Good morning 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 tell you a little story.
Each day millions of people go off to a Vo-Tech or college to learn some kind of vocation. They study and gain knowledge in the profession that they wish to pursue. Eventually, they might pass all their tests with flying colors and graduate, obtaining a framed diploma for their wall. But what really defines a person is what they produce in this life. The ink that is written on a diploma is simply words, until you put into action the things that you have learned, and the proof is in your deeds.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
We are required in the Christian Life to prove our love towards Christ. He’s already proved His love towards this world by dying on the cross for our sins. We need to return that great love to Him by becoming converted and faithfully obedient to His will. It’s more than just claiming to be a Christian,…it’s living as a Christian, and actions speak louder than words.
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.
First of all, the Lord Jesus taught that unless people go through the process of conversion they would perish. Conversion is not optional, it’s a requirement to obtain eternal life. Conversion means to change. In order to undergo this process of transformation from a sinner into a saint, we must first renew our mind. Renew means to make new spiritually, or to rebuild and to repair. If you have ever put new carpeting in your living room, you first must rip out the old in order to replace it with the new.
Scripture refers to the carnal mind, and the spiritual mind, which are two greatly different mindsets. The carnal mind seeks after things of the flesh, while the spiritual mind seeks after the things of God. The carnal mindset is enmity against God and following it will only lead to death, while the renewed spiritual mind will lead to life. To possess the spiritual mind, is to have the mind of Christ.
Granted all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Each of us have lived according to, and followed the sinful nature in our past, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. In that state we are the children of wrath even as others in this world. What we need to do is to transform and become children of God. Like changing a dead light bulb, we need to change out the one in our head, so that we can be filled with light. In our past we walked according to the vanity of our sinful mind, but now as a Christian we need to change the way that we think.
Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
When we are baptized, we are baptized into death. This is why we are completely submerged under the water. It is a water grave, where we put to death the old sinful man and his deeds. When we come up out of the water, we are supposed to walk according to the new life that we have been granted through Christ. At that moment, all of our past sins are expunged, as we are given a precious new opportunity to lovingly serve Christ and eventually be able to enter into Paradise.
Romans 6:4-7 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Rising up out of the waters of baptism, is like a baby taking their very first steps. When we are born into this world, each of us are underdeveloped and immature. We need to go through a process of physical growth. Have you ever noticed that when a child is very young, how much information that they can learn very quickly? Their mind is like a sponge. As a babe in Christ, we want to fill our heads and our minds with God’s Word. It is the food that feeds and nourishes our souls so that we can grow into a new Spiritual man in Christ.
Through the water grave of baptism, the old carnal man is put to death and all things become new to us.
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.
We need to become reborn inside of our hearts. Circumcision in the flesh does not matter to God. What matters is becoming circumcised in the heart, and becoming a new creature.
Romans 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.
Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
As a Christian we are circumcised spiritually through faith in Christ.
Colossians 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
When I think about the Christian Life, I think about an old ripped up pair of jeans that need to be replaced. You buy a new pair at the store, put them on, and then throw the old pair in the garbage. You cannot wear your new pair of jeans if you are still wearing your old ones. You have to first get rid of the old, in order to replace it with the new. We too must put off the old man and his sinful nature, and put on the new.
Ephesians 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Colossians 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Our minds are renewed through the knowledge of God found in the teachings of scripture. Like a newborn child we want to soak up Spiritual education. When we believe in scriptural truth we must become doers of it, resulting in change, conversion, and transformation from sinners into saints.
1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
Our minds have to change if we are ultimately going to perform the perfect will of God. Obedience to the will of God is the proof of an active and sincere faith. Disobedience to His purpose only proves that you are a sinner who is walking in the flesh, and hasn’t renounced the sinful deeds of the carnal nature. You prove what you are by your actions, because it is actions that speak……
…… Louder Than Words.
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by Google searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms, such as Amazon, Spotify or Google podcasts. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 