the Jews 3. metaph.
free from faults or the "leaven of iniquity" Free from faults, or the leaven of
iniquity; that would be God. That’s not
me. I’m not free from faults or
iniquity. So, when I go to God, I can’t
make peace with God, because I’m leavened; He’s unleavened—unless He allows a
way for that to happen. So, that’s why
we can say, “Thank You.” Amen? Jesus allows us to make peace with
God through His sacrifice on the cross.
That’s where the priest sprinkles the blood. He’s the High Priest. When He comes in, and says, “There’s a
difference here; there’s leavened and unleavened. I’m going to make up the difference; I’m
going to cover it with My blood.” That’s
the only way we can say, “Thank You, Jesus,” and have that peace. Amen? Jesus, being good, bore our sins
on the cross, our response is to be thankful. 2. God Desires Us to Give Thanks Willingly Willingly. As I’m raising my daughter, you know, I want
to raise her not to make her say, “Thank you,” I want her to understand why
she’s thankful. I want to raise her to
understand why she’s saying, “I’m sorry,” not to make her say, “I’m
sorry.” Because then it’s not
willingly. I want to draw those things
out of her. The same thing with God and
us; he wants to draw these things out of us willingly. He wants us to willingly give thanks. Amen?
Yes, we all want our kids to say thank you, but isn’t it better for them
to do it willingly? Isn’t it better for
us to do it willingly to God? Thank You,
God for protecting my family. Sometimes
I’ll be awake at night and I’ll see my wife sleeping, and the baby in the
monitor, and I’ll just be thanking God.
“Thank You for my wife. Thank You
for my daughter. Thank You for watching
over them. Thank You for protecting
them. Thank You for keeping them
healthy.” Just praying for them as they
sleep, and thanking God for them. When
Jesus was feeding the multitudes, what did He do? He gave thanks, and blessed God. You don’t have to have a lengthy payer when
you’re thanking God. Just, throughout
the day, “Thank You, Jesus. Thank You,
Jesus, for the means to pay my bills.
Thank You, Lord, for a warm house today.
Thank You for a wife that cares for me.
Thank You for brothers and sisters that call me and pray for me. Thank You, Lord,” you know, just being
thankful, all the time. Leviticus 22:29 And when ye will offer a sacrifice of
thanksgiving unto the LORD, offer it at your own will. 3. Giving Thanks Returns the Glory to God (Heave Offering) That’s the heave offering. The heave offering. Now, when this oblation of the offering was
presented, it was lifted up to Heaven.
So, the priest would stand there, basically, at this part of the
offering, and he would lift it up toward Heaven, as if he was saying, “Here,
God, I’m giving it to You.” So, when you
raise your hands in worship, and you’re thanking God, you’re saying, “Thank
You, God, I’m giving it directly to You.”
##12:48## Leviticus 7:14 And of it he shall
offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the LORD, and it
shall be the priest's that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings. Jesus explains this in Luke. Luke 17:12-19 And as he entered
into a certain village, there met him ten 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
shew yourselves unto the priests. And it 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 a 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 ten
cleansed? but where are the nine? There
are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy
faith hath made thee whole. Notice the difference between
being made whole, too, and being cleansed.
There is a specific reason why that’s in the Scripture. But Jesus was looking for them to come back
and say, “Thank You.” Why? because it
glorifies God, and it lets everybody know, in that area, that, “Hey, God did
this. God gave this to me.” When you give your testimony, when you’re
giving thanks to God, you’re telling everybody, “This is why I’m the way I
am. I was once this way, but now I’m
this way. I’ve been cleansed. God has healed me.” Notice how He says—he gave thanks, but Jesus
said, “Were not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? Are there not found to return to give glory
to God, save this stranger?” So, when
you give thanks, you give the glory, you lift it back to God. Can you really give the glory to God, without
being thankful? Now, it’s a willing
sacrifice, but you’ve got to want it, you’ve got to desire to give the glory to
God. 4. Be Thankful Today Sonia share earlier today, when
she was sharing a testimony, about how the ladies had gotten together, you
cannot be thankful for yesterday’s blessings, you’ve got to be thankful for
today’s blessings; today, while we have today.
That was a specific part of the sacrifice, and God was specific, He
said, “You cannot leave any of that until tomorrow.” You have to eat it today. All of it.
Now there’s other sacrifices—the vow, you could eat a little bit of it
the next day, and part of it the third day, but this, the thanksgiving
sacrifice, it had to be eaten, all of it, that day. Amen? Leviticus 7:15 And the flesh of
the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same
day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning. Give thanks while you have the
opportunity, today, now. Especially when
God shows you that He did something for you.
Maybe you were on the road and just avoided an accident, or somebody was
about to hit you and was just inches away, thank God. Thank God. Sometimes, maybe, we don’t feel
like we should be thankful. Maybe we’re
going through some trials or tribulations or having a little pain in our
lives. Part of the leavened and the
unleavened together is be thankful for everything, the good and the bad. Sometimes we think we can only thank God when
we’ve got it all together. There was a
leper who came to Jesus and he worshipped Him; he didn’t wait until he was
healed. You can look that up in
Scripture. Then Jesus asked him, “What
do you want me to do for you?” “That I
be made whole.” Sometimes we want
everything to be just right before we give our thanks to God. Give thanks to God right where you’re
at. Sometimes in that pain—I’m not
taking about going around saying, “Thank God, I’ve got cancer!” But, “Thank God I’m making it through this,
and I’m getting good advice from the doctor, so I can make it through this, and
I can be a testimony today. Maybe I can
be a testimony to somebody who is going through the same struggle that doesn’t
have God.” Be thankful, today. Maybe you still haven’t made peace with God. You can do that today; you can have peace
with God today. 2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he
saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I
succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of
salvation.) In Romans, chapter six—I wasn’t
planning to go here, it wasn’t part of my notes, but I’m going to go here
anyways. Romans 6:1-3 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in
sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How
shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism
into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. You can have something to be
thankful for today. Maybe you don’t
understand this whole baptism thing, and repentance, and there’s some teachers
here today who will take some time to go over that with you. You have to understand that before you can
really, truly give thanks. Amen? Because you’re still leaven, and God is good;
you’re still separated from God. You
want to get to the place where you can really give thanks. Amen? Let’s go to our last Scripture today. It’s not as long as I normally go. After that, we’re going to close with a song,
and Andy’s going to come close us. Psalms 118:21-22 I will
praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused is become
the head stone of the corner. Psalms 118:23-27 This is
the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in
it. Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O
LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.
Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you
out of the house of the LORD. God is the
LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the
horns of the altar. There’s a lot to that, if you want
to study that, too. Psalms 118:27-29 God is the
LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the
horns of the altar. Thou art my God, and
I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good:
for his mercy endureth for ever.
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