Good morning and welcome in today. Today we are going to take a look at some scripture from the book of Romans, but before we do that I wanted to tell you a story.
A few years ago, one of our neighbors purchased a house. For many months we drove by it on the highway and it looked like a nice little home. The shingles looked good, it had some really decent siding on it along with a nice little deck out front.
A few months passed by when the owner gave me a jingle on the phone and asked if I would come over and help carry some things out of the basement. We went over there and as soon as I opened the front door, you could see that the interior of the house was completely gutted. In one of the corners in the living room there were piles of broken sheetrock and two-by-fours that they had ripped out of the walls and ceiling.
But in one corner of the house they had started completely rebuilding the inside. They had just put down some new tile on the floor and new cupboards on the walls. They had even gone so far as to buy some new appliances. It was completely different from what it looked like on the outside. You never really would have known what was going on inside of that home, but things were being torn out and replaced with new things. It was going through a complete change.
I realize that this is exactly like the Christian Life. Through God’s grace we are undergoing a change inside of our hearts. On the exterior everybody sees the same person but on the inside something completely different it’s happening.
Rom 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
For many years on our website, we have had a cross that has a heart in the middle. The heart represents that Christianity is about the heart. Christianity is about what’s going on in the inside.
When you change something, it means to make it different or to replace it with something else, especially something that is new or better. Christianity is about modification of the heart. It is about a change for the better. Everything that God teaches us in His Holy Word is so that we can have a better life.
There are many people today who feel that it’s too restrictive while the truth is that when we do what it says, the results will be a better and a happier life. God’s way is the best way but we have to allow ourselves to undergo that change. It’s a modification for the better.
How many wives out there have had a recipe that they modified? They simply took the original recipe and changed a few things to make it even better than it was before. Instead of an eighth of a cup of chocolate chips, you put in a quarter cup instead and decided to use real butter. Those cookies taste really good now! That’s similar to what God wants to do in each of our lives. The word modify actually means to change or to transform. Transformation has to do with a change in your form and your character.
Think about the many changes that a butterfly has gone through in its life in order to fly. Think about how many changes that a frog had to undergo before it could jump high up into the air. God wants to take us to a better place but we have to allow ourselves to undergo that change.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
God wants to renew our minds. Renew means to make new spiritually or to regenerate. It means to make like new.
Have you ever taken an old pair of cowboy boots and rub some mink oil on them and clean them all up so that they look just like new again? Have you ever fixed up an old collector antique car to the point that it looks just like it did when it orginally rolled off the assembly line? That’s what it means to renew something, to make it new again. God wants to create new people who serve him out of love, and that change needs to happen inside of our hearts and our minds. We want to be reborn or born again inside of our heart. It’s starting over again at ground zero and ripping out all that junk inside and confessing those sins to God and getting forgiven for them Then comes the process of rebuilding with new material, the teachings of the king james bible.
1 Peter 1:23 – Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
In many years of life, I have learned that if you’re going to do just about anything you need to be able to follow directions. If you’re going to bring something home and put it together you need to follow the directions written on the box. If you’re going to cook some food you need to follow the directions that are written on recipe card. If you’re going to try to repair something on your vehicle, you need to follow the directions that come with the manual. Ffollowing directions is a fact of life. When we decide that we want to become a Christian, we need to follow the directions in order to become one. They are found in the teachings all the King James Bible. In order for our faith to be increased day by day, we need to hear the word of God preached and taught. We need to study it and to grow in it. Just like a newborn child, each of us need nourishment day by day to grow up big and strong into maturity.
Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
In Christianity this is more than just hearing with your ears but it is hearing with your heart.
How many of you have been in a classroom at school and you noticed that there was a student who wasn’t paying attention to what the teacher was saying.
After a few minutes the teacher calls on him and asks him a question about what he had just said. Because he was daydreaming and wasn’t listening, he has no response. The point is that we need to listen and hear what the Bible teaches us in order to be transformed and changed into what God wants us to become.
Born again is more than just saying those two words but rather, an application of the things that Jesus teaches us. It’s becoming a door of God’s will. It is following the directions that He has given unto us.
When people go off to college, they need to study to eventually become what they want to be. When you study it means you are devoting your time and attention to acquiring knowledge of a certain subject. The church is a place of learning. It is a spiritual school where we are learning to become what God wants us to be. Just like at a college somewhere, in a church we are gaining the knowledge of God’s will. It happens through the preaching of the Holy scriptures, but we must remember what the Apostle James taught. Knowledge by itself isn’t enough to be able to get us into heaven someday. We need to take what we have learned in the scriptures and apply it to our lives. That is becoming a door of God’s word.
When I went into my neighbor’s house there was a lot of work that was going on inside. Something was getting done. There was a change that was happening and progressing. There was a work that was going on inside of that home. We want to allow God to work on our hearts but it requires that we grow in the scriptures and follow his guidance. Each day we are attempting to become different than what we have been in the past and that truly is what it means to be born again. We start out as little children all over again, relearning the things that we have learned wrong all of our lives. We begin with baby steps, as we learn to walk. In order for a child to grow, they have to be fed. We are fed with God’s word each and every day. Just like you feed your children, your pets, or your chickens, it is something that needs to be done daily.
John 3:1-8 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
The Lord Jesus teaches Nicodemus that a rebirth needed to happen.on the inside.
John 4:24 – God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
God wants to transform and change us but we have to hear God’s word regularly preached and apply the things that we hear to our own lives day by. We need to follow the directions on how to become a Christian.
Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you:
Are you allowing yourself to undergo that change? Are you allowing God to rip out all that old stuff in your life so He can rebuild something new? God wants to do some remodeling in our lives. Today I ask you a question, will you hand over the keys of your house to him so that he can get started working on the inside?
I think that’s where I’m going to stop for right now but Lord willing, I’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye-bye everybody♥️
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