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Weekly Reminder...
The Weekly Reminder is an informative tool to help people who read it consider what the man of God has said. This weekend’s articles are based on what was heard on August 22 & 23, 2009 in the Westbury assembly.written by Br. Jean Leonidas
Christ gave Himself up as a sacrifice in order to save His sheep (John 10:11). This sacrifice is what gives all of us an opportunity today to come to church and be able to be accepted by God; this sacrifice is total proof that Christ loves us and we were being reminded how we need to also show our love to Christ by sacrificing for His work.
When Christ was on this earth He lived a life that was pleasing unto God. He forsook His own will in order to do whatever God wanted Him to do. Christ told His disciples in John 4:34, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work". As Christ was doing the will of God, He was a light unto the world (John 9:5). Br. Antoine was showing us that we are to follow Christ’s footsteps in pleasing God as Christ did. He quoted Mathew 5:14, telling us that we are a light of this world; Christ said that because He knew He would leave this earth and that His followers were to continue the work. Br. Antoine said to be a Christian we must be willing to sacrifice ourselves for the work of God. God’s will must be in us and anytime an opportunity is presented for us to sacrifice we must do it.
Br. Antoine quoted Ephesians 5:1-5, where the apostle Paul was telling the church their purpose in this world. In verse 1 it says “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children", this following God means doing His will, obeying His words. In verse 2 it continued in saying "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour". Just as Christ’s sacrifice was a sweet smelling savour unto God our sacrifices should also be acceptable to God. It doesn't matter what we are doing, whether it is ushering, playing in the band or cleaning the church, it must be done whole-heartedly with the fear of God in our hearts. Br. Antoine kept emphasizing that we should not say we love God without proving it. He said the way we present our sacrifices can be a proof of how much we love God.
Another scripture that was giving to us was Hebrews 10:7 which says "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God." Christ could not do no other than the will of God. The book was written of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before the world was formed, God's will for Christ was for Him to come and die for His people (Mathew 1:21). Christ was predestined to die for us, it was written that a virgin shall give birth (Isaiah 7:14). When we come to church our whole purpose is to find out what God's will is for our lives. God’s will for our lives is what is able to help us overcome our sinful nature. The will of God for our lives is found in His laws and this is why the church is so important. This is why the work of God and the man of God is so important because without them we cannot have the word expounded to us. Anytime we humble ourselves to obey the word of God we are sacrificing our own desires and will. This is why there must be a sacrifice in order for us to do the will of God.
In Mark 12:33 we learned that God’s will for us is to love Him with all our soul, strength and understanding and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The will of God can only be accomplished by practice and denying ourselves from our own will. This takes away that selfish spirit and the pride that we have in us. This helps us to become selfless even as Christ was able to become poor (in spirit) so that we can become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). The Good Samaritan had to sacrifice in order to prove His love toward God (Luke 10:30-35). By the sacrifices we offer to God we are able to determine how much we love God, after all Christ showed us how much He loved us when He gave His all.
May God help us to love Him by doing His will and providing acceptable sacrifices to Him.
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