BELOVED, the real test of our being who we say we are – the Church, the Body of Jesus Christ in the earth; the true test of our being who we say we are – Christians; the real test of our being what we say we are – saved by grace through the blood of Jesus…is your and my commitment to and actually doing the work that Jesus called the Church, His Body, to do.  Jesus said in prayer to the Father, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world” John 17:18.  He said in Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me…”  Allow me to ask again:  Who will go and work the fields?  Who will go and bring in the harvest? Are you willing to do as God commands or do you walk in obedience to man.

The difference in Paul’s life and our lives, the difference in the lives of the saints who lived in Bible days and Christians who are living today is that people like Paul, Peter, John, Timothy, and countless of others stop living for themselves and lived their new life for God. That’s right. They lived unto God. They did only those things that pleased God. The suffered for it, but they lived unto God. They went to prison for it, but they lived unto God. They were killed for it, but they lived unto God. What happen to them in life did not really matter. They were sold out.  They found the reality of life by way of the cross. No one, nothing could stop them from living out what they found in Jesus. They lived to serve the Lord.

How many of you will allow Christ to direct your life from day to day? How many will say, my life, my all, O Lord I give? How many will allow Christ to use you to build up His Church on earth? Can you say that you are completely His for the strengthening of His Church on earth? And then, Paul said, the reason why I am so dedicated; the reason why I am so zealous; the reason why I have given my all to Christ is, v14, “…the love of Christ constraineth me;” His love for me makes me do it. He loved me, I hear Paul say, when I was lost. He loved me, when I was blind and could not see. He loved me, when I was the chief of sinners. All those lives that I took. Mothers and Fathers I put in jail. I should have been crucified. But Christ loved me and gave His life for me. And because He loved me, I am going to serve Him. Why are you serving the Lord?

The saints in New Testament Bible days experienced the reality of the life of Christ. They experienced by faith the resurrected life of their Lord and Savior. It was not the letter…not words on a piece of paper, but a life that they knew on the inside and a life that they could live and fellowship with daily. Jesus was real to them. They lived for God through great trials and sufferings but never complained. Rather they counted it all joy to suffer for Christ’s sake. They allowed themselves to be stoned, thrown into lion dens, boiled in oil, and never raised their voice to God for deliverance. They learned that in their worse hour, God could be trusted. They lived so that He could get the glory out of their lives. They learned that when they were weak, God would be their strength. They believed in His love for them. They lived in the reality of His presence at all times. Jesus was their joy, their peace, their strength, their life. They had the faith to believe that because Jesus suffered and overcame, they too could suffer and overcome. They learned, beloved, that real, genuine life came only when they were willing to give up life the way they knew it and live by faith the new life that comes by way of the cross and the empty tomb.

Paul the Apostle was one of those who could not resist absolute surrender to God. He was so overwhelmed by the life he experienced in Christ that he said, Acts 21:13 “…for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” What commitment. What devotion. What level of oneness he had reached with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What abandonment of his life to the will of God and to the Spirit of the living Christ within him. This is our model today: it is our example. Those who have been chosen. Those who hold the seeds of greatness in them — God’s men and women of destiny today. Those who God has called out of darkness into His marvelous light, you have no other way. You are on this solid rock to stay. Your confession, your affirmation should always be: My life, My all, O Lord I Give.

It is no secret, from Bible day to this day, there are those who gave their lives and gave their all because of what they found in Jesus, because of what they found in God.  For them salvation was only the begining of their new life. As they walked on by faith in fellowship with God; as God began to impart more revelation of Himself into them, they were caught up in the splendor of it all and the results: complete dedication to…full surrender of…absolute devotion to the God who lived within them.  In Christ, they found what they had been looking for.  In Christ, the hunger deep down within cease.  In Christ, every thirst was quenched.  And like the man who found buried treasure in a field who spent all he had to buy the field, they too were willing to give up the most precious thing they had – their lives – so to have Christ and His will done in their lives.

God’s goal for every Christian – the church- the Body of Christ in the earth is this, Ephesians 4:13 … 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 fullness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: If this is not your spiritual goal, then you have ceased to grow.  You are still a babe.

Every child of God ought to grow.  Something is wrong with a child when he/she does not grow.  Growth in the spiritual sense means to come to maturity.  Would you believe that there are some Christians who do not want to grow?  They want to stay a babe in Christ for the rest of their lives.  God want let this happen.  He will allow some trials to come.  He will allow some disappointments to come.  He will allow some suffering to come.  Things that He know that will get you on your knees and in His word looking for some answers.  Things that He know that will cause you to exercise your faith in God.

Saints, you have a choice.  You can cry for God to end the hurt and pain that you are going through.  You can pray and fast and pray until the enemy leave you alone.  You can petition God to stop the attacks of the enemy -or- you can look up and cry Father be glorified.  In all that I’m going through be glorified.  In my pain, in my suffering, in my sickness, Father, be glorified. Though it overwhelms you.  Though you see no end.  If you can just stay focused on whose you are, then everything you go through will work together for good.

People come to the church hurting.  People come to the church sick in body and spirit.  People come to the church broken.  People come to the church with their lives all torn asunder.  And what do we do?  We send them home the way they came.  Why?  Because we fail to see ourselves the way God sees us – the Body of Christ in the earth.  We refuse to equip ourselves with the word and the Spirit to carry out the will of God for the church.  We want the blessings of God but do not want to do the work of God. God has given the church authority to pray for the sick and He said, “they shall recover”.  He has given the church authority to cast out spirits.  He has given the church authority to preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven and to teach His word.  There is no need for anyone leaving the church broken, hurt, overcome with evil.  When Jesus will deliver.  When Jesus will see them through. When Jesus will touch their bodies.  When Jesus will touch their lives.  When Jesus will bring them out.