Word

Book Excerpt

2009-09-01T02:54:00.000-07:00

It is also of the highest importance from a practical stand point that we decide whether the Holy Spirit is merely some mysterious and wonderful power that we, in our weakness and ignorance, are somehow to get hold of and use, or whether the Holy Spirit is a real person, infinitely Holy, infinitely wise, infinitely mighty and infinitely tender, who is to get hold of and use us.

The former conception is sublime and christian. If we think of the Holy Spirit, as so many do as merely a power of influence, our constant thought will be , "how do i get more of the Holy Spirit?" But if we think of Him in the Biblical way as divine person, our thought will instead ve "How can the Holy Spirit have more of me?"

From: The Presence and work of the Holy Spirit.

By: R.A Torrey, Page 78 (The personality of the Holy Spirit).

Means of Sanctification

2009-05-30T07:44:00.000-07:00

As we have ealier established in the former post (See sanctification), that sanctification is a matter of choice, and that you must be willing, whole - heatedly want to be consecrated to the things of God. This post would be establishing facts, with the help of the holy spirit, about the ways in which one could be sanctified.
Firstly, let us refresh our memory about sanctification and to know if you have actually done some personal studies on your own...
- What is sanctification?
- What is the difference between sanctification and being born again?
- Why do we need sanctification?

Now that i am sure you remember what we talked about the last time, let us move further to the business of the month:

The two major means of sanctification we would be discussing this month is Sanctification by the Word and Sanctification By the Holy Spirit, when i say these means are the major ones i don't mean they are the most effective, as a mater of fact they all work hand - in - hand.

THE WORD

John 1: 1 - 5, made us understand that "...in the begining was the word and the word was with God..." What is the Word or better still Who is the Word. God is the word (John 1: 1c). Rev. 19 : 13, "...and his name is called the Word of God" this could be summarised as God is equal to the Word and the word is equal to Jesus.

John 17: 17a, "Sanctify them through thy truth..." This verse explains that the word of God is the truth, now the question is How can we be sanctified by the truth.
John 17: 19 "And for their sakes i sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth" Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us a perfect means of sanctification here - THE TRUTH. What is the truth?
John 17 : 17b, "... thy word is truth" answers the whole question. Now again the truth is the word of God and the word of God is Jesus .
1john 5: 20, "...that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his son Jesus Christ..." John here is testifying to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Truth, Christ also said this of himself, in John 14: 6 "...I am the way, the truth and the life..." a close study of this verse would make you realise the right steps to follow to being sanctified by the Word of God, Follow the sequence set by Christ, I am the way, to the true life.
Jesus is the true way to life. He further explained, in the same verse "...no man cometh unto the father, but by me" that means the only true way to life is through Our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can therefore explain john 17: 19 as for their sakes i sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through me, the truth.

John 1: 17, " For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" The law of Moses came with so much conditions and laid down consequences of disobeying even the slightest detail of this law, But Jesus came with Grace and truth. this is why you need jesus in your life.
this is why you can go wrong so many times and still be forgiven - grace. This is why we can have God and jesus Christ being formed in us through the Holy Spirit.

A man of God said "the word of God is His way of building himself into us" The word here both refers to Jesus Christ and The Bible. by studyng the Bible you would learn more about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Learn more about is will - and learn to walk in it.

Heb. 10 :19 - 20 seals it all.

SANCTIFICATION

2009-05-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

Sanctification can be replaced with the word consecration.

Sanctification or consecration from the book of Isa. 1: 16 - 20, simply means cleansing in order to make pure / Holy. In other words it implies the act of separating from a profane life to a sacred and Holy life. A life wholly dedicated to God and His service. It means washing oneself clean of anything that would not make us be in right standing with God.
Sanctification means ridding oneself from the things of the world and surrendering ones life and belongings to God and His service.

Sanctification is a matter of Choice!
You can clearly see by studying each of these verses; Isa. 1: 16 - 20, 1Pet. 2:1, Jn. 17: 15 - 19 that sanctification is a matter of your personal choice.

Difference between being born again and சன்சிடிபிகாடின்

Being born again is the first step to seeing the kingdom of God, it is simply the act of accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as you personal Lord and Saviour, which means as sson as you do this you are in line with the will of God. But for you to remain in this line of his will that is where sanctification comes in, Sanctification is the next line of action after giving your life to the Lord, it is the next step up the ladder. It is what is required to actually see the father. Matt. 5:8.
I have personally witnessed some people who come out to give their life each time the pastor makes the call, but very unfortunately after sometime they go back to those things they promised not to do again. This is because they have not yet been sanctified, although at the point they came out some of them really wish to give their lives but they really don't know why they keep going back.

Jesus made us understand in Jn. 17: 15 - 17, that though we live in this corrupt world, we are not of the world.
This passage made us understand that there must be a difference between, you and the world, there must be a difference in your manner of speech, dressing, interaction with people, what you talk about, a difference in the type of friends you keep.

By the next post i would explain some of these reasons for sanctification but for now i would just list them for you to personally study on them.

1 It is the will of God 1Thes. 4: 3 -7
2 For acceptability in Gods presence Rom. 12: 1, Matt. 5: ௮
3 Makes us worthy of being called the sons of God Heb. 2: 11 - 12
4 Jesus set it as an example Jn. 17 : 19
5 For answers to prayer Isa. 59: 1 - 2
6. Makes us useful and worthy vessels Job 1:8, 2Tim 2: 20

Also we would look at the means for sanctification by next post - which is in the month of June , 2009.
But in case you have any question about this present post please don't hesitate to contact me. gidxyluz@gmail.com.