Sacrificial Giving

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Sacrificial Giving

• July 26

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Think About It

• Tell us a situation where you indulged another
  person with an expensive gift.
• Today ? we study about a woman who gave a very
  expensive expression of devotion
• she must have sacrificed to give this gift to
  Jesus

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Listen for answers to who, what, when, and where.

• John 121-2 (NIV) Six days before the Passover,
  Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived,
  whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a
  dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served,
  while Lazarus was among those reclining at the
  table with him.

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Honoring Jesus

• Who are the people who show up in this passage?
• Where?
• What was going on?
• When?

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Information about Passover

• First of three annual Jewish celebrations.
• Memorialized plague of death of the firstborn
  sons
• Blood that marked the Jewish homes signaled the
  death angel to pass over
• Passover was on 14th day of the first month.
• Leviticus 23 specifies the animal sacrifice
  procedure
• Meal referred to as Last Supper was actually a
  Passover meal.

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Honoring Jesus

• How does Jesus death parallel the Passover?
• Mary, Martha, and Lazarus gave a dinner to honor
  Jesus. What can we do to honor what Jesus has
  done for us?
• Why is it so important that believers express
  their love for God?

Passover Jesus Death

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Listen for how much of a sacrifice would have
been made to honor Jesus.

• John 123 - 6 (NIV) Then Mary took about a pint
  of pure nard, an expensive perfume she poured it
  on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair.
  And the house was filled with the fragrance of
  the perfume. 4 But one of his disciples, Judas
  Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,

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Listen for how much of a sacrifice would have
been made to honor Jesus.

• 5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money
  given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages."
  6 He did not say this because he cared about
  the poor but because he was a thief as keeper of
  the money bag, he used to help himself to what
  was put into it.

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Sacrificing for Jesus

• What did Mary do to/for Jesus?
• Why would this have been a sacrifice for Mary?
• In what way was this an extreme gift?
• Why do you think Mary was willing to make this
  kind of sacrifice?
• What reasons do we have to be grateful to Jesus?

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Sacrificing for Jesus

• How would you have reacted if you had witnessed
  the woman pouring out a full years wages worth
  of perfume or cologne on someones feet?
• How did Judas respond to Marys act?
• What motivated Judass response to Marys act?

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Sacrificing for Jesus

• Mary poured on Jesus feet some perfume that was
  valued at a years wages. Why are we hesitant to
  offer similar expensive sacrifices?
• In what ways can we be more sacrificial? What
  keeps us from pouring out our lives as an
  offering to God?

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Listen to Jesus response to Judas comments.

• John 127 - 8 (NIV) "Leave her alone," Jesus
  replied. "It was intended that she should save
  this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You
  will always have the poor among you, but you will
  not always have me."

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Jesus Reorders our Lives

• What did Jesus have to say that helped her to
  know it was the right thing to do, that she had
  the correct priorities?
• How can we know that we are making priority
  decisions that please Jesus?

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Jesus Reorders our Lives

• Judas spent a great deal of time with Jesus but
  never developed an authentic love for Him. How
  can we keep from making the same mistake of
  substituting time spent in religious events for a
  life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ?
• How can we demonstrate our love and devotion in
  excess? How can we response to Gods abundant
  grace to us?

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Application

• Determine this week to make sacrifices of
  thanksgiving and adoration
• Give up one thing to make possible something
  which is more important
• Give sacrificially of your time, talent, and
  treasure to further ministries of the Kingdom of
  God

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Application

• We must be careful of our motives when we
  sacrifice for the Lord
• We should do so to honor the Lord and further the
  kingdom
• Confess impure motives
• Ask God to purify your attitudes and motivations

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Application

• Ask God to help you with your commitment to Him.
• Ask Him for your commitment to affect your daily
  living
• Pray that your commitment to Jesus shows in how
  you treat others
• Pray that it will show in your concern for the
  lost

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Sacrificial Giving

• July 26