Text Box: Weekly sermon 5-6-07 Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 5:17-21  "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new".  "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation"; "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation". "Now the we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God".  "For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him". I love this passage here, there is SO much to see in these 5 verses, some very personal blessings directly from God. Lets look at a these right from the Bible how God implies this to us personally. 1) It brings one into Christ in verse 17. The ONE that it is talking about is YOU and me. 2) One is a new creature also in verse 17. "A new creature", this is an exciting part. We are no longer the person that we were, as in spirit or flesh. This means that no matter what we have done in our past it has all been wiped clean and made new. Just as it is in the next one; 3) Old things in us are passed away. The Greek word for old here is archaios, ancient, original, old. This means the original you is no more, that the old you has spiritually passed away. Christ has taken the old things from us spiritually when He died on the cross when He died for us. 4) In verse 17 we also see that all things are new. This means we the things in our lives are now the total opposite of what they were before we were in Christ. 5) All things are of God in verse 18. If we are truly in Christ as a true Christian as we should, then we would never permit anything to come into our lives that was NOT of God. So with that in mind, all things that are in us as true Christians is of God, because of His grace. Romans 6:14 says "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under the grace. 6) One is reconciled to God in verse 18. To reconcile is to bring into agreement or harmony. So we are now brought into harmony with God, and this happened through the death of Christ and of us being in Him. Romans 5:10 says " For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son..." 7) We have part in the ministry of reconciliation as it says in verses 18-20. As it says in 1 Corinthians 1:18, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God". It should be a blessing to us that we have the power of God to be able to minister reconciliation or others into His harmony. 8) One has been trusted with the word of reconciliation in verse 19. This means all the words in the Bible He has entrusted them to us, just as it says in Mark 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature". This means all the words that we have entrusted to us, we should go and tell these words to gain others to His harmony. 9) One is an ambassador of God in Christ's stead in verse 20. Just as it says in Proverbs 13:17 "A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health". This means we should be a good ambassador for God, in Christ's stead, meaning we are taking the place or being the successor to Christ. And if we are a good ambassador then it is spiritually healthy to us. 10) We are made the righteous of God in Christ in verse 21. God made His Son sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God in Him. Just as Romans 3:22 says "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe..." Just think about the personal blessings I have mentioned. I know there is a few of them that we have covered, but this area excites me a lot. These blessings give us so much power, because of the harmony or same plane we are in with God when we become the "new" and let the "old" pass away. And all this is done just by one thing, BELIEVE. Believe that God made His Son be sin, to die on a cross for us, and raise again to show us that He has defeated sin. If we believe on these things, then we are that new person that it speaks of here and reconciled with God. It seems so hard to believe that a sinful man could have a relationship with the Almighty God, but through the saving grace of Jesus Christ, we have just that, and that is the part that really excites me here. If you have never believed and became that "new creature" then please come and say this simple prayer. God make me that new creature, make all my old pass away, and cleanse my soul of all impureness, that I may be an ambassador for you God and reconciled with you. Amen. If you have said this simple prayer then please drop us a line to allow us to celebrate with you on your being a new person, and send you a few things on your new walk as a new creature. With Love in Christ, Pastor Stone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               

                                             

The Christian Counter
The Christian Counter