PERFECT LOVE BELIEVERS CENTRE, BENIN WEDNESDAY SERVICE MESSAGE EXCERPT DATE: 18TH JUNE, 2014 MESSAGE BY: PASTOR PRESTON IDORO Romans 12:1; “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Take note that the above scripture did not say you should present your spirit or your soul but it said you should present your body. In other words, this scripture refers to our bodies. Remember that man is a tripartite being; he is a spirit that has a soul and lives in a body. In computer science, there is something called hardware and software. The computer is not just a beautiful box you see but what the beautiful box can do. The hardware is the physical/tangible part of the computer; it is what you can see and touch. The software is what makes you enjoy the computer; you cannot see and touch it. Man has several components just like the computer. The body is like the hardware and the Spirit is like the software. A lot of people think that the main constituent of man is the body. The real you is not your body but your Spirit. Your body is what helps you to live on earth. The reason man does not float in air is because he has a body. If the real man is a body, then there will be no need for man to serve God. Do you know why? The destination of the body is the grave. When salvation came, salvation did not help you deal with your body rather, it dealt with your spirit because it understood that your body is ordinary. On the other hand, your soul is the house of reasoning; it helps you think and articulate. The soul is an intermediary between the body and the spirit. It has to do with your will, emotions and intellect. When you feel emotional towards another person, the sign comes from your soul. If your body can be a living sacrifice, it means that it can also be a dead sacrifice. How can your body be a living sacrifice? God does not support laziness of any kind. Your body was made to work and not to sleep. God expects you to work. Proverbs 6:10-11 says “yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.” You should be able to use your body sacrificially in His will. Most times, people mistake the word “holy” for righteous. Our body cannot be righteous but our body can only be holy. When people try to make their bodies righteous, it is religion. We don’t serve God with our body; we serve God with our spirit. Your body only supports what your spirit does. Jesus said: “for I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20).” The Pharisees and Scribes had righteousness by body and not by the Spirit. They were holy in the temple but did something else outside the temple. They tried to impress God with their bodies and not the spirit. This is why some people could knee down and cry in the presence of God but they are not doing anything. If you try to impress God with your body and your spirit is not doing anything, then you are not doing anything in the realms of the spirit. What can be holy and what can be righteous? Our body can be holy but our spirit should be righteous. If we have a righteous spirit upon a holy body, we are in God’s will all the time. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says “for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” We were made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus when we were immersed into Christ. Being born-again is not a physical action but a spiritual action. When Psuche (ordinary life) is immersed in Zoe (God kind of life), we have Zoe existing even though Psuche has been suppressed. All this action takes place in your spirit. Righteousness is the nature of God we carry while holiness is the presence of God that keeps us in service. We cannot say that the church hall is righteous but we can say the church hall is holy. We cannot also say that the altar is righteous but we can say the altar is holy. Righteousness is planted on a living spirit; holiness is planted on anything. A dog can be holy. God spoke through a donkey. At the time the donkey spoke, the donkey was holy. If the presence of God comes on anything, it becomes holy. Consecration is from the word “holy.” When you consecrate a thing, you are making it holy. Can one be more righteous? No! Can one be more holy? Yes! What most people strive to attain is not righteousness but holiness. You don’t try to do anything to be more righteous because you are already righteous. Righteousness is a gift from God; you did not pay any price to be righteous. Righteousness came by grace. When the scripture said you should present your body holy, it means your body should be more drawn to Godly things. Mind the things of God. Righteousness fights from inside and carnality fights from the outside. Whatever you listen to will determine the action you take. If you are strengthened from your spirit, you will find it easy to overcome carnality but if you have been carnally minded, carnality will have power over you. You become a slave to whatever you give yourself to. If you give yourself to the Spirit of God, you will be a slave to the Spirit; if you give yourself to your flesh, you will be a slave to your flesh. Travel with the presence of God. You cannot have the anointing and stay in one place. The anointing does not keep you in one place. You cannot have the gift of healing and sit at home with the gift. The scripture is telling you to present your body as a vehicle of holiness that refuses to be tired of spiritual things. The reason you see spiritual things as stress is because you are carnal. If you are holy, you will enjoy it. You will be looking forward to the next service day. Live your life in a way that you are not comfortable when you have not done spiritual things. God told Moses to pull off his shoes because he was standing on a holy ground. The body of Moses conformed to the environment but the shoe was an obstacle. If you were not holy, you wouldn’t have been able to preach for God. In the Old Testament, it was only the prophets that proclaimed God’s word but in the New Testament, we are all prophets. We are not all prophets by call but we are prophets by office. If you’ve not been prophesying to your life, then you need to start it from today. If you prophesied and it did not work, keep prophesying. All things are possible to them that believe. Romans 12:2; “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” The word “conform” is from the Greek word “suchematizo” which means to fashion alike, to act in accordance. When the scripture talks about be not conformed to this world; it wasn’t referring to the geographical setting but the systems/operations of the world. Don’t live your life according to the world’s standard but according to God’s standard. Some Christians still hold on to their culture strongly but can’t even hold God’s word strongly. Earthly culture is one of the reasons the devil has gained power over some people’s life. For example: some cultures have made people believe that their first salary from a new job must go to their father else they will not prosper. The bible made us understand that your first fruit belongs to God and your first fruit includes your first salary from the year and a new job (Proverbs 3:9-10). Your first salary should go to the church and not your father. You could give your father your second salary but the first is for God. Whatever your culture says should not come before God’s word. Don’t allow your mind to be fixed on the things of this world. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising (Isaiah 60:2-3). You don’t need to pray and call down fire for your enemies; just shine and those in darkness will run to your light. When you cajole people, it will not last for long but when you tell them the truth, you will win them. Christianity is not a religion; it is the way of life. Note that Christianity is not a way of life but the way of life. When you see Christianity as a way of life, then you are giving room for other religions to strive. There is no other way by which a man can get to God except through Christianity. Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the father, but by me.” Jesus didn’t say I am a way, a truth and a life but He said He is the way, the truth and the life. The word “the” is a definite article that gives no room for any other thing. People feel that they can choose to practice Christianity or choose not to practice Christianity. You can’t choose to practice Christianity; it is a system that God has arranged for us. We were created for God and not for something else. If you are not living for God, you are missing something but if you are living for God, you are living according to His will. You must understand that the Bible is not a book you choose to study; it is a book you ought to study because it is our manual for living. You don’t fight the word of God rather, you agree with the word. Program yourself to accept anything that you discover in God’s word. When you hear a wise saying, it will be wise to inculcate it into your system and practice it. But when you discover something wiser, it will be wise to throw away the first and practice the one that is wiser. No matter how much the first one has worked for you; let it go for the wiser idea. No matter what you have believed over time, if the word of God reveals something different, you don’t have an option but to believe what the word has said. This doesn’t mean that God is calling us into a boring life. God does not give us rules to make us live a boring or stiff life. God’s instructions/rules are not for Him, but for us to become better individuals. When you obey the word of God, you will see yourself function better. When you obey God, you are doing yourself a favour and not God. Romans 1:17 says “the just shall live by faith.” If you decide not to live by faith, it isn’t God that will be disadvantaged rather; it’s you that will be at a disadvantage. So many people believe that God’s will for a man is just one. For every decision, you have three options; good will, acceptable will and perfect will (Romans 12:2). This tells you that God is not a bully but a friend. The word “transform” is from the Greek word “metamorpho” which means a gradual changing. Change your mind. The word “repent” means to change your mindset; change the way you have been thinking. Refuse to think the way the world is thinking and start thinking the way the Holy Ghost expects you to think. Being a Christian does not make you stupid or foolish. What are you living for? When you meet with God, what will you tell him? Will you tell him about the money you made while you were on earth? What truly count is the lives of people that you have impacted and not your money, cars or houses. So many people are dying, some have not heard the gospel, some have heard the gospel but it was the religious gospel; what are you doing about it. That guy that comes to your shop everyday with a cigarette in his mouth wants to hear about Jesus from you. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). When you preach to people sometimes and they don’t listen, it is not their fault. It is because their minds have been blinded. Even Jesus Christ said: “therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” If their minds are blinded, we can make them see; we can drive the devil off. The people you are condemning could even run farther than you if they embrace Christ. Apostle Paul is an example. One of the biggest problem Christians have is not because they cannot pray but because they cannot believe. The word of God moves progressively. As you walk in the things of the Spirit, you ought to know God better than you use to know Him. 2 Peter 1:2 says “grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.” When you go deep in God’s word, grace and peace will be multiplied unto you. You don’t need to pray to God to increase your grace and peace; all you need to do is to increase your knowledge of Him. When you grow in the word of God, you will grow in grace. I’m not talking about accumulating rhema and writing them in your book but the words that are in your spirit. People who have been indoctrinated cannot prosper because their minds have been programmed in a certain way. They are not flexible to the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of God cannot open their minds. Even if the Holy Ghost is trying to do something new, they will block it because of their programmed mindset. Your prosperity is not in the hands of any man but in God Almighty. Isaac prospered in a land of famine. If people refuse to bless you, God will bless you. Ephesians 3:20 says “now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 13:46:00 +0000
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