Sunday 30 April 2017
Friday 28 April 2017
Wednesday 26 April 2017
The dimensions of his love by pastor clement ogedegbe Gracestand ministr...
THE DIMENSIONS OF HIS LOVE
More than a nice melody
More than the sweetest of words
This is the love I have found
And in this love I am found
Never could I comprehend
The love you so freely give
Never could I be worthy
But your love covers all of my sins
{Song: I Just Want You by Planet Shakers}
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church,
and gave himself for it;26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the
washing of water by the word,27 That he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be
holy and without blemish.28 So ought men to love their wives as their own
bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated
his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
{Ephesians 5:25-29}
Christ’s love for His bride{us} was demonstrated by the offering
of himself even unto death that he might sanctify and cleanse us and make us
glorious without spot nor wrinkles and that we should be holy and without
blemish. The amazing thing about this love is that it is Unconditional and
undeserving of us who were once filthy and sin-laden. The love looked beyond
our faults. Our multitude of sins were all covered by this love. If He loved us
when we were dirty and unholy, one cannot imagine the dimensions of His love
now that we have been purged and sanctified. Paul puts it this way:
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being
rooted and grounded in love,18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what
is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;19 And to know the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness
of God.{Ephesians 3:17-19}
His love for the Church is beyond knowledge, it is unfathomable.
It’s got breadth, length, depth and height and this love is Unchanging,
constant and wavers not. It is not affected by what we do. We cannot earn it by
our works neither can our weaknesses reduce it. In fact before we had the
knowledge of good and evil we were already loved. We were chosen from the
beginning to walk in Love blamelessly.
4 Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his
very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy
in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his
love. 5 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by
sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to!
6 Now all praise to God for his wonderful kindness to us and his
favor that he has poured out upon us because we belong to his dearly loved Son.
7 So overflowing is his kindness toward us that he took away all our sins
through the blood of his Son, by whom we are saved; 8 and he has showered down
upon us the richness of his grace—for how well he understands us and knows what
is best for us at all times.(Ephesians 1:4-8 TLB)
If we were loved before the foundations of the world then there
is nothing we can do to quench or reduce this love. Long before God laid down
earth’s foundation, He had us in mind and has settled on us as the focus of his
love to be made whole and holy by his love. He found pleasure in adopting us
into His family so he could lavish his love on us the Church. This love is stronger than fire, many waters
cannot quench it, and rivers cannot overflow it. We have been sealed in His
heart.
6"Put me like a seal over your heart, Like a seal on your
arm. For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as severe as Sheol; Its
flashes are flashes of fire, The very flame of the LORD.7"Many waters
cannot quench love, Nor will rivers overflow it; If a man were to give all the
riches of his house for love, It would be utterly despised."{Songs of
Solomon 8:6-7}
Just imagine a young man who stupendously loves his wife. He
would always want her to be around him. He would miss her so much that he would
call and chat with her everyday if they were countries apart. He would do
everything possible to bring her over to his country or city of residence so
she would be where he is. He would desire to see her every day and enjoy her
presence. He would prepare her a beautiful room even before she arrives and
would greatly anticipate her arrival.
That is how much Christ loves us also and even more. He desires
to have communion with us and enjoy divine romance with us. He would do
anything possible to have us be with Him in Heaven. He has prepared a place for
us already in heaven waiting for the right time for us to join Him there. He is
delighted just at the thought of us and ravished by the sight of us. I wish we
could relate with Him as our groom and call Him all the sweet names; Honey,
darling, sweetheart, heart throb, dearest, treasure, heartbeat, morning star,
most handsome, sunshine, fortune, gorgeous etc. If He can be the one we think
about when we sleep and still wake up with Him in mind then our love for Him
would be fully expressed. The truth is that He has us in mind every second and
watches over us even while we sleep. He deeply loves us.
Nothing can separate us
from this love. It is an everlasting love and transcends into the ages to come.
Even if the church stumbles yet this love will not depart. Let the bride wander
away, the love remains unfailing still. The groom has chosen to love us forever
and nothing will deter him. Paul puts it this way:
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him that loved us.38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come,39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.{Romans
8:37-39}
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he
loved us,{Ephesians 2:4}
The church is greatly loved. This great love provokes God’s mercy
in place of judgement. What a privilege it is to be greatly loved by the God of
Heaven.
17 And as we live with Christ, our love grows more perfect and
complete; so we will not be ashamed and embarrassed at the Day of Judgment, but
can face him with confidence and joy because he loves us and we love him too.
18 We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his
perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are
afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us and shows that we are not
fully convinced that he really loves us. 19 So you see, our love for him comes
as a result of his loving us first. {1John 4:17-19 TLB}
You see church, there is nothing to be afraid of about judgement
day. Christ has loved us perfectly and we will not be embarrassed nor ashamed
on judgement day. I am persuaded that He won’t harm us because He loves us and
nothing we do can separate us from His love.
Now let’s read this love letter written by our Groom to us, His
Bride even if we possibly mess up;
5 For Your Maker
Is Your Husband—
The Lord Almighty Is His Name—
The Holy One
Of Israel Is Your Redeemer;
He Is Called The God Of All The Earth.
6 The Lord Will
Call You Back
As If You Were A Wife Deserted And
Distressed In Spirit—
A Wife Who
Married Young,
Only To Be Rejected,” Says Your God.
7 “For A
Brief Moment I Abandoned You,
But With Deep Compassion I Will Bring You
Back.
8 In A Surge
Of Anger
I Hid My Face From You For A Moment,
But With
Everlasting Kindness I Will Have Compassion On You,”
Says The Lord Your Redeemer.
9 “To Me
This Is Like The Days Of Noah,
When I Swore That The Waters Of Noah Would
Never Again Cover The Earth.
So Now I Have
Sworn Not To Be Angry With You,
Never To Rebuke You Again.
10 Though The
Mountains Be Shaken
And The Hills Be Removed,
Yet My
Unfailing Love For You Will Not Be Shaken
Nor My Covenant Of Peace Be Removed,” Says The Lord, Who Has Compassion On You.{Isaiah
54:5-10}
I recommend you read this letter again with undivided attention
and you would see how deep His love is for us. His love says the following
1 ”Even if you walk
away from me I will bring you back with deep compassion”
2 “I have sworn not
to be angry with you again”
3 “I will never
rebuke you again”
4 “My unfailing love
for you will not be shaken no matter what happens”
5 “My covenant of
peace will not be removed”
6 “I will continually
have compassion on you”
7 “I will show you
kindness forever”
What manner of love is this! It brings tears to the eyes and joy
to the soul. I wish the Church will understand that there is nothing standing
between her and Christ. His love is for us not against us. I know some of you
are thinking that you’ve wandered too far away that His love can’t reach you
any more.
I assure you today that His love is boundless. The dimensions of
his love has got no boundaries so that you may know that you are still within
the confines of His love. His hands are stretched out towards you even in your
fallen state to rescue you from the dungeon of sin. His care and attention is
focused on you when you fall. He wants to bring you back into the arms of His
embrace. He will never forsake you in your weakness. He is chasing after you.
He will woo you over and again until you return to the arms of His love because
He loves you greatly.If you will listen to His voice today you will hear Him
say this to you “I’ve never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love,
and more love!
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, “Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee
{Jeremiah 31:3}
We must be told that the Groom understands all our shortcomings
and whenever we fall this is what happens………Episode 4,a must see!
A few verses
on God’s love
9This is how
God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that
we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he
loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins {1John
4:9-10MSG}
16 And so we
know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love.
Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is
made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment:
In this world we are like Jesus.
18 There is
no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with
punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love
because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or
sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they
have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us
this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister {1John
4:16-21 MSG}.
But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us{ Romans 5:8}
By this we
know LOVE because He laid down his life for us........ {1john 3:16}
Behold what
manner of Love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the son
of God......{1john 3:1}
There are a lot of believers looking for love
in the wrong places, jumping from one relationship to another looking for
approval and acceptance from mere mortals yet there is a God who tenderly loves
them with a fatherly love waiting for them to take advantage of his extravagant
love.
27 for the
Father Himself [tenderly] loves you, because you have loved Me and have
believed that I came from the Father. {John 16:27 AMP}
See what an incredible quality of love the
Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be named and called and
counted the children of God! And so we are! For this reason the world does not
know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, we are [even here and] now
children of God, and it is not yet made clear what we will be [after His
coming]. We know that when He comes and is revealed, we will [as His children]
be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is [in all His glory].{1 John
3:1-3 AMP}
It is the
incredible quality of the father’s love that permitted and allowed us the
privilege to become his children. Now we carry the very genes of the father and
when Christ appears again we shall be like him. His DNA lies within us. His
love is shared abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.
The idea of God becoming our father and we becoming his children
was born out of love. The love of God was burning within his heart seeking for
a better way to be expressed. It is so huge a love that it couldn’t be fully
expressed in the Old Testament because of the restrictions of the old covenant
of the law. God was seen as an angry God waiting to kill anyone who broke the
laws of Moses. Love could not be fully lavished under the old system that
enslaved men and killed them when they faulted. The God of love needed
something more than a master-slave relationship in order to fully express his
love. The dimensions of His love are boundless and can only be extravagantly
poured out by making us His children.
ACCEPT JESUS TODAY AND ENJOY UNFAILING LOVE
NOTES FROM EPISODE 3
(1}Christ’s love for the church was demonstrated by his death on
the cross for us
(2) This love purifies us and makes us holy, blameless and
without spot nor wrinkles.
(3) This love covers our multitude of sins
(4) The love is unfathomable and its dimensions are beyond
understanding.
(5)Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ
(6} Even if we stumble yet will not the love depart. Let the
bride wander away, the love remains unfailing still.
(7)This love has been even before earth’s foundation and it is
everlasting
(8)His love for the church is hotter than fire, stronger than
death, and many waters cannot quench it neither can rivers overflow it.
(9}God has sworn never to be angry with us again, never to rebuke
us again, never to remove His covenant of peace nor waver in His unfailing love
for us.
Song Prayer
Lord I come to You
Let my heart be changed, renewed
Flowing from the grace
That I have found in You
And Lord I have come to know
The weaknesses I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love
Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side
And as I wait
I will rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love
Lord unveil my eyes
Let me see You face to face
The knowledge of Your love
As You live in me
And Lord renew my mind
As Your will unfolds in my life
In living every day
By the power of Your love
Tuesday 25 April 2017
Sunday 23 April 2017
Wednesday 19 April 2017
Aliens in Church pastor Clement Ogedegbe
ALIENS IN CHURCH: CUT OFF FROM CHRIST
I am the true
vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.{John 15:1-2}
4I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. {Galatian 5:4 MSG}
The nation, Israel who were originally engrafted in Christ were cut off because of their unbelief. They couldn’t bear fruits of righteousness because they were trying to do it on their own. God had to cut them off. Only those Israelites who had faith are left still engrafted. We who were not part of Christ were engrafted into Him because we believed. We trusted God to make us righteous. Their unbelief took them out and our belief brought us in. It was through their fall that salvation came to us Gentiles. God did it to provoke them to jealousy so that they will value the righteousness gift of Christ.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. {Romans 11:11-18}
Now that we have been engrafted in by faith, we must also stand in by faith. It is only by faith that we both partake of the fatness of the root, both Jews and Gentiles. It makes no difference our race or nationality. If we can all have faith, we would all be engrafted in Christ and partake of the fatness of the olive tree. If a sinner repents today and puts his faith on Jesus, he becomes partakers with us in the same olive tree. There is no difference at all. Faith is all that matters.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. {Galatians 3:26-28}
Because the root is Holy, we are also holy. The righteous tree always produces righteous branches and fruits. We are not struggling to be righteous, we are already righteous by reason of our root, Christ Jesus. We therefore cannot boast of self-righteousness neither can we look down on those who were cut off because of unbelief. To start boasting will be to start thinking that we got righteous because we are good enough. It means we have removed our eyes from Jesus and are now gazing on ourselves. It means we are now putting confidence in the flesh and this can cut us off again.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.{Romans 11:19-36}
Dear friends, we must be careful not to boast in self -righteousness. It is by grace that we are saved and made part of Christ. Let no man ever think that he is standing by his own ability else he will fall. A self-righteous man will always fall.
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. {1 Corinthians 10:12}
4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.{Galatians 5:4 NIV}
Did you see that? Alienated? You become isolated, lose the support and sympathy of Christ once you depend on obedience to the law for righteousness. There are so many aliens in church today who think they are standing by keeping the Ten Commandments, not knowing that they have been cut off from Christ. They have become foreign and unfamiliar to Christ. They are like beings from another world and Christ doesn’t know them. They are doing so many great things in His name though He knows them not.
Note that they didn’t fall from grace because of smoking, drinking, fornicating, adultery, lying or any other such thing that we call sin. They fell from grace because of trying to be self-righteous. If they have committed any of the sins mentioned above or whatever we regard as sin, then the grace of God would have made up for them because where sin increases, grace increases much more. They would have still been righteous because of their faith in Christ Jesus as their righteousness-Gift. But you see, they don’t have faith in Jesus Christ as their righteousness, so they depend on self-righteousness instead of depending on grace. Hence they fall from grace and Christ’s death no longer benefits them anything. This is what the bible called wilful sinning after knowing the truth.
26 If anyone sins deliberately by rejecting the Savior after knowing the truth of forgiveness, this sin is not covered by Christ’s death; there is no way to get rid of it. 27 There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible punishment of God’s awful anger, which will consume all his enemies. 28 A man who refused to obey the laws given by Moses was killed without mercy if there were two or three witnesses to his sin. 29 Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God and treated his cleansing blood as though it were common and unhallowed, and insulted and outraged the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to his people.{Hebrews 10:26-29 TLB}
The passage says to sin deliberately means to reject the Saviour after knowing the truth of forgiveness. If you reject the grace of God and return to the law, it is a deliberate sin and such a sin is not covered by Christ’s death and cannot be gotten rid of. Because you don’t believe in grace, forgiveness and the gift of righteousness, what awaits you is a fearful expectation of judgement. You insulted and outraged the Holy Spirit. You trampled underfoot the son of God and treated the cleansing blood as common and unholy. You think the blood of Christ is not effective enough to make you righteous, so you trusted more in rule keeping than in the grace of God. You frustrated God’s grace and returned to the law. Hence you were cut off and God no longer has pleasure in you.
The kingdom of God was taken from those who depended on the law for righteousness and has been given to those who depend on faith in Christ for righteousness. By this faith we possess the kingdom and bear fruits of righteousness which the Pharisees and the chief priests could not bear.
43 “And so I tell you,” added Jesus, “the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the proper fruits.” 44 [b]
45 The chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables and knew that he was talking about them, 46 so they tried to arrest him. But they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.{Matthew 21:43-46 GNT}
For those of you who are still standing firm on God’s grace by faith, you must keep trusting Him, never lose your faith if you don’t want to be cut off from Christ. You are righteous by faith.
35 Do not let this happy trust in the Lord die away, no matter what happens. Remember your reward! 36 You need to keep on patiently doing God’s will if you want him to do for you all that he has promised. 37 His coming will not be delayed much longer. 38 And those whose faith has made them good in God’s sight must live by faith, trusting him in everything. Otherwise, if they shrink back, God will have no pleasure in them.
39 But we have never turned our backs on God and sealed our fate. No, our faith in him assures our souls’ salvation.{Hebrews 10:35-39 TLB}
A man who stands on grace can never fall. Such a man has faith in Christ as His righteousness. And Christ is able to keep us from falling when we believe in Him and not on ourselves. He is the vine, we are the branches. Without Him we will fall. He is our foundation, The Rock upon which we stand. He is The Root, The Grace upon which we stand.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.{Romans 5:1-2}
If we can abide in Him, then we will have confidence on the day of judgement and we shall not be put to shame.
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. {1 John 2:28}
If anyone will have faith, such a one will be grafted into the olive tree again. Even Israel shall be grafted in again if they abide not in unbelief. Some of you took your faith away from Christ long ago and started trusting in your ability to keep laws. You didn’t even know that you were cut off from Christ long ago. I dare you to return to Him in faith. Trust Him to be your righteousness. Stop depending on yourself. He is ready to graft you in again. There is enough space in the olive for anyone who would have faith in Christ as their righteousness. You can decide now by faith and you will be engrafted again as a branch of the true vine.
MAY GOD GRANT YOU UNDERSTANDING!
Monday 10 April 2017
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