Good morning. Paul,
talking about those people we were discussing yesterday: having become callous.
How do you get a callous – by something repeatedly rubbing on some part of your
body. They repeatedly ignored God's warning, and it developed a callous on
their heart and conscience, so that they no longer even notice God's warning.
As far as our former manner of life is concerned – we are to lay aside the old
self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit. He is
dead and buried. We should not be dragging our old self around. Next we have to
be renewed in the spirit of our mind. We have to get rid of our stinking
thinking. Then we are to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has
been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. The new "us"
does not want to act like the old self did. Since the new self is in the
likeness of God, we should be acting like God. We are to lay aside falsehood
and speak truth with our neighbor. Then a verse which is hard to obey when you
have teenagers: be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on
your anger. I know they are not real life, but how many TV shows or movies have
you seen in which either a parent or a child decides to change the way things
have been. They make overtures to the other one to set things right, but don't
tell them that that is what they are doing. The other person, remembering how
things were, reacts negatively, thinking that it is the same old same old. The
person trying to make the overtures then says "forget it!". Many
times teenagers, five minutes after they "act out", have forgotten
that it even happened. They don't realize that parents are reacting to what
they just did. To them it is a brand-new slate. They are confused about why
their parents are angry at them. And so they react to the parents' anger – and
so on and so on. It's hard to do but we are to "bear no grudges". Father
thank You that the reader has put on the new self and is walking in
righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God
Good morning. While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. It doesn’t say, but I assume it is still during this time of the Passover. This man came to Jesus by night. Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do the signs that You do unless God is with him. It just said that the people believed in His name because of the signs He was doing; yet it does not say what those signs were. Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. That is why unbelievers cannot tell what is of the kingdom of God and what is not – they’re not born again. Nicodemus doesn’t have a clue. How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he? Unless one is born of water and the Spirit ...
Comments
Post a Comment