Praise the Lord for another day and another chance to serve Him. I was thinking back to my childhood. In those days(1950’s & 1960’s) in the black community, it was almost taboo for someone to call you “sanctified”. Somebody reading this knows what I’m talking about. The old wives tales were spread and we were told to stay away from that “sanctified Church” because they roll around on the floor, talk crazy(in tongues) and play with snakes. I’m glad that I didn’t follow that advice or I would have never gotten “saved” by the true God. We are going to feast on the Word today about this subject.
Today’s Prayer
Dear Lord, the Psalmist has said: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes.”* Help us to see that sometimes it takes affliction for You to get our full attention and cooperation. Thank You, Lord, for caring enough and opening our eyes to Your deeper truths. Help us to set our hearts on keeping Your statutes, and on discerning Your purpose for our lives. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
Sanctification
Sanctification by Blood
Hebrews 13:8-12
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them. We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle have no right to eat. Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood.
By the Cross; Sanctification by the Spirit
1 Peter 1:2
God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.
At Conversion; Sanctification in the Truth
John 17:14-17
I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.
Quote of the Day
The many contradictions in our lives – such as being home while feeling homeless, being busy while feeling bored, being popular while feeling lonely, being believers while feeling many doubts – can frustrate, irritate, and even discourage us. They make us feel that we are never fully present. Every door that opens for us makes us see how many more doors are closed. But there is another response. These same contradictions can bring us into touch with a deeper longing for the fulfillment of a desire that lives beneath all desires and that only God can satisfy. Contradictions, thus understood, create the friction that can help us move toward God. ~Henri J. M. Nouwen~
WITH HOPE AND FAITH
REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION – THE RELATIONSHIP FACTORY