Sacrifices For Rest by Pastor Lawrence Oyor: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Best Time to Bear the Yoke

Lamentations 3:27

It is good for a man to bear his yoke in his youth. Your body is wired by biology — common sense tells you it is easier when the body is younger. The best time to start paying the price is now. Don't let the devil tell you it is too late.

Covenants Are Cut by Sacrifice

Psalm 50:5

God said, "Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

Covenants are caused by sacrifice. When you start making sacrifices, you enter into covenants with spirits. It is not just a Christian concept — it is a realm of the spirit. Once you start making sacrifices, it is an invitation to a spirit.

Sacrifice is not just the killing of goats and sheep. The inconvenience, the obedience, the surrender — these are the sacrifices that cut covenants.

Genesis 12:1-3

God said to Abraham, "Get out of your father's house." That is called getting out of your comfort zone. Abraham may not have killed any ram — it was the inconvenience of the instruction that constituted the sacrifice. Sacrifices are called sacrifices because they are inconvenient. The Lord loves a cheerful giver, but it is still a shock to the system.

You do your part. God does his part. Once you have done your part, you come into a new level of rest by that covenant.

Sacrifices Begin in the Heart

Hebrews 11:17

As far as Abraham was concerned, he had offered up Isaac. As far as God was concerned too, he had killed his son. The sacrifice begins where? In the heart. Whether or not they receive the sacrifice is not the issue — the fact that your heart has released it is what counts.

When starting this church, the sacrifice was the surrender of personal preference. In the heart was a readiness for God to confirm the obedience. That is exactly how it worked with Abraham — as he made the move, Jesus confirmed it. The willingness to move is what activated the next level of covenant.

Sacrifices Cause Death — and Death Brings Rest

The sacrifices usually cause death. It is the death that qualifies you for rest. We die to rest. There's no peace for the one who is alive in the flesh — the enemy keeps coming. But by every instruction, as those sacrifices are made, there is a dying. And as there is a dying, there is finally rest.

There's nothing to attack when you are dead.

Some things that need to go are not bad — they are just not needed in the new season. The merchant man sold all he had in order to buy what he was looking for. He had to dispossess himself of some things in order to possess something new.

Wisdom Builds Systems That Cannot Die

Iran split their military into 32 factions. If you kill the one in charge, it triggers all 32. The lesson: when a system is properly structured, it cannot die.

Bishop has learned and practiced this — if this thing is functioning like a system, it cannot die again. It will go on whether things are good or bad. That is how you immortalize legacies. You ensure it is a system and it will run automated with or without the founder.

Once wisdom is applied, permanence is being built. You want something to outlive you — you must follow wisdom. Wisdom sets structures.

Covenants Are Transferable

Psalm 112:1-2

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. His descendants will be mighty on the earth. By reason of living a life of sacrifice and covenant, blessings rest on children and everything prospers.

God's hand rests not just on the one making sacrifices — it rests on the seed as well.

David cut covenants by sacrifice. Generations later, God was preserving kings because of the covenant with David. Covenant is transferable. You can pass rest on to your children.

If a father stole public money and used it to send children to Switzerland, those children entered the jet, they ate the food, they enjoyed the benefit. When the punishment comes, should they share? They should. God said he visits the iniquity to four generations — it is just, because the enjoyment also traveled down three to four generations.

Negative covenants run until by knowledge they are broken. But positive covenants also run — and it is fair, because somebody labored, sacrificed, and entered into covenant.

The Revival Clock

The coming weeks will be marked by heavy demonstrations of power. Power dimensions are waking up.

I wake up your power dimensions. Wake up. Everything that fell down, rise up again. Everything that seemed to shut down, start again. All the dreamers, begin to dream again. Your eyes are open now. Your heart begins to understand now. I pray that your love for Jesus will increase. Be overwhelmed with hunger for Jesus. This passion will never die. May this passion carry you through to the end of your life. In the name of Jesus.