Kenneth Copeland Ministries has been publishing the Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine for more than 40 years. Receive your positive, faith-filled magazine FREE each month, subscribe today at www.freevictory.com.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1434021
Since we don't use the word unfeigned today, let's look at these same verses from the New Living Translation: 21 THROUGH CHRIST YOU HAVE COME TO TRUST IN GOD. AND YOU HAVE PLACED YOUR FAITH AND HOPE IN GOD BECAUSE HE RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD AND GAVE HIM GREAT GLORY. 22 YOU WERE CLEANSED FROM YOUR SINS WHEN YOU OBEYED THE TRUTH, SO NOW YOU MUST SHOW SINCERE LOVE TO EACH OTHER AS BROTHERS AND SISTERS. LOVE EACH OTHER DEEPLY WITH ALL YOUR HEART. 23 FOR YOU HAVE BEEN BORN AGAIN, BUT NOT TO A LIFE THAT WILL QUICKLY END. YOUR NEW LIFE WILL LAST FOREVER BECAUSE IT COMES FROM THE ETERNAL, LIVING WORD OF GOD. Now that describes the true meaning of Christmas: THE GIFT TO THE WORLD, JESUS of NAZARETH is His Name. Through Him, Peter said, we have come to trust in God. And, we have been born again, "not to a life that will quickly end," but will last forever! Why? Because it comes from the ETERNAL, LIVING WORD, OR BOND [COVENANT], OF OUR GOD! Now look at verses 24-25. Wow! Our lives are forever because our covenant is an everlasting covenant with our forever Father who is Love, and with His forever SON, who is forever our Lord. No wonder it's the good news! You know the Greek word euaggelion actually means: "a reward for good tidings; good tidings." 1 Anyone can see from that Greek word we get the word evangelist, "a bringer of GOOD tidings, or good news," from the One who is ABSOLUTE GOOD, and from His Son who went about doing GOOD and healing ALL who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38) who was, and is, absolute BAD! What, now, is the bottom line? Faith which works by Love (Galatians 5:6). And then Romans 5:5 says: 5 AND HOPE MAKETH NOT ASHAMED; BECAUSE THE LOVE OF GOD IS SHED ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY GHOST WHICH IS GIVEN UNTO US. Who is given to us? God Himself. He's the Gift to the Church. Jesus said, "It is the Father within me, he does the work" (John 14:10)! Faith is ALWAYS the bottom line of everything for us because without faith it's impossible to please Him. Why is that? Our faith is the connector to THE BLESSING. Throughout the coming year, do your best to be like Abraham who, like God, called things that be not as though they were (Romans 4:17). That's the centerpiece of living by faith and giving glory to God. The Spirit of God, through the Apostle Paul, wrote Romans 4:16-21. My, my, what a wonderful gift to the believer: GRACE, unmerited favor! How could Abraham be fully persuaded? BECAUSE HE HAD A COVENANT OF BLOOD WITH THE ALMIGHTY GOD. Look at this from Genesis 17:4-5: 4 AS FOR ME, BEHOLD, MY COVENANT IS WITH THEE, AND THOU SHALT BE A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS. 5 NEITHER SHALL THY NAME ANY MORE BE CALLED ABRAM, BUT THY NAME SHALL BE ABRAHAM; FOR A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE THEE. ABRA-H-AM, the covenant name change. God put His Name, HASHEM, 1 New Testament Greek Lexicon—New American Standard, based on Thayer's and Smith's Bible Dictionary, plus others. Keyed to the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Public Domain), Bible Study Tools, https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/ (accessed 10-2021).