GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 25

We are reading from a daily devotional  called “Running To Win” written by Erwin Lutzer  and the late, great D.L. Moody.   Erwin Lutzer is a light in our day as D.L. Moody was in his.  Besides his many ministries, and many books, Pastor Lutzer was Senior Pastor at Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years and now serves as Pastor Emeritus there.  He is  Chancelor and a former professor at Moody Bible Institute, where he taught Theology and Ministry, and now has numerous radio teachings.

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THE OLD IS GONE, THE NEW HAS COME

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

D.L. MOODY

I saw an advertisement which read like this: “If you want people to respect you, wear good clothes.” This is the world’s idea of getting the world’s respect. Why! A leper may put on  good clothes, but he is a leper still. Mere profession of faith  doesn’t transform a man. It is the new nature spoken of in Corinthians, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

ERWIN LUTZER

The Pharisees had many outer rules, which they couldn’t live up to themselves, and yet they imposed those rules on others. Rules are parameters to keep us from doing wrong, but they cannot give us life. We must come to Christ for life and for strength to live for Him, to say no to sin and yes to walking in the Spirit. When you do come to Him, He’ll not leave you the way you came because He is the One who, despite our guilt, our confusion, and our wondering, gives us rest. This change goes beyond outer appearances.

Compare the religions of the world. Only Jesus Christ promises a transformation of your heart and desires. That’s why we do not simply promote rules; there is an inner transformation of the heart, a miracle of God called “being born again.” To be clear, there is something within you that wasn’t there before you were born again. There is a new nature with new desires. It certainly doesn’t make us perfect, but it does give us hope on our journey so we can stay on the path. That’s the offer Jesus makes. The old is gone, the new has come.

    PRAYER

    Father, thank you for not leaving me as I was by transforming me into a new creation in and through your Son.

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1 John 3:2

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

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2 Corinthians 5:14-15

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

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2 Corinthians 5:19

That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

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Philippians 3:21

Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

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Ephesians 1:7

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

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Ephesians 1:3-4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

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Hebrews 2:9

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

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2 Timothy 2:15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

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Romans 5:5

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

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