TREASURES OF THE BIBLE, Week of August 21 to 27, 2023, "They made sacrifices for Jehovah", Prepared Speech.

TREASURES OF THE BIBLE, August 21-27, 2023, "They made sacrifices for Jehovah", Prepared Speech. 

“They made sacrifices for Jehovah” (10 min.)

Have you made any worthwhile sacrifice? There are sacrifices that you make because it benefits you. For example, if you want to buy a car, you make sacrifices to obtain it, in the same way if you want a house, and we can give many examples. But sometimes we make these sacrifices because we want to get something in return and we make these sacrifices because it is for our benefit.

But what about the sacrifices we make for our God Jehovah? The sacrifices we make for Jehovah are of great value, every sacrifice we make for Jehovah Jehovah values ​​it very much and these sacrifices that we give to Jehovah, whether large or small, show us that we are giving the best to our creator. As the Israelites did, they were willing to make sacrifices in favor of Jehovah as Nehemiah 7:4 describes it. There he says: Now the city was spacious and great, but there were few people inside, and the houses had not been rebuilt.

As we can see, Nehemiah prepared the people of God in ancient times for the day the wall was inaugurated. But what happened, there was another urgent matter that required attention. Jerusalem already had a great wall with 12 gates around it, but it needed a larger population. Although some Israelites lived there, the city was wide and large, and there were few people inside it.

To solve this problem, the people cast lots "to make one in 10 enter to dwell in Jerusalem the Holy City." There was a very favorable response and "The people blessed all the men who volunteered to dwell in Jerusalem" as mentioned in Nehemiah 11:1 that we are going to read Please accompany me to the Biblical record of Nehemiah 11:1 if you found it accompany me with reading please.

LET'S READ NEHEMIAH 11:1.

Now the princes of the people lived in Jerusalem.a But lots were cast among the rest of the people so that one out of every 10 families would move to Jerusalem, the holy city, and the other 9 would stay in the other cities.

Leaving their hereditary possessions and moving to Jerusalem results in expense and certainly this was a disadvantage for them, besides those who dwelt in the city, perhaps they were exposed to various problems and under such circumstances the rest of the town considered these volunteers worthy. of commendation and without a doubt they prayed for Jehovah to bless them in this great mission that they had to do as mentioned in the text that we are going to read next Please come with me to look for the biblical record of Nehemiah Chapter 11 and verse 2, it says like this : 

LET'S READ NEHEMIAH 11:2.

In addition, the people blessed the men who volunteered to move to Jerusalem.

These Israelites were worthy of commendation and of course this sacrifice that they made implied courage, which is why all the people prayed for them. What about us? When we dedicated our lives to Jehovah, we made a vow to him. We promised him that no matter what happened, we would always do his bidding. 

And before making this decision, we knew that this would mean making sacrifices. Now, our desire to obey Jehovah is put to the test. Especially when we are asked to do something we don't like. This will show that we love Jehovah if we keep it When we make such sacrifices and if we make sacrifices and serve God even though it is not easy, then we will show that we have faith. 

And the blessings that Jehovah will provide us will be of much more value than any sacrifice we make personally. Sacrifices for Jehovah have eternal blessings as mentioned in Malachi 3:10, which I invite you to read with me says the following

WE ARE GOING TO READ MALACHY 3:10.

Bring the full tithe to the store, so that there is food in my house. Please test me in this,” says Jehovah of armies, “and you will see that I open the floodgates of heaven for you and pour out blessings* upon you until you lack nothing.”

For this reason, brothers and kind-hearted people who visit us, let us strive to give our all, make worthwhile sacrifices and in this way we will glorify our creator.