Sermon Central
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You Are A Chosen Vessel Of Christ
Contributed by William Baeta on May 12, 2012 (message contributor)
Summary: “You did not chose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name He may give you” John 15:16.
Theme: You are a chosen vessel of Christ
Text: Acts 10:44-48; 1 Jn. 5:1-6; Jn. 15:9-17
The root of many problems in the life of believers is the lack of knowledge concerning their identity and their abilities. Adam yielded to sin because he did not know who he was and what he was capable of doing. It took another man, our Lord Jesus Christ, who knew His identity and His capabilities to restore to mankind what Adam had given away. No matter how hard the enemy tried to make Jesus doubt His identity as the Son of God he failed because Jesus totally believed the Word of God. The first temptation Jesus faced after His forty day fast in the wilderness was about His identity. “If you are the Son of God command these stones to become loaves of bread” (Matt. 4:3) Jesus knew He was God’s beloved Son and did not yield to the enemy as Adam did when he doubted his identity. As believers, Jesus Christ has restored our identity and our abilities but do we know who we are. You are a chosen vessel of Christ.
We have been chosen to have the Spirit of God. When we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and confess Him as Saviour and Lord we are saved and receive a new spirit. He chose us when He became the perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sin and “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God”. 1 John 5:1 When Christ took our place on the cross and paid the penalty for sin, He not only took our sins upon Himself, He also made His righteousness available to us. Our sin separated Him from His father and His righteousness brought us to Him. He has not only reconciled us to God but created a new spirit in us where the Holy Spirit can live. Our spirit has been made whole and when God sees us He sees Christ in us.
Do we know who we as saved believers? Do we believe that “As He is in heaven so are we here on earth” (1 John 4:17). If not how can we get to know who we are in Him? We all know how we look physically having spent a lot of time looking at our reflections in mirrors. Who has not looked into a mirror today? The Scriptures however tell us that we are spiritual beings who posses a soul and live in a body. To know who we really are means we have to take a look at our spirit. It is impossible to see our spiritual nature from our physical perspective. We can only do so from God’s divine perspective by looking into God’s mirror, the Word of God. In God’s Word we see our spiritual nature and it is the spiritual that should manifest in the physical. Our spiritual life from God’s perspective is a life of fulfilment, a life of victory, a life of abundance, and a life of prosperity. God desires that we manifest the full stature of the man or woman He has chosen us to be. He wants us to overcome life’s challenges, lead a successful life and become a source of blessing to our generation.
As believers our spirits have been renewed and made whole. However, we were used to doing a lot of things that were contrary to the Word of God before our salvation and these habits do not just go away. We still rely on the flesh although we have been spiritually renewed. These habits have resulted in a mindset that acts contrary to the spirit of God. The only way to overcome the flesh is to renew our minds. We renew our minds by believing and depending on the Word of God. As we study, understand and apply the Word of God it will lead to a renewal of our minds and to total trust and obedience in the Word of God. When our minds are renewed the effects will be evident in our lives. It is only then that we will be able to physically manifest the life of Christ in our lives. We will love as Christ loved us and become a blessing to those around us as we share with them their need for salvation.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was perfect in every area of His being and demonstrated His perfect love for us by meeting our greatest need – our need for forgiveness. To do this Jesus had to pay a great price. It took the cross to reconcile us to God for us to experience peace with God and the peace of God. The cross is the highest demonstration of God’s love. Jesus, who says that he loved us as his heavenly Father loved him, loved us more than his own life. Our response to such love is to remain in His love and love as He has loved us.
