The New You
The New You
April 26th and 27th, 2003
(water baptism and baby dedication)
Introduction
We just had Easter and this is springtime and a season of new beginnings. God specializes in new beginnings. He raises the dead and creates good things out of bad things. Everybody likes new stuff, the smell of a new car, the feel of new jeans. We all like to leave the past behind and start over.
1. GOD MAKES NEW THINGS
Lazarus
John 11
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, b the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
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38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
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-Under normal circumstances this would have ending differently.
-That should be the theme of your life, “under normal circumstances this would have ended differently” but because of Jesus it turned out GREAT!
-Everyone was working on getting over Lazarus and Jesus brought back the dead.
Jesus
John 12
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, u
/nless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [3]/
-When Jesus gave His life it looked like it was death but it just produced more life.
-Even death was a seed for life.
-The blood of the martyrs has only caused the church to grow.
Abraham
Romans 4
16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” c He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” d 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
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the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed
Message
Abraham was first named “father” and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, “You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!”
Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.” Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said.
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-God is a God who brings life to death and hope to hopeless situations.
2. IF YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN-HE RAISED YOU FROM THE DEAD
-We are waiting for the day when Jesus will return and give glorified bodies to His followers.
-Actually, you already died and received a new life. You were raised to life when you were born again.
Romans 6
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, a that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
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-2 Corinthians 5 says you are a NEW CREATION. Old things have passed away, behold the new HAS COME.
-You are new!
3. BE WHO YOU ARE NOW-NOT WHO YOU WERE
-Dion Robert, pastor of a huge church in the Ivory Coast said, “So that Christians will be instruments of victory to the glory of God, we must bring the church to embrace that they themselves must be erased. They must be humble in everything.”
-Doesn’t that make your flesh scream.
-In order to be new, we can’t keep holding on to who we were.
-You can’t be who you were and still be who you are now.
-God isn’t doing a REVISION but a RECREATION.
Colossians 3
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your a life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. b 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
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-If you want to find your life you have to look at jesus. Your life is hidden there.
-Clothe yourself with the virtues of Jesus.
-This is like getting dressed in the morning. Don’t leave home without Jesus’ clothes.
2 Corinthians 5 -The Message
Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.
Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins.
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-Don’t look back.
-We made a mistake when we saw Jesus only as a man and didn’t recognize who He really was.
-You can make the same mistake about yourself.
-You are who God said you are.
-God is an expert at removing limitations.
-You have to think new, talk new and be new.
-What do you do when others do it to you?
-What do you do when others try to put you in your place?
EXAMPLE: You don’t have to put a lid on a bucket full of crabs. They won’t let any escape. If one starts to crawl out the others will pull him back in.
EXAMPLE: Donkey story. A donkey was getting old so his master decided to bury him. The donkey kept having dirt thrown on him but each time he shook it off and stepped up. Finally when the hole was full the master turned around to see the donkey. He used the dirt thrown on him to get out of what was intended to be his grave.
Luke 4
“Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
-Jesus had just came from being told He was pleasing to the Father.
-The devil then showed up to question Him about whether He was the Son of God or not.
-He read a passage from Isaiah and proclaimed who He was.
-Then the people threw some dirt on Him.
Matthew 13-The Message
When Jesus finished telling these stories, he left there, returned to his hometown, and gave a lecture in the meeting house. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise, get such ability?” But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “We’ve known him since he was a kid; he’s the carpenter’s son. We know his mother, Mary. We know his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Judas. All his sisters live here. Who does he think he is?” They got their noses all out of joint.
But Jesus said, “A prophet is taken for granted in his hometown and his family.” He didn’t do many miracles there because of their hostile indifference.
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Jeremiah 1
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew a you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth.
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-God was saying and is saying; I CHOSE YOU /YOU REPRESENT ME.
-You can look at Moses, Gideon and others.
-They were successful only because they accepted who God said they were and could do, not their own opinion or the opinions of others.
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b Or Messiah
[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Jn 11:25-27. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Jn 11:38-44. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
[3]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Jn 12:23-25. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
c Gen. 17:5
d Gen. 15:5
[4]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Ro 4:16-22. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
[5]Peterson, Eugene H. The Message : New Testament With Psalms and Proverbs, Ro 4:1. Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1995.
a Or be rendered powerless
[6]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Ro 6:3-12. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
a Some manuscripts our
b Some early manuscripts coming on those who are disobedient
[7]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Col 3:1-14. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
[8]Peterson, Eugene H. The Message : New Testament With Psalms and Proverbs, 2 Co 5:1. Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1995.
[9]Peterson, Eugene H. The Message : New Testament With Psalms and Proverbs, Mt 13:1. Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1995.
a Or chose
[10]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Je 1:4-9. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
