Your Daily Devotional for June 25, 2006

 

June 25, 2006

 

The Life Changing Message
by Dr. Paul Chappell

“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”
I Thessalonians 2:13

What a wonderful blessing to know that now, some 2,000 years later, we as Christians are still hearing the same message that the Apostle Paul preached, in the same way; the same Gospel, the same Jesus, the same Word of God preached. Did you ever think that God has given us more of His Word than He gave to the Apostle Paul? Paul would never see a completed compilation of 66 books bound together in one leather-bound cover, but God has preserved it for us. I love the part where it says “effectually worketh also in you that believe.” Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica in the Greek language and where we read “effectually worketh”, Paul used the Greek word “energeo”, which is where we get our English word energy! The Word of God is an energy inside of us that believe. The question is what are we going to do with it?

Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” It is a powerful, life-changing message. The Bible says in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Hebrews 4:12 tells us “… the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
 

The Bible says that this word “pierces” even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.” The Word of God will do what music, counseling, psychology, or propaganda cannot do! The ability for lives to change today is found in the power and authority of the Word of God.  That is why Paul said to Timothy in II Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

I have never failed to be in awe as I have watched the Gospel change someone’s life.

I remember going out soulwinning one particular Saturday with my daughter, Danielle. We followed up on a particular family that had visited our church a few weeks prior. As we knocked on the door, I could hear loud rock music playing. The door was opened, and the lady invited us to come in. We went in, sat on the couch, and I began to talk and discuss the church with her and her husband.

 

After a little while, the lady turned the rock music off. I began to talk to the husband. He had long hair and a couple of earrings and just looked rough. I asked him, “Sir, if you were to die today do you know for sure that Heaven would be your home? Would you go to Heaven? Would you go to Hell? Or do you know?”

 

He said, “You know, I’ve been thinking about that very issue. I’m not sure that I really know where I would go.”

I said, “Would you mind if I took the next few moments to show you how that you could know for sure that Heaven is your home?”

 

He said, “I’d like that very much.”

About 30 minutes later he prayed and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. That next Sunday he and his wife came and identified with the Lord in believers’ baptism. Sunday night they came to church. After the service was over, as we gathered out in the lobby, I talked with him and asked, “John, would you like to come with me tomorrow night? I’ll be preaching down in the Los Angeles area, and I’d love to have you travel with me there. You can hear some of the songs and the preaching and get a feel for the Christian life.”

He said, “You want me to go with you to another church?” I said, “Sure, John, I’d love to have you go with me.”

Well, he said he’d like to go and I agreed to pick him up at about 5 o’clock the next afternoon. I pulled up in front of his house and saw a man I did not recognize come out of the doorway. This man came out and where the earrings used to be, there were no earrings. He had on a three-piece suit and a sharp haircut. As he got into the car he said, “Hi, Pastor. I got a new Bible today. It’s the King George version. Did I get the right one?”  

How did his life take such change? It was by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, by the presence of the Holy Spirit of God. People that you think are beyond hope are not beyond hope. The people you think cannot be reached, can be reached by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What does God consider a successful Christian or a successful church? One that lifts up the light of the glorious Gospel so men and women might be saved and so lives might be changed for the glory of God. May God use all of us to serve Him with the right passion in this day. Let us remember to follow a biblical pathway and pattern for ministry even as the Apostle Paul modeled in Thessalonica.

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