Consecration - 2
Activity: Sunday Sermon
Anchor Scripture: 2 Tim. 2: 20 – 21, Judges 13 – 16
Scripture References: Eph. 1: 3-12, 1 Pet. 2: 9
Introduction
In the first part of this message, the good Lord led us into
what consecration is and why it is important for us as Christians. However,
there is a pressing need to move a step further to enable us apply ourselves
more to this all-important spiritual concept.
Ordinarily in the world today, there seems to be a
discordant tune, orchestrated by doctrinal disparities, among Christians as to
what God requires of us. Ditto, how we ought to conduct ourselves, as Christians,
who should secondly live in God’s righteous divine presence.
This ‘disunity’ accounts for Christianity Without Power, which we currently have almost
everywhere today. God’s assurance is that “at the mention of the name of Jesus Christ,
every knee should bow and every tongue confess . . . .” (Phil. 2: 11) How
often does that happen today in our meetings, and what is responsible for the
paucity of the Power of God in our midst?
Today, God will help us to see the link between our being
consecrated and our “reasonable service”
to Him.
I believe Christians today really need to understand that
being a Christian is more than just going to a church and or even, just
carrying Bibles. I pray God will help us and give us understanding in Jesus
Mighty Name. Amen.
Message
Our anchor Scripture made a point clear, that ONLY “if a
man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour,
sanctified and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”
That is, without the purging of himself,
one is not fit for the Master’s use. This
purging, is, what is called consecration. When one is consecrated, they carry
no impurities (sin). God only uses consecrated vessels (Habbakuk 1:13).
That 2 Tim. 2: 21, brethren, shows that the responsibility
of the purging rests solely on the
one who needs purging - if a man therefore purge himself –
not if a man is therefore purged. What does this portends for us, therefore? It
only means that every man needs to “work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling.” (Phil. 2: 12) And that is what I have always said; salvation is an individual thing. It is
a personal decision. Salvation is neither denominational nor doctrinal; it is
universal. That is, the question of whether one is saved or not has nothing to
do with where one worships God, but more of whether one is actually worshipping
Him wherever one finds oneself. I attempted an explanation of what worship is
in my book, “Praying the Right Prayers”
because to some of us, singing some few solemn songs while we lift up our ‘holy’
hands is all that worship stands for. No, it is more than that! A life that
would acceptably worship God MUST be
a consecrated life!
In Roman 12: 1, the Bible again admonished us to “present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.” From this Scripture, we now see that our act of
consecration constitutes ‘service’ to God because the presentation of our
bodies in those ways, constitutes, consecration. Essentially, this ‘service’ is
what worship is all about. A non-consecrated
life cannot serve or worship God because “God is Spirit . . . . (John4:24). John
3:6 says “That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.” And the book of Romans 8: 8 makes it clear that “. .
. they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Brethren, we get out of the flesh and become
consecrated unto God, and become useful unto Him, when we purge ourselves of THESE
THINGS. These things are listed from verse 15-19 of the same book of 2
Timothy 2 and further, in Gal. 5: 19 – 21, Exo. 20: 3-17, Mat. 7: 24 – 27,
James 2: 10.
Let me round off by saying: “Nevertheless, the foundation of
God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And,
let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:
19). May God help and give us all understanding in Jesus Christ’s Name.
Amen.
Conclusion
Painfully, many of us, Christians and Believers, live what I
call, the Samsonic lifestyle. We wallow
in avoidable sins everyday, and because we, after falling into these sins, could; still preach as before, sing as before,
evangelize as before and do so many other things in ‘His service’ as before, we
don’t really see or know that something is or has gone wrong.
When we go on sin escapades, our degree of consecration
drops, and the deeper we sink, the lower it drops, until it get’s to the zero
level when it fizzles out totally just like it was the case with Samson. I think
the reason many of us don’t normally know that something is or has gone wrong
is because the ‘anointing’ remains and continues to manifest whenever we stand
to ‘minister.’ But we really need to watch it!
A consecrated life is the only life of service that God
recognizes. A life that indulges in ‘secret sins’, even though is ‘serving God’,
stands no chance of proving and manifesting the Power of God in its raw state. That
is why many have gone after many devices because miracles must continue to
come. May God help us all in Jesus Christ’s Name. Amen.
Till we meet again, keep keeping on in Him!
Comments
Post a Comment