New And Renewed Series

Intro.: When it is time to get the store ready for Christmas, we begin by cleaning it up.

1. Then we move on and beginning to put new merchandise

on the shelves.

2. “New” is nothing new for us a believers.

- We have experienced a new birth (I Pet 1:3)

- In Christ, we are a new creation (II Cor 5:17)

- We are responsible for a new covenant (II Cor

3:6)

- We have a renewed mind (Eph 4:23)

- We look forward to a new heaven and a new earth

(II Pet 3:13)

- And we will sing a new song (Rev 5:9)

3. Let me read one such passage as a reminder of what

God is doing in us.

Read: II Corinthians 5:16-21

Pray

Trans: What is there that makes us “new” in Christ?

During the next few minutes I want to look at to wonderful decisions that we can make that allow us to be new. Oh, we will still have the same old body, we will still have the same illnesses. But these two decisions will allow God to remake us for the inside. Our hearts, minds, and souls will never, can never be the same once we make these two decisions.

I. Filling of the Holy Spirit

1. I could have entitled this point, “Who’s in

control?”

2. Read Galatians 5:

3. When we gave our lives to Jesus some amazing

things happened.”

a. We became a member of a new family – the

family of God.

b. Our sins were forgiven

c. We become a different person.

d. The Holy Spirit comes to live in us

4. But then comes the great conflict that most

Christians experience in their lives – I want

something or I want to do something, but I am

not sure that God wants the same thing.

5. The Christian life is a wonderful thing –

because ultimately, God has given us the freedom

to make choices – even if it something he would

not want.

6. And that becomes a slippery slope.

(Ill.) For a number of years, I traveled to Dayton, OH,

for a continuing education experience for my

Computer Science job at the college. One summer we

were walking over to Arby’s for lunch – we had

walked out the back door of the classroom building,

across the parking lot. We came to a grassy incline

that stood in the most direct path to Arby’s. As

others went down that little hill, I saw that it

would be safe – or so I thought. I started down the

slope but then my right foot started to slip. I

tried to recover with my left foot, but then it

slipped too. You can perhaps picture it, Pastor

Johnson, down on his hind end.

7. Just as my left foot followed my right foot, so

do our lives tend to follow one decision after

another.

8. I put this chair here in the center of our

platform. Imagine, if you will, that it is a

throne. Not just any throne, but the thrown of

your life.

9. Now, as a believer, you have a choice. Who is

going to sit on this throne. Christ is here, he

is present. You know Him as your savior. But

here is your choice, who will sit on this throne

in your life?

10. Who will be in control of your life. Will you

insist on controlling your own life – or will

you let God take control.

(Ill.) As Methodist, we talk about Christian

Perfection. The Baptist prefer Paul’s term, “being

filled with the Spirit.” It really does not matter

what you call it, but what is important is that we

allow Jesus to have control of our lives.

II. Receiving Jesus Christ

1. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is only part

of the puzzle. It is not the start.

2. The Christian life, for most of us starts long

before this. It may have been during our early

years when our parents drug us to church – even

when we did not want to go. It may have been

while our parents watched a Billy Graham crusade

on TV – or you have been privileged to attend

one yourself. Or maybe it began as you stumbled

across a Christian radio or TV program.

3. Now I mentioned those things because I can

remember each of those being a significant part

of my life before I gave my heart to Jesus. All

of those things were important milestones in my

coming to faith, but none of them made me a

Christian.

4. I only became a believer the day I decided to

follow Jesus. Going to church, reading the right

books, knowing the right people, doing the right

things, never made me a Christian. None of these