Tag: all things new

All Things New Part 4

PART 4

With us wrapping up this series of “All Things New” we had 3 different highlights of how:

Part 1 — “God Loves Doing New Things” 

Part 2 — “Grace Makes Room for the New”

Part 3 — “ Growing in Christ”

Part 4 — “No More Idols”

Today in our last part of the series I would like to ask ourselves how do we maintain this “newness” of life and to sustain it. What are some points that we can ask ourselves?

One thing that will keep our hearts soft and receptacle of the Spirit are to have no idols. 

Jesus spoke in Matthew 22” …“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

That’s why we cant serve God and another god.

Matthew 6

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

ANYTHING THAT TAKES PLACE THAT ONLY GOD SHOULD HAVE IN OUR HEARTS IS AN IDOL.

REMEMBER:

WHAT WE BUILD WE CANNOT SUSTAIN

WHAT GOD BUILDS HE WILL SUSTAIN

Israel tried to serve other idols and God but found out that it cannot work that way.

1 SAMUEL 7:2-3

2 So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim a long time; it was there twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.

“THEY HAD THE ARK BUT NOT HIS PRESENCE” THEY CRIED OUT TO GOD FOR 20 YEARS UNTIL GOD SENT SAMUEL TO LEAD THEM. 

3 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.

REFLECT//

  1. RETURN TO GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART — HE WANTS OUR HEARTS FIRST.
  2. PUT AWAY ALL STRANGE GODS — IT TOOK ISRAEL MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS AFTER LOSING THE ARK TO REALIZE THIS.
  3. PREPARE YOUR HEART FOR THE LORD.
  4. SERVE HIM ONLY.
  5. HE WILL DELIVER. — WE ARE POWERLESS WITHOUT HIM, HE IS FOR US AND NOT AGAINST US.

RESPOND//

WHATS A FOREIGN IDOL WE’VE BEEN CARRYING AROUND THATS CAUSING US TROUBLE OR TO WORRY, IS IT A SUBCONSCIOUS OBSESSION TO PLEASE EVERYONE EXCEPT GOD? 

Growing in Christ Part 3 of All Things New Series

All Things New Series Part 3

God all made us for His Glory, we are His creation and He has made us with intricate intent. We may think at times and question God concerning the situation we are in. You may feel like you are at a dead end but God sometimes has to bring us to the end of ourselves for us to acknowledge the only One who can get us out of the mess that we have made ourselves to be at times. We were wired and designed to grow in Christ. But this World is constantly trying to persuade us to give, to grow not in God but in our passions, our own desires that are not of God. 

Galatians 5:24 " Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires"

So what does it take to “Grow in Christ” Paul says it in Galatians 5:24 “Crucify the flesh” The only way that we can grow in Christ is when we are dead! Not physically speaking but to put off the flesh, Ephesians 4:22-24 says it better…

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

To “put off our old self” meaning to not live that life anymore. 

To throw it out!

God is saying be Holy!

To be set apart from sin and evil.

The Road to Growth is Holiness

We have to make intentional choices in order to grow. There is no growth without change, there is no change without loss without pain. If we are going to grow, you will have to change, and change means you let go of some old things and grab hold of some new things.

“Put off your old self”

24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

LET IT GO

> Old habits

>Old hurts

>Old patterns

>Old sins

Throw them off and trust that God is working in you because without holiness we are unable to see God. We are made holy through the finished work of Christ. 

Holiness has to be continuously followed, put on and lived out in our daily lives. It is a work of God in us through the Holy Spirit that enables us to demonstrate holiness outwardly.

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Grace Makes Room for the New PART 2 of All Things New Series

All Things New Series Part 2

GRACE MAKES ROOM FOR THE NEW

Jesus says in Mark 2:21-22…

21 No one sews a piece of un-shrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

What is was He saying? “Christ was bringing something new to the table and it wasn’t going to fit into their old religious system of self-righteousness. The beauty of grace is that it doesn’t patch us up. Grace doesn’t patch our guilt our shame, it doesn’t patch up our mistakes our failures. Grace renews us, it transforms us, grace replaces!

The old is dingy, the new is fresh and bright. The old is done changing. The new moves and stretches. When you put a new shirt in the dryer, the heat causes it to shift in size. Jesus says “this new covenant of grace I bring…it moves. And you can’t expect to wear your old nasty dirty garments and expect to use the grace of God as a patch over your broken places. “Jesus ‘ grace is fresh for today. It won’t match up with that old garment. And when the heat comes on, you’ll find out grace is active. It’ll only continue to expose the rips and tears. In fact, Grace will make them bigger. Grace is destructive. Grace isn’t in the remodeling or refurbishing. It’s in the replacement business.   

WE CAN’T BRING THE OLD INTO THE NEW

WE CAN’T BRING OUR OLD WAYS INTO THE NEW

WE CAN’T PUT SOMETHING OLD INTO SOMETHING NEW

WE CAN’T BRING THE PAST INTO THE NEW

GOD IS SAYING MAKE ROOM FOR THE NEW!

2 Timothy 2:21

21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Never will you empty out that God won’t pour in!