In today’s podcast, we set our focus on the critical area of sacrifice as it applies to the people of God. Jesus paved the way by His great sacrifice, and other Jesus followers have followed in His steps. George Atley was killed while serving with the Central African Mission. There were no witnesses, but the evidence indicates that a band of hostile tribesmen confronted Atley. He was carrying a fully loaded, 10-chamber Winchester rifle and had to choose either to shoot his attackers and run the risk of negating the mission’s work in that area, or not to defend himself and be killed. When his body was later found in a stream, it was evident that he had chosen the latter. Nearby lay his rifle—all 10 chambers still loaded. He had made the supreme sacrifice, motivated by his burden for lost souls and his unswerving devotion to his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like the apostle Paul, he wanted Christ to be magnified in his body, “whether by life or by death.¹ Why Sacrifice Is Your Step to Significance, that’s what we are diving into on the week’s Light on Life.

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Walking in the Now With One Foot Toward Tomorrow

[Tweet “You must sacrifice your ambitions for His ambitions, your goals for Kingdom goals. It’s the path to fruitfulness.”]

Read the Notes

You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This weeks call is:

Are you willing to give your all for Jesus? Are you willing to set aside a life of ease for a life of significance? These are some questions you might ask yourself as you travel the road to fruitfulness.

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: What is your answer to the questions above?  Please leave your response in the comments section below.

Episode Resources

You can find additional information on the subject of John’s Gospel in the resources listed below.

• #S6-015: The Value of Knowing the Gift of God [Podcast]
• #S6-014: How to Conquer Prejudice the Jesus Way [Podcast]
• #S6-013: What Does It Mean to Be Born Again from God? [Podcast]
• #S6-012: Nicodemus: Is His Life a Positive Example to Follow? [Podcast]
•  #S-018: How Not to Be A Minister of Condemnation [Podcast]
•  #S6-019: Worshipping God: Why the Hour Is Here [Podcast]
• #S6-020: More on Praising God: Why the Hour Is Here [Podcast]
• #S6-021: The Big Scoop on Magnifying God [Podcast]
• #S6-023: Amazing Pointers on the Road to Lifting God Higher [Podcast]
• #S6-027: Why Jesus Shocking Bread of Life Statement is the Only Way to Heaven [Podcast]
• #S6-029: Why Mixing Holy and Unholy Is Not a Good God Thing [Podcast]
• #S6-032: Why It’s Never Wise to Not Obey God’s Will for Your Life [Podcast]
• #S6-033: Killing Jesus: How to Walk the Talk in the Face of The Rising Tide of Opposition [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 37 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com.

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Podcast Notes

John 12:20–26 (ESV) — 20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

The Power of Planting Your Life as A Sacrifice

• Jesus uses His own life as an example for you and me.
• He knew about the will of God for Him at this very moment.
• Jesus knew that His hour had come for Him to fulfill His destiny.
• To His agriculturally minded disciples, Jesus uses the analogy of seed planted in the ground to describe His sacrificial life.
• Everything for Jesus leads up to this moment.
• His whole life, every day of the 33 and 1/2 years of physical life, was orchestrated for such a time as this.
• Truly, truly, I say to you — Jesus said — unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
• What is He saying here?
• As long as a grain of wheat is kept cool, comfortable, and preserved, it remains limited in ability and power.
• Take a bag of seed — any bag — as long as the seed remains in the bag, it cannot fulfill its destiny.
• The seed bag isn’t the right place for production.
• So, the ultimate destiny of a seed is to be planted in the ground and experience decay.
• Applying this concept to our everyday life — you have to be planted by God according to His will and destiny for your life to produce.
• Jesus also said that when your life is planted according to His will, this planting’s result is ‘production’ or the bearing of much fruit.
• But, that means that you have to give up your life in exchange for ‘The Jesus Life.’
• You must sacrifice your ambitions for His ambitions.
• Your goals must be sacrificially set aside for Kingdom goals.
• Sacrifice is the only path to fruitfulness.

Is Fruitfulness Really Important?

• Is production or fruitfulness really all that critical?
• According to Jesus, it is — it’s everything.

John 15:1–2, 5–8 (ESV) — 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit… 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

• Did you ever notice this fact about your heavenly Father?
• God is always working — He is ever moving.
• The Lord’s ways always produce.
• Anything tied to Jehovah-Jireh bursts out in fruitfulness.
• It runs over with abundance.
• Has God ever had a failed enterprise?
• Did any of the fruit trees that God planted during the six days of creation not bear?
• No, God is always working to produce results, and sacrifice is one component of that equation.
• Jesus knew His Father’s tenacity in heaven.
• Listen to what He said.

John 5:17 (NKJV) — 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

• So, you see, Jesus said that God is in the ‘working’ business.
• He is not in the ‘laying around munching on grapes business’ like you see some of the Greek ‘little g gods’ doing.
• If that’s what you think going to heaven is like, floating on clouds, and having an angel feed you grapes, you’ve got another thing coming.
• You’ll be in for a surprise — Heaven is a place of high activity.
• But all is done in rest and peace and joy.
• The Lord is active in heaven, and He is on the move on the earth.
• He is industriously building His Kingdom – actively moving through the timeline to produce days of heaven on earth.
• Look at today, the day that the Lord has made, as just one more step in His plan.
• Aren’t you glad that He included you as a member of His team?
• Together, you will be fruitful.
• Obeying God brings results.
• I know you don’t think that God is working aimlessly or haphazardly, that is, just to be doing something to be doing it.
• Look at Creation.
• Doesn’t God’s work of creation grow and multiply?
• Even the Flood didn’t hinder the multiplication process.
• A few folks got off Noah’s boat and bang — today, we have 7 billion people on the planet.

God at Work

• In fact, there is only one recorded day that we have where God rested — that is the seventh day of Creation.
• As far as the scripture goes, He hasn’t had a day off since.
• He rested on the seventh day, and He has been moving ever since.
• Now, some may say, ‘Yes but didn’t the Lord tell Israel to rest every Sabbath day?’
• Yes, He did — but the necessity for rest is all a human thing.
• While you rest, God is working to produce results.

Isaiah 64:4 (ESV) — 4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.

• You’re waiting on God in a state of rest, and what is He doing?
• He is acting while you wait, while you rest.
• If you truly believe God, you are in a rest position.

Hebrews 4:10–11 (ESV) — 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

• God is always working — He is always moving — just think about it some more for a minute.
• On the traditional ‘rest day,’ let’s say Sunday, are people being saved?
• Well, yes — every minute of every day, people are coming to know the Lord in the pardon of their sins.
• What about healing? — aren’t people being healed by God’s power on a Sunday?
• Absolutely, so, on your ‘day of rest,’ God is working.
• That’s what the Lord is saying — ‘You rest, I got this.’
• If you are one that holds to Saturday as the rest day for Jesus followers — can’t we ask the same questions of Saturday as we did Sunday?
• That is, isn’t the Lord working to produce results on Saturday — getting people saved, healed, delivered – answering prayer left and right?
• So then, God is working — He is moving — and He is doing this all the time.
• He is working without pause to get your loved ones to turn to Him.
• Of course, their will has everything to do with the outcome.
• But, I’m telling you God is working on their hearts.
• He has already responded to your prayers and set the answer in motion.
• We know that’s so from the book of Daniel.

Daniel 10:12 (ESV) — 12 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.

• How can we be so sure that the Lord is already working on our behalf?
• Well, for one, we have His Word on it here in Daniel.
• We also must realize His great love for us.
• Do you realize that fact?
• So, God is working on His plan – His Kingdom of which there is no end – and He is doing that every day — every moment — all the time.
• When you lay down to sleep at night, He is wide awake.
• He never slumbers or sleeps.
• That’s Psalm 121.

Psalm 121:4 (ESV) — 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

• As you meditate on this truth as you go about your everyday life, see what you think here.
• When a crisis hits your home, and you cry out to God, has He ever said, ‘I’m not going to help you right now — come back tomorrow — today is my day of rest?’

Psalm 91:15 (ESV) — 15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.

• The Law of Seed Time and Harvest is a continual phenomenon — this law of God doesn’t take a Sabbath’s rest.
• When Sunday rolls around, reaping still happens.
• The point of all of this is that fruitfulness is God’s idea — production is the will of the Lord.
• And Jesus, in this passage in John’s gospel, tells us exactly how to tie-in to God’s productive laws of increase.
• Listen to it now again, ‘except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies’ – unless seed gets out of the bag and into the ground and decays — it will not produce.

The Proper Environment for Fruitfulness

• The ground is the proper environment for fruitfulness.
• And that’s how God moves — through those ‘right’ environments.
• You had already experienced that when you worshiped the Lord in your home.
• Didn’t the atmosphere change when you lifted your hands to the Lord and whispered in His hearing how much you love Him?
• Yes, worship and praise is one environment that the Lord works through.
• Now, despite all of this, people try and run from the sacrificial life.

What Is Sacrificial Life?

• You may ask, what is the sacrificial life?
• Well, it’s a life devoted to others.
• It’s a life where you put other people first.
• Everything in God is about others.
• Why did God call apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers?
• The Lord takes the time to plan and develop these gifts.
• They take years and years to grow and mature.
• And why does He do it?
• He does it for you.
• Because we need these gifts to grow into maturity.

Ephesians 4:11–13 (ESV) — 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

• So, you see, the ministry gifts are all about others.
• These men and women live a sacrificial life.
• Many of them could have made way more money in the private sector but choose to give that up for the Kingdom.
• John G. Lake comes to mind here.
• And with that thought, here’s the illustration of the day.

In 1904, John G. Lake moved to Chicago and bought a seat on the Chicago Board of Trade with money borrowed from a friend. The first day he opened his office, he made $2,500 on a real estate deal. At the end of twenty-one months in the real estate business, he had over $100,000 in the bank, a $30,000 paid-up life insurance policy, and real estate valued at $90,000. ² He traveled to New York representing the Chicago Board of Trade. There he met Tom Lawson, together with Mr. Harriman and Mr. Ryan, all celebrated financiers. (the name Harriman is still big on Wall Street. TP) He was employed by Ryan to further his negotiations, amounting to $170,000, in an effort to form a large insurance trust. About this time, a huge scandal erupted in New York in relation to insurance companies. Dr. Lake, together with several others, organized the People’s Life Insurance Company of Chicago. He was appointed manager of agencies and wrote a million dollars worth of business in his first year. He had received a guarantee of $50,000 a year to continue in this business, but it was during this time that God dealt with him in such a way that the course of his life was definitely altered.

• John G. Lake allowed the Lord to use him in Spokane, Washington, to the tune of 100,000 people healed.
• His ministry in Africa resulted in 1,000,000 converts, 625 churches, and 1,250 preachers in five ministry years.
• Now, I don’t mean to leave the wrong impression here — other factors contributed to Lake’s success but being willing to be planted was at least one of them.
• So many others throughout the annuals of church history have left houses and families behind because the Lord asked them to.
• Jesus said this would happen.

Luke 18:29–30 (ESV) — 29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

• The sacrificial life — that’s what I am talking about.

Hebrews 11:33–38 (ESV) — 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

• Do you hear this?
• These men and women gave their all.
• They made the ultimate sacrifice.
• Now, I am not saying that you will have to make this kind of sacrifice, but I can tell you that you won’t be in a position even to think about make it if you aren’t willing to give yourself to God and do whatever he asks you to do today.
• You are kidding yourself.
• Laying down your all is not a switch you turn on and off.
• It’s a mindset that’s built into your spirit through daily obedience.
• Your confession should be, ‘Lord, I will go where you want me to go — I will do what you want me to do – today – tomorrow – next week – next month – next year – all the time.
• You must allow the Lord to plant your life in the ground of His Kingdom.
• Those called to special ministry must answer God’s call laying aside what they want to do and pick-up God’s mandate.
• Sometimes these callings are at great expense.
• The gifts of God are not cheap.
• How precious and costly is our salvation in Christ?
• It cost heaven everything but look at the results – over 2 billion Christians alive on planet earth today.
• Think about these things.

Running from the Sacrificial Life

• You may try and protect your life.
• Maybe you’re concerned about the cost of giving Jesus all of you.
• You want to keep some of your insides sheltered from Him.
• Maybe you think that He might ask too much of your life.
• So your hiding your insides and your outsides? Well, you may think to yourself, ‘I don’t even want to go there.’
• Maybe God will ask me to go to Africa or give away everything I possess.
• You know this ‘rich man’ scripture has tripped many a soul.

Mark 10:21 (ESV) — 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

• We will do a podcast on this and, hopefully, help people with what Jesus said to this man.
• And so, instead of having an open heart to God, people play several kinds of games to get around the Lord.
• Some play what you might call the ‘avoidance game.’
• That’s where you try to avoid God’s plan for your life completely; you know, just put God’s requirement for your time and life out of your mind completely.
• Like God’s plan doesn’t exist or even that He doesn’t exist in your thinking.
• If this is the game that you are playing, ask yourself, what are you really doing here?
• Jesus said, ‘unless a corn of wheat dies in the ground… it abides alone.’
• Abiding alone means the seed of your life has not been planted where fruitfulness occurs.
• Then others play a different kind of game.
• They play the ‘substitution game.’
• That’s where a person knows God’s will but instead tries to dodge the Lord’s tug in their heart by substituting people and relationships.
• People should never be put on a pedestal or in a place where your affection for them exceeds your affection for the Lord or His will.
• Then some play the ’99 game.’
• They give God some but not everything.
• They exchange good for great.
• These people are always busy working but at the wrong thing.
• Again, what are you really doing? — can you say ‘bagged seed.’
• Others never even stop to ask what God’s will for them might even be in the first place.
• They play the ignorance game — ‘If I don’t know what God’s will is in the first place, then I am not accountable, right?’
• Lack of knowing God’s will won’t work as an excuse in the courts of heaven.
• Not when Jesus said what he said in Matthew seven.

Matthew 7:7 (NKJV) — 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

• There are all kinds of games people play.
• In the end, the seed stays holed up in the bag.
• But, take that same seed and put into the proper environment — moist soil and something takes place.
• The process is called germination.
• Germination is the ‘death’ of a seed in its current form.
• Seed disintegrates in the soil — it is no longer the same as when it first goes into the ground.
• The seed is alive within itself, but it is only then that it multiples when you plant that life.
• The truth is that fruitfulness comes from sowing your life, not preserving it.
• Life comes not from saving yourself but spending yourself.
• In old-time Pentecostal circles, they used to have a saying:

It’s better to burn out than rust out.

• Now, I don’t think that’s entirely right, but you get the point.
• You can stay a single grain, or you can multiply grains.
• But, that only happens by giving yourself completely to the Lord.
• Don’t hold back — let go.
• Again, this is the principle of sowing and reaping.
• Sow your life for others — reap a harvest unto eternal life.
• And, with that thought, here’s the illustration of the day.
• Did you know that wheat grains have been found in Egyptian tombs three or four thousand years old, but they are now dead? They bore no fruit.³
• Your supreme weapon is dying – it is the greatest way to usefulness.
• You have a great God week, and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

#S4-047: Why It’s Important to Live A Separated Life [Podcast]

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