Gleans from Sunday End of Month with Pastor (Dr) W.F Kumuyi.
DLBC Gbagada, Lagos HQ
26th May 2019
THE PECULIAR PRIVILEGES OF GOD’S PECULIAR PEOPLE
1 Peter 2:2,5,9-10
“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). Growth begins after you are born into the Kingdom, born anew and born from Heaven. There are people that come to church but are not born again; they have not received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour. You might be ten or twenty years in the Church, but if you are not born again, you cannot grow. If you are born again there is a desire in your heart to hear the word of God and grow. The pastor or teacher may have the desire to preach or teach, to expound the word of God diligently, faithfully and obediently, but except you have the desire to grow, you will not benefit from the teaching of the word of God because the perseverance of the teacher will mean nothing to you. I pray that you will benefit from the teaching of the word of God in Jesus Name. “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). A single block or stone does not make a house neither can a single believer. The plan and purpose of the Lord is that you as a lively stone (for the grace of God brings life into you), are built up together with others. It is not the plan of God that you be a lone ranger; an Internet, television, radio, newspaper or media Christian who will not show up in the church to be built up with others a spiritual house so that you can offer up spiritual sacrifices, praise and service unto the Lord. You will not fulfil what the Lord has appointed for you, and cannot attain the fullness of God for your spiritual life in isolation. What you do or how you live is only acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ. So desire the word of God that you may grow spiritually. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). He wants you to show forth His praises if you are born again, a child of God, redeemed and now justified in His kingdom. In time past, before you knew the Lord and were in darkness, you were not regarded you as a person going to Heaven and useful in His Kingdom, but now you have obtained mercy for salvation, renewed life and brought into His marvelous light. I pray that what God is expecting of you as described in this verse will be fulfilled in Jesus Name. God’s peculiar people have peculiar privileges.
3 points:
Point 1. HIS PECULIAR PROVISION FOR SONS AND SAINTS IN CHRIST
1 Peter 2:1-3; Hebrews 12:1-2; 5:11-14; 1 Corinthians 3:1; Ephesians 4:13-15; Hebrews 6:5
“If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:3). You have tasted the grace of God that brought salvation, and you turned away from the darkness of the past to Jesus who forgave your sins, wrote your name in the Book of Life, transformed your life, turned you into a new creature by grace. To make progress in the Kingdom of God, you need to lay aside all shades of malice, empty your heart of them; guile, all forms of deception and lying; and hypocritical actions; all envies and evil speaking, speaking evil about leaders in the, government, nation and church, you lay them aside. Believer, long-time Christians, preachers, teachers and leaders, there are some things to lay aside if we want to grow. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). God through His Word is saying, lay aside anything that will hinder you from growing. As you look back to all the heroes of faith in Chapter 11, there are some people you will not find in the Hall of Fame because they did not lay aside some things. Balaam did not lay aside his covetousness; Saul, his impatience; Esau, lack of endurance; Absalom, his quest for power; Lot’s wife – worldly attachment. To make it to the Chapter of faith and to live eternally with the Lord in Heaven, there are some things we ought to lay aside. King Ahab did not lay aside notorious lifestyle nor his wife Jezebel her evil; Judas Iscariot did not lay aside his covetousness; Demas heard a lot of the word of God from Paul the Apostle as his companion, but he did not lay aside his love for the world. This day, anything that slows you down; that will cut short your journey and not allow you to get to Heaven; anything taking your attention away from the Lord and now decreasing your consecration, commitment and total dedication to the Lord, you will lay aside in Jesus Name. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). Desire the sincere milk of the Word; go off the milk bottle and go on to solids, strong meat (Hebrews 5:11); that is how to grow. Grow in holiness, in obedience, be mature and understand self-denial. Grow out of seeing a tornado in every storm; a demon behind every challenge. Grow up and lay aside all the lifestyle that make you babes in Christ like the Corinthian Church that could not take the meat of the word of God; despite their speaking in tongues there was carnality and evil things in their midst (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). We shall grow to perfection unto the measure and of the stature of the fulness of Christ. “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:” (Ephesians 4:14,15). The process of growth will make us so solid and sound we are able to stand. We are no children tossed about not able to differentiate truth from error. “And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come” (Hebrews 6:5). You have tasted of the grace and the power to come. You have had conviction, and that conviction produces courage in our lives.
Point 2. THE POWERFUL PICTURE OF STEADFAST SAINTS IN CHRIST
1 Peter 2:4-8; Isaiah 28:16; Acts 4:11-12; Psalms 118:19-23; Daniel 2:34-35,44-45; 1 Corinthians 3:9-11; 6:19-20
Saints who are stable, solid, and steadfast like a stone built in a spiritual temple that remain there in his position. “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious” (1 Peter 2:4). Christ is the Living Stone, precious, tried and perfect, while we the believers are the lively stones. He passes His life to us, and we identify with and are alive in Him. Christ is the only One that laid down His life on the Cross as a Living Stone to bring us salvation, and as you believe in Him there will be a transformation and you become a lively Stone with His life in you (Isaiah 28:16). “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). To get to Heaven, Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, there is no salvation nor justification or forgiveness in any other. There is no spiritual leader or religious figure that can replace Christ in any nation, colour or culture. He is the Chief Cornerstone, even though the builders today reject Him, on the Final Day of Judgement, they will find out that He is the Judge of all, the King of the Kingdom (Daniel 2:34-35,44). He is the Living Stone and He is going to have a kingdom that will abide for ever and ever. “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). We are built into a spiritual house, not rolling stones, but stable and steadfast believers; the Lord wants us to be solid, strong, steadfast dependable, trustworthy and unmovable. You will be, stable and steadfast and your service and offering will be acceptable, in Jesus’ name. When He brings you into the Church, He builds you with other believers and you are co-labourers with Christ; you are God’s building. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Christ lives on the inside of a believer, and the Holy Ghost abides in their heart. Jesus knows every conversation and actions just as well as the Holy Ghost knows. The Holy Ghost is resident in the heart of every believer, so we are the temple of God.
Point 3. THE PRACTICAL PRIESTHOOD OF SHINING SAINTS IN CHRIST
1 Peter 2:9-10; 2 Timothy 2:4; Revelations 20:6; Luke 1:74,75; Philippians 2:15-16; Acts 26:18; 1 John 1:5-7
As peculiar people, we shine and live for Him, and our lives shine out in a dark world because He calls us out of darkness into His marvelous Light. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10). In the past, we were not the righteous, holy people of God written in the Book of life, dependable and steadfast, but now, we have obtained mercy for salvation, forgiveness, a new and renewed life. We are now (1) a Chosen Generation as a result of that. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:4). The Lord has chosen you to be a soldier and to stand your ground against all evil. Learn to say no anywhere you are to every form of evil and wickedness in that place. You are to have backbone and live an uncompromising life. You are (2) Royal Priesthood of the Lord, you are blessed and holy unto the Lord and shall reign with Him. ”Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6). (3) An Holy Nation. The Lord has the power, strength and provision to make us holy and righteous. What can hinder holy living? Fear. Understand that Christ and the Holy Ghost live inside you and take preeminence. You are to walk as the Lord and the Holy Ghost command and direct you, and not allow the fear of man to control your life. “That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life” (Luke 1:74-75). We are made (4) Peculiar People by looking for that blessed hope of the Rapture (Titus 2:13,14). The people who are Rapture-ready are conscious of Heaven more than money, position, fame and the pleasure of this world. The Lord redeems us from all iniquity, and anything He does, He does well. Then you go out to show forth His praises and shine forth His glory, “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). The Lord saved us to be peculiar and different from the people in the world. We are called out of darkness to live in the light. If you are a true child of God, you are not afraid of the power of Satan anymore; it is broken in your life (Acts 26:18). If we say that we are born again, members and ministers of a Bible believing Church, have fellowship with God and other believers, and still walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth (1 John 1:5). So whatever you do, and there is darkness in it, then you are living in secrecy or in pride, not a true child of God. We cannot walk with everybody. If that individual is still walking in darkness, you cannot stoop so low, they must come up and out of their darkness to walk in the light like us, then we can have fellowship together, ”But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). We are going out today to live in the newness of life, a shining and peculiar life, that shines forth the light and glory of God, and people will see that Christ lives in you and the the light of the word of God is beaming forth out of your life. This light will shine further and further unto the glorious day in Jesus Name.
Ponder on this! A single block or stone does not make a house neither can a single believer. The plan and purpose of the Lord is that you as a lively stone (for the grace of God brings life into you), are built up together with others. Pastor (Dr) W.F Kumuyi.
Ponder on this! If we are going to make progress in the kingdom of God, there are things to lay aside. Pastor (Dr) W.F Kumuyi.
Hard Sayings – What you do or how you live is only acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ. Pastor (Dr) W.F Kumuyi.
Reflection – As peculiar people, we shine and live for Him, and our lives shine out in a dark world because He calls us out of darkness into His marvelous Light. Pastor (Dr) W.F Kumuyi.
Words on the Marble – Please understand that standing, reading, praying or worshipping alone without the community of believers does not make you fulfil what the Lord has appointed for you. Pastor (Dr) W.F Kumuyi.
Key words – There is a desire in your heart to hear the word of God and grow if you are born again. Pastor (Dr) W.F Kumuyi.
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