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Jan 21, 2018

New Creations

New Creations

Speaker: Dennis Gallaher

Series: Transformation

Category: Sunday Morning

Jesus promised that we would receive and experience a new life. It's not just a refurbished life, but an entirely new one, with new power, and the freedom to follow God. The trouble comes when we become comfortable with the wilderness, which lies just outside of God's promises.

Opening Scripture:
2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

- That person is an entirely new creature.
- The old things such as guilt, depression, fear, and loneliness pass away.
- New things have come; everything is fresh and new.

This is not just a change of scenery, but a creation that will alter and direct your new life in Christ.
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The goal of transformation:
- The benefit is personal, a new life free of the garbage that I lived in before.

2 Corinthians 5:18 & 20  Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
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The church has slipped into a “settled” mold, a place that becomes more about self-focus than mission.

The same thing happened after Israel left Egypt. They became a new creation, no longer slaves.

In Deuteronomy 1, Moses reminds the Jews of their history.
- The first 2-3 years of wilderness travel
- Sending spies across the Jordan to see the Promised Land
- The bad report brought back
- The challenge and promise that God would go before them
- The refusal and outright rebellion of the people against God

Then in the last verse, Deuteronomy 1:46,  “So you remained in Kadesh many days, the days that you spent there.”

They settled short of the promises of God. They settled just like so many have done after God’s “new creation” work has been born and created the first fruits of transformation.
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Don’t believe me?
- We have a generation of Christians more concerned about a style of music than worshipping God with a joyful sound.
- A generation of Christians more settled into the local bar scene than Bible study and fellowship.
- A generation that considers the same drugs that so damaged my generation as a legitimate form of adult recreation.
- A church that has forsaken the admonitions to: “come away and be separate,” “love not the world or the things in the world.”

Our Kadesh has become the comfortable lifestyle of the wilderness, prosperity instead of the lifestyle of the Promise Land pioneers.
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The devil will always offer you a nice little condo in the wilderness where you can live out your days short of the promises of God.
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3 Movements of Grace

1.  Grace came when Jesus made His appearance on this earth.

Titus 2:11  For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.

2.  Grace instructs.

Titus 2:12  Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.

Grace is a schoolmaster that teaches to deny ungodliness and live righteously.

Grace is actively transforming us from selfish living to a mature Kingdom of God adults.

3.  Looking for the blessed hope, the appearing of Christ Jesus.

Titus 2:13  Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (Passion) Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new creation. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.

Do you want a new life? Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit will give it to you.

Do you need to leave the wilderness and cross into the Promised Land? The same Holy Spirit will empower you to walk out of sin and into powerful living.

Take His hand and follow!