A NEW LIFE

 

Many people are disappointed today as members of different church denominations because their reasons for joining the church could not be realized. They have expected a rapid change in their situation but none of those things is forthcoming. They knew there is a supernatural power of God, but they only believe it becomes effective through the ministry of a few individuals. I mean, through certain men or women with special gifts from God. They have concluded in their heart, the miraculous experience of God would not be possible until they have gone through these so-called men or women of God who can see visions and assign them some rituals or spiritual assignments before anything can happen in their lives. These groups of people have ignorantly made themselves slaves to the so-called attention-seeking pastors. But, how wrong they are? The manifestation of the power of God is not just to few individuals as erroneously believed by this vast majority of people. 

Please hear this! There is a manifestation of the power of God to profit with, in your life as a believer.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11, "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

8. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 

9. To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 

10. To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another, diverse kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 

11. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will".  

Now listen! The time of ignorance is over. Today, the truth is revealed in the word of God. You can imagine how painful it is to have been coming to church for a very long time with an expectation to get solutions to your many problems, but only to have waited for so long without any result. An end has come to that longtime waiting in the name of Jesus. 

Somebody may then ask, but, what could have been responsible for this unpalatable experience in the church today as earlier mentioned? Well, from experience, the individuals involved are just members of various church denominations, they are not members of the body of Jesus Christ. 

Please note, you may be a member of a church denomination without being a member of the body of Christ. But, you can not be a member of the body of Christ without being a member of a church denomination.

There is an old life that is in bondage to some old covenant in sin and there is a new life that has been set free from every curse of the law; Hebrews 8:12-13, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away". When a man has not had the new birth experience, he continues in the old way of life that is rooted in the Adamic nature of man. However, when he surrenders his life to Jesus, a new life of overcomer becomes active in him.  

WHAT IS THE OLD LIFE?

• The old life is a life that is characterized by sin because it is rooted in Adam. Psalm 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me". 
• It is a life that has never experienced a change of heart and it does not have what it takes to please God. Romans 8:8, "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God". 
• The old life has no regard for God, therefore, it has been condemned to eternal death, it is a life living under the curse of the law and a life that has been denied access to the original plan of God. Genesis 3:17-19, "And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt, thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return". 
• Every man on earth today inherited the old life from Adam by default. Genesis 5:3, "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth":
• However, Romans 6:1, 'What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?"  The response was God forbid, and this pointed us to the fact that there is a need for a new life.

WHAT IS THE NEW LIFE

• The new life is a life that is rooted in Jesus Christ, whose sins have been forgiven and have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Romans 6:3-4, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life". 

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO HAVE A NEW LIFE

• Repent and forsake your sinful ways. Romans 6:1, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" 
• Surrender or rededicate your life to Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new". 
• Accept that you are dead to sin and continue to live a life of victory over sin. Romans 6:11, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord". Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me". 
• Determine never to obey the lust of sin in your mortal body. Romans 6:12-13a, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin":  
• Be alive unto God always. Romans 6:13b, "but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God".
• The new life is a product of the new man in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:4, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life". The emphasis here is the fact that Jesus did not raise Himself from the dead, but was raised from the dead by the Father. Even so, we also would not have a new life by our power but would be empowered to walk in the newness of life by the same Father.
• The new life has what it takes to please God and this launch man into a new level of grace, anointing, prosperity, success, and so on.

CONCLUSION

A new life in the new covenant of grace demands a new you, give Jesus a chance in your life today.