Developing the New Creation Lesson 80

      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."

     Rom.1:17(Amp) 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."  The Gospel is a continuing Revelation to and for the new creation children of God.  We believe,  by faith, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died, rose from the dead and is now in the Presence of God.  And, by faith, we believe the Truth that Jesus did this for the remission of our sins.  The Revelation of the Gospel doesn't stop at the removal of our sin, but goes on from faith to faith.

     This growing Revelation of all that salvation brings, is for the entire man/woman (spirit, soul and body).  God has made us righteous in Christ Jesus and declares us to be "made the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  Many Christians haven't accepted this Gift of Righteousness, by faith in God's Word.  Rom.5:17(Amp) says, "For if because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense), death reigned through that one [Adam], much more surely will those who receive God's overflowing Grace (unmerited favor), and the free Gift of Righteousness, putting them into right standing with Himself, reign as kings in life through the One Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."

     The Gift of Righteousness must be received by faith in Jesus' Sacrifice.  We go from saving faith to righteousness by faith, giving us the right through Jesus, to come before God with no sense of sin or condemnation.  This step of faith in Him, will foster confidence in our prayers and in fellowship with the Father, because we know it is not of ourselves, but is a Free Gift of Righteousness.

     Many believers don't go from the faith of receiving salvation, to the faith of receiving the Gift of Righteousness.  This keeps them in the Outer Court, where they feel unworthy, instead of coming boldly to God's Throne of Grace.  We were sinners, unrighteous, and unworthy, but when we put faith in what Jesus has done, we were created new in His Image and His Righteousness.  We grew from forgiveness of our sin, to being created Righteous in the new creation man/woman and child of God, through Jesus.

     We read about Jesus' coming to preach, through the Anointing which was upon Him, by God Himself, in Luke4:18-19.  Salvation includes so much more than what today's Church understands.  We must go from faith to faith, in order to receive what God has truly done in our new creation life.  When we received Jesus, we became a part of God's new creation family and made His heirs.  

     In order to make us a new creation, the old things needed to pass away, otherwise we would be like those under the Law.  The blood of goats and bulls only covered their sins, so they needed to offer up sacrifices continually.   The Blood of Jesus removed our sins, leaving no stain of sin.  We don't need to make sacrifice for sin, because Jesus completely took our sin and eradicated it forever.  We're not old sinners saved by Grace, but we've become new creation who are born of His Spirit and without a past.

     We first have to believe by faith, that Jesus died for our sin, in order to be born-again.  If we've been born again, then we have no past.  We died with Him, so we don't have a past.  We must go from faith to faith in the Revelation knowledge of the new creation man/woman we've become and accept God's Gift of Righteousness, so we can enjoy life in His Presence.  This doesn't mean that we don't make mistakes in this body, but by faith, we believe what God's Word says about our being "crucified with Christ."  When we sin, we must repent and by faith, continue on with our salvation and refuse to allow the enemy to keep us under condemnation.  

     This isn't a "blank check," that allows us to continue in sin, but our faith in Jesus means that sin no longer has dominion over us.  Many Christians don't understand what Grace is.  Eph.3:8(Amp) says, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor), that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation, through your faith. And this salvation is not of yourselves (not of your own doing, it came not through your own striving, but is the Gift of God."

     God's Gift of Righteousness, which is not of ourselves and of our own striving, comes with His Gift of salvation.  It comes by Grace, through God.  We were saved when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  We also received His Righteousness, the Blessing of Abraham, eternal Life with the Father, citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven, healing and health, prosperity, the ability to lay hands on the sick, to cast out devils, the ability to pray in a Heavenly language and the Authority of Jesus' Name, in this same act of faith.  We go from faith to faith unto completed Salvation, by the Revelation of God's Word and our faith in Jesus' Sacrifice for us.    

Developing the New Creation Lesson 79

     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."

     Rom.1:17(Amp) says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes in 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 above scripture is a continuing Revelation of what our salvation is to the believer.  When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we're cleansed from sin and belong to God our Father, and we become newborn babies in God's Kingdom.  The Revelation of the new birth goes on to explain what we will and WHAT WE ARE NOW, in 1John3:2(Amp), saying, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children: it is not yet disclosed and made clear what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall as God's children resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is."

     We go from faith to faith in the ongoing Revelation of who we are in Christ.  Knowing that we are saved is a great Revelation in itself, but knowing who we've become as born-again children of God, is awesome too.  We now continue from faith to faith, growing and expanding as we read God's Word and learn who we are as new creations.  We learn that we're not only forgiven, but what our citizenship in Heaven and our family relationship with the Father has given us, as heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus.  Rom.8:17(Amp) says, "And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him: only we are to share His suffering if we are to share His Glory."

     This suffering isn't what Jesus bore on the cross.  He suffered this for us.  He suffered the penalty and the Curse, along with our sickness and separation from the Father, so we could be healed and united with the Father once again.  We share the suffering Jesus endured, when He was rejected and mocked by those who didn't understand Him and were used by the enemy to bring harm and separation to others.

     Jesus prayed in John17:16,15(Amp), "They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), just as I am not of the world."  He said in Verse 15, "I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one."  We grow by faith in Jesus prayer, expecting God to keep and protect us from the evil one.  Most of us have never moved onto this level of faith to faith and live like we did in the world before being born-again.  We have kept the faith, but never moved from the faith we had to put towards salvation and grew to protecting faith.  Some have watered down God's Word throughout the years, until it's been lost to today's Church.

     We believe in what we're going to be in Heaven, but have lost sight of who we are now in this world.  The only thing we lack in this world, is the Glorified Body Jesus now has with the Father (1John3:2).  We don't know how we will look when we enter eternity in Heaven, but we will resemble Jesus as He is now.  Until that time, the new creation children of God will live in our natural bodies.  Few have understood, like Paul did, the Revelation of who we truly have become in Christ Jesus.

     No one went to the moon and back until decades ago, but that didn't mean that someone couldn't do it, but until that time, it hadn't been done.  Few have gone from faith to faith and walked in what God Promised, but that doesn't mean that we can't do it.  We must learn to trust God's Word beyond where must have stopped, which will cause us to suffer like Jesus suffered at the hands of the enemy.  

     We must dare to believe God's Word and reach out beyond what religion says, growing in our relationship as the Super-natural family of God.  If we're truly heirs of God, then we don't get what is in the will for us after we die, but after Jesus died.  He is the Only One Who made a will, died to validate that will and rose from the dead to become the Executor over His will, so we won't be cheated or left our of what He provided for us.

     We may not walk in the Fullness of what we really are in Christ, but we can go from faith to faith and believe God's Word.  We can begin to walk in the Blessing of Abraham, instead of the Curse.  We can begin to trust what Jesus did when He bore our sickness and disease, making a stand in our faith in Him and receiving our healing.  I know many stand on Psalm91 and God's Word worked for them.

     We can exercise our faith in the covenant for more than just going to Heaven when we die.  God's Word is true for everything He has said.  If God's Word is true for the forgiveness of sin, then it's true for the rest of our redemption.  We can go from the faith to receive salvation, into everything else our salvation has provided through the Blood of Jesus.  We can grow from babies in Christ, unto our completed salvation.

Developing the New Creation Lesson 78

      2Cor.5:17(Amp) tells us, "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."  

     Many believers rely on what they hear from others, instead of knowing what God says about the new creation we've become, for themselves.  The Apostle Paul endured the same predicament, when preaching the Revelation he received from Jesus Himself.  Some of God's chosen people, like Peter, couldn't receive the Message about the new creation.  Jesus encountered many, if not most of those He spoke too, who wouldn't receive His Message.  Today, we can stay in the same age old traditions or we can rise up in Him and the Strength and Power of His Might, to walk in the Great Commission we've been called to.

     God's new creation people are all one Body, who are filled with and called by the Same Holy Spirit Who lives in Jesus.  We are filled with the Living Spirit of God Himself.  Is He still the Super-natural Almighty God of wonders and miracles today or has He somehow changed?  What happened to the Church of the first century, who turned the world upside down with signs and wonders at the Holy Name of Jesus?  Have we become another religion, instead of a living entity and example for the Love and Power Most High to see?

     If you're born-again new creation child of God, then you have the Holy Spirit living within you and there's nothing He can't do.  The early Church was birthed in miracles, signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit, for the world to see.  The visible Presence of God was so great, that even those who just received the Lord walked in the Power of His Presence.  We make excuses for not believing what God's Word says and say, "He no longer does these things."

     When we read God's Word, we should understand that the Father Himself is speaking directly to us.  We're responsible to know God's directions for ourselves and not for anyone else.  Some dismiss God's Promises and commands to do and walk in His Word, but this doesn't mean God's Word has changed.  Not everyone who is saved will believe there's more to salvation than simply going to Heaven when we die.

     Not everyone in the Body of Christ is called to the five-fold ministry, but we're all commissioned to demonstrate Jesus, the Anointed One, to the world.  We learn who we are as new creations and what we're called to do, in 2Tim.3:16-17(Amp), which says, "Every scripture is God-Breathed, given by His Inspiration and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience and for training in Righteousness, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action. So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work."  This is our mission and calling from God.

     Some have asked me, "Are we in the Last Days?"  I answer by quoting Acts2:16-17(Amp), which says, "But (instead), this is the beginning of what was spoken through the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the Last Days, God declared, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, telling forth the Divine counsels and your young men shall see visions, Divinely granted appearances, and your old men shall dream Divinely suggested dreams."

     We are in the last hours of the Last Days.  The disciples asked Jesus, "Are we in the Last Days" in Matt.24:4(Amp), where He answered, "And this Good News of the Kingdom (the Gospel), will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony as a testimony to all the nations; and then will come the end."  Is the Gospel being preached to the entire world today?  I don't know, but God does and He will bring this age to a close, with Jesus' Return, when it is being preached throughout the world.  

     Many believe this won't happen for another thousand years, but keep in mind what Peter wrote in Acts2:17(Amp).  The Last Days began two-thousand years ago, so how much closer are we now into the time of the End?  This is up to the Church's preaching the Gospel to the entire world.  With today's technology, millions have access to the Gospel.  The Gospel has been preached for two-thousand years and God has knowledge and purpose to His Word.  Don't think that only those in today's world have seen signs of the Last Days.  God is keeping watch over His Word, to perform it.

     I'm not going to speculate when Jesus is coming, but I know that we're two-thousand years close than we were.  We see the groaning of nature, which Paul describes in Rom.8:19(Amp), saying, "For even the whole creation, all nature waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known, waits for the revealing (the disclosing), of their sonship."  Are the sons and daughters of God walking in the flesh, instead of the Spirit, and not doing what is needed to bring this time to pass?  1John3:2(Amp) says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children; it is not clear, disclosed what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes, manifested, we shall as God's children resemble and be like Him."  

     Have God's new creation children grown into the manifestation of what we've been created to be?  Will a new wave of Christian people manifest Jesus to the world, in the True Image and Power of what God has called the Church to be?  Are we the generation who will actually walk in the Glory of God?  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're made one Body in Jesus and must be obedient to the Father, to do His will, like Jesus did.  Why do we believe this mandate given from the Father, was only for the early Church?  Has evil stopped in this age or do we still need the Super-natural Presence of God?  God needs us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, to lay hands on the sick, cast out demons and do the work of the ministry.  This isn't only for pastors and those in the five-fold ministry to do.  We must take out place in the Body of Christ, like 1Cor.12:12(Amp) says, "For just as the Body is a unity and yet has many parts, though many, form only one Body, so it is with Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."  What is your part in the Body?  You're the only one who can do that part.

     The heart might be strong, but it can only do it's job when the other parts of the part is doing their part.  The heart would not have blood, if the blood vessels and arteries are restricted from delivering blood to the heart.  Never think that your part in the Body is insignificant or of importance to the work of the ministry.  You might not be a pastor or evangelist, but you're the one who will lead those the Lord sets before, to salvation.

Developing the New Creation Lesson 77

     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." 

     The worldview of the Church has been founded upon man's ideas and tradition.  Paul writes to the Church in Rome and to us today, saying in Rom.9:1-4(Amp), "Brethren, with all my heart's desire and good will for Israel, I long and pray to God that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a certain zeal and enthusiasm for God, but it is not enlightened and according to correct and vital knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness that God ascribes which makes one acceptable to Him in word, thought and deed, and seeking to establish  righteousness, a means of salvation of their own, they did not obey or submit themselves to God's Righteousness. For Christ is the end of the Law (the limit at which it ceases to be), for the Law leads up to Him Who is the Fulfillment of it's types, and in Him the Purpose which it was designed to accomplish is fulfilled. That is, the purpose of the Law was fulfilled in Him as the means of Righteousness, right relationship with God for everyone who trusts in and adheres to and relies on Him."

     Many of today's Christians have a zeal and enthusiasm for God, but they're disappointed when their prayers aren't answered or God's Promises aren't visible in their lives.  They have been functioning without the correct and vital knowledge about how God uses His Word and not religious traditions, to bring about His will and purpose.  We seem to have forgotten the importance of knowing and hearing God's Voice, through His Word.  God's Word instructs and tells us how He deals with His family in the new covenant.

     It's important we listen to God's Word and instructions, so we can grow and develop the new creation person we've become.  The Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance all the things that God has said to us and He will bring Revelation and assurance to our lives.  We must be single-minded though, about how we hear and know the Word, according to James1:5(Amp), which says, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving God Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproach or fault finding, and it will be given him.  James goes on to tell us that, when we ask, we must "ask in faith and not be double-minded."  If we're double-minded, then we will question whether or not, it was God telling us something.  For this reason, we must know God and know His Word for ourselves.

     Sadly, very few believers spend quality time in God's Word and rely on their pastor's Sunday sermon.  It's vital for God's children to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father and Jesus.  We seem to know about God, instead of knowing Him for ourselves.  Our pastor probably doesn't know what God's personal plan for us.  Many base our relationship with God, on what our denomination says, instead of knowing God's Voice and hearing His instructions for ourselves.  This is important for the five-fold ministry and for the individual believer.  God used Stephen and Philip in the Book of Acts, along with many others who weren't in the five-fold ministry, because of their faith and relationship with Him.

     We're all called to the work of the ministry, according to Eph.4:12-13(Amp), which says, "His intentions was the perfecting and full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), that they should do the work of ministering toward building up Christ's Body (the Church). 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 the stature of the fullness of Christ and the completeness found in Him."

     This is and Awesome standard of developing the new creation person of God! The above scripture not only speaks about the whole Body of Christ, but about the individual.  1Cor.12:12(Amp) says, "For just as the Body is a unity and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form only one Body, so it is with Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."  We've believed that the Gifts of the Spirit and ministry, was only for the five-fold ministry, ignoring the Truth that they are for all who believe.  1Cor.12:7(Amp) says, "But to each one is given the manifestation of the Holy Spirit (the evidence, the Spiritual Illumination of the Spirit) for good and for profit."

     Every born-again, new creation child of God, is filled with the Same Holy Spirit Who lived in Jesus, Himself.  The Holy Spirit doesn't ask whether we're pastors or prophets, but whether we will allow Him to work through us, to the Glory of God.  Most of the Lay Ministry go forth preaching the Gospel, with signs and wonders following them.  Don't think that the Holy Spirit can't use us, because we don't stand behind a pulpit.  

    

    

Developing the New Creation Lesson 76

      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." 

     Who is this new creation man and woman, how do we develop him/her into what we're created to be, and what is the new creation person capable of in this present world?  The answer to all of these questions is only found in God's Word, which is Spirit.  Only the Father and the Word know and can explain who and what the new creation child of God really is.

     Most Christians have been taught what we're supposed to be, from carnal thinking and religion.  We have so many varying opinions about Who God is and what His will for us is and who we truly are in these fleshly bodies.  Are we only God's children after we die and leave these bodies or are we truly His children, while we're on earth?  Are God's Promises only for the hereafter or are they for us today?  Are we still under the Law or has Grace provided what the Law couldn't do?

     Can we know what God's will is for us today?  Does prayer work?  Doe the Super-natural still happen and do angels intervene in our lives today, like God's Word says?  Can we expect the Holy Spirit to guide us into all Truth, like Jesus says?  How many of these things are settle in your heart and do you have the assurance they're working for you, as God's child?  Religion fosters good sounding excuses, as to why they're "not for us today," but are they based on the new covenant and true for God's new creation child?  We can't be lulled into slumber, missing most of what the Spiritual Integrity of the Spiritual Word of Truth says about the new birth and creation.

     Paul writes about God's will for our lives 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, but it's new new ideals and it's new attitude, so that you may prove for yourselves what is the Good and acceptable and perfect will of God, Even the thing which is Good and acceptable and perfect in His sight for you."

    Paul received the above Revelation directly from Jesus, which says we can not only know, but can prove what God's will for us is.  Col.1:9(Amp) says, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of your love, we have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things."

     If you still don't believe that we can know God, then read Heb.1:3(Amp), which says, "He, Jesus is the Sole Expression of the Glory of God, the Light Being, the Out-raying or Radiance of the Divine, and He (Jesus) is the Perfect Imprint and Very Image of God's nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His Mighty Word of Power."

     When we know Jesus, then we know God, because Jesus is the Very Image of God Himself.  Jesus was called, "Emmanuel, God with u."  We will always have a distorted Image of God in our lives, until we know Jesus.  Many are confused about God's Nature and intentions, believing He still deals with us like those in the old covenant.  They don't understand God in the new covenant and believe He places trials and tests on them.  James1:8(Amp) says, "For being as he is a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), he is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides."  If God is putting these trials on them, then they must submit, but if it's satan, then they're to resist him.  If we're double-minded, then we will not take a stand against these things.

     Throughout the Gospels, we never read about Jesus putting a sickness on people.  He never denied anyone or put trials on anyone.  We must see God, through the Very Express Image of Jesus.  If Jesus did it, then it was God's will and if Jesus didn't do it, then we know it's not God's will.  We can know God's will, Nature, purpose and intention for our lives, by seeing Jesus.  Jesus said, "When you see Me, you see the Father in Me."

     The Holy Spirit explains how God functions and deals with the Church in Tim.3:16(Amp), saying, "Every scripture is God-Breathed, given by His Inspiration and is profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of sin, for correction of error, and discipline in obedience and for training in Righteousness, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action."  The Father corrects, disciplines, and trains His children, by His Word and not by trials, tests, and sicknesses.

     We receive God's Guidance and will not be double-minded, if we have God's Word living in our hearts.  Jesus said in John14:7(Amp), "If you had known Me (had learned to recognize Me), you would also have known My Father. From now on, you know Him and have seen Him."  We can know and see God our Heavenly Father, by seeing Jesus, through God's Word.   

Developing the New Creation Lesson 75

      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."  

     We'll never have the confidence in our prayer lives to believe God will hear and answer our prayers, until we realize who we've been created to be in Christ Jesus.  We must believe that in Jesus, God has made us righteous and in right standing with Himself, so we won't live in bondage and condemnation of the lives we lived before knowing Him.  Satan will try to deceive and discourage God's new creation family, by bringing up our past.  We must look into the Perfect Law of Liberty, which Paul describes as a "mirror," so we can who we are now in Jesus and not who we once were.  

     When looking into most mirrors, we see the flesh, with the failures and weaknesses we made in our lives.  We see ourselves growing older and weaker, and identify with him/her.  When we look into the mirror of God's Word though, we see a new creation who was made again in God's Own Image and without sin or failure.  The outer man/woman is perishing, but the inner man/woman (the new creation person), is renewing him/herself daily and is learning and growing by God's Word.

     We mostly identify ourselves by the flesh and the old man/woman of the flesh, because we've never truly realized what Jesus has done in His Sacrifice and Resurrection on our behalf.  The new creation man/woman wasn't just forgiven, but we were created new, without sin or fault.  We've become the Temple of God and the Holy Spirit has considered us pure enough, to make His Home in us.

     Our strength comes from within us, by the indwelling Holy Spirit and not from the strength of our flesh.  We continue relying on the flesh, with it's weaknesses, and are unable to lay hands on the sick or cast out demons, because we know we're too weak on our own to do so.  We spend more time seeing the old man in our mirror, instead of seeing the new creation man/woman in the reflection of God's Word and the Finished Work of Jesus.  The only thing we're lacking today in this world, because of Jesus, is the "glorified body," which is still to come, according to 1John3:2(Amp), which says," Beloved, we are, even here and now God's children: it is not yet disclosed, made clear what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested we shall as God's children resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is."

     Most of us still see Jesus more after His fleshly Body, when He was here on earth.  Jesus told us that, "It is not Me, but the Father in Me Who does the work."  We need to see how Jesus didn't depend on His flesh, but the Spirit Who was within Him, during His ministry.  The same thing is now true about every new creation man and woman on earth today.  It's not us, but the Father in us Who does the work.  This is a Super-natural force that abides in our natural body, in order to transport the Presence of God from one point to another.

     The more we look into the natural mirror, instead of the mirror of the Perfect Law of Liberty, we will only see the weakness of the flesh and it's inability to take care of spiritual forces that surround us in this earth.  Today in America, we're facing a spiritual warfare that can only be defeated by Spiritual strength and not the flesh.  We must defeat the wicked spirits that are now behind what's occurring in our nation, before we can do what's needed by and for the flesh.  

     It's time for God's Church to recognize who we are in Christ and what our purpose is.  Jesus said that we are "in this world, but not of this world."  The Church has access to every resource that our citizenship in the Kingdom of the Most High God provides.  We're not limited by only what human resources can offer, but what our Heavenly Father has given to all who believe.  This isn't to say there won't be trials and persecution for those who will dare step out in faith, but our Father has much more for us than what trials can and will produce.

    We've been taught that Paul's trials and problems were God trying to stop him from becoming prideful or that God was disciplining Him by these.  2Cor.12:7-11 clearly tells us that Paul's "thorn in the flesh," was a messenger or demonic spirit that was sent by satan himself, to stop the preaching of the Glorious Gospel of Grace that Jesus revealed to Paul.  Paul spoke about some of his obstacles and said in Verse10, "he finally decided that in order to do what God told him to do, he was pleased and took pleasure in the attacks, because he knew that when he was weak in human strength, he was strong in Divine Strength."

     God didn't give Paul the thorn in his flesh, satan did.  God gave Paul the Revelation of the new creation, so satan tried preventing Paul's preaching about the new creation people to the world, by putting this thorn of the flesh on Paul.  The enemy's attacks couldn't stop Paul in the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  We should begin seeing that when trials and persecutions come, it's sometimes because we're doing something right and satan doesn't like it.  God wasn't disciplining Paul for doing something wrong.  God upheld Paul by His Own Power, when Paul was weak in his flesh and might have wanted to give up.  Paul was so determined to do the work of the ministry, he simply endured all the enemy could throw at him.  AND WITH GOD, HE EXCELLED.  

Developing the New Creation Lesson 74

      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."  

     Believers have asked me, "Why do Christians need to read God's Word?"  Do we do it, because it's a religious duty or because it makes us feel like we're doing a good work and win approval or is it the only way we can find out who we've been created to be in Jesus?  If we're new creations, then who are these new creation men and women and what is his/her function?  Jesus told His followers 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."

     Our Heavenly Father is a Spirit, according to John4:24(Amp), which says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and Truth (reality)."  We are Spiritual beings, according to Col.2:9-10(Amp), which says, "For in Him the whole fullness of Deity, the Godhead continues to dwell in bodily form giving complete expression of the Divine nature And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of Life, in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-and reach full Spiritual stature. And He is the Head of all rule and authority, of every angelic principality and power."  Eph.2:19(Amp) says, "Therefore you are no longer outsiders (exiles, migrants and aliens), excluded from the rights of citizenship, but now you share citizenship with the saints (God's Own people), consecrated and set apart for Himself, and you belong to God's Own household."

     Your Father is a Spirit, you are a spirit, God's Word is Spirit and Life, and the reflection viewed from the mirror of God's Word is the new creation spirit you've now become.  Gal.5:25(Amp) says, "If we live by the Holy Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. If by the Holy Spirit we have our Life in God, let us go forward, walking in line, and our conduct controlled by the Spirit."  The man/woman is the mirror is the new creation being, who is born of God, His Word, and His Holy Spirit.  The mirror that reflects this back to us, is God's Own Word, which reveals who we've now become in Him.

     James1:23-25(Amp) says, "For 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 natural face in a mirror For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless Law (the Law of Liberty), and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it (the mirror of the Word) being not a heedless listener who forgets, but an active doer who obeys, he shall be Blessed in his doing, his life of obedience."

     Paul writes about the mirror in 2Cor.3:18(Amp), saying, "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."  

    Christians read and study God's Word, in order to feed our new creation man/woman. 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 into completed salvation."  The new man/woman in the mirror, is the new creation spirit we've now become in Jesus.  Our Father is Spirit, Jesus is Spirit, the Word is Spirit, the Holy Spirit is Spirit and we 're also a spirit.

     The mirror of God's Word reflects back to us, who we've become in Christ and not who we once were.  The only way we'll know who and what we are created to be, is through the Perfect Law of Liberty.  The world can't tell us who we are, because it's still dead to God.  Our flesh can't tell us who we are, because it "conveys no benefit and there's no profit in it."  We read God's Word and listen to the Voice of our Heavenly Father, in order to know who our new creation spirit has become.

     There have been many things said of Christians and about our Spirit Father, but if we don't feed on the Spiritual milk of God's Word and the meat of the Word, then we will remain babes who aren't able to talk yet.  The world and some in the Church tell us that we're "still old sinners," "God is testing and proving us by trials, in order to make us grow," but the Spirit and God's Word prove us and make us grow.

     Jesus said in John15:20-21(Amp), "Remember that I told you, a servant is not greater than his master (is not superior to him). If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My Word and obeyed My teachings, they will also keep and obey yours. But they will do all this to you, inflict all this suffering on you because of your bearing My Name and on My Account, for they do not know or understand the One Who sent Me."  Those under the Law and in the world, didn't know or understand Jesus as a Man, as the Messiah, or by His Spirit.  The world and religion aren't much different today.  The only way to know who we've become in this new creation, is to look long and hard into the Mirror of God's Word and the Perfect Law of Liberty.

     1John3:2(Amp) says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children: it is not yet disclosed and made clear what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall, as God's children, resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him in our natural fleshly body, but our new creation spirit man is made like and resembles Him just as He really is."  THIS IS THE MAN in the Mirror.  

Developing the New Creation Lesson 73

     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."  

     If we simply believe what the above scripture reveals to us, then we can discover what the Father has in-store for those He created through Jesus.  After giving the Great Commission, Jesus continued in Mark16:17-18(Amp) saying, "And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; In My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages, they will pick up serpents, and even if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they shall lay their hands on the sick and they will get well."

     The only limits placed of the working of miracles and having the Spiritual of God manifested, is that they're "for those who believe."  Can it be the true nature of God's new creation men and women of God, that these Spiritual demonstrations are limited only by what or if we believe?  Is this really the true identity of this new creation children of God?  Jesus didn't say in the above scripture that, "These are only for the early Church, for only the Apostles", or that He "doesn't do these things any longer."  The only restrictions Jesus placed on these attesting signs, is that they are for those who believe.

     Has the Church "adapted to and fashioned by the world's view, with it's rituals and customs," like Paul wrote in Rom.12:2, instead of realizing who we've become in Jesus?  The world needs to see the Manifestation of God, especially in these Last Days before Jesus' return.  We can't bring order or salvation to the lost, through religion and rituals.  The Super-natural Presence of God is essential for this time.  There is now a worldwide awakening in the Church and God is raising up a people who will dare to believe in the impossible, because they believe Matt.19:36, which tells us that, "With God, all things are possible."

     The worldwide Church is dealing with demonic and spiritual enemies that we're not used to dealing with.  These demonic forces will only heed the Power of God's Word and the Power of Jesus' Name and His Blood, coming forth from the lips the God's new creation children.  The Holy Spirit is beginning a move that will change everything, but only those who dare to "take the land," will enter into this move of the Spirit.  Only Joshua and Caleb believed God's Word and that they should "take the land" and they were the only two who entered the Promised Land.

     God Himself testifies in Heb.11, about those "who through faith, subdued nations and turned things around."  If this kind of faith still alive in today's Church?  Or, have we all lost sight of it?  Are those today who could attack a giant with nothing more than a sling shot or are we still relying on our own form of religion, having adapted to this age?

     The End-time Awakening is presently occurring in certain areas, but it will soon spread out to cover the entire earth.  Will we be those who believe and demonstrate the Super-natural signs and wonders of God to the lost?  We don't put faith in our own ability and power, but we put our faith in the Greater One Who lives in us.  We might fail in our own might, but we can do all things in Him and the Power of His Might.

     This kind of faith has mostly been seen in small portions of the Body of Christ, but it is meant for all who will believe.  It will take a bold faith and the willingness to withstand the criticism of both the world and some in the Church, in order to step into the calling and Anointing that is now living in every born-again believer.

     Paul instructs the Church in Rom.12:2Amp), 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."  We're to be internal and Super-natural, instead of eternal and superficial.  Many today, have stopped in our faith of the Super-natural things of the Lord.

     We've adapted to the world's view of God, instead of what the Word tells us about Him.  Many will be critical, believing that if we walk and believe in God's Promises, then we're foolish.  Some will believe it's over-the-top to walk in God's Blessing, instead of the Curse.  Others still have unrenewed minds and believe you can never know God's will.  Paul goes on in the above scripture saying, "When you renew our mind by God's Word, you can prove for yourself what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God for yourself."  Is this true or was Paul just trying to fill pages in his letter to the Church?

     It's difficult to truly walk in the Truth of God's Word, when we don't know if we're in God's will or are fighting against His will.  We can't exercise faith, when we're in doubt and are confused about what we're doing.  Is it still God's will to heal?  We need to know and be assured about His will.  Jesus said, "I came not to do My will, but the will of the Father, and when you see Me, you have seen the Father."  If Jesus did it, then it was and is, always the Father's will.

     1John5:14-15(Amp) says, "And this is the confidence, the assurance, the privilege of boldness which we have in Him; we are sure that if we ask anything, make any request according to His will, in agreement with His Own Plan, He listens to and hears us. And if, since we positively know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know with settled and absolute knowledge that we have granted us as our present possessions the requests made of Him."  This is still True for us today, whether or not some choose not to believe it.  We must renew our minds by God's Word, until we know God's will for ourselves.     

    

Developing the New Creation Lesson 72

     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."

     The above scripture is an awesome revelation, about the newborn child of God.  Many think it means that we are saved and forgiven, but this isn't the full description of the new creation.  We were created new, which means that the person we once were, doesn't exist in God's eyes and we are a new creation.  The Father doesn't identify us by the flesh and carnal person we once were, but by the brand new being we now are.

     Most of us still identify ourselves by the old person, who is forgiven.  Through faith in Jesus though, we've been raised up from the dead together with Him and are new, resurrected creations.  Genesis tells us that, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  They didn't exist, until this time and the same is true about the new creation man/woman.  The new creation being didn't exist, until God created us new in Christ.  We must go to God's Word and discover who we've become, in order to fully understand and acknowledge this marvelous act of Love.

     The world tells us that we're not made new,  but are simply forgiven.  We've been born new of God's Word and the Spirit and like the heavens and earth, we don't have a past or sin, but are altogether new.  The only part of our old man/woman that remains, is lodged in our mind and memory, which didn't get created when our spirit did.  Most of us still live with the memories of who we used to be, but the old man/woman no longer exists in God's eyes.  This is why Paul instructs us to renew our minds by the Truth of God's Word.  When we read God's Word, we will begin to see ourselves like the Father now sees us and begin walking in the newness of Life.

     Many believe it's foolish and "over the top," to believe we're new creations, but it's pleasing in God's eyes and an act of faith in what Jesus has done.  Many believe it's prideful to think of ourselves as righteous before God, but it's pleasing and acceptable in His sight.  Coming before God's Throne of Grace as sinners, violates the very Laws of the Kingdom.  No sinner can come before His Throne, but is limited to the outer court.  Only the High Priest could come into God's Presence and that was only once a year and by sacrifice.  Jesus is our High Priest and provided Himself as a Sacrificial Lamb for all time and for all who will believe in Him.

     Jesus said in John 10:9(Amp), "I Am the Door."  He also said in John14:6(Amp), I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life, no one came to the Father except through Me."  It's unlawful by the Laws that govern God's Kingdom, to come to God by any other way, except through Jesus.  We had to be created in Him, because only He has the right, Righteousness or right standing to enter into the Very Presence of God.  Our old man/woman could never become righteous on our own, but we were made to be the righteousness of God, in Christ Jesus.  When we were created new, we were created in righteousness, with the Righteousness of Jesus Himself.  We must believe in what Jesus has done, in order to understand we are righteous in God's sight.

     Most have thought this could only be true when we put off these bodies of sin and flesh and are glorified.  If we wait until we die to become righteous before God, then we'll never make it.  God's Word says that, None were righteous, no not one."  We had to be created new, in order to enter in before God's Presence.  This has already been done, when Jesus was raised and judged by God Himself.  If we believe in the full power of this Truth and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we were judged in Him and have been found not guilty, like He was.

     The unrenewed mind of the flesh, will not allow us to believe this Truth, so we must renew our minds by God's Word.  We must believe God's Word, instead of the carnal feelings and the religious teachings of the world.  We spend our lives trying to become righteous in God's eyes, when our Sacrifice Lamb has already done it for us.  This keeps us from putting faith in God's answering our prayer or being able to "come boldly before Him."  It's not an act of our being good enough to enter in, but and act of putting faith in what the Father has done for us, by Grace.  Grace is already ours, but we must put faith in what Jesus has done, in order to walk in that Grace.  We are new creation who never existed before Jesus went to the cross, was judged for our sins and was justified by Almighty God Himself, Who pronounced Him innocent and pure before the Father.  We are in Christ Jesus and have been judged and found innocent of sin and righteous.

     The old man/woman was crucified with Christ and is now dead in God's sight.  Our old, unrenewed mind will keep us under condemnation, but he/she no longer has power over us.  The decisions we make as new creations, determine how we approach our new creation lives.  We will either come boldly before God's Throne of Grace or try to sneak in another way.  We must renew our minds with Truth, so we can enter into the Rest, that Jesus has already provided.  The unrenewed mind will continue condemning us about who we used to be, before receiving Jesus, but this is not longer who we are.

    

Developing the New Creation Lesson71

     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."  Notice, this scripture doesn't use the future tense, saying, "The fresh and new will come," but says it "has come."  We've been taught that this happens when we die and go to Heaven, but it happened already, when we received Jesus as our Savior and Lord.  The guilt and condemnation we have from mistakes we made in our past lives, have hindered our walk with God and held us in bondage.

     Heb.9:14(Amp) says, "How much more surely shall the Blood of Christ, Who by virtue of His Eternal Spirit (His Own preexistent, Divine Personality), has offered Himself as a  unblemished Sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the Ever Living God."  1John3:20-21(Amp) says, "Whenever our hearts in tormenting, self accusation make us feel guilty and condemn us, for we are in God's hands; For He is Above and greater than our consciences (our hearts), and He knows, perceives, understands everything, nothing is hidden from Him. And beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us (if they don't make us feel guilty and condemn us), we have confidence, complete assurance and boldness before God."
     When we accept the Truth of what Jesus' Sacrifice has completed for us, we can live free from the guilt and condemnation of who we were before we were created new in Him.  Jesus made us new creations, new creatures altogether, who have no past lives.  The Truth of what Jesus' Finished Works and what salvation holds for us, must be accepted by faith in His Sacrifice and Grace.

     We must renew our minds by God's Word and Truth, in order to be free from the old man who determined who we were before being born-again.  James1:22-25(Amp) tells us, "But be doers of the Word, obey the Message and not merely merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth; For 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 natural face in a mirror, For he thoughtfully observes himself and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless 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)."
     The faultless Law of Liberty is the covenant God has with His new creation people, and is based on our faith in the Sacrifice of Jesus Himself.  James tells us in the scripture above, that being and active doer of the Word, is and act of obedience.  When we receive the new creation life, we see who we've been made to be in Jesus, reflected back to us through faith in God's Word.

     This Grace is an act of God's Love and is a Gift that brings complete deliverance to us, when we receive it by faith.  It has nothing to do with our feelings or emotions, but is a simple act of faith in Jesus.  We can't develop in this new creation man/woman by listening to our conscience or feelings.  We must believe more in what God says about who we've now been made to be, rather than what our carnal mind tells us.  We'll have little confidence that God will hear or fulfill the requests we've made in prayer, if we live under the condemnation of who we once were.  Our conscience will burden us with the guilt, that is no longer ours.

     How can we forget all the sinful things we've done?  We must look into the faultless Law of Liberty and believe what God says, instead of the accusations satan makes against us.  We cannot enjoy God's free Gift of Grace, when we only remember who we once were, instead of who God has made us to be in Jesus.  Everything we have or enjoy, is by this free Gift of Grace.  It has nothing to do with what we deserve, but comes from faith in God's Love for us and the Finished Work of Jesus.  He bore what we deserve, so we can receive what we didn't deserve.  We've been made God's new creation family, through God's Love and the Blood of a Perfect Lamb Sacrifice, Jesus.

     We're not just forgiven sinners, when we have faith in what Jesus has done and in God's Promises, but we're brand new beings who have no past or stain of sin.  We've been made righteous with His Righteousness and are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus, by faith and Grace.  It must be accepted by faith in God's Word, not be feeling or emotions.  In order to develop our new creation being, we must believe what God says about us, instead of what the world, religion or our consciences say.  We must accept the faultless Law of Liberty.

     We must silence the guilt from our condemning consciences, by renewing our minds with God's Word, according to James1:22-23(Amp), which says, "Betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth."  James goes on in Verse23, saying that, "Accepting this Truth, is obedience to God."  Jesus said in John8:31-32(Amp), "If you abide in My Word, hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them, you are truly My disciples And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."

     Grace doesn't mean that we live in sin.  God's Grace provided the cleansing of the old man/woman/s conscience, so that satan can't keep us bound with guilt and condemnation.  We've been man free in Christ Jesus, by faith in God's free Gift of Grace.  

Developing the New Creation Leson 70

      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."  

     Understanding who we've now become in Jesus, determines how we approach God in faith and prayer.  The worldview and God's view of Christians, are completely different.  One is perception and the other is Truth.  Paul writes to the Church, in Rom.12:2(Amp), "Do not be conformed to this world (age), fashioned after and adapted to its external (superficial) customs, but be transformed, changed by the entire renewal of your mind, by its new ideals and its new attitude, so that you may prove for yourselves what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing that is good and acceptable and perfect in His eyes for you."

     We've been taught that we're still sinners and not the Righteousness of God.  The external, superficial customs of the world, tell us that we "can't be righteous, until we get to Heaven," but God's Word says that we've been created new, are righteous and cleansed by the Blood of Jesus.  We've adapted to and conformed to this world (age), because of man-made religion, when the Power of Jesus' Sacrifice has already provided our liberty from the guilt and condemnation of who we used to be, before making Jesus our Savior.

     It requires spending time in God's Word, to discover who and what we've been made to be in our new creation being.  The above scripture says that we can "know and approve for ourselves, what God's Perfect will is for us."  What has God called us to be and what has He called us to do?  What is His Perfect, Good and acceptable will for our lives?

     Many in today's Church, don't know or understand what God's will is.  Paul prays for all of us who make us God's Body (the Church), in Col.1:9-10(Amp), saying, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it (their love in the Holy Spirit, Verse8) have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom, in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things, that you may walk, live and conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God, with fuller, deeper and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition."

     Paul continued praying for the Church in Colossus and for all in God's Church, through the rest of the chapter.  This prayer is for all who will accept the Truth of his prayer.  The Revelation given to Paul, reveals who the new creation man/woman is made to be and what we're capable of doing and how we can know God's will and heart.

     Religion and the world tell us that "no one can know God's will or heart.  We've been erroneously  taught by carnal minded, man-made religion and customs.  Paul writes about the Israelites and those who came up under the Law, in Rom.10:2-3(Amp), saying, "I bear them witness that they have a certain zeal and enthusiasm for God, but it is not enlightened and according to correct and vital knowledge. For being ignorant of the Righteousness that God ascribes, which makes one acceptable to Him in word, deed, and thought, and seeking to establish a righteousness, a means of salvation of their own, they did not obey or submit themselves to God's Righteousness."

     These people had a "zeal and enthusiasm" for God, but they were without the correct and vital knowledge of Him.  Many today have a zeal for God, but lack a correct and vital knowledge of Who He really is and who He has made us to be.  Many decide to establish our own way of doing things, which results in our being disobedient and  not being submissive to God.  

     It's one thing to read God's Word and another to believe what we've read.  Many have read what God's Word says about the new creation family of God, but are waiting to take our place in His family.  We look more on the flesh, with it's unrenewed mind, to accomplish what we desire to be in Christ.  Jesus did all the hard work on the cross.  Our job is to believe in what He has done and enter into the Rest of God, by faith in what God's Grace has already provided for us.

     Our old minds must be renewed, so we can know what we've been created to be.  Before being saved, we were trained and brought up in this natural environment.  Now that we've been born-again, our natural minds have become stumbling blocks to Spiritual things and insight into them.  Our mind has retained things we still need and use in this world.  We still know how to spell, drive, dress ourselves and do these necessary natural things, but the Spiritual knowledge we need, only comes through God's Word and His Holy Spirit, Who lives in our new creation spirit man/woman.

     There's a big difference between the earth and the world.  The world system was established after Adam's fall.  It was and is, anti-God.  This is why our unrenewed minds must be changed and brought into submission to God's Word.  Our trying to reach and know God by the world's standard, is futile and useless, according to Rom.8:7(Amp), which says, "That is because the mind of the flesh with its carnal thoughts and purposes, is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law, indeed it cannot." 

      

Developing the New Creation Lesson 69

     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."  When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we weren't just forgiven.  We were made new creations, without sin or guilt from our past lives and complete in Him, without the stain of sin in our new man/woman.  Jesus' complete Sacrifice didn't cover our sins, like those in the old covenant, but completely removed them.  We were created new and are righteous and holy in God's sight.

     The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church, about renewing our minds with God's Word.  This is something each born-again person does on his/her own.  Paul wrote about studying to show ourselves approved in 2Tim.2:15(Amp), saying, "Study and be eager and do your upmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing (rightly handling) and skillfully teaching the Word of Truth."

     Here's what Paul told the Church in Rome, saying in Rom.12:2(Amp), "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 ideals and it's new attitude so that you may prove for yourself what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in His sight."

     Every new creation person are responsible to do this on his/her own.  The only things remaining from our old man/woman are the memories stored in our minds over the years in the world.  We thought like those who were unsaved and lost, until we became new creations in Christ Jesus.  Our renewed minds still remember the things our flesh enjoyed and participated in, before we were born-again.  Our old man/woman has stored memories our flesh partook of.

     Eph.4:22-24(Amp) says, "Strip yourselves of your former nature, put off and discard your old unrenewed self which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion. And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind, having a fresh mental and Spiritual attitude and put on the new nature, the regenerate self created in God's Image, God like in true Righteousness and Holiness."

     After reading the above scripture, we can understand why Paul warned us about "adapting to this world (age) and it's external and superficial customs."  The worldview of Christianity and what The Bible tells us about Christianity, are two very different things.  Some Christians haven't renewed their minds by God's Word and don't understand the new creation person they've become in Jesus.  They struggle with their past lives, along with the guilt and condemnation of their old man/woman, because they haven't renewed their minds by the Truth of the new creation being they've become.

     The mind didn't get born-again when our spirit did, so it still think like it did before.  We were trained up by the world, the good and bad, and our carnal mind is still hostile towards God and His Word, according to Rom.8:7(Amp), which says, "That is because the mind of the flesh with its carnal thoughts and purposes is hostile to God and it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot."  Our carnal mind will stayed fixed on who we once were, with the habits of our old man/woman.  We must train it by our new creation spirit, as described by God's Word and His Spirit. 

     Paul describes our looking into the Word of God, like looking into a mirror, in 2Cor.3:17-18(Amp), saying, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). All of us as with unveiled face, because we continued to behold in the Word of God as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His Very Own Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord Who is the Spirit."   

     The worldview of a Christian, is an old sinner saved by Grace.  God's Word says that Christians are new creations, who are without any stain or blemish of sin, to the Glory of God.  We seldom see ourselves like God sees us, because we haven't renewed our minds, which were programmed by the flesh.  The world establishes habits and thoughts in our minds, which must be replaced by God's Word and the Holy Spirit.  

     We weren't born as flesh and blood people, with corrupt minds.  Everything in our minds aren't wrong, but the things that oppose God are.  Learning to drive a vehicle isn't offensive to God,  The old, sinful things our minds learned over time, must be replaced by our new creation mind of Christ.  We retain such things as spelling and doing math, because they're not in opposition to God or His Word.  The condemnation and guilt that our mind continues to bring up, must be renewed and replaced by God's Word, which tells us that we've been made new and without sin, in Jesus.  

     God never intended that we are miserable in this life, but wants us to fully enjoy life, even more than we ever thought was possible.  We can be new creation people, who enjoy camping with out family or going to the fair with our friends.  These things aren't sinful.  Jesus said in John10:10, "I have come that you may enjoy life abundantly, to the fullest."   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Developing the New Creation Lesson 68

      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."  The only way we know how understand and develop this new creation being, is through God's Word.  Our carnal minds can't accept or receive the Truth that we've been made new creations in Christ Jesus.  Our carnal way of thinking keeps us skeptical about being totally forgiven.  We're unsure of the standing we have with our Heavenly Father and live in the bondage of guilt and condemnation.  The only way to stop our consciences from condemning us, is by knowing and putting faith and trust, in the Fullness of Jesus' Sacrifice.

     We've not become righteous or children of God on our own.  The only thing we've done is to receive Jesus as our Lord and by Grace and faith, receive our new identity in Him.  We judge our righteousness, by our mistakes and failures.  Our righteousness can and will fail, but God never fails.  The above scripture tells us that we were "ingrafted in Christ," so we've become what He is.  He is Righteous and in Him, we've become righteous with His Righteousness and not our own.

     Jesus died on Calvary's cross for us, because we couldn't do it for ourselves.  This changed everything for mankind.  Jesus took all the wrath and punishment that we deserved and when He was judged, we were judged.  When He was judged, we were judged.  When Jesus was justified, by faith in Him, we were justified.  When He died, we also died and when He was raised, we were raised.  When Jesus became the Curse and was raised into the Blessing, we were redeemed from the Curse and the Blessing is now upon all who are in Christ Jesus.

      We've been waiting for God to do something, when in reality, He has already done it all for us.  When Jesus went to the cross in our place, it was as if we went to the cross.  Everything Jesus did was for us.  He didn't need to be forgiven, because He was without sin.  He took our sins and iniquities.  He was innocent and was justified by the Father.  Those who put our faith in Jesus' Substitution work, are also justified.

     God's Word tells us about Jesus, Who was yet to come, in Is.53:11(Amp), saying, "He, Jesus, shall see the fruit of the travail of His Soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself which He possesses and imparts to others, shall My uncompromisingly Righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many righteous (upright and in right standing with God). For He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt with the consequences, says the Lord."

     The world's view and The Bible's view of Christianity, are very different.  Of course, we try living clean, moral lives, but that's not the extent of God's Life that now lives in us.  The early Church placed their faith in the Finished Work of Jesus and changed the world.  Those in the Upper Room  prayed in Acts4:29(Amp), saying, "And now Lord, observe their threats and grant to Your bond servants full freedom to declare Your Message fearlessly. While You stretch our Your hand to cure and perform signs and wonders through the Authority and by the Power of the Name of Your Holy Child and Servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they continued to speak the Word of God with freedom and boldness and courage."

     The Cancel Culture came for them, but didn't stop their pursuit of Truth.  Jesus cannot be canceled.  When was the last time you felt a building shake when you prayed?  When was the last time, the Holy Spirit followed your prayers with signs and wonders?  The world's view of who we are and God's view of who we are in Christ, are two separate things.  Even if we don't acknowledge or walk in the Truth of God's Word, it is still Truth.  Do we really expect God to show up when we pray or is it simply a formality?  We need to have faith in our prayers, so the world can see that our "God is not dead, but is surely Alive."

     Many believers think that trusting in God this far, is "over-the-top."  The Father thinks that this is how all of His newly created children are to live.  When someone has their prayers answered, we look upon them as being "special."  All of God's children are special and prayer is as much a part of our lives with Him, as breathing.  This is part of developing the new creation.  

     We must learn to trust in God's hearing our prayers and answering them, by His Ability.  Many look upon prayer, like playing the lottery, with a one in two trillion chance of having our prayers answered.  Prayer should be an assurance in our lives and not a chance.  Jesus said in John15:7(Amp), "If you live in Me (abide vitally united to Me), and My Words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you."

     The above scripture hasn't passed away and isn't for a few in the early Church, but is for "everyone who lives and abides vitally united to Jesus."  His Words "continue to live in our hearts."  This isn't "over-the-top" to Him, but is His invitation to enter into His Throne Room of Grace and have our prayers answered.  This is God's view of the new creation children of God.  When we settle for the world's view, instead of God's view, then we're disappointed by God's lack of response to our unbelief.