Developing the New Creation Lesson 38

      1Peter2:2(Amp) says, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst after, earnestly desire), the pure unadulterated Spiritual milk (milk of the Word) that by it you may grow unto completed salvation."

     Rom.10:17(KJV) says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."  The Amplified Bible says, "So faith comes by hearing what is told, and what is heard comes by the preaching of the Message that came from the lips of Christ (the Messiah)

     There's a difference between hearing and just listening.  We can listen to what someone says, but still not hear the truth of what is being said.  Hearing what the Word is saying to us today, takes more than listening.  Someone among a crowd hearing the Word being preached, might hear what is being said, but might not "hear" the depth of the Words and think they're just noise.  Your mind might be on something else and you don't hear the Truth of the Message.

     Jesus spoke about this in Mark4:23(Amp), saying, "If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend."  Everyone Jesus spoke to in the crowd had  physical ears to hear, but not all of them heard what He said.  They were listening, but still didn't hear.  In Matt.13:13(Amp) Jesus explained what hearing means in His "Parable of the Sower," saying, "This is the reason that I speak to them in Parables; because having the power of seeing, the do not see; and having the power of hearing, they do not hear, nor do they grasp and understand."

     Jesus said in Matt.13:12(Amp), "For whoever has Spiritual knowledge, to him will more be given, and he will be furnished richly so that he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."  Remember what He said in John10:10(Amp), "The thief comes only in order to steal and to kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy Life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."

     Some in the crowd were listening to what Jesus said, but didn't hear by the spirit man/woman and believed what He said were just words.  Jesus summed up the lesson of His Parable in Mark4:24(Amp), saying,, "Be careful what you are hearing. The measure of thought and study you give to the Truth you hear, will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you-and more besides will be given to you who hear."

     Mark5:26-27,32(Amp) tells us, "And there was a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years and who had endured much suffering under the hands of many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was no better but instead grew worse. She had heard the reports concerning Jesus and she came up behind Him in the throng and touched His garment. Verse 32 says, "Jesus said to her, Daughter, your faith, your trust and confidence in Me, spring from faith in God, has restored you to health. Go in peace and be continually healed and freed from your distressing bodily disease."  Jesus was the most popular Man in all the Land and we find many stories about things He did in the scriptures.  Many people listened to these stories and remained untouched by them, but the woman with the issue of blood heard about Jesus and applied faith to what she heard.  Rom.10:17(Amp) says, "Faith comes by hearing."  Jesus instructed those around Him, "Be careful what you are hearing, the measure of thought and study you give to the Truth you hear will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you."

     The difference between listening and hearing, according to Jesus, is that hearing ignites faith.  I've heard some say, "Ive already heard that message," but Jesus tells us that if they "heard it," then they would be walking in what they heard.  They might have been listening, but still weren't hearing.  I proved this when as an elementary student, I listened to my teacher explain a math problem, but couldn't work it out.  I didn't hear what my teacher said and couldn't solve the problem she had given.

     We're always listening, but might not be hearing, even in church.  We've become so familiar to the message, that we no longer hear.  Jesus tells us the results of doing this in Mark4:20(Amp), saying, "And those Seeds (Words) sown on the good soil (well adapted soil), are the ones who hear the Word and receive and accept and welcome it and bear fruit-some thirty times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some even a hundred times as much." 

     Hearing the Word and accepting it, brings forth such faith as the woman with the issue of blood had.  Hearing produces the Power of God's Word in our lives.  We can all listen to a message being preached, but not everyone will hear it.  Hearing plants the Seeds of the Word, into the very spirit of the new creation man/woman and will bring forth fruit.  Pay special attention to what Jesus tells us about what results from just listening to the Word without hearing, in Mark4:4(Amp) saying, "Behold, a sower went out to sow And as he was sowing, some Seed fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up."  The people He spoke about listened to the Word, but didn't hear or put faith in the Seed of the Word, so it didn't produce in their lives.  It's hearing the Seed that determines the outcome.  We must have good soil, in order to make the Seed germinate in our lives.  It comes from hearing, according to Rom.10:17(Amp), which says, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God."    

Developing the New Creation Lesson 37

      1Peter2:2(Amp) says, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire), the pure unadulterated Spiritual milk (the milk of God's Word), that by it you may be nurtured and grow up unto completed salvation."  God's Word is the means by which we grow.  This is an individual thing and is the responsibility of every believer.  Our pastor's job is to feed us, but after awhile, we must learn to feed ourselves, along with hearing the Word from our pastor on Sunday.  We wouldn't feed our natural man/woman only on Sundays and expect him/her to grow, so why would we only feed our new creation man/woman only once a week?  Our newborn spirit requires food, in order to grow and mature.

     We develop faith and trust in God's Word, as we study it and that leads to maturing unto completed salvation.  In Heb.8:12(Amp), for example, says that, "Your sins and iniquities I remember no more."  We try believing this, but our natural man/woman tries to put us under condemnation over who we used to be.  The more we read and feed our new creation person, the more we begin overcoming the condemnation and walking in the Liberty of God's Truth.  Many Christians today, still walk under the guilt and condemnation of who they once were and don't enjoy their life of Liberty in Christ Jesus.

     When I was first saved, I bought the entire Bible on cassette tapes and listened to them while I slept and as much as possible when I was awake.  It became a habit and I found it difficult to sleep without hearing the Word played.  As a result of feeding my spirit on God's Word this much, I began trusting God in areas that I never could have before, because my spirit was growing stronger on a daily basis.  I didn't even realize that it was happening.  Today, I still spend as much time in God's Word as possible, to keep my spirit strong in the Lord and the Power of His Might.

     Some view this as being "over the top," but it depends on how we want to walk with Him.  Do you want to see the Power and Presence of the Super-natural Force of God in your life?  Or, do you just want to be a quiet Christian?  God loves us all the same and He will never reject those who come to Him, but He wants us all to become mature Christians, so He can accomplish what He's planned for us.

     The Apostle Paul could have stopped preaching and growing the early Church, so that he wouldn't endure persecution.  Paul would have still been saved, but his walk with the Lord was strengthened by his maturity of Revelation and he was willing to die and be pleasing to God, rather than quitting.  We would never heard the Revelation Jesus gave to Paul, if he had quit and we would not have much of The New Testament.  Paul preached the Gospel to people, who never heard that they could be "righteous in God's sight."  This caused him to undergo great persecution, but Paul never stopped.

     Many considered it blasphemous, for Paul to preach that the Gentiles could come into covenant with the Jews, but Paul continued with what he had learned in his spirit, through faith in God's Word and God's Word and Spirit sustained him through it all.  If what God calls us to do could be done on our own, then we wouldn't need the Super-natural intervention of the Holy Spirit or the Word, to do it.  God's Word is a "Lamp onto our path," and we can't stay on the course He's called us to, without it.  How would we differ from all the religions that exist in the world, if we don't have the Super-natural in our Christian lives?

     Jesus didn't come to start another religion, but He came to bring us relationship with God.  We're not to be servants or subjects of God, but we're sons and daughters in His family.  In order to realize the Truth of what Jesus has done, we must truly believe what His Word says about the removal of sin, the redemption from the Curse and the reconciliation back to the Father, as His Own family.  The personal relationship we have with the Father, grows by spending time with Him and trusting in what He's done for us, through Jesus.  

     Rom.10:17(KJV) says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."  Jesus says much about what we hear and the results of our hearing, in "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark4:4,8-9(Amp).  Jesus likened the Word as a Seed and the heart or spirit of a person, as being soil in which the Seed is grown.  The same Seed (Word) that was eaten by the birds in Verse 4, is the same Word (Seed) that brought forth a hundred times, in Verse 8.  The difference wasn't that the Seed (Word) doesn't work for everyone, but that not everyone puts the same importance on what they hear.  Jesus said in Verse 9, "He who has ears to hear, let him be hearing and let him consider and comprehend."

     The emphasis isn't on the Seed (Word), but on the hearer.  The depth of the soil (heart) and the care of the Seed (Word), depends on those who will hear and believe in the Seed (Word).  The cares of the world, even thought they might not be evil or sinful, can choke out the harvest and the Seed.  The cares of raising a family, going to work paying our bills, shopping for groceries and the daily things of life, can take up all of our time, leaving no time for us to spend in God's Word and choking out our fellowship with the Lord.  

     In Mark4:14(Amp), Jesus tells us that, "The Seed, is the Word of God."  1Peter1:23(Amp) tells us that, "This Seed (Word) is Immortal, by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."  In the natural world, anyone who plants a kernel of corn, will reap a harvest, if it's planted in good soil.  It will work for a sinner, as well as a Christian, because the seed was created to produce.  We must give care, thought and study to what we hear, because that is what we will reap.

     We've been told, "It doesn't work for everyone," but Jesus says it does, but only for those who will care for and watch over it, like they should.  God's Word is the incorruptible Seed and will always work in the heart of whosoever will take it in, care for and nourish it.  There's no person who can call upon Jesus in faith for salvation, who won't be saved.  It just depends on those who call and those who believe.

     As we go on in Christ Jesus, we'll discover that God's Word hasn't only produced new creation people.  If we continue in the Seed of God's Word, it'll produce all God has Promised by the Seed, in the lives of the new creation believers.  Some are content to be cleansed from sin, while others wish to go into a greater harvest by the Word, here in this life.  This depends on the soil of the hearer's heart.  We must stay with the Word (Seed) and it will by it's Own Power, produce what it says.  The Seed already has whatever it needs to produce, it just needs good soil.

     It's obvious that not everyone in the Body of Christ, are understanding God's Word, in the same state of maturity.  A baby isn't rejected as not being "intelligent," just because he/she can't read.  The baby just needs to mature and will learn to read.  Many times we view others who don't know certain things, as being "less" than others.  We sometimes see those who've learned and grown up in the Lord, as being "know it all's."  Remember, we are all one in Him and are to grow unto the stature of the fullness of Christ, according to Eph.4:13(Amp) which says, "That it might develop until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God; that we might arrive at really mature manhood, the completeness of personality, which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's Own perfection, the measure of stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him."

     This is the growing age in the Church, from the day in the Upper Room to the Revelation given to the Apostle Paul, to the time in which we are now living, to the coming of the Lord Jesus.  Don't quit, but keep learning, growing, believing and identifying with the One in which we're to grow up in.

Developing the New Creation Lesson 36

     1Peter2:2(Amp) says, "Like newborn  babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire), the pure unadulterated Spiritual milk of the Word; that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto completed salvation."  I can't stress how important it is that Christians be in God's Word.  Jesus said in John6:63(Amp), "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life." 

     The new Life we receive in our spirit, when we are born-again, can only grow and mature into completed salvation, by the Word of God.  We can't grow in the fullness of what God has for us, by only hearing the Word on Sunday mornings from our pastors.  We must learn to feed ourselves by reading and meditating on the Word ourselves, so that we know what God wants to do for and through us.  If we follow the masses and "go with the flow," then we will remain babes in Christ, making it difficult for God to use us.  These might be born-again believers and are saved children of God, but they lack the Truth of God's Word and are unable to step out on their faith, in order to be used by Him.  Every Christian has the Holy Spirit living in us and if we have faith in His Word, God's Spirit will do mighty works through us.  Jesus is the Word of God and we must learn to hear and obey God's Word, in order to know Him and His ability in our lives.

     Many spend more time in their prayer lives, than in God's Word.  Our prayers haven't come to pass, because we don't know what God's Word says and His will is, when we pray.  Chris Tomlin sing, "I'm not just hoping; I'm not just wishing. I know I'm praying to a God Who listens."  So many struggle to know God's will when they pray.  Many don't understand the difference between how God dealt with those under the First and Last covenants.

     Those in the old covenant were brought into captivity to their flesh, because they weren't born-again.  The flesh couldn't keep the Law and was still subject to captivity by the Curse of the Law.  Today, we have God's Own Spirit living in us and the Curse of the Law has been removed by the Blood of our Sacrifice Lamb, Jesus.  Gal.3:13-14(Amp) says, "Christ purchased our freedom, redeeming us from the Curse, doom of the Law, and it's condemnation by Himself becoming a Curse for us; for it is written in the scriptures, Curse is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified); To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus (the Messiah), the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we, through faith [not Law] might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit."

     In order to understand what the above scripture means in the life of this new creation, we must learn who we've now become in this new birth and by the Word of God, receive what Jesus died to give us.  In the above scripture, the Holy Spirit reveals the Last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ, where Jesus leaves all He gained on Calvary to us, by sealing His will with His Own Blood.  We're the recipients of Jesus' Last Will and Testament and that can't be changed by anyone or anything, nor can it be defaulted.  It is forever settled in Heaven!

     The recipient of a will receives the inheritance, after the Testator dies.  When Jesus left this will, it became valid for all believers when He died and rose again.  It's now ours by the Blood covenant made between Jesus and the Father.  Carnal man/woman couldn't uphold their end of the old covenant, so God didn't make the new covenant with carnal, natural man.  The new covenant was between God and Jesus and when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we became heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus.  This covenant is unchangeable and unbreakable and stands through all eternity.  God can't break it and Jesus wouldn't break it.  

     Learning from God's Word and His Spirit, is much different than learning it by carnal minded men.  If we don't renew our minds by the Truth of God's Word, even after being born-again, then we'll remain carnal minded and won't have faith in the Promises of God.  Jesus told us in John 6:63(Amp), "The Words (Truths) I speak are Spirit and Life" and "the flesh (carnal mind) has no benefit whatever."  Our natural, carnal minds can't understand the Spirit Realm of God and must be renewed by God's Word, which is Spirit.

     Many traditions in today's Church, came from well-meaning Christian people who interpreted God's Word with carnal minds.  There will never be Power in a carnal understanding of God's Word.  The importance of reading and meditating on God's Word is left up to the individual and becomes the sole responsibility of each believer.  Jesus admonished in Mark4:24(Amp), "Be careful what you are hearing."  All words are seeds and we must not allow seeds of doubt, carnality, or fear be sown and grow in our new creation spirits.  We must only allow the Seeds of God's Word and the Holy Spirit to grow in us.   

    

Developing the New Creation Lesson 35

     2Cor.5:17(Amp) 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 away. Behold the fresh and new has come."  

     In order to understand the above scripture, we must believe what it says and put faith in the new creation being we've become.  The "new" you, is the one that is reflected back to you, by the mirror of God's Word.  If we're new creations, then who we were before, isn't who and how we are unto the Lord.  In God's eyes, our past is gone.  He sees the new creation beings we've become, with no past at all.

     This is difficult to understand with our carnal way of thinking.  We still see who and what we were before Jesus, and it's difficult to erase the memories locked into our carnal natural minds.  We must spend time in God's Word and accept who we are now in Christ Jesus.  Paul instructed us in Rom.12:2(Amp), to "renew our minds by God's Word, in order to see ourselves the way God sees us."  We know that in this natural world and form, we were not right with God and were unworthy and unrighteous.  Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the old man/woman hasn't just been cleansed, but he/she has been made a new creation.  

     Our new creation man/woman was created in and by the Spirit.  Our outer man/woman wasn't changed and must be brought into subjection by our new creation feeding, by feeding on God's Word.  Our flesh will never simply surrender and become submissive, but must be trained by our new creation spirit, which must be trained by God's Word and His Spirit.  The more time we spend in the Word and in fellowship with the Lord, the more dominion we'll have over the old habits of the flesh.

     We must learn what God's Word says about who we've become in Jesus, is more true than what our carnal mind and the world says about us.  We must have more faith in God's Word, than we have in our senses and feelings.  We must begin to accept by faith, the Truth of His Word, instead of our feelings and what others say about us.  This is a gradual process that can be advanced by hearing and studying God's Word for ourselves.

     It's important what baby Christians hear and how much faith is put into what we hear.  Jesus said in Mark4:24(Amp), Be careful what you are hearing. The measure of thought and study you give to the Truth you hear, will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you-and more besides will be give to you who hear."  We know from this "Parable of the Sower," that "all had ears on their heads and heard Jesus' Words," but not all of them allowed the Word to enter into their hearts, in order to produce what He said.  It's not enough to just hear with our ears, but we must hear in faith, with our new creation spirit man/woman and allow the Truth and virtue to be multiplied to us.  When we read or hear God's Word, we must let it be the Holy Spirit speaking a personal Message just for us.

     When we hear others say we're "unrighteous, unworthy and a sinner." then we can't let that into our hearts, because that will stop our faith in asking and seeking God in prayer.  We must stay on what God says about us, instead of what the world says about us.  God's Word tells us who we've been created to be and declares that we're righteous by the Power of the Blood of Jesus, in our new creation man/woman.  2Cor.5:21(Amp) says, "For our sake He made Christ virtually to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become endued with, viewed as being in and examples of the Righteousness of God, what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him by His Goodness."  Jesus did it for us, because we couldn't do it for ourselves.  He is our Righteousness.

     It's difficult for our natural selves to believe and accept that we are actually righteous in God's eyes.  Paul says we must, "renew our minds by God's Word," in order to see ourselves like God sees us, even in this world.  It's not being prideful, when we believe the work God has done in us, but it's prideful when we deny what His Word says about us now in Christ.  Are we going to believe the Truth of God's Word or what our carnal mind and the world says about us?  God's Word is Truth and how we might feel about it doesn't change it.  The entire universe is still held in place, by the Truth of God's Word.

     Our carnal mind will tell us that "God's Word isn't True," because it's the enemy to Truth, according to Rom.8:7(Amp), which says, "That is because the mind of the flesh with it's carnal thoughts and purposes is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Laws, indeed it cannot."  We must renew our minds with God's Word and believe it with the mind of Christ and the Spirit of God.  We can only overcome the mind of the flesh, by God's Word and faith in His Word.  Heb.11:3(Amp) tells us, "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed (fashioned, put in order and equipped for their intended purpose), by the Word of God, so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible."  We only need to look at the heavens and universe, to see God's Word is more True than what our carnal minds can conceive.  It must be view by faith.  The carnal mind looks at these things as being "the Big Bang Theory," which isn't faith in God.  

Developing the New Creation Lesson 34

      1Pet.2:2 (Amp) says, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure unadulterated Spiritual milk of the Word, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto complete salvation."  As we grow into the Truth of our salvation, the milk of God's Word becomes the meat of God's Word, helping us grow into completed salvation.  Many don't spend much time in the Word and don't grow or mature into the new creation persons God created them to be.  Many have believed that being saved only meant we were forgiven and will go to Heaven when we die.  Being saved means much more though, as we grow into maturity on the meat of God's Word.

     The Strong's Concordance, describes the word "salvation," in many terms that apply to the full understanding and us the meat of God's Word for those who wish to grow up in Christ Jesus and walk by faith in what He has done for us.   #4982 says the word "salvation" means, "Safe; to save, i.e. deliver, or protect lit. or fig,-heal, preserve, save, do well, be or make whole."  #4991 says, "noun-rescue, or safety, physically or morally-deliver, health, save, saving, deliverer."  

     As we grow up from milk to meat, we begin to understand more of what our salvation entails and we begin developing more faith in what Jesus has accomplished for us.  Those who remain babes in Christ are saved, but never enjoy or understand the fullness of what Love has really done for us in this world and the next.  Many believe the Super-natural things of God has passed away, but if this is true, then salvation itself is passed away, because these things are all included in salvation.

     We're remained babes in Christ, because we haven't gone from milk to meat and developed into completed salvation.  We must go on in Christ and begin to understand the depth of our salvation, in order to honor Him in it.  This doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't love us all the same or that some are "special," but even though we've all received the same degree of salvation, some have never enjoyed all that it has meant to be to us.

     Many in today's Church don't believe in healing or miracles, but the Word tells us that salvation includes the Super-natural provision of God, in our earthly walk as well as Heaven for our Eternal Life with Him.  It takes times and effort to seek out Truth from God's Word of salvation and begin growing faith in His Promises.  It's hard to have faith in things God has done, if we don't know they're already provided in salvation.  If we don't know that healing and health are part of salvation, then they are just hope, instead of Truth and we'll settle for less than He has provided.  When we know for certain what God has done, then the scriptures are no longer hope, but fact and we believe unto salvation, according to  Heb.11:1(Amp) which says, "NOW FAITH (no longer Law or sacrifice or Holy days), but faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed of the things we hoped for, being the proof of the things we do not see and the conviction of their reality; faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses."

     Our carnal mind or senses, cannot receive the things God has Promised us, because the carnal mind, with the five physical senses, are hostile to God's Word and do not submit to it.  If we could simply feel, see or touch what God has done, then we wouldn't need faith and trust in God's Spirit and His Promises.  Many Christians remain suffering in the mess they were in before becoming heirs of salvation.  It's not because salvation doesn't work for all who have received Jesus, but because many are still on milk and haven't grown up into the meat of God's Word.

     Our faith in God is an ever growing thing.  It grows from just being a forgiven sinner, into being accepted and invited into God's Presence, by His Love.  Grace is simply Love manifested and we're all trying to believe in Grace.  John 3:16 reveals the greatest picture of Grace and Love, in full manifestation to us all.  There are many different degrees of Grace, but they're all summed up by God's Love.  Gal.5:6(Amp) says, "For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through Love."  The blood of circumcision in the old covenant or the new covenant, means nothing to God on our behalf.  It's our faith in the Blood of Jesus that was poured out by His Love for us, that means something to God.

     The more we understand His Love for us, the more sure is our faith in Him.  God's Love came from Grace and not Law.  We must go from milk to meat and grow from babies to mature children of God, in order to understand His Great Love.  Many read about God's Love and believe in His Love, to a degree, but if we knew the true depth of His Love in and for us, the faith we have in His provision would never be shadowed by doubt.  

     We still see ourselves as being unworthy and are unsure He will receive us, like Jesus had never come.  Once we're saved and are in Christ Jesus, God only sees us by His faith in His Love and the Grace of His Blood.  All God intended for His family is now fulfilled in God's great heart and He once again has a family He can share His Great Love with.

Developing the New Creation Lesson 33

      1Peter 2:2(Amp) says, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire), the pure unadulterated Spiritual milk of the Word, that by it you may be nurtured and grow into completed salvation."

     Newborn babies must have milk and nourishment in order to grow in the natural and this is true for the new babes in Christ, in the Spirit realm.  Milk is essential for the newborn babies and it's essential that newborn babies in Christ receive the unadulterated Spiritual milk of God's Word.  If we don't read, hear or feed God's Word into our newborn spirit, then we can't mature or grow in the Spirit realm.

     We might be saved and will go to be with the Lord when leaving this earth, but we can do no more than a baby in this realm and must be cared for by others.  We must feed on and learn God's Word, in order to mature in Christ and do what God intended the Church to do.  Paul writes in Heb.5:13-14 (Amp), "For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness, of the conformity to the Divine will in purpose, thought and action, for he is a mere infant not able to talk yet. But solid food is for full grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to Divine or human law."

     Many believers have centered mostly on being saved and going to Heaven, while others have learned that through Jesus Christ, we've become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus.  This doesn't mean that baby Christians aren't joint heirs, but that babies have no idea what this truly means in their lives.  We've been born into God's family, made in His Image and Likeness in our spirit, and we are now what the Word calls us and not who we once were.

     You're no longer a sinner, in your newborn identity in Christ Jesus, but you've been made to be righteous, justified and one spirit with Him.  As babies, we still see ourselves in the failures of the flesh, but we see who we really are by the Sacrifice and ransom note Jesus paid for by His Blood.  We must take God's Word and discover who He has made us to be in Him.  The flesh will come into subjection of the spirit man/woman, if we'll strengthen the spirit and grow up in Christ.

     The pull of the world, along with distractions of the flesh, will have to bow to the Lordship of Christ, if we will strengthen it by the "meat" of God's Word.  James tells us that God's Word is a "mirror," in James 1:23-25 (Amp), saying, "If anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his own reflection and natural face in a mirror. For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like."  We see our new creation reflection, in the mirror of God's Word, but then we forget what we saw and return to what we were in the flesh.  Verse 25 continues, "But he who looks carefully into the faultless Law (the Law of Liberty) and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys, he shall be Blessed in his doing, his life of obedience."

      Many see who we've been made to be in God's Word, then forget what we looked like in the faultless Law of Liberty (the mirror of God's Word) and fall back into the mere men and women we were before being born-again.  Paul said that, "Solid food is for full grown men, not babies any longer," in Heb.5:14.  Those who continue looking into the faultless Law of Liberty and are conforming to that image, instead of what the world says they are, are no longer babes in Christ.

     God's Word is likened to a mirror and reflects who we are now, not who we once were, in 2Cor.3:17-18 (Amp), which says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom)."  James tells us that God's Word is the perfect Law of Liberty.  Verse 18 goes on, "And all of us, as with unveiled face, because we continue 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."

     God's Word is a mirror that reveals the true image of we are in Christ and the glory of the Lord is transfiguring us into that same Image, by the Word and by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus prayed in John17:22 (Amp), "I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are One."  We've been seeing ourselves as less than what Jesus has made us to be, because we believe "it's prideful" to see ourselves that way.  The awful truth is that only pride could say in the face of what Jesus has done, "This isn't true."  Only pride could stand against the Truth of God's Word and say "it isn't so."

     We are what He created us to be and only carnal pride or religion can cause us to stand in the face of God's Truth and declare we're somehow inferior and still in our sins.  Rom.8:7(Amp) says, "The carnal mind is hostile to God and does not submit itself to God's Law, indeed it cannot."  

Developing the New Creation Lesson 32

          2Cor.5:17,16(Amp) 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 away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."

     The above scripture says that those who are born-again are no longer who we once were with God, but who He has made us to be in Jesus.  We learn even more about the new creation person and about the Risen Lordship of Jesus, in Verse16, which says, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). No, even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now we have such knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh."

     Where do we get this knowledge of Him, which allows us to "see Him no longer as a Man, but as the Risen Lord of all?"  We receive this Spiritual knowledge by the Revelation in God's Word, which reveals Jesus' Kingly position at the right hand of God.  The Man Jesus, came as a Lamb for our Sacrifice.  He is no longer a Man Who was to die in the place of those who have received Him, but Jesus is now our High Priest and Lord.  He suffered as a Man and took the penalty for our sins.  As our Lord, He gave us His rewards. 

     We've mostly viewed Christ and ourselves more from His human form, instead of seeing Him and ourselves in the Glory He provided for us, by His Own death and resurrection.  In order to develop our new creation identity and learn to walk in it, we must see ourselves "no longer after the flesh," but after the Spirit.

     We've mostly seen ourselves as sinners and not after the new creation man/woman who was born of the Seed, the Word of God.  1Pet.1:23(Amp) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."  Gen.1:11(Amp) says, "And God said, Let the earth bring forth fruit, tender vegetation; plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to it's kind upon the earth. And so it was."

     We must not miss the Truth that "every Seed brings for fruit of itself."  We were born or produced from the Same Seed that produced Jesus.  John1:14(Amp) tells us, "The Word became flesh and walked among us."  This Same Seed, the Word, is the Same Seed Who produced the new creation spirit man/woman, produced Jesus in His Human Form.  We've been produced after Kind and our new creation spirit man/woman is just like the Original Seed.  

     Paul says that we "know no man after the flesh any longer (those who are born-again), but after the Spirit."  We know longer see Jesus as a Man, but after the Risen Christ Who is seated in God's Presence, according to Eph.2:6(Amp), which says, "And He raised us up together with Him and made us to sit down together, giving us joint seating with Him in the Heavenly sphere, but virtue of our being in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."

      Jesus said in John15:5(Amp), "I Am the Vine;you are the branches. Whoever lives in Mes and I in him bears much abundant fruit. However, apart from Me (cut off from vital union with Me), you can do nothing."  Why is this?  Because, every seed bears fruit after kind.  There is no fruit, with a seed.  We must know what fruit we are and what fruit we're to produce and bear after Kind.  We're not who we once were, but are born after the Seed Who produced us.  We're the fruit of the Vine and bear the same Seed and fruit after Kind.  The fruit we bear is the same born-again child of God that the first fruit brought forth, which is the new creation child of God.

     One might say, "I thought the fruit of the Spirit was in Gal.5:22-23.  This is the fruit in us, which is produced by and through the Holy Spirit and makes us desired by others, allowing us to sow the Seed of that fruit into their hearts and produce after Kind.  The rich, red fruit of an apple, is only a seed holder, which produces more apple trees.  When the fruit is desirable and eaten, the seed of that fruit will produce another another apple tree, which bears more apples and more seeds.  The Fruit of the Spirit makes others want to be like us, so that the Seed will reproduce in them too.  Jesus told us that "He is the Vine and we are the branches."  The Vine doesn't produce the fruit.  It gives Life to the branches that bear the fruit.  We are the branches who bear the fruit from the Vine, Who is the Original Seed, the Word of God.

     We can count the seeds inside an apple, but we can't count the apples in the seed.  The seed will produce another apple tree, which will produce more apples that hold more seeds to produce more trees and apples.  The cycle continues for eternity.  This is the incorruptible Seed or Word of God that endures forever.  God watches over His Word to perform it.  Every word is a seed in God's Kingdom.  There are seeds of healing, seeds of Grace, seeds of comfort and many more.  Each of those seeds will produce exactly what the Seed Promises, but they must be sown in our hearts.  God says in Prov.4:2-22(Amp), "My Son, attend to My Words; consent and submit to My sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are Life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh."

Developing the New Creation Lesson 31

  Jesu

      Most of us have tried governing our flesh and carnal man/woman, by our flesh and carnal man/woman, even after being born-again.  When we try developing the new creation person by the flesh and blood body, instead of God's Word, we will always fail.  The flesh doesn't want to change.  It's content to rule and control what it came to know and rebel against the Spirit.  Rom.8:7 (Amp) says, "That is because the mind of the flesh with it's carnal thoughts and purposes, is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Laws; indeed it cannot."

     Paul writes about the submission of the carnal mind in Rom.12:2 (Amp), saying, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), fashioned after and adapted to it's external, superficial customs, but be transformed, changed by the entire renewal of your mind, by it's new ideals and it's new attitude; so that you may prove for yourselves what is that Good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even that things which is Good and acceptable and perfect in His sight for you."

     We must renew our minds, by spending time in God's Word, in order to build up the new creation person and allow him/her to dominate the flesh.  In John 6:63 (Amp), Jesus speaks about the Word and Spirit, saying, "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatsoever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."

     We've mostly adapted to and fashioned ourselves after the external and superficial customs of the world, even in the Christian experience.  We've followed after what the world has accepted as "Christianity," rather than what God's Word and Spirit say.  Many prefer to remain in this religious state, instead of spending time in God's Word and growing into the new creation person we've been created to be.  Peter writes about the Word and the new creation child of God, in 1Pet.2:2 (Amp), saying, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire), the pure unadulterated Spiritual milk of the Word, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto completed salvation."

     It's good that we hear sermons and attend Sunday service, but we must learn to "eat" the Spiritual milk of God's Word for ourselves.  Although our pastor is preaching good sermons, we must still study and learn what is that "Good and acceptable and perfect will of God," for ourselves.  We must feed on God's Word, allowing God's Spirit and that Word to bring growth and maturity to our new spirit.  The new spirit within us, can and will, dominate the flesh, if we continue to feed it God's Word.  

    Many believe that the days of miracles and the Super-natural things of God have "passed away."  We've been trying to do what no one except Jesus could do and go back under the Law.  We're not offering sacrifices and following Temple traditions, but we're fashioning our own traditions, which make God's Word of no effect.  We must return to God's Word for instruction, especially during this day and age, in order to bring forth the fruit of the harvest.  We've led many people to salvation as newborn babies in God's Kingdom, but we've failed in our responsibility to bring them into maturity.

     We expect our natural children to grow into a place, where they feed themselves.  Our Heavenly Father too, expect us to grow into a place where we feed ourselves on His Word.  We must come to the Truth, that God's Word is Life and health, even to our physical bodies, by the Life we produce in our spiritual body.  God commends us in Prov.4:2-22 (Amp), saying, "My Son, attend to My Words; consent and submit to My sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are Life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh."

     Remember Jesus' Words, saying, "It is the Spirit Who gives Life, the flesh profits nothing."  When we feed our spirit on God's Word, the Life in our spirit will dominate the flesh, not only in health, but keeping out of sin.  We've failed to realize the full importance of feeding on the Spiritual food of God's Word.  We think reading the Word, is just some "religious thing to do," instead of knowing it's critical we do so.  Jesus said that His Words "are Life and health to all our flesh."  If our physician told you to take a certain medication every morning, in order to maintain your life and health, then we would faithfully do so.  Jesus' Word should be as important as our doctor's words.

     Our true Life, is in our spirit and God's Spirit Who lives within us, according to what Jesus told the crowd in John10:10 (Amp), where He said, "The thief comes not but for to steal and kill and to destroy, I am come that you may have and enjoy life to the full (till it overflows)."  The people surrounding Jesus were alive in the flesh.  They could all breathe, walk and talk, but Jesus considered them to be dead, because the spirit within them was not "alive to God."

     When you link Jesus' Words in John10:10 to John 6:63, then you can see the importance of feeding on God's Word.  Our true Life is in and comes from the spirit, not the flesh.  Even after our natural lives have ended and leave this planet, we will live in the spirit and eternity with God.  This is the Life that Jesus came to bring and give those who would believe His Word and receive eternal Life through Him.  After receiving Jesus and eternal Life, we must still feed our new creation spirit, in order to mature and grow into into what we were born-again to be.  Every baby must receive nourishment from what they eat and feed on.  This is true for our newborn spirit too.

     If we don't feed our newborn spirit on God's Word, then it will be weak and controlled by our natural bodies.  Paul instructed us to renew our minds with God's Word, in order to nourish our born-again spirit and bring our flesh into subjection to it.  Our natural bodies are still from the fallen seed of Adam, while our new creation spirit is from the Seed of the Last Adam Jesus.  Both will and have produced after kind, according to the Law of Genesis.

     This is why we struggle with the old habits we had before being born-again.  The natural seed of Adam is still trying to produce after kind, like it did before.  John1:14 (Amp) tells us that, "The Word (the Seed, Jesus) took upon itself and became flesh."  It will still do the same thing in our born-again spirit, we we'll allow it to be sown into the fertile ground of our new creation man/woman.  Your spirit has been prepared for the Seed of God's Word, so it will produce one-hundred fold, but we must sow it into fertile ground.  We must spend more time feeding our spirit on God's Word, so we can produce the harvest God intended.  If we never sow a seed, then we'll never produce a harvest.  This is why so many in the Body of Christ, never see the Blessing manifest in our lives here on earth.  There won't be a harvest, if we don't plant the Seed.

     The Seed is in our Bibles, but unless we open them and plant the Seed of God's Word into our born-again spirit, it won't produce a harvest.  A package of sweet corn will never bring forth a crop, unless we take the seed out of that package and plant it.  The Seed of God's Promises are in the Seed form of God's Word, which must be sown into our spirit man/woman, in order to bring a harvest into our lives here on earth.  It must be sown into the fertile ground or soil of our hearts, according to "The Parable of the Sower," Jesus gives in Mark 4.  We must allow the Seed to penetrate our spirit and then watch over it, so it will bring forth the Promise in the Seed.    

Developing the New Creation Lesson 30

     In Matt.6:33 (Amp) Jesus says, "But seek, aim at and strive after first of all God's Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."  Jesus is speaking here about earthly, material things, as well as the Spiritual things of God's Kingdom.  These things are one and the same to the Lord.  By His Sacrifice, Jesus brought both realms into one kingdom again.  Our Father walked in both realms with His son Adam and his wife, from the beginning in Genesis.  God planned for His family to be in constant contact with Him, in both realms.

     God's way of doing and being right comes by reading and studying His Word.  Jesus instructs us to "first of all strive after God's Kingdom and His Righteousness," so we can live here and do well in this physical, natural realm.  We need to rely on God and His covenant, instead of the government or charity.  Paul tells us how we're to do it by God's Righteousness in 2Cor.1:30 (Amp), saying, "But it is from Him (God) that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine Plane of Salvation previously hidden manifesting itself now as our Righteousness; thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy; and our Redemption, providing our Ransom from Eternal penalty for sin."

     God's way of doing and being right, comes by His Grace and His Son as our Lamb and our Righteousness.  There are ways to provide and receive what Jesus said in Matt.6:33, without doing it God's way, but when we do it His way, we're trusting in His Fatherhood to provide for us, like any good father wants to do.  We shut God out and we don't allow Him to be all He wants to be, when we try doing things our way.  Being right, being righteous and being in right standing with God, comes only one way and that's through Jesus.

     Trying to become righteous before God, other than accepting it as the Gift of God through Jesus, will keep us outside of righteousness and right standing in God's eyes, which will stop the ability of the Holy Spirit to bring forth what we need.  We can gain some things in the carnal realm by ourselves, but righteousness isn't one of those things.  "His way of doing and being right," aren't just words to be read over lightly.  God has a Righteous and Just way of doing things, based on faith in Him and on the Spiritual Laws that govern His Kingdom.

     God's Kingdom and the Kingdom of Heaven have Spiritual Laws that hold this universe in orbit.  These Laws are as sure as the laws He put in place to govern this earth.  The Law of Gravity is vital to life on this planet and works continuously.  We can override the Law of Gravity by the the Laws of Lift and Thrust, but we cannot do away with that Law.  We can fly planes that weight thousands of pounds, using the Laws of Lift and Thrust, but if we turn the motor off, then the Law of Gravity will force the plane to fall to earth.  Yikes!

     Many of God's people don't know what His will and His way of doing and being right are.  We try walking according to the Law of Moses from the old covenant, while simultaneously walking in the Power of Grace and Righteous from the new and last covenant that came from the Blood of Jesus.  We've not understood the True meaning of God's Grace.  God's Grace is His way of doing right, so God's Blessing can operate like it should in our lives.  Grace is simply a total reliance on God's Love to open the doors to His Provision, by His Love for us.  This doesn't mean that we don't work or do things in this natural realm, but we must trust Him to" add it to us", like Jesus said in Matt.6:33.

     God's way of doing and being right, is found in His Word.  The Word tells us to, "Love one another as I have Loved you," which is a great part of doing and being right.  Are we doing it God's way or are we still harboring malice and unforgiveness towards one another?  God's way is to abstain from immorality and sin, at all cost.  We get a good overview of God's way of doing and being right in Matt.5:13-48 (Amp), especially Verse 48, where Jesus says, "You therefore must be perfect, growing in complete maturity of Godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity, as your Heavenly Father is perfect."

     Growing into complete maturity in mind and character, comes by developing the new creation.  These are things we can do, but many choose not to do.  They are God's way of doing and being right and must be done by the individual believer.  We can't legislated these things, like under the Law, because they're an act of submission to the Lord Who lives in us.  Are we more more inclined to do it our way, rather than God's way of doing and being right?

     Paul taught about the Gifts of the Spirit and how we can be good candidates for obtaining these Gifts, in 1Cor.12:31 (Amp), saying, "But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best Gifts and Graces, And yet I show you a better and more excellent way to obtain them."  Paul goes on to speak to the Church in Corinth about Love, in 1Cor.13:1 (Amp).  It's not our love, but God's Love that inspire the Super-natural operation of the Holy Spirit.  Thus, Paul writes, "If I speak in tongues of men and even of angels, but have not Love, that reasoning, intentional, Spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's Love for and in us, I am only a noisy gong or clanging cymbal."

     God's full intent is for us to walk in Love.  Unlike those under the Law, we have God's Love.  We see something available to us, that wasn't available to those under the first covenant, in Rom.5:5 (Amp), which says, "Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's Love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given us."

     This isn't just God's Love for us, but His Love in and shown through us to our fellow men/women.  God will sometimes allow the Gifts of the Spirit to work, because He loves the person we're praying over, but it doesn't bring praise on our part, before Him.  We must do it in Love, instead of pride and self-importance.  Jesus said, "It's not Me, but the Father in Me Who does the works."  God's Love for His people, worked through Jesus and brought praise and Glory to both God and Jesus.  This requires maturity, according to 1Cor.13:1 (Amp), which says, "That reasoning, and intentional devotion such as is Inspired by God's Love for and in us."  This doesn't come from the outside, carnal man or woman, but comes from God Himself, as we learn to yield to Him and develop our fellowship and relationship with Him, in Spirit and His Word.

     Yielding and being led by God's Love isn't a "religious" thing.  God's Love is greatly missed in today's world.  Truly walking with God and putting faith in God's Blessing and the outcome of it, is based on doing on His way of doing and being right.  Our way of doing and being right, is not enough.  We must spend time reading and meditation on God's Word, in order to develop the new creation person and become what God has made us to be.

    

Developing the New Creation Lesson 29

     1Peter1:23 (Amp) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal, by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."  Jesus tells us in John 10:10 (Amp), "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy Life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."

     The abundant Life that Jesus came to give and the Seed we've been born-again from, are both the Life and Essence of God's Spirit Who now lives in our new creation spirit, as one Spirit.  This is God's Own Life and Presence in our born-again spirit.  We didn't have God's Life living in our spirit, until Jesus.  We read about the life we lived before being born-again in Eph.2:12 (Amp), which says, "Remember that you were at that time separated, living apart from Christ, excluded from all part of Him, utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the Sacred compacts of the Messianic Promise; with no knowledge of or right in God's agreements (His covenants), and you had no hope, no Promise, you were in this world without God."

     The Life we now have in Christ Jesus, has put us in right standing with God and has put us "in God."  This is God's Life living now in us.  It's startling and unthinkable to even think about being in this world without God, to the carnal mind.  The entire time we were here before receiving Jesus, God wasn't part of us and we were dead.  When I write about developing the new creation person, I'm speaking about our learning to Live in and through, Life with God.

     When we were born into this earth as babies, we had the life of the flesh already in us, but it was undeveloped.  We couldn't do things on our own and relied on others to feed, change, and care for us.  As we grew, we developed the skills and learned how to live here in the carnal realm.  We had to learn and develop the skills of life, on an individual basis.  Some learned the skills needed to become physicians, carpenters, preachers, teachers and other occupations.

     When we are born into the Spirit and Kingdom of God, as citizens and children of God, we must develop the ways and skills of the new creation we're born into.  If we remain babes in Christ, then we won't be useful citizens and others will have the burden of caring for us until we leave this planet in death.  We will all leave this planet in death, unless Jesus comes first.  We will still have to develop into the Life Jesus came for us to live, if we enter God's Kingdom as babes in Christ.  We can't simply live in God's Kingdom as babies, for eternity.

     The skills and trust we've received in the new birth, are to be developed here and in Heaven.  Most of the things we learn about the Life Jesus came to give us, are to be used here on earth, on behalf of other who are in this world without God.  They think they already have life and are living, just like we once did before receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  The life we had before Jesus, wasn't the Life of God, but was actually the death that came through Adam, the day he died in the Garden.

     We know from Gen.1:11 (Amp) that, everything yields "fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to it's kind."  The seed of Adam, was the seed of sin and death and contaminated every human born.  Rom.5:12 (Amp) says, "Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as a result of sin, so death (spiritual and natural) spread to all men; no one being able to stop or escape it's power because all men sinned."  Everything produces after kind.  Adam's transgression resulted in Spiritual death, which was transmitted to every human being born into this earth.

     Rom.5:18 (Amp) tells us, "Well then, as one man's trespass (one man's false step and falling away) led to condemnation for all men, So One Man's act of Righteousness leads to acquittal and right standing with God and Life for all men."  We couldn't do anything about what we were by the natural seed of Adam which brought death, but we can by receiving Jesus and being born-again by the Seed of Life and Righteousness.

     We now have Life again in our spirit and are born from Above by His Spirit.  We need to develop and learn what this new Life has given us.  Will we just continue in the same manner as we did when we were dead or does our Heavenly Father expect us to grow and develop into the people He intended us to be?  God gave us this New Life, in order to elevate us out of the Law of Sin and Death that we were born into by the seed of the First Adam.

     God didn't give us this new Life only for when we leave this earth, but for us to live while here on earth for Him and through Him.  Jesus said, "It's not Me, but the Father in Me."  This new Life is the Life that God intended His family to enjoy and have in abundance, when He created mankind in the Garden,  God made us in His Image and Likeness and He never intended for us to be without Him.  God intended us to acknowledge His Presence and not be ignorant of His ability.  We must make a decision to acknowledge Him, in order to develop into what and whom He has made us to be again through Jesus.  We're not supposed to remain like we were before receiving this Life in Christ Jesus.  Like we did in the worldly life, we must study and learn from God's Word and His Spirit how to live this new Life He has given us by His Seed, Jesus the Word.

     We've been born into royalty, because Jesus is our Lord and Savior, is the King of Kings, and He is our blood Brother.  We've been born into the Kingdom of Almighty God Himself.  Paul writes about who we are now and what our purpose is in this earth, in 2Cor.5:20 (Amp), saying, "So we are Christ's Ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We, as Christ's personal representatives, beg you for His sake to lay hold of the Divine favor now offered you and be reconciled to God."

     As new creations and ambassadors from the Father and His Kingdom, we are to reveal God's favor and Life in this world, in order to bring those who are in this world without hope, without covenant and without God.  Eph.2:12 says we're to "give life and hope by speaking God's Word (Seed) into the hearts of those still living under the Law of Sin and Death, through the seed of Adam."  We've become the sowers of the Seed of Life through Jesus.  Jesus tells us in Mark 4, that "The sower sows the Word."  We're to sow the Word of Life through Jesus, into the hearts of those who are lost. 

       

Developing the New Creation Lesson 28

     1Peter2:2 (Amp) says, "Like newborn babies, you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure unadulterated Spiritual milk of the Word, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto completed salvation."  The only way the new creation child of God can grow unto completed salvation, is through God's Word.  Many believers only feed on what their pastor preaches on Sunday.  A baby who is only fed a snack on Sundays, wouldn't grow very quickly, if at al,l and would probably not grow unto adulthood.  

     God's Church hasn't reached it's full and greatest purpose, because we haven't been feeding on the Word.  Every individual believer has the responsibility to seek out teaching and grow into the person God has created us to be.  This isn't a matter of going to Heaven when we leave this planet, but is a matter of doing and living the life He intended for us.  Jesus gives "The Parable of the Sower" in Mark 4, where He tells us that the seed that didn't produce anything, is the same seed that produced one hundred fold.  The problem doesn't lie in the seed, but in the heart of the believer.

     I've heard many say, "The Word doesn't work for everyone, but only for certain people."  Anyone can plant a seed and it will grow.  A seed doesn't discriminate between people, choosing which sower it will grow for, but only does what it's created to do.  A sinner and a saved person can both plant a kernel of corn and expect the seed to grow, because the purpose of a seed is to reproduce.  

     The Seed of God's Word is incorruptible and will produce exactly what it says it will do, if it's sown into the soil of our heart.  The Seed of healing will produce healing, if it's sown into good ground, is watered, nourished and taken proper care of.  Jesus speaks about four different types of soil or different people's in His Parable.  Some chose not to believe Him, so the Word or Seed didn't produce anything and the "thief came to steal it" from them, without their fighting to preserve it.

     Others had the same Seed sown into their hearts, but did nothing to protect and nurture the Seed.  These people then complained about not receiving a harvest and stopped believing.  Some allowed the world's view of Christianity to enter in and choke out the seed.  If we allow weeds or cares to grow in our garden, then the Seed will not grow or produce like it's intended, even though it's good Seed.  Paul wrote about this in Rom.12:2 (Amp), saying, "Do not be conformed to this world (age), fashioned after and adapted to it's external (superficial) customs, but be transformed, changed by the entire renewal of your mind, by it's new attitude."

     Every farmer knows that the seed must be planted into the soil and then weeded, watered and cared for, in order to produce what he/she desires.  The Church might need the faith of a farmer, to develop.  This is a simple faith that the seed will produce a harvest.  The farmer doesn't worry about what the seed will grow, but believes in the seed he/she planted.  Even the world knows that everything produces after kind, just like Gen.1:11 (Amp) says, "And God said, Let the earth put forth tender vegetation; plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to it's kind, upon the earth. And it was so."

     Jesus spoke about this principle, when He referred to God's Word as "Seed," in Mark 4:24 (Amp).  Our spirit or heart is the soil and the words we allow to be sown into it, will determine the harvest.  Many don't understand that all words are seeds.  The words of this age, are seeds which will produce oppression, despair, or even death, in the heart of those who allow these seeds to grow and produce.  Thus Jesus said in Verse 24, "Be careful what you are hearing. The measure of thought and study you give to the Truth you hear, will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you-and more besides will be given to you who hear."

     We often give more thought and study to things which contradict God's Word or Seed,  allowing the truth of the world or this age to determine the harvest we receive.  If we are hearing that, "God is the One Who is making you sick and bringing hardship upon you," then we will reap what we sow.  We alone determine what seed we allow to be sown into our hearts.  You might have heard and accepted that "God's making you sick" as being truth and you're reaping the harvest from this.  See what His "Seed Packet or His Word says about planting, watering, caring for, and preparing for a harvest in your life.  

     God's Word says that, "We've been redeemed from the Curse of the Law," but the Curse is still here on earth.  We must keep ourselves from partaking of the Curse, by allowing only the good Seed of God's Word to be planted in our spirit.  We cannot allow others to determine our harvest and bring things to bear that we didn't want or intended to grow.  Jesus said, "Be careful what you hear," because all words are seeds.  We won't read about transgender in the Word, because it only comes from the world.  How many though, believe this is Truth?  The world system is under the deception of the thief who comes only "in order to steal, kill and destroy."  How many believe in the Big Bang Theory and that we evolved from space dust?  These are seeds that will produce unbelief in God and His creation and if allowed to grow, will even cause some to not believe in salvation.  We must heed what we hear and be careful what we're hearing.

     We must go to God's Word and find out what we've been created to be in this new creation being, who is born-again in God's Image and Likeness, by the Seed of Promise, Who is the Last Adam Jesus.  We are not what we once were, sinners. but we've been born-again and regenerated from the incorruptible Seed or Sperm, by the Ever Lasting and Living Word of God.  Every seed produces after kind and the Seed sown for our new creation, was Jesus Himself and He produced after kind.

    

Developing the New Creation Lesson 27

      1Peter 1:23 (Amp) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed or sperm) but from One that is Immortal (by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God)."

     We all know that everything starts with a seed.  Gen.1:12 (Amp) says, "The earth brought forth vegetation; plants yielding seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to it's kind. And God saw that it was good, suitable, admirable and He approved it."  God didn't need to continually create the vegetation, animals or mankind, because He made them to with a reproductive seed.  The last thing God created since Genesis, can be found in 2Cor.5:17 (Amp), which says, "Therefore if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."

     We, along with everything around us, came from seed.  The Law of Genesis was God's gift.  Seeds though, take time to mature into what the seed dictates.  It takes time for an acorn to grow into an Oak tree, but if placed into good soil and allowed to grow, then it will become a mighty tree.

     We are new creation children of God, who were born-again and created by the Seed of God's Word.  From the time the Seed of salvation was conceived in a person's spirit or heart, the new creation was born.  1Peter 2:2 (Amp) calls the new creation child of God, "a baby."  The Seed produced exactly what it was intended to produce, but like everything that comes from a seed, it starts small.  Thus, Peter says, "Like new born babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure unadulterated Spiritual milk (the Word) that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto completed salvation."

     We don't always understand that certain things God reveals to us, come in the form of a seed.  Instead of nurturing the seed and allowing it to grow, mature and develop into the vision He has revealed, we try making it happen.  The milk and meat of God's Word that is planted in the spirit of a new creation person, will cause this seed to "come into the FULL CORN of the ear," Mark 4, where Jesus gave "The Parable of the Sower."  Jesus said that "The sower sows the seed," which is the Seed of God's Word, into the soil, which is the heart or spirit of a person.  It takes time and care for the Seed to bring forth the Life of the new creation spirit man/woman.  Like natural seeds, the Word can and will do everything God says it will do.  We can speed up the time of maturity, by spending time in prayer, reading God's Word and by listening to the Holy Spirit.

     We sometimes hear the Seed of the Word and try walking in things that haven't matured into the corn on the stalks, which leads us to become discouraged.  We can't allow the world or others to discourage us and we can't dig up the Seed before the harvest.  Remember that doing things in the Spirit of God, goes against nearly everything we've learned in this natural world.  It takes time for the seeds we plant in our garden every spring to grow into a harvest.  This is true in the Spirit Seed of God's Word too.

     Peter refers to the new creation believers as "babies" in God's Kingdom.  There's nothing wrong with a baby, he/she just needs time to develop into adulthood.  The baby is strong, healthy and very much alive in the Kingdom, but he/she is still a babe.  Like Jesus, the baby will grow into adulthood and become a useful citizen in God's Kingdom.  In Luke 2:44-52 (Amp), Jesus was separated from His parents.   They searched for Jesus for three days and found Him in the Temple, where He was learning and asking questions of the teachers.  Jesus went with Mary and Joseph, like an obedient child does.  Verse 52 tells us that, "Jesus increased in Wisdom, in broad and full understanding and in stature and years, and in favor with God and man."

     Before beginning His earthly ministry, Jesus had to allow the Seed to grow and mature.  If this was true for Jesus, then surely it's true for us.  We need to ask questions, learn and grow in spirit.  Most children have the ability to drive a vehicle, but isn't mature enough to navigate the vehicle with wisdom.  We have the ability to walk with God in our new creation spirit, but it takes time to grow and mature into completed salvation.  The Seed is planted, sprouts and grows a stalk, then the ear of corn comes, just like Mark 4 tells us. 

  No one would plant a garden and expect a harvest the next day.  No one would dig up the seed, in order to find out why it didn't produce after one day,  We're confident that after planting, weeding, and watering the seed, it will produce a harvest.  We must allow the Seed of God's Word to grow too, after sowing it in our hearts and watering it with prayer and fellowship with the Holy Spirit.  1Cor.3:9 (Amp) says, "For we are fellow workmen, joint promoters, laborers together with God and for God; You are God's garden and vineyard and field under cultivation; you are God's building." 
   

     

Developing the New Creation Lesson 26

   

     Resurrection Sunday is the greatest day in the history of the universe and I would like to share some things concerning this day, on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We've known that Jesus died for our sins and trespasses, but we haven't understood the full impact of what happened.  Jesus spoke about the Church and God's new creation people in John 12:24 (Amp), saying, "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just one grain; it never become more but lives by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest."

     We read about the Law of Firsts which says that everything "produces after kind," in Gen.1:11 (Amp),  Thus, it says, "And God said, Let the earth put forth tender vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in it's self, each according to it's kind on the earth. And it was so."  Today, the Law of the seed producing after kind, still operates like God directed.

     Apple seeds always produce apple trees and the apples have seeds which produce and replenish the apple trees, after it's kind.  Jesus taught the Law of Genesis in John 12:24 (Amp), saying He was as the grain of wheat, which would fall to the earth and die, in order to bring forth the harvest of those who would be like Him, the Seed.  Jesus didn't say that the harvest is the same seed or grain of wheat, but one just like the Seed.  An apple seed will produce an apple tree and every apple will be like the original seed,

     When Jesus rose from the dead, He became The Seed, which perpetuates the entire family of God on earth.  We are the product or example of the rich harvest from the First Seed Who was sown into the ground and died.  We were created from The Seed, after Kind, according to the Law of Genesis.  We're not Jesus, but we're made like Him, after Kind.  We're flesh and blood people, but we're eternal like the First Fruit, Jesus, because every seed will produce after it's kind.

     God didn't need to recreate the things He created in the beginning, because He placed a seed in each one, which would continue to repopulate the earth.  This same seed principle was also in the man that God formed out of the earth.  Adam's fall in the Garden, produced after kind and continued the sin and Spiritual death in every human being, because his seed was contaminated.  Jesus was the Pure Seed of God and produced the new creation persons, who were born and created by that Seed as living and righteous children of God the Father. 

     Mankind has never truly understood the full power of what Jesus has done for and what God has now placed in His new creation family.  We've been born-again and are to sow the Seed into the world and bring forth a greater harvest by the Seed of God's Word.  Jesus said that, "The sower sows the Word," in Mark 4.  We've become sowers of the Seed of God's Word, sowing God's Word into the hearts of the people.  Everyone who receives the Seed in the good soil of his/her heart, has become a new creation, created in the very Image of the Seed, Jesus, according to the Law of Genesis.

     The Truth of The Parable of the Sower, is well known in the natural realm today.  No person would plant a corn seed and expect to reap anything other than corn.  Corn seeds will always produce corn, just like peach seeds will always produce peaches.  This is according to the Law of Genesis, which says every seed will produce after kind.  Jesus became the Seed and will bring forth fruit like Him, a new creation form of a Spirit Man in the flesh.  The First Adam's transgression caused sin and death to be carried on in mankind.  The Last Adam Jesus died and was sown, producing Life into Spiritually dead mankind and bringing about the righteous family of God.

     Before being born in the form of Man, Jesus was and is, the Word of God.  He is the Seed that God Promised, by the Word, according to John 1:14 (Amp), which says, "And the Word, Christ, became flesh (human, incarnate), and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile among us); and we actually saw His Glory, His Majesty, His honor; such Glory as an only Begotten Son receives from His Father, full of Grace and favor, loving kindness and Truth."

     We've been regenerated and born-again through Jesus' Resurrection and His place of Glory with the Father.  The Seed, Jesus, has produced God's new creation people, who are in the image of this same kind of spirit man/woman, by the Truth of God's Word.  Jesus was the only Begotten Son of God, but we see in Rom.6:29 that Jesus is now "The First Born of many brethren."  Jesus is our Lord and Savior, but He is our older Brother.  We are family from the Same Seed, the Word of God, according to 1Pet.1:23 (Amp) which says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal (original seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal, by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."