Reasonable Service Chuck Smith

 

Reasonable Service September 14, 2020 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. — Romans 12:1 In writing to the church at Corinth, Paul made a point to tell them to be careful about what they do with their bodies. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit ... you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). God paid a tremendous price to redeem you, and the very least you can do is present yourself to Him—heart and soul, mind and body—as a living sacrifice. It’s your reasonable service. After all, you owe your very existence to your Maker. He’s the One who breathed life into you; He’s the One who sustains you day by day. In the name of pleasure, people abuse their bodies with drugs, alcohol, and even perversion. It’s bad for anyone, but it is absolutely unthinkable for the Christian. Do not destroy the instrument of your service. It doesn’t belong to you anyway. Instead, sanctify yourself unto Him. Most people use their bodies in the pursuit of pleasures that will pass away— things with no redeeming or eternal value whatsoever. Let’s see what we can do for God that will count for eternity. Present your body unto God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him, which is not only the least thing that you can do, but also the wisest. Father, may we devote our time, skills, and energies to doing those things that will last forever. YOU BELONG TO GOD—HEART AND SOUL, MIND AND BODY. AMEN.   Harvest MP3 For the month of September, TWFT resource will be the HarvestMP3. Visit  The Word For Today Shop Click Here to Order

CAESAREA MARITIMA from David Hocking www.davidhocking.org

The city and harbor were built under Herod the Great during 22-10 BC near the site of a former Phoenician naval station known as "Straton's Tower". It later became the provincial capital of Roman Judea, Roman Syria Palaestina and Byzantine Palaestina Prima provinces.

 

The city was populated throughout the 1st to 6th centuries AD and became an important early center of Christianity during the Byzantine period, but was mostly abandoned following the Muslim conquest of 640. It was re-fortified by the Crusaders, and finally slighted by the Mamluks in 1265.

The location was all but abandoned in 1800. It was re-developed into a fishing village by Bosniak Muslim immigrants after 1884, and into a modern town after 1940, incorporated in 1977 as the municipality of Caesarea within Israel's Haifa District, about halfway between the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.

 

The ruins of the ancient city, on the coast about 2 km south of modern Caesarea, were excavated in the 1950s and 1960s and the site was incorporated into the new Caesarea National Park in 2011.

 

The site of the former Phoenician naval station was awarded to Herod the Great in 30 BC. Herod built his palace on a promontory jutting out into the sea, with a decorative pool surrounded by stoats. He went on to build a large port and a city, which he named in honor of his patron Caesar Augustus.

 

In the year AD 6, Caesarea became the civilian and military capital of Judaea Province and the official residence of the Roman procurator Antonius Felix, and prefect Pontius Pilatus.

 

This city is the location of the 1961 discovery of the Pilate Stone, the only archaeological item that mentions the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, by whose order Jesus was crucified. It is likely that Pilate used it as a base, and only went to Jerusalem when needed.