When Your Sacrifice Becomes Your Downfall | Rev Mike Bingham

don't ever tell a story and the church say amen you know i love going to church you just can't go very many places and have this much fun for a dollar praise god i greet you tonight in the only saving name on this planet the name of jesus christ there may have been good men with good causes but they were not the christ they were not the savior we come here tonight to exalt that name to lift our hearts stretch our hands before him let him examine us again folks i want to be right i don't want to live for god for all these years and then fall short i want to search daily paul said i die daily i want to be right before the lord what a privilege to be here this weekend to stand in the presence of the lord and uh you've watched some beautiful ceremonial touches to the service tonight and to those of you who are time conscious i see uh right up there i see 722 you can just mark it down in about 25 27 minutes i'll be through preaching tonight i'm not going to hold you a long time so i do want to make a couple of comments i was here when it was little i was here when it was beginning i was here at the start i remember going to the little church and the office at the little church was just about the size of that piano right there pastor had a little desk in there on many occasions i've gone to gone to church and there he'd close the doors in that little closet that little pastoral office and he talked in tongues just like he did while ago when there was 500 or 800 or every how many is here he wept before god this is not something he started as a show as things grew but from the beginning pastor loved this church and he loved serving his god in front of this church and i commend them 40. you know that that number's got a lot of biblical significance to it 40. and as we go on from here who knows what'll happen next i was just thinking pastor i don't know how my name got in the hat for this time but i want to be here for the 140th put my name in that hat and uh i'd like to shot it at doing something then if the lord would let us do that praise god well romans chapter 12 and verse 1. the scripture says i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto god which is your reasonable service you may be seated the title of my message tonight is when sacrifice becomes your downfall as a little boy five years old i remember living in west tennessee my mother my grandmother and i picked cotton and we had i don't know if they did that over this part of the world but we had what was called a cotton picking in the fall of the year and we started school early in the summer and went to school several weeks and then they gave us a few weeks out to gather the crops for the farmers and then we went back to school the rest of the year like most of the nation but i can remember lying in the bed early in the morning and my mom would be in the kitchen cooking our lunch and i can remember the air being laden with the odors drifting in from the kitchen and i remember thinking who could eat a potato sandwich it didn't sound good it wasn't wasn't what i wanted for breakfast but i want to tell you something the labor truck came by at daylight picked us up we went to the field and you dragged that cotton sack from that end of the field to that end of the field come back to this end of the field and you weigh in and i can remember mom saying mike crawl under that trailer and get that little brown paper sack that has our name on it it was then that i was excited about what mom had cooked earlier that morning some of you would say brother bingham why would it be on an occasion like the 40th anniversary of this church that you would preach this sermon all i can tell you is if you don't like it right now just put it in a little brown paper sack take it with you somewhere down the road you're gonna say you know that old half-blind fat preacher from new mexico bless my heart so i'm going to ask you this evening to allow god to touch you in a special way when sacrifice becomes your downfall if you go to the dictionary look up the word sacrifice there are two definitions there i would like to work with one of them is the definition that which is given to god something you offer deity it is a sacrifice the second definition i would like to work with is that giving beyond the call of duty you gave up and above and beyond what you had to give it was a sacrifice if you look at new testament giving we have matthew 23 23 the lord put his stamp of approval on tithing and i have found that people that really and truly love god do not have a problem paying tithe they understand that they need a pastor that they need a shepherd they need an overseer that will stand before them amen this church needs to be thankful that you have a pastor that doesn't shy away but he'll stand and look you right in the eye and tell you the truth of god's eternal word amen people that love god do not have a problem paying tithe the new testament has the giving of offerings and uh even from old testament givings there was those gifts that came and most of that was for uh the building the offering the uh the tabernacle the temple even into the new testament the offerings that were set aside for a specific reason it wasn't tithing tithing was the ministry but this was for the purpose of a gathering place or something like that and so it is i have found that people who really love god they don't have a problem giving offerings amen who would want this crowd at your house tonight i'm glad we got a place to come that's got air conditioned that we can come and worship god and honor god and give god the just do that he receives amen what what a great idea that is that god would let us give as a collective group that we could come together to worship him there's a new testament giving that was called alms alms was simply a gift that if you love god i mean if you were really sincere about god it's that gift that you give someone who is less fortunate than yourself someone who is in need and the scripture makes specific references there toward uh those that were orphans and those that were widowed and the bible is is filled with those types of giving people who had a need and people that loved god found it in their spirit to give alms to men amen i i like the old testament thought of giving of alms i love the new testament thought of giving to alms i'm glad the scripture said it's more blessed to give than to receive that simply means that if you are in the place that you need to receive it you probably don't have it to give but you're thankful that someone can give i am able to give to that person who is less fortunate than myself i like that i like being able to be a blessing to someone else i like that spirit and opportunity of offering that special thing unto the lord now considering the old testament there was a giving process if a man sinned or he made a mistake or he had iniquity in his life there's all kinds of old testament rights and rituals that a man could bring uh a sparrow a lamb a ram a pigeon a turtle dove a heifer a sheet goat a ram al all kinds of gifts and they were many of them specific to the type of sin they had done they would bring that and they would offer it to the priest and on that confession as they handed that innocent animal over to the priest it was the innocent dying for the guilty a man would stand there and watch a priest as he took that dagger out of his pocket and slit the throat of that lamb and that crimson river of life would begin to flow and uh he would take and catch some of that and some of it would spew on the altar the brazen altar the altar of sacrifice and and it was a man who was looking at that dying animal that did not deserve to die but died because he had sinned and he brought that unto the priest and so in this process of giving this sacrifice we have grown accustomed today to just throwing that word in just about everywhere but the fact remains that god has a plan and if people love god and they love him with their whole heart they're willing to give their tithe and their offering and they're willing to give that sack of tomatoes out of their garden to someone who needs it they love their fellow man there's something about that inner desire to give and to make it right with god but there are those who just going to church and being a part of a congregation it's not enough just to pay your tithe it's not enough just to give an offering and it's not enough just to give a person that's in need a little gift a little stash and you you help them in any way you can there comes that time of deep sincere honest sincerity before the lord that says i want to give more than what is required of me i want to go past the duty that god requires of me i want to give a sacrifice i want to go the second mile i want to offer god that portion of my heart that i've held back in the past i want god to know without a doubt that i want to give him a sacrifice from the bottom of my heart it is that sacrifice that if you don't keep it tied to the altar of sacrifice will sometimes come back and bother you and take away that privilege of giving that was so powerful at the moment you gave it you gave it to god because you loved god and you wanted to step out of the normal and give god a special gift that was for him and for him alone it was beyond the call of giving there was a second altar in the tabernacle in the temple you come through the altar the brazen altar it was there that you walked through the gate and into the sanctuary and there was an altar of incense now the giving the spilling of blood on the altar of sacrifice tying the sacrifice on the altar the scripture makes reference of uh using the catty corner horns on the outside of the altar and they would tie that sacrifice to the altar and that was to keep that sacrifice from falling off the altar it was there with purpose and intent hold that sacrifice in place we don't want to lose that we don't want it to make us have to smell the burning singing blazing fires of sacrifice the the blood that was splattered on the corners of that altar it would bring a stench into the nostrils of those that worked in the tabernacle yet god had a plan he put the altar of incense inside and while the blessings of the lord was upon him at sacrifice it was the coals from the altar of the sacrifice that the priest would take and drop into the altar of the incense and out of the altar of incense would come the aroma the smell that would allow the priest to continue to work in god's house i come to tell you you've got to keep the altar of incense burning in your life if you don't your sacrifice will become a stench to you that's why when you come to church you got to be able to lift your hands and sing the songs of zion you need to bust out every once in a while with a little bit of i'll fly away o glory you got to have it in your spirit got to keep that fire burning in the altar of incense if you don't the devil would take great pleasure and the gift that you gave to god because you loved him at the moment a few years down the road he'd like to take that same sacrifice and smear it in your face and deface all the blessings and gift that god gave to you pastor we've seen them and any of these preachers could preach this sermon we've seen those people who at the first they wanted to start that little home missions church and we had a man come into office one time and he said you know i feel like god's called me to preach and i'm going to go pastor a church and we said well how'd you find that and he said i closed my eyes i went to the map stuck my finger right there said that's where i'm going to start a church you know when he went he took his family they traveled a thousand miles from home they worked so hard it was as their kids got older that they didn't have a great group of young people to draw their dates from their friendships from their marriages from only in time for the pastor to look out across the congregation and the very children that he loved more than he loved anything else weren't a part of his congregation anymore they had drifted off into the world and the devil took great pleasure of making that man who was so sincere at one time that man that offered god the very best that he had he could have been saved staying at home in the home church teaching a sunday school class walking up right before the lord but that wasn't good enough he elbowed his way past all the obstacles only to find out that his children no longer serve the lord i just come to tell you it's the devil's pleasure to take that sacrifice that you gave to god and offered to him because you loved him and for the devil to smear that in your face and make it a stench in your nostrils pastor i've seen school teachers christian school teachers that came to teach school from public school systems where they had retirement and allotments and they had all of those amenities if you please from the public system they came to church they were good people they paid their tithe they gave offerings they were great people but somewhere their teaching stirred them up to say you know i just want to teach at a christian school and they gave up all the frills they came to work at a christian school most of them at reduced rates i came to work first year it wasn't bad second year wasn't bad 15 years into the program it dawns on them if i had still been in the public school system i'd be ready for retirement now i would have finances and the very gift that they wanted to bring to god as a sacrifice came back to haunt them that loved god they weren't bad people they were good people they loved god they honored god they had wonderful ideas and plans i told you this morning sister bingham and i had driven up to alaska we had lunch with a couple that was elderly we sat at a table and i listened as she began to pour her heart out she said you know 25 years ago when we came up here i thought this was right but said i've lived up here so long my grandkids have grown up and i don't even know them i didn't get to go to their graduations i went to their weddings but i never got to go to their children's birthday parties and somehow over that period of time the enemy of their soul had taken what was meant to be a godly pure wonderful and mighty sacrifice to god and to god alone and turned it into a regret turned it into a grotesque life of non-fulfillment you got to keep the sacrifice tied to the altar you've got to keep the altar of incense going you've got to allow the aroma from your prayer life and your bible reading and your worship at church to overwhelm all of those things that seem to be wrong from the past i want to read you my text again in closing this evening i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto god here's the key we don't pay our tithe to the preacher the scripture didn't say will a man rob the preacher the scripture said will a man rob god i don't pay my tithe to the preacher i got a great pastor i pay my tithe but i don't pay my tithe to my preacher i pay my tithe unto the lord amen you say well brother bingham i borrowed five thousand dollars when we built the new church and i sold my bass boot and i gave it all to the church and now what good did that do me i don't give my offerings to the church i give them holy and acceptable unto god that's what i give them to when i stop down there in front of mcdonald's and the old boy standing on the side of the road with a feed me sign and i give him i don't give them money sorry i don't mind buying them something going through the loop give them a hamburger i've seen them take that hamburger over and feed it to their dog and i thought buddy i won't do that anymore y'all thought i was going to be spiritual and give you some spiritual enlightenment there didn't you i didn't you know what i gave the hamburger unto the lord and whatever free will he wants to do with it that's between him and god that don't have anything to do with me because i gave it unto the lord and here's what i have to tell you about that god is a good bookkeeper he didn't call michael the great warrior and say come here i want you to be my secretary you take care of this book right here he didn't call gabriel and say man you're a preaching machine you are something i want you who i want you to preach you're the announcer you're you're something boy i i want you to sit down here at the table and keep these books for me no it's called the lamb's book of life when you came by the church at 3 30 in the morning and nobody else was there you got your key and went inside grabbed the vacuum sweeper swept out two aisles had your little prayer time going on walked out and got in the car the pastor wasn't there to pat you on the back seven ushers weren't there to say nothing the lamb has it written in the book he is a good book keeper amen if your favorite pastor moves to another town god already knows what you gave to the kingdom of god and he will not forget that amen you may be seated fact is this you give your offering to the church there may be a time when that church is outgrown you go to a new building and you say but i gave mine to that building precious old sister thelma it was the sunday we moved from the old building to the new building we walked one block from the old church to the new church i pushed sister thelma in the wheelchair she got this got to squalling and crying and i said sister thelma what's wrong i thought everybody in that city was happy we were getting a new building she said brother bingham i don't want to go to a new building this is the building my son got baptized in before he passed away you know there may come a time when all your giving may look like it goes down the drain but our heavenly we gave it unto god our giving is unto the lord it's not something i just do because somebody can see my name on a ledger somewhere i gave it unto the lord and it's if it's never mentioned again until the day i stand before him over there our heavenly father is a great bookkeeper do not let your sacrifice become the downfall in your experience with the lord would you stand with me right now praise god would you love the lord with me would you honor him pastor would you come thank you savior thank you holy redeemer