New Creation

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Currently we are going through our new series "More Than a Golden Ticket". We know that our ultimate destination and desire is to one day be in the presence of our Father in Heaven. But many times I hear people say "but now what?". "By accepting Christ as my personal Lord and Savior and being justified through His sacrifice, does that mean I am done?"

Certainly not!

As I said this past Wednesday my hope is that 3 things will happen through this series...

1. You will begin to understand that you are not even close to being done with your Christian growth and journey.

2. You will fully comprehend the wonderful gift of grace that God has given to you through His Son.

3. You will see the NECESSITY of sharing the Gospel to everyone you meet.

We can think of thousands of reasons why we don't share the gospel but with others, but really there is only one thing stopping us... and that's us.

The first week we talked about how we are a new creation. We use the example of baptism to represent the death of our old selves and the birth of a new creation.

We are not just an improvement of our former selves. By uniting with Christ, we become something completely different than we once were. Sometimes we treat Christianity as a head start. Like there is a race and by being a Christian you get to start further down the road than everyone else. Its not that at all. The Bible tells us that the old is gone.

We still sin... we still mess up... but our God is a great God. He is greater than all of our problems, issues, and sin.

I want you all to think about this as you go through your week. God has given you a new life. Don't live like the old one! We were made a new creation by the Ultimate Creator.

So... how are you going to live like you are a new creation this week? You may need to let go of your old life. Pray for God to use you in your school, workplace, and home.

If you have a story where you were given the choice, and you chose to live as a new creation this week, share it with me at oakridge.youth@hotmail.com. Your story may be shared or used to help others throughout the week.

Don't EVER limit what God can do in your life.