october 26, 2025
Welcome to Gateway! It’s such a blessing to worship with you today. If you’re new to Gateway, we want to extend a special welcome to you. Please visit GatewayOnline.org/nextsteps to get more connected.
“Worship That Costs Something”
In this week’s message, Pastor Blake reminds us from 2 Samuel 24:18–25 that true worship always costs us something because genuine devotion to God involves personal sacrifice.
2 Samuel 24:18-25
18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad. 20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.
21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”
22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 Your Majesty, Araunah gives all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the Lord your God accept you.”
24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. 25 David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.t is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Araunah was a Jebusite. The Jebusites occupied Jerusalem prior to being conquered by David and the Israelites. Araunah must have felt uneasy about living in a conquered land based on their recent history. David's visit must have terrified him.
His offer to give everything to David and to the Lord represents a huge sacrifice. He is offering his economic certainty to the Lord. He’s giving up his daily provision – the oxen he relied on for farming and the equipment he needed to guide the oxen and harvest the crops. It’s like he is saying, “I’ll dismantle my livelihood for the sake of honoring God.”
Sacrifice is giving up something of significant value that makes a difference in your daily life.
1) True worship always costs something.
Araunah shows remarkable generosity in his offer the king. In response, David insists on purchasing the threshing floor and oxen because he refuses to sacrifice to God that which costs him nothing.
In what ways are you worshiping God through personal sacrifice?
Whether it’s giving your time, talent, or treasure – our prayer is that you worship God through genuine sacrifice.
2) Sacrifice is the pathway to blessing.
The plague stops when David builds the altar and offers sacrifices on it. God blesses us spiritually through our sacrifices as well.
3) When we sacrifice together, God multiplies our impact.
Sacrificing together is like using a pulley system. Linking several pulleys together creates what is called a "mechanical advantage," which allows the lifting of very heavy objects.
A Prayer to Trust in Jesus:
“God, thank you for loving me even though I’ve rebelled against You. I confess that I’m sinful. I’m so grateful that Jesus died on the cross to pay for all my sins. Right now I turn away from my sins and I turn to You. I’m putting my full trust in Jesus to rescue me from my sins. Thank you for forgiving me and washing me clean on the inside. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
