New Creation Realities – Part 4

 

Ephesians 4:22 says,

“that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” 

We are going to talk about your heavenly identity new creation realities. You are not who you used to be. There is new life living in you, different in quality and that life is going to express itself through you if you will yield over to it.  Ephesians 4:23-24 says,

“²³and be renewed in the spirit of your mind ²⁴and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.” 

Now in the Kenneth Wuest translation, it reads,

²²that you have put off once for all  reference to your former manner of life the old self who is being corrupted according to the passionate desires of deceit, ²³moreover that you are constantly renewed with reference to the spirit of your mind; ²⁴ and that you have put on once for all the new self who after God was created in righteousness and holiness of truth.” 

I want you to see that these things never transpire on their own.  That is an important thing to know.  You are the one who puts off the old man and its reference to the way you used to be.  Now notice that it is the things you used to believe and the things you used to do that are inconsistent with your new nature.  They are attributes that are the byproducts of the old man’s dominion in your life.  The Bible says,

 “you have put him off once for all in reference to your former manner of life.”

He is antiquated.  He is outdated.  Why? Because the manner of life you experienced when he was dominating you is not the manner of life you are called to live and so you put him off.  It takes an act of faith to do that. That means you have to disassociate yourself with the identity you possessed before you were born again.  Now that is an act of faith isn’t it? It is saying that “I am dead to and separated from both the old man and his influence, as well as, the manner of life I used to live which was the result of his influence over my life.” So once for all you do that through an act of faith.  Now how many of you know that you need to remember that you did that in order to enforce what you did?   You can set a certain thing and you could put it on and you can say, “this is the way it is”, but if you forget that you did that, then it can later on creep up and become a problem. It doesn’t mean you didn’t do it, it means you forgot you did it and you forgot to enforce and stand by the decision you made.   So here, in reference to the old manner of life, in reference to the old ways, the old man, the power of the devil, you have once for all put it off.

How many want to do that – be disassociated from the old nature?  Then it says, “That old man is being corrupted.” Now you put him off, haven’t you? So guess what – he is being corrupted, but he is not part of you. If you put him off, he is not part of you. Now if you make him a part of you, you have to fight against him.  This is where people go wrong.  They say, “Well, you got to control your appetites.” No, you have to disclaim your appetites. You have to use your faith to experience deliverance from your previous appetites because they are outdated.  They are antiquated.  They are not part of who you are now, so throw them away, however, that doesn’t mean you don’t have a problem with temptations.  That means you know what to do about it. You say, “No that is not me and it is not me now.”  That’s right, you say “no” to it. Then what happens is – using your faith you are separating yourself from the influence of that thing and aligning yourself with a new thing.  We have to once for all put off the old man in reference to the old ways and say, “You are outdated. You lived in my life before I received a new nature.”

Now the Bible says, this old man is being corrupted with passionate desires, but he is not part of you.

Now if you claim him, then you will have to fight against him. You will have to continue to try to win.

Now you would be amazed at how many Christians are running around having a hard time resisting sin, but then again, how can you claim a certain nature and then have authority over it? You can’t. That is why it is important that you understand your heavenly identity and know your new creation realities. You have to know who you are and you have to know it is a reality.  What Jesus did on the cross is a reality. It isn’t fantasy and it isn’t a fad. The problem is – that which is natural, you have been exposed to a lot longer.  We have to train ourselves to embrace what is Word-based and what is spiritual, and release and let go of what has been natural although we have had experience in it. So watch what else you have to do. It says that you are constantly being renewed with reference to the spirit of your mind.  It is not enough to hear one good sermon. You cannot put one foot in the Word of God and one foot in the traditions of men, and manage to come out on top.  The problem is not your problems.  The problem is that you are not being constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind.

Now what would stop someone from being constantly renewed? Let me tell you what – not being constantly fed the Word of God.   You cannot slip into a dead church one day and get a good dose and go right back to business as usual. You are going to have problems because you don’t put the old man off once for all with reference to the previous lifestyle and then be casually renewed or partially renewed or part-time renewed in the spirit of your mind.  No, because one day you will live for God, the next day you will live for satan.  One day you will pray the prayer of faith, the next day you will forget that you did.  The Bible is clear – you make the decision once for all that the old man will not live and cohabit with the new man but then you have to remember that decision in order to enforce that decision.  Now that decision is enforced by thoughts.  Every time something creeps up, you must say “wait a minute, who am I?  I am so and so.” How many of you remember when you got saved? Now how many of you know that you sinned after you got saved? But most of us talk about the sins you committed before you got saved.  Why is that? Because those sins were there until the day your conscience was renewed to the fact that you were a saint and from then on, you knew what to do with sin when it came and you knew how to repent of it when it came.  You have to say, “yeah, I did that but I am not a sinner. I am free from that.” 

So now that you remember that you put off the old man with his ways, you say, “Just because I did that way back when, doesn’t mean I will not do that now.  I will not sin now.  I will not doubt now. I will not fail now.  I will not fear now.”  But in order to do that, you have to be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind, but what happens to you when you get away from the Word of God? Listen, when you get away from the Word of God, you get away from feeding on the Word.  It doesn’t take long before you begin thinking about what God says and you find out that you have a hard time remembering Scripture.  Have you ever been in an anointed atmosphere and the preacher wasn’t even talking about what you started to think about?  He said one Scripture and the Spirit of God and your spirit started just bringing out hundreds of Scriptures that have nothing to do with what he said.  Now how did you remember that?  Well, what happens is, the anointing of God released in you that new mind which had become dormant in you when you stopped being renewed by it.  This is why you need to maintain a constant flow of transformation in your life and put off the old man once for all, enforcing the fact that he has no dominion. How?  By being

“…constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind”

That means you feed on the Word of God until it is no longer a struggle to believe that you are what the Word says you are.  You know, because the spirit of your mind has been renewed and is being renewed. Remember, it is not enough that we have been changing, it is important that we continue to be changed, but notice where the change is – in the spirit of the mind.  If you are going to change the way you walk and the way you live, you have got to allow God to change the way you think.  Now some of it has been because of what we thought about God, but not most of it. A very small part of it has been our thoughts about God because any sensible Christian knows God is able. Any sensible Christian knows that God is good. Any sensible Christian knows God is holy. Any sensible Christian knows God is right, so it is not necessarily what we thought about God that has caused us problems, it is what we thought about ourselves. Somebody said, “Well, that’s Jesus”, but when we disassociate ourselves from the nature of Jesus, we disassociate ourselves from the life of Jesus, the character of Jesus, the fruit of Jesus and the results He had.   The problem is not what we thought about God, but what we have thought about ourselves when we were outside the provision of Calvary.  Now we have to look at ourselves in Christ. 

Now you will always find somebody who will say, “but you don’t understand what I have been through. I have been hurt.”  Yes, but in Christ, “no weapon formed against you will prosper (Isa 54:17).  In Christ, you can forgive.  In Christ, you can cast your cares upon Him (1 Pet 5:7).  In Christ, you can be free.  The moment we find out who we are by virtue of our new nature, the more we can be changed and when we change the way we think, we will change the way we walk, the way we talk and the way we act because that nature will become strong in us.

 I want you to say this, WHEN I THINK ON THE WORD OF GOD AND BELIEVE ITS PROMISES, THEN THE LIVING WORD MOVES IN TO ENFORCE AND MANIFEST WHAT IT SAYS.

That’s right! When you think on God and His Word, you will say, “that’s who I am and that’s what I believe.”  All of a sudden, the power of that Word becomes a reality.  Now most people are waiting until it becomes a reality to believe it.  I bet you are thinking, “You are just saying that because you have that kind of faith. “ No, I am saying that because I have that kind of faith because I say that.  How many of you have heard someone say, “When things go right and I clean up my act, I will be able to say that.”  No, but if you can believe that now, think that now, say that now, then every part of your life will line up with it.  Remember, it is not what you do, it is what He did.  If what you did mattered, you could have saved yourself without Him.  That means you can’t save yourself, nor can you change yourself either.  So what do you do? You put off once for all the old man. You remember you put him off and constantly be renewed by the spirit of your mind.

Now as we grow in God, we are going to find out more and more about it until we are free from everything that the old nature brought into our life until the last thing left is the aging process of the physical body and the need to be glorified.  We are going to walk in the strength where the early church walked and the apostles walked and Jesus walked.  There has never been a time when Jesus claimed a relationship with God that you cannot have.  There has never been a time that Jesus claimed results in God that you cannot have.  You never hear Jesus saying, “This is for Me. You cannot have it”, but we have done it.  Well somebody said, “You know we have to be humble.” No, humiliation is not a violation of Jesus’ message to the church. Somebody said, “We have to be realistic.”  When reality is a violation of a new creation reality, we need to discard reality and embrace this new creation because it will change us.  Reality will never change us.  So once for all you put off the old man.  You remember you did and then you are changed constantly with reference to the spirit of your mind and as Kenneth Wuest said, “you have put on once for all the new self who after God was created in righteousness and holiness of truth.”

Now notice that you do not only put the old man off once and once for all, but you put the new man immediately on once and once for all.  Now you would think that is enough, but it isn’t because it didn’t say, “and be ye changed once and once for all in the spirit of your mind.” Do you know what that means? That means that there is no magic formula that says, “be ye free from problems once and once for all.” Now your identity changes by virtue of a faith decision that you make in the now.  “I am no longer sick, I am healed.”  What about the pain? Well that will be dealt with when I continue to be changed in the spirit of my mind because sometimes we will have an instantaneous miracle and sometimes we will have a constant change.  Have you ever experienced a time in your life when things were going right for while and then all hell broke loose?  Let me tell you what happened.  You stopped being constantly changed.  When things were going well, your mind changed, but then the old crept back up again.   Now you have to let go of your old once and once for all, and then you have to remember you did.  You put on the new nature once and once for all, and then you have to remember you did. What happens if you forget that you put on the new nature? You will stop being constantly changed.  Why is that?  You forgot.  Now if you remember you are a new creature, you will remember “that’s who I am in Christ”.  

Now somebody might say, “but you are not there yet.” Yeah, but the decision to be there was based upon a finished work Jesus did, and the gift and the ability to get there was imparted to me by Jesus who already made me the righteousness of God before I ever performed a good act.  Now whether or not I get there is determined by two things – remembering my new identity and choosing to be constantly changed.   When I choose to be constantly changed, then I am growing closer to obtaining that reality.  Now it is a reality in the spirit but it’s got to become a manifested reality. Now if we keep constantly allowing change, we will see constant growth in the manifestation of that reality.  Now why do people not see that? Because they go – get a little result and then stop changing.  Then go back and relate to the old nature and then they start all over again.  Then get over here, get a little results, and say, “I wonder why the Lord won’t do more.  So the faith decision is – I am no longer who I was.  It is outdated. This is who I am once and once for all in Christ and now this is the decision I make now and I will continue to make.  I am going to be changed in the spirit of my mind. How? By allowing the Word of God to bring my conviction and persuasions to believe from now on what God says about me.  So what happens is that becomes a reality in your life. What are you being changed into? You are being changed into the new self who was created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

I want you to lay hands on who was created in righteousness and holiness in truth.  I want you to lay hands on yourself right now and say, “I AM A NEW CREATION, CREATED IN GOD IN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND IN TRUTH. I AM DISASSOCIATED WITH, I AM DEAD TO AND I AM FREE FROM THE OLD MAN WITH HIS CRAVINGS AND HIS DESIRES AND HIS CORRUPTIONS.  I AM NOW THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST.  I  BELIEVE THAT NOW. I HAVE CLAIMED IT NOW ONCE AND ONCE FOR ALL, BUT I WILL REMEMBER WHO I AM AND I WILL CONTINUE TO BE CHANGED IN THE SPIRIT OF MY MIND FROM GLORY TO GLORY.  I WILL CHANGE INTO THE IMAGE OF THE SON OF GOD.”

Now let’s look at Ephesians 2:5-10, Kenneth Wuest.

“and we being dead with respect to our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ; by grace have you been saved completely in past times, with the present result that you are in a state of salvation which persists through present time, 

Listen to this – “Somebody said, “you got to die to self” and most Christians are running around confused because how can you die to self when you are self?  Who makes the decision to die to self?  Self.  Well, what happens after self dies?  Who makes the decision after that?  I think you get the point. That very line of reasoning is why we are so confused.  You don’t die to self, you die to the identification of who self is and you live to the new identification with who you believe Christ has made you.  Now the Bible says,

“and we being dead with respect to our trespasses…” 

What are we dead to?  …with respect to our sins.  Somebody will say, “But you are a sinner.”  No, where is sin?  You are dead to it.  You are separated from it.  That means you and sin do not operate on the same wavelength.  You and sin do not coexist.  You and sin cannot co-mingle.  You are dead to sin and it is dead to you.  How shall they who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Rom 6:2)  As you can see, it can’t happen because you are dead to it.  If you are dead to someone, you are separated from that someone.  There is no communication with that individual.  So the Bible says

 “He made us alive together with Christ”

How many are glad that when Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God, it was the faith act that reaches right here to this century.  Through the eyes of faith, you see the resurrection of Jesus as the resurrection of you.  Your resurrection is the newness of life in Him.  You see a new nature rising up in Him.  You can take that new nature by faith from the resurrection 2000 years ago and attribute it to you now.  How did Jesus rise from the dead?  He rose victoriously.  He rose triumphantly.  He rose with glory. So how do you rise from spiritual death and from spiritual bondage to sin? You rose the same way.  You attribute it to you now by faith.   You claim it now by saying, “That’s it! That’s who I am.” How many of you know that when the government tries to hide you from someone who is trying to kill you because you have been a witness against them in a case, they give you a new identity?  You are no longer who you used to be.  You cannot go back to associating with or talking to or relating with anyone that knew you in your previous identity.  When they call you by name, you say, “who?  You got me mistaken with someone else.” Why is that? Because now you have chosen a new identity.  Well, the parallel is similar here, but it is greater in value because it is not as if you are a new person.  Your faith in what Christ did literally will take the nature of Christ and cause it to become and live in you and will literally cast out the old nature which really wasn’t your nature to begin with.  It was handed over to you by Adam.  Because of failure, you became the participant of sin and the partaker of it.  Because of Jesus’ victory, you became a partaker of and participant in His righteousness and His resurrection from the dead.

 

New Creation Realities – Part 1

Now much of what we have learned so far in our studies has been geared toward us learning about our heavenly identity.  Now we will begin to build upon that foundation, turning our focus on our new creation realities.

So let’s look together at 2 Corinthians 5:17 and unfold these realities.

Jesus said that He is building His church.  He said, “Upon this rock, the rock of the Word of God, I will build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Mt 16:18).” That means that you are going to be built up on the Word of God. The powers of darkness will not be able to overpower you.  So what we are going to do through these studies is begin building you on the Word of God.

Now when you build a house or a building, you start with a foundation.  How many of you think that is a good idea?  You do not go to the roof and start there.  You start with the foundation.  What we do not want to do here is get into the deep things of God before we begin with the basic things which are necessary.   We do not want to put the cart before the horse.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Cor 5:17)” 

This verse tells us “All things have become new.”  Now why is that?  You are not the person you used to be.  When you became a child of God, instantaneously the Spirit of God birthed in you a new nature. Now that new nature grows by and lives by the Word of God, but in all things there is a growing process.  Let me explain.  Just like when you were born in the natural, you were a child.  But as that child, you did not get up and run around playing football the moment you were born. No, you couldn’t do it because although you were a person and you were born, it took time to grow and it took you time to learn how to orient yourself with the natural world. Although you were breathing and your heart was beating and you had feeling, and you had the ability to sense and to smell, you did not have the developed qualities that you needed to conduct yourself in an intelligent way. You had to grow into that.  By the same token, when you were born again spiritually, your spirit instantly became a new creation in God, but the new person you have become must also grow. But I want you to know, that as you are maturing in the spirit, your enemy, the devil, goes to work and he begins to tell you, “if you are a child of God, then why are you not like this?” Now if you listen and consider those words, you will become discouraged and even frustrated along the way when your progress seems slow or unapparent.  I want you to know, it would be abnormal for you to be born again and instantly become different then you are.  You are different in quality.  You are different in nature, but you still have to grow into an awareness of how to conduct yourself in the spirit realm you were born into.

I want you to say this, “I AM A SPIRIT BEING, BORN OF GOD TO CONDUCT MYSELF SPIRITUALLY IN THE SPIRIT REALM”. Now that means we have to grow into it.  Here the Bible is saying, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation or creature.  Now why is that?  Jesus said it happens like this, “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (Jn 3:6).” Nicodemus said, “How are we going to enter back into our mother’s womb and be born again? (Jn 3:4)” Jesus said, “No, that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit. Ye must be born again. (Jn 3:3)” The Bible begins to shed some light on the parallels between your spiritual birth and your natural birth when it says,

“Desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye might grow thereby. (1 Pet 2:2)”

That means just as you would in the natural take care of a child and provide for them the necessary things to cause it to grow, in the spirit you have to provide the necessary things to cause your spirit man to grow.  So that means that we cannot be discouraged when we find our mind trying to dominate or our physical nature trying to dominate. Why is that?  It had a long time to practice.  You have had many, many years to practice on how to be natural person.   Your parents, your relations, your friends, everyone in your life have applied taught you to think and act in a way that is acceptable to the world.  Now why is that?  It is because the supernatural is unacceptable in a lot of circles. To most, the supernatural way of doing things fits right in the category of weird or off the deep end, so society puts pressure on you to conduct yourself naturally.  It is for this reason, that we have to work together to encourage one another to grow in the Word of God and in the spirit, so that we can begin to again see that it is not abnormal to walk in the Spirit, it is abnormal to be a Christian and walk in the flesh.

Now it is the enemy’s plan to keep you in a realm acceptable to mortal people.  Before you met Christ, you walked according to the world, setting your mind on the things of the world.  Then one day, God comes into your life and through His wooing you, you receive Him and are born again.  As that very moment of conversion, God begins to work on you in order that He might unravel and undo the yokes that society has put on you and that your personal experiences have caused you to allow.  Through the moving of His Spirit, He begins to cultivate in you the things the Holy Ghost will bring you into and teach you about.

Do you remember the story of Lazarus?  Jesus said, “Lazarus come forth (Jn 11:43)” First thing He did was say, “Roll away the stone (Jn 11:39)” from the tomb.  The tomb was the type of spiritual death. The stone was a type of the fact that it was sealed and set, and there was no change.  After Jesus said to take away the stone, He commanded Lazarus to come forth and Lazarus came forth alive.  The Bible says that, “God has raised us up with Christ (Eph 2:6).  He’s delivered us from spiritual death, but notice what Jesus said – “Loose him and let him go. (Jn 11:44)” Now the problem is if the Word of God does not reprogram our thought life and change our perceptions, we will be like Christian mummies walking around alive, but still bound up by the old natural world that keeps us walking that way. Do you want to be free?

In the Wuest translation, 2 Corinthians 5:17 reads like this:

“So that, assuming that anyone is in Christ, he is a creation new in quality. The antiquated, out-of-date things [which do not belong to the new life in Christ Jesus] have passed away. Behold all things have become new in quality.” 

Now listen to me. It said, “if anyone be in Christ, then that person is a new creation and new in quality.” I want you to say “I AM NEW IN QUALITY”.  So your new creation reality is that

you are a person made of a different substance or a Different quality.  You were born of God.

That means the substance of your makeup is already something that is divine in nature. You are born of the Spirit. Did you know that the Spirit will only produce after His kind? Now how many of you know that you can take a finished work of engraved gold and put it right next to an untouched raw metal called gold, and they will both be the same substance and quality, but one is finished and worked on, and the other is still raw and unfinished?  Well, if you put the believer next to Jesus, you see one that is the finished product, Jesus Christ, and you see one that being worked on, that’s you.  Both are the same kind of quality because Jesus became the first fruit (Eph 2:8).  Jesus became the big brother.  The Spirit of God that gave birth to Jesus through the body of Mary, that same Spirit of God, gave birth to you through the miracle of salvation.

 So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, new in quality.  I want you to say, “I AM NEW IN QUALITY”.  Now this is the good part.  It says, “the antiquated, out-of-date things which do not belong to the new life in Christ Jesus has passed away.” Now what are the out-of-date things?  How many of you know that you do not drink milk after the expiration date expires and you do not sell certain things in the store after they have passed the time of their duration. Why?  They are no good anymore.  What is the antiquated, out-of-date- thing that is in your life?  It is everything that the natural man enjoyed and enforced over you before you experienced Jesus Christ.  So when it talks about the old man being dead, what is it talking about?  It is talking about the power of Satan according to Acts 26:18.  It is talking about the lust of the flesh according to Ephesians 2:3.  It is talking about the lust of the eyes, according to 1 John 2:5-17, the pride of life according to the same verses of Scripture.  It is talking about the lust of the mind according to Ephesians 2:3 and it is talking about the carnal mind according to Romans 8:1-13.

 So that means the antiquated, out-of-date things in your life are the power of Satan. It is out of date. That means when Satan’s power begins to tug on you, you have to remember, “Wait, there is something out-of-date in my life, irrelevant to me at this time.  It is history.  It does not apply.  I am a new creation.  I am new in quality.”  Then you say, ‘no’ to the power of Satan.  What does the power of Satan include?  It includes temptation that comes through the solicitation of sin. It includes sickness and disease, and the symptoms that come through the natural realm. It includes the power of the enemy to enforce lack and poverty over your life.  Spiritually speaking, in a moment, those antiquated, out-of-date things did not apply anymore.  But how many of you know the enemy will still and he may allow these things to continue, unless you know your new creation reality.

 See this is what we want to begin with. We want to make sure every one of us knows the same thing and believes the same thing so that we will have a springboard into divine miracles.  We do not want to minister in the spirit realm and catch the disease we are commanding to leave people. We want to know that it is an antiquated out-of-date thing.  It doesn’t apply anymore.  Now somebody will say, “What if it happens?” Well, it’s out of date.  It doesn’t happen to us. So the power of Satan is irrelevant.  The lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, the lust of the mind, and the old nature that used to work in our members are antiquated and out-of-date.  The old man is nothing more or less than the spirit and power of the devil working in men of disobedience (Eph 2:3).  So that means that when you were born again, the spirit that used to work in children of disobedience and worked in you as a child of disobedience became antiquated, became out-of-date and became irrelevant. So you have to put his influence out of your mind and out your thoughts in order that you might begin to resemble less a natural man and resemble more a spiritual man.  You have to unravel, unlearn, untrain, and retrain yourself in the things of the Spirit of God.

 So then, you are a new creation. You are new in quality and those antiquated things, those things which do not belong in the new in Christ Jesus have passed away. Now I want you to say to yourself, “ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW IN QUALITY”.  Lay hands on your spirit right now and say “THERE IS A NEW NATURE WITH A NEW QUALITY LIVING INSIDE OF ME. THAT IS WHERE GOD WILL PLACE HIS DEPOSIT WITH HIS WORD AND HIS SPIRIT WILL MAKE A DEPOSIT IN THIS NEW NATURE.  THAT DEPOSIT IS NEVER LOST. IT IS NEVER INEFFECTIVE. IT WILL ALWAYS MANAGE TO PRODUCE WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN. AMEN”

Heavenly Perspective – Part 7

In the last lesson, we talked about directing your thoughts in the right direction.  We will conclude this series, in this lesson.  Let’s turn to Ephesians 4:22,

That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts

 I want you to say this to yourself – I am going to put off the old man. 

 Now I’ve found in earlier Scriptures that paralleled with this one that you put off the old man once and once and for all.  But how many of you know that you have to keep remembering that you put him off and that he is not you?  So that means you put him off daily.  That is what Paul meant when he said, “I die daily (1 Cor 15:31).”  It meant that every time the old man tried to attach himself to Paul, he had to say, “No! I am not that old nature.  I put you off.  Now get off!” Paul, again through an act of faith, had to put the old nature to death. 

 Ephesians 4:22 is saying to put off the old man which is corrupt, but do you know that this old man is not only corrupt, he is worn out, decrepit and useless?  Now, don’t you know that if God keeps stressing this fact throughout Scripture, that it must be important?  Now Paul was talking to the church and telling them to put off this old man.  How were they to put him off?  They were to put him off in their former conduct and conversation.  What were they to put off?  They were to put off the corruption caused by the deceitful lusts that abides in its unregenerate nature.  I want you to hear this – God did not take the old man and save him.  God took the old man and killed him, judged him in Christ, and buried him in Christ.  What rose out of the grave with Christ was our newly born again nature.  Yes, that nature was brand new.  It had new desires.  This newly nature was not the same nature we had before we met Christ.  It was a nature with a new identity, having new desires.  Now if God tells us to put off that old guy who is decrepit, useless and worn out, put him off.  It is a decision of your mind.  That decision rests on you and no one else. It is a rational decision that has to be followed by your diligent pursuit to put him off once and for all, and must be followed daily. 

 Why is that? Because if you don’t put him off, sooner or later you are going to either have to completely be free from him or you will come completely be under the influence of him. Remember, sin opens people up to the onslaught of the enemy’s attacks, so when God tells you to put off the old man, put him off! You are safer without him.  You don’t need him anymore.  He is useless to you.  Where he is going, you cannot go.  He cannot comprehend where you are going either.  He is always arguing with your new nature.  He is always leaning unto his own understanding.  He does not have the nature or desire to go where you are going.  I don’t care how religious he gets, or how you dress him up, he doesn’t want to go where you are going in the realm of the Spirit. 

 Now the Bible talks about the corrupt conduct and deceitful lusts that this old nature has.  But have you ever noticed during your reading the Bible that God never refers to this old man as you.  Now why does God talk like that?  Because God wants you to believe what He says in His Word.  It is not you that has the problem. It is the guy that He killed over 2000 years ago on the cross.  This old man may look like you, but it is not you. 

 Now let’s read Ephesians 4:23, “and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

 Now that word “renewed” means that there is a demolition and complete annihilation that took place and there is a complete rebuilding. So now watch what it said, “Put off the old man and be rejuvenated, be recreated, be rebuilt.”  Where?  In the spirit of your mind.  I want you to say to yourself – I CAN ONLY CHANGE WHEN GOD’S WORDS CHANGE MY THOUGHTS!  See you can only become what you believe you are.  So if the Bible tells us to “put off the old man”, then know you can put off the old man.  If it says to “be renewed”, then that means you are the one who has to do something about.  Now notice, both these commands are byproducts of “exousia”.  If you remember from previous lessons, “exousia” was the delegated authority God gave you to become sons of God.  Now, what does that authority give you the right to do?  It gives you the right to say, “I am going to change now by changing my thought life and bringing it in line with what the Word of God says.”  Now look at what it says after that.

And that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

 Ok, so what have we learned so far? 

                Put off the old man.

                Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man

That means before you can put on the new man, you have got to be changed in the spirit of your mind.  This is where most Christians have a problem. Why is that?  Because, first of all, they cannot receive it with the mind that is living in them right now.  It is the old man living.  The old man is not the mind God is calling anyway.  That is the one you ought to put away from you in the first place. When you put him away, then you can be renewed in the spirit of your mind.  So what does that mean?  It means that you have to change your thought life.  Change about what?  About who you are in Christ, your identity in Him, and your position in Him.  Change ALL your thoughts and bring them in line with the Word of God.  Then what happens?  You believe what the Word says.  You will begin to say to yourself, “that is who I am”.  What do you do after you are renewed in the spirit of your mind?  You put on the new man so that everyone can see the new man on the inside of you. I want you to say this – THE NEW MAN AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ARE ONE IN THE SAME IN NATURE, IN CHARACTER AND IN POSITION.  Do you know what this is saying?  He is saying that what you receive is the life, nature, the position, the victory, and the character of the Lord inside of you. 

 Now how many of you have had children?  How many of you know that when you got married your spouse, you become one with them? Now when you had a child, that child came forth out of you and it is your life living in that child. Now that child is not you, but that child will grow up to act like you both. Now they have not become you, but the very life you have is flowing through them.  Now the Bible says, “we are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh (Ephesians 5:30).  We do not become Him.  He lets us have our personality, but He takes the stain, sin, inferiority, decrepitness, uselessness and the worn out element completely away from us.  He administers a brand new life that He gained for us in that resurrection from dead. Now His nature begins to live in us. It would be out of place to run up to a little kid and say, “your dad is just like you.” You do not do that. What you say is “you are just like your dad.”

 Well, Jesus became just like you so that you can become just like Him (2 Cor 5:21).  He became sin so that you may become the righteousness of God. Now who is the righteousness of God?  We are.  Now I want you to notice something.  The verse did not say, “a” righteousness of God”, but “THE” righteousness of God because there is only one element of righteousness pleasing to God and that is the righteousness, the nature of Jesus Christ, Himself.  So Jesus became sin. Yet we all know He never sinned, but became that way so that you can become the very substance and life, and the very righteousness in nature. So guess what He did?  He took you and made you part with Him. So when He said “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”, He was telling you to “put on the new man”. 

 Now let’s say you have perfected the task of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, which we will never do, but let’s just say you get to a place of maturity in God, acting in righteousness.  At this point of maturity, you know that the character you are expressing through you is not on account of you.  You are not the source of it, but were born by it.   Now this is a problem for some, as many feel apprehensive about talking boldly about what has taken place, trying to make sure it is not “I”.  Well, who are you talking about?  Who is the “I”?  In this case, the “I” you are trying to talk about is the old man and that man is dead.  The new “I” has been born by the very thing that is empowering him.  So when the Bible says, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” – you come to maturity.  You put the new man on.  Who is that new man?  The real you. The you of faith. The old man is the you of doubt and unbelief, but he is dead. How? Through an act of faith that reckons him dead, that peals him off, that puts him away and refuses to give him access again.  When you do this, the new man of faith is living inside of you.

 The Bible calls the new man, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now when you put Him on, you are walking in maturity. But understand this, when people run into you and they see you healing the sick, casting out devils, and speaking the very word of God, they will accuse and attack you.  Now you will forgive and love them.  Now these people I described will not say, “I just ran into the Lord Jesus Christ. There He is over there.” Why is that?  Because you do not become the Lord Jesus Christ.  When you put on the Lord Jesus Christ, His nature will begin to live through you in your brand new identity in Him.  His goodness, His power, and His pre-existent force will shine through you.  So guess what they say?  They say, “I met a person today. They are different than anyone else.”  Then what happens is – a door of opportunity is made available to you to tell them where this brand new identity came from. 

Now the Bible says, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ created in righteousness and true holiness”.  Now when was this new man created? The Bible said, “those He foreknown, He has predestined to be conformed into the image of His dear Son (Rom 8:29)” Before God ever made Adam, God knew Adam was going to fall. He knew Adam was going to sell everybody into slavery.  So the God head got together and said, “We’re going to create man in Our image, but Lucifer the fallen being is going to tempt man and cause Him to sin.  And man is going to have a nature that keeps Him out of fellowship with us.”  And the Son of God, Jesus said, “Well, if they fall, I will become the Redeemer and I will become human, and and go buy them back.”  And the Holy Spirit said, “If You go down and become the Redeemer, then I will go down and be the One who anoints them and empowers them to live a brand new life.”

 So the Bible says, “you were created in Christ. You were prepared in Christ. Your salvation was prepared in Christ (Ephesians 2:10). ” He was the Lamb of God slain before the foundations of the world (Rev 13:8).  That’s right, before you ever came around, before you were ever created in Adam as a righteous man, you were in Christ.  Before you ever fell in Adam and became a sinner, you were in Christ.  So He prepared for you an identity that is consistent with the vision for you. That’s why it is called “redemption”.  Do you what that means?  It means buying back something that belonged to another.  So Christ is our life.  So when you put on the new man, that man is created after God in righteousness and true holiness.  That man was prepared. Your new identity has been prepared in Christ.  It pre-existed.

 I want you to say, “PUT ON THE LORD JESUS. PUT ON THE NEW MAN”

 Now that doesn’t mean much to us in English, but in the original Greek language. It is a phrase that means (“to be clothed with a person”), taking upon one the interests of another, to enter into His view and to be wholly on His side imitating Him in all things.  Remember what Jesus said, “He that saves his life will lose it (Mt 16:25, Mk 8:35, Lk 9:24), but he that lose his life shall gain it.”  He is saying, “You keep running around trying to salvage the life, the existence and the identity of an old man that was judged. What else is He saying?  He is saying, “Let go of the low life.   Get a hold of the new life.”  How do you get a hold of the new life?  Now that same phrase on the interest of another, putting on another person is something that you do not just do mentally, you do it spiritually.

 

The Garments of Completion – Prayer – Part 8

God is a God of great details, helping us to understand that in the midst of all that’s happening in our lives today, we can still come into His divine presence. To do this, we will study the priestly wardrobe and discover why God saw fit to have the priests dress a certain way.  When we understand this, we will also understand that it is not enough for the believer simply to attend church.  As God’s people, we must begin to become the church, especially if we are intercessors.

1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us that we are temples of the Holy Spirit because we accepted Jesus as our personal Savior.  If there is no priesthood functioning within us, we become people who attend church but have no righteousness.  As a result, we have no power or authority in our Christian experience.  When the priesthood is present in you, then your temple becomes operational. 

Let’s review.  We have already come through the gate and accepted the works of Christ.  We have repented of our sins and been washed at the brazen laver by God’s Word.  We have presented our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto the Lord at the brazen altar.  We are clothed with the robe of righteousness – the first garment we receive when we are adopted into the royal priesthood.  We will now take a look more closely at the additional priestly garments.

After clothing Aaron with the tunic of righteousness, Moses girded him with the sash (Leviticus 8:7).  It’s interesting to read that there were two belts in the garments of the high priest.  The first was worn over the tunic and second was part of the ephod.  Just as we are commanded to don our spiritual armor, we must also don the garments of intercession understanding that every part must be worn.  Omitting any piece of the garments would only weaken our spiritual defenses during intercessory.  The belt of truth was worn atop of the tunic of righteousness.  Unlike the belt of the ephod, it is invisible to the naked eye as it serves to girds your loins by holding the tunic together underneath the robe of blue.  Walking in righteousness plays a critical role in our walk with God as it forces us to embrace the truth as we wear the belt of truth. The belt symbolizes our readiness, to go to the world. When you gird up the loins of your mind with the truth of God’s word, you are able to stand in difficult situations for long periods of time because you have the ability to become creative and productive for God, receiving what the Word tells your mind that you can have. 

The next piece of clothing that Moses placed on Aaron was the blue robe, representing your position and authority in God.  This robe is very important to us.  Its colors are extremely significant to God in prayer because they were one of the ways that God chose to bring knowledge of Himself and the heavenly realm to the human race.  Blue represents God’s covering authority, as well as His divinity and grace.  Why are all these things important?  As you go into prayer with a firm hold on your walk of salvation, Satan can’t penetrate your robe of authority and stop what God is doing in your life, praying through instead of praying about.  Not only does the priestly robe give you God’s authority in prayer, but also it covers you while you pray, protecting you against the the devil getting a foothold in your spirit. 

Let’s move on.  Exodus 28:29-32 tells us that the neckband of the priestly robe Moses gave to Aaron was reinforced.  An extra band was woven around the neck opening to keep it from fraying or tearing. The neckband was so strong that if someone had tried to tear this robe off the high priest, it would have broken his neck.  Symbolically, your robe of authority has been so designed that it can never be torn from you.  Because it symbolizes the office of authority and divinity, the robe becomes the strength of your relationship with God in prayer.  Righteousness is your pathway and the belt of truth is what enables you to stand, but when you get into the presence of the Lord, the enemy can never shake the authority of God.  He cannot tear it away from you!

After receiving the robe of blue, the next garment Aaron received was the ephod representing the mediator Jesus Christ and His power to become a servant (Lev 8:7). According to Exodus 28:8, the ephod consisted of gold (deity), blue/turquoise (divinity), purple (the royal One), scarlet (servant and humanity) and white fine-twined linen.  The ephod had an attached belt to provide a second level of girding for intercessory prayer; this belt was able to be seen by others.  Before it was woven with the other colors, the gold cord had to be beaten out symbolizing the trials and tests you have overcome in order to get to this level.  When the Spirit of the Lord finds us girded, He responds by girding Himself to us – so that we can relax at His table.  We have a part to play in the process of prayer.  Our first step in the process is to surrender to God, walking in prayer until the Spirit of the Lord comes and takes over.  God girds Himself to us and begins to serve us, answering our prayers and ministering to us about what we have brought to Him.   Christ’s ephod helps you to serve others, especially those who are weak and of a lesser status – by His grace- to help the immature come to maturity. On the shoulders of the ephod are two onyx stones inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel placed in the order of their birthright.

The breastplate was the next piece of clothing Aaron receives in Leviticus 8:8.  This garment is vital to becoming an intercessor as inside the breastplate was a slip of parchment containing the divine name of God, represented by the Urim and Thummim (exodus 28:28-30).  Urim means “light” and Thummim means “completeness”.  The breastplate also represents people that you carry to God in prayer symbolized by the twelve precious stones.  This breastplate was worn upon the chest of the high priest indicating that he carried the people’s burden close to his heart as he served in the tabernacle. 

Now we are at the final piece of the garment, the miter, the headpiece.  The miter was like a hat, with one distinguishing feature – the holy crown. This was actually a golden plate that was tied to the front of the Miter (Exodus 28:36-38).  Its inscription read, “HOLY TO THE LORD”.  This symbolized that the nation of Israel was completely devoted to God and His service.  It also reminded the priest never to take holiness for granted as they carried out their duties.  At all times they were to conduct their lives worthy of His name. The miter helps you to watch and pray.  God fastens it to your head after He has put everything else in place, so that you will never forget to pray and live in a manner worthy of your call to be an intercessor.

(Teachings from Juanita Bynum)

 

 

A Study of Proverbs 3

Many of us have the desire to get closer to God, but we just don’t know how.  We hop from one church to another seeking the very thing that satisfies our hunger for Truth.  Often we find immediate satisfaction, but it’s not long before we find that as time passes, the insatiable hunger returns.  Problem is, churches often are so focused on feeding the new sheep, they forget that those maturing in Christ are hungering for more than the surface message, searching for a deeper understanding of God’s Word. In my quest to draw near to the Father, I now sit in His presence seeking revelation into His Word, His holy voice.  I pray that as we study God’s Word, you will hunger for more of Him.

Proverbs 3: 1-6 says, “My son, do not forget My teachings but keep My commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.  Let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight”.

Proverbs begins by calling the reader “Son”, that is, one who carries on the family name.  It is a wonderful thing to hear God recognize us as His child.  As the child of One so holy, we are heirs to His throne.  Now, we all have heard the story of our how we were redeemed by His blood and adopted as His heirs, but what we often fail to realize is though salvation is a free gift, it has a price.  How can something be free, yet have a price?  In order to answer this question, we must look at the word “price”.  Webster defines “price” as something of value and worth, the quantity of one thing that is exchanged or demanded in barter for another, or the terms for the sake of which something is done. Though God in His love has redeemed us by  sacrificing His Son for our lives, in return for this salvation we must pay the price by not forgetting His teachings or failing to keep His commands.  Now it doesn’t seem like a bad deal, but many quickly find that they are unwilling to adjust the way they live, think and do, that is, they are unwilling to pay the price God set.

Like parents, we set rules for our children to live by.  They are not placed upon them to make life hard, but are offered as a means to enhance their success in all that life has to offer.  In the same way, God sets rules for us to follow and for the same reason He expects us to live by those rules.  Now, what happens when our children break these rules?  Better yet, what happens when we, as adults, break the rules set by our society?  Depending on the infraction, repercussions of varying degrees can result.  Fines, confinement, and even death could occur as a result of our actions or lack of action.  In the same way, God gave us rules to follow.  As long as we stay within the limits of those rules, we prosper, but oh, the repercussions we experience should we ever operate outside those limits.

As people, it is sometimes hard for us to grasp onto the concept of trusting in what we don’t see or what we can not solidly prove exists.  Our eyes, our emotions, our senses are our realities.  We relate to what we can feel, see, taste, touch and hear, yet the Bible tells us that God is the very thing we must place our faith in, even though there is no sure way to prove He is real.

Proverbs 3: 7-8 says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and shun evil.  This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”

The word fear stands out in this passage.  The Vines’ Dictionary describes “fear” here as a reverence whereby an individual recognizes the power and position of God and renders Him proper respect.  It can also imply submission to a proper ethical relationship to God.  In Old Testament times, religious experience was not a routine, a ritual or faith experience.  It was viewed as a mastery of the art of living in accordance with God’s expectations.  The word “Mastery and art” signify that wisdom was a process of attainment and not accomplishment. It is too obvious that these words give more than a warning to us.  They describe the person who has wisdom, telling us the benefits to those who possess it.

Proverbs 3:9-12 continues by saying, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.  My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent His rebuke because the Lord disciplines those He love as a father, the son He delights in”.

Are you one who honors the Lord with his wealth?  Do you put God first or yourself?  Many of us dont understand the meaning or importance of giving God our First Fruits.  Giving God our First fruits refers to the practice of giving to God’s use the first and best portions of increase.  What is first fruits to you?  In the Old Testament times, first fruits were products of one’s harvest.  Today, first fruits are wages, increases, time, talents and more.  We are a selfish people, often giving God our leftovers, if we can afford it.  This demonstrates that our possessions have first place in our lives rather than God.  Remember giving to God helps conquer our greed, not to mention assists in reinforcing our trust and confidence in Him to supply our needs even in our lack.

This is just one chapter in a book full of truths.

I am My Brother’s Keeper?

Have you ever noticed how Christianity, the faith of greatest numbers, actually has the greatest number of subgroups?  Can we truly say we are “one nation under God” when our fellow brothers around the world are in such need?  Can we say that we are all bonded together as “one people under God”?  Have you ever asked yourself, “Where has God’s idea of brotherhood gone”?  Over time, we have lost the true meaning of brotherhood, that is, the true meaning of being our brother’s keeper.  Just as one man’s choice polluted an entire creation’s destiny, can not the choices of the people also bring that creation back into communion with its Creator?  Oh, how God must grieve to see the very objects of His creation in the condition it is in.

In the beginning, family, brotherhood and love for fellow man had meaning.  These words, “All believers were together and have everything in common”, rang true.  As time passed and people drifted from God, hearts changed, focuses changed, and we, as people changed.  Nothing but God remained the same.  Where did our love for our fellow brother go? 

Look around you! Can’t you see?  Have you chosen to be blind to the needs of the people.  All around you poverty, crime and corruption runs rampant through every society.  Our life is spiraling to disaster, while we choose to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to their events happening around us.  The rich are getting richer, the poor poorer.  Where does it all end?  How long do we as a people walk our own way?  How long do we have to remain in the desert, that is, our wilderness before we hear the call of God to return to Him?  How long?

God created us in His image, and in so doing, empowered us in so many ways.  Our situations, our circumstances, our hard times are only instruments to get us to return to Him. Yet, our eyes are blinded by the circumstances in which we live.  Our hearts are imprisoned by the pains of our past experiences.  Our spirits are trampled by the loss of faith and hope that there is a brighter future before us.  Alone we can never hope to achieve that future, but together with God, nothing is impossible, if only we believe. 

Life begins from the moment our hearts beat.  All around the world, wars break out, people are in need of something, yet the world jets forward on autopilot, ignoring the very need of our brothers.  Will we ever see that the need of one, affects the condition of the body as a whole?  If only we could see, that we in the hands of God, are the solution to bringing all that is wrong into balance.  God has enabled us to make a difference, if we would only open our eyes past ourselves.

Will you be a part of the solution?  Will you be your brother’s keeper?  Will you reach your hand out and pick up someone who is down?  Will you bond with your brother and become one nation under God?  Will you make the difference?  Where will it end and where will you begin?  Change begins, with your choice to love your fellow man as Christ loved the church.  Be your brother’s keeper.  Reach out and love someone today.  Sow the seed of Salvation into a lost life, standing upon God, the Rock upon which our love stands.