I find it quite amazing that very little has been said about how to prepare for the coming of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I have been thinking about this subject for months and I have been preparing notes and Scripture on this subject for weeks but I had to wait on the Lord until now to direct me on how to share.
Many folks think that being “Saved” is good enough to get you ready for His coming and entrance into the Kingdom of GOD. This is not what the Bible says in Mathew and other Scriptures.
Matthew 7:13-14 13 (“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it).
Matthew 7:21-23 21 (“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!)
In Revelation the seven churches are referenced and the Lukewarm Church is one we will focus on.
Revelation 3:15-16 (“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth).
Does the Lukewarm Church remind you of our Church of today? Do we worship God on Sundays and the rest of the week we worship Satan? How many of you will deny this? Take time to add up the time you spend with GOD and the time you spend with this world. Will GOD vomit you out of His mouth? One cannot intentionally be living in violation of GOD’s precepts and expect His promises to be fulfilled.
Let us look at Galatians 5:19-21 (Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of GOD).
Can we translate what Paul says that those who habitually practice those things against GOD with a hardened heart as a way of life, they shall not inherit the kingdom of GOD? It is important to understand that grace and mercy does not absolve us from responsibility for holiness. Romans 6:1-2 1 (What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?)
We tend to make everything so complicated when relying on the doctrine of man. I will use one word that will make it simple to understand and will be the key to answering the question above. That word is SANCTIFIED!!!!!!!!
The definition of SANCTIFIED is:
1. To make holy; set apart as sacred
2. To purify or free from sin: Sanctify your hearts
3. To make productive of or conducive to spiritual blessings.
Acts 26:17-18 (NIV) (I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’)
We want our whole spirit, soul, and body sanctified and preserved blameless when Jesus returns.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (Now may the GOD of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ).
How do we sanctify ourselves in Our Lord Jesus Christ? We make every effort to live our lives without sin and if we sin, we need to confess our sins immediately and ask God for forgiveness. Can we eliminate sin completely? The answer is no.
It is fair to say and all believers will agree that we sin often. What we don’t realize is the frequency and magnitude of our sin each and every day. Let me give you examples below:
1. Anxiety, stress, and fear (Haggai 2:5….. so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!) causing you to worry. We worry about our jobs, health, economy, money family, terrorist, relatives, people that offend us, robbers, predators, etc. Matthew 6:25 (“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?)
2. Judgmental or Critical of the Church or someone you know. Ecclesiastes 3:17 (“GOD will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”)
3. Slander, gossip, or a busybody. Psalm 101:5 (whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure.)
4. Exaggeration of stories, accomplishments, credentials, white lie, or partial truths. Exodus 20:16 (“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor).
5. Coveting power, position, big house, high paying job, money, and stuff. Hebrews 13:5 (Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”)
6. Idolizing sport teams and heroes, your kids, spouses, bosses, media stars, and singers. 1 Corinthians 10:14 (Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.)
7. Murmur and complaining. 1 Corinthians 10:10 (nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.)
8. Prideful. (Proverbs 29:23 (A man’s pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor.)
9. Anger. Colossians (NIV) 3:8 (But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Has your wrath come against your family or someone you know?)
10. Tithe. All you have belongs to GOD and tithing is not an option. You can do much more with GOD’s 90% than your 100%. Malachi 3:8 (“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings.” Not only does GOD want you to tithe but He wants offerings above your tithe.)
11. Theft. Matthew 15:18-19 (But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.)
If it were possible to have Jesus in the flesh hang out with you for a few days would you be doing these things? I am here to tell you that Jesus may not be hanging out with you in the flesh, but He is there watching your every move. Ask yourself this question: Will what I say or do bring glory to GOD?
Let’s turn our attention back to how we become sanctified in Our Lord and Savior Jesus Chris. Basically speaking, we all need to turn away from sin. We need to switch from our method of operation to God’s method of operation.
Below are 8 keys to wholeness and freedom (Henry Wright – A More Excellent Way).
1. Recognize – You must recognize your sin.
2. Responsibility – You must take responsibility for what you recognized as sin.
3. Repent – Repent to God for participating with what you recognize as sin.
4. Renounce – You must make what you recognize your enemy and renounce it.
5. Remove it – Get rid of your sin once and for all.
6. Resist – Resist sin when it tries to come back.
7. Rejoice – Give God thanks for setting you free of your sin.
8. Restore – Show someone else how to be set free.
I want to share with you what has helped my family in dealing with sin. Man sins throughout the day and most believers do not deal with sin (fear, lying, worry, anger, slander, coveting, idolatry, etc.) until the end of the day if at all. The problem with this method is we forget most of our sins and go to bed buried in sin without confessing our sins to God. Our goal should be to confess our sins the very second they occur so that we don’t forget. As we recognize and confess our sins throughout the day, God will work in our heart so that we don’t continue to repeat our sins. Therefore, we began on a path to sanctification in Jesus Christ.
The Word of God is critical in being sanctified in Jesus Christ. I heard a recent sermon from a pastor who admitted reading only a few Bible verses each morning. I was shocked to hear this from this pastor who is the leader of this Church. First, he gave the congregation a license to read only a few verses a day. Second, he took and minimized what the Bible means to all of us in John 1:1-3 (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made). Third, relying on the doctrine of man (his own thinking) will result in destruction. Henry Wright said “I have not found anyone who has mastered the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Every time I think I understand the Word, I go and read it some more and I see something new in there that I didn’t see before.”
God’s Word has been there from the beginning and we can’t attempt to be sanctified in Jesus Christ without God’s Word We need to be firmly rooted in God’s Word if we are to partake in the fivefold ministry (Ephesians 4:11) as not to be sifted like wheat by Satan. Luke 22:31 (And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat). This also applies each and every one of us. By not knowing God’s Word, we open ourselves to the attacks from the dark kingdom. Satan does not discriminate. Satan will go after you. He will go after your children to get to you. He will go after your marriage. He will go after your job. He will go after your health. He will go after your Church He will go after you mind.
Understand, Satan always wants to be like the Most High GOD and will guise himself in order to accommodate himself to men. Satan wants you to worship him and based on our sin, Satan is doing a good job. Are you in rebellion? Are you being stubborn? Are you rejecting GODS word? 1 Samuel (For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.”)
Acts 8:22 (Contemporary English Version) Get rid of these evil thoughts and ask God to forgive you. GOD is the only one between you and destruction. Choose the light.
• The light of Jesus brings sight to both the spiritually and physically blind. Do the works of Jesus while there is still opportunity. (John 8:12)
• By faith enter into abundant life through Jesus who is the door. Understand that only though Jesus will you find eternal life, because Jesus, the Good Shepherd, gave His life for you. (John 10:7-18)
• Come to the Father through Jesus. Jesus is the Way to God that you have sought. He is the Truth for which you have searched. He is the Life which you have longed. (John 14:6)
• The Holy Spirit is our Teacher, Helper, Advocate, and Guide. He is our source of true spiritual understanding. (John 14:16, 15:26, 16:13)
Brothers and Sisters, we are getting to the end of the age. Don’t become unbelieving Believers. Prepare for the coming of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is my prayer that you be sanctified in Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Luke 13:3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Acts 17:30-31 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
AMEN and AMEN!
No comments:
Post a Comment