What a blessing to be in a church family that everybody knows each other. And we can have such warm and wise words of blessing to one of our own. Thank you.
I will save mine for when we drop them off at Berkeley. I want to introduce the video. This is. We were in Ensenada, Mexico. We built a home from the foundation. Day one. By day four, the house was built. I hope someday all of us can go. I hope all of us can go. The fourth day, it’s a montage of three churches.
So, two from Canada, Canaan Church, and Hill Community. We joined together, so we built three homes in total. Our family is the largest family. So when you look at the pictures, Alfonso and Adriana are the parents. Seven children. You can tell right away which house we built.
It was a very moving final day. We had a chapel time, morning and evening. We just showed up.
Somebody else preached on the Yugo team, and this last song, it was. We were watching the video. I’m no longer a slave for fear. And toward the end, the video ended. Then the live band, just the drums, picked up the song seamlessly. It was like we all wanted to give our life to Jesus in that moment. It’s incredible.
I hope. I hope all of us can attend someday. It really was a special time. Really was special. I’m going to read the key verse for us on the mission trip. The theme was renovation.
God wants to build a house, but that’s just a metaphor for what God is doing on the inside.
So, 2 Corinthians 5:17.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, we avail ourselves to you. We ask for wisdom to understand the greatness of salvation. What began that first moment when we believed in Jesus?
We don’t fully get it at times, but, Lord, I pray today you start unpacking the amazing transformation that started, that we are to work out for all of our days, our own salvation with fear and trembling. Thank you, Lord. We pray that you administer amongst us as we listen to your voice. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
I want to talk about new creation today, but first I want to address something that I hear quite a bit among Christians, especially when a Christian falls into sin or a pastor is part of some scandal.
What I hear a lot is, isn’t everybody the same? Aren’t we all the same? Every church is the same. All have problems, all have scandals. We’re all the same.
What they mean is we all lie, we all cheat, we all have skeletons in the closet, and while there’s a grain of truth there, we are all sinners in need of a savior. There’s something I want to correct in that sentiment.
What usually follows that line of we’re all the same is therefore, let’s not judge each other. Are we all the same?
I just want you to pause and think about that for a second. Are we all the same? Just sinners through and through, all going to sin till the day we die, in the same frequency, the same sins over and over.
But thank God there’s heaven for me. Forgiveness is available. Is that true? Are we all the same in that sense?
From my experience as a Christian, and counseling people, I’ve come to realize we’re not all the same.
We’re not all the same in terms of sinning. The act of perpetual sin, we’re not all the same. Some sin a lot all the time and fall in spectacular ways. Others who are in Christ and remain close to Christ, they sin less and less and less over time to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 5:9.
9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (2 Corinthians 5:9-10, ESV)
This is not the judgment of hell versus heaven. This is a believer’s judgment before Christ and God our Father, the one judge, and what we have done in the body. It matters how we live. Does it affect the reward? We don’t know exactly, but how we live.
It seems like it matters to the Lord. He will evaluate what we’ve done in the body, good or bad. Some Christians aim high, and their aim is to please God. And if you aim high, likely you’re going to be receiving some different kind of reward because you think, well, it matters how I live.
Some people in the church will aim very low. I’m a sinner. What I do is sin. I’m going to keep on sinning. They aim low, the standards brought so low. And are they trying to please God? I’m not sure.
And they just say, well, thank God there’s the cross of Christ and the blood of Jesus, and I will make it, barely. But their goal doesn’t seem to be, I want to please him.
2 Corinthians 5:17.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)
Do you believe this, that when you met Jesus, the old you is passed away? Is passing away? Or do you believe if anyone’s in Christ, he’s a somewhat modified version of yourself? The old really hasn’t passed away.
The new really hasn’t come. Maybe it will come 50 years later, when I’m in heaven. Maybe I will see the new thing that’s promised to me. Maybe I’ll see it much, much later. It doesn’t appear to be here.
What do you believe? Do you believe God’s word that the new is gone, is passing away, has passed, and the new is coming out more and more and more for those who are in Christ?
Paul planted this church in Corinth. He’s a founding pastor. He’s also a church planter and a missionary.
So he planted the church at Corinth. He moved on to another city. And while he was away, other leaders either came in or rose up from among the congregation, and they started accusing Paul of being a lower apostle, possibly even a false apostle.
Paul hears this, he’s horrified. He writes two very stern letters. We read them in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. And he’s trying to reclaim the church, not for himself. He’s trying to reclaim them for God.
And in so doing, he calls out the leaders who are accusing him of being a false leader. He turns the tables and says, no, you are the false leader and a false apostle.
That’s the dilemma that the Corinthians find themselves in, and they’re faced with a choice. Who do we believe? Do we believe Paul? Or do we believe the person who’s standing in front of us right now?
And so they’re forced to make a judgment call. Is Paul true? Is Paul false? The person I’m listening to currently, is he true or is he false?
2 Corinthians 5:11.
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. (2 Corinthians 5:11-12, ESV)
So Paul is contrasting himself with the current leaders of the Corinthian church. He says, I am appealing to your conscience. You know what’s right, Corinthians.
You know he’s appealing to their conscience, and he’s contrasting himself with the current leaders who are boasting about outward appearances but ignoring the heart. That’s a mark of a false teacher. They always brag. They’re always talking about what they did. They’re always gathering attention for themselves. It’s something of appearance, nothing to do with the heart.
And Paul says, I’m different. I’m appealing to your conscience. You know what’s right. You know who is true.
2 Corinthians 2:17.
17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:17, ESV)
So again, Paul is comparing and contrasting himself with the current leadership. He says, I am commissioned by God. I’m a sincere man. I’m not a person of appearances. But the people who are currently leading you, they just want money.
How did Paul know this? Did he hear a report about their greed? Or as we read in 1 Corinthians 12, one of the gifts of the Spirit is a word of knowledge.
God could have told him, as he spoke to prophets in the past, about the sins of the people. And so he knew the motive behind these leaders at Corinth. While he’s writing this letter, these people just want the money.
2 Corinthians 6:3.
3 We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, (2 Corinthians 6:3, ESV)
So Paul is talking about him and the other apostles, but as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way.
And now I will read, how does Paul prove that he’s a true apostle?
4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. (2 Corinthians 6:4-10, ESV)
The leaders at the Corinthian church had their version of commendation, their evidence for why they should be listened to. And Paul says, here’s my resume. Look at my suffering. Look at the fact that I’m poor. But am I really poor? No. I make everybody around me spiritually rich. I have nothing, and yet I have everything. That’s Paul’s commendation, his proof that he is a true apostle.
Second Corinthians 11:1.
1 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. 5 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. 6 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. (2 Corinthians 11:1-6, ESV)
So you see what is at stake. Paul is not saying we are all the same. No, he is saying we are different. I gave you the true gospel. It might not have been packaged in a certain fancy way. He says, I am not skilled in preaching. But you know the real thing.
When you saw it, and you believed in the Jesus that I offered to you, you received the true gospel. And now these super apostles, it sounds similar. And yet he’s saying, if you listen to them, you’re following a different spirit, a different gospel, a different Jesus.
So this situation for the Corinthian, they have to make a judgment call. Who do we listen to? We’re not all the same. Who do we listen to? You might say, doesn’t it say in Matthew 7, don’t judge?
So I want to read that and clarify what it means to not judge.
Matthew 7:1.
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. (Matthew 7:1-6, ESV)
Unfortunately, there’s a great limitation in the English language. Like we see, do not judge. And we only have one concept of what it means to judge. But if you study the Hebrew for the Old Testament or the Greek for the New Testament, there are many nuances of meaning.
And so, Jesus is saying, in the final judgment, there’s only one judge. Don’t judge like that. Don’t condemn someone to hell. Only God can do that. There’s only one judge. He’s saying, don’t judge people finally and condemn them. Only I can do that.
But there’s a secondary meaning for a judge, which is to assess, to discern, to evaluate. That we must do all the time. All the time. And he’s saying to these Pharisees, he’s saying, you’re hypocrites, and a hypocrite is an actor.
The Pharisees are playing the part of a spiritual leader, but they don’t have the sincerity to really do what they’re preaching. And so they just put a lot of heavy burdens on people and say, you do these things, I’m above you.
A hypocrite is just playing the part. But when they go home, they don’t do anything that they preach. That’s a hypocrite.
So if you meet a pastor, you have to interview their spouse, you have to interview their kids. How are they other than Sunday? That’s how you get to know a preacher.
And he’s saying to the Pharisees, you have a big beam out of your eye. You might be assessing something, correct? In your brother’s eye, a little speck. But first, deal with the beam, the blindness, and then try to help your brother.
And that takes discernment, like seeing a speck in someone’s eye, that takes a judgment. And whether you should go to that person or not is also a judgment call. Are they going to turn on you like a dog and attack you? Are they going to be like a pig trampling on pearls?
He’s saying that also is a judgment. Should you speak? You see something, should you speak? Is it God’s time? Is He giving a green light to speak? All of these things are a judgment call.
Matthew 7:15.
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:15, ESV)
You will recognize them by their fruits. A fruit takes time to blossom if you have a tree or a plant, but eventually you see the fruit. And Jesus’ point is, if you’re with somebody long enough, you can tell their fruit.
And if it’s a bad tree with bad fruit, get away from that person. If it’s a good tree, over time you see good fruit, maybe not perfect, but you see there’s a goodness there, then you can stay with that person.
Jesus expects us to evaluate people, especially those preaching in leadership. Are they a good tree, a bad tree? You judge them by their fruits.
1 Corinthians 5. There’s a church member at the church at Corinth who was committing a sinful act with his father’s wife, presumably his stepmother. And the Corinthians are just okay with it.
They’re not calling this person out. They’re tolerating it for whatever reason. And Paul is calling out this person. He’s judging this person, saying, you must repent. You must repent.
So as Christians, we love the sinner, but we hate the sin. And you see the sin that’s destroying the person you love, you call it out, and hopefully that person has the Holy Spirit in them. They repent. And then you’ve won your brother, your sister back.
James 5:16.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:16-20, ESV)
See here, there’s a distinction. We’re not all the same. There are people who are righteous, those of us who are unrighteous, and the righteous person, their prayers are effective. It can bring back a sinner who is stuck in their sin.
And we might put people like Elijah on a pedestal. And James is saying, no, he’s just like us. If you’re a righteous person, man or woman, or child, and you pray, there’s an effect that you will see. Elijah prayed. No rain. He prayed again. The rain came. There’s an effect.
If you’re a righteous person, as distinguished from an unrighteous person, you pray. And that prayer does something. And the biggest thing we do is we call sinners to repentance. That covers over a multitude of their sins and possible death and separation from God eternally.
1 John 4:1.
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1, ESV)
There are many false prophets. In Paul’s day, 2000 years later, how much worse is our situation?
How many more false teachers could there be in our world today compared to Paul? And he says it’s a commandment with the Holy Spirit in us. With divine help, we must discern the Spirit that’s behind the person. Is it the Holy Spirit? Is it from God? Is it from an evil, unclean spirit? We need to test it, discern it, judge, and then make a judgment call.
2 John 1:8.
8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. (2 John 1:8-11, ESV)
Are we all the same? Or are we supposed to distinguish people who are not teaching what the apostles taught? Apostles taught what Christ taught and especially the red letters in the gospel.
You really want to master Jesus’ teaching, the teaching of Christ? The teaching about Christ. You really want to master this? Then when a false teaching is taught to you, you will be able to tell because you’ve mastered the teaching of Christ.
Many people depart from this because they think this is so boring, so outdated. I need to make it interesting. I need to bring in all these other current events. No, we center on the teaching of Christ. That is the best way for us to stay on a narrow way.
Paul, in 1 Timothy 1:15, calls himself the chief sinner. Is it because Paul was sinning all the time? Is that why he is the primary top sinner? Does anybody believe that? Do we believe Paul actually had skeletons in the closet? Do we believe he had hidden addictions as an apostle who planted all these churches? Or did he really experience the old passing away and the newness of Christ, the new creation, coming upon his life.
And then he’s preaching. I think he says he is the chief sinner because 1 Corinthians 15:9, he says…
9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain… (1 Corinthians 15:9-10, ESV)
He’s saying he’s a chief sinner because before he met Christ, he murdered, rounded up Christians, tortured them, and that past haunts him. As a born again Christian, he hasn’t forgotten where he came from.
And he says, the grace of God was poured into my life. I know I’m a sinner. I used to terrorize the church. I enjoyed it, seeing Christians suffer.
And then from Saul of Tarsus to Paul the apostle, he was born again. And now he’s saying, it’s like I’m embarrassed to call myself an apostle. I am the least because of where I came from. But the grace of God came into his life. It had a tremendous effect. The grace of God was not in vain.
What about us?
We have the same grace, the same new creation that’s available, the old that passes away, the new that comes. Is the grace of God poured into our lives through Christ? Is it in vain or is it having an effect?
So if you are in Corinth, whose side are you on? They have to make a judgment call. On one side, you have Paul. He’s poor, he’s a former pastor. He writes well, impressive letters, but in person, he’s not so impressive. He doesn’t speak so well.
Track record in ministry is not big churches, but a lot of suffering. He doesn’t have any money. He’s poor.
You compare that with the super apostles. They speak well. They have clever ideas, they have money, they’re slick. They even have spiritual gifts. We read about that.
This church at Corinth fractured because they were fighting about whose gift, whose leader is more gifted in the church. Many things that they could brag about.
If you were in Corinth, who would you choose? Whose side would you be on?
If you lived in Jesus’ day, whose side would you be on? Would you be on the Pharisee side? They have all the money. They have all the huge synagogues, crowds flocking in.
And then you have a carpenter. This rabbi, untrained, just twelve people when he left, ascended to heaven, 120. That’s all he accomplished before the church was birthed. Whose side would you be on? Would you follow Jesus?
If you’re alive in this time and a bunch of fishermen, would you follow him? Whose side are you on? It’s a judgment call.
You need to make that judgment. It’s not easy, but Jesus says you can tell. You know a tree by its fruit. Just watch the person long enough. You can tell, are they the real deal? Did God send that person to me, or should I look the other way?
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)
I want to end with three signs of new creation.
First is a change in perspective. It says in 2 Corinthians 5:7.
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7, ESV)
If you live by sight, you’ll either be proud because things are going well on the surface, appearance wise, or you’ll be discouraged because it seems like nothing is happening or it’s bad circumstances. If you live by sight, then it’s one of the two extremes, like a big church. Don’t we assume God must be blessing the church because it’s big? Small church? God must be abandoning that small church. We feel sorry for the small church. Maybe it’s true. Maybe it’s completely the opposite. We can’t tell by the appearances. That’s God’s point here.
2 Corinthians 5:16.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. (2 Corinthians 5:16, ESV)
As Christians, this new creation, our eyes change. We have a new vision, a new perspective. We don’t evaluate life based on what we see. We don’t live by sight. We live by faith.
And God might be so pleased with Jesus and twelve others, more than thousands in the synagogue.
Jesus might be more pleased with a handful of followers who really love Jesus than a lot of people who are there for the programs. We really can’t tell. But we live by faith. As long as we are hearing from the Lord, we trust the Lord.
We give him thanks. Whatever we see with our eyes, we give him thanks. We give him thanks. God must know what he’s doing. We give him thanks. If it’s time to move, we’ll move. If it’s time to stay put, we’ll stay put. We’re not doing it for man.
We’re doing it for the commendation from God. And so we live by faith. It’s not by what we see. That is a sign of a new creature, a new creation, a new perspective.
Not only that, we look at other people differently. There’s no two people who are the same in life. We look differently. We have different family, we have different abilities. No two different people are the same. We’re all different. And yet we don’t judge based on appearances. If you believe in Jesus, you’re my brother, you’re my sister, you’re a child of God.
I look at you just because we have more resources. Do we look at Mexico, brothers and sisters, as lower than us, or we have something to offer? No, we don’t judge on appearances. They are my brother. We’re glad to share resources with them because we’re all part of God’s family, the one church, after all.
We don’t regard people according to the flesh, appearances, background, if they believe in Jesus. You are my brother, sister. you’re a child of God. As new creation, we walk by faith, not by sight.
A second sign of the new creation is a change in our passions.
2 Corinthians 5:1.
1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:1-8, ESV)
A sign of the new creation is a change of our passions. We really, really desire Jesus. And so the ones who are the best at ministry actually don’t want to do ministry if they had a choice.
It’s like Paul, who says…
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21, ESV)
I’d rather be up there with you, Lord, fully, because I desire you. My passion is for you.
The people who are the least effective or helpful in ministry is they only talk about ministry. They love ministry. They have a lot of plans, a lot of goals.
They have a five-year vision, ten-year vision. They talk about legacy. They’re all talking about this earth. They never talk about heaven. They never talk about, well, I’m so happy. If the Lord calls me tomorrow, I’ll be fully with the Lord.
That’s somebody whose passion has changed. It’s a new creation that has come. Like Jesus, we have him in part. We don’t see him fully. We don’t see him visibly, but you know him and your heart is for him. And so if he’s a love of your life, then you want him fully.
Like if you’re dating for marriage, you can’t wait for the wedding day because you just want to be with your spouse to be. And that’s the Christian’s heart. Our passion is for Jesus, and we love him. So, of course, we want to be with him as soon as we can. If he calls me tomorrow, I’m happy. That is a sign of a new creation.
People who don’t have that just talk about church ministry, all their plans, legacy.
Thirdly, a sign of a new creation is a change in purpose.
2 Corinthians 5:17.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21, ESV)
We have a new purpose as part of the new creation, and that is to be a minister of reconciliation. Whether you have the full title of a minister or not, we’re all ministers. And so wherever you are, you are there to reconcile people to God.
God chose to invite us and he uses us. Why doesn’t he just do it directly through a dream and vision?
He can, but for the most part, he chooses to work through flawed people like us.
And wherever you are, are you there at Berkeley, Santa Barbara, just to get a degree? Are you at your workplace just to earn money? No, you’re there to be a minister of reconciliation.
At the very least, I want to encourage all of us. Just think about five people, five people in your family, five people in your neighborhood, five people in your school, five people in your workplace. Think about them and start praying for them to be reconciled to God.
And when God tells you the time is now and the green light is given, then speak. If you do at the wrong time, then you’re giving pearls to swine. They may trample you like a dog. They may turn and attack you.
You don’t want to do it at the wrong time. You don’t want to offend or shove the gospel down someone’s throat, but start praying for people around you to be reconciled. I believe that’s why we’re in Bellflower. That’s why Jeremiah is going to Berkeley, Santa Barbara. That’s why we’re in Torrance.
That’s why wherever you are working, you’re there not to just earn a check, earn a degree. you’re there to start praying for reconciliation.
Pray for five people, and when God gives you a green light, share a word about Jesus and say you can be reconciled to God through Jesus. We’re all ministers of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:17.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)
The key phrase in this verse is in Christ.
If you meet Jesus once, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in Christ. You might be saved, but you might keep sinning over and over and over because you just met him once many years ago, and you think it’s in a bag. I don’t have to meet him again, but it’s a different mindset.
If you say, I am trying to please God, that is my aim. And so I want to be close to Jesus. I want to be in Christ. That is the key to becoming and growing into the new creation. The old will pass away.
You cannot fellowship with Jesus every day of your life, moment by moment, and grow closer to him without the old being pushed out and the new life that Christ has available to us coming in.
The key is you stay close to Jesus in Christ. In Christ. Don’t just meet him once, twice, ten times. Meet him every day.
We come here. We gather every Sunday. It’s my prayer that we would meet the Lord Jesus.
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, thank you for teaching us about the greatness of salvation, something that we’re supposed to work out individually with fear and trembling until we see you.
Thank you that there is an offer that those of us who are in Christ, who belong to Christ, who have faith in Christ, who stay close to Christ, who abide in Christ, there’s a promise that the old will pass away. We’ll see the fruit of this new life in Christ.
Father, forgive us for having worldly perspective, living by sight, wrong perspective, wrong vision, wrong values, wrong passions, wrong purpose.
Thank you. That we see. There’s a new perspective, a new passion, a new purpose. Pray, Lord Jesus, that you would meet us as we partake in the Lord’s Supper.
Thank you for your body that was broken for us and your blood shed. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
