I beseech you therefore, brethren… Romans 12:1
continued …
Jesus said in John 6:63, The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. In Acts 7:38, the Ten Commandments that were given over 2,000 years earlier were called the lively (living) oracles of God. The Word of God is eternally alive. The words are as fresh on the page today as they were the day they were written. It is as if God has written them directly to you as an individual. That is how personal the Bible is. Oh, I hope that when you read its words that you take it personally. God speaks to us through His Word. It is the Word of God that is beseeching us to present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God.
Surely this is also the voice of the Holy Spirit of God. Before Jesus went back to Heaven, He said four times (in John 14, 15 & 16) that He would send us a Comforter, the Holy Spirit of God, Who would call us near to His side. He will come along side of you to bring you to the place of complete surrender to God. He is the beseecher of God. He wants to encourage you. Every time you have felt conviction in your heart, you have heard the voice of the Living Word of God and the voice of the Holy Spirit of God. This Beseecher draws men and women to Jesus.
If Paul could step on the scene today, he would say to the How he loved the church and the believers in Rome! Paul always had a special place in his heart for this church that he started. He was writing the Roman believers to say, “I have given eleven chapters to describe to you the greatness and glory of your God and His mercies. I am going to urge you to take the gifts and opportunities and talents and everything that He has bestowed upon you as His children in His church there in Rome and lay down your life as a living sacrifice unto God and get busy using those gifts He has given to you.” Paul was not afraid to plead with them on behalf of the cause of surrender to Christ.
It is important to remember that this letter was not just written for the church at Rome. If it had been only for one church, it would not be in the Holy Scriptures; it would have been set aside. It was written and inspired by God for our church in Rockford, Illinois and for you and your church today. If Paul were alive today, he would still say, I beseech you…brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice. The message is exactly the same today!
to be continued…
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