Friday, December 21, 2012

BAD BREATH



The Lord Jesus did not come for hypocrites. He came for people who are lost in sin and are crying out on the inside – people who want to serve God and cleanse themselves. Once they are cleansed, they will give good offerings. God wants to be worshipped by people that give fragrant offerings to Him.

Have you ever spoken to someone with bad breath? How did you react? I try to get away because the smell is so bad, as if something were rotting. I don’t tell the person, but I step backwards because I can’t stand the smell. I can’t stand people with bad breath or to have it myself.

The same goes for the offerings we present to God, because our lives are an offering. The Lord Jesus was an offering to God and we should follow His example and be offerings too.

This is what happened to Noah.

Noah was so grateful that he and his family had been saved that right after leaving the Ark, he built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed “clean” animals on it. When he made that offering the Lord smelled the aroma of his sacrifice and immediately said: “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake..." Genesis 8.21, and then blessed Noah and his sons, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." Genesis 9.1

God made a covenant with Noah because he had expressed deep gratitude through his sacrifice.

Have you ever asked yourself what kind of offering you are to God?

Abel’s offering pleased God and justified him before the Almighty.

Noah sacrificed “clean” animals because “unclean” animals would have given off a foul smell.

Jesus was an Offering to God on Calvary, and God the Father smelled that perfume.

But what about you? And me? How do our offerings smell? Do we emit the fragrance of the Lord Jesus or the smell of halitosis?

Many people ask me what my secret is.

Do you know what it is? …or at least one of them?

I spend my time saving souls. I live to save souls, to serve my God. I believe that while we are on Earth, we have a great opportunity to save as many souls as we can, and I will not waste the time I have been given. While I'm here, I want to do my best to glorify my Lord and foster the salvation of souls. While I'm here, I want to give my best so that my life is a pleasing aroma to God.

God saved us so that we could save others. Those of you who have no church title, but are born of God, should consider your primary mission in life to be saving souls. This can be done through offerings, evangelism, visiting the sick, the imprisoned, the orphaned… whatever. When we are born of the Spirit, we live to do the same for others. This is a good offering.

We are not happy to see a pastor, assistant or member fall away. Instead, we are revolted! In fact, I want to make a special invitation to former pastors.

I don’t know what you did wrong, and I am not referring only to former pastors of the Universal Church, but to former pastors, assistants, and members of any church, no matter which it is. We want to help you.

Though you left the true Vine, the Lord Jesus wants you back. It doesn’t matter what church or ministry you belonged to. We will help to restore your spiritual health, so that you can be a fragrant smell, a good offering, and once again emit the frangrance of Jesus, so that God is glorified through your life.

If you used to be a clean offering to God, but now emit a foul odour, come and attend a special service this coming Sunday at the nearest UCKG and get the help you have been looking for!

*Extracted from Bishop Macedo's blog

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