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In this universe, there is nothing that compares to the Word of God found in the majority-text. Nothing. All the writings of the world’s wisest are small and petty in its light. All the religious concoctions contrary to its content are simply sources of darkness and confusion. It’s God’s owner’s manual to mankind. It is the only true source of where we came from, who we are, what we’re here for, and where we will exit this picture. It is the only true source of why the world is in such a sorry state, and it is the only true source on how to escape. God’s Word is the book of light, life, and love, and it is also the book of certain judgment and punishment. The Word of God is high and lifted up. There is none beside Him nor above Him because the Word of God is God. John 1:1:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The King of Glory, the only begotten Son of God has a name written, Revelation 19:13:
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
God’s Word is the only standard to which all men will be held accountable at a soon-coming judgment day. The opinions and doctrines of men will not do, neither your heart’s feelings—only His Word. If you haven’t surrendered to the inerrant Word of the living God, do it today while you still have time. Do it today and really start enjoying life and enjoying it more abundantly. What a magnificent day it will be. Come on in! Click on to "Further With Jesus" for immediate entry into the Kingdom of God. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.
GOD SAID, James 1:18:
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
GOD SAID, II Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
MAN SAID: The Bible is a book of fiction—a book with no supernatural source.
Now THE RECORD. The Scriptures use very weighty and telling terms. The supernatural wisdom portrayed in the verses just quoted is enormous. This is wisdom that science is only beginning to understand. This is wisdom that only the Creator could know so many thousands of years ago. James 1:18 declares that God begat us with His Word, and remember, all things are literally made of words. Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language defines beget as, "To procreate, as a father or sire; to generate; as to beget a son." [End of quote] Then James records that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Kind is defined by Webster as, "race; genus; generic class; as in mankind." [End of quote] Are Christians a new kind? II Corinthians 5:17 says that if we are in Christ, we are a new creature (or new creation). Corinthians goes on to say, "old things are passed away;" and it’s true. The Word of God teaches our carnal natures are dead in Christ. Then Corinthians records, "...behold, all things are become new." This passage is so phenomenally literal as you’ll see as we continue.
The literalness of the Word of God is breathtaking! Jesus said in John 3:3:
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
As a result of our great-grandparents Eve and Adam’s rejection of the Word of God, their immortality and their ability to pass it on to their progeny were lost. Consequently, you and I and all of mankind were spiritually stillborn—spiritually dead. The Scriptures record in Ephesians 2:1:
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins:
In order to escape the law of sin and death, the spiritual deadness of our condition, we needed to be born-again of the Spirit in order to enter the family of God. We were born the first time wrong, therefore the term "born-again." Keep in mind that God is a spirit, and in order to be reinstated into His family, we must be born-again of His Spirit via the obedience of faith. Again, Jesus said in John 3:3-7:
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
If this principle is true—the concept of born-again, the concept of a new creation, literally a new kind—then abundant proof should exist, and it does.
A real Christian will have Godly attributes and will display heavenly traits uncommon to mortal man. Jesus describes the miraculous condition of believers as it existed in the days of the infant church and unto this very day. Mark 16:16-20:
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
True believers in Christ have supernatural capabilities that carnal men do not.
Is a born-again believer literally a new kind? One of the first things that happens after a child of God is born is that he or she is given a new name. Revelation 2:17 reads:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
When we are born into our Father’s house, He gives us a new name because we are a new creation—sons and daughters of God—and this name is registered in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Your pedigree is established. This is a literal event.
Born-again are a new kind. We have a new purpose, a new job. We immediately enter into our Father’s business, which is the redemption of man. John 3:16:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Luke 14:23:
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
A new kind of firstfruits has new traits—traits that are different from the unregenerated. Christians sacrifice their natural will for the supernatural will of God. The Scriptures give the qualifiers for the office of the bishop in Titus 1:7, and of course these directives are also given to the church:
For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
As new creations, the born-again have new joys and new desires. Years ago, I visited a business where I had worked several years earlier. The owner of the business told the young lady working for him of how Jesus Christ had transformed my life. She was curious about being born-again and asked me what I did for fun. My answer shocked her. I told her what was fun and fulfilling for me was attending church and Bible studies, reading the Word of God, telling others of Christ’s saving blood, fellowshipping with my brothers and sisters in Christ, singing, clapping, and praising God. She was incredulous. How could this be? I explained further. Suppose you put a hot plate of steak and potatoes and steaming homemade bread with butter under the nose of a dead person. Would you get a response? Now put that meal under the nose of a hungry person who labored all day and watch the difference. I explained that she was dead in trespasses and sins and could not recognize the joy and beauty of the things of God. Conversely, true Christians are dead to the carnal man’s pleasures of parties flowing with booze and drugs. Christians are literally a new kind.
Christians are a new creation born of God, and their final destiny will be eternal life in Christ Jesus, which was God’s original plan for Adam and Eve. Those who reject the cross of Christ will find their eternity in the Lake of Fire. Choices must be made.
The first occurrence of the word kind is in Genesis 1:11:
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Genesis 1:21:
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
In etymology, which is the study of words, there is a rule or law known as the law of first occurrence. It states that the first use of a word basically frames its definition. Can you imagine that we actually participate in spiritual reproduction and it happens after our kind? When we lead others to Christ, we actually become their fathers in the faith. I Corinthians 4:15 reads:
For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
As new creatures, we speak a new language void of the vulgarities and blasphemies of the spiritually dead natural man. We are a new kind.
As born-again members of God’s family, we enter into a large house of brothers and sisters. This new supernatural family forms an eternal bond which is far deeper than that of the natural body.
Even Christian’s bodies and immune systems are different. The following excerpts are from the GodSaidManSaid feature article "The Power of Going To Church:"
Hundreds of studies have been, and are presently being conducted to ascertain whether there is any connection between religious faith and health. Some of the latest results are shocking to the unbelieving world. In 1999 the results of a study conducted by the University of Texas were published. Twenty-two thousand people were followed over a nine year period. Those who attended church or synagogue more than once a week lived an average of eight years longer than those who didn’t. Let me say it another way: those who attended church more than once a week lived 2,920 days or 11% longer than those who didn’t.
A Yale study reported that churchgoers were less likely to become physically disabled. In a syndicated article released by Knight Ridder Newspapers it was recorded:
Several studies concluded that people who attended religious services regularly are hospitalized less often and have stronger immune systems than people who rarely or never attend. [End of quote]
A Christian continues to develop and evolve into the image of Christ as he continually puts on the mind of Christ. When Christ’s fearless, stressless, peaceful, love-filled, faith-filled mind dwells in a believer, it continually transforms that believer. Romans 12:2:
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Transform means to change form. The mind of Christ has the power to transform the quality of our molecular structure. The following excerpts are from S. Frumker’s book, Test and Grow Healthy:
Modern research, with "tagged" elements of the human body, has shown that 98 percent of the atoms in your body are replaced by the body in less than a year. Like the universe, our bodies aren’t static in nature. They are constantly changing.
The protein in your body is turned over every six months. You make an entirely new covering of skin every five weeks. You produce a new stomach lining every five days! Most of the functioning parts of your liver are replaced every six months. Your skeleton every three months. The hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen of your brain cells are replaced every year. The raw material of your DNA (the primary material in chromosomes and key to heredity and cell duplication) every six weeks.
Every seven years, every cell of every part of your body dies and is replaced. Think of it! Over every seven-year period your physical body completely dies! Yet you live on! Every seven years you receive a completely new and older physical body.
God said His children are new creatures—a new kind of firstfruits, literally born-again—and it’s true. Thousands of years before the sociologists and scientists discovered this reality, the God of creation proclaimed it.
A short list reviewing the life-changing evidence of the miracle of the born-again experience follows:
1. We have been begotten by God’s word.
2. To beget means to procreate.
3. We are a kind of firstfruits.
4. New creatures.
5. God-like attributes.
6. Heavenly traits.
7. New names.
8. New reason for existing.
9. God-willed.
10. New joys and entertainment.
11. Eternal life.
12. Can spiritually reproduce.
13. Speak a new language.
14. New eternal family.
15. New bodies.
16. New immune system.
17. New minds.
18. All things have become new.
GOD SAID, James 1:18:
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
GOD SAID, II Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
MAN SAID: The Bible is a book of fiction—a book with no supernatural source.
Now you have THE RECORD.
References:
King James Bible
Frumker, S., Test and Grow Healthy, Cleveland, Ohio 44121
