Christian Consecration- Apostle Peterson O. Abu

The speaker discusses the importance of Christian consecration, which means dedicating oneself to God for a holy purpose. They explain that being a true Christian means being a consecrated vessel to the Lord. They emphasize that consecration involves presenting oneself to the Lord and surrendering ownership of one's life to Him. The speaker also highlights the need to separate oneself from unbelievers and live a holy life. Bwish the lord uh this morning we'll be having a wonderful time together with the lord and i'll be discussing a topic with you today is the second sunday of the year and my prayer has been that the lord should teach us his ways so that we can be able to come into alignment with him so that that which god wants us to be we can become that which god has destined for us we shouldn't just be entry every year without having this understanding that we cannot fulfill destiny without god so this year we want to do we want to make impact according to god's original plan for our lives so i will be discussing with you on the topic the call to christian consecration the call to christian consecration let us open our bibles to the book of romans chapter 12 verse 1 to verse 2 romans let us open our bibles to romans chapter 12 verse 1 to verse 2 romans 12 i read from verse 1 i beseech you dear for breading by the message of god that he presents your bodies a living sacrifice only acceptable unto god which is your service and be not conformed to this world but be a bit transformed by the renewing of your mind that he may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of god last saturday doing our word study i taught you on about i taught you about uh a disciple the call to christian discipleship and i made known to you that it is a calling and the first thing that makes us a believer or makes us a christian is first one we have become a disciple for some of you that were around last week uh around this past uh past wednesday i told you that it was christians that were called the uh it was disciples that were called christians first at antioch so you must have the understanding of heights goes a disciple was called christian not the other way around you can just be a mere believer of jesus you believe in jesus the bible said that even the devil believes and tremble that does not make you a christian and i told you on saturday on wednesday that a disciple is a true christian that those who were christians in antioch we are disciples and i told you that a disciple is a follower of christ irrespective of the challenges that that disciple encountered on that journey of followership that a disciple is a consistent follower of christ so today we are talking about the call to christian consecration the call to christian consecration that a believer is a consecrated person that the moment you claim to be a christian you have you have come into that that place of consecration you have been identified with christ a christian is not a title the word christian is not a title that is uh related to you or maybe because you are part of a group of people or a denomination or you go to church on sunday that doesn't make you christian yes you can be called a believer because you believe in christ but that doesn't make you a christian a christian is a consecrated vessel a christian is a disciple is someone who has handed his life over to christ so paul the apostle speaking to the church in rome he said i beseech you therefore brethren by the message of god that you present your bodies that you present your bodies so you see the emphasis there that as a christian there is a possibility that you can be a christian and yet you have not present your bodies to the lord but for you to become a true christian for you to go go beyond just a mere believer onto a disciple onto a christian that you must present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto god which is your reasonable service verse two and be not conformed to this world the moment you present your body to the lord there is no possibility there is no you can't be conformed to this world because your body already has been presented to the lord and for you to be able to present your body to the lord there must be a part of you that are forced to be presented to the lord which is your mind which is your mind so for you to be able to present the body the mind must at first be presented and be not conformed to this world but be a bit transformed by the renewing of your mind so your transformation is connected to the renewing of your mind the renewing of your mind it brings about you not conforming to this world and you're conformed you're not conforming to this world is as a result of the presentation of your bodies as a living sacrifice to the lord the call to christian consecration we'll talk about the word consecration we're talking about the act of you dedicating oneself to god for holy purpose the act of you dedicating oneself to the lord for holy purpose that is the meaning of consecration it means you are dedicating yourself to the lord for holy purpose a dedication you see in the christian body in the christian dome or in many churches that's what we call a baby dedication is common here in africa baby dedication i think by the grace of god we are expecting our babies dedication because i tell our members some of them want to dedicate their baby uh next month which is the first sunday of february praise the but let me explain something it's better you have this understanding now anytime we talk about baby dedication the mothers the parents of those babies they never have understanding of what they are about to do are you getting me now most at times they don't have understand of what they're about to do the same christian parents that comes to dedicate their babies to the lord the same christian parents are still the one laying claim over the babies the moment you dedicate your babies to the lord the baby doesn't belong to you again it becomes christ property it becomes a holy vessel a property that belongs to the lord so when you say god i'm dedicating this baby to you you are actually resigning your ownership over that baby and you are saying god come and take full control over my baby this means that in whatsoever decision or whatsoever destiny or any as a destiny or ambition that the lord decides for that baby that is what that baby will become it is not what you parents wants that baby to become it is not what you parents want the child to become it is now what god wants that child to become because you have dedicated that baby to the lord that is what we what we mean by consecration the moment you say you have consecrated the baby to the lord the moment you say you have consecrated yourself to the lord you have lost your ownership christ become the owner over your life the moment you say that you have consecrated your bodies to the lord it means that christ becomes the the one that holds your body that holds your life and this is something you must understand so when we talk about consecration we are talking about dedication of oneself to god for for a holy purpose and a true christian is a consecrated christian a true christian is a consecrated christian we are true christians and we are false christians we have true believers and we have false believers but a true christian is a consecrated a consecrated vessel to the lord a true christian is a consecrated christian and the blood of jesus doesn't just cleanse us from sin the blood of jesus also keep us from sinning that is what consecration does so the blood of jesus doesn't only cleanse you from sin the blood of jesus also keep you from sinning because you are a consecrated vessel so consecration is a state of becoming holy to the lord it's a state of being holy to the lord it's the state of you presenting yourself to the lord and say lord i want to be holy take hold of me you cannot make yourself to be holy it is god that can make you to be holy but if god wants to make you to be holy you have to first present yourself to the lord you have to first present yourself to the lord so we cannot be holy except god except we have first consecrated our lives to the lord we cannot be holy except we have first consecrated ourselves to the lord and the lord is calling us to holiness but that is only made possible when we intentionally consecrate ourselves to the lord 2nd corinthians chapter 6 2nd corinthians chapter 6 i read from verse 14 2nd corinthians chapter 6 from verse 14 be here not unequally yoked together with an unbeliever for what at righteousness are to do with unrighteousness and what communion at light with darkness and what conquered at christ with failure or what path at either believe it with an infidel and what agreement at the temple of god with idols for here at the temple of the living god as god has said i will dwell in them and walk in them and i will be their god and they shall be my people wherefore come out from among them and be a separate sayeth the lord and touch not unclean thing and i will receive you i will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters say yes the lord almighty this is what the word of god is saying for us to become consecrated we must put a demarcation between holiness and unholiness we must not unequally yoke together with an unbeliever that is consecration when you take decision that you are not going to unequally yoke together with unbelievers unbelievers are people that never believe in god unbelievers are people that never have respect for the ordinances of god unbelievers are people that never have respect for the instructions of god unbelievers are the fools that said that there is no god the bible says in psalm 14 verse 1 that the fools have said in their hearts that there is no god that is an unbeliever and you have no rights to have unequal yoking with that person for you to unequally yoke with an unbeliever has made you an unbeliever and has made you not fit for the kingdom so the first part that god is requesting from us is that we must consecrate our bodies to the lord we must consecrate ourselves to the lord be not unequally yoke together with an unbeliever verse 18 sorry verse 17 say come out from among them and be a separate come out from among them and be a separate that what separation there is the consecration yes you have heard the word of god now you shouldn't remain there come out from among them a non-believer is someone that doesn't believe in the deity of christ because there are people that believe in god but they don't believe that jesus is god they don't believe in the deity of christ they don't believe in in the deity that christ is god that came in the flesh they don't believe in that you shouldn't do marriage with such people you shouldn't do contracts partnership in business with such people you are looking for a partner in business you are going to look for someone that doesn't have respect for the word of god be not unequally yoked together with an unbeliever so anything that will yoke you and an unbeliever together has defied your consecration that is why a christian is a consecrated vessel a christian is a consecrated vessel so we must let go friendship and relationships with unbelievers and for you to let that go it means that you are ready to become a consecrated vessel for you to let that go it means that you are becoming ready to become a a consecrated vessel separate yourself from them be not together as a non-believer with an unbeliever this a new year this 2024 you did that 2023 this year there must be a uterus that is why god is bringing this kind of teachings to us in this january that as we journey through this year we must be able to be intentional to say i'm not going to yoke together with an unbeliever have consecrated myself to the lord in your place of work you must not have any carnal relationship with your bosses you must not have carnal relationship with people that you have not married to you must not even have carnal relationship with your boyfriends you must separate yourself from them as long your boyfriend has not legally married you he has no right to touch you he has no right to have intimacy with you you must not unequally yoke together with an unbeliever so we have the types of consecration number one we have demonic consecration we have demonic consecration even the people of the other world the people the worshippers of devils of satan they have consecration they pay towards the idols they have consecration they pay towards the devil number two we have uh the godly consecration or the christian consecration whether we present ourselves to the lord as living sacrifice so that god can use us so what are the areas of consecration what are the areas that we should be consecrated towards god about number one consecration in our physical bodies consecrating our physical bodies romans chapter 12 verse 1 i beseech you therefore bread them by the mercies of god romans chapter 12 verse 1 i beseech you therefore bread them by the mercies of god that he presents your bodies he's talking about the physical bodies present your physical bodies to the lord first corinthians chapter chapter 6 verse 20 therefore glorify god in your bodies the moment we have consecrated our bodies to the lord we cannot use that body again for fornication we cannot use that body again for masturbation we cannot use that body again you know for uh adultery we cannot use that body again we cannot put tattoo on that body you cannot tattoo that body again the moment you you consecrate your physical body to the lord you cannot take your body to a place that jesus is not glorified you cannot be found in beer palace again you cannot be found in clubs again in club houses we have people drink where people smoke you cannot be found there again the moment you become a consecrated vessel to the lord you will not be found there because your body becomes a living sacrifice your body becomes god's property you don't take your body to every place again you must take permission from the lord before you go to some certain occasions you must seek for his permission so we must consecrate our bodies to the lord consecrating our bodies to the lord and this is what christians don't want to hear in these last days there are many that have been going to church they don't know that their bodies belongs to the lord there are many pastors that don't know that their bodies belongs to the lord there are many christian workers in churches that don't know that their bodies belongs to the lord there are many members of churches denominations that never know that their body belongs to the lord your body belongs to the lord the moment you become a christian you say yeah i bought with the price the blood of jesus was the price the death of jesus was the price that was paid for your redemption yeah i bought with the price therefore glorify god in your bodies so one of the areas of consecration is the consecration of our bodies to the lord the moment we consecrate our bodies to the lord we cannot use it the way we want we start using it the way god wants it some of you cannot come to the house of god some of you cannot come for service you keep you keep complaining that you are feeling weak you are you are lazy to come you you want to sleep you have not been you have not rested just to spend what our 30 minutes in the presence of god in our worst study we don't spend so much time because we always just come here to to hear the word of god today is sunday in our sunday service we don't spend so much time we come here just to have a fresh time with the lord and if you join all the time we spend in every week it's not even up to six hours in a week but you have 24 hours in a day 24 times seven for a week when your body belongs to the lord you don't just take decision you seek for his permission the bible said do not uh forsake the assemblies of believers together as the manner of some is you shouldn't be among those some you must be among those that never forsake you must take your body to the presence of the lord there are some of you that keep giving excuses i can't be in the house of god but if we shake very well you can go to club houses if we shake very well you can go to birthday if we shake very well you can go for marriages or weddings if you shake very well you can go to your business places but when it comes to service house of god i have no time the moment your body belongs to the lord you have no decision you submit all your will to the lord your body is a consecrated vessel you have bought with the price therefore glorify god in your bodies so anything you are doing with your body should be that it must bring glory to the lord this thing i'm about to do will it bring glory to god number two you must consecrate your eyes your eyes to the lord the bible says in samuel 1 verse 3 samuel was saying david was saying i will set no wicked thing before my eyes i will set no vile things before my eyes we must consecrate our eyes to the lord what we set our eyes what we see with our eyes matter so much jesus said in the book of uh matthew chapter 5 if you read from verse 27 to verse 28 he said behold i say unto you it was written in the in the whole that that shall not commit adultery but i say unto you whosoever looketh at a woman and lusts after her in his heart has committed adultery has committed fornication already in his heart so you must be careful what you set your eyes on to watch the moment you say your eyes belongs to the lord your eyes must be consecrated to the lord you cannot say that eyes washing pornography you cannot say that eyes washing ungodly movies the things that stir up the appetite of the flesh consecrate your eyes to the lord and this go beyond your eyes both your ears both your mouth your tongue because these are part of your bodies consecrate them to the lord and then number three you must consecrate your heart to the lord pull back chapter 23 verse 26 pull back 23 verse 26 the bible says my son give me your heart god was asking for the heart he said my son give me your heart you can be a christian yet your heart have not been given to the lord and that is why you are a double-minded person your heart is in the church your heart is in the world you want to sing as a chorister on sunday like this you want to also go to the beer parlor on saturday next week your heart is divided and god is saying give me your heart and there are members here your one of your heart is you you have your heart for the lord part of your heart is for an idol worshiper or you are going to a juju priest on sunday you come to consult god on monday you go you go to consult idols your heart have not yet been given to the lord and there are some of you among the youth today you are in church today you come to worship the lord but two days ago on friday you were in a club dancing to the songs of these secular musicians that never bring glory to god or to humanity whose songs promote immorality and if we check your phone you have both gospel songs and secular ungodly songs i'm not saying that all secular songs are ungodly but they are ungodly secular songs the ones that tear up the flesh the one that talks about about sexual life and immorality never teach you about morality so the moment you say you have consecrated your eyes your ears to the lord you shouldn't give yourself to those things again consecrate your heart to the lord my son give me your heart what do you think about when the bible use the word arts you're talking about your mind your mind is the corridor of meditation what are the things that go through your mind immorality do you have a thought of revenge do you have a thought of immorality do you have a thought of stealing do you meditate or you do you think about how to steal how to kill how to commit abortion how to do different atrocities the moment you consecrate your mind or your heart to the lord it becomes a channel that god can use to impact the world are you thinking about my lease is that what you think about as a christian when you say you have consecrated your heart to the lord do you meditate on that woman you are not going to greet that man you are not going to talk to again when you start meditating on malicious activities you have lost it so they don't want us to give him our hearts but before the lord wanted to give him our family our family and our homes we must consecrate our family to the lord our family should become people that worship god the bible says in the book of genesis chapter 18 is if i know my servant abraham for he will instruct his children the chapter 19 he said i know my servant abraham because he will teach his children the commandment of the lord can god boast a few parents here that i know this person i know this person for he will command his children to follow my ways however the way was allowing our children to go into the ways of of of deception of of sin and unrighteousness are you not hearing what is happening in society today the parents are the one buying laptops laptops for their children to go and do fraud we call them yahoo yahoo some of you are pretending as if you don't know about it they are parents that are sponsoring it for their children to do these are christian parents some of the women leaders in the church some of them are are male leaders in their churches some of their youth leaders in their churches some of their elders in their churches ministers deacon and deaconesses unfortunately that the ones inspiring their children to do what is not good we must consecrate our family to the lord that our children we have no right to play ungodly music in the home because they know that daddy mommy and we as a family we have we have been given to the lord you must keep emphasizing it to the to the young ones that this family belongs to the lord keep emphasizing to your children that they are different that they are different that they are different because the lord has consecrated them keep telling them from childhood that we grow with it that they shouldn't join the world that they are separate entities they are people that god has chosen people that god have called and chosen and ordained we must consecrate our families and our homes our homes should not be a place of fighting our homes should not be a place of wrestling our homes should not be a place of killing of fighting of domestic violence father against mother mother against father the children are crying you start fighting one another that should not happen in our homes it shouldn't happen in our homes so our home should be a place where the name of the lord is glorified that the people in the environment they would like to copy the lifestyle the passion of your family and when they come to you and say sister what is the secret of you raising up your children in a godly way and you say i dedicated i consecrated them to the lord so it is the lord that is raising them up i'm only a caretaker that should be said about us not that in your home the people around you they keep hearing fighting and shouting and screaming of the people that carry bible to church every time that is a disgrace to christ we must consecrate our homes to the lord also we must consecrate our time to the lord consecrate your time make a time to only spend time with god daily we call it quiet time i thought daily we call it quiet time i thought i taught you quiet time our first teaching for this year on what what study i think that was last two saturday last two wednesday sorry last week wednesday last two wednesdays that was the first wednesday of this of this year 2024 one get the teaching the other teaching is there online get it on quiet time so you must consecrate time you'll be meeting with the lord and also your time of coming to church is the consecrated time we only come to service here twice in the week sunday and wednesday except there are special programs so we give you a lot of time to rest you can rest tuesday tuesday thursday fridays saturday and on sunday you come back out of seven days of the week we give you just two days you just take two of your days you have the remaining five days for yourself monday tuesday thursday friday saturday why can't you just make those two days that we have decided to be meeting with the lord to be a consecrated day for you that no matter where you are you will try to meet up with your service that is his price of consecration that is a sign that you are telling the lord that i've consecrated my time for you number six is treasure and money joshua chapter 6 verse 19 just instructed them that they should bring all their silver and gold into the treasure house of the lord we consecrate your money to the lord what are we talking about whenever there is need in the house of god you shouldn't be forced before you support you shouldn't be forced before you support your tights without your tights and your offerings we won't be able to stream the programs online we won't be able to record with our instrument we need good good instrument to be able to record our audio teachings without your tight and offerings without your commitment your consistency in paying tight and offerings the church will remain in one spot you see we pray but we need your finance consecrated to the lord beside your tight and offering whenever there are needs in the house of god or whenever you come to the church and you see there is this need there there is that need there you don't need anybody to tell you just go and see the pastor come and see me or see any of the workers and say i want to support i want this thing to be changed i want this thing i want them to buy this thing here consecrate your money to the lord but you don't know that me that is your pastor those that are close to me they know my money doesn't belong to me not because i'm a pastor it happened before i started the church before i became a pastor over in church my money never belongs to me again it belongs to the lord so what are the benefit of consecration number one benefit it makes you a vessel unto honor second timothy chapter two read from verse 20 in a great ask the bible talks about there are two kind of vessels one unto honor the other one unto dishonor say but if any man will push himself from this he shall be a vessel unto honor so the moment you consecrate yourself to the lord you become a vessel unto honor that means the lord will keep lifting you up the things you will keep experiencing that people will keep honoring you anywhere you go people will keep honoring you they are not just honoring you they are honoring the consecration of god upon your life you don't know that consecration bring honor the moment you become not consecrated and you become you start living a life of uh indiscipline life even the youngest in your community as a brother we start insulting you talking rudely speaking to you because you are not you are not worthy to be honored but the moment you put consecration over your life and you consecrate yourself to the lord you become so disciplined in the way you live your life and that we confide on you honor when people start seeing you in your community that you behave so different every time you carry your bible to pray you wish or you read or you go to preach in the street the next you are going to church or you are going to work you don't have time to sit down with drunkards in the community you don't have time to sit down with with with thieves and armed robbers in the community because you are cracking jokes no if you are sitting down with them you are pushing to them and people are observing you in the community and because of that they will start confiding on you honor they will start calling you pastor they will start calling you pastor the reason they are calling you pastor is because they have seen a life of consecration on you consecration another benefit of consecration is that it brings intimacy with god it brings intimacy with god there is no better way to be more intimate with god than consecration you can only be more intimate with god through consecration it brings intimacy with god when you consecrate yourself to the lord you become closer to the lord you become nearer to the lord the bible says in the book of james chapter 4 verse 8 draw near to me and i will draw near to you purify your heart be afflicted and mourn let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness humble yourself in the sight of the lord and he shall lift you up draw near to me and i will draw near to you you you only draw near to the lord through consecration through consecration so when you are consecrated to the lord it brings what intimacy with god number three benefits of consecration is that it secure you from satan and from demons it secures you from satan and from demons when you are consecrated to the lord it secures you from satan and it secures you from demons so demons cannot touch you because you have become a a a a property of god so satan cannot touch you because you have become a property of god number four number four number four benefits is that it makes you to be able to hear the voice of god consecration makes you to be able to be hearing the voice of god yes because you are consecrated vessels so god sees you fit to be talking to and it gives you the ability to understand everything communicates to you number five it makes it makes it can enable you to make heaven at last it can enable you to make heaven at last holy consecrated christian can get to heaven yes that is the truth holy consecrated if you want to go to heaven the only pathway you can follow to become a candidate of heaven is consecration you can be born again and also make it to heaven but when you can when you consecrate yourself to the lord you won't play with sin so when you become a consecrated vessel to the lord you are qualified you are qualified for heaven and to make it to make heaven so before we close this morning let us talk about let us talk about the steps to consecration what are the steps to consecration number one you must be born again the first step to consecration is born again you must be born again number two you must submit to the lordship of christ for you to become consecrated you must submit to the lordship of christ you must submit you must submit to the lordship of christ number three you must be committed to god in prayer you must be committed to god in prayer so you become consecrated by committing to god in prayer so a consecrated person is a praying person you cannot claim to be a consecrated vessel and you are not praying it's contradiction number four you must be obedient to god's word you must be obedient to god's word so the moment you become consecrated you become obedient to god's word you don't just read the bible you also do what is written in the word you also do what god has instructed you to do and the last of it all you must be committed to the service of god either evangelizing or taking care of the house of god for feeding the poor taking care of the needy any of those activities the service of god you must be committed i see people saying that they are consecrated monday to sunday or sunday till saturday is for themselves monday they are their place of work tuesday their place of work when is it tuesday friday saturday it's just sunday that we just managed to come to church and spend a few hours and go back to go and do for themselves so they don't have god's time they don't have god's interest in their hearts they are not consecrated a consecrated vessel becomes committed to the service of god shall we stand up on our feet and go to the lord in prayers we are going to ask god and say lord i consecrate myself to you this day i consecrate my bodies to the lord i consecrate my spirit to the lord i consecrate my soul open your mouth and begin to pray i want to give you time to pray consecrate yourself to the lord now i say lord i give you everything that concerns me