What Does A Dead Guy Need? Free Reprint Article

NotifySnack

Christian Articles for All of your Publishing Needs!

LIKE US

Translate this Page Here

Word Count: 2089

Send Article To Friend

Print/Use Article

Contact Joseph LaValley

What Does A Dead Guy Need?

by Joseph LaValley
8/21/2015 / Christian Living

It's "Pop Quiz" time. What's the one thing a dead guy needs? This will be multiple choice- A. Vitamins B. New shoes C. A moral code to live by D. Life. God picked D. life and since He's God, He's right. Who's the dead guy we're speaking of? That would be you and me and all of humanity born into this world.

Ephesians 2:1 KJV

And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. We'll get to the "quickened" part shortly but first let's find out what it is to be "dead in trespasses and sins."

I could give you my religious view but that would be a roll of the dice; maybe right maybe wrong. We'll go back in the Bible where this first occurred and look at man and woman's original state to get an insight into what happened. God created a beautiful paradise for His man and His woman, and they themselves were made to God's specs.

Genesis 2:7 KJV

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Later God took a part from Adam and made a woman. So what constitutes a living soul? The Hebrew word for living is "choy", and the Hebrew word for soul is "nephesh". Quite simply a being with a body that has breath life is a living soul. That's how Genesis 2:7 reads. This is also why fish and land animals are called living souls. They have bodies and breathe (and yes, fish breathe by extracting oxygen through their gills).

Genesis 2:19a KJV

And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air

This would refer to their bodies.

Genesis 1:21a KJV

And God created great whales, and every living [choy] creature [nephesh] that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly

Genesis1:24 KJV

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living [choy] creature [nephesh] after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, after his kind and it was so.

We can see that animals, birds, fish all had bodies and breath life. What differentiated Adam and Eve from the animals, all the creepies and fishies?

Genesis 1:26-27 KJV

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created them.

Adam and Eve were the only living souls in the original creation that had God's image as part of their being. God the Creator is a spirit. He is Holy and He is Spirit.

John 4:24 JKV God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Psalm 99:9 KJV

Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy.

God has substance but it's Spirit. And He is the Holy one. That being the case when the creator made man and woman in His image He put His nature via spirit upon their souls. This likeness, which also connected them spiritually to God, was for their blessing as well as for carrying out the "dominion" responsibility. So here you have it, they had paradise around them and in them.

God gave them multiple blessings of which they could freely partake. There was only one "do not".

Genesis 2:17 KJV

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

They disobeyed God and chose spiritual darkness over life, they partook of that tree. This brought on all of the human races woes today. Now God doesn't lie nor does He embellish for effect. When He said "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," He meant death that day. Now here's Adam and Eve after their disobedience trying to hide from God, and they're still sucking air, they still had breath life. We know that God cannot lie, so what died on that day? They died spiritually, God's image was gone from them.

God's original plan was for Adam and Eve was to fill the earth with living souls that had God's image upon them. (Genesis1:27-28 KJV). After they disobeyed God, they lost it and received sin nature. This is the nature that was passed on to the whole human race, from Adam right on down to you and me. Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when he had Seth. The Bible tells us that the child was made in Adams image, and had Adam's fallen nature.

Genesis 5:3 KJV

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.

Just the opposite of God's original plan. (Genesis1:27-28). This is what it means to be dead in trespasses and sins. Now let's go back to the good part.

Ephesians 2:1 KJV

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

Quickened means to be made alive. When you confessed Jesus as your Lord, at that moment he also became your savior. He took our place when he died on the cross for our sins. We don't have to pay for them. That's great news, but it doesn't stop there. After he was resurrected he made multiple appearances to many people. And on a certain day he ascended into the heavens. He then was seated at his Father's right hand. Before he ascended however, he told the apostles that he would send "the promise of the Father" (Acts1:1-5 KJV).

On the day that the apostles received this wonderful gift, they told the people present that this same promise is available to all.

Acts2:38-39 KJV Then Peter said unto them, repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

God has called you, and you responded when you confessed His son Jesus as your Lord. At that moment you too were quickened, made alive, you received this gift of the Holy Ghost. God's very nature, His image was put in you. You are a new creation!

Ephesians 1:13 KJV

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: In whom also after that you believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.

I Peter 1:23 KJV Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

God has sealed His gift within you. It is a permanent and incorruptible seed. Seed has life in itself, and is made to produce fruit after its kind. The fruit of this new life is the result of the God given seed. Its fruit is energized by the resurrected and ascended Christ who is the head of this new race of people.

Ephesians 1:19-20 KJV

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places;

The force of growth life in a seed is something to behold! Even a physical seed when it's planted in soil and the necessary conditions are present, will exhibit a force that's pretty amazing. Have you ever seen a concrete sidewalk being pushed up by tree roots growing under it? How much more so is the strength of our God given seed? We as freewill agents need to give Christ something to work with. We are to respond in faith and love, not because such actions earn results but because to do otherwise is to let your flesh lead. There is no strength in your flesh. Remember, we were the dead guys who now have been given life. It's been given to us in the new birth, we need to respond.

Colossians 2:6 KJV

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.

Romans 6:4 KJV

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

We are legally identified with our Lord Jesus Christ. Since he was raised up from the dead into new life we legally have that life as seed and can walk in it. The word "newness" in Romans 6:4 is the Greek word, kainotes, a noun. Its root is the Greek adjective kainos which means new in quality, a new kind. This life we are given in Christ is a new kind. It's a life that we didn't receive in our physical birth. These are life changing truths. As Christians we aren't merely called to know what the Bible says but are called to become living epistles known and read of all men. God will do the inside work of changing you as you obey.

2 Corinthians 3:3 KJV

Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

I have two Christian friends that I've known close to thirty five years. I know their stories of growth in the Lord. They are living examples of the truths I've mentioned here. One of them lived with us (my wife and me) for about a year. He came out of the mobster scene. The whole time he lived with us, he had a 32 caliber strapped to his ankle which he didn't tell me about till years later. We ministered the word of God to him as did others in our group. He kept on keeping on and the Lord changed his hardened heart to one of great compassion for others. Also the Lord energized his ministry of healing as he boldly stepped out. I remember one day when he prayed for a girl down at the beach, a piece of bone that was missing in her foot grew back. She was elated to say the least. He didn't have some "special anointing ", he merely believed who he was in Christ and faithfully went after it. Our God looks for those in whom he can show Himself strong on their behalf.

The other guy had a background similar to mine, heroin addiction. He trusted God and God healed him. He has a constant ear to God to do and say what God would have him do. I was with him in a fellowship one time and he looked at this woman and said, "Your back is hurting you, isn't it?" When she replied "Yes" he asked if he could pray for her. She was miraculously healed. They may have backgrounds worse or better than yours, I have no idea. But that's not the point. All of us come to God as spiritually dead. His extended hand of grace has made provision through Christ. Through the spirit of God that He provides us, we can have the heart of Christ, and walk in the power of Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6-7 KJV

But God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

It's not about your ability, it's about the ability God has put within you. This is God's plan for you and me. Let's keep walking with the Lord, and most assuredly our eyes will behold the salvation of the Lord. f you'd like to hear more, I have an e-book at amazon.com -Come Walk With The Father.

My name is Joseph. I became serious about walking with the Lord back in 1972. My wife and I have been married since 1975, and have two grown daughters. We presently live in Texas. Our e-book -"Come Walk With The Father" is available at amazon.com.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! Click here and TRUST JESUS NOW