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Good morning, everyone. Last week we began to explore what it really means to be in Christ. We went back to the beginning, where life began, the Garden of Eden.
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We saw that God’s dream for mankind was revealed there. We learned that being in Christ was God’s intention from the beginning. Mankind was created in the image and likeness of God, children of God, wrapped in his glory and in union with him. They were wrapped in light, surrounded by light and circled in light and covered by light before the fall. That’s all they knew. That’s who they were created to be. That’s where they were created to be in him, here on Earth. From all of this, we discovered our place of being, our purpose and our position.
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God equipped mankind to go forth and be all they were created to be. We were empowered with the power and authority to be and to do by the power and authority that flows from
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the throne of God.
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We were empowered to advance, to make progress, to succeed and to profit from that blessing. We were given the capacity to be fruitful, to multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. And that word subdue means using all of its vast resources in the service of God and man. And then we were given dominion over the Earth, the power of governing and controlling throughout the Earth, of ruling and reigning here on the earth. That’s where God positioned us. With his power and authority. We have dominion as children of God. We are members of the royal family and crowned by God with his power, his power, dominion and rulership.
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Then the enemy convinced Adam and Eve there was more than what God was telling them, that there must be a better way. So they ate the fruit and everything changed. Fear began to rule. Confusion came like an ever changing kaleidoscope. We lost our understanding and our sense of place, our sense of being, our
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sense of purpose, our position.
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Man began a journey redefining our identity and who we were. However, the good news Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians 5:17, it’s when we become a follower of Christ, accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We stop being what we once were and begin being who we are now. A new man, a new woman, a child of God in Christ. 2nd Corinthians 5:17 in the Amplified Classic says, therefore, if any person is engrafted in Christ, the Messiah, he is a new creation, a new creature altogether. The old, previous and moral condition has passed away. Behold the fresh and New has come today. I want to review with you where we left off last week and then move ahead.
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We are going to look back at
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this verse,
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2nd Corinthians 5, 17.
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Once we get there, a verse, a word or a phrase at a time,
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we have the right and the opportunity in Christ to reclaim our place of
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being, our purpose and our position. All God gave mankind in the beginning is ours today because Christ paid the price to redeem mankind and put us back into our proper place, our purpose, our position. And Paul talks about this, as I said last week, in Ephesians 2, 6, 10. In fact, let me read that to you today. Ephesians 2, 6, ten in the amplified Classic says, and he raised us up together with him and made us sit down together, giving us joint seating with him in the heavenly sphere by virtue of our being in Christ Jesus, the Messiah, the Anointed One. He did this that we might clearly demonstrate. He did this that he might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable, limitless, surpassing riches of his free grace.
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Wow.
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Hallelujah.
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His unmerited favor and his kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.
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For it is by free grace God’s unmerited favor in his kindness and goodness of heart.
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Hallelujah.
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God’s unmerited favor.
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Wow. Man, that just keeps washing over me. That we are saved and delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation through our faith. And this salvation is not of ourselves, of our own doing. It came not through our own striving, but it is the gift of God. Not because of works, not the fulfillment of the laws of man. Lest any man should boast, it is not the result of what anyone can possibly do. So no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.
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For we are God’s own handiwork, his workmanship created in Christ Jesus born anew that we may do those good works which God predestined and planned ahead for, for us for taking paths which he prepared ahead of time that we should walk in them, living the good life which he prearranged and made ready for us to live.
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Wow.
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Wow.
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Wow.
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Wow.
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There’s a whole lot in those few verses, but that kind of summarizes everything that we’re talking about. This is what God did for us through the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, so that now our primary identity becomes Christlike. We are in the image and likeness of God once again. We become bearers of light carrying the image of God. And as a part of this, we are again fully empowered to advance, to make progress, to succeed, and to profit in whatever way he has called us to serve. That might be through family, that might be through religion, through education, through the media, arts, entertainment, sports, business or government. God can use any of those areas of focus to bring people back to Him. As children of God, we are encouraged to occupy leadership roles within these sectors of influence, to align culture with Christian values.
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We are reclaiming our position of dominion in every area of life. As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5:20 we are ambassadors for Christ. One of our primary tasks as ambassadors is to work with God and reconciling people to Himself, bringing them back into the family of God, into their place, their purpose, their position. And so here’s what 2nd Corinthians 5:18 21 says. This is from the new King James Version. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us to implore you on Christ’s behalf. Be reconciled to God, for He made him, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
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No matter your age or stage, a believer’s primary role is the ministry of reconciliation. It’s connecting people to God through Christ. And we do that just by living
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our lives in a way that brings glory to him, as Paul said, as
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though God were making his plea through us.
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Be reconciled to God.
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You have the opportunity every day to reflect the life, the light, the love of God to everyone you’re around.
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Hallelujah.
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And to open the door for them
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to be reconciled to God. Excuse me.
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Reconciliation is simply the opportunity to reclaim your place of being, your eternal purpose,
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and your position in Christ.
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At every stage of life and every age. You have more opportunities to see people transformed and brought back in Christ than ever before. And God wants to be present with us as his image bearers as we fill the earth with more of his children.
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Hallelujah.
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It’s not just filling the earth with our natural born children, it’s filling the earth with his, with those who become
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his children through Jesus Christ.
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So let’s begin to look at the meaning of this verse word by word. 2nd Corinthians 5:17 New King James Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now, I’m going to review this. We talked about this last week, but I want to review it so we get up to speed here. But we Talked about the 12 Ways in Christ is defined there in the Greek. And so let me summarize this for you and go back over those.
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In Christ means denoting a fixed position. We’re in place, state, time. It means to be implanted, intimately connected in means, by implication, instrumentally, a relation of rest. If we are in Christ, we’re in
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a place of peace and rest.
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It means a person to whom another is wholly joined and to whose power and influence he is subject. It’s the place in which we live and move and have our being, where the power and blessing operates resulting from that union together.
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Hallelujah.
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It is the thought, the soul of Christ. It is the mind of Christ. If we are in Christ, we have
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the mind of Christ, the mind, the
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power, and the life of Christ is ours.
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In Christ, the anointed one, whose power is operative in you is where you live.
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Hallelujah.
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You live in the life of Christ. You live as an anointed one. Being in Christ reflects that in which something is manifest, a new being. You become a new creature. It means to exchange one thing for another. Exchange what was the old man for? What is the new man, the new being, Christ. Anointing that which a person is surrounded with, equipped with, and furnished with, and assisted by.
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Hallelujah.
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We are in Christ, and so all
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of that is ours.
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It means to be furnished with the spirit and regal power of the Messiah, possessed of his kingly power.
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Wow. Wow.
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We have his kingly power. If we are in Christ, we’re furnished with regal power.
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Hallelujah.
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Glory to God. Engrafted, as it were in Christ, in fellowship and union with Christ and with the Lord. And we see this. Jesus gives us this example in John, chapter 15, verses 4 and 5, and this is from the Amplified classic. He says this. Dwell in me, and I will dwell in you. Live in me, and I will live in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in being virtually united and vitally united to the vine.
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Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever lives in me and I in him bears much abundant fruit. However, apart from me, cut off from vital union with me, you can do nothing. And that’s what it means to be engrafted in Christ. It means that We’ve been put into life with him. We have become a branch of his vine.
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Hallelujah.
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To be in the power of and be actuated and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:11. The Amplified says this. And if the spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who raised up Jesus Christ from the dead will also restore to life your mortal, short lived, perishable bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Another version of that translated his life. The Holy Spirit.
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Hallelujah.
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Gives you life and strength each and every day. That’s a part of what the Holy
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Spirit is doing within us.
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Praise God. Praise God. Praise God.
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Thank you Lord, for your spirit.
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Hallelujah.
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For your Life.
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So those 12 things are the things
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that in Christ means.
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And again it goes back to this.
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Everything that the enemy stole, Christ won back and redeemed us and put us
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back in that place where all of that is ours now.
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And so if we are in Christ, it goes on to say that we are new. We are new. Not only are we new, we are of a new kind.
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Unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of.
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A new character of manhood, spiritually and morally.
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We live after the pattern of Christ.
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Hallelujah.
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It also means that all things are new. All things are new, previously non existent. So you are recreated in Christ. In a way, you are a completely new being. You are far different from what you were before.
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Hallelujah.
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Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father.
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Hallelujah.
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Sorry, Toby, we might have to edit this, but all right, I’m back.
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Pray to God. Praise God.
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Glory to King.
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Glory to God. Glory to God.
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Here we go. All things are new. They were previously non existent. You are far different from what you were before. You were a completely new man, new person. Ephesians 4:24 in the Amplified says this
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and put on the new nature, the
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regenerate self created in God’s image, Godlike and true righteousness and holiness.
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Hallelujah.
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Praise God.
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That is so true. That is so true.
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Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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We are a new creation. That means new being, a new creature.
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Hallelujah.
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We have been founded, established. We are being built up in Christ Jesus. A new creation is the product of a creative act. When you were redeemed and saved.
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Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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God worked in you creatively, to reproduce
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you, to make you completely new. In consequence of the creative act that came to be as you accepted Christ, you became a new creature. First Corinthians 1:30 says this but of him are you in Christ, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
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Hallelujah.
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When we became recreated in Christ, he
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became wisdom to us. He became our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. That’s who God is to us, that who Jesus is to us.
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And we are in him.
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So we have wisdom. We are righteous, we are sanctified, we are redeemed. And old things, that which was from the beginning times, the old conditions, that which characterized and conditioned the time previous to our conversion, they are passed away and they have become new. Our life after conversion takes on a new complexion, and we view it and see it in an entirely different way. And people view us and see us in an entirely different way. Our previous moral condition is washed away and we have a new one.
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We’re rewriting history.
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Hallelujah.
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Praise God.
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So old things are passed away. They perish. Old things are averted. We don’t belong to them any longer, and they no longer belong to us.
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Hallelujah.
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So behold.
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And that word there, behold, means to see. Call attention to what may be seen or heard or thought of mentally, any way it may be apprehended.
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Behold.
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Behold, bids the reader, the hearer, whoever is looking on. To pay attention to what is being said here. Means listen. Especially when a thing is being specified which seems impossible and yet occurs. You know, I bet there are people that thought.
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I never would have thought he’d have
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came to be a believer and embrace Christ. Man, he seemed so far off track,
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but look at him now.
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Wow. All things, all the old have passed away. All things have become new.
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All things.
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It means each other. Every, any, all.
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The whole.
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Everything.
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Everyone.
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All things.
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Everything.
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One definition says it radically means all. Not just some, not a part, but all. All things to the highest degree, the maximum, have become new. And that word, phrase, there are become. It means to cause, to be.
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When you receive Jesus Christ as your
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Lord and Savior, he causes you to be, to become, to come into being that new person, that new being in Christ he ordains you to be. You are ordained of the Lord God. He changes your condition, your state, your place. He positions you where he created you to be. You were brought to your predestined end.
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Hallelujah.
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What God has intended for you from the beginning is yours. In Christ,
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you are received. Christ receives you. Father.
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God receives you.
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The Holy Spirit receives you. You are received. You are a being of God, a spiritual man, a spiritual woman
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made in the likeness and image of God our Father.
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You were made. And you were becoming every day more
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and more and more like Christ, because you were in Christ and you’re going from faith to faith.
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Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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Praise God. Praise God.
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And all things are new and new. There, as we said before, is that which is unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of, that new character, that new spiritual and moral outlook and pattern that follows after Christ. All things are new.
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Praise God. Praise God. Praise God.
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And therefore you are new. 2nd Corinthians 4:2 says, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience
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in the sight of God.
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We’re going to do and live and
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be in God’s image and serve him and bring glory to him.
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2nd Corinthians 5:17.
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In the Amplified classic, therefore, if any person is engrafted in Christ the Messiah,
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he is a new creature, a new creation. The old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away.
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Behold, the fresh and new has come.
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Hallelujah.
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We are in Christ. And being in Christ
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refers to a personal relationship with Jesus, being part of his family.
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It’s not about relying on our own self or strength. It’s not about religious rituals.
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It’s about a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus.
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Being a new creation means that the Spirit of God is working in us, creating a radical change in us, regenerating us.
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Hallelujah.
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Renewing us each and every day.
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Hallelujah.
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It’s not just an improvement of the old self. It is a transformed being, a transformed way of living. Christ has made you new, and the Holy Spirit is living and working in you every day. Day to see that new man, that
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new woman, come forth in Jesus name.
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The old is gone. The new has come. The past sins and addictions and old ways of thinking and being and doing their move, they’re removed. They no longer exist. You’ve been offered a fresh start, a
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new man spiritually, spirit, soul and body.
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You are new.
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Spirit, soul and body.
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Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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We are reconciled to Christ.
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And because of reconciliation, and because we’ve been given the message of reconciliation, the
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ministry of it, we are empowered to
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be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth with believers, subdue and use all the vast resources around us to take dominion and rule and reign here in the earth for the glory of God and in
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the service of mankind. Praise God. So be it. So be it. So be it.
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Matthew 10:32 in the King James Version says, whoever so therefore shall confess me before men.
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Him will I confess also before my Father, which is in heaven. If you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord, Lord and Savior. He’s confessed you before the Father. He said he.
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Look, Lord, we got a new child here. New son, a new daughter.
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Praise God.
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New member of the family. Oh, yeah, you. You created them from the beginning, remember?
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Praise God.
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Look, they’re here with us now.
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God loves you.
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God has a purpose for you.
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God has a plan for you. God has a place for you.
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God has a position for you in Christ. And that’s where he wants us. That is where he wants us. Praise God. Say this with me, everybody. Say this with me today in the name of Jesus.
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I want to live and move and have my being in Christ Jesus. You are my Lord. You are my Savior. Thank you for redeeming me and making me completely new. And thank you for working in me by your Holy Spirit and transforming me.
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Spirit, soul and body.
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I surrender myself to you.
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Declare you are my Lord and Savior in Jesus name. Amen.
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Praise God.
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If you just said that with me, if you’ve never said that, prayed something like that before, I’m telling you, you are now a member of the body of Christ.
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He has received you. Receive him and learn to walk in his way and live and move and be in Christ. Amen.
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Pastor Conia’s coming now with a closing thought and prayer. God bless you. Have an amazing week.
