It's Not Your LIFE!!!

(NOTE: It is powerful to think that this message comes on July 4. The day some Americans celebrate independence, but today God is reminding us that we are not independent of him. We can do nothing without him, and when we do ... it fails.)

When you are borrowing someone else's tools or car or maybe even renting a place to stay or a hotel, you are extra careful to not damage anything as to return it to its owner in a condition that is pleasing to them.

This example is the way we need to view our lives -- we must render them back to God in the condition that most pleases him. Our lives belong to God. The air we breathe is God's. The blood in our veins is God's. The mind we think with is God's. The body we live in is God's. The tongue we speak with is God's. The soul within us is God's. The heart that beats in us is God's. The children we have are God's. The marriage we are in is God's. The talents, gifts, opportunities, jobs we have are God's. The increase and money we make is God's. ( But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. - 1 Chronicles 29:14)

This is what Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn has been teaching us at The Body of Christ, Inc. He said, it is not enough just to come to the alter. After we surrender to God, we have to live for him every day and be accountable for what we are doing with the life he has given us. We are his vessels. He is the potter, we are the clay.

God has been trying to tell us this forever, but we have failed to listen. I thank God for the man of God who is taking the time to labor and remind us what we must never forget: It's not our life. It's God's.

There are so many scriptures that document this. It has been right before our eyes the whole time. We have chosen to ignore it. In fact, there has always been something inside us that causes us to know we don't belong to ourselves. We don't belong to our jobs. We don't belong to even our parents or family. We belong to God. When we come into this earth, we are entrusted to our families to raise us up before the Lord to do his will. We are entrusted to our spouses to build families unto God and to walk in unity in doing his will. We are entrusted into our callings, talents and professions, solely to carry out God's will, to be a witness and a vessel --- not to just make money for ourselves or our bosses. Before we recap the powerful message found in today's broadcast, "It's Not Your Life" (which can be listened to here), here are a few unforgettable scriptures we should all reflect on.

Isaiah 43:7 - Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Psalm 100:3 - Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Galatians: 2:20 - I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Psalm 24:1 - The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 - Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

2 Corinthians 4:7 - But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

HERE ARE 20 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM CHIEF APOSTLE GUNN'S RADIO MESSAGE TODAY:

It's time for a CHANGE. We must pivot from how we have been living.
We have been gravely mistaken in our lives about who we belong to ....even though it's written in the word.
We have not paid enough and given due attention to the very life of God in us.
Truly we are dead to this world and our real life is hidden with Jesus Christ in God. When Jesus rose we rose with him. Remember we are not of this world, we are just passing through and need to make the most of the time he has given us while we are here.
If we would recognize the scripture and do what is commanded by God in his living word, and know that we are dead to this world and we are only alive through our salvation in Christ Jesus because of God, we could truly live for Him.
We need to help others to know this. We easily share rumors, but it's time to share the truth.
Remember Colossians 3:1: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God."
Set your affections on heavenly things --- on things above. Think and choose higher. Not material things or job promotions and more income. Don't pour God's life out unto sand or dirt. What are you giving your time, energy, presence, thoughts, emotions too?
Sometimes our sickness and wrong attitude and feelings come from overworking and setting ourselves to build our castles on this earth - striving for financial and worldly gain or the affections of man, instead of pleasing Him.
This word is full of change and shifting. No matter how solid the physical earth seems, it's always moving. Why invest everything into something that's not permanent? God is permanent.
We're going to pay for the life not lived for God. It's God's life that he gave to us to live for him.
We need to slow down and stop trying to move ahead of God, and stop manipulating and maneuvering to get what we want, ignoring God.
It's not our ministry. It's not our anointing. It's not our voice. It's his.
It's not our tongue. It wasn't given to us to gossip, curse, or speak evil with.
God says cut it out. We're using the life God gave us to do evil, hurt people, make bad decisions.
Set your affections on Godly things: Mercy, generosity, fairness, kindness, goodness, Christ-likeness, Godliness, setting things and time aside for God, and time aside for family. Do good on your job, pay fair wages, doctors do the best for patients, builders build with good materials. Do right by people. Give your best in preparing meals for your family.
Do the best toward people, toward your spouse, toward your parents, toward your children all the time.
If you want to be married, do your best to build up your home. Don't be lazy. Prepare hearty meals, keep the house and clean. Let God send the man. Let God choose the woman.
Stop cutting corners. You pay for cutting corners. You reap what you sow.
By faith, you are dead to sin.... Count yourself dead to sin. Consider that the old man is dead (the sinner - the one who does not live for God) and that your life (the one made for God and that lives for God) is hidden with Christ Jesus in God.