It is of a surety that the current age, otherwise referred to in Christendom as the Age of Grace or the Church Age is rapidly coming to a close. The time has comefor us totake a serious look at our lives and how we perceive the reality in which we live.
Matthew 5:13-16 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.Ye are the light of the world.
A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
The word “Church,” is taken from the Greek word “Ekklesia.” Let’s see the true meaning of this word: In Strong’s Greek Concordance, the word ekklesia (word #1577) is defined as “an assembly,” and it’s from the word “ek,” (word #1537) which means “out of“ and the word “klesis” (word #2821) which means “a calling.” So “ekklesia” means: to be called out, thusChrist is the one that’s calling us out.
1 Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”
Notice that fleshly lusts war against our soul. Ihaveheard it said that our soul consists of the following:
· mind
· will
· intellect
· emotion
· imagination
These are five crucial and powerful faculties that affect each of us profoundly. What is on our mind, what we will to do, our intellect, how we feel and of course our imagination.
3 John 2 “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
Psalm 19:7 (NLT) “The instructions of the LORD are perfect,reviving the soul.
What am I getting at here? I believe that the Body Christ is suffering from an identity crisis. Our adversary has deceived Christians into believing lies and not taking hold of the truth of God’s Word. We must wake up!
Being transformed into the Image of Christ requires meditating on God’s Word and being discipled:
Romans 12:1-2 “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. 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.”
It also entails examining the Scriptures and not taking everything that comes from the pulpit without reading yourself:
Acts 17:11 “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
We are called to discern between the soulish and the spiritual.
Philippians 1:9 “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment”
The Word of God enables us to separate the bone from the marrow, the spiritual from the purely soulish. We must know when something is of God as opposed to being of the devil or even of the flesh.
1 John 2:24-28- “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.”
These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
I believe in these last days as we are head toward the Time of Jacob’s Trouble our level of faithfulness will be determined by our understanding of God’s Word and knowing what the Bible says about the times in which we live.
It has been said that the reason people have departed from the LORD of the Book, is because they have departed from the Book of the LORD.
Prayer, Bible study and fellowship now more than ever are needed in the Body of Christ.
1 Peter 4:12-19 “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”