The men in ministry who have influenced me
the most were men who walked with God
and whose lives made me more thirsty for
Jesus.
Every time I was around Adrian Rogers, I
felt I was with Jesus.
Every time I was with Stephen Olford, I
hungered to have a deeper reality of God.
I believe the Bible speaks clearly on what
is expected of us as followers of Christ
Jesus.
In 2 Corinthians 3 and in verse 17
we read, Now the Lord is that spirit,
and where the spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty.
The Lord Christ is here mentioned as the
one who gives us liberty, liberty from the
penalty of sin, and liberty from the power
of sin.
I believe this verse can read, Now where
the spirit is Lord, there is liberty.
Speaking of his Lordship and our lives as
we live in full surrender to him.
Surrender to the Lordship of Christ is not
a one-time act, but a daily occurrence.
The flesh tries to reassert itself in many
areas, but we must stay in an unbroken
relationship with our risen Lord.
I believe the most neglected doctrine in the
church today is the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Few preach it because few live it.
The reality of Christ's presence in our lives
is lacking in the majority in our churches
today who are merely cheating themselves out of
a vital walk with the living Lord.
That's the very reason why our young people
today have left our churches in droves because
they see no reality of God there.
The reality of God is missing in the
lives of their parents who merely dictate to
their children a do-as-I-say mentality
rather than a do-as-I-do as
the teenagers can see right through it.
But when God comes in revival to a
church, it is the teenagers who cannot be
dragged away as they long to stay in
the presence of God and soak in the
reality of a living Christ who gives liberty.
I believe the text in 2 Corinthians 3
and verse 18, which follows our text today,
is a clear description of what God desires
for each of us, and that is our
Christ-likeness through the process of sanctification.
I want to read us 2 Corinthians 3
.18 from the Amplified Bible, which I feel
gives an accurate description for our reading today,
friends.
As we approach the Word of God, we
must come to it with an expectation for
transformation.
The Word of God must be a living
reality in our life.
I'll never forget the story related by the
saintly F.B. Meyer, who one time was
rooming with C.T. Studd.
Meyer wondered why C.T. Studd was so
absorbed in his Bible as he kept a
dedicated quiet time each morning, and one day
he asked the younger man why he pored
over a passage for such a long time.
Studd looked up from his Bible and replied,
I have been asking the Lord Jesus to
make this verse a reality in my life.
We must ask ourselves, do we ask God
to make His Word a reality in our
life?
Do we lack power and authority in our
ministry because we are not seeking transformation from
the God of the Word and the Word
of God?
The Bible is a book about our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, and as we approach
it, we should come with anticipation that God
will make the verse we are studying a
reality in our life.
The black print on white paper shall soon
melt away as we gaze in the face
of Christ Jesus in His transforming power.
Here now is our verse, And all of
us, as with unveiled face, because we continue
to behold in the Word of God, as
in a mirror, the glory of the Lord,
are constantly being transfigured into His very own
image in ever-increasing splendor and from one
degree of glory to another.
And this comes from the Lord, who is
the Spirit.
This passage speaks of our sanctification by the
Spirit of God in making each of us
more Christ-like.
It is my prayer, friends, that we will
earnestly search the Scripture with renewed vitality and
with an expectation that God's work will be
manifest through our lives by our own Christ
-likeness so we can be salt that makes
others more thirsty for Jesus.