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2 Corinthians 5:17 (King James Version)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
When you are born again you are made into a new Creation!
Spiritual things are very much like natural things.
Natural birth and spiritual birth are the same.
When my daughter Jalee was born into the world, its all new!
You grow in this new life in Christ as you do in this natural life in the world.
At the New Birth God changed our nature.
He changed our Spiritual Position.
Matthew 4:16 (Amplified Bible)
16 The people who sat (dwelt enveloped) in darkness have seen a great Light, and for those who sat in the land and shadow of death Light has dawned.
When you received Jesus you change your position.
You re no longer sitting in Darkness.
Think about that phrase!
People who sat in darkness.
This doesn t represent anything that sounds like fun to me.
Did you ever call a friend and ask them what they were doing, and have them respond, Nothing much, just sitting here in total darkness.
This also shows me that you re not going to be going anywhere and you re not going to be doing much if you re sitting in darkness.
Thank God he didn t leave us sitting in darkness.
He came in and brought a light with Him.
When the Light came it caused us to be changed.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (New Living Translation)
21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (New King James Version)
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
To be righteous means to be in right standing. It means to be placed into a good position. Because we are in Christ and are united to Him we are in a good position with God.
This is what it means to become the righteousness of God in Him (Christ).
The old things that have passed away is the old sinful, separated, lifeless spirit nature that was in you without Christ.
This nature is gone, disintegrated and is no more to be found.
You now have become a new nature that is righteous, full of life and united to the Holy Spirit of God.
This is the absolute truth of who you are in Christ.
You are no longer like you were before you were born again. You are brand new.
You have a new lining in your spirit. A lining that can house and absorb, contain, and hold the very power and presence of Almighty God.
Matthew 9:16-17 (Amplified Bible)
16 And no one puts a piece of cloth that has not been shrunk on an old garment, for such a patch tears away from the garment and a worse rent (tear) is made. 17 Neither is new wine put in old wineskins; for if it is, the skins burst and are torn in pieces, and the wine is spilled and the skins are ruined. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.
You have been given a new Spirit. This is your new wineskin. IN this new and Fresh wineskin is new wine.
Fresh new spirit! Not stale and room temp, but fresh out of the oven. Your Spirit is always Fresh.
2 Corinthians 4:16 (New Living Translation)
16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.
It s like God is always hitting the refresh button on the screens of our spirits!
Now that the Spirit is new. God burned into that new spirit the blueprints and plans for our life.
This is the New Wine that Our New Wine Skin Contains.
Both your new spirit and Gods new plans for your life are both preserved, guarded and kept safe in Christ.
Colossians 3:1-3 (New Living Translation)
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at Gods right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
God imprinted His plans and purposes for us in this life into our Spirits.
It s our responsibility to discover and uncover these.
So how do we get to see these new plans and begin to live these new plans that God has for our lives?
Through both God s Word and His Spirit!
1. By the ministry of His Word
Example of a developing film.
The more we read Gods Word and hear His Words the more we wash away the film that is covering the pictures.
James 1:22-25 (New King James Version)
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
We need to continually LOOK into the Mirror of Gods Word!
Behold, all things are become new.
LOOK!!!!!! You become what you behold!!!!!
The longer you look at it the more you desire it. The more you desire it the hungrier your appetite gets for it. The hungrier you get for it the quicker you move towards what you hunger for. When you reach what you hunger for you re going to eat it. And when you eat it you are what you eat!
If you re fat you eat fat. If you re healthy you eat healthy.
Your Knowledge of His Word will empower and enable you to be a partaker and partner with this new divine nature that lives within you!
2 Peter 1:3-4 (King James Version)
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
As we look into His Word lets do so with the intentions of Listening carefully to His teachings.
Proverbs 4:20-22
New Living Translation (NLT)
20Pay attention, my child, to what I say. Listen carefully. 21Don t lose sight of my words. Let them penetrate deep within your heart, 22for they bring life and radiant health to anyone who discovers their meaning.
Listening to His teachings is more than just hearing with your physical ears to the words of the Bible.
When we listen to the Eternal words of Almighty God lets not just listen to them as if they were from any mere man. These are the Words that come from the Creator of all things.
These are the powerful words of God that are full of Gods power to help you succeed in life and give you a life that is full of peace and good things.
These teachings are more than a history lesson.
I could hear the teachings of algebra all day and still not understand them.
So when an algebra problem comes I can not solve it. Why? Because I don t understand it.
The same is true with the teachings of Jesus if we don t understand what He is saying, than when the problems of Life come we will not be able to properly solve them.
It is so important for you to understand Gods will for your life and His teachings from His Word that He gave you the Holy Spirit to be your personal Teacher and Tutor.
2. The Ministry of His Holy Spirit.
John 16:12-16
The Message (MSG)
12"I still have many things to tell you, but you can't handle them now. 13But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won't draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. 14He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. 15Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I've said, "He takes from me and delivers to you.'
God wants you to understand His teachings and His purpose for you in this Life.
Ephesians 5:17
The Message (MSG)
17Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.
Ephesians 1:15-23
New Living Translation (NLT)
15Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for Christians everywhere, 16I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people.[a] 19I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. 21Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come. 22And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church. 23And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence.
This is where it is important for us to pray in the Holy Ghost!
1 Corinthians 14:2
Amplified Bible (AMP)
2For one who speaks in an [unknown] tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the [Holy] Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things [not obvious to the understanding].
Praying in the Holy Ghost does not involve your mind but it does effect your mind.
Your spirit is praying, but your mind is effected.
Praying in the Holy Spirit will cause your mind to be enlightened to Gods Purpose for your life, understand how to handle certain things and keep you full of the Spirit.
When you are full of the spirit than you will more easily hear, understand and do the teachings of Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
(Amplified Bible)
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). 18 And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.
Gods Word and His Spirit will be a guiding light to your feet and a lamp unto your path in Life!!
If you just read the word you will eventually dry up.
If you just focus on the Spirit you will blow up.
If you have an equal balance of the 2 you will grow up
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