NOT OF THIS WORLD

02/11/2023

"I have given them Your word and the world has hated them; for they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:14).

Don't be taken aback when you are mocked for your faith in Jesus. When you are ridiculed for speaking in tongues, see it as no surprise. On the contrary, be concerned when the world embraces you as one of its own. Jesus said to the Father, "I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them; for they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:14). In other words, hatred and mockery from the world should be expected, and when not present, you should look at yourself in the mirror and examine if you are still in the faith. 

Saints, we don't have to be like the world to win them. We don't have to act or speak their language of fear to bring them to salvation. Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile." It is the gospel alone that brings salvation, nothing more or less. This idea that we have to clone ourselves to be like the world before we can win them is a doctrine from Hell. The world is dark, we are light, and light is all that the world needs right now. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, "You are not the same as those who don't believe. So don't join yourselves to them. Good and evil don't belong together. Light and darkness cannot share the same room." 

Someone may say, "Pastor, why then did Paul say, 'I became as a jew that I may win some?'" Apostle Paul here was referring to being positioned to see things from their perspective, not becoming one them in their darkness. "And unto the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you" (1 Corinthians 9:20-23). In verse 27 of the same chapter, he said, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." In other words, "I will not jeopardize my salvation in the process of saving a soul." 

The world, today, does not need light to become darkness; they already have enough darkness. What they need is light. So be the light that you are.

Faith-Filled Confession:

As light, I limit the operation of darkness in my region. I refuse for darkness to have a field day in my home, community, and nation. I declare that every strategy of the evil one to destroy lives with fear, sickness, and sin in my community is frustrated. I declare that lives in my region are preserved unto salvation. In Jesus' name. Amen

ONE YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Leviticus 13; Matthew 26:20-54