“PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS”

Session III – “Chosen”

Fr. Leo Yanguas

Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines:

We are priesthood – royal priesthood. The Psalmist cries out to God, “Even if I am old and gray, do not forsake me.  Do not turn against me until I have declared to this generation Thy power and Thy might to generations to come.”

The Psalmist saw the power of God.  He understood the power of the Kingdom. He understood that there was nothing that could equate to it or even come near to it.  Having been created in the very image of the Almighty, the All-powerful, he had an awareness of God’s commitment, His covenant, and His love for mankind.

Ephesians says to us, “We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.” It is not the blessing of man, of earthly organizations or earthly structures, but God’s people blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.  How can we be oppressed, downtrodden, or a people heavy laden when we have received all the blessings that God has?

Paul, seeing the greatness of God, lets us see the picture into the wealth of the Church.  There is nothing equal to the Church on earth.  There is no structure that has the power that the Church has.  There is no structure that has the presence of the Almighty with it.  He will not fail, desert, or forsake us.

The Church, for some reason, has an oppressive attitude at times.  We put people down.  We don’t want them to rise up.  We want to keep them as though they were in slavery and bound when Christ gave His life to set us free.  He broke down the gates of hell. He destroyed the power of sin.  He took away all the iniquity.  He restored us back into relationship with the Father.  What could we ask for?   It isn’t anything that we have done because we could not do it.  Christ gave His life to redeem us.

Scriptures tells us the Church is the Body of Christ. This means that the Church is all that Christ is because we are His Body.  What He is, we are.   It should bring to us that confidence, that security, and that hope if we are what He is.  Scriptures says, “If I am for you, nobody can be against you.”  What did He do?  He chose us.