Rhapsody Of Realities TeeVo
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome PhD
Wednesday, August 28th 2024
A BRAND-NEW LIFE
(It’s A Different Life And Nature In Christ Jesus)
TO THE BIBLE:
Colossians 3:9-10
“Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.”
LET’S TALK
“Hey, Lorraine, what does the phrase ‘being born again’ in 1 Peter 1:23 mean?” Elsa asked her Care Group leader. “Does it mean he or she just repented?”
“Not at all, Elsa,” Lorraine replied. “Being born again isn’t just about repentance or saying ‘sorry’ to God and having Him forgive you. It’s much more than that. It’s about receiving a new life and nature from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Being born again goes beyond repentance; when you were born into this world, you came with the human life from your parents. This was the life you lived until you were born again and received another life: the life and nature of God. Does this, therefore, imply that you have two lives in you: a human life as well as the divine one? Absolutely not!
As a Christian, you only have one life, and it’s the God life. The human life ceased to be because it was replaced by this life and nature of God. You didn’t receive an additional life; it was a supplanting of the old with the new. Hallelujah! The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The use of the word “creation” lets us know that what’s being described is something new and strange to the world because it has never seen it before. It’s like what the Bible says in 1 John 3:1, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” Now that we’re the sons of God, the world doesn’t recognise us because we’re changed.
We’re no longer subject to sickness, disease, failure, or death. We’re new creations, born with the life and nature of God that transcends the ordinary human life. This is the message of Christ. This is why He came: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). Hallelujah!
GO DEEPER
1 John 5:11-13 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Ephesians 1:4-6 AMPC Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love. 5 For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [[a]because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]— 6 [So that we might be] to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (favor and mercy), which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
SPEAK
I declare that Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life, and His life and nature that transcends the ordinary human life has been imparted to my spirit. My old life has been completely supplanted by the divine life, which is superior to sickness, disease, defeat and the depravities of the natural man. Praise God forevermore!
DAILY BIBLE READING
ONE YEAR
1 Corinthians 12, Psalms 146-150
TWO YEAR
Luke 19:20-27, 1 Samuel 16