“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB)
Last week, we started our Sunday Share meditation be quoting Pastor, M.R. King as follows, “You have an unmistakable identity; a child of God.” Pastor is preaching a series on our identity as believers. As always, there is something spoken that speaks specifically to each person who is attends service to hear God’s specifically sent message. I’ll share the title of the sermon in a minute but let me pass on some of the notes that seemed, I said “seemed,” directly meant for me. I’m still trying to encourage you to take good notes because of our human retention limitations. Here are some of my notes:
- Life changes us because of all we have been through. However, just because you have changes does not mean you are better. We need Jesus.
- There is a difference between making a change and being transformed. For example, we can start attending church more, but that does not make us better. We need Jesus. We can start giving more of time, talents, and treasures, but that does not make us better. We need Jesus.
- We can read more bible-based meditations, but that does not make us better. We need Jesus.
- We need to experience a spiritual metamorphosis similar to that experienced by a caterpillar. (Think hard on this one!) We need Jesus!
- After we have started the process of being transformed or the process of sanctification, we will still have to resist temptation, still deal with real-life situations, and still wrestle with old-nature inclinations. We need Jesus.
- Here is the one that justifies the title above: The past will call you, but you don’t have to answer!
Preaching from the text above, Pastor made two major points. I’ll list them but check the sermon out in its entirety by going to the Salt Of The Earth Church (Indianapolis) Facebook page. The points:
- In Christ = New Creation (Note: Surrendering and commitment are required. Your conduct needs to catch up with your confession!)
- Old things Passed = New Things Come! (Note: Stay united with Christ! Live by Him and don’t just belong to Him!)
Let me close with the scripture below, which not only points to the ongoing nature of transformation, but also it points to the fact that we need Jesus. Read it! Praise God! Be blessed!
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6 NASB 1995)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King
The title gives a great message in itself. When the past calls, don’t answer it. This is great way to keep your identity in place. Now that we’ve become a new creation, (I love the way Pastor described the new creature as the new creation.), our conduct needs to catch up with our confession. That’s priceless.
Great assessment and reinforcement of the word preached by our Pastor. Bless you!