Go be set aside...
My very first pastor was a soft spoken but plain spoken man. He was counseling me on how to best serve the Lord, whether I should preach, go to seminary, etc. He said to me, and I've never forgotten it, 'none of that matters, John, if you're not set aside for Jesus.' I asked him what that meant, set aside for Jesus. He gave me this verse: John 15:16 "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." That didn't clear it up a lot for me. I was bible and christianity ignorant, having been an agnostic for the first 30 years of my life. My pastor was patient, however.
He said that a Christian is unlike any other. Anyone will be appreciative and grateful for good things that happen, but the Christian must rejoice always, in times of sorrow as well as gladness. Christians are expected to rejoice in persecution for His sake. We are to be in the world but not 'of' the world. In other words, we are unlike others and it should show. The best way to know if you aren't close enough in your walk is if no one can recognize you as different from the other folks, the nonbelievers.
John 15:19 "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
If the world loves you too much, be on the alert. Worse, if you love the world too much, you are in trouble.
When one says 'yes' to Jesus, their 'fruit,' the continued product or growth of religion in their souls, is to remain, or to be continually produced, until God should call them from their work. The Christian, and especially the Christian minister, is devoted to the Saviour for life. He is set aside and his energies, love, devotion are directed toward Him. That doesn't mean he isn't a son, husband, father, neighbor, friend. It is that his 'main' preoccupation and devotion are to the Lord and his work. He who is set aside is to toil without intermission, and without being weary of his work, till God shall call him home. The Saviour never called a disciple to serve him merely for a part of his life, nor to feel himself at liberty to relax his endeavours, nor to suppose himself to be a Christian when his religion produced no fruit. He that enlists under the banners of the Son of God does it for life.
As my pastor said, set aside. Are you set aside?
Tags: chosen, elect, works, grace, devotion, faith, Christian
He said that a Christian is unlike any other. Anyone will be appreciative and grateful for good things that happen, but the Christian must rejoice always, in times of sorrow as well as gladness. Christians are expected to rejoice in persecution for His sake. We are to be in the world but not 'of' the world. In other words, we are unlike others and it should show. The best way to know if you aren't close enough in your walk is if no one can recognize you as different from the other folks, the nonbelievers.
John 15:19 "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
If the world loves you too much, be on the alert. Worse, if you love the world too much, you are in trouble.
When one says 'yes' to Jesus, their 'fruit,' the continued product or growth of religion in their souls, is to remain, or to be continually produced, until God should call them from their work. The Christian, and especially the Christian minister, is devoted to the Saviour for life. He is set aside and his energies, love, devotion are directed toward Him. That doesn't mean he isn't a son, husband, father, neighbor, friend. It is that his 'main' preoccupation and devotion are to the Lord and his work. He who is set aside is to toil without intermission, and without being weary of his work, till God shall call him home. The Saviour never called a disciple to serve him merely for a part of his life, nor to feel himself at liberty to relax his endeavours, nor to suppose himself to be a Christian when his religion produced no fruit. He that enlists under the banners of the Son of God does it for life.
As my pastor said, set aside. Are you set aside?
Tags: chosen, elect, works, grace, devotion, faith, Christian
posted by Johnny at
8:36 PM
4 Comments:
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Anonymous, at 9:16 PM
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Johnny, at 3:31 AM
Feeling different or set aside or thinking one is can cause trouble. The Jews were/are hated because they are God's 'chosen people.' Christians who think they are better than others do too.
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Anonymous, at 8:51 PM
Christians are not to think they are better than others, whatever that means, but set aside or living differently. If they didn't, what would be the point?
As for being hated, believers in God have always been persecuted. We are not to worry about what 'they' think but what He thinks.
Rita
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Anonymous, at 8:04 AM
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