Ecclesiastes 3:1“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under
heaven... a time for war and a time for peace.
Jesus came at a point in history that is similar to ours. He was an
ordinary man for thirty years living quietly in the shadows. Until the
age of thirty, Jesus was an "insignificant" carpenter's son living in
Nazareth
Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.”
The dark heart of fallen man, a reflection of spiritual darkness, is hard wired
to reject God. For the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit
of God for they are spiritually discerned. However, Jesus came to lead
captivity captive, to rescue those who believe from the power of darkness and
turn them unto the light of the Spirit of God. Jesus burst upon the scene with
a purpose, a mission that only he could accomplish. In fulfillment of a
prophecy from Isaiah, Jesus declared: "The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath
sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
Before salvation, we were slaves to sin because of the sinful carnal nature we
inherited from Adam. A slave has no choice. He can only do what his
master dictates and we were dictated by the flesh and the desires of the
flesh. When we were born again, we received a new spiritual nature.
The gift of holy spirit is the new nature, God's gift when we accepted Jesus
Christ as our new Lord and master. Now that we have a new spiritual nature, as
sons of God we are able to live in the light of the truth and to perceive from
a spiritual perspective. Jesus Christ led captivity of the flesh captive
by giving us the liberty to choose between the carnal law of sin and death or
the spiritual law of life and peace.
What do you value, what price are you willing to pay? It's not about the
cost it, it's about value. Life is a series of decisions. We are
constantly confronted with choices: how do I want to spend my precious
moments? Each moment in time we have a divine appointment with our
Heavenly Father. Disappointment is the result of missing our divine
appointment. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus Christ? It is
not a message of "Christianity-lite" or "easy Believism."
A disciple is a committed and disciplined follower. The message of
commitment to surrender my will to his will, flies in the face of the
"what's in it for me" culture.
The wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. Professing themselves to
be wise (in their own conceits,) they become fools. Beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the sleight of men and
cunning craftiness wherein they lie in wait to deceive.
God called us to be salt and light. Salt represents truth. An
"unsavory" Christian is one who has lost his truth. True
liberty can only be found in the truth of the Word of God: "Sanctify
them with thy truth... thy word is truth." To sanctify means
to set aside for the purpose intended by the designer. When we walk in
the truth of God's word, we are sanctified according to his purpose: for
we are God's workmanship, (greek word poema) we are his masterpiece, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works which he hath foreordained that we should walk in
them. As we walk daily with our Lord, we fulfill our divine appointment,
our designer's intended purpose.
God did not call us to be weeds planted by the enemy among the wheat. How
do you differentiate the wheat from the weeds? Ye shall know them by
their fruit. What is it that you reproduce? The fruit contains the
seed. The seed contains the power to reproduce the next generation after
its kind. Reproduction: that which thou hast heard of me among many
brethren, the same commit thou unto faithful men who shall be able to teach
others also. You teach what you know but you reproduce who you are. The
Word exhorts us to grow up: when I became a man, I put away childish
things. God did not call disciples to be fed. Rather he called his
followers to feed themselves and to feed others. He hath made us able
ministers of the New Testament.
God did not call men to defend the truth and to refute the doctrines of
"political correctness" of Secular Humanism and self
centeredness. Truth is not to be defended, rather truth is to be
witnessed. Your are not called to deliver the message, but rather to be
the message. You are the witness. They watch how you act: who
you are and what you do. Do you know, Oh Christian, you're a sermon in
shoes? For ye are our epistles, written not with ink, not in tables of
stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart (2 Corinthians 3:2-6).
Blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you for my sake, for
great is your reward in heaven. God called us as ambassadors: the highest
ranking government officials sent from our heavenly homeland to represent the
ideals and values of our homeland in a foreign land. This world is not my
home I'm just a-passing through. For our citizenship is in heaven.
Romans 5:3 “Therefore glory in tribulation, for enduring tribulation worketh
patience and patience experience and experience hope.” Patience shall
bring about her perfect work... for there is a far greater and more
eternal weight of glory than the material riches of this world and the painful
sufferings we endure. Therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ. Ephesians
6:11-17 says, Put on the whole armor of God that ye
may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil... and having done all to
stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having
on the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation and your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of truth. Taking up the shield of
faith that ye may be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one and the
sword of the spirit which is the Word of truth.
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