Verse of the Day 5/14

 

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.  English Standard Version (ESV)

 

Yesterday on the way to work I was listening to Pastor Greg Laurie as he said that we all either are born twice and die once or are born once and die twice.  The believer is born, will die, but then be raised again to eternal life.  The unbeliever, the one who "won't hear" is born, then dies and dies a second time, an eternal death.

 

Today's verse from John chapter 5 was the New Testament portion of the read through the Bible plan that I'm following.  The verse reminded me of what I had heard yesterday.  We live in a busy society, full of all kinds of noise to distract us and lead us astray or to try to prevent us from hearing God's Word and believing.  The challenge is for all of us to be willing to "be still" as we considered yesterday, to hear, to believe, and to know that He is God.

 

I've been reading portions of A.W. Tozer's "Pursuit of God" devotionally.  In this mornings reading I read the following quote which brings it together.  "Whoever will listen will hear the speaking heaven.  This is definitely not the hour when men take kindly to an exhortation to listen, for listening is not a part of popular religion.  Religion has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity and bluster make a man dear to God.  But we may take heart.  To a people caught in the tempest of the last great conflict God says, "be still, and know that I am God" and still He says it, as if He means to tell us that our strength and safety lie not in noise but in silence." 

 

We need to listen and hear.  Those who do have "taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living" (The Message John 5:24), and really live.  May we listen and have life today and for eternity.

 

 

In Christ,
Mike

 

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Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

John 5:23-27

The Message (MSG)

^20-23 "But you haven't seen the half of it yet, for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses. Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out. The Father handed all authority to judge over to the Son so that the Son will be honored equally with the Father. Anyone who dishonors the Son, dishonors the Father, for it was the Father's decision to put the Son in the place of honor.

²⁴ "It's urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.

^25-27 "It's urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive. Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself. And he has given him the authority, simply because he is the Son of Man, to decide and carry out matters of Judgment.