Studying theology isn’t exciting for most people. This doctrine became real to me when I first heard the truth of the gospel in my mid 20’s. I’d grown up in a family that just attended church when we weren’t camping or travelling. I stopped attending as soon as I was old enough to get a Sunday morning paper route. I joined the Navy after high school and rarely gave spiritual matters any thought at all. When my tour was over I was soon married to a girl (Debbie) with a similar background to mine…very little church…lots of the world.
One year into our marriage we were already struggling. Neither of us had the tools to build a healthy marriage. We had begun to search for some truth and peace when a friend from my Navy days came to visit. He seemed to have changed dramatically but I couldn’t put my finger on it. He spoke of a personal God and how he was experiencing Him day-to-day. He said he had come to know Jesus Christ. I had served with my friend around the world in all kinds of situations. He was in our wedding. I knew him well. The change in him was undeniable. Debbie and I trusted Christ that weekend.
He said he had come to know Jesus Christ... The change in him was undeniable.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” Debbie and I began experiencing a dramatic re-creation in our lives. Our thoughts, desires, even our language were quickly and steadily changing. Sin didn’t sit as comfortably as it used to. We wanted to be with other Christ-followers. We’d both learned Bible stories as children but now the Scriptures came alive to us. We were both hungry to learn more. People who knew us were struck by the change…some were skeptical that it would last.
One commentator writes, “In the act of regeneration, God changes the nature of the person regenerated. The same soul exists, but differently. There is now a new spiritual component. It is an altogether new taste for the loveliness of spiritual things, especially as they are taught in God’s Word and personified by God’s Son.” Our lives have literally been transformed, and the power of God continues to change us today (like an extreme makeover of the heart). When we talk with people in a relationship crisis we tell them with great confidence that there is hope. We believe God can
One year into our marriage we were already struggling. Neither of us had the tools to build a healthy marriage. We had begun to search for some truth and peace when a friend from my Navy days came to visit. He seemed to have changed dramatically but I couldn’t put my finger on it. He spoke of a personal God and how he was experiencing Him day-to-day. He said he had come to know Jesus Christ. I had served with my friend around the world in all kinds of situations. He was in our wedding. I knew him well. The change in him was undeniable. Debbie and I trusted Christ that weekend.
He said he had come to know Jesus Christ... The change in him was undeniable.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” Debbie and I began experiencing a dramatic re-creation in our lives. Our thoughts, desires, even our language were quickly and steadily changing. Sin didn’t sit as comfortably as it used to. We wanted to be with other Christ-followers. We’d both learned Bible stories as children but now the Scriptures came alive to us. We were both hungry to learn more. People who knew us were struck by the change…some were skeptical that it would last.
One commentator writes, “In the act of regeneration, God changes the nature of the person regenerated. The same soul exists, but differently. There is now a new spiritual component. It is an altogether new taste for the loveliness of spiritual things, especially as they are taught in God’s Word and personified by God’s Son.” Our lives have literally been transformed, and the power of God continues to change us today (like an extreme makeover of the heart). When we talk with people in a relationship crisis we tell them with great confidence that there is hope. We believe God can
change people. We are living proof of that.
-Dan Dather, Community Groups Pastor