God bought the property to build something new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
A story is told about a business man who was selling a warehouse and its property. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the inside. As he showed a prospective buyer the property, the business man took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage. "Forget about the repairs," the buyer said. "When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site."
That's the kind of change the Bible is talking about in us when we accept Christ as our Saviour.
God doesn't want the old you or the old me...we belong to Him now ...we are His property ....He builds something brand new. The one that wrote that Scripture was for sure changed into a new creature. Apostle Paul whose name was Saul before his conversion was the worst of persecutor of Christians. He had Christians arrested and killed. He was a Pharisee. He kept the law of Judaism...he upheld the law of Moses at all cost.
When God came to this Earth in the form of Jesus, Paul along with many others saw a threat to their religion. So anything that was a threat was done away with. Paul was a religious man, well educated and a leader in the community.
So what caused such a drastic change in his life? How did he go from being a murderer of Christians to one who wrote most of the New Testament? How could there be such a change in anybody? Paul had a encounter with Jesus personally.
Jesus appeared to Paul on a road going to a town called Damascus as the Bible says, as a light from Heaven.
Acts 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Acts 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
It’s the same today when Jesus finds us...when Jesus revels Himself to us and we believe on Him and accept Him as our Saviour ...there is a change. You know, when I go through the plan of Salvation with someone I most every time use
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Then the sinners prayer.
This is where a lot of people go through a ritual instead of coming to reality with their life. Jesus is real...the Holy Spirit that lives in His children is real. Being saved does not give us a licenses to sin...it should give us a desire to change our way of life. It should give us a desire to follow that same Jesus in every way of life.
When we ask Christ to come into your life the Holy Spirit indwells us and starts to clean every area of our life. So a change should be evident. Man cannot overcome the world and sin. Adam and Eve learnt this, they met Satan in their own strength and were conquered. Jesus Christ came into this world and conquered Satan for us all. 1 Corinthians “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Love in Christ Jesus, Ronnie Miller
08/09/2012
