Unto you therefore which believe
He is precious: but unto them which
disobedient to, the stone which the builders
disallowed, the same is made that head
of the corner, and a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense, even to them
which stumble at the word, being
disobedient: whereunto also they were
appointed. But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, as holy nation,
a peculiar people; that ye should show
forth the praises Him who hath called
you out of darkness into His marvelous
light: which in times past were not
a people, but are now the people of God:
which had not obtained mercy, but now
have obtained mercy.
I Peter 2: 7 -- 10
People often call themselves "Christian" but seldom do they refer to themselves as "a royal priesthood." By what right do we become "a royal priesthood?" Just because a person calls himself a "Christian" and attends a church, Bible studies, and other various functions of Christianity does not make a person a "Christian" nor does it make a person "a royal priesthood." A "Christian" is one that has come to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and follows the commands and precepts of God. The right to be "a royal priesthood" is due to the atonement. A person cannot earn this right for it is a free gift of God for all of his children. Now, as a priest of God we have responsibility to God. Are you prepared to be a priest of God? Are you prepared to leave yourself resolutely alone and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? Are you willing to continue to look inside of yourself to see whether or not you are what you ought to be sold that you are not generating a self-centered, morbid type of Christianity, not the robust, simple life of the child of God. Christianity is not a club, a sorority, and not a place where we get our feelings and our emotions rubbed so that we feel good about being a Christian. Christianity is simply the simple life of the child of God and Intel we get into that understanding and develop a right relationship to God, then your relationship and your Christianity is hanging onto this truth by the skin of your teeth. How often do we hear a Christian say what a wonderful victory they have gotten from God. That may be true that God has given you a victory but there is nothing in that it indicates the miracle of Redemption. An Authentic Christian is one who launches out in reckless belief that the Redemption is complete. If you launch yourself out in his recklessness of belief then you are to bother yourself no more, but began to do as what Jesus Christ said we are to do. This to do list includes praying for a friend who comes to you for help, to pray for other Christians in your congregation and around the world, that is to pray for all men and that the Gospel will reach very ears and that they will respond to the Holy Spirit leading them into faith. Do you realize that you are only perfect in Jesus Christ? Do not rely on this plea: "O Lord, I have done my best, please hear me."
How long will it take for you to free yourself from the morbid habit of thinking about yourself? We must come to the place where we get sick unto death of ourselves and there is no longer any surprise that anything God can tell us about ourselves. We do not know the depth of the darkness within us, that morbid and is in meanness and ourselves. We may not know, but God does know, and there is only one place to get ourselves to be right and that is in Jesus Christ. When we reach that place, then we pour out of ourselves with all the worth we have in this ministry to clean out our interior and place all of our trust and faith in Jesus Christ.
Those who do not do this are disobedient and this disobedience is shown in their lives as they shun the word of God. You who are honestly and obediently seeking the truth and are listening to the Holy Spirit as He leads you into the faith will come to know that you have been appointed to do this work outlined by Jesus Christ. You are a priest, so act as a priest and chilled the praises of Jesus Christ who has called you out of this darkness that you are an and called you into his marvelous light. You are not just a person of this world. You are a child of God, a people of God, and you have received His mercy. So what is holding you back? It is not God. It is not Satan. It is you. Therefore, only you can repent which means that you turn 180° from the way you are now going to the way that you should be traveling. you are not alone in his effort for you have the Holy Spirit speaking to you through his Word and by means of that quiet voice that speaks to your soul and only you can listen, only you have the power to hear. Praise God for as a child of God and a priest of God and have received His mercy and have been appointed to spread the gospel have also been appointed to have eternal life.
Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD,
I will frown on you no longer come for I am merciful,
declares the LORD, I will not be angry for ever.
Only acknowledge your guilty -- you have rebelled
against the LORD your God, you have scattered your
favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me, declares the LORD.
Return, faithless people, declares the LORD,
for I am your husband. I will choose you -- 1 from a town
and two from a clan -- and bring you to Zion.
Jeremiah 3: 12b-- 14
Live as a priest of God
Richard L. Crumb
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