The Word of the Year

1.7.2024

Introduction

Matthew 7:24-27 (NLT)

Building on a Solid Foundation

Notice in this passage that rain, floodwaters, and wind are metaphors used by Jesus to describe the tests and challenges of life.

Likewise, solid rock is analogous of a person who put God’s Word into practice, and sand is analogous of a person who does not put the Word of God into practice

Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.

A few weeks ago I was sitting in my office talking to some of our staff team, and God gave me the word for this year:

Foundations:

1. The basis or groundwork of anything: the moral foundation of both society and religion.

2. The natural or prepared ground or base on which some structure rests.

3. The lowest division of a building, wall, or the like, usually of masonry and partly or wholly below the surface of the ground.

Synonyms:

ABCs, authority, base, basics, bed, bedrock, bottom, bottom line, brass tacks, foot, footing, ground, groundwork, guts, heart, infrastructure, justification, nitty-gritty, nub, nuts and bolts, prop, reason, root, stay, substratum, substructure, support, underpinning, understructure.

We must pay attention to the foundations of life this year!

Psalms 11:3 (NKJV)

If the foundations are destroyed,

what can the righteous do?

All around us, there is an assault against the very foundations of living – Spirituality, financially, sexually, family, morals, manhood, womanhood, marriage, values, and anything I failed to mention!

This year, I will be referring to the foundations over and over again.

What should be the major foundation for your life?

See yourself as a spiritual being living in a physical world.

This changes the entire focus of life!

We are spirit beings made in the image of God.

John 4:24 (NKJV)

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Genesis 1:26-27 (NKJV)

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Notice the references to our being a spirit:

Conscience and intuition are from you spirit nature.

Job 32:8 -NLT

But there is a spirit within people, the breath of the Almighty within them, that makes them intelligent.

 

Proverbs 20:27 – NKJV

The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NKJV)

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

 

Romans 8:16 -NKJV

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Romans 1:9 -NKJV

For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,

Philippians 3:3 -NKJV

For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV)

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 3:3-4 (NKJV)

Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

2 Corinthians 4:16 (NKJV)

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

2 Corinthians 4:16 (NLT)

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.

2 Corinthians 4:16 – Berkeley

For this reason we are not discouraged, but even though our outer nature suffers decay, our inner self is renewed day after day.

Satan’s goal is to get you to focus on physical and mental things. God wants your focus to be on the spiritual side of things first!

Notice Jesus’ emphasis:

Matthew 4:3-4 (NKJV)

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

John 6:63 (NKJV)

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

John 8:31-32 (NLT)

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Some Quotes:

A.B. Simpson

All physical strength is spiritual in cause.

Smith Wigglesworth

I am 10,000 times bigger on the inside than I am on the outside.

Smith Wigglesworth

Pay attention to life’s inflow, outward service will dwindle if inward energies are not renewed.

F.F. Bosworth

Most Christians feed their bodies three hot meals a day and their spirits one cold snack a week!

The person that is transformed when Jesus comes into your life is your spirit nature – the part of you that is eternal.

John 3:3-8 (NKJV)

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:3-8 (NLT)

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” 5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

Quote from A. J. Gordon

The New Birth is not a change of nature as it is sometimes defined; it is rather the communication of the Divine nature. “Except a man be born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ‘Born from above’ and very true to fact is this saying. Regeneration is not our natural life carried up to its highest point of attainment, but the Divine life brought down to its lowest point of condescension, even to the heart of fallen man. – It has been the constant dream and delusion of men that they could rise to heaven by development and improvement of their natural life. Jesus by one stroke of revelation destroys this hope, telling His believers that unless he has been begotten of God who is above as truly as he has been begotten of his father on earth, that he cannot see the kingdom of God.

From The Father and His Family by E.W. Kenyon (Lynnwood, Washington: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society:1998 – 23rd printing), p. 146.

2 Corinthians 5:17 -NKJV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – Wuest

So that, assuming that anyone is in Christ, he is a creation new in quality. -The antiquated, out-of-date things [which do not belong to the new life in Christ Jesus] have passed away. Behold, all things have become new in quality.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – TLB

When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!

This year, pay attention first of all to the person on the inside. That is who you really are!

Malachi 2:16 (AMP)

For the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I hate divorce and marital separation and him who covers his garment [his wife] with violence. Therefore keep a watch upon your spirit [that it may be controlled by My Spirit], that you deal not treacherously and faithlessly [with your marriage mate].

Proverbs 4: 23 NKJV

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23 – NLT

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Proverbs 4:23 – God’s Word Translation

Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it.

Proverbs 4:23 – Amplified

Keep your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life

Proverbs 4:23 – Berkeley

Above all that you guard, watch over your heart, for out of it are the sources of life.

Proverbs 4:23 Moffat

Guard above all things, guard your inner self, for so you live and prosper.

Proverbs 4:23 – Message

Keep a vigilant watch over your heart, that’s where life starts.

Just before we go, I am giving you something to use as a constant reminder of who you really are

God has given you white stone!

Revelation 2:17 (NKJV)

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.

Rick Renner’s commentary on Revelation 2:17:

— Sparkling Gems from the Greek Vol. 2: 365 New Gems To Equip And Empower You For Victory Every Day Of The Year by Rick Renner

https://a.co/6HMxWer

When a Roman trial concluded, and it was time for a panel of judges to vote for the defendant’s innocence or guilt, the judges registered their votes by casting a black or white stone into an urn. A black stone symbolized a vote for guilt, and a white stone denoted a vote for innocence. When all the votes had been cast, the stones were emptied from the urn and counted one by one. If there were more black stones, it meant the judges had found the defendant guilty; if there were more white stones, it meant they had found the individual to be not guilty. Therefore, when Christ offered “a stone, a white one” to overcomers—placing a definite emphasis on the word white—it meant: “I have reviewed all the evidence, and I have judged you not guilty!” Jesus’ message to that church, and to us today, was that regardless of who they had been or what they had done before they came to Christ, what mattered now was who they had become in Christ. Viewing them in light of His blood, Jesus had cast “a stone, a white one” in their direction, affirming their full acquittal and complete release from their past sinful lives and memories. Therefore, when the devil—or any person, for that matter—tries to throw a stone of judgment against us by mentally tormenting us about past actions we’ve already been forgiven for, we may boldly answer, “Christ has already cast His vote. He has found me NOT GUILTY!” Regardless of any actions we may have committed in the past, Jesus’ blood has purged our conscience from dead works to serve the living God (see Hebrews 9: 14). There was another way the ancient Greeks also used white and black stones for vote-casting. One of the greatest privileges in Greek society was to vote about civic issues in a public election. In these elections, people used white and black stones to cast their votes, similar to the way such stones were used in legal trials. Votes were customarily registered by casting a black or white pebble into large vases that were set up throughout the city at designated locations. When the time for voting had concluded, the pebbles were separated into white and black piles and then counted. A white stone represented a person voting in favor of some issue, whereas a black stone represented a person was voting against it. Thus, when Christ promised “a stone, a white one” to the believers who overcame, He was not only announcing freedom, forgiveness, and acquittal from a past sinful life, but He was also telling them: “My vote is for you. I am putting My full support behind you.” How powerful this is when we realize what the “white stone” means in Revelation 2:17. It declares that Christ has found us not guilty and that He is putting His full support behind you and me. Christ is voting for us!”

Action Points:

1. Keep the White rock with you! Every time to see it throughout the day, let it remind you that you are an eternal person made in God’s image! Let it remind you that you are fully, completely forgiven of all your past misdeeds.

2. Let the white rock remind you that Jesus is FOR you and not AGAINST you!

3. Listen throughout your day to your conscience, the voice of your human spirit. Remember that with the new birth God gives you a new nature. Keep your conscience at the forefront of every choice and decision you make this year.