Any Change?

Goodmorning and welcome in everyone.  Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of 

scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to share something with you.

For many years, I’ve done our laundry at the laundromat. After I get the detergent into the machine, many times when I look into my wallet, I realize that I don’t have any quarters.  So, I grab a few dollar bills, and walk over to the change machine, inserting them slowly, and facing in the right direction.  Voila, a few moments later the bills are sucked into the machine and changes into coins!  What was completely unusable before, is transformed into something that I can now deposit into the machines, to perform the function that I need done.

This reminds me of the Christian Life.

Just like a dollar bill, we need to go through the change machine of truth, and come out something completely different than what we were before.  To be completely transformed from sinful living, we need to be born again by the Word of God. 

Peter 1:22-23  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

In order for us to truly be born again, it requires acceptance and obedience to God’s will and purpose in our lives.  It’s a process of self-denial of our own wishes and desires, and becoming obedient to what God wants us to become.  Before I became a believer, I told my wife that there was no way I would ever teach anything to anybody because I absolutely loathed the profession.  As a Christian, I learned that I needed to change my thinking in this matter, because teaching and instructing others in the faith is something that God calls men to do in the church.  If I had been born a woman, I would have enjoyed staying home with my children all day and taking care of the house and family, but God called me to something else, and I needed to rise up obediently to his desire for me, rather than my own.  This is a process of becoming born again by accepting the truth.

John 3:3-7  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.

We must be born again through the acceptance and application of God’s Word in our lives.  God’s Word is the Holy Spirit written on paper.  Many different men were used by God over thousands of the years, moved by the power of the Holy Spirit, to write things to help guide people to the truth in Christ.  Submitting to the Holy Spirit is to submit to the teachings of scripture.

2 Timothy 3:16-17  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

We must become sanctified and purified from sin, by allowing God’s Word to transform and change us from the inside out.

Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

We can never truly change in our hearts until we learn to yield to God. Lasting change requires submission, meekness, contrition and humility.  In order to drive the motor of obedience in our hearts, these qualities must be functioning and hitting on all cylinders, because only then will you yield to the truth and move on unto perfection.

Like the Apostle Paul, when you first become a Christian, there can be some very drastic changes that happen quickly in your life, but the more that you mature in the faith, it may require smaller modifications. What I mean is, there are smaller adjustments that needs to be done.  The carburetor on my chainsaw might be working well, but there is a little adjustment that needs to be done to make it run more perfectly.  The Apostle wanted to help others on the path of perfection in their faith.  

1 Thessalonians 3:10  Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?

Colossians 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

When we begin the Christian Life, we are baptized by submersion into the name of Jesus Christ.  When we come up out of the water, we are like a baby coming out of the womb of God.  We begin to take our first steps in the faith, beginning the path of transformation from what we were in the past, to a new creature of obedience and faithfulness to Christ.  Without obedience to the truth, the Christian life comes up short.  To fully convert to the will of God, we must go through the change machine of scripture, the incorruptible seed of God.

1 Peter 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

Change is the passageway that each of us must go through, in order to enter into eternity.  If you don’t ever obey the Bible or the things that it teaches us, how will you ever change and become purified?  Purification is a process by which things are cleansed out of our hearts, minds, and lives.

Romans 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.

Transformation can happen through obedience to God’s Word, which ultimately will produce a new man in Christ.  It’s a process of putting off the old man, and walking daily, maturing into a new man of God.

Ephesians 4:22-24  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

So in order to obtain heaven, all of us are going to need to change. We must submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit found in the Scriptures.  We need to become something different than what we were in our past.  This is going to require the application of biblical truth, by which we are purified and sanctified.  

So the next time you look inside your wallet, I want you to stop for a moment and examine your hearts.  Has it been converted to the truth yet?  Do you have…

…..Any Change?

Let’s think about these things for right now, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow.  Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️

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