DIVINE SERVICE
Part two of a two-part study on Regeneration and Sanctification.
Click here for part one: regeneration.

PART 2: Sanctification:

Sanctification is the third step of Salvation and it something done solely by God. In the beauty of His plan for us, He requires us to be sanctified, it a process done by the Holy Spirit, but to what end, what is the effect that sanctification has upon our lives that takes us from ordinary and shoots us into the uncharted land where the work of God in it's limitless possibilities is really done?

All this may sound really confusing, and really complex. But, the best way I find to understand any complexity of God's word; is to look in of all places, (dadada…)God's word. In His word He provides the answer to any question you have that may arise from His word, as His word was put into being for the simple minded, he knew there would be many questions, so He provided many answers, so that in observance of His command, that we study to show ourselves approved, we can find the answers we seek. If we do not understand the fundamentals of our own salvation, how can we offer the fullness of what Christ has done for us to others?

So, what is Sanctification?
Sanctification is a process by which we are made holy, we are devoted to God, and we are made sacred. We are caused to be separate from an ordinary or common life and devoted to divine service, a life unto God as his vessel.

Sanctification in the Old Testament focused on God, and how He was separate, how different he was from the profane and detestable ways of iniquity the people were living in, and how much He desired to see them come away from the destruction they were bringing upon themselves.

The goal of the sanctification process is to be declared Sanctified. And a person is sanctified when God himself designates that it belongs to Him. God alone is holy, so He alone is able to sanctify by the blood of the Lamb.

1 Thessalonians 5 v 23: May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3 v 12 – 14: Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Sanctification is separation and thus, God is separate for He is holy. Things and people dedicated to Him and to His use are separate.

When Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us, he threw out the old way of sanctifying someone or something through the ceremonial process of sprinkling blood and burning offerings to the Lord and the priests requesting on your behalf for your sins, your needs and for the spiritual answers to your worldly questions. Before the death of Jesus, you went to a priest who himself had been sanctified, (the tribe of the Levites had been set apart as holy, to serve as priests before the Lord), to minister before the people and to offer the sacrifices, to consecrate the things that had been devoted wholly to God for His use.

1 Chronicles 23 v 13: The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart, he and his descendants forever, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the LORD, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name forever.

We have been so blessed of God for what he has done for us, we are now freely able to come before the Lord and present ourselves, to ask for forgiveness, to intercede on behalf of others, to worship him, to commune and to build a real relationship with Him. We are able to truly come to know our awesome God as much as we want to and we can enter in to the true Holy of Holies, God's presence, we can be with him in Spirit and in flesh 24 hours a day, everyday of the year. For he is our peace who has broken down every wall, he has torn the veil and opened the way, that we may always seek his face, no longer will those who truly serve him be shut out in darkness.

1 Peter 2 v 4 – 5: As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

In Old Testament times, anyone that was not declared holy, or had not been consecrated could not come before God, because it resulted in instantaneous death, so much so that the Holy of Holies in the physical temple built by the Israelites after the time of Moses (who not only enter every day, but God spoke to Moses in person) was only entered once a year, and the priest who entered into the Holy of Holies, the place where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, that man was drawn by lot a year in advance, it was a terrifying thing to be the one that was called to draw near to God, if you had not been kept completely 100% pure and clean in all your dealings and behavior that whole year leading up to going in, by obeying the Law to the letter, and being ceremonially clean before entering, you would die, God has the right to put no unclean thing before His throne, that was why even the priests robes were consecrated with the blood of sacrificed animals, everything the priest took with him was consecrated, which means designated as holy unto God, and a rope was tied around the foot, that way, if he die the body could be pulled out so that it did not defile the temple.

But it has not always been this way nor was it ever meant to, when he called the people to draw near to him and make themselves clean, the people did not want to be able to hear directly from God, they cowered from Him as they did not want to serve Him with all their hearts. To them He was the one they turned to when they had fallen so far from God that even the kicked dog looked down upon them, they continually made themselves slaves to false gods, so God continually gave them into slavery to the people whose false gods they worshipped, in hopes that they may see the error of their ways, that they would stop using Him, they knew how much He loved them, and they abused that love, till God said (poetic license in my own words taken from the various prophetic rebukes of the old testament) 'No more! If you want to serve me, then you serve me! I will not share my Glory with another or lend the worship due to me to wood, rock and stone.'

God had already once wiped out from the face of the earth all iniquity via the flood, he gave the opportunity for a completely brand new start, everything had been washed away, but to one of Noah's sons, what God had given was of little value, He listened to the wiles of Satan and tried to embarrass his own father, a man God considered worthy of saving while the whole world fell away into sin.

Genesis 9 v 20 – 25: Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."

He became a cursed nation, because of a few laughs. Even then God was separating the sheep from the goats.

(Matthew 25 v 31 – 32: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.)

God had know from the beginning how all would play out, even before He formed the world Jesus knew that he would lay down his life for us, he knew that man was too weak of his own volition to follow the letter of the Law, but that man because of the fall in the Garden of Eden was carnal and self- serving, full of pride and arrogance, always having a better way of doing things.

He sent Prophets to warn the people of their wickedness, and they killed them, but their prophecies remained long after the people had perished from the judgments held within them, but always in their message was a promise of hope if the people would but turn to God and devote themselves to him, that he might make them holy and that there would be such joy as was never know before, but understandably so, it was not enough for God that the people mechanically served him, he wanted their love, just as much then as he does today, he does not want people to run from Him in terror of His awesomeness as the Jews did before Mount Sinai, afraid and very rightly so that God would smite them for their wickedness, and their corrupt minds. But rather, he wanted people to cling to him, with Holy fear, fear of losing a love so encompassing, that he loved each of us individually so much, that he offered His own Son in our place, and His Son loved us so much that he willingly gave himself for us, as our scapegoat. And the Holy Spirit, who loves us; He longs to comfort us in the physical absence of our Lord, He heals us and teaches us of the majesty of God and how to walk in His ways.

There was so much loved involved in the Sacrifice that once and for all paid the debt of sin for us, you can not fathom it, not if you sat for days could you fully comprehend it, but you can accept it, and you can invite the man behind the love in, and you can be free of the burden of sin, able to become sanctified, able to take the road less traveled and at the end of it all, stand before the Living God in the Holy of Holies as the man or woman he always intended you to be.

We know with each passing day that we serve the Lord, we store up treasure in heaven, we also know that when we get there, just being with God will be enough, so much so that we will desire to give everything, every ruby, diamond and sapphire, every piece of gold and silver, every crown earned for every salvation that occurred as we allowed ourselves to be used of God, that we will lay it at the feet of the one who has the power to save, and it will matter to us as to just how much we have to give, that getting in by the skin of our teeth with nothing to offer will not satisfy, the thought that the joy of Heaven may be marred by bitter-sweetness is too unimaginably sad to me, I personally don't want to be the guest with no gift at God's housewarming party, do you?

Matthew 6 v 21: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Revelation 4 v 7 – 11: The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

What better place for your treasure to be, than with Jesus. We will give it to Him so that even there in heaven, He will know that He is our treasure. And it will not matter that we have no money, God will just as easily and more powerfully supply our needs there, as we will no longer be confined in our faith by our body of clay, and besides, we will be with God, there will be no room for doubt.

Everyday I hear people say “I'll be happy just to get into heaven, I don't care about the treasure”, and here's what I have to say, it is contrary to God's word and the easy way out of a real relationship with God built on times of rock bottom hardship, of walking hand in hand through the columns of the enemy and having the courage to open your mouth and speak the truth, I also say that it is a lie out of hell, it is false humility and it is an excuse for your lame attempt at being a man or woman of God. It gives you a way out of doing the real hard work of God, rolling up the sleeves and getting dirty that others may be clean, and I mean getting dirty in the physical sense that others may be clean in spirit, not a lot of people volunteer to visit the sick in Aids homes or Leper colonies, apparently their God can only save someone else from disease, all he has the power to save them from is Hell. Sometimes it's those people I have a hard time believing God will let in, He sacrificed much, why should we sacrifice so little?

Lets recap, Jesus' shed blood is able to wash us clean, that we may come before our God and worship whenever we want, it gave us freedom in the spirit to continually pray to God and offer thanks for what he has done, by his death, he became sovereign over both life and death, when Jesus became Lord over death, it was not death of the physical body, because the physical body became a tool for evil, a container we are held in until we break free and go on to be with Jesus, like Tupperware I guess you could say. The death Jesus became master over was death in the spirit, he took back what was stolen, the right to know God in His fullness and the right to go to every man on the face of the earth and present them with the truth whether they choose to accept it or not.

When we become clean, washed by the blood of Jesus at our moment of Salvation, Jesus lives within us and we become His messengers, we are know given the honorable task of spreading the Gospel of truth to a dying world, that there is forgiveness of sins, unsurpassing love, an eternity with the God of love free from hurt, pain and suffering where He will wipe away every tear and you will have no need to cry any more. All this and more He has given us in His word as a promise to those that serve Him, that there is something better in store than what we can already see and feel and touch and smell, all we need do is listen, love and obey Him, He will teach us and lead us. It is that simple, and it is all the process of Sanctification.

After He arose into heaven, he sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to speak to us and through us that a union may be reformed between our Spirit and God's that was broken so long ago in the Garden of Eden. Through salvation we declare Jesus Christ as Lord, we believe in God and His words of truth, we have the opportunity to confess our sins and have total forgiveness.

Proverbs 20 v 9: Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin"?

Psalm 90 v 8: You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

1 John 1 v 8 - 10: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

1 Timothy 1 v 15: Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

We are washed clean, we must come clean before the Lord, by bringing out the dirty laundry as thousands have before us, and genuinely and openly confess our sins before God and man, without caring what anybody is going to think, for all men are evil until saved and no one is free of sin until they meet God face to face, and everyone, like Adam and Eve who were ashamed of their nakedness, feel as though they have something to hide. So, we come to Jesus and are washed clean by his blood, when we are forgiven, we have opened ourselves up to God we have nothing to be ashamed of anymore, we expose our heart, and he does a wonderful thing He gives us a new one, not only does He give you a new heart, but He puts his Spirit within you, His Holy Spirit, for now, by the shedding of Jesus Blood, you were consecrated, when the Holy Spirit came upon you to dwell within you were sanctified, when you have been both consecrated and sanctified, you become set apart from the whole world.

The Priest's never sanctified a cup so that it could sit on the shelf, no my friend, you wash a cup that you may drink out of it, you clean a plate the you may eat from it, you empty a water jug that it may be filled again, it is Christ who cleanses you and keeps you clean by offering a way out of getting bogged down in the mire of sin, the royal way, his way, follow it and you will be clean before him and ready for use always, the cleansing is done so that the work may begin and for you here is where the real work begins, you are at the starting line and the gun has fired, the race has just begun, it all depends on how you run as to how you finish the race. Strong and with glory, or wheezing and out of breath, crawling on your belly over the finish line, now is a good time to pick how you want to appear before your God at the end of the race, before the one who is holding your crown of victory for having overcome much in trying to please God.

1 Corinthians 9 v 24 – 27: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

2 Corinthians 4 v 6 –7: For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

God always wants us to know that it is nothing we did that has caused such Grace and Mercy to be freely ours, but His love for us, and that the only way to be regenerated and sanctified is to die to ourselves, and no! I don't mean to run in front of the next car you see, but to put to death selfish desire and stop thinking of yourself, number 1, I can't stress to you enough that God is already looking out for you and your needs, what more could you ask for, we do not serve a cruel task master, but one who asks that we do at least a little work, that we at least earn a fraction of our eternity long vacation of basking in the real Son, and even at that, only so we are not alone, but the we would have others to fellowship with and share Gods goodness with forever and a day. Not all that bad really.

Forgive me if I appear to go over some points more than once, but the work that God is doing within you is so intricately laid out, like a vine it invades every area of your life, present, past and future, that sometimes you have to go backwards to move forward. Back to the point at hand: Salvation, Regeneration, Sanctification: the real work now begins, now that we have been made clean, it us up to us to keep it ourselves that way, by following in Gods footsteps, for his feet unlike man's who are swift in running to sin, will never lead you there, he provides the way for you to remain clean. You don't drink from a cup that has been on the shelf so long it's full of dust, no you clean it, and you keep it clean, why should anyone else have to drink from a dirty cup the goodness of God.

Colossians 3 v 5: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

1 Thessalonians 5 v 21 –23: Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

From the beginning he called you and loved you, from the beginning he had a purpose for you.

2 Thessalonians 2 v 13 – 14: But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now that you know you are sanctified vessels, heed the admonitions of the Lord:

Romans 6 v 12 - 13: Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

1 Corinthians 6 v 18- 20: Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Galatians 2 v 20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Why must the old man die? Because he is treacherous and will betray you, your old man is diligent in serving Satan and every time he tries to get up, you must stand firm in Christ and stomp the old man's butt to the ground and remind him that he is dead. Take joy in it, enjoy serving God, His heart wells with love and joy for you- His baby. He is the Hero who threw Himself in front of the semi-truck; which is sin and death, shoving you aside. He gave His life that you who never had life may now have it and that more abundantly in Him.

Do you know what you should be doing right now?

You should get up and scream and shout and jump for Joy! Why? Because you were doomed; and Jesus just you handed a Get out of Jail Free card.

Is it a battle to keep the old self from coming back to reclaim us for sin and Satan?
Absolutely, positively YES!

That is why we must train ourselves up in the ways of the Lord and resist, like resistance training, that the harder it gets, the harder we must resist.

Now we have something on our side that we did not when we were unsaved and under the curse of the Law. Grace and Mercy, we now have hope where there once was none.

Ecclesiastes 7 v 20: There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

Here is a revelation the Lord gave me after much prayer and study of what is to me some of the most confusing scripture I have ever encountered that is not part of end-times scripture and is not speaking specifically of the coming of our Lord.

Romans 7 v 7 – 25: What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Sin, the Laws laid out by God expose sin and show it for what it truly is, because sin is counted first in the Spirit and then in the physical, sin starts in the thoughts, as Paul says, until I was told “ DO not covet” there was no problem, but once I knew that is was wrong, I had all manner of problems with covetousness, now that is not to say that he never was a covetous person before hand, I assure you that the sin was there, but the Law is set in place to expose the sin and make it utterly sinful, He didn't want sin to be mildly unsettling, he wanted it to be absolutely disgusting.

Because we were born in sin, our first inclination is never towards righteousness, but to self and evil. We are slaves to it and we can't help it. We are born into death and the very start of our life is a curse, Eve was cursed with painful labor and that was passed onto every woman in the world. Until we meet God we are under the curse of sin and death by the Law, and he takes us out from under the curse of the Law which he has already fulfilled to the letter, and brings us under the covering of his mercy and grace, he gives us a new way of life, through the greatest command of all, Love.

Love God, love one another, and out of love consider others more important than yourselves, do everything out of love, think everything out of love, why because he first loved us.

We can see Paul's struggle against his flesh and its desire to do evil, and we can see his spirit and its fight to do good, we learn over time to become stronger and more powerful through Christ Jesus in the Spirit, our ability to resist sin becomes stronger and more consistent.

What does it mean to be unspiritual?

Unspiritual – Greek- Sarkinos S4560: Flesh, Body. Fleshly material; made or consisting of flesh. With propensities of the flesh to sin - i.e. the flesh's desire for sin is like a fish's desire for water.

It means that we are not walking in the Spirit and not looking at the world with open ears and eyes toward the enemy, so as to be aware of his wiles and also to be in touch with reality so that you may be useful, but off in the clouds and not seeking heavenly wisdom. When we are in the flesh, we are out 100% to serve ourselves, the body and it wants and needs.

Psalms 39 v 6: Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

The Lord relieved us of the need to heap up wealth, he does it for us, we have the best stockbroker there is, and his never plummets, it never becomes worthless, how great is our God.

Ecclesiastes 2 v 26: To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

He always gives us a choice, he never leaves a gray area for confusion, it is either blessings beyond your imagination, or a meaningless chasing after the wind, a job God gives you to pass the time until you are deposited in the life bank of your choosing- Hell.

He also warns us not to be filled with worldly cares, how useless it is to worry and run after things you don't have, all you do is lose sleep and wear your body down before your time.

Ecclesiastes 8 v 16: When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor on earth—his eyes not seeing sleep day or night.

Matthew 6 v 31 – 34: So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Psalms 127 v 2: In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.

Matthew 6 v 25: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Matthew 13 v 22: The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

Luke 10 v 38 – 42: As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

As you can see, when you are chasing after the things of the world and living in your flesh, you have absolutely no peace, and why?

Because God wants you to know that he is your peace, worldly security can't measure up to the peace of God, it truly does surpass all understanding. Be anxious for nothing; don't worry!

If god wants you to have something, he will give it to you- only make sure you fulfill what he has called you to do. Instead of worrying about doing something- do it! Take the plunge.

Luke 21 v 34: Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.

If you fall into worrying about everything and anything, you will eventually suffer a massive anxiety attack and fall into deep dark depression. And that is not what God wants for you and me. He wants you free from concern, only look to how you can be please the Lord and He will continually give you the opportunity, please the Lord and he will meet the desires of your heart.

Philippians 4 v 6 - 7: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

If you have a need or a care, take it to the Lord- let Him worry about it- He got you this far on His own, He can handle it. Give Him a chance- let him be your champion, your hero- worship Him.

Why? Because he cares for you. Anytime you worry, anytime you are anxious, you are being selfish, you are being Unspiritual.

1 Peter 5 v 7: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

How should we be? We should be Spiritual. We should be going from strength to strength, God's strength, which he freely and openly urges us to rely on and use. Every time you put your old self to death you empty our more of yourself and make more room for God in your life, you become stronger as you have more of an indwelling of God and His strength in you- you become an over-comer because Christ is leading you through the valley of the shadow of darkness. You become pleasing to god.

Spiritual- Greek- Pneumatikos S4152: Spirit or Spiritual.

Completely letting go of all apprehension and follow whole heartedly and fully trusting in the Lord, and hearkening unto his word, and then you will be living spiritually. You won't have to worry about food or clothing for as the Lords people, he can and will do for you what he did for the Israelites in the desert.

Deuteronomy 8 v 4: Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.

1 Corinthians 10 v 3 – 4: They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

(Please read Exodus chapters 16 and 17 and know that if He loved them enough in their sin, to feed them in miraculous ways every day for years and years, he can do the same for you in your faithfulness.)

God can drop food from heaven and bring water from a rock, and not just any old food, but heavenly Manna- what the angels themselves eat. That to me is pretty awesome.

Look at how God took care of His servant Elijah in 1 Kings 17, He never left him hanging, He always supplied his needs. The word food appears more than 306 times in various forms from the beginning of the bible up until the very last book and drink and water more than 669 times, what does this add up to? He knows you need it! He WILL supply it! Every single bite of food and every single sip of water WAS NO ACCIDENT! You had it because he gave it to you! If you haven't thanked God that He kept you alive from birth by giving someone to care for you and all the way up to the point you made God you sole/ soul provider. You should! Nothing came your way because of anything you ever did, even in our sin He loved us and through his power kept us alive for one purpose, that we might choose to love Him, from then on He takes it upon Himself to show us the awesome magnitude of His love by rescuing us from impossible circumstances, making the ridiculous an unfathomable miracle.

All because of love are you even here right now, sitting where you are, be thankful for where the Lord has put you, even in poverty richness of life can be found, no one who has ample access to anything they need can ever have as close of a walk with God as someone who has nothing and relies totally on God to supply their EVERY need, for those of you who are somewhat 'well off' you will find that you have to work harder to even have a relationship with God because there is so much material wealth and worldly status that gets in your way and becomes an idol to you, not only does he know what you need for your spiritual body, he knows what you need for your spiritual body to come into line with his will. (God did not make us all poor though, some he blessed financially that they may be a blessing to other brothers and sister in the faith as God directs them.)

If he needs to paralyze you to get you to sit still and shut up and listen for one minute to what he has to say, I guarantee you he will do it, he would rather see you enter heaven paralyzed and be healed in His presence, the to see you openly walk yourself into Hell of you own accord. But whatever happens, know that God has a plan, and every time we screw it up, he can weave it back in and turn it around, all things work out for GOOD for those who love the Lord.

How do we be Spiritual in our daily lives?

Walk in your spiritual gifts and callings. Find out what they are and use them, God does not give gifts for them to sit on shelves like trophies, he gives you TOOLS to do the WORK he has planned FOR YOU! If you don't use them because you are a bad steward, he will take them away and give them to someone else as a double blessing to the person who already has gifts and is using them to their full potential, and believe me, if He ever does give them back to you, it's because you have spent along time earning God's trust that you will use them. He gives you a lot of chances to put them to use, do so wisely and quickly. Look at this chunk of scripture as talents or abilities God has given you rather than actual money, understand that God doesn't give you skills to enrich your life, he gives you them to enrich the lives of others. We have a world full of entrepreneurs that are stuffing bank accounts and mattresses with cash, for what purpose, status, why not put it to use? And not just enough to keep down your taxes!

We have a world full of people misusing their GOD GIVEN gifts on WORLDLY PASSION AND EVIL DESIRES, you are keeping it to yourself, when you don't put it to the use God gave you the gift for, you are hiding it in the ground.

Some people think that we do all the work and God reaps the rewards, some people think God is cruel for what Christians endure for their Savior, some people are afraid to give themselves up to God for Him to do with as He pleases, some people think that giving the bare minimum effort back to God is enough, after all he just takes whatever He wants anyway right?

('I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.')

Wrong! Anyone who thinks this way does not know God and never has! Anyone who truly knows God wants to give Him everything, as the least we can do in light of what He did/ is doing/ and will do for us, we want by our actions and thoughts and words to show Him with our earthly bodies how much we love and appreciate Him, that He is our Father, Savior, Lord, and Friend; that above all else He is Almighty God, he owns everything, what do you do with someone else's possessions? We return them. You wouldn't have money if God had not created gold, and given the knowledge of currency and declared that the worker is worthy of his wages and that he should be paid his wages, he also declares that everything in and on the world is His, whether you like it or not you are His. You can be a wicked servant and betray your master by following after the Devil, or you can be a good and loving servant to a faithful master, Jesus Christ. Why, just by looking at this Scripture you can see how giving and receiving is a cycle, you must give to receive, the more you give the more you receive, you can't out give God, He always has more than you can ever dream of owning, the problem comes in when people look to the physical to get their rewards, money, houses, fine clothes and cars, vacations, good food. What they don't look to is where the important receiving really lies, in the spirit, get wisdom, get understanding, discernment, grow in the fruits of the Spirit, and amass wealth for yourself in heaven.

God does bless in the physical, but to Him it is more important to give gifts that last. Not things that get eaten by moths, destroyed in storms and squandered by bad judgment because you lack wisdom. Why would God give you something you don't have the wisdom or self-control to be a steward of? What are we stewards of? His possessions, he places them in our care, they are still His, but in His love He allows us to use them, why not just give it to us 100%, because the human race lacks genuine care, you are more likely to take better care of something you borrow than something you own, if God gives you a car, and one day he asks you to give it away that He might replace it with another, what will you do if you trashed the car? How can you say here, God told me to give you this, how is that person supposed to say thank you to a God who only gives good gifts if the delivery guy drops the package on the way?

If God knows you can't be trusted with something, unless He is trying to help you GROW UP, He probably won't give it to you.

We all have desires for things in our hearts that we would like to have or see happen, when God sees you put your desires aside and fill your heart with His, without a second motive, not to be a goody-two-shoes, but because you genuinely know that His ways are higher than yours, and the only way to live is His way, when your heart is pleasing to God, he will make the way for those things to come to pass, no matter how ridiculous they are, because He loves you and the Lord rewards those He loves.

How do we please the Lord? By Him seeing His desires fulfilled in our lives, and by using our God given gifts!

Matthew 25 v 14 – 30: The Parable of the Talents
"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, which called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' "The man with the two talents also came. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.” "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' "Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' "His master replied, 'you wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. " 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Now's a pretty good time to find out what your gifts and callings are and run with them Huh!

Romans 12 v 4 – 8: Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

1 Corinthians 12 v 1 – 12: Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

1 Corinthians 12 v 27 – 31: Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.

The answer to the posed questions at the end of the above scripture is this NO! Emphatically NO! We all are not called to have the same gifts and callings, yes there are many teachers and apostles etc. but if we do not following our calling because we wish God had made us something else, we will end up with what's known as “Too many Chief's and not enough Indians” if your not happy with what God has given you to do, you're in trouble, God only gives good gifts and you should learn to love and appreciate what God has given you before he takes it away.

1 Corinthians 14 v 12: So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church.

2 Corinthians 9 v 8 – 10: And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times; having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.

Hebrews 2 v 1- 4: We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Ephesians 1 v 3 – 4: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love.

Colossians 1 v 9 – 14: For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 3 v 2 – 10: Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

We must make sure we protect what God has given us, when we begin to walk in the calling we have been given, Satan will try everything in his power to discourage us, through persecution, and using people in his service to make life hard for us.

Here is where your spiritual armor is what will keep you alive and able to stand, and keep standing and when you have done all you can, to stand firm in the Lord- even if it kills you literally, you must stand!

Ephesians 6 v 10 – 18: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Make sure you know who it is you are serving with your actions, be wary because the enemy has many tools at his disposal to draw you away from the service of God, things that in moderation of the Lords timing are harmless and a blessing he gives as a reward for your work, but misused can lead destruction falling away from God. Things like watching television, playing video games, sex, sleep, and the internet, all of these can be used by Satan to cause you to take your eyes off of Christ. That is why He commands us to pray, that we might know when and where He gives us the freedom to do these activities.

Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should!

1 Corinthians6 v 12: "Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything.

Be careful what you allow to be your master!

1 Corinthians 6 v 9 – 11: Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Psalms 19 v 13 – 14: Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Don't allow yourself to be claimed by the enemy and handed over to your own destruction, run fast to Jesus, hold on to Him and don't let go, the only thing worse than walking away from God is the walk back, the fight gets so much harder, because that is the last thing Satan wants is for you to be reunited with God, so don't let him get a foot in the door. Grow extra arms and legs to wrap around Jesus if you have to but don't let go!

1 kings 8 v 46: "When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near;

Let Christ be your master and your righteousness, follow Him in happy servitude.

When you become set apart by God and for God, you become accountable to God, for your actions and thoughts, for your victories and failures. How beautiful is that, you aren't answering to some middle management personnel, you report straight to God, who loves you, and wants to pat you on the back when you do well, and lift you up when you fall on your face, but he will never leave you down, nor will he let you down! He always wants you to reach higher, aiming for more than the eye can see, to the very heavens themselves where your home is, in Jesus arms, not striving in your flesh but striving to be closer to the heart of God.

One of the most important things to change is the order in which we do things, like thinking before we speak, when we are of the world we open our mouths out of pride before we think about the consequences of our words, now that we are in the Lord, we are His mouthpiece, and we have an obligation to ask Him what it is that He wants us to say, not to just blurt out what we think, the human race as a species when it comes to speech is offensive and guttural, I don't care what side of the tracks you come from and what prep school or finishing school you went through, you were brought up in the ways of the world and speak as the world speaks, carelessly, whereas God is eloquent and thoughtful, he does not mince words nor does He waste them on fluffing Himself up for His is God and to that there is no argument and no contest for none can compare to Him and none can answer prayer and do wonders and miracles but Him, none can create something from nothing, there is only Him, His words spring from love and a desire that all man may come to know Him and His Salvation which is freedom from death and sin.

James 3 v 1 – 12: Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Psalms 51 v 1 – 17: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Here is a broken heart, pleasing to the Lord, repenting not just for His sins, or for His family or friends, but for the sins of the Nation, the sins by the nation committed against God. Why was it pleasing to God you may ask? Because he was humble and counted himself with the transgressors that he might plead for their forgiveness if their hearts would but turn and follow God. Look at our Savior Jesus, he died a criminals death and was counted among the transgressors, that He might plead for our forgiveness of OUR sins, not His, He was BLAMELESS, HE had overcome, but He did it that we might be saved if we would but turn and follow wholeheartedly after God our Father.

Proverbs 2 v 3 – 15: and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright; he is a shield to those whose walk as blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.

Use your mouth wisely, there is nothing wrong with sharing about things learned, what you like and don't like, all that sort of stuff, everyday conversation, but guard your mouth, when you want to open your mouth to speak filth or things not of God like gossip and judgment and to lie or deceive and give false a account and screwy doctrine, consider first; running into the street and shoving the first pile of dog poop you find into your mouth, that is as disgusting to me as idle words leading to sin are to God. But if that's what it takes for us to save ourselves from our mouth, try it, you won't have that problem very much longer I'll guarantee that! (Please, unless God himself tells you that you need to stick dog poop in your mouth, don't do it, it's an analogy not a literal OK!)

Read James 3 v 1 – 18 to read about taming the tongue and how much hard work and diligence it requires, but also how important it is to do so.

Proverbs 23 v 2: When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.

Gluttony is self-indulgence, when you let yourself (flesh) have free reign over what you are doing, rather than the leading of the Holy Spirit you are being a glutton because the flesh like the open grave always craves more, always wanting to be filled. When are sitting down to dine with a ruler or in my translation (poetic license): When you become saved you are in the presence of God and are partaking of His Holiness, His Word which is the bread of life and are filled with His spirit which is the water of life, put a knife to your throat before you indulge your flesh through your mouth, your thoughts or your action before you downgrade yourself from a sacred vessel to a trash can, see how simple Gods ways are? Please keep in mind that all of us are learning day by day, and that the perfecting and refine is a lengthy process, one that takes time, but we do have one choice in the matter and only one, for God in His word says that the good work He started within us He will finish, our choice is this that we can (a) fast track the ordeal and become fully useful to God as quickly as we can catch the learning curve ball, or (b) we can be hard headed and rebellious, for those who choose option (b) be warned that you will (a) be purified or (b) burned up like chaff and we have all been in danger of that at some point in all of our walks with the Lord ad the flesh is still being overcome and true that a lot of the time we can be slow to catch on , but the Lord is both (a) persistent and (b) patient in love.

How is our sanctification secured? Here are some scriptures that show how when we abide in the ways of the Lord our Sanctification is secured.

1 Corinthians v1 v 26 – 31: Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

John 17 v 17: Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Ephesians 5 v 26: To make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.

2 Timothy 2 v 19 – 24: Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness." In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.

Hebrews 13 v 11 – 12: The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.

1 Peter 1 v 2: who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Our Sanctification is through the spiritual washing and cleansing in the blood of Jesus Christ, which he shed for us at Pentecost. The blood of Jesus is atoning (exodus 30 v 10; Leviticus 17 v 11), when he became the ultimate sacrifice he took the role animals played in sanctification and laid himself on the alter in our place, that we might be clean, he in turn gives us an alter to lay upon ourselves, not to death but to life and that is why his blood is liberating (Zechariah 9 v 11) it saves us from a fate worse than death; a painful and tormented eternity, it shelters us (exodus 12 v 13) from destruction, His blood is the mark upon our foreheads that seals us as His own. It secures us a pardon (Hebrews 9 v 7) from our sins and cleanses (Hebrews 9 v 11- 22) us from our sins and guilt.

The blood of Christ:
Matthew 26 v 28: This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Romans 5 v 9 – 11: Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Hebrews 9 v 14: How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

1 Peter 1 v 18 – 21: For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

1 John 1 v 7: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Revelation 1 v 5 – 6: And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Revelation 7 v 14 – 17: I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Redemption is through Jesus Christ; the redeemed rely on Jesus and live by faith, believing that each step, each breath is because God willed it to be so. But there are many, those who have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, who are still under the curse of the Law wasting time being a 'good person' and going to Hell because they are relying on themselves.

Romans 3 v 22 – 26: This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1 v 26 – 31: Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

Galatians 3: You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them." Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

How are we redeemed, at the foot of the cross, we are made innocent of all charges against us from our sinful lives. Our sinful life was held against as a Capital offense and worthy of the maximum punishment, our life of sin is treason to our King, and treason even today is punishable by death. In biblical times capital offense warranted death by being hung on a tree. Jesus ran the full gamete of punishment. For our sexual immorality he was made naked, he hung naked there was no cloth or diaper, they humiliated him that he might take the humiliation of our acts upon himself, he was flog like a common criminal till there was no flesh on his body and you could not tell by looking at Him whether He was a man or an animal, he was beaten with fist and open hands, He was mocked and accused of crimes he did not commit, from his pierced side ran both the Water of Life and the blood of the Lamb, they were separate that we might know that when we are washed by the blood of the Lamb we are cleansed and can drink of the Water of Life. He paid the price, a life for a life, His life for yours, His life for mine; He died that we might live.

John 19 v 34: Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

Deuteronomy 21 v 22- 23: If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

He was hung on a tree, a cursed death, the curse of the Law, because the law exposed sin and it's punishment it became an inescapable curse, for no one is above the Law, it was a curse that we were all under because of our sinful ways and there was no getting away from the punishment. But God made a loophole, just for us, here's how.

Deuteronomy 19 v 2 - 7: then set aside for yourselves three cities centrally located in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess. Build roads to them and divide into three parts the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that anyone who kills a man may flee there. This is the rule concerning the man who kills another and flees there to save his life—one who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

We were accused of a capital crime, because of our sinful flesh, are acts were meditated and thought out, we plotted and schemed our way in and out of everything we did, we served our flesh and Satan, willfully. Now in comes Jesus with a way out, how many of you knew that this was what you were doing until you were introduced to the one true King? I didn't that reduces the charge to lets say manslaughter, we were unwittingly killing our King, His death was for a purpose a one time trade, we are born in sin, it is natural for us to sin, life ruled by the flesh is sinful. And as we grow older and more sins are committed, the wager we are to pay grows too. Like a snowball gathers speed and size, so does the anger of the Judge and the punishment he is swift to deliver- that is why we must run to our refuge. In the OT you would run to one of these cities where you could plead your case, now our refuge and fortress is Christ. He is the one who has the power to free us from the anger of the avenger of blood (God on Judgment day). The anger burns towards those who refuse Christ and align themselves with who crucified Him as what they considered His 'punishment', rather than as a sacrifice in our place, those who would not acknowledge that a righteous man (Jesus) died in our place and that we owe Him our life.

Mark 15 v 39: And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

Exodus 21 v 12 – 15: "Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. However, if he does not do it intentionally, but God lets it happen, he is to flee to a place I will designate. But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to death. "Anyone who attacks his father or his mother must be put to death.”

God let Christ die, that we might be aware of His love for us, that we might flee from Satan who hates us and want to drag us to Hell with him to the love of God. But for those who consider the death of Christ a waste, you have murdered your heavenly Father.

To those, His death is counted as a murder- not a sacrifice. And the avenger of blood is coming for you! I suggest you run while you still can. (Deut. 19: That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death)

Build roads to them. Why build roads specifically to those cities?

Matthew 3 v 3: This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"

Without an evangelist to show you the way to the Lord, most would never find Him, and He's standing right in front of you. God doesn't need roads, He knows where He is going, but for those of us blinded by sin, we need to know how to get to Him.

Psalm 119 v 105: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

Without the truth of His word, we would never know that He died for us and that we had a need to run to Him before we were responsible for our own punishment again, if you don't belong solely to God you are not under the covering of His blood, your sins have not been paid for, you get left washing the dishes so to speak, but it doesn't have to be that way. When you run to him and give him you life, you become free of the bloodguilt, you are free from the wrath of the avenger. And you become a vessel used in the outpouring of the blood of Christ upon others that they too may be free of the bloodguilt that they are under.

These towns, like Jesus gave you the ability to claim sanctuary. But for out and out murder, meditated and planned out there is no escape.

Deuteronomy 19 v 21: Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

You cannot escape a curse (without Christ that is). That is why Jesus stepped in and became a curse for us: (1) so that we could not escape Him and (2) he took our curse upon Himself that we might have all of that which I have shared so far (Salvation, Regeneration and Sanctification) life and that more abundantly.

He took us; we who were doomed- lifted our curse and took it upon Him. Then POW he overcame the curse, how, because He was innocent, He was not a guilty man, he was offering Himself as a sacrifice because he knew that animal sacrifices were not making the cut, that they were not pleasing to God because of the hearts of men.

Deuteronomy 21 v 22- 23: If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse.

Because He was innocent, the curse had no power over Him and now he has the power over life, to live forever with Him in paradise, and death, the second death and damnation to Hell for an eternity of torment to those who spit on His sacrifice.

Jesus put Himself under the authority of the Law to fulfill it for us for He knew that we could not, He took us out from under the curse of the Law and brought us into His Grace, the Law was not abolished for by the Law, we are made aware of our sin and through Grace we have forgiveness of sins.

Now we are no longer the one cursed and on the tree, we are the ones enlisted to find the ones who are still under the curse, to find those so dead in sin there is nothing but bones left. We are here to clean up the dead, to bring them to the one who gives life. No, we are not morticians.

Ezekiel 39 v 13 – 16: All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I am glorified will be a memorable day for them, declares the Sovereign LORD. " 'Men will be regularly employed to cleanse the land. Some will go throughout the land and, in addition to them; others will bury those that remain on the ground. At the end of the seven months they will begin their search. As they go through the land and one of them sees a human bone, he will set up a marker beside it until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. (Also a town called Hamonah will be there.) And so they will cleanse the land.'

See, this is where your callings in the Lord and fulfilled, evangelist will go out through the land, teachers and pastors will bury the remains they are the ones who follow the evangelist and deal with the newly saved, bring them up in the Lord and help them to make sure their old ways are dead and properly buried, that they will not resurface like old bones in the rain, they float right to the top. Prophets go out and warn of the death that is to come if measures are not taken to right yourself with god. And so on and so forth. (My next article will be on this subject).

When all is cleansed He is glorified. The righteous are called home and the guilty are in Hell, everything is where is should be. At the cross He was glorified and at every Salvation. For every refusal and denial you may as well crucify Him all over again, it hurts him that badly, yet still he loves. He is the Good Shepherd that lay down his life for his sheep.

Thus we are redeemed through Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1 v 13 – 14: For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Titus 2 v 11- 14: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Hebrews 9 v 11 – 28: When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep." In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

He entered for us once and for all, He is always before God's face interceding for us, and He never leaves, so He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Revelations 5 v 9-10: And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

1 Peter 1 v 13 – 22; 2 v 1- 3: Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you. Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Milk gives a baby life, the word of God gives you life, as you grow in the Lord you become able to understand the deeper truths of His word, you begin to eat spiritual meat and bread, just like a child grows and is given tougher foods to eat, the Lord gives us tougher truths to understand, to break our minds free of the ways of the world and it's thinking.

So many things we read about in the OT that were practiced by the Israelites were put into practice so that when the Son of Man came into being, both in Spirit and in flesh, we might be able to look at the old way things were done and understand exactly what Jesus did and how He set us free. The most important one for instance, how exactly did he take our sins upon Himself and free us from the burden? Because without this act, we would not be able to escape our impending judgment, for judgment comes for all, the saved and the unsaved, but without it, we would never receive our acquittal.

Let us read from the Old Testament, and see how they were free of their sins before God, and how Jesus took many sacrificial rituals and through His body fulfilled them all, that His sacrifice would be a lasting one, He left nothing undone, He left us no chance of not being able to be granted a full pardon from a life of sin and to handed a brand new life with a new purpose. There were many sacrifice the Jews had to perform, but the Lord has given me a specific one to cover for now. He became our Scapegoat.

Leviticus 16 v 5 – 10: From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. "Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.

By this we can through study truly see the omnipotence of God, how He can move forwards and backwards, left and right, all at the same time, he is everywhere and in everything, and that it is not until we search His word do we see How something He did in the beginning of His ministry was so vital to all that He set out to accomplish, His end goal so to speak.

Let me give you one more scripture before I explain.

Matthew 4 v 1 – 2: Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

Are you beginning to see how these two scriptures are tying together?

From the tribe of Israel two goats were taken, now one of those goats represents man and they were taken from the tribe of Israel because of the covenant made with them through Abraham. The gentiles (us) did not come into this because we were invited to the party after the initial guests found excuses as to why they preferred man's way of justifying themselves before God. Now, the first goat represented The Son of God/ Man, this lot fell to Lord as a sacrifice of sin offering that would also be made by us at our moment salvation when the life of sin and was laid down and each of us was dedicated to Lord. The second goat represented The Son of God/Man, Christ in the flesh and this lot fell to Him, He became our scapegoat, He took our sins upon Himself, both goats are sent to die, one is sacrificed, the other sent to wander the desert until it died, it was an unholy animal, filled with the sin of a nation, it was lead far enough into the desert where it could not wander back to defile the people. The only way it could be made clean was through death.

Now look at our Lord and His works. The goat was lead into the desert and Jesus was lead into the desert. The word scapegoat means the one who bears the blame of others. How does Jesus who went into the desert and fasted forty days and nights compare to the goat sent to die in the wilderness? They were blameless, they had committed no wrong and yet both were chosen to suffer for the sins of others, now to get a full understanding of what Jesus went through.

We know Jesus went into the desert and was tempted, but how? Do you really think Satan only bothered Him three little times? No, Jesus says I have overcome the world, we read of no other testing of Jesus but this, this test was make or break time! He had to overcome sin with His own body before he could lead others from sin and death to life. Now let me ask you this, how hard is it to resist temptation when you are well rested, well fed and have everything you need? Not that hard is it. Well look at what Jesus went through, He beat His body in to submission, try resisting temptation when you haven't eaten in a week, two weeks, or even three and you see a banquet set out and no one around but one sleeping guard, it would be so easy to just walk up real quiet and grab a small bite to eat, when Jesus was tested, if Satan could whisk Him about from the middle of a desert to the top of a city roof, to the highest peaks to see the whole world and all that are in it, don't you think he would have used those in His service to go out into the desert and set up such a banquet with fat stupid drunken guard that could not be woken to tempt the Lord, don't you think he could have sent some wanton harlot into the desert to try to lure Jesus with Her body? Placed before Him an opportunity to commit murder? To cause Him to lie, don't you think that given the opportunity to test Jesus he would have hounded Him every single minute, trying to crack Him, to stop Him from praying to God?

Do you really think Satan is that stupid? Shame on you! Look at your life, when one thing goes wrong, everything around you begins to crumble and it becomes a thousand times harder to lift up you and hands and your voice and rejoice, to give God the glory.

Jesus put his body mind and Spirit to the test, for us, that we might know that He truly has overcome the world, He underwent every trial and temptation we will ever be put through in life, and He was starving! He had nothing! He had no one! He was weak in form for He came as man! And every combination of bad situations you can ever imagine having to go through HE endured. And scripture declares that He was blameless, and that because he endured AND overcame these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, he paved the way for us in that now all we have to do is know this, it has already been overcome, the enemy has already had his butt kicked, all we have to do is reach out and take His hand, and He will lead on the path He paved with His sweat and tears and blood.

1 Corinthians 10 v 13: No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

1 John 5 v 3 – 5: This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

If you believe that He is the Son of God, you will believe all that is said about Him in His word.

John 16 v 33: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Look at OT sacrifices, they were to pure spotless animals, the firstborn, Jesus was made pure through His baptism and through testing he was declared blameless, already he is meeting the criteria of one doomed to die and His ministry is just beginning. We know that in scripture forty represents testing, forty days in the desert, he died at roughly forty years of age; the Jews were in the desert forty years and the list goes one, He was tested tried and true, committed to what He came to do. He was God, he could have back out, used His almighty power to go home, but love stayed Him, the love a mother has as she watches her baby dying in her arms, wishing she could take it's place, and joy, that unlike us, He had the power to do it.

Look at the crucifixion and the scapegoat, both took the sin upon them and where lead out of city carrying their own death sentence on their back, led out to die. That was how He did it He took our bullet. The sin was so great on Him that God himself had to look away. For up until that time God in His had let the olds sins go unpunished, that through Jesus they might be atoned for, sure the sacrifices had been made, but they were not enough, people did not place enough value in them, so more was required. I mean, what is the life one cow worth when you have ten thousand? Nothing.

Now here is a mind bender for you. Jesus was beaten, bruised, had the flesh whipped off of His body with a cat of nine tails, had a crown of desert thorns (traditionally a barb 2 inches long) bashed into His head with a staff, chunks of beard and flesh pulled from his face, publicly humiliated when they stripped Him naked, was mocked, blindfolded and punched and slapped in the face, and then asked to tell who it was that Him, and after all that He was then given the opportunity to one last time save Himself from death and didn't. What value is that to you?

1 Peter 2 v 20 – 23: But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

And then I want you to look at your life, (many of you reading this are saved, but it never hurts to continually try to grasp the fullness of what was undergone for you) and remember. All the pain from a paper cut, scraped knees, teething, colds and flu's, headaches and migraines, childbearing and labor, broken bones, surgery, and any other physical damage that you sustained over the course of your life, think of all that pain, know keep that it your mind. Now I want you to think of all the emotional pain you have endured, broken hearts, death of loved ones, betrayal, broken marriages, being alone, any emotional and physical pain you have suffered from the day you were born until now, now, take away you pain threshold and your ability to blackout when it gets too much, for Jesus did not faint, and then experience all of it at one time, imagine going through all of that at once, your human body could not handle it, your human mind could not compute it. Now remember that Jesus not only took all our individual sins upon Himself (and if you work out that there are roughly six billion people on the earth right now, plus five to seven thousand years of billions of others that have lived before us, and that in one 75 year lifetime with a person that may have only sinned three times a day from the age of reason, lets say twelve, and even then it was only in thought, not taking into account sins acted out in the flesh, that comes out to about 189 sins for just one person, now multiply that by six billion, and then add the sins of those long gone to the grave, it boggles the mind the number you would come up with, no wonder God could not even look upon His own son, but yet He did it for us.) and on top of that remember that he also took all our hurt and suffering upon Himself all at once too. For everyone who had ever lived up until that point; and for everyone who would ever walk the face of the earth in the years to come He did this. Now do you begin to see how awesome our God truly is?

And while He was up there on that cross filled with more than any man could bear, his head filled with holes to atone for the sins of the mind, his hands pierce with nails to atone for sins our hands would commit, his feet pierced to atone for our feet that are swift to run to evil, His body exposed to atone for our sexually immorality and lewdness, you know what He did, (and if I hear one more person try to tell me that Jesus while he was on the cross was petty enough to worry about some soldiers gambling over His clothes I'll smack You) He looked down the line, from the beginning of creation and the children of Adam and Eve until the very last child to be born on this earth, He looked at you and me and everyone else, and said (Luke 23 v 34) "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And lay down His life for you and me. We are born in sin and until we know Jesus, it's all we know, and He asked for our forgiveness, not for just three or four guys playing with dice but for you and me.

But we can take comfort also in this.

Matthew 8 v 17: This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."

1 Peter 2 v 24: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

He made it possible that we could come to Him, who has already experienced our hurts and pain, that we could bring it to Him and trust in this promise, that by His wounds we are healed, no hurt is too great for His power and love.

Romans 5 v 1- 11: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Sanctification is also commanded, you can not come before the Lord if you are unclean, living in sin up to your eyeballs, it takes work everyday, continually examining yourself and seeing if you are doing the will of the Father.

Exodus 19 v 21 – 22: and the LORD said to him, "Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the LORD and many of them perish. Even the priests, who approach the LORD, must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them."

We are a royal priesthood, called and set apart by God, consecrate yourself to God, that you may never have to stop before you come before your God to place your needs and supplications and praise and worship at His feet, that you may always be able to enter in. make sure you know beyond a doubt without pride that you are clean and nothing is coming between you and your God.

Leviticus 20 v 26: You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

Do you know what the hidden promise is to those who remain holy?

Joshua 3 v 5: Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you."

If you were consecrated, holy everyday, continually trying and striving to keep yourself right with the Lord (bearing in mind that it is God who perfects not man, and you will slip occasionally, and we're talking minor slippage, not oops! I fell into bed with this naked woman/man and had sex, like did not fully listen to what God was telling you to do, jumping the gun so to speak), you would see amazing things every single day! God is not a discriminator of persons, if you're right with Him and willing to be used, He'll do amazing things all day long every day of the week, big or small, He doesn't care, He wants His power to be known and to have it change the lives of those around us, but goodness can not come from a dirty vessel.

But if we don't act like what we truly are, redeemed, a royal priesthood devoted to God, if we don't step up boldly to His throne and say 'use me I'm yours', your not ready and not willing and no good to anyone.

We don't have to go the way our mothers and fathers did, see how they are now (I'm not talking about parent's, some of you may be lucky enough to have godly parents and I hope you thank God that they are everyday, if you don't start doing it, it's rare to find an entire family under one roof devoted to God). I speak of those who have gone before us, those given the opportunity and wasted it. Read this and know that He is speaking to you now. You are a priest, and many have quashed the flame the Lord placed within their hearts that was to make their hearts burn for Him, and know that this world is in the midst of the Lord's anger, at those who were His and fell away into even greater sin and at those who would never even open the door and let Him at all. They are dead and they don't even know it.

2 Chronicles 29 v 4 – 9: He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side and said: "Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your fathers. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. Our fathers were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the Lord's dwelling place and turned their backs on him. They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel. Therefore, the anger of the Lord has fallen on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes. This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity.

1 Thessalonians 4 v 1- 7: Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

We are the sanctified ones, it is He who sanctifies and we who maintain it, and clean up the mess, by bringing it to God, exposing the filth in our lives that we might be clean.

1 Corinthians 6 v 9 – 11: Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

We are presented to God, that He might make us clean, through our humbling ourselves to God Himself and the structure of headship He has set over us, in our Homes, in our church, that we need to have a love for the body of Christ and a desire to see it kept pure and strong, continually purging out the filth and false doctrine that tries to creep in. protect what God has given you, don't let it go to the dogs.

Ephesians 5 v 25 – 27: Husbands (people), love your wives (love what God has placed within you, as a husband and wife are one, so are you with Christ), just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy (give up your worldly desires that lead to death), cleansing her by the washing with water through the word (wash out the cup that is your body and fill it with the pureness of God), and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (give God the best, not a life covered in sticky hand marks from where sin almost got you, but a life where sin is reviled and you have done all you can to be free from it).

We have a new family that we are grafted into, one that is all that Christ desires it to be, and one that is without shame. Ours is a family that is not to be uprooted and is not to be cast into the fiery furnace.

Hebrews 2 v 11: Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

Well, I have reached the end of my study on sanctification, and I would encourage you on your own to delve deeper and seek out the mysteries that God is waiting to reveal to you about your own personal walks with the Lord, I hope you know have even a small understanding of what it is that you and I have been given and put it to good use, and are able to more fully explain to others what God has in store for them if they would but yield unto the Lord.

I have just a few parting scriptures to encourage you who have been sanctified and wish to continue going from strength to strength in the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5 v 23 –24: May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

Hebrews 10 v 17 – 24: Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

And I leave finally with the prayer by Jesus before He was crucified, that His love for us His workers, and those soon to join His family, might rejoice in His love.

John 17 v 14 – 26: I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Let the love of Jesus guide you and spur you on to bigger and better things in the Lord.

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