The New You

Luke 5:37-38 And no man puts new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.

 Jesus here in the Gospel of Luke talking about putting new wine into old wineskins, that it would not work. The new wine would cause the wine skin or bag to burst. In the context of this scripture, Jesus is speaking about a new day that was on the horizon for his Church. This would be when the Holy Spirit would be poured out from heaven and into the Church (believers) that is a good place to stand up and shout.!

  As he explained about the new wine causing the old wine skin to burst, he was comparing it to our old way of thinking. Or we could say our religious tradition. Which Jesus said made the Word of God of no effect. This is what happens to a believer if we try to understand the Bible with our old natural mind. It will cause us to get frustrated and discouraged.

  Jesus wants his bride to have the best wine all the time. Glory to God. So this New Year may it be a New Season for us to walk in the Spirit and receive the New wine daily. And be not drunk with the world, but be filled to overflowing with the wine from heaven.

Let Jesus fill our cup of blessing, and let us go and do likewise to the lost.

  So if you ever have a non-believer ask you if a Christian can drink wine? Just reply why sure, come visit with me and let me show you where that is in the Bible. And watch God confirm his word with signs following, by giving you creative ways to minister to the lost.

Keynote Text “Luke 5:17“

“And it happened on a certain day as he was teaching, that there were pharisees, and teachers of the law setting by who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.”

Jesus is the ultimate display of the Fathers Love to the world, therefore wherever he is, there is an Enviroment of Love for the Power of God to be manifested! What is this Enviroment like? Lets take a look in Luke 4:18-22

Luke 4:18-22.

“The Spirit of the Lord  is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son”?

In this Enviroment that day the Spirit of God and Jesus the Word of God were working together in perfect harmony in the body of our Lord. This is the second Adam walking in the same authority and Power that God had created the first Adam to walk in.On this day in time and history Jesus stepped into his divine destiny and plan that He and Father God had discussed before the foundation of the world. To reconcile mankind back into a perfect relationship with the Father, and to Destroy the works of the devil.

If we go on and read in Luke 4:31-37. In these verses we will see how a born again, Spirit filled believer will function in this Enviroment of Love. As Jesus was ministering in the Synagogue there was a man who had a unclean devil, and it was crying out to Jesus telling him who he was. Well God had already told Jesus the plan and he did not need any advice from the devil. In verse 36 of Luke we can see how Jesus operated in this Enviroment of Gods Perfect Love. He told the devil to shut up!, and to come out!

In verse 36 look what the people in the Synagogue said. “And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out”. As followers of Jesus when we operate as he did, we are to expect to see the same results because first. Jesus has delegated his Authority to us. Second the Father God has poured out the Holy Spirit upon us giving us the Power we need to, Thirdly walk in total Victory over the devil!

Love The Perfect Enviroment, this is the Enviroment of Heaven, this is the Enviroment of the Kingdom of God, this is where God intended for us to live forever, and through the Cross of his Son Jesus Christ we have the right to come back home!

Say Yes 2 Jesus Today!

Romans 10:9-10  

Written by: Robert Jackson

The New You

2 Corinthians 5:17

” Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, and behold all things have become new“.

As we walk in the Spirit ( which means walk in Christ) we are walking as a new creation in Jesus. That word creation means the original formation.  When God looks at us now all he sees is the Original You, that he inteneded from the beginning of creation!

One question that you might ask yourself is. How can I change and be like Jesus? Well I am glad that you asked yourself that question. Because the truth is we cannot change , but we must receive the Great Exchange!

The Great Exchange is found in 2 Corinthians 5:21:

Old Things          Exchange (Christ )         New Things     

Worry…….. …..———————–> …..Peace

Poverty………..———————–>……Prosperity

Sickness……….————————>…..Health

Sadness……….————————->…..Joy of the Lord

Fears………….————————–>…..Power,Love, Sound Mind

Hatred……….—————————>…..LOVE

When opposition comes knocking at your door, turn it into an opportunity and take it through the Great Exchange of your mind which is in Christ Jesus. And always remember where you have came from in life before Christ, but always keep a Vision of where you are going in Christ. Your future is Bright in him!!

Mark 6:12, “And they went out, and preached that men should repent.”

MARK 6:7-12

“Repent” comes from the Greek word, “metanoeo,” and literally means to have another mind. Repentance is a necessary part of salvation. Repentance may include Godly sorrow, but sorrow does not always include repentance.

Repentance is simply a change of mind accompanied by corresponding actions. There is a Godly type of sorrow and an ungodly type of sorrow. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. Ungodly sorrow, or the sorrow of this world, just kills.

Our culture has rejected all “negative” emotions. But God gave us the capacity for these negative emotions, and there is a proper use of them. Ecclesiastes 7:3 says, “Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.” People should feel bad about sin. There should be sorrow over our failures. However, this sorrow should lead to repentance. Then, when forgiveness is received, our sorrow should be cast upon the Lord (Isa. 53:4).

The Lord’s statements to His disciples, the night before His crucifixion, caused them sorrow (Mt. 26:21-22; Jn. 16:6). If they would have let that sorrow lead them to repentance, then they wouldn’t have denied the Lord. Peter’s sorrow after his denial of Jesus changed him and, certainly, he never regretted the tears he cried.

The sorrow experienced by those who do not turn to God produces only death. They grieve over their situation because they don’t turn to God (that’s repentance). Christians should only have sorrow until they repent. Once repentance has come, we need to appropriate the forgiveness and cleansing that are already ours through Christ. Godly sorrow that produces repentance leaves us with no regrets. The positive change that our sorrows led us to, changes our attitude towards the things that caused us sorrow. Let the negatives in your life become positives through Jesus.

Written by:ndrew Wommack

TO WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN

Matthew 12:43, “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.”

MATTHEW 12:43-45

Most often, verses 43-45 are used to teach about demon possession and deliverance from evil spirits. Jesus made it clear that getting rid of an unclean spirit is only a part of deliverance. You must also fill the place that was previously occupied by the demonic spirit with the presence and power of God as protection. If a person is cleansed from an evil spirit but left “empty,” the spirit will return with even more spirits and the individual will be much worse off. Simply being empty of the devil, but not full of God, is a very dangerous and short-lived condition. True deliverance is not only getting freed, but also staying free.

In context, these verses refer to Jesus’ rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees and His statement about the men of Nineveh and the queen of the south condemning them at the judgment. One of the laws of God concerning accountability is being dealt with here. As stated in Luke 12:48, “…For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required…” The people of Jesus’ day who rejected His message will be held more accountable at the judgment than the men of Nineveh or the Queen of Sheba, because Jesus’ witness and person was so much greater than either Jonah or Solomon. Just as a man who receives miraculous deliverance from an evil spirit becomes more accountable and will end up in even worse condition if he doesn’t walk in that accountability, so the people of Jesus’ generation were accountable for more than any other generation had ever been. A person would be better off to keep just one evil spirit than to be set free, not fill himself with God, and wind up with eight demonic spirits, seven of which were more wicked than the first. The scribes and Pharisees would have been better off to have never had Jesus bring the kingdom of God unto them than to reject such an offer. He has given you much, what will you do with it?

Written by : Andrew Wommack

ONLY THE HUNGRY ARE FED

Matthew 5:6, “Blessed [are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

MATTHEW 5:1-9

In the natural world, people eat even when they aren’t hungry. Many of us can prove that by turning sideways and looking at ourselves in the mirror. But in the spiritual realm, only those who are hungry can get fed. One of the worst things that can happen to us is spiritual complacency.

Being hungry for the things of God is one of the best things that can happen to us. Most people don’t feel that way. They would rather have the feeling of being full. But Jesus promised us that fullness would follow hunger. No hunger, no fullness.

Therefore, what many people hate is actually a sign of spiritual health. Longing for more of God is a healthy sign. No one hungers for God on their own. That is not the nature of man. No man hungers for God unless the Spirit of God is drawing him (Jn. 6:44).

Hungering for God doesn’t cause God to move in our lives, but it is a sign that God is already at work in us. We should praise God for spiritual hunger and be encouraged. He doesn’t make us hungry and then let us starve. He does so in order to fill us with His blessings and love. We need a hunger that will never be satisfied until the marriage supper of the Lamb.

SETTLING OUR DOUBTS

John 1:46, “And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.”

Nathanael suffered from a skepticism that afflicts many people today.

However, it is to his credit that he came to the Lord and gave Him a chance to prove who He was.

We can only speculate what it was that Jesus saw Nathanael doing under that fig tree (v. 50), but it is very clear that it was something that proved beyond a doubt that Jesus was the Christ.

Jesus didn’t rebuke Nathanael for his doubts, instead he removed them. The Lord has an answer for every doubt that we have. We need to be without guile before the Lord as Nathanael was (v. 47) and come to Him when we are plagued with doubts instead of running from Him or avoiding Him.

Jesus knows our frame. He remembers that we are but dust (Ps. 103:14). It is not a sin to doubt, but it becomes sin if we harbor those doubts. We should do as Nathanael did and bring our doubts to the Lord. Let’s allow Him to deal with them.

GOD LOOKS FOR AVAILABILITY

The Old Testament passage being quoted is from( Lev. 12:6-8). There the Lord commanded a lamb and a young pigeon or a turtledove as the prescribed sacrifice. If the woman was unable to offer a lamb, then two young pigeons or two turtledoves were acceptable. Mary would not have offered the lesser offering if it had been in her power to provide the lamb.

This reveals that Joseph and Mary were not well off financially, yet the Lord chose them to be the earthly parents of His only begotten Son.

The Lord doesn’t choose the way man chooses. Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart (1 Sam. 16:7).

Mary and Joseph were chosen when they were without: without fame, without position, without money. God entrusted the most precious gift He had to a couple who would surely have been overlooked if men had been conducting the search.

God isn’t looking for ability, but rather availability. D. L. Moody once heard a preacher say, “The world has never seen what God can do with one man who is totally yielded to Him.” In response, D. L. said, “By the grace of God, I’ll be that man.” This uneducated man went on to shake three continents for God.

God will choose you too, if you’ll make yourself available to Him (1 Cor. 1:26-28).

JESUS FREED US FROM SIN

What happened to Barabbas is a picture of what happens when a person is born again. Barabbas was guilty; Jesus was innocent. Yet Jesus suffered the death that Barabbas should have experienced, and Barabbas went free.

Likewise, we were all guilty (Rom. 3:23) and condemned to death (Rom. 6:23), yet Jesus suffered our punishment so that we may go free (2 Cor. 5:21). Just as Barabbas didn’t ask for this substitution, so “God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

Barabbas was freed, but he had to choose whether or not to accept this new start and remain free, or go back to his old ways and come under the judgment of Rome again. Likewise, we have all been freed through the substitutionary death of Jesus, but we have to choose whether to accept our freedom by putting faith in Jesus or to reject it, by denying Him.

Our death to sin and resurrection to life with Christ, is already a reality in our spirits but will only become a physical reality when we know and believe it. In the same way that Jesus died unto sin once, and death no longer has dominion over Him, the person who recognizes their death with Christ unto sin, will not allow sin to rule over him anymore. Any Christian who is struggling with sin has not recognized that they are dead unto sin.

Written by: Andrew Wommack

Matthew 24:12 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”

The only reason that an abundance of iniquity would make anyone’s love for the Lord wax cold, is if he were not separated from that iniquity. As with Lot, a righteous man can vex his soul from day to day by hearing and seeing the unlawful deeds of the ungodly (2 Pet. 2:8).

We have to deal with the world’s system and those in it, but we need to be careful and maintain proper balance. We should shun relationships with those who influence us negatively more than we influence them positively.

Marriage is one area where this principle is especially true. There is no closer union in life than the marriage relationship. A believer who marries an unbeliever is directly violating this scripture and is toying with disaster. The Lord should be the most important person in our life. How could we possibly become “one” with a person who doesn’t love our Lord?

It is folly to think that after marriage an unbelieving spouse will accept the Lord. Although that does happen, it cannot be guaranteed. In fact, statistics are overwhelmingly against this happening. Regardless of that possibility, a believer who marries an unbeliever is directly violating God’s instructions here. It is not a good start to any marriage to spurn God’s Word.

Being unequally yoked with unbelievers just doesn’t work. Believers and unbelievers are as different as righteousness and unrighteousness, light and dark, Christ and the devil. One has faith and the other has none. One is the temple of God and the other an idol. Any Christian who doesn’t see this conflict is deceived.

Written by: Andrew Wommack