Weekly Messages
January 25-January 31, 2004
You Must Die to Live! by Dr. 'Tayo
Brown
“Verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it
bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall
lose it; and he that hatheth his life in this world shall
keep it unto life eternal” Jn 12: 24-25
This is the only way for the Church to live. We live by
dying. We cannot talk of resurrection without death.
Whatever resurrects must have died. If we say we are
following Jesus Christ there is a cross of crucifixion we
have to carry everyday, Jesus said if any man will come
after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and
follow me (Lk 9: 23-24) When Paul said I die daily that
means he carried his cross daily, crucify his flesh, the
world and its lust and he daily receive the power of the
Holy spirit to resurrect into newness of life each day. This
is a daily affair.
I understand that we have been dead and we resurrected with
Christ at that moment when we receive Jesus Christ as our
Lord and savior but we must understand that we still have to
work out the salvation of our soul with fear and trembling.
Paul said, I live to know Jesus Christ, the power of His
resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering being made
conformable unto His death. We need to die daily on the
cross of prayer and intercession, travail in the spirit,
consistent fasting, meditating, confessing and doing the
word. We can only overcome by the blood of the lamb, the
word of God and by NOT LOVING OUR LIVES UNTO DEATH. We don’t
always quote this part of the scripture. Paul said, we must
kill the deeds of the flesh by the help of the Holy Spirit.
Anyone that will live according to the dictates of the flesh
will surely die (Rom. 8: 13)
Resurrection power will be made available to us to the
extent that we allow the Lord to work in our lives. The Holy
Spirit will give us life in the place of death.
GRA
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We Have
Forsaken All to Follow Jesus
“Then
answered Peter and said unto him, Behold we have forsaken
all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore...And
everyone that hath forsaken houses...for my names sake,
shall receive an hundredfold” Matt. 19: 20.
What have you
forsaken to follow Jesus Christ? I am not talking about your
former life of smoking, partying and drinking, I mean what
things of value has the Lord asked you to forsake so you can
follow him wholeheartedly, is it your precious busy well
paid job, the second job, your precious time or other
comfort?
You cannot
receive an hundredfold of what you have not forsaken. Paul
said, all that I gain I count but loss and they are dung, I
forsake them for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ
my Lord (Phill. 3: 7-15)
GRA
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Parting Thoughts...
Revival is what the Church first experiences; evangelism
is then what she engages in. Revival is periodic; evangelism
is continuous. Revival and evangelism are not identical,
although the word revival is often used to designate soul
winning efforts directed toward unbelievers. Revival will
always vitalize God’s people. For many it’s price its too
high. There is no cheap grace in revival., it entails
repudiation of self-satisfied complacency.
Revival turns careless living into vital concern, it
exchanges self-indulgence for self-denial yet revival is not
a miraculous visitation falling on an unprepared people like
a bolt out of the blue. It comes when we want it and are
willing to pay the price.
GRA
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