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10-25-2020 weekly message

Meditation of the week: Psalm 91:1-16

Text: Ephesians 4:15-24

Title: The will of God who called us to be conformed to the  image of Christ

           Apostle Paul testified of the mysterious will of God planned in Christ before the foundation of the world:

” According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved..” (Ephesians 1:4-6)

        The purpose of God’s creation of the earth we live in is to have man to believe in Jesus, the Christ, to be born again by the Holy Spirit and to be adopted as God’s children. In other words, from the beginning, God predestined to send Jesus, who was with God in the beginning as the Word, into the world to be born. What a mysterious word it is?

         In this mysterious will of God, after creating all things on the earth in the future, God will create man in the image and likeness of God himself. Finally, he will remove the devil from the earth by the Christ. The devil was going to have man to sin against God and fill the earth with sins, death and curses. Finally God will cast him out to hell. It contains a mysterious plan that accomplishes the will. The prophet Isaiah prophesied of the destiny of Lucifer, the devil that rebelled against God in heaven:

” How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 16They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

17That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?” (Isaiah 14:12-17)

        Finally, in order to remove sins, death and curses filled in the earth because of the devil that made man to rebel against God, Jesus Christ took away all such things through his death. This is the reason why John the Baptisy testified of Jesus as the lamb of God which takes awaay the sin of the world(John 1:29). God will cast the devil into the lake of fire after the millennium kingdom of Christ to fulfill the will of God to be done in the earth.

      For this reason, when Jesus spoke to the Jews how to pray, he said unto them, ” Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10).

         Christ Jesus, who resurrected after finally taking away the sin of the world, gave the Holy Spirit, to those who believed in Him giving them the grace to be adopted as children of God. After cleansing the heavens and the earth, Heavenly Father made a plan to cleanse all those who were born into the world and make them his children by accepting the blood of sacrifice offered to the Father by the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ wants to give all who believe in Him the eternal life in Himself. Also, He is not ashamed to call them as his brothers whosoever receive the eternal life:

“ For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. 13And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. ‘” (Hebrews 2:11-13)

          God brought the children who became brothers of Jesus Christ to gather in his church where Christ is its head. He said when the children gather together, Christ will praise the Father with them. How amazing is this? When the children of God gather in the church and praise Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son, and his children are blessed to worship One Father.  

          In today’s main scripture, Apostle Paul testified of the holy work that Christians redeemed by the blood of Christ:  

” Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:…. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:” (Ephesians 4:13,15).

          When Apostle Paul wrote to the saints in Rome, he clearly testified of spiritual mission of  Christians who are children of God while living in the present world:

“ For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. ” Romans 8:29-30)

           God made Jesus as the first one to be born of the Holy Spirit. And God also made the children of God to bw born in the same Spirit of God giving them indescribable blessing to be brothers of Jesus Christ. In addition, God made them not only the brothers of Christ, but also as the helping spouses to fulfill the eternal will of God that fills all things in all in the the future. Apostle Paul testified of the filling of all things in all:

” And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” (Ephesians 1:22-23).

          Apostle Paul also testified of how great the universe God created to fill all things:

” That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19)

           Have you received the Spirit of Christ and became the children of God? So, did you realize how glorious the blessing of being children of God is? If you realize this glorious blessing, you will realize what is your goal  living in the present world. King David foreshadowed in the Holy Spirit Christ, who would appear in the world to save his soul in the future, and prayed to God about his purpose of life:

“ From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. 15As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. ” (Psalm 17:14-15)

           King David testified of the life of the children of God born of the Holy Spirit that are supposed not to belong to this world living pure life only hoping for the day of resurrection in the day of Christ (Day of Rapture) to appear as to be conformed to Christ gloriously, not shamefully.  

          Apostle Paul testified of what God’s children must do to be conformed  to the image of Christ:

” That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. ” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

        The old man is referring to Adam. All of us were born with the blood of Adam from the birth. Also, all kinds of sins are still hiding in our flesh. However, when our souls were saved (1 Peter 1:9), all the sins that were in us were forgiven. At the same time, through Christ’s circumcision (Col. 2:11), the body of sin has already been put of spiritually. In other words, when we were saved, our old man was spiritually crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20) and was buried with Christ. Therefore, when the Lord comes, when we take off our sinful body and put on an immortal and incorruptible body, our inner being must be transformed into the same holy image as Christ.

         Therefore, we must clothe ourselves with the holy new man, Christ. If so, we need to realize what it is like to be clothed with Christ. Jesus said about how we are to be sanctified  in his last prayer:

” Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17).

          That’s right! The way we become holy is to fill with the holy Words of God and live a life of obedience to the Words of God. This is the way for us wear the whole armor of God. Our Lord Jesus was in the beginning as the Word, and that Word was God who became in flesh. Grace and truth were full in Him. We also must fill our spirits and souls with His Word so that the fragrance of Christ may manifested through full of grace and truth in our lives.  Apostle Paul said unto baby Christians, “I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.”(Gal. 4:19)

          Apostle Paul, who went to the Lord testified of his hope:

” For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

21Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” (Phil. 3:20-21)

Amen! Hallelujah!