Called, Appointed, Anointed and Chosen - Part 1

Called, Appointed, Anointed and Chosen – Part 1

Good Morning, and praise the Lord.  Today, I will be coming from the topic, Called, Appointed, Anointed and Chosen.  Please turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 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 marvelous 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; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Let me bring you in on a secret.  This scripture speaks to all of us, whether we’re part of the five fold ministry or not.  Everyone has a part to play in the body of Christ, and we all need each other.  Please don’t get it twisted and think that those who have positions or titles have it easy or the glamour and popularity.  That is the furthest from the truth.  I don’t care what you may have seen or heard.  Those of us who serve in that capacity may have more responsibility, but also have more accountability.  Ever hear of the saying, “…new level, new devil?”

So I’m going to break it down, so that we will see that we all have to do our part, and accept what God is doing in our lives, and where He intends to take us, if we would only submit.  Simply put, we need to stop the madness that occurs in our lives and in our individual places of worship.  I’m not saying that this is the case in every church, but know this: Church hurt is the worst pain that you can experience, because we are supposed to be a hospital for the sin sick soul.

I’m going to reference a particular show that’s on television today.  I won’t say the title of it, but while it provides entertainment, it also shows that the body of Christ is really messy when it deals with issues.  This show displays how we can be hurt by someone or something, and wants to get revenge.  So what happens?  We devise a plan to deceive our intended target, being hypocritical, because we supposed to be Christians, right, but we act like the world by lying, cheating, embezzling and seducing our way through, before we drop the bomb.

The bible tells us that when we are newborn babies in the body of Christ, that we need to desire the sincere milk of the word so that we can grow.  We must taste and see that the Lord is good, and in Christ alone we must build our trust.  My brothers and sisters, Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone of the church, so that should burst our spiritual bubbles when we get someone who tries to elevate themselves by putting the word chief in front of their title.  I’m just saying.

We are the chosen generation that God wants to use in this very hour in order to impact the world, not mirror it.  Our relationship with Christ is too precious to just treat it like an afterthought, a Sunday and midweek thing to do, like attending a country club.  My Lord, think about it!  His sacrifice on the cross was for each and every man, woman, boy and girl.  Do we really think that we could have endured what He did for us, who should have been taking all of that heat and abuse?  Absolutely not, and He graciously took our place, even though if we’re honest with ourselves, we know we deserve death every time we willfully and blatantly sin before a holy God, and crucify His Son afresh with our excuses.

As Gentiles, we were given the opportunity that the Jews were born with, but foolishly threw away.  Now before you open your mouth, know that they are still God’s chosen people, and they will return to Him at the appointed time.  We aren’t special or perfect, just forgiven.

Anyway, we need to move away from the lust of the flesh and the pride of life in order to fulfill the purpose of the Lord in the earth.  We’re all ministers of healing and hope, and He can use anybody.  You don’t have to have a title or letters behind your name in order to convey the salvation message to the unsaved.

While I’m turning the corner, in a few days, we will be exercising our right to vote in this country.  I don’t care what your particular political party of choice is, but you’d better know that regardless of who is in the White House, it’s God that’s in control.  He doesn’t slumber or sleep, saints, and He is on the case.  I know that there are a lot of schools of thought about whether we need to be involved in political issues.  I’m not here to debate that today, but there are some things that I need to point out to you that are very important.  Please listen with your spiritual hearing, and not your natural one, I implore you.

Let’s go back to 1 Peter 2, verses 13 through 17; and it reads like this:

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

This is the word of the Lord for us in this hour.  I know that you’re getting ready to challenge me, because in the United States, there are some with feelings that we have a crazy and psychotic man running our country, with no morals, and are surrounded by senators and representatives who act like him.  You may not agree with what President Donald Trump says or does, but the bible is clear on what the Lord wants us to do.  We are to pray for our leaders and submit to their authority.

With that being said, we also have a higher authority to submit to, and that is the Creator of the universe.  Regardless of what our leaders have in store for our future, we must believe that it’s God in control, not them.  Oh, they might think that they have the power, but the Lord reigns supreme, even more so than our world leaders.  You can take that to the bank, and I gave it to you for free.

Jesus came to this earth to save mankind, of His own free will and volition.  He didn’t come to become the physical king of Israel, in order to overthrow the Roman government and establishment.  It wasn’t His job to kill the Romans and put the Jews in political power.  Contrary to popular belief, He’s not going to do that to our president, senate and House of Representatives, either.  If you’re praying anything other than for God to guide them like a watercourse, then you’re out of the will of Him who created us all.  I’m sorry, but I have to come real with it, because it’s not about whether you believe in or agree with the policies of the party in the majority or minority but about what God says we are mandated to do as representative of Him in the earth.

I know that I’m going to step on some toes with this next statement, but I have to be obedient to what the Lord told me to say, so here goes.  If you are in a position of leadership in the church, and you’re not praying for our government but against it, you sir, you ma’am, are out of order, and God is not pleased.  Let me go one step further.  If you want to bad mouth the rulers of our country without publically and privately going to the Lord and sincerely asking Him to be in control of all that we see and hear, as well as pray for His intervention to direct our leaders to His plan and purpose, I say again, you sir, you ma’am, are out of order, and God is not pleased.

Jesus died for everyone, whether we accepted His gift of salvation or not.  It is up to us to sincerely be passionate about what the Lord was passionate about, and to reach the lost, conveying the heart of God.  He is grieved and broken hearted about sinners, so why aren’t we?  Do you really want to know?  I’m glad you asked!

Here’s the thing.  The reason why we can’t honestly display the compassion and the love of Christ to unbelievers is because we’re too judgmental.  It’s crazy how we have selective memory, and actually forget that we were once in the same position they are, and in some cases worse!  Why do we want to play Jesus, Jr.?  Do we think that we’re in a position to point the finger at a lost soul, or even someone within the body of Christ who is struggling with issues?

Let me walk down your street for a minute.  Everyone who goes through trials isn’t always at fault.  Jesus wasn’t, yet he was condemned as an innocent man, and went to Calvary anyway.  Sometimes we are persecuted through no fault of our own.  However, if it is our fault, and we did something we knew was wrong, does that change the fact that the Lord loves us anyway? No!  Who do we think we are, to preach on people’s issues from the pulpit?  That is shady and ungodly.  We need to repent, and look in the mirror.

I promise you that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Whether your sin is obvious or hidden, know that He knows all about it, and is waiting for you to come clean, or simply stay away nasty.  Jesus died for all of our issues and hang ups, so it’s time for the body of Christ to take up the mantle that He left us.  If you don’t know by now what that is, it’s the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit keeps us from making a mess of our lives, so that we can follow the will of God.

Let me say one more thing before I go.  For those of us who are lay members, and have a hard time believing that God could ever use us, let me comfort you.  The Lord never made a mistake by using a drunk, a murderer, a prostitute, a weak man and many other people thought to be unworthy and oblivious outlined in the word.  He used someone who was insecure, felt that they were unloved, looked for love in all the wrong places through premarital sex, had children, still in the pursuit of love; got married for the wrong reasons, only to divorce and remarry, never realizing that accepting Christ didn’t make the issues disappear even after repentance, because of self hatred, abasement and unforgiveness.  Not so much toward those who hurt them, but couldn’t find it in their hearts to forgive themselves, so that they could be free from the pain and suffering in their mind, heart, soul and spirit.

If He could wrap that individual in His loving arms and love them back to a measure of healing and wholeness, I challenge your way of thinking to believe that He will do the same for you, and the Lord will reveal His purpose and plan for your life, and use you for His glory.  That person I was talking about is me.  I’m not perfect, but I know that God uses me, not because I’m anybody special, but because of the imperfections within me.  I give Him glory because I know that Jesus died for our hang ups.  I pray that you will consider what has been said today, and will have the conclusion to this message tomorrow, Lord willing.  May He bless you with peace.