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Subject 19 : The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the EPHESIANS
[Chapter 1-8] We Thank God for Calling Us as The Members of His Church (Ephesians 1:20-23)
(Ephesians 1:20-23)
“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. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
Even Now, the Lord Is Filling the Whole World with God’s Blessings
It is written in Ephesians 1:23 that the Church “is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” All of us had to receive the remission of sins into our hearts by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit which was given by the Lord. For you to become a member of God’s Church, you have to have unwavering faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. So now that we have received the remission of sins into our hearts by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must preach this gospel all over the world until we die. And in doing so, all of us ought to strengthen our faith and glorify God. For all of us to become members of God’s Church, our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit must be unwavering, and only when we have this faith can we become members of God’s Church.
Today, those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with their hearts have received the remission of sins by this faith, and none other than their gathering is God’s Church. God’s Church is where the redeemed are gathered together to praise God and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and if there is anyone in the Church who knows this true gospel only in his head and does not believe in it with his heart, then this person is in fact a sinner. God abhors such a person who refuses to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and whose heart therefore still remains sinful. The Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts is not pleased with anyone who does not believe in the righteousness of God. So God does not entrust any work of His Church to anyone who does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Of course not everyone can understand and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit right away. Some people have to listen to the Word of God found in the gospel of the water and the Spirit for quite a while before they can actually believe in this gospel one day and become saints. But there are others who reject the gospel of the water and the Spirit until the end, and such people are all opponents of God’s righteousness even if they are attending God’s Church. These people will ultimately be cut off from God’s Church. Regardless of the reason, whoever does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot become a member of God’s Church. If there is anyone inside God’s Church who does not actually believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then we should never appoint such a person as a minister to lead God’s Church.
Because God’s Church is the body of Jesus Christ, its leaders must invariably be sinless in their hearts. Only when all the servants of God and His saints become completely sinless can the Holy Spirit work in their hearts. In Jesus Christ, only someone who has no sin can be described as a saved person, and for each and every one of us to become such a saint whose faith is approved by God, all of us must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that God has given to us. God’s Church needs someone who can always discern the sheep from the goats and take good care of the Church.
God strengthens and works through whoever denies himself and believes in the righteousness of God. The problem; however is that there are many people who think that they are more than able to carry out God’s work all on their own. We should never think of God’s work merely as a human affair. And we should also realize that God does absolutely nothing through anyone who does not believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit.
God’s Church is the only institution on this earth that is capable of faithfully obeying and serving the will of Jesus Christ, the Head of all the saints. But for this to come about, all the members of God’s Church must accept the will of Jesus Christ its Head as their own will. Just as the Lord is forever holy, so are the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit holy. So it’s absolutely important for you to ascertain whether or not your heart really has faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
This world is filled with countless Christians professing to believe in Jesus, but the vast majority of them actually believe in Jesus’ blood on the Cross alone, mistakenly thinking that this solely constitutes their salvation. Ignorant of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, these misguided Christians think on their own that they have become saints. But this is a false perception. To be accurate, no one who has sin in his heart can ever be one of God’s people. Put differently, those who are ignorant of the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot believe in it, and can thus never become God’s people.
Whom Does God Use for His Work?
God’s Church is where the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are gathered together in obedience to God. However, if the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are mixed with non-believers in some gathering, then such a gathering cannot be God’s Church. The Holy Spirit cannot work in such a place. Therefore, whoever professes to believe in the gospel of the Cross alone rather than the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot be a genuine member of the body of Jesus Christ. Although such a person calls himself a Christian, we may say that this person is in fact just one of the many religious practitioners. If it were true that anyone could become one of God’s people just by believing in the blood of the Cross alone rather than the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then approximately one-fourth of the world’s population could all be said to be children of God. But in reality, none of them can actually be described as someone who has been truly saved from all his sins, for such a person still remains sinful in his heart.
Indeed, such people do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And because they do not believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit with their hearts, they are sinners as their still sins remain intact in their hearts, and they will consequently be destroyed for their sins. Any gathering of such people whose hearts remain sinful is not God’s Church, but it’s nothing more than a social gathering. Even though these Christian sinners all profess to believe in Jesus, come together to worship Him, call on His name, praise Him, and pray to God, this does not change the fact that God is not their God, nor can He be glorified by them.
The truth of the matter is that God cannot use any sinner as a vessel to carry out His work. Nor can the Holy Spirit dwell in any heart that remains sinful. That’s why every gathering of sinners is led by another sinner. For these sinners, their king is not Jesus but a fellow sinner. Even though they may volunteer their services in the name of Jesus and preach His name, they can never be washed from their sins through their faith. So we may say that such worldly churches are the same as any volunteer group in society.
But God’s Church is not really just a volunteer organization serving a social cause. Nor can God’s servants accept any sinner who does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit as a member of God’s Church. The workers of God’s Church are all walking in step with God, having completely entrusted themselves to His will. Although you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, if you want to become God’s worker, you must obey God as He commands you. After all, how could anyone who is not united with God’s will be called His worker, far less lead the saints that compose God’s Church? How could anyone who does not even accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit call himself a servant of God? God says that He can never carry out His work through such people. God cannot do His work through anyone who does not accept His will. He has never raised such people as His servants to carry out His work.
Therefore, not just anyone can do God’s work. All who want to become God’s servants have to first believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit themselves before they can preach God’s gospel. And they all have to entrust themselves to God and live their lives according to His will. Otherwise none of them can ever work with the Spirit of God.
Let me make it clear to you here that even though you can all hear the gospel of the water and the Spirit with your ears and believe in this gospel, not all of you can establish God’s Church. Even though you may now think that you can become God’s worker on your own and run His Church all by yourself, God’s true Church must be the place where the born-again believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are gathered together to serve the will of God. It’s Jesus Christ who is the Head of God’s Church. And God’s Church has entrusted His work to those who devote themselves to the proclamation of the gospel of the water and the Spirit in obedience to the will of God.
However, the sad reality for many Christians today is that in their ignorance of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they take their pride only in Jesus’ blood on the Cross, claiming that this alone constitutes their salvation. And they boast of their own respective churches, claiming that theirs is the best church in the world. However, these people are in fact busy trying to gratify just their own fleshly desires. In contrast, the members of God’s Church approved by Him believe only in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and they can all testify that this gospel alone is the true gospel of the remission of sins in this entire universe.
Jesus Christ, the Head of God’s Church has saved us the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit from all our sins. He has fulfilled our salvation by coming to this earth, being baptized by John the Baptist, shedding His blood to death on the Cross, and rising from the dead again; and He has blessed us to live our lives as His witnesses. Therefore, only those who have been remitted from all their sins in Christ by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have become God’s holy people. Those who now believe in and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit alone are God’s true servants; in contrast, those who believe in and preach only the blood of the Cross are liars. All of us must believe that the blessing of the water and the Spirit that our Lord has spoken to us is the Truth that enables everyone to be born again.
If anyone says against the will of God that the gospel of the water and the Spirit and some other gospels are alike, then these people do not belong to God. Today the churches that are run by those who believe that only the blood of the Cross is their true salvation are not reigned by God, but by human beings. God does not work with such people. If such people claim to have performed miracles, then it’s their own human work rather than God’s work.
Our Lord Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit. He said that it’s only the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit who preach the true gospel that blot out people’s sins, and every other gospel prevailing in the world is a false gospel. In the end, those who don’t believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are not God’s people, nor are they serving the Lord. Today’s pastors who are oblivious of the gospel of the water and the Spirit bear nothing but false fruit in their ministry. Such pastors devote all their ministries to expanding their own church buildings, raising their own social status, and establishing their own righteousness. In contrast, those who believe that the gospel of the water and the Spirit alone is the true gospel do not try to establish their own fleshly righteousness. In other words, those who believe only in the gospel of the water and the Spirit as their salvation do not try to reveal their own righteousness. On the contrary, the righteous exalt God’s righteousness only, believe that the gospel of the water and the Spirit alone is the true gospel, and seek to glorify God alone in their lives.
Where Then Is the Righteousness of God Revealed?
God’s righteousness is revealed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is manifested in both the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross. The Bible clearly says that to save us from the sins of the world, the Lord bore all our sins on His own body by being baptized and shed His precious blood on the Cross in our place. The righteousness of God is revealed in the very gospel of the water and the Spirit that we now believe in. This gospel of the water and the Spirit is the substance of God’s love. The fact that Jesus Christ has blotted out all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist on this earth, dying on the Cross, and rising up from the dead—this is the righteousness of God. Just as John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” God loved us so much that He has washed us from all our sins and delivered us from all our destruction by personally coming to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man, being baptized, and shed His blood on the Cross. It’s by believing in this righteousness of God that we have been remitted from all our sins and have become God’s children. It’s by believing in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit constituting God’s righteousness that we have put on this righteousness of God. Because God loved the world so much that He gave us His only begotten Son and blotted out all our sins with the baptism of this Son and the shedding of His blood, the two elements constituting the righteousness of God. We have become sinless by believing in this Truth. Whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit must believe in and follow God’s righteousness alone. It’s such people who can serve the righteousness of God.
God’s Church is the body of Jesus Christ. That God’s Church is the body of Jesus Christ is an extremely important truth that we must grasp clearly to live out our faith. And for us to become members of the body of Christ, we must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit without exception. What about you then? Do you really know that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? You must realize the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. And you must believe that this gospel constitutes the righteousness of God. It’s in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the righteousness of God is hidden.
Nonetheless, many Christians still claim to have died in Christ, and this is often their sole point of emphasis. They brag about their own fleshly righteousness, as though they already have faith in the righteousness of God. These people are actually trying to establish their own righteousness even when they profess to believe in only the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross. We should realize here that in God’s Church also, anyone who tries to establish his own righteousness rather than trusting in the righteousness of God is someone who seeks to gratify the desires of his own flesh. Such human righteousness has produced nothing but useless religious doctrines made by the religious practitioners seeking to satisfy the lusts of their flesh, but God said that He will never tolerate them. He said that He has preserved such people to punish them on the last day.
The Church “Is His Body, the Fullness of Him Who Fills All in All” (Ephesians 1:23)
Having established His Church on this earth, God wants to fill the whole world with the gospel of the water and the Spirit through His servants, so that everyone would receive the spiritual blessings of Heaven. Put differently, the institution that enables everyone in this world to be saved from all the sins of the world is God’s Church, and it’s God Himself who desires this. The Church is the very the institution that God Himself has established in Jesus Christ with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God’s Church works for whatever God wants. Since Jesus Christ is the Head of this Church, and we are His body, we cannot be separated from God’s Church.
Therefore, not just anyone can become one of God’s own people simply because he calls on the name of Jesus Christ, nor can just anyone establish God’s Church and carry out His work even if he has enough zeal to give up his body to be burnt for the Lord. It’s through the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that God has established His Church on this earth and carries out His work. What all of us must grasp here is that as the body of Jesus Christ, we all believe in the baptism that our Lord received from John the Baptist and the blood that He shed on the Cross. This baptism that Jesus received on this earth from John the Baptist and the blood that He shed on the Cross constitute the righteousness of God, and they also manifest God’s love. To those who believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit, God has granted His Church and made them bear witness of His righteousness.
As we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, all of us must be able to discern the true gospel from the false ones. Whenever we listen to any preacher, our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit should be the barometer by which we discern whether what this preacher is saying is right or wrong. It’s also absolutely imperative for us to discern how the Devil is working in this world with his own false gospel. We should realize here that God is pleased with us only if we stand on His side, hold onto the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Word of God, and carry out His work.
Where such saints are gathered together is none other than God’s Church. Inside God’s Church are His servants and His saints. They all have one common faith. They all believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and they are all living for the righteousness of God. By boasting of God’s righteousness and all the blessings that He has bestowed on them, they let the whole world know that the blessing of salvation is received through the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit. You too must be able to clearly discern God’s righteousness through His Church and the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God’s Church is here to carry out His Work.
To Make Us His Children, God Chose Us in Jesus Christ Even before the Foundation of the World
It is written in Ephesians 1:4-5, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” This passage means that God had decided to adopt us, we who are no more than mere creatures as His own children in Jesus Christ. Just how amazing is this plan that God had made for us?
God’s plan for us was to make you and me His own sons and daughters. Even though you and I are nothing more than lowly creatures before God, through His Son Jesus Christ, God has saved such lowly creatures like us according to the pleasure of His will. We are so grateful that God has placed us in His Church and made us work along with Him. How could we not be thankful then? God the Father has blessed all of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit so that we would dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven and enjoy all glory with Jesus Christ one day. Just how amazing is this plan of God the Father? Even before the foundation of the world, God the Father had made such an amazing plan to make us His own children in Christ. This plan is accomplished through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God the Father’s plan is so wonderful and marvelous that we are infinitely and forever grateful to Him for this plan.
Such wonderful blessings are attained only in our Savior Jesus Christ. And the way to receive them is found in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Outside this gospel of the water and the Spirit, God’s plan cannot even be imagined. The real Truth can be discovered only in Jesus Christ the Son of God, through faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit alone. Only those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can receive everlasting life from God. This gospel of the water and the Spirit was planned by God, not by any human being. The gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit was neither made by man nor did it come from man, but it was planned only by God the Father in Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ completed this Truth through the baptism He received from John the Baptist and the blood He shed on the Cross. There is no gospel of salvation anywhere in this entire universe that’s more beautiful that the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
All of us ought to therefore believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit which our God had given us and praise Him. With our faith we should all praise our God for what He has done and what He will do for us in the future. This is why some of our brothers and sisters felt so compelled to write new hymns of praise to exalt God for giving us His love, His salvation and His glory.
Whenever I’m traveling or have some free time, I often find myself humming along some hymns. Although most songs in this world are just about romantic love or some other banal things, the best song to me is one that praises God for the righteousness that He has bestowed on us. As we know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the mystery of salvation through which God our Creator has delivered us from all our sins, the hymns that we sing to God indeed exalt Him on high. We never get tired of praising God because this mystery of salvation, the gospel of the water and the Spirit through which God has saved us from sin is so profound. Far from it, through this praise we thank God even more for His love, singing hymns to Him from the depths of our hearts.
Even before the foundation of the world, God had planned to save us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit in Jesus Christ, and He has bestowed this salvation on us. This blessing is so great and amazing that words cannot express just how thankful we are. What God has done for us is truly wonderful, and we are all profoundly grateful to Him. Jesus has saved us from all our sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and this gospel is available to everyone. But because so many people do not know the significance of the baptism of Jesus, they are still wandering around lost, unable to be freed from all their sins. The reason why we must all praise God is found in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that is present in Jesus Christ.
How can a human being, a mere creature, become a child of God? How can mere creatures attain the same divine status as the Son of God? A maggot may turn into a fly, but how is it possible for human beings to become God’s own sons and daughters? Yet God has achieved this for us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Isn’t this simply amazing? How could we ever describe this astonishing and marvelous wonder, and how could we ever thank God enough for it? Only by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can we realize this mystery and give all praise to God, whose grace is truly amazing and wonderful.
Everyone who knows the mystery of God’s Church and the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot help but understand His marvelous plan and thank Him with faith. We have become members of the Church by believing in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. As we now have the proper understanding of Jesus Christ, the Head of God’s Church, we are preaching the true gospel of the water and the Spirit all over the world according to His will.
Everyone who has received the remission of sins ought to thank God now for making him a member of His Church and live the rest of his life according to His will. Leading such a life of faith itself is a tremendous blessing from God. Now we can’t help but thank God and praise Him for His marvelous plan. Even amid our hardship swamped in work trying to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we are still compelled to praise God, and we will continue to praise Him forever and ever. Even when we lose our dignity and our own righteousness is demolished, we are happy to endure any and all suffering for the sake of proclaiming the gospel, and we still praise God forever.
We must serve God now in every way possible precisely because we cannot praise God enough for His marvelous grace manifested in His plan of salvation that was fully achieved through both the baptism of Jesus Christ and His blood. All of us must thank God for the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit and live by trusting in God. And we must also believe that through us, God will bless people all over the world.
Why is it that God can work through you and me? In our carnal thoughts, we may wonder what God could possibly accomplish through us, but He can work through us because our hearts are holy and clean, for we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. In other words, our faith is the right faith. Indeed, we have been completely washed clean from all our sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that holds the righteousness of God. And it’s through us that God is spreading the gospel of His righteousness to people all over the world. Words cannot express just how grateful we are for this wonderful blessing. We cannot help but thank God for making it possible for everyone throughout the whole world to receive His full love of righteousness manifested in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
By publishing our gospel books in each and every language of the world, we are now obeying God’s Great Commission to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit. People who had been ignorant of this Truth are discovering it for the first time thanks to our literature ministry, and they are all expressing their amazement and thanks in their letters. These people have no hesitation to abide by this Truth for the rest of their lives and they all desire to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit like this because this gospel that we are spreading through our books is the absolutely perfect Truth. This wonderful result could come about because God planned it, and we are participating in this work of God trusting in His Truth. It is absolutely right for all of us to entrust ourselves to God and participate in this work to serve His righteousness. The gospel of the water and the Spirit that we are preaching is no ordinary gospel. This is the only gospel that holds the righteousness of God. When our books that hold the gospel of the water and the Spirit are shared and read by all the people across the whole wide world, they will all come to know the righteousness of God.
Many Christians nowadays think that even though they believe in Jesus, their salvation depends on their own effort. Although some of them say with conviction that they have been saved from their sins, in reality, they still have sin in their hearts as they are not obeying the will of God. In contrast, the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have reached their salvation by faith alone, without doing anything on their own. Indeed, countless people all over the world have been transformed by reading just a single book of ours that contains the gospel of the water and the Spirit and believing in this gospel.
God wants everyone to state his faith clearly. This means that you must take a clear position on whether or not you really believe in the Word of God instead of just taking the middle ground to say that the gospel can be many. You should realize here that if you take such a gray position to say that any and every gospel can be right, then this would mean that far from believing in the Word of God, you are in fact disobeying God.
Who in This World Fills All in All?
It is Jesus Christ our Creator who fills us with His salvation, blessings and glory. Through what does He give us such fullness? He fills us with His abundant blessings through God’s love revealed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Lord is filling us with God’s blessings. The Bible says that Jesus fills all in all, and this implies that there are His agents serving this divine will. Then whom would Jesus work with to fill all in all? Would He not work through you and me the members of God’s Church? However, if there is anyone inside God’s Church who still does not realize that he is a redeemed saint and a member of the Church and that Jesus Christ is the Head of this Church and we are His body, then God would not be pleased to use such a person as one of His workers. Therefore, all of us must grasp and believe in the Truth that we have become God’s own children by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And we also should realize that as we are the members of His Church, we must submit to its Head, Jesus Christ.
We have become members of God’s Church by believing in His righteousness, and it’s our belief that all of us are one family in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It’s absolutely critical for us to realize this truth and believe in it. For our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to grow, we must recognize and believe in the fact that we are one body in Jesus Christ and the Lord is our Head. When we take a look at our bodies, we see that each part and every organ, from our hair to our toes, are all attached to the body. Even our hair is part of our bodies, and that’s why we go to a great length to nourish and take good care of it. And when something is wrong with even a tiny part of the body, the whole body suffers. Likewise, as we are members of God’s Church and we all believe in Jesus Christ its Head, all of us belong to the same body of Christ. Therefore, if anyone of us goes astray, then all of us must try to mend his way, or otherwise every member of the Church will suffer as a result of one person going astray.
God’s Church is the institution that shares His love and blessings with everyone all over the world, and we have become the members of this Church through which Christ fills all in all. All of us ought to thank God for this wonderful blessing, that each and every one of us is a fellow believer in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And our common faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit must be unwavering, living by the blessings of this faith according to God’s wonderful work. We should all grasp here that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is not spread through just a few people’s effort, but it is proclaimed only when all of us are united together in submission to the commandments of Jesus Christ, the Head of God’s Church. As the Bible says, “You are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:23), it’s absolutely imperative for us to realize now where we really belong and what our calling is.
Even after receiving the remission of sins, some people can’t discern God’s Church where the righteousness of God is present, saying, “Every church is the same.” Even though these people have received the remission of sins clearly, they do not know whether they belong to God’s Church or Satan’s gathering, and as a result some of them even end up perishing from the lack of spiritual nourishment. As Satan is always looking for every opportunity to prey on the saints’ shortcomings, he will pounce on such people, and these people will be judged by God on the last day to live forever in suffering.
It’s absolutely critical for all of us to know what must be known, believe in what must be believed, recognize the beauty of what is truly beautiful, and see the preciousness of what is truly precious. The righteousness of God is this very such thing.
As we believe in the righteousness of God, we must recognize our identity and serve the gospel with proper pride. Because we have become righteous people by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with our hearts, we have all been transformed. When God told the Prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to its people about what God would do to them, he refused to obey God and went aboard a ship to flee to Tarshish instead. God then raised a fierce storm, and everyone in the boat cast lots to find out who was causing this storm. When the lot fell on Jonah, the sailors said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” (Jonah 1:8). Then the Prophet Jonah said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” (Jonah 1:9). Through this event, Jonah was able to remind himself of his identity, his circumstances, and his calling. Like this, we too must examine ourselves every day, confirm our salvation, recognize where we belong, have faith in our identity as God’s own people, and walk accordingly.
My message to all our ministers and all our saints in God’s Church today is this: The fullness of Him who fills all in all is reached through God’s Church that is, proclaiming the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God’s Church is the most blessed place in the whole wide world, the storehouse of all blessings. I ask you all to realize that God’s Church here is your treasure house of blessings. Through His Church, God is imparting His blessings of salvation to you, your family, and everyone all over the world. Remembering this always, I admonish you all to live by faith day after day amid God’s blessings.
God’s Church here is where those who have been born again of water and the Spirit are gathered together, carrying out God’s work, resting, and sharing laughter and fellowship with each other. God’s Church is the place where His blessings are stored, renewed every day, and shared with everyone. Realizing that we have become members of this Church of God, all of us ought to carry out His work by trusting in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and abide in God’s Church until the day the Lord returns. As a member of God’s Church, you yourself are carrying out His precious work to provide His Word and bring new life to people in every corner of the world yearning to be born again.
God sent Jesus Christ to you and me in order to make us members of His Church. As Jesus Christ was baptized on this earth and shed His blood on the Cross to death, we were saved from all our sins once and for all. But what would have happened to us if Jesus had just abandoned us after saving us? We would have been lost again for sure. It’s because God knew this only too well that He made us members of His Church and placed us there. So that we would actually become His body, God has saved us from all the sins of the world by giving us the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
What about you then? Are you grateful to God for this wonderful blessing? Indeed, we all give our thanks to God for saving us from all our sins and calling us like this to be the members of His Church.
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