For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Christ was a gift from God to the world, a world that did not deserve Christ. Nevertheless, Christ was a gift to a dying and disobedient world. God always kept His promises to the children of Israel even though they were stiff-necked, hard-headed and rebellious. The children of Israel did not have the Holy Ghost so they had no choice but to be what they were. They did not know how to overcome their sinful nature. Even in the midst of all the promises God made to them, still, they were unable to walk upright before God. All the blessings in their life could not keep them holy and cause them to walk like God wanted them to walk. We can give and give to people but we cannot make them love us. If it is not in their heart to love, then they will not love. They will remain nasty until God changes their heart. Just because we may love others, we cannot automatically expect others to return that love. This just may be where some people are. The children of Israel were. How can one turn their back on a God who has saved their life over and over and over again and preserved their life in supernatural ways?
The children of Israel had a testimony of God like no other. A pillar of fire to warm them by night, a cloud to keep them cool by day, rocks giving them water but they still did not have the ability. This is why a lamb had to come and die for a people who had everything. If God gives us everything, would this make us serve Him more? No. There are people who have everything and still commit suicide. Oftentimes, they kill others first, then kill themselves. If there is a void in our life, if there is an emptiness where the Holy Ghost is supposed to be, things (money, cars, houses) are not going to replace it. Things will not fill that void. The Holy Ghost is what we should be in pursuit of. This is why we have to be led by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will never point us to ourselves.
I. THE FELLOWSHIP OF CHRIST’S SUFFERING
If we look in the Word and at what the apostles did, Paul never prayed to preserve his life. One time he talked to God about the thorn that was buffeting him and was told, God’s grace was sufficient (adequate, enough) and Paul left it alone.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
The blessings of God alone will not fill the void in our lives. The only thing that will fill the void is the indwelling Holy Spirit along with the fellowship of Christ’s suffering. Why? Because it causes us to feel connected to something. Our suffering, which is not for ourselves, causes us to feel like we are connected to Christ. NOW, WE ARE THE GIFTS THAT ARE GIVEN. For God so loved the world that He gave His Son, now He has given us. He has given us to suffer. A gift cannot tell its owner what type of conditions it wants to be in, where it goes or where it is placed. The gift just goes. Until we partake of this, we will never be satisfied because what we are is not being filled. We always equate suffering to things but this will not always be true. Sometimes we suffer inside our mindsets. But unfortunately, the church has been taught to search, seek and lust for things. We must guard our hearts in the message that has been coming forth. Though the Word of God is pure, we must deal with how we are processing it. We can hear what we want to hear based upon our own lusts and then twist the Word in order to fill our lust. We will suffer the lack of “things” but it is not the only way we are going to suffer. There will be those who have plenty (money, cars, houses) and still suffering. And then there will be those who are poor and lacking, and this will not be their suffering. Some are content being poor. Just because some may live from paycheck to paycheck does not mean they have a problem with it. Some have accepted that they may have and that they may not have. But others will see this as really suffering. God still has to go to a deeper depth in all of us. He must touch that “thing” we have not given over to Him. God still must rid us of those “things” that are unlike Him. Christ not only died on a cross, but He saved lives. We read the account of the woman who was caught in adultery and the people were ready to stone her. Christ instantly became her lawyer (St. John 8:7).
Another instance, a man’s son is possessed by demons and the demons recognize the Christ in the man Jesus. They had seen men walking with the anointing on their lives, but had never seen God walking in flesh on the earth. This is the same testimony we are to have. But if we do not know who we are, we will not. WE ARE GOD WALKING ONCE AGAIN ON THE EARTH. The demons know that they have succeeded in causing us to believe that we are only flesh. The devil knows we are much more powerful than he is, but he also knows that we do not know this. As for the ones who do know, they are not confident in the power of God in them. THOSE OF US WITH THE HOLY GHOST ARE GIFTS TO THIS WORLD. We are the cure to AIDS, cancer and anything incurable. We are the unity in a broken home. We are the peace in a troubled child. We are the antidote to poison.
2 Timothy 3:10-12
10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
We have to suffer for people and we will not come to the place the apostles were if we sidestep suffering. We must embrace suffering and walk in it without complaining. We have to see ourselves as gifts given to this world. We are gifts on our jobs, in our families and even in our schools. We determine the way things can go. This is why we cannot do what everyone else is doing. If we do, we destroy the testimony of the gift.
II. WE ARE GOD IN THE FLESH
The apostles served God in perilous times and in perilous situations. They healed the sick and raised the dead, but they were beaten, shipwrecked and thrown in prison. Nevertheless, they realized they were gifts to this world. Until we have a mind to go through suffering we will not make it in ministry. We may be a good preacher or someone who can quote the Word but until we have the mindset, “I’ll go through, Lord,” we will never have what the apostles had. We have become comfortable just being human. We are comfortable being a male or a female, a pastor or an evangelist. The world does not expect much from the church because the church is basically living like the world lives. The world sees no hope. They see the church as natural and so do we. But we are gifts to a dying world. Our flesh is just the package the gift is in. But we have to have the courage and confidence to step out of our package and tell the world we are the answers it has been
1 John 4:18-24
18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou
19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Jesus showed the woman at the well how mindful God was of her. A man she had never seen before began to tell her everything that had happened in her life. He let her know that He was the answer. IT TAKES COURAGE TO LET THE WORLD KNOW THAT WE ARE GOD IN THE FLESH. We do not want to do this because then people will expect us to act a certain way. This is true and we will. The son of God, who we are, is going to do the work. It is time now to come out of our packages. We walk by people suffering everyday but we dare not say, “I am the answer you have been looking for.” Why? Fear. But God needs us to come out of our packages. We are so much more than what people see. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Those who believe in Christ should not abide in darkness. We found out that the darkness is when we begin to follow the dictates of our flesh and the communication between us and our conscience is cut off. We are the gifts that have been given.
God has us in some situations right now because we are the gift in that situation. Sometimes we have to be the one being persecuted, or the one who must apologize even when we know we are not wrong. We may be the one who must restore peace or allow people to walk over us because if they do not walk over us, they are going to sink. Our whole life will not be one of suffering but the prosperity that comes will be spiritual. Whatever we determine in the spirit world is going to be done on this earth. A prosperity where we will not have to keep watching our unsaved loved ones die from cancer and we feel helpless because this is what the devil has convinced us of. We are tired of this. Our hands are not tied. We do not have dominion here on this earth yet, but we have dominion over everything in the spirit world. And everything that afflicts us is spiritual. The Word of God tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, so we must be a force to reckon with, too, if we can fight spiritual entities. WE MUST BE A SON OF The Holy Ghost that we have to give will never go out of style and the Word, who we are, will never cease to go out and come back void. If we speak the Word, believe and do not doubt that when the Word comes from our mouth an effect is taking place in the spirit realm because of who we are. We are not Moses speaking without the Holy Ghost. We are a new creature and partaker of the quickening spirit. We are the gift that is given. We are power and the world is not worthy of us but, nevertheless, God gave us.
