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Jewell Dominion

Weekly Message from General Chief Overseer Bishop Dr. Calvin Worthem

Date: 03/13/2023

 

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to Him be the Glory, Power, and Dominion forever and ever and to the Holy Ghost that is yet abiding in the body. This week let us look at “Seeking the Lord and Holiness.”

 

Seeking the Lord requires a commitment to growing in personal holiness. In other words, reading and studying the Bible is something we are to be doing all our lives. We never reach a point when we have learned enough to just coast.  We must pursue God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. My goal is that we would live our lives from this day forward as we believed that God is our greatest treasure and hope for salvation. I also desire that we might all live according to the glorious reality, that knowing God is far superior to anything life can offer. Proverbs 8:11 tells us, “…wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.” If you read Proverbs chapter 8, you will see that “wisdom” is not an abstract idea, but a Person. This chapter is talking about Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom of God personified. It also speaks of this Wisdom as being eternal, as being the craftsman at God’s side when He formed the earth. It promises that “whoever finds me finds life.”  Proverbs 8:35 reads, “For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.” Paul confirms this in I Corinthians 1:24 when he writes that, “But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God”. The eighth chapter of Proverbs tells us that Christ is more precious than rubies, that nothing we desire can compare with knowing Him, David concurs in Psalm 73:25-26, “ Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.”

 

In closing, when we seek God by striving for personal holiness, we must be prepared for a battle. A war. An armed conflict. This is not a walk in the park. Holiness is serious business. As Paul writes in Galatians 5:16-17:  “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would”. When we come to faith in Christ, sin’s power over us is broken; however, it remains a part of us. It is in constant conflict with the Holy Spirit, who has now come to indwell us. But not only do we have this internal struggle with sin; we also have a mortal enemy, Satan, who hates the people of God, and who will do everything in his power to keep us under sin’s influence. He will employ every kind of temptation, deception, attack, diversion, falsehood, or threat that God permits him to use, to hinder your progress in holiness, and if possible, undermine or weaken your faith. He knows your vulnerabilities and will attempt to exploit them. He is cunning and malicious, a wicked deceiver, and liar, and murderer. As I Peter 5:8-10 warns us,  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” Next, week we will look at “Our Attitude”. And remember, “…with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

 

In His Service,

Bishop Dr. Calvin Worthem

General Chief Overseer/Senior Bishop