God’s Word Has Regenerating Power

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.   (1 Peter 1:22-25)

 

All people owe their natural existence to the Lord God as seen in the creation account in the first chapter of Genesis, whether they want to believe it or not. Those that are born again of His Spirit owe their new birth to the power of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit’s activation of its power.

 

The natural man lives according to the teaching of Ephesians 2:1-3, as children of disobedience fulfilling the desires of the flesh, they are dead in trespasses and sins. Those who have accepted Jesus Christ and His gift of salvation have been transformed from that position; they have been regenerated by the power of God’s Word. A seed was planted within us, and that seed produced new life as taught in our focus passage. That seed is the Word of God, and those who chose to receive it, believe it, and act upon it will experience God’s regenerating power and will have a new birth, that which is spiritual as seen in Titus 3:5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

 

As believers and followers of Christ, the growth of the Spirit within us and the purifying of our souls depends on how we as individuals follow and obey His regenerating Word. Just like plants need water to survive, grow and multiply, we need His Word to do the same. The Spirit within us desires to be connected to the Father and the Son, and that connection comes in the form of His Word that is enduring and never changing. And as we take in His Word through study and meditation, the regenerating power of it transforms the natural man we once lived as into the spiritual man that can now have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. God’s Word, and its regenerating power, makes us members of His new creation 2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. It’s my hope and prayer that you have allowed His Word to begin the regenerating process in your life; it’s as simple as believing in Him and asking Him.

 

 

 

Dale LaFrance   (please look up John 1:12-13, 3:3)

God’s Word Reveals Condition of Heart

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:11-13)

 

Prior to my accepting Jesus and His amazing gift of salvation, I would read His Word and become so frustrated with it. The cause of that frustration came from not being able to understand what His Word was saying to me. Yes, I was searching, but there were scales on my eyes and heart that blocked me from understanding.

 

God created us to be relational, just like He is. And so, as humans we must get to know each other to understand each other. Well, the same principal applies in knowing God and His Word. In order for us to understand His Word, we must first get to know His Word. Our focus passage exhorts us to be diligent. As we are diligent in the pursuit of entering that rest which is promised, we are drawing closer to Christ Himself, building a relationship. As we build that relationship we learn more about Christ, and He reveals more about ourselves to our self through His penetrating Word.

 

There are numerous accounts of Jesus knowing the hearts and or thoughts of others in the Gospels. In verse 12 of our focus passage we are taught that the Word of God does exactly that, and why is that?   Jesus is the Word of God John 1:1. In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. As we take that first step and open our hearts up to Him and receive Him as our Lord and Savior, the scales will fall from our eyes and hearts to see Him in His Word. His Word then will reveal to us the true condition of our heart and then guide us in the repair of our wicked hearts.

 

This is not a one-time event in a person’s life; it is ongoing until the Lord returns or takes us home to be with Him. Let us revisit that word diligent again; we as individuals must diligently make an effort to study God’s Word and apply it while hiding it our hearts on a daily basis. This is how we can find that rest that is promised. However, be warned, when you begin to actively study the Word you will begin to discover just how wretched and ugly your heart really is. The good news is that Jesus can change that ugly condition into something beautiful for His glory.

 

 

 

 

Dale LaFrance   (please look up Psalm 147)

Continue in His Word

But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:13-16)

 

Ever since the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been in the last days. I’m sure that there are many who may disagree with that statement, on many different levels. Hopefully, we can all agree on the fact that Jesus Christ is returning for His church and to set up His new kingdom, not because I said so, but because He taught that He would in Matthew 24.

 

Throughout history we can find many examples of evil men and imposters who have declared themselves to be Jesus, and it will continue to happen until He really does return. As we focus on the first verse in our focus passage, we are told that it will grow worse and worse before Jesus comes back. There are some, who just don’t see how it can get any worse, but apparently it can and it will because we are still waiting for His return.

 

There is a command in the second line of our focus passage, and that is that we must “continue in the things which we have learned and been assured of.” How do we continue? We crave out time each day that we are blessed with and open His Word and read it, study it, mediate on it, and most importantly we put it into practice in our lives. As we continue to hide His Word in our hearts, we will gain His wisdom and we will gain His insight, so that we will not be deceived when evil men and imposters most certainly appear.

 

So, as we live in these last days, we can look around and see that we are living in a society that is barren of virtue and instead abounding with vices. Our only defense of overcoming these worldly vices is to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Word. If we do not “continue in His Word” we can be easily and most likely led astray. I would like to end with two promises from Jesus that comes from His discourse in Matthew 24. “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” (V. 13) “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (V. 35)

 

 

 

Dale LaFrance   (please look up Hebrews 4:12)

The Greatest Commandment

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.”

(Deuteronomy 6:4-6)

 

Our focus passage is the most important text in the Old Testament. Jesus called it the greatest commandment of scripture (Mark 12:29, John 17:3), and it remains the central confession of Judaism to this day. The foundational truth for world redemption is that there is one God who creates and redeems, and yet the New Testament shows God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Compare the unity of God to the unity of man made in His image: man is comprised of spirit, soul, and body as seen in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Man is not three “beings” but “one Being” with physical, emotional, and spiritual elements.

 

Many believe that the heart is the seat of man’s emotions. But in the Bible we are shown that it is more than that; it’s composed of our emotions, yes, but also our mind, our will, and our conscience. Our heart is the source of our feelings, thoughts, intentions, and our sense of condemnation or guilt when we’ve done something wrong. God created us with a heart so that we would love Him wholly and absolutely. Sadly, today many things other than God Himself capture our hearts. We may say that we love God, yet He is not our only, or our first love sometimes.

 

So, how can we love God with all of our heart? We must consider what 1 John 4:19 tells us. We love Him because He first loved us. Because God first loved us, He infused us with His love and generated within us the love with which we love Him and our brothers. God knew in His infinite wisdom that left to ourselves we could not generate the love needed to love Him, so our love for Him actually originates from God Himself. It comes from His love within us, which is higher than anything we can generate. Our soul is a large part of our heart that was created so we could express Him. However, since the fall we instead express ourselves. But when we turn our hearts to the Lord, our love for Him grows. We begin to love Him with our heart and we begin to love Him with our soul. Our mind is the leading part of our soul, which directs the rest of our being. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for us to set our minds on God and the things of God in all that we do. Set your mind on God by reading, studying, meditating, practicing and praying His Word daily and God’s love will manifest it self through you, for that was what you were created for.

 

 

Dale LaFrance   (please look up Luke 10:25-28)