An Acceptable Offering, Sanctified by the Holy Spirit

“Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the OFFERING of the Gentiles might be ACCEPTABLE, SANCTIFIED by the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:14-16)

"We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore LET US GO FORTH TO HIM, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore BY HIM let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, THE FRUIT OF OUR LIPS giving thanks to His name." (Hebrews 13:12-15)

"But what does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:8-10)

If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus (His death on the cross) and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead  (He did not raise himself), you will be saved. If Jesus had not taught His disciples that those who come after Him must "deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24), then His charge to them/us could mean less than that. But, with His words to them, our service becomes clear!

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable (or rational) service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1,2)

The Word of Wisdom

"There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works ALL in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the WORD OF WISDOM through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills." (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

"James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks WISDOM, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." (James 1:1-8)

I would say that we should consider that the word of wisdom through the Spirit shows the believer how to proceed in that which the word of knowledge has revealed; the obedient action of faith. James reports that God does not give wisdom to those who doubt after having had the opportunity to receive this knowledge. Here, repentance is required to again consider the word of knowledge.

"For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, AND BEARS HERBS USEFUL for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned."(Hebrews 6:7,8)  So, the word of wisdom shows the believer how to proceed so that we may bear useful fruit, receiving blessing from God!

The Word of Knowledge

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb (mute, silent) idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are differences of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE through the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills." 

(1 Corinthians 12:1-11)

"Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the KNOWLEDGE of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may KNOW what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come." (Ephesians 1:15-21)

On occasion in charismatic ministries we hear that God had given an individual "a" word of knowledge. I do not contend with those activites. Although rarely do we hear that God had given "the" word of knowledge. "The" versus "a" has a 'specifying or particularizing effect as opposed to the indefinite or generalizing force' (WCD). The word of knowledge through the Holy Spirit awakens to His calling that we might practice righteousness in Him. It refines the Way to us so we may become complete in Him.

In It the Righteousness of God is Revealed

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For IN IT the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.' "(Romans 1:16,17)

This week the calendar reminds us of Christ's last days: His discussion of communion for those who would follow, not betray, Him; His scourging and His crucifixion; His resurrection! So, after the calendar ceases to speak, what will the worshippers do?

..."if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made into salvation." (Romans 10:9,10)

confess- to reveal by circumstances (WCD)

In order to believe in YOUR heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you should believe in YOUR heart His death on the cross. "I have been crucified with Christ", Paul preaches; "it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me". IN THIS TRUTH the righteousness of God is revealed: not just over a four day span but daily throughout the year!

Your House is Left to You

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling! See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me again until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' " (Luke 13:34,35)

"For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them." (2 Peter 2:20-22)

desolate - depopulate; to forsake or abandon (WCD)

There is the abomination of desolation, where the man of sin sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Satan's fate is sealed. None of those who follow him, purposefully or ignorantly, can possibly know what destruction awaits. If they did, they would not. But, your house is left to you! Allow God to dwell richly in His temple through the holy commandment, by the way of righteousness.

"The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." 

(Revelation 19:10) Holy men of God live to bring this requirement to the churches. You will see Him, again and again, when you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

No Turning Back: Steadfast in the Faith

"We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified."

"But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

"O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to hear from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you no being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain--- if indeed it was in vain?" (Galatians 2:15-21, 3:1-4)

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is NO VARIATION NOR SHADOW OF TURNING. Of His own will He brought us forth BY the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."
(James 1:17,18)

"But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and CONTINUES in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he DOES." (James 1:25)

Christ died in vain for the Jew whose righteousness remains in the law, and for the Gentile who lives according to the wisdom of the world. Both philosophies set aside the grace of God, which preaches Christ crucified.

Our Ministry of Righteousness

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handing the word of God deceitfully, but BY 

MANIFESTATION OF THE TRUTH commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But even if our gospel (Christ's gospel in them) is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake." (2 Corinthians 3:18-4:5)

"For we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." (2 Corinthians 4:7)

"always carrying about the in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." (2 Corinthians 4:10,11)

"And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what was written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you." (2 Corinthians 4:13,14)

"Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:20,21)

I think so many would be helped, in Christ or outside, with the understanding and embrace of these words inspired by God. Understanding our calling brings comfort.

"And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation." (2 Corinthians 1:7)