THE LORD’S VENISON
Dearly beloved, welcome to December! As we look to the last days of 2020, let me remind you that the Father's express word to us remains that we make a meal that pleases him. Our call is to offer ourselves a living sacrifice, dead to the flesh but alive to a God whom we love and obey daily. Indeed, as the Lord accepts our lives, the sacrifice we bring becomes a sweet, smelling sacrifice that pleases him.
But we cannot afford to rest on our oars. I want to briefly point us to other areas of worship and surrender that please the Father, areas he is calling us to in the final days of the year and 2021. The first of these is the issue of praise. Let me clear: to be a God pleaser, you must be a God praiser! Not a complainant or a murmured. In Psalms, we read that God Dwells in the Praises of His People ( 22:3), We please the Lord when we offer the sacrifice of our praise, even the fruit of our lips. Let me encourage you to praise him this month'; as you do, you invite his Spirit as he blesses you with presence.
But He also blesses you with something more. In 1Kings 3, Solomon is an example of a man who offered quality praises to God and pleased him so much that the Lord offered him a blank check. The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, climbing what was the most important high place. This was a sacrificial gesture that cost Solomon a lot. But he chose to go the extra mile, offering a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. Let me say to you–God pleasers are extra-mile Christians who are never tired of praising more, giving more and loving the Father more.
And because you love the Father, you want others to know about him; so you sacrifice your time, taking seriously His desire to see many come to Him. You take soul-winning seriously because of this love but also because it brings glory and pleasure to the heavenly community. Indeed, soul-winning pleases God. As a sinner, like every prodigal. returns to God, there is rapturous applause in Heaven. He that wins a soul is wise. He pleases God too. May we please God this month and in the new year ahead. God bless you.