2Corinthians 5:17-18 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed. Behold, the fresh and new has come. But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself (received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself) and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation (that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him)."
In Romans 10:14 (Amplified), Paul speaks about receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior. When people hear this Word about salvation, they get faith to receive salvation and become born-again into the family of God. Thus, Verse 14 says, "But how are people to call upon Him Whom they have not believed (in Whom they have no faith, on Whom they have no reliance?) And how are they to believe in Him (adhere to, trust in, and rely upon Him) of Whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?"
What we have been preaching is producing results and faith has been forthcoming. It wasn't that we weren't preaching before, but what we were isn't all that salvation includes. Faith has been coming to those who are hearing, but the faith hasn't been according to the new creation people. We've been preaching the Law, which doesn't apply to the new creation. We've been preaching that "God uses sickness and hardship to teach and deal with His children." Faith is coming by what we are hearing, but it's faith in the wrong things.
No one needs to go to God's Word, in order to find out how to be sick, broke, oppressed, divorced or a failure. One only needs to live the same way he did under the the old creation and accept all the things the world wants to bring on us.
We've come to a place where we seemingly need to apologize, for preaching that "God isn't your problem...He is your answer." Many frown upon our preaching the Blessing, instead of embracing it. And, many are left feeling like they should repent for telling people that "God's Word is true." We've tried living the new creation life, under the same standards of religion we had before knowing about the new creation.
Paul says in Roans 10:9 (Amplified), "Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, rely on the Truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." This is not the only part of the Word that is true to the believer. Romans 1:17 (Amplified) is another scripture that we have to hear, in order to believe. It says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith), As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
The last scripture above, is just as true as the salvation scripture. We don't hear a lot of preaching on being made righteous in Him, only about our going to Heaven by Him. We've taught more about the weaknesses of the men in scripture, instead of the victories of men in scripture. By our carnal minds, we have identified more with the natural man and his religious ideas, instead of the Truth of our new creation identity.
Why would we ever feel the need to apologize for saying that "Jesus is still a Healer" or that "Blessing still works?" Simply because these parts of this new creation inheritance are not working for the believer, doesn't mean that they aren't true. It just means they're not being preached. If "faith comes by hearing," then how will we ever have faith to lay hands on the sick, stand on the Blessing, cast out devils, or do the things we are called to do, without a preacher?
We've had faith in what we've been hearing, but we haven't been hearing the Truth of the new creation. If we are preaching salvation and it's working, then if we preached the rest of God's Word, won't that work too? If faith comes by hearing, then what is being preached is where our faith begins and ends.
If speaking in tongues and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit isn't being preached, then how can the people have faith for it, in their lives? I've heard more preaching against these things, than I've heard preached for them. We find the same thing occurring through the Word, concerning this principle. Numbers 13:32-33 (Amplified) says, "So they brought the Israelites and evil report of the Land which they scouted out, saying, the Land through which we went to spy it out is a Land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the Nephilium (or giants) the sons of Anak, who comes from the giants, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."
Faith comes from what they heard preached and faith for fear and failure came from the preacher, not from God. What we preach brings faith to those who hear and we're responsible for preaching the new creation, instead of the failure of the old man. We're to preach about the victory we received from the Last Adam (Jesus), and not the failure of the first Adam. We don't live in the past, but always in Christ Jesus.
If we preach what we think, instead of what the Word says, then God calls that "an evil report." This might be popular, might be accepted, might be what you want to believe and might even be what you see (like the giants above), but it's not what God said and is therefore, "an evil report." It takes time to teach people how to walk in this new creation and not all of them will like what you say, but without preaching it, we remain in the Wilderness (like the Israelites did) and like we were before being born-again.
Just because we teach healing, doesn't mean that everyone will believe it (anymore than if we preach salvation, everyone will be saved). If we don't plant or sow the Seed, then we will not get a harvest, according to Hebrews 4:11 (Amplified) which says, "Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest (of God, to know and experience it for ourselves) that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience (into which those in the wilderness fell)."
Only a few of the Israelites believed the good report that Joshua and Caleb preached, because it took faith to look past the giants and see the victory. Nearly all of the large congregation (the Israelites) stayed in the Wilderness where they felt safe and they died there. They still belonged to God and He continued to care for them, even though they remained in the Wilderness. God took care of them for forty more years in the Wilderness, until they died off. The Promise of God's Word still came to those who would believe what God, Joshua and Caleb preached. Just because some don't believe it, doesn't mean we shouldn't preach it. Their faith will never rise higher than the Word they hear.
God's Word says we're new creation. We weren't only created new, but we have the capacity to believe and walk in things the world cannot believe. We've been blessed with the Blessing of Abraham, whether or not we ever have faith to believe it. Only what we put faith in, is manifested in our lives. And, we only have faith in, what is preached. The Word says, "How will they hear without a preacher?" and how will they have a preacher, "unless he is sent?" Jesus was sent to preach the things He preached and we were likewise, sent to preach what He preached.
Of course, preaching the new birth is the foundation of the Gospel, but bringing the new birth into the maturity of the new creation should be what we preach too, because "Faith comes by hearing." We will never mature beyond what we hear. We much preach salvation and then preach about growing in this new creation.
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