Grace for Your Day April 11

The Bible makes it very clear that, when someone comes to faith in Christ, they do not stay the same because they undergo a change. Their soul experiences a transformation from one form of life into another. Theologians refer to it with the terms “regeneration” or “conversion” but there are a lot of other words that can be used to describe this occurrence. For example, a simple survey of the Bible, demonstrates that when someone becomes a Christian, they move from:
The Scriptures also says that we undergo another change because we receive a new citizenship. Philippians 3:20-21 says:
The Greek word for “citizenship” is politeuma from which we get out English word “politics.” In the context of this verse, it refers to someone who possessed all the honors, rights, and privileges of a Roman citizen even though they lived somewhere else. Paul mentions this because many of the people in the Philippian church were from Rome even though they made their residence in Philippi. However, Roman custom dictated that they were still expected to carry themselves with a certain dignity as they remembered their homeland.

Paul says that it is the same way with Christians because our citizenship is in Heaven and, even though we are not in Heaven yet, we are expected to live our lives accordingly as we are eagerly wait for God to transform us. While, on the one hand, our souls have already been changed. On the other hand, we are looking forward to the time when our bodies will undergo the same thing through the exertion of His power when He resurrects us which is what we are going to talk about this Sunday morning at Grace Fellowship Church.

This Sunday, we are going to celebrate the Easter Holiday by talking about “Our Heavenly Citizenship.” The reason we are going to do this is because many Christians forget what Christ has done for them. He has changed them to such a degree that they are citizens of Heaven now. They do not have to try to become citizens one day because they are already are citizens at this moment. All they have to do when they die is show the Lord their passport which is stamped in the blood of Jesus and He will allow them to come in.

This is also important because many of us do not feel very Heavenly at this moment due to our sin. We feel pretty wretched due to our ongoing battle with the world and the flesh and the Devil. However, the Lord says that this should not discourage us, either, because our citizenship is not based on feelings. It is based on the established fact that Jesus died and rose again so that, if we believe in Him, Heaven is a reality that we can enjoy right away.

Please join us as we talk about that on Easter Sunday. The service begins at 9:30 and it will be livestreamed on our You Tube Channel for all who are not able to attend in person. I look forward to seeing you there! – Jeremy Cagle