Present our bodies a living sacrifice ,holy, acceptable to God

 

Apart from avoiding the defilement of our bodies in order to present it a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, there is also a practical way by which our bodies can be presented as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God by applying the principle God ordained and instructed Moses saying; “Then Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. They shall eat those things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them; but an outsider shall not eat them, because they are holy” (Exodus 29:32-33).

Please note carefully that, it is by eating those things with which the atonement was made that one becomes consecrated and sanctified and, the Old Testament temple rituals were a copy and shadow of the reality, they were serving the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" (Hebrews 8:5).

Now since God and His laws are immutable and God is impartial and shows no favoritism the same way Aaron and his sons attained holiness by eating of those things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate and sanctify them which was the copy and shadow of the reality, in like manner, in order for us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, we have to eat of those things with which the atonement was made which is in reality, the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

I think that the apostle Paul made it abundantly clear when He wrote; “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:19-23).

Partaking of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, with Jesus Christ serving as our High Priest is the new and living way by which we can draw near to the Father. People often quote the scripture which reads; “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”, but fail to understand the practical application of this scripture. Jesus is the new and living way to the Father through His flesh represented by the unleavened bread, He is the truth, as the Word of God Who is now seated at the right hand of the Father interceding for us, and He is the life through His blood. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and God has given it to us upon the altar to make atonement for our souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11).

It is also imperative to note that, the main objective for having a holy convocation is to offer the Lord the food for His offerings for this is what gives us access to the throne of grace, as we have been duly admonished saying; “These are the feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day ---besides the Sabbaths of the LORD, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the LORD” (Leviticus 23: 37-38).

Please note carefully that, the main objective for having a holy convocation is to offer the Lord His offering which is besides or in addition to any other gifts or offerings one would like to offer to the Lord and it is the new and living way by which one can draw near to the Father.

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To be continued stay tuned

With brotherly love

Lucius Joseph

Urgent plea to all believers

 

In this day and age in which we live I wonder how many of us who profess to be believers in Jesus Christ are giving considerable thought to the apostle Paul’s urgent and fervent plea which states; “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).

Here the apostle Paul is humbly beseeching the brethren to do three things in order to prove what that good and perfect will of God is and they are as follows:

1.  To present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God

Since God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:4-9).

Nevertheless, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them and one of the good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in is that of presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is termed to be our reasonable service.

What we must first and foremost know, understand and believe is that, our human body is the pinnacle, the most successful point, the culmination of all of God’s creation as alluded to by the Psalmist David who wrote; “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?

For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen --- Even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!” (Psalms 8:3-9).

But not only has God given man such dominion over His creation, He also created man’s physical body as His temple, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and so we are to continually reminding ourselves of the apostle Paul’s admonition which says; “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are” (1Corinthians 3: 16-17).

We have been further admonished by the apostle Paul saying; “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's” (1Corinthians 6:18-20).

And so, in order to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service, we have to avoid defiling our body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And if sexual immorality defiles the temple of God and God will destroy the one who defiles it, what about the one who defiles the temple of the Holy Spirit with aborted fetuses with stem cells from all sorts of unclean creatures? Food for thought, the choice is yours.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00946KF6A

To be continued

With brotherly love

Lucius Joseph

God does not share His glory with no other

To avoid becoming a victim of deception, one must be able to make a clear distinction between what is genuine and what is counterfeited, what is God’s power and what is man’s wisdom because Satan has a counterfeit to everything that the Lord has established especially with regards to worship. The apostle Paul expressed deep concern with regards to this situation by stating; “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted --- you may well put up with it!”

He further said; “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” We therefore have been forewarned saying; “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand” (2 Corinthians 11: 3-4, 13-15; Matthew 24:24-25).

The stark reality is, both Satan and his ministers transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, and therefore, “the coming of the lawless one to whom Satan the dragon gave his power, his throne, and great authority will be according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

To avoid being or becoming a victim of deception one has to begin with the root cause of the problem which began with the first Adam whom the Lord God took and placed in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it, and the Lord commanded him saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Therefore to avoid being or becoming victims of deception, we must know, believe and practice the truth and take no pleasure in unrighteousness, because God from the beginning chose us for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called us by His glorious gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now there is only one truth, and that is Jesus Christ Who is the Word of God. Therefore, whatever the Lord has spoken, whether it is in the Old or the New Testament, they remain in force forever, unless an amendment, alteration, or a reformation has been made or instructed by the Lord Himself. Any other teachings regardless how appealing one might think they may be, are all blatant lies and remember, the Lord said quite distinctly; “I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images” (Isaiah 42:8;48:11).

If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them, for truly, these times of ignorance God has overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XYGDD7M

With brotherly love

Lucius Joseph

 

Believing that God is a jealous God will avoid deception

 

3.         The truth about Jesus Christ who took on flesh is a jealous God

The third solid foundation in avoiding being deceived is to know, understand and believe the truth about Jesus Christ who before He took on flesh instructed us by saying; "You shall not make for yourself a carved image --- any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments,” He said again; “(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God): “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Exodus 20:4-6; 34:14; Deuteronomy 4: 24).

Now the term jealousy denotes having the feeling or showing suspicion of someone’s unfaithfulness in a relationship, and the way one expresses love towards God is by keeping His commandments as we have been duly instructed saying; “This is love that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 6-7).

The words that were told from the beginning stated that; “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” it also states that; “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Now the truth and the rationale for the Word becoming flesh and dwelt among us is principally to set us an example that we should follow His steps and so we have been duly instructed saying;

·         “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

·         To release those who through fear of death were their entire lifetime subject to bondage.

·         For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

·         Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

·         For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

·         For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

·         Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 2:14-18, 4:15-16). 

We can summarize the truth about Christ coming in the flesh and being a jealous God by stating that; He experienced life like any human being so that He could die to pay the penalty of sin in man's stead, for as God alone He could not die. He also set us an example that we should follow His steps, to this end we are told; “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:6).

He left us a perfect offering which He as High priest offers to the Father, so that we can come boldly to the throne of grace, in order to obtain mercy and find grace in time of need. And therefore have been admonished saying, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22).

Imagine Jesus Christ having done all this for humanity and instead of worshiping Him the way He has ordained to be worshiped we blatantly rejecting it and instead worshiping Him in accordance to the customs and traditions of men, this surely must provoked the Lord to jealousy. But if we are steadfast and well established in the truth we will avoid being deceived by the craftiness of men.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FV4WTWQ

To be continued

With brotherly love 

Lucius Joseph

Believe in God's impartiality to avoid being deceived

 

The truth about the impartiality of Jesus Christ

To avoid being a victim and be among the many who are deceived it is imperative that one should know, understand and believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God is impartial and shows no favoritism as stated by the apostle John who wrote; “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us --- eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you” (1John 2:21-26).

To avoid being deceived we are to abide in what we have heard from the beginning which is; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” And; “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-17).

Now if we know and believe that it is by Him all things were created, and He said to the Jews; “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:37-39).

One has to conclude therefore that, all the directives and instructions that were given to Moses are applicable to all humanity, instructions such as;

·         “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.

·         Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

·         These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.”

·          “Command the children of Israel, and say to them, 'My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed time.”

·         I am the LORD your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.' (Leviticus 23:2-4; Numbers 28:2l Ezekiel 20:20).

All these instructions were given by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and are all directed towards Him. For according to the apostle Paul; “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live:  However there is not in everyone that knowledge” (1Corinthians 8:6-7).

The irony of truth is, the Lord God of the Old Testament is Jesus Christ, Who is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the One who said; “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ' I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. Therefore, when He came into the world as the Son of Man He said; “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." (Isaiah 44:6, Mark 2:2-28).

Now if we know and believe this aspect of the truth, the way we demonstrate our belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God Who is impartial in His judgment is by ascribing to Him the glory due to His name. “For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Give to the LORD glory and strength. Give to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come into His courts. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.' Now because of the Lord’s impartiality this is applicable to all families of the peoples (Psalms 96:4-9; 1Chronicles 16:27-30).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FV4WTWQ

To be continued

With brotherly love

Lucius Joseph

Respect the immutability of the laws of God

 

Now the way of life which is in accordance to the laws of God or in accordance to the Spirit, is a straight gate and a narrow way and only a few people will find it, but the way which is in accordance to the flesh, and traditions and customs of men, is wide and broad, and each one does what seems right in his/her own eyes, and walking after the imagination of their own hearts, and though it leads to destruction, there are many who goes through it.

Believers therefore, have been duly admonished saying; “I say then: Walk in the Spirit” (meaning, walking in accordance to the laws of God as Jesus plainly said, “ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”) And you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Galatians 5: 16-18; John 6:63).

To live contrary to what is inscribed in the laws of God, is to live in accordance to the flesh, where, everyman does what seems right in his/her own eyes, and walks according to the imagination of his/her heart, unfortunately, this is the cause for the massive confusion that exists in the world, especially in the Christian religion, man has blatantly rejected the laws of God and holding tenaciously to the customs and traditions of men.

 Despite the fact that Jesus Christ denounced it by saying; “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. and in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men:' For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men” (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:6-8).

Now, not only are we to know and believe the truth about the immutability of God and His laws in order to avoid becoming a victim of deception, we also have to demonstrate our belief by obeying them. Because according to the apostle James; “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.'

“But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe --- and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? (James 2:15-20).

So the way one demonstrates his/her knowledge and belief in the truth about the immutability of God and His laws is by obeying them. For it is written; “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.” And Jesus said quite emphatically, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (1John 2:3-5; John 14:15)

Therefore, being confident of the immutability of God and His laws and showing due respect to this fact is the first step towards avoiding being deceived regardless of how charismatic or appealing to the flesh the deceivers may appear to be.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FV4WTWQ

To be continued

With brotherly love

Lucius Joseph

Avoid being a victim of deception

 

Avoid being a Victim of Deception?

Jesus Christ the greatest Prophet and Teacher of all times issued a stern warning to His disciples saying; “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.” What will attribute to this global deception according to Jesus, it is because, “You (believers) will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:9-13).

Lawlessness as one can clearly see is the root cause of deception, but the irony of truth is, there is a way by which one can avoid being, or becoming a victim of deception, and this way is simply by knowing, believing and practicing the truth. Like Jesus said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8: 16-17).

But what is the truth that we need to know, believe and practice in order to help us avoid being, or becoming victims of deception? The irony of truth is, there are at least four (4) vital truths we need to know, believe and practice which are:

1.         The truth about the immutability of God and His laws

It is imperative that we hold on to the fact that God and His word are both immutable and do not change as clearly state by the Lord who says; "For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob”. And with regards to the law, although no one is justified by the law in the sight of God and the just shall live by faith, nevertheless, the law is holy, just, good and spiritual (Malachi 3:6; Romans 7:12, 14).

The truth of the matter is, not being justified by keeping the law does not nullify it and makes it obsolete. On the contrary according to the apostle Paul; “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” He said again; “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." (Galatians 3:31; Romans 7:7).

Therefore it is preposterous for anyone to believe, or assume that the commandments of God are no longer in force. Anyone who believes or are in the assumption that the commandments of God are not in force, are under a huge cloud of deception. For Jesus Christ said categorically: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” He went on to validate the certainty of the commandments by saying; “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-19).

Therefore, although without a shadow of doubt, it is by grace we have been saved through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast, we nevertheless are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them and the good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them are all inscribed in His laws, the manual and guide book given to man in order for man to know how to live in the Spirit. The irony of truth is, there is a life which is in accordance to the laws of God, or in the Spirit, and there is a life which is in accordance to the flesh, or in accordance to the customs and traditions of men.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BFP1SMV

To be continued

With brotherly love

Lucius Joseph