The last week and a half, as we prepared and then traveled, the Word has come time and again on the same theme: Consecration: there is no Accidental Christian. We must be dedicated to LOVE the community around us and help them improve their lives and grow closer to Christ.
We are bought with a price (1 Cor 6:20, 7:23) and to glorify God in everything that we are. We are to become more and more like Jesus, and his purpose is to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10). There is no Accidental Christian: if we are Christ’s then we are growing more like him daily: we are set aside for a purpose, His purpose, to seek and to save that which was lost.
For all this reprehensible torture of Christians that is happening right now in many places, and the extreme corruption and fraud that has infected and is destroying America like a massive cancerous tumor, there is only one sustainable cure: and that is the Blood of Christ. I understand the religious excuses used by those who hate Christ, but after they have tortured our brothers and sisters to death, those who finally turn to the One True God of Abraham all say one thing changed them, one thing their satanic religion never offered.
They say they never felt love like that.
I understand that in a carnal scenario wisdom requires that we take responsibility for our families and communities and stop the criminals, but the only thing that will permanently fix the corruption and satanic control is the freedom that comes from Deliverance through the Blood of Jesus, because He loves us all. And America is all about Freedom! That IS why we are such a target for the devil!
For the last two weeks, every message I have heard – Pastor Keller, Pastor Mitchell, Pastor Cole, Pastor Arata, Pastor Worthington – involves reaching out to those around us to share with them – not complex theologies or religious principals – to share with them the Love of Jesus.
Since you have read this far I will share one more thing with you, something that has been a burden to me for months but as I am not a preacher I will likely never preach.
In Eze 37, the historian records a time when Israel had completely lost all hope: they lived in caves to hide from their enemies. Any food they raised was stolen from them by their enemies. Any people found were shamefully treated and enslaved or murdered. Hope was completely gone. And God sent the Prophet to say
“O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” Eze 37:4
He did not tell the Prophet to order the hopeless dry bones “Dry bones, breathe”! Today we have many among us who have no hope at all – none. It is gone from a lifetime of hurt and failure until no hope remains. Yet we all too often say to them: Why don’t you get a job? Why don’t you quit taking drugs? Why don’t you … Dead bones stand up, pull yourself together and breath!”
But that is not the model God taught us. Jesus already paid the price for our and their deliverance. They can’t save themselves – they are powerless to deliver themselves. God did not tell them to deliver themselves, all he told them to do was Hear the Word of the Lord.
Why?
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom 10:17
But what good is that?
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Eph 2:8-9
So we are saved by Grace, which needs Faith to exist, and we are constructed by the One God so that when we hear His Word we get faith – it is a gift, and not something we must or can do for ourselves! There is no truth to “You didn’t believe good enough.”
So when we HEAR the WORD of the Lord, we get Faith, just because we heard the Word of the Lord, not by anything we can or did do, but only as His gift to us through us hearing His Word.
And once we have a bit of Faith in us, it becomes possible for Grace to help us! Grace is those ideas and suggestions that come from somewhere and then we begin to see what we can do to improve our life situation. Hear, then Faith, then Grace tells us what to do, and then we see as did Ezekiel
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
So deliverance comes as promised, however without the Spirit of God we are not truly Delivered. And so Jesus provides His Spirit, the Ghost of Jesus, the Holy Ghost.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
Deliverance is a process, by Grace, through Faith, that we receive as a Gift by Hearing the Word of the Lord. The most powerful, fearsome, effective, amazing Church is not people who have never failed, but the rest of us who failed miserably and were delivered by the Grace of Jesus through Faith that comes when we hear the Word of the Lord. When the redeemed are gathering in. The most valuable diamonds are those with an imperfection. That’s us. I’ve never been part of a perfect church, because any church I joined was imperfect because I was in it!
13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.
And when we are finally through that foreclosure, or released from prison, or been sober for a year now, we can say “I know that He is The Lord, because he brought me up out of my impossible, hopeless, situation, and put His Spirit in me, and gave me a place to live and serve Him in this earth today.
Freely we have received: we must freely give. Reach out to those around you as Jesus’ Grace speaks to you to do. 2 Tim 1:7 – we do not have a spirit of Fear but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Let us together be Consecrated, set aside for a purpose, to improve the lives of those around us this year. We are Jesus’ Body on this earth, and he is counting on us to share with others how much He loves them.
Amen. Jesus’ Blessing in this wonderful New year.