GOD’S WORD FOR NOVEMBER 14

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 GREATEST MIRACLE

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

D.L. MOODY

If the words of this text are true, they embody one of the most solemn questions. We can afford to be deceived about many things rather than about this one thing. Christ makes it very plain. He says, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”—much less inherit it.

This doctrine of the new birth is therefore the foundation of all our hopes for the world to come. It is really the A B C of the Christian religion. My experience has been this—that if a man is unsound on this doctrine he will be unsound on almost every other fundamental doctrine in the Bible. A true understanding of this subject will help a man to solve a thousand difficulties he may meet with the Word of God. Things that before seemed very dark and mysterious will become very plain.

ERWIN LUTZER

We did not choose to be born physically, and this birth is described as being from “corruptible seed” (1 Peter 1:23, KJV), meaning we were born with a sin nature. Jesus taught we must be born again by God. Speaking of this new birth we read, “who were born, not of blood [not by our parents] nor of the will of the flesh [it was not because of your will power] nor of the will of man [it was not because of the will of others], but of God” (John 1:13). Our decision to receive Christ as Savior was the result of our Heavenly Father’s work in our hearts. A miracle indeed.

To summarize: The Word of God combined with the Spirit of God, creates within us the life of God. As Moody said, this divine work is foundational to all the hopes we have for the world to come.

PRAYER

Father, thank you for making me alive in Christ. Thank you that I have been born again by faith in Christ!

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John 3:1-3

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

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John 3:7

Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

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1 Peter 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

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1 Peter 1:23

since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

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John 16:13

When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.

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James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

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James 3:17

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

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Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

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John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'”

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Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

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2 Cor. 5:17

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

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