YE ARE NOT YOUR OWN

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV)

Has anyone ever held this scripture over your head as a weapon to get you to quit smoking or loose weight?  Actually I have often heard from well meaning Christian friends, “You know your body is God’s temple so you really should loose some weight.”  I know they care and this is their way to show it, but it still hurts deeply to hear it from them.

I have struggled with obesity my whole life.  I cannot remember a time when I was not over the suggested weight for my age and height.  I turn to food when I am stressed, lonely, angry…you name it.  I have often experienced rejection due to being fat.  A good example is being picked last for a softball team during P.E. and ignored by the popular boys at school dances.  We can understand schoolmates being prejudiced against fat children but my rejection experiences did not stop there.  In Junior High School I tried out for a part in our school production of H.M.S. Pinafore (a popular musical production at the time) but the director gave the part to another.  Why was I rejected?  Oh, my voice was very good for a teenager, but I did not have the “looks” so I was given a position in the “pit” chorus where my voice could be used but I would not be seen.  Rejection for being fat followed me into adulthood with applying for jobs and romantic relationships.  The hardest thing I struggled with as a young adult was when people told me, “You’re such a pretty girl, if only you’d loose a little weight you might get a boyfriend.”

Now, lest you think I am having a little self-pity party here let me clarify that the reason I share my rejection with you.  Where that verse in 1 Corinthians 6 was used to cut me to the core it now empowers me to obey God.  Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword.  That sounds harsh because we connect swords with violence and warfare.  Well-meaning Christians will often use God’s Word like a sword, hacking and slashing away at someone hoping that will change the person they think should change, but this is not what the writer to Hebrews intended.  Listen to how the Amplified Bible puts it:

“For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.”

“The Word God speaks…” is not just some words written down; it is alive and spoken by the very God Who spoke creation into being.  It is full of the same power that created the land and the seas and everything on and in them.  God said “Let there be…” and there was!  Taking this into account, now when I read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I recognize that it is no longer the verse some well-meaning Christians tried to slash at me to get me to change, but rather the very empowerment that creates the change within me.   

In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul is addressing issues of sin and fornication in the Corinthian church.  He wanted them to see that they were “…washed…sanctified…justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (verse 11) and that they were now connected with God, joined, becoming one spirit with Him (verses 15 & 17).  The Word of God acts like a sword by showing me that since I belong to God what right do I have to “do my own thing” resulting in sin against my body which is rightfully His?  “…ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price…”

Now I see that when I eat compulsively (either eating too much at one setting or eating something that is not good for me) then I am sinning against my body which belongs to Him.  It is HIS body now and to sin against it is to sin directly against God.  Sobering thought is it not?  My deepest desire is to be obedient to Him; I long to please Him.  Now, when I am faced with eating that extra serving or other food temptation I remember that my body is not my own, but it belongs to God and I CHOOSE to not indulge.  One step of obedience makes the next step easier.  Now I find myself loosing weight.  Wow!  Obedience not only pleases Him but benefits me.  Is not God awesome!

So now I extend the challenge to you.  Do you have something in your life or lifestyle that damages your body and you would like to be rid of it?  Ask God to speak 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 into your life and make it alive and full of power for you.  He’s been waiting to move on your behalf and set you free.  All you have to do is ask.

MISSING THE MARK

Sin and Redemption are very serious subjects and of vital importance to every man, woman and child.  You cannot put off deciding about them.  If you are not a Christian, I am speaking to you.  If you are a Christian I am speaking to you too.  Both of you have something to decide TODAY!

SIN

What is sin?

Sin is “missing the mark.” (Luke 17:3, 1 Tim.  6:21)

Let me help you understand what missing the mark is like.  Think of the sport of archery. You gain the best points hitting the bulls-eye, then a little less if your arrow hits in the ring just around the bulls-eye, and a little less in the next ring around that.  There are a total of ten rings around the bulls-eye.  The bulls-eye is the mark to hit. When you sin you are not hitting the bulls-eye.  You are missing the mark.  In an archery team a member who misses the bulls-eye very much is cut off from the team and let go.  Just how serious is God about when His people miss the mark?  This is what He says in Numbers 15:30-31 AMP:

 “But the person who does anything wrong willfully and openly, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one reproaches, reviles, and blasphemes the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people…because he has despised and rejected the word of the Lord, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.”  Numbers 15:30-31 AMP

Sin is against God.  It is a reproach and a rejection of Him.  It sets itself up to destroy God.  If you allow sin preeminence in your life you set yourself up to destroy God and all that is His.  But you say you love God?  “So if we say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with Him when we live and move and are walking about in darkness, we are both speaking falsely and do not live and practice the Truth which the Gospel presents.”  (1 John 1:6 AMP)  I recently heard a preacher say, “I know you have not been persuaded because you’re still acting the same way!”

I ask you again, “Just how serious is God about missing the mark?”  Romans 6:23a tells us that if you sin you die.  Just one sin is enough to kill you.  Let’s go back to Numbers 15 and we’ll see that verses 32-36 make it quite clear that God was deadly serious about sin:

“While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man who was gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.  Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation.  They put him in custody, because it was not certain or clear what should be done to him.  And the Lord said to Moses, The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.  And all the congregation brought him without the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.”  (AMP)

Does your mind cry out, “That’s not fair?  He was only gathering sticks, probably firewood for his family’s fire!”  When I read this scripture, this is what I thought; but when you really examine what was going on you understand, sin is sin.  The man should have gathered enough firewood for two days on the day before the Sabbath.  That is what all the rest of the Israelites did.  Yet because of laziness, or thinking it would not hurt this one time, or for whatever reason he decided to disobey God’s law to suit himself.  Whether we feel justified in doing it or not sin is sin and it has a death sentence attached to it.

Have you ever sinned?  Then you are under a death sentence.

REDEMPTION

What is redemption?

To pay back, buy back or make amends.

Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary defines redemption by a number of verses and states, “The idea running through all these texts, however various their reference, is that of payment made for our redemption. The debt against us is not viewed as simply cancelled, but is fully paid. Christ's blood or life, which he surrendered for them, is the ‘ransom’ by which the deliverance of his people from the servitude of sin and from its penal consequences is secured.”  (Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Gal. 3:13; 4:4, 5; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; Titus 2:14; Heb. 9:12; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; Rev. 5:9).

Isaiah 53:5-6 clarifies it this way:  “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.  All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all.” (AMP)

Now the second half of Romans 6:23 comes into force, “… but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord.”  God, knowing our frailties, made a way for us to still live.  He Himself paid the price of our sin.  He took our death sentence upon Himself:

“Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die.  But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.  Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ's blood, how much more [certain is it that] we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God.”  Romans 5:7-9 AMP

Romans 5:18 tells us that this act was a “free gift”.  Now has come the point when you have to decide.  You see, a gift does no good unless it is received.  I may hold out a Rolex watch for you, but it will not be yours unless you reach out and take it.

If you KNOW without doubt that you are redeemed and going to heaven then this message should propel you to reach out and share that redemption with everyone around you.  Sharing the gospel is how the redeemed live.  Are you living like the redeemed?  Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “Our lives begin to end when we become silent about things that matter.”  I challenge you redeemed, be silent no longer; start living like you are redeemed!

If you ARE NOT SURE you are redeemed and going to heaven then this message may be your last chance to make sure.  If you have not accepted the free gift of redemption then you are still under a death sentence.  Do not delay any longer.  Accept the gift of salvation held out to you right now.  In your own words:

1)    Tell Jesus how you have sinned and ask Him to forgive you.

2)    Reach out and take the gift He has given to you by dying in your place for your sins.

3)    How?

4)    Thank Jesus for dying on the cross for your sins and receive Him as the One who saved you from death and gave you eternal life

You have to choose today.  What will you choose?

“For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] that if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].”  Philippians 3:10-11 AMP

I welcome you to share with me about your decision at:  kingsmonarch@hotmail.com.

 

GOD’S RX FOR DISCOURAGEMENT

“And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.  Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.  And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.  But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”  1 Kings 19:1-4 KJV

To put the above scripture into context, the land had been experiencing a severe drought.  Ahab sought out Elijah to stop the drought.  Elijah told Ahab to call together all the prophets of Baal (especially those who ate at Queen Jezebel’s able).  He proved their god Baal, false and the God of Israel the only true God by goading the prophets of Baal to set up a sacrifice and call fire down from Baal upon the sacrifice.  The prophets of Baal spent all day praying, calling out and even defacing themselves to get Baal’s attention to no avail.  Then Elijah prepared his sacrifice and even doused it with huge amounts of water which should have prevented it catching fire.  He called upon the Lord and immediately fire came down and not only consumed the sacrificial animal but the wood, the stones that made the altar, all the water upon and around it, and even the dust (1 Kings 18).  Once proven as false the prophets of Baal were grabbed by the Israelites and Isaiah himself killed them all.  Then Isaiah told Ahab to get ready for rain and rain came.

You might wonder why, after such a great victory, Isaiah would get discouraged.  Sure, Jezebel put a hit out on him (to use modern terms) but was not his God greater than Jezebel?  I love that Isaiah got discouraged, because it shows us he was human and subject to the same feelings we are.  This story also shows us how God deals with our discouragement.  Did he chide Isaiah right away and tell him to get himself together?  No.  He met Isaiah’s needs first.  What was his first need?

“And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.  And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.  And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.  And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.”  1 Kings 19:5-8 KJV

What Isaiah went through on the day of slaying the prophets of Baal was physically taxing.  God knew he needed nourishment and rest.  God also knew Isaiah needed to get off by himself uninterrupted by any distractions.

“And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?  And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”  1 Kings 19:9-10 KJV

Isaiah was hurting.  He felt he was alone in the world, that no one could understand what he went through and was going through.  God gave him the opportunity to just get it out:  all that frustration, anger and hurt.  Knowing that Isaiah had not yet emptied himself of all that emotion distracting him God provided another opportunity for Isaiah to release it, but this time God used physical circumstances to gain his attention.

“And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:  And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.  And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?  And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”  1 Kings 19:11-14 KJV

God knew Isaiah needed to vocalize and get all his anger and frustrations out, but in this opportunity He reminded Isaiah that physical circumstances did not prove or disprove God’s Presence or work in Isaiah’s life.  God was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire, but He was still there:  “And, behold, the Lord passed by… a still small voice…”   This is what Isaiah needed.  God knew Isaiah would not be able to truly hear His encouragement if his mind and emotions were still full of all his distracting frustrations.

Have you ever felt that way?  Hopeless and frustrated and when you finally spill it all out to the Lord a quietness settles over your sour?  It is when we finally quiet our soul’s inner noise we can hear our Lord’s “still small voice”.

What did God tell Isaiah to do when he could finally really listen to Him?  Go!  He told Isaiah to go do the duties and service of a prophet, the very things God originally called him to do.  What did Isaiah do?  Go!  He went and did as God had directed.

God will not expect you to keep going when you are discouraged, but when you are in a place of discouragement He wants to meet with you, meet your needs, encourage you, and then release you to your fullest potential in Him.

Jean E. Syswerda said it best,

        “Follow the Lord’s prescription for discouragement:

1)    Get enough rest

2)    Eat healthy foods on a regular basis

3)    Spend some quiet time with yourself and the Lord

4)    Now go”