April 5, 2024
Let’s Take God’s Word Seriously
When a person becomes born again of God’s spirit, it is a spiritual matter. To do this, you have to hear and/or see God’s Word to the point where you can make the decision that Jesus Christ is Lord in your life and that God raised him from the dead. When that happens, that person will have repented, which means to change for the better.
At that moment, all your sins, including all of which you couldn’t begin to remember, are erased. The term, “washed away”could also be used here. Acts 2:38 “…Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
It’s easy to get born again. It is done in a moment of time.
However, the Devil doesn’t want you to get born again, so he will influence our surroundings to make it seem undesirable or very hard to do. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
This is not a one-time thing; this is continuous action. The adversary cannot stop you from being born again, if you really want to be. He will try, however, to make life rough for you if you don’t know about him or don’t know enough about him to push him away. The Adversary never takes a day off, but then, neither does God.
2 Corinthians 2:11 tells us “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
“Not ignorant of” if we pursue the Scriptures; most definitely taken advantage of if we don’t. His devices are many, and they’re often hard to see. You need to know how to recognize them.
For those of us who have been students of the Scriptures for some time, we understand how important it is to keep up your enthusiasm for the things of God. Perhaps we remember how we were “undershepherded” when we first got into the Word. The early days in God’s Word should be very enthusiastic. It is also very important to keep yourself excited about the promises of God and to help younger believers get and stay excited.
1 Corinthians 16:15 “I beseech you brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,).”
Paul wrote this as a compliment to the house of Stephanas because they had become so involved with the work of the ministry and taking care of the believers, that that’s all they wanted to do.
They took God’s Word seriously. They saw that the things of God were so important that Paul used the word “addiction” in the positive sense, which is unusual. The Word doesn’t tell us that they put down everything else in their life and did nothing but minister; perhaps some of them did. But they were committed!
It does take a certain level of commitment to keep God foremost in your heart. God’s Word tells us that each believer has a certain part or working in the Body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:18, “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.”
We are all members of the Body of Christ and it is our responsibility to take an active part in the Church. Perhaps you have an ability to teach or to pastor or to pray. We’re supposed to be doing that.
Imagine how awful it would be if nobody taught or pastored or prayed. That would hurt the Body and it would hurt God because He wants all those things to happen. That’s why He put it together.
Deuteronomy 32:9 says, “For the Lord’s portion is his people…”
What God gets out of everything He’s done is us, His people. He wants us to look to Him as our Heavenly Father. He wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. That’s speaking in tongues! Even Jesus Christ couldn’t do that because it wasn’t available during his earthly ministry.
Look at all the things we have available to us spiritually. Certainly, that would be an inspiration to take God’s Word seriously until Christ comes back to gather us up.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 “Then we which are alive, and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
What a cause for celebration
Thanks for reading. Respectfully submitted. Will Grove