CHOSEN

1 Peter 2:9  “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

Here is another Thursday message from Micheal: God has called his Remnant as his “chosen” generation by his own grace, mercy and love.  In the Old Testament, God called Israel, not because they were great, but because they were loved. Chosen is the antidote to elitism. He chose them not because they were choice people but because they were un-merited. He chose them by his own will.  Only by God's grace was Israel chosen. hey were not elite in themselves, but because of His having chosen them by His mercy and grace.  It's not a matter of deservedness...  If God had given them their "just deserts" they would be dead...  for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ – Romans 6:23. A priest is the one who has access to God. Without God, we're on the outside looking in. But, we're included by his grace as a royal priesthood. The priest is chosen of God, having access through the tabernacle to God to represent the people in God's presence. Only the “High Priest” could enter into the “Holy of Holies”, once a year into the inner chamber that represented the presence of God on the high holy “Day of Atonement”, once a year.

Society talks about belonging and our need to be inclusive and included, to be on the inside, looking out.  However, only God allows his people into his Holy presence. There is a narrow gate to the narrow way to the heart of God. Only through our Lord Jesus Christ can we enter into the” Holy of Holies” into God's presence. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the father but by me – John 14:6.  Having access to God through Jesus Christ, we now have fellowship with God.  Fellowship means communion, i.e. co-union with God.  For truly our fellowship is with God and his Son Jesus Christ and one with another in the household of faith. Holy means sanctified or set apart for the purpose intended by the designer. It means to live without pretense according to that for which we have been designed, according to his divine purpose for our lives.

An ethnic group is a group of people held together by a common culture. A sub-culture holds individuals together with a common language, a common experience and a common relationship. Friendships develop within each sub-culture. Orange County, California is a diverse region with many different sub-cultures. The melting pot of the general culture encompasses many different sub-cultures. Sub-cultures are exclusive and screened. However, a collective culture is not exclusive. The Christian culture must be inclusive and forgiving of the sub-cultures. Christianity must be free to encompass all facets of our lives and cross over to those who are different from us ethnically and sub-culturally. We are God's possession.  It's not who we are, it's whose we are.  We are not only God's possession, we are his prize possession.  For by grace we are saved, not of works lest any man should boast.  For we are his workmanship, his most prized possession, his “poema”, his poem, his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he hath foreordained that we should walk in it.

God's providence, His allotment, His provision is in His chosen people.  As His chosen ones, our allotment, our blessing, our portion is in Him.  I in thee and thee in me.  Be thou my vision O Lord of my Heart, naught be all else to me save that thou art. It's none of me and all of thee.  That I should boast not in myself, but only in the Grace of God.

May God richly bless you.
Your Brother in Christ, Michael