2 Corinthians 5:17
Pastor Rick Jackson
We often think we face the same grind every day but for the
Christian that just is not so. We might think it, but thinking doesn’t mean it
is so. Consider these new things in the life of a Christian who has just been
saved or has been saved 50 years!
I. You have a new
start. You are alive. This is the first day of the rest of your life.
Invest it wisely in eternal things. [Colossians 4:5, Ephesians 5:8-16]
-Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the
time.
-For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the
Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the
Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of
them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the
light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the
time, because the days are evil.
II. You have a new
name. (if) you are a Christian- wear it gladly, wear it purely [James 2:7, Ephesians
5:17-21]
-Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are
called?
-Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will
of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled
with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks
always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
III. You have a new
affection. Set your affections on things above. [Colossians 3:1-5]
-If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on
things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid
with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye
also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon
the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
and covetousness, which is idolatry:
IV. You have a new
bank. [Matthew 6:19-34]
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine
eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil,
thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in
thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for
either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say
unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than
meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not,
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add
one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the
lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And
yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one
of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is,
and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of
little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these
things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have
need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no
thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
V. You have a new
place being prepared for you. Get ready for the move. [Jn 14:1-6]
- Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe
also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there
ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith
unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me.
VI. You have a new
day. This is the day the Lord has made, Use it wisely for His glory. [Ps.
118:24, 90:21, James 4:13-17]
-This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice
and be glad in it.
-So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our
hearts unto wisdom.
- Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go
into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is
even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For
that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to
him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
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