SACRIFICE OF PRAISE – PART 1: PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE, 22ND OCTOBER, 2023.
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE WITH PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER, INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: SACRIFICE OF PRAISE – PART 1 (FRUIT OF OUR LIPS).
DATE: 22ND OCTOBER 2023
BIBLE TEXT: HEBREWS 13:15
Let us rise up together as we make our “DECLARATION OF GATHERING” in this “YEAR OF GATHERING”.
Are you ready? Say with me:
I Proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. The Lord is the Shepherd of my Soul, my Shelter by Day, my Light by Night.
In His Name, we Plough our fields, by His Spirit we gather the Harvest, in His Light we seek and find.
In this Year of Gathering, the Lord of the Harvest has commanded: Launch Out into the Deep. At His Words, we cast our Nets, we gather in Souls and Substance for God’s Kingdom.
The Lord is our Reward; in this Season I receive God’s Portion set aside for me: Full Measure, Pressed down, Shaken together and running over.
Nothing is Lost and Nothing is wasted in Jesus Name – Amen!
One of the features of the Christian Church is the offering of Thanksgiving, Praise and Worship.
Different Churches do it differently, but in every Christian Church, as Part of the liturgy there is the offering of Praise, Adoration and Thanksgiving to God (in words and in song).
The only Problem there is that some People come to Church after all of that have taken Place. And then they come just to Participate Probably in the Preaching. And some People just come for the Benediction.
Today I am starting a Series and will not be doing it Sequentially – I will pick it at various times this year (2023) and Part of next year (2024).
I will be Teaching on “SACRIFICE OF PRAISE.” This is Part 1 of Sacrifice of Praise; and my Subtitle is: Fruit of our Lips.
Hebrews 13:15 (NKJV):
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the Sacrifice of Praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving Thanks to His Name.
… The Passage says we must do it continually.
In other words, you don’t do it one moment and get tired and say, “at this time I will offer my Sacrifice of Praise. But I will wait another time to do it.”
To understand the Phrase: “The Sacrifice of Praise”; we have to go to the Old Testament – Sacrifices were given continually in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament had a lot of Sacrifices, especially when you read the Books of Exodus, Leviticus and a bit of Deuteronomy – You will find that there were lots of Sacrifices that God gave to the children of Israel and most of them were occasional Sacrifices.
So when it is a Passover, there would be a Sacrifice made.
When it is the Feast of the First Fruit, there would be a Sacrifice made.
When it is the Feast of Tabernacles of the Day of Atonement, there would be a Sacrifice made.
And then when they Harvest their crops, there would be a Sacrifice made.
Most of these Sacrifices were done Annually – They were not daily. But there were Particular Sacrifices that were made that are continuous. And God told them to do it continually and never stop.
There were two (2) of them:
I. The first one is in Exodus 29:38-39
“Now this is what you shall offer on the Altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. One Lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other Lamb you shall offer at twilight.”
They were going to offer the Sacrifices in the morning and in the evening. And He said, it is going to be a Lamb that is one (1) year old.
So every day, under the Old Testament; a one-year-old Lamb would be sacrificed in the morning and in the evening and they did it continually it never stop.
… So this is a continuous Sacrifice, it never stops.
- The second one is in Exodus 30:7-8
“Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the Lamps, he shall burn incense on it. And when Aaron lights the Lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a Perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your Generations”
… The three (3) words used there are: Morning, Evening and continually.
If you lived in Israel at that time, every Morning, Evening and throughout your existence – In the Morning, there will be a Sacrifice of Lamb and Incense in the Morning and in the Evening – These two occurred continually.
So let’s break it down a little;
I. The Lamb, what did it Signify?
A Lamb is a Life Sacrifice. It is a Sacrifice of Life offered on the Altar.
- It means Israel were giving themselves to God; they were giving their lives to God.
- The offering of the Lamb was also to make way for the People to have access to God. Because the blood of the Lamb made Atonement for the People.
And so every Morning, they had to have access to God. And every Morning they declared, “our lives belong to God.”
That is the Sacrifice they made of the Lamb; declaring that their lives belong to God day and night.
So your Life does not belong to God on Sunday and then on Monday you will take it and say “it belongs to me.” And then you wait till next Sunday when you will say your Life then belongs to God.
Or maybe on 31st December Night when we are entering the New Year, that is when your Life belongs to God: “O LORD, I give my Life to You.” And then on 1st January you w will take it back.
But for Israel, their lives belonged to God day and night, continually.
… So that is what the Lamb represented.
II. Then the Incense:
The Incense was a sweet-smelling Sacrifice.
And so the Priests will put the Incense on the Incense Altar. In every Morning, the Place will smell beautiful and every Evening they would do the same thing.
So when you went to your the Temple area or you went to the Tabernacle, you will see a Lamb offered in the Morning, you will see an Incense burning in the Morning and in the Evening, the same thing.
These were the two (2) continuous Sacrifices. The other offerings were continual but they were not daily. Some of them were Yearly, some Monthly. But this was daily – Morning, Evening, and continually.
So keep that in Mind as we go back to our Bible Text (Hebrew 13:15) – Therefore by Him let us continually offer the Sacrifice of Praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name.
When Hebrews says “let us offer a continuous Sacrifice to God” it does something in Mind. It doesn’t want us to guess, because much of the Hebrews is interpreting the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament.
Now it says, what they used to do in the Morning and in the Evening – The Lamb and the Incense, you must do it
And it tells us different ways of doing it:
- It says “Let us do it by Him”
Who is ‘Him?’
Him there means Jesus Christ. You do it by Him not the Lamb, not the Sacrifice, but through Jesus Christ: Who He is and what He has done for us. We offer it by Him.
- The second thing you would note in the Passage says, “Let us offer”.
We Present our Sacrifice in the New Testament by ourselves.
Now what is the Significance of that Phrase – “Let us offer?” It means we don’t go and Sacrifice by ourselves.
In the Old Testament you bring your Lamb, you give it to the Priest and the Priest will Sacrifice it for you.
If you have Incense you want to burn, you have to give it to the Priests and they will do it for you.
But in the New Testament it says, let us offer it ourselves.
So in the New Testament, Worship is not offered by the Priests on behalf of the People. It is the People themselves offering it to the Lord.
Now most of you would like it when Pastors speak things into your Life;
Like when I say, Breakthrough is coming your way – Amen.
Healing is coming your way – Amen.
You are very happy! It is good for your Pastor to say that.
But in the New Testament really, we don’t relate with God through Pastors – We come by Jesus Christ, and we offer it ourselves.
So if I want to Worship in the New Testament, I don’t leave it to the Priesthood. In the Old Testament the Praise and Worship was led by the Priests (the Levites).
They would come and sing, “Because He is Good and His Mercies endure forever”; and the People would be quiet, watching. Because the People who offered the Sacrifice are the Priests. But in the New Testament we offer it ourselves.
So you don’t come to Church during Praise and Worship, listen to the Choir sing and you are watching them -That is Old Testament behaviour!
In the New Testament, when the Priest are offering; we also offer ourselves – By Jesus Christ, we offer our Sacrifice ourselves and it is not done on our behalf.
And it goes even beyond Praise and Worship; it goes beyond our Prayers – We offer it ourselves, by Jesus Christ.
WHAT IS THIS SACRIFICE?
In the Old Testament there is a Lamb and the Incense.
What is the Sacrifice in the New Testament?
The Passage (Hebrews 13:15) answers it – It says the fruit of our lips.
That is the words we speak and the words we sing – That is what we bring to Church.
Whereas in the Old Testament, they went with their Lamb on their shoulders; they went with Incense in their containers.
In the New Testament, we come with words in our mouth because we offer the Fruit of our Lips.
So you cannot be quiet when you are in the Presence of the Lord – You worship! You have to offer.
And how do you offer? Through the fruit of your lips.
A lot of us come to Church, when a Song is going on; you feel your voice is bad. Maybe your Music Teacher told you “don’t sing again, you are spoiling the Music” (Laughter)
But you see, when we are Worshipping Congregationally, we are not just trying to sing artistically; we are offering a Sacrifice to God. And God knows your voice, He created you, He knows you cannot carry a tune (Laugher).
But He says, when you come to my Presence, don’t say “because my voice is bad I will not offer the fruit of my lips.”
Because if you don’t offer the fruit of my lips, then you came to Church and you went back without Sacrificing your word – You brought your Lamb and Incense to Church and you took the back.
But God says, when you bring your words of Gratitude and Thanksgiving; you don’t go back with it. You have to offer it.
This is a Sacrifice in the New Testament – It is not a Lamb, it’s not Incense, it is the fruit of our lips!
How many of you know how to speak?
Even if you don’t have the Physical ability to speak you can use Sign Language because that is how you Communicate.
God says, when you come to His Presence through Christ; you offer by yourself.
One reason why we put the lyrics of our Songs on the Screen is so that, if you cannot sing it, you can speak it.
Because a Song drags a Note. And some of you don’t have the Vocal ability to drag a Note.
If all you can say is: “I love You Lord, I Worship You Lord” – That is the Sacrifice of your lips.
It may not be in the form of Music, but it is word coming out of your lips – It is a Sacrifice of the fruit of your lips.
HOW DO WE DO THAT?
… Three ways:
- We Sacrifice by using Word from God’s Word:
We say God’s Word back to Him or we sing God’s Word back to Him.
A lot of the Songs of Praise are taken directly from The Bible.
For Example, when we sing: “As the deer Pants after the water so my Soul pants after You….”
It is not we making up words; the Song is the Word of God – We take the Word of God, put it in our mouth and Sacrifice it to Him.
When we sing: “Immortal, Invincible, God only wise…”
When you sing it, you are offering the fruit of your lips as a Sacrifice to God.
- We use Words from God to us:
There are things in His Word which He speaks to us – “Be still and know that I am God.”
We didn’t invent it; it is God’s Assurance to us which we now put in our mouth and offer Him – To assure us that God is with us always.
Or words like, “I am the Lord that heals you.” And when we sing that, it is God’s Word to us.
So there are two (2) Parts – God’s Word that we sing to Him and God’s Word to us.
Both are Sacrifices of Praise – The Fruit of our Lips given to the Lord.
- Words from us to God:
Sometimes we make up our own words and will sing it to God – “The Lord is Good, I will lift Him up Higher; everywhere I go I will lift Him up Higher.”
You won’t find it in the Bible, but we are saying Lord, we have experienced You that You are higher. And we put that experience as a Sacrifice and offered to You.
He is so wide you cannot get around Him; He is so high you cannot get over Him; He is so low you cannot get under Him.”
It is not Biblical, it is our Sacrifice to say Lord, we have experienced You as the High One, as the Big One, as the One that Nothing can get around.
And when we come to Church with those words, they become our Sacrifice of Praise – It can be a simple Chorus, it can be a sophisticated one. Those songs are not in the Bible, it is our knowledge of God. We say Lord, when I look at Your Creation this is what it says to me.
So I am going to Church this Sunday and this is my Lamb in my mouth; this is my Incense in my mouth. And when I get to Church I am going to sing, I am going to offer Your Praise to You.
For each one of us, you cannot come to Church and a Song is being sung and you are offering Nothing.
Now some of you may say, “I don’t know the Song.” I know! But you know the words, so read the words with Passion.
Maybe you go to a Church for the first time, you are not familiar with their Songs, but you can see the lyrics. Then read it – That is all you should do. Because you are offering the Fruit of your Lips.
This is the sacrifice of the New Testament, it is out Incense – This is our Lamb: do it by day and by night. We do it at home,we do it in the Congregation of the Righteous.
When we gather together, we come with one voice and we Present our Sacrifices of Praise.
That is why one of the most important Segments in a Church Service is the time when we are offering our Sacrifices to God – We bring the Sacrifice of Praise to the House of our God.
You don’t come to Church when the Sacrifice is over, you come ready to Sacrifice.
We wonder many times when we come to Church and you say, “I didn’t get much; Nothing Ministered to me” – That is because you came with Nothing!
The Good thing about the Sacrifice of Praise is that even if you don’t have money you can offer it.
If you are broke on the 22nd of October 2023; you don’t even have Transportation fare but you have lips and you have the Fruit of your Lips; you can offer it unto God. And you can offer it enthusiastically, with Commitment and with the Joy of the Lord.
And this is a Sacrifice He wants us to offer day and night, continually.
Every day you get up, you offer your Sacrifice to God. And before you go to bed you offer your Sacrifice to God. And then you get up the next day you offer your Sacrifice to God. And before you go to bed the next day you offer your Sacrifice to God.
And when you go to Church on Sunday, you offer your Sacrifice with all the Sacrifices of others – You say come, let’s do it together; let God hear our voices together. Let Him receive our Sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving.
That is the New Testament Worship – It is not animal.
Final Scripture – The final thought:
If you want your Sacrifice to be Sweet Smelling and Acceptable to God as in James 3:9-11 – It is talking about the tongue which Produces the fruit of our lips.
With it, we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth Proceed blessing and cursing. My Brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
WHAT IS JAMES SAYING?
Lips used to bless God should not be used to curse People.
Why is that important?
Under the Old Testament, the Sacrifice has to be Sweet Smelling.
And a curse is calling evil on somebody; calling doom on somebody. And it is not Sweet Smelling.
So if you want your lips to continually bring Sacrifices of Praise, then you cannot intermittently interrupt what your lips Provide to God.
And James said, you cannot use your lips to bless God and at the same time curse People.
James says, it cannot be so. Because we offer Sweet Smelling Sacrifice continually, and daily.
Sometimes there are people you can’t bless.
I used to have a friend (years ago), one day we saw at a Place and he was very angry. He said to me, “I feel like cursing this Place and the People who live there.” So he held his own mouth and walked past that Place.
If you can’t bless, hold your mouth: because Blessings and curses cannot come from the same Spring water.
Our lips are for the Praise of God, declaring Blessing, Favor, Healing, Abundance – They are not for declaring the opposite.
And in the New Testament, God warns us that our Sacrifice of Praise would be Sweet Smelling; and it would be continuous.
Just before we close I want to give you few Minutes to offer the Fruit of your Lips to God.
… Do you want to do that? Yes!
So let’s rise up to God:
I want you to lift up Holy hands to God and the Sacrifices you have inside of you offer it to God, what He has done for you:
The Favour He has given to you; the Breakthrough He has given to you; the week that He navigated you through – Things may not have been be Perfect but see what the Lord has done: what you waited for has come to pass.
So offer out of your mouth the Sacrifice of Praise – Declare His Praise, declare His Glory, His wonderful works.
There is no god like You, there is none who is like You Lord. You are God all by Yourself. From the rising of the Sun to the setting of the same I will Praise You Lord.
I hallow Your Name. I Declare Your Goodness and Your Majesty – You are my King, You are my Deliverer, You are the Ancient of Days, You are the Lord who is More Than Sufficient.
How Excellent is Your Name! Great are You Lord, and Greatly to be Praised.
In Jesus’ Name we Worship – Amen.
CLOSING PRAYER
We Honour Your Father!
We’ve come with the Fruit of our Lips, we’ve come to offer our Lamb and our Incense.
As we declare Your Praise, we declare Your Wonderful works, we declare our knowledge of You through our mouth.
May our Sacrifices be Acceptable to You this Morning.
May You be Please Lord, to receive all our offer to You.
May You be Please to dwell in our midst.
And may You show Yourself forth over us throughout this week.
And let us experience Supernatural Assistance in all that we do.
In Jesus’ Name – Amen and Amen!
Let’s give the Lord Praise!
Celebrate Him – do it with the Fruit of your Lips.
Hallelujah – Amen
If you want a Place where you keep your mouth shut go to the Library.
The Church is not a Library – it is a Place where you come with the Fruit of your Lips.
Great are You Lord and Greatly to be Praised!!!
Thank you so much for staying all through to read.
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