THE WORD OF GOD AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, A LIFE CHANGING TEAM
I wrote a blog a few days ago entitled “God’s so great Salvation” and reminding us of Jesus’s words to Nicodemus that we must be born again. I then highlighted the essential place of the Holy Spirit in bringing us to that place of receiving and experiencing God’s “so great Salvation”. The Holy Spirit has such such a unique part to play in us coming to Christ.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and sinfulness, our lack of righteousness, and of the judgement that is to come to those who are not born again.
The Holy Spirit, then draws us to that place where we receive God’s grace and faith (Eph.2:8-9) to repent and confess our sin, then He comes into our life and places that awesome assurance in our hearts that we have received forgiveness and the knowledge that we now have eternal life.
There is another essential element that God uses to bring us to Christ, Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:23 AMP. You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God.
NKJV having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
N.L.T. For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.
PASSSION For through the eternal and living Word of God you have been born again. And this “seed” that he planted within you can never be destroyed but will live and grow inside of you forever.
MESSAGE Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself.
Peter describes the Word of God (in the Greek text) as sperma, God placing His divine sperm (God’s DNA) into the womb of our heart, and spiritual conception takes place and we are born again. Paul describes the result in 2 Cor. 5:17 NKJV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
This is why the Bible places much emphasis on God’s Word being preached, and for Christians to witness to their faith and quote the Word of God so the Holy Spirit can take that Word and place it in our hearts.
The Bible uses other terms for being born again such as being “converted”, and saved. Paul expresses it this way in Eph. 2:8-9 AMP. For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God.
NKJV For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
N.L.T. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
PASSION For it was only through this wonderful grace that we believed in him. Nothing we did could ever earn this salvation, for it was the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ! So no one will ever be able to boast, for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving.
MESSAGE Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing!
Paul tells us our being saved (born again) is all because of God’s GRACE (GOD’S FAVOUR And MERCY) which we did not deserve all this through FAITH, BUT WHERE DO WE GET FAITH?? Romans 10:17 NKJV So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
AMP. So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).
PASSION Faith, then, is birthed in a heart that responds to God’s anointed utterance of the Anointed One.
MESSAGE The point is, Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.
The Greek text uses two different words for the word WORD.
1.Logos, This is the written word of God The bible.
2. Rhema this means that light bulb (flash) when the written word (the Bible) becomes alive and personal too us, and faith to believe spings up in our heart.
Paul writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV describes it this way All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
PASSION Every Scripture has been written by the Holy Spirit, the breath of God. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness
AMP Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action),
N.L.T. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
MESSAGE Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.
It is the Word of God by the Power of the Holy Spirit that brings us into the Kingdom of God, Christians must learn to read and meditate continually on the Word of God, so we can constantly have those “light bulb moments” the 18 inch drop from head to heart, where the information becomes revelation.
May we let the Holy Spirit increase our hunger for the Word of God, and let Him ILLUMINATE the truth of His Word to us. Col. 3:16 NKJV tells us Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
