WORDS OF OUR SALVATION (PART 3): PASTOR MENSA OTABIL – SUNDAY SERVICE, 18TH APRIL, 2021

SUNDAY SERVICE BY DR. MENSAH OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) ACCRA, GHANA)

TOPIC: WORDS OF OUR SALVATION – PART 3.

DATE: 18TH APRIL, 2021

TEXT: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17

Amen! Let’s rise up together, as we make our DECLARATION OF FRUITFULNESS in this Year of Fruitfulness:

Are you ready? Say with me:

The Eternal God is our refuge. He opens Rivers in desolate Heights.The Lord makes the wilderness a Pool of water.

The LORD God is my Sun and Shield; The LORD gives Grace and Glory.

Therefore, I delight myself in Him. Those who are Planted in the House of the LORD shall be fresh and flourishing.

Though the Earth be shaken; the Name of the Lord is my Strong Tower. By Faith I affirm that: In Christ alone is my Salvation. In Him I live, And move And have my being.

It is written: The Righteous are like trees Planted by the waters; bearing fruits in its Season.

So I boldly declare: As for me, my God has made me EXCEEDINGLY FRUITFUL.

In this Season, my Spirit bears Fruits of Righteousness, my Talents make Way for me. With my hands, I will Plant, I will Build, I will Harvest – Day by day, Step by step.

In Jesus’ Name – Amen!

Today, my Message is Titled: “WORDS OF OUR SALVATION – PART 3”.

… And today, I will be focusing on NEW CREATION.

DMC NOTES: We can get to access the Full Text of Parts 1 (Focused on Salvation) and Part (Focused on Redemption) on these Links:

https://discoverymediacrew.com/The-Words-Of-Our-Salvation-Part-1-Pastor-Mensa-Otabil

https://discoverymediacrew.com/Words-Of-Our-Salvation-Part-2-Pastor-Mensa-Otabil

Our Main Text for today is taken from 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV):

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a New Creation; Old Things have Passed away; behold, all Things have become New.”

The Two (2) words – “NEW CREATION” are Present in this Verse; and it describes the life of a Believer.

… That when we get saved, we become NEW CREATION.

Those two (2) words are important.

And I will take time to define them today because the word ‘NEW’ may have different meaning for different People.

But the word ‘NEW’ as it occurred in this Verse is from the Greek work ‘Kainos’.

‘Kainos’ means, something that is New in Nature and unprecedented.

… It is something of a kind not seen before.

There’s another word in the Greek for New – it is ‘Nous’ – And ‘Nous’ talks about something that is recent.

To get the concept of ‘NEW CREATION’, I just want to talk about it using this illustration:

A friend invites you (as we normally do) and say: ‘Come and and see my New Car.’

And so you go to see your friend’s New Car.

And then you see the New Car and it is fairly used – Maybe third hand, forth hand!

But when he was inviting you, he said: ‘Come and see my New Car.’

… But the car you saw, was not New!

So, why did your friend say: ‘Come and see my New Car’ when he is using a Second or Third hand car?

It is because he is using ‘NEW’ in a different sense. He means, my recent car – The one which has just arrived.

He is not saying the car is NEW in Nature; but in sequence of time, the Car is New!

So, the two (2) different concepts of NEW: Something that means the Nature is New. Or it just happened!

When the Bible says, if any man be in Christ he is a New Creation, it doesn’t mean it just happened. It means that something New has happened.

But sometimes, even something that is New in Nature may not be unprecedented.

Because when we say ‘unprecedented’ – As we use in ‘Kainos’; it means that the thing was not there before and it has no history.

So for example; if this friend who invited you to come and see a New Car; invites you to come and see a car. You go see the car, and you see a fleshly-made Mercedes Benz K-5000.

It is Possible! Yes, there is nothing called Mercedes Benz K-5000. It’s a ‘Kainos’. It means unprecedented!

It is not a Mercedes Benz 200, which had been made. But this is a New Model, a New Specie that didn’t exist, that has been fleshly made.

That is what the Bible has in mind, when it says: “You are a New Creation.

Not just recently made; but you didn’t exist before! – A New class that didn’t exist.

So, if any man is in Christ, he is a ‘NEW’ Creation.

… Remember – Not recent, but something unprecedented.

Then the word ‘CREATION’ comes from a Greek word ‘Kitesis’ – Which means: That which is made or a Class, a Being.

… Kainos Kitesis – NEW CREATION.

It refers to something that is brought into Being.

So, if you put the two (2) words together: WHAT IS A NEW CREATION?

A New Creation is a New and unprecedented class of Being.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ; he is a New and Unprecedented Class of Being.

He is something that didn’t exist before, that has come into existence.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a New Creation; not a “Renovated Creation”, not a “Renewed Creation”, not an “Upgraded Creation”.

But a Brand New Creation that didn’t exist, that had been brought into Being – New and Unprecedented.

That is a fantastic description of a Being because, if we say, for example – A Baby is born, we say ‘That is a New Baby.’

But he is a Human Being!

And Human Beings are not Unprecedented – He is New, but he is a Human Being.

But when we say, a Person is a “NEW CREATION”; something that didn’t exist before has been brought into existence.

‘… If nyone is in Christ, he is a New Creation;”

You have no idea, what happened to you the day you got Born Again – Something that didn’t use to be, now is! WE ARE NEW CREATION.

To be a New Creation; we must be in Christ.

“Therefore, if anyone is “In Christ”, he is a New Creation;

The phrase: “IN CHRIST” is so important!

Not, ,XIn Church” – He didn’t say: ‘Therefore if anyone goes to Church he is a New Creation.”

He didn’t say: ‘Therefore if anyone likes Praying he is a New Creation.”

He didn’t say: ‘If your Pastor Prays for you, you become a New Creation.”

He didn’t even say: ‘Therefore if anyone reads the Bible he is a New Creation.”

Or, therefore if anyone receives the Prophecy, he is a New Creation.

Or, anyone who is nice, is a New Creation!

Because, sometimes you ask Christians: ‘Are you a Christian, are you Redeemed, are you Born Again?

They say: ‘I go to Church!’ These days I’m changing my life!’

He didn’t say: ‘Therefore anyone who tries to Change his life is a New Creation.’

He says: ‘therefore if anyone is “IN CHRIST”, he is a New Creation.

Outside of Christ, you are Old; In Christ you are New!

To become a New Creation therefore, we have to be “IN CHRIST”; we have to belong to Him; we have to have His Spirit in us – We have to be a New Creation

Then the Passage goes on to describe the New Creation, and it says: “OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY.”

Not, old things WILL Pass away. Or old things CAN Pass away or old things are PASSING away.

But, “OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY.”

It’s not yet to happen; it has happened and been concluded.

… “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a New Creation; Old Things… “

That word ‘THINGS’ means Nature and Systems.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a New Creation; Old Nature and Systems have Passed away.

They are not just being Passed away, it already happened! – “Old Things has Passed away.”

So, what are the “OLD THINGS” that have Passed away? – Two (2) things:

1. The Adamic Nature in us.

The Old Nature that we were born with, Passed away!

The Nature of Adam is sometimes called, the Old Man.

Romans 6:6 says: “knowing this, that our Old Man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

When Jesus Christ died, your Old Man was crucified with Him.

On that Cross, He was not the only One being nailed; but the Old Nature of Adam was also been nailed to the Cross.

And not only that; the completion of sin in us, nailed to the Cross. Slavery to sin, nailed to the Cross!

The Old Man Passes away; the Adamic Nature Passes away – “… Old Things have Passed away.”

And not only the Old Nature of Adam that Passed away.

2. The Dispensation of the Law Passed away.

Because the Law was also nailed to the Cross.

On the outside, you may look like the same Person. In fact, if you go and take a Picture of your ‘Before Born Again days’ and ‘After your Born Again days’; you are the same Person.

Your fingerprint is the same, your name is the same – Probably, you changed that (I don’t know) but you are the same Person.

But the Bible says, something has Passed away. And we are going to go deeper to what has Passed away.

… But it says, the Old Things have Passed away!

Sitting right where you reading this Message on the Label of DMC, if Jesus Christ is in your heart, Old Things has Passed away – It’s gone!

And then it says, “ALL THINGS have become New”

So, when we become Christians: Old Things Passed away; All Things have become New.

WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT HAVE BECOME NEW?

1. The Spirit of Christ in us.

He is sometimes called a New Man, a New Spirit, the Spirit of God.

… Our body has become the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

So, the Old gone!

Which Old went? – The Old Nature of Adam.

The New came!

What is the New? – The Spirit of Christ.

… And not only the Spirit of Christ

2. But the Dispensation of Grace.

… God’s Grace came into our lives!

So, when we are in Christ, we don’t live by the Law, we live by Grace. The Law was given to Moses. But Truth and Grace came through Jesus Christ.

So, if this is such a Profound thing that has happened to us;

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THIS NEW CREATION?

What does it look like? How do you identify the New Creation?

So I’m going to give you Four (4) Characteristics of the Nature of the New Creation;

1. The New Creation is a Spirit Being (not a Physical Being)

In John 3:6, Jesus says: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.”

The New Creation is a Spirit Being; not a Mental or Physical Being.

Now, one of the reasons why People can’t really tell that they are New Creation, is because, they are still looking at their body.

Old things didn’t Pass away: it’s the same Old nose, same Old forehead, same Old height.

… So what Passed away and what came?

The New Creation is not a Physical Being; and it’s not a Mental Being. Your Mind did not Pass away, and your body did not Pass away.

Because, if your Mind Passes away when you become a Christian, you will lose your Mind and you can’t function again.

Can you imagine the day you became Born Again, everything in your mind wiped off! You won’t even remember your name, you won’t remember where your home is, you won’t remember anything!

And you will be unable to live on Earth – So, your Mind remain the same.

Neither does your body Pass away – Because when your body Passes away, you are dead!

When God wants a New creation, He only touches the Place that He can replace without disturbing your existence.

So, Jesus Christ takes the Spirit and changes it. But the mind doesn’t change, and the body doesn’t change.

“Old Things have Passed away…” – It’s the Spirit, not the Mind, not the body!

… So the New Creation starts as a Spirit Being!

2. The New Creation is Conformed to Christ.

He is built into the specifications of Christ. Romans 8:29;

“For whom He foreknew, He also Predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many Brethren.”

… He is a Sprint Being, Conformed to Christ.

Now, why is that important? – It is important because not all Spirit Beings are conformed to Christ.

Even the devil is a Spirit Being. Demons are Spirit Beings! There are all kinds of Spirits.

When we become Born Again, we become New Creation, we become Spirit Beings that are made alive!

But this Spirit Being is conformed to Christ; has the Nature of Christ in him and looks like Jesus Christ.

3. The New Creation is a Heavenly Being.

1 Corinthians 15:49 says: “And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly Man.”

If we bore the image of Adam, we bore the image of the Heavenly Man – Jesus Christ.

The New Creation is a Heavenly Person. Heavenly Being, living on Earth!

Our Spirit is seated in Heaven with Christ – Our Authority is in Heaven, we are blessed with all Spiritual Blessings Heavenly Places.

And that is why the Bible charges us to set our Minds on Things above and not on Things on the Earth.

4. The New Creation is Created in Righteousness.

Ephesians 4:24 says: “And that you put on the New Man which was created according to God, in True Righteousness and Holiness.”

The New Creation is righteous! He has a Nature that is in right relationship with God.

Now, I know after hearing all of that, the next logical question is: If this is really true, How come we still do all the Things we do?

… I am a New Creation, Old t Things have Passed away – How come I still live the way I do? How come there are Believers who live as if Christ doesn’t know them?

There are even Pastors who behave as if Christ doesn’t know them.

So, if they are New, why do they behave in the Old?

… That is the crush of our Christian Life!

I want to use another Illustration – Just to help you get a Mental Picture of why it is so.

Let us just say there is an old car – It could be the old rounded Mercedes Benz 190 D (those of you who are young, you never met it).

But if you remembered, it was there in the 50’s and 60’s. And part of the 70’s too – That’s the Old Mercedes Benz.

Somebody gets a brand New Engine – Straight from the Mercedes Benz Factory; removes the old engine of the old Mercedes Benz 190D, take it out, and puts a New engine.

All things shall become New if you make the right connections to the engine;

But, if the connection to the engine, to the rest of the vehicle, is not renewed as well; that New Engine will not manifest in the condition of the car!

First, you need an ignition that is New – If it’s rusty, the key is rusty, wires are not connected; when you turn on the engine, it will not start.

Is there a New Engine? – Yes!

Are you operating it? – No!

Why? – There is no Problem with your engine; there is a big Problem with your Starter.

Let’s say you are able to get a Starter. But all connections to the Shaft to turn the engine, the Propellers rusty – Although the engine is working, the wheels will not turn.

And even if they get to the wheels and the tyres are flat: the engine is New, but it won’t turn! And even when you turn it, and the seats have all now become metal springs; the vehicle may seem to be moving, but you can’t enjoy it!

… That, my friend, is the life of the Believer.

When Christ came into our hearts; the Old engine thrown away – Behold, all Things New!

… Christ in you the Hope of Glory.

But, your Ignition: the words of your mouth, the meditations of your heart are still old. So, what you need to do is, you have to change the Ignition, so it can connect to the engine to the New Spirit.

You have to learn New things, understand new things.

That is why the Bible says: “We have to put on the New Man and be renewed in the Spirit of our Minds.”

Because if you don’t get renewed in the Spirit of your Mind, Christ will live in you, but it will seem as if Christ didn’t know you.

And People will say: ‘Are you really sure Jesus is in your heart?’

Oh Yes, the engine has changed but the ignition is still wrong, the shaft is still wrong, the tyre is flat and the seats in the Vehicle are Piercing you in the wrong way.

… Has there been a Change? Yes!

So, for the rest of our Christian Life, after the Old Spirit in us is taken away, and the New Spirit comes; the challenge of the Christian life is to renew our Minds to conform to the Spirit that is in us.

It is when your Mind is in conformity with your Spirit that your body is subject to the New Mind; that you are going to see the engine running back to life.

And People are going to see you and say: Oh, it looks like the body is Old but the speed in which this thing is going; it is not the Old Vehicle. Something New has happened on the inside.

That’s why we sing:
Something on the inside,
Working on the outside!

The Christian life is not an Automatic life. You don’t receive Christ and instantly you are Perfect, instantly you have overcome every sin – No!

You have received Christ, behold all things have become New. But, there has to be renewal of your Mind and the subjection of your flesh to the dictates of the Spirit.

It is when we do that, that the engine and all the connections in the body are now in one Piece!

The engine is New, all the other parts are not New but they will be renewed.

Renewed means it’s the same Old Thing, but you have to work on it and conform it so it can make use of the New Thing.

But the mind is not new, the body is not new (that’s for another time)!

SO, WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF THE NEW CREATION?

…. And I’m ending with this!

Because the Spirit is New – Kainos Spirit, a Brand New Spirit. But the Mind is Old, and the body is Old;

No matter what we do on this Earth, the Believer will always function below Capacity.

No matter how you renew your Mind (you can renew it to whatever level but you will still have a shortfall.

Whilst we live in this body (this flesh), we will still have a shortfall.

In the Spirit there is not shortfall, but in the body there is a shortfall. In the mind there is a shortfall.

The Purpose of our Christian Life – Coming to Church, going for Prayer Meeting, Studying the Bible. All of it is to conform the rest of your life to the New Spirit inside of you.

That’s why we hear the Word of God, that’s why we Study the Bible, grow in Grace and try to live Holy lives so that our bodies and minds would be conform to our New Spirit.

But there will come a time, in Revelation 21 (this is almost at the end of the Bible). This is what the Angel says to John about what happens to the Believers.

Revelation 21:4-5: “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all Things n New.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

There is coming a time when God will Perfect the New Creation in the New world. But when He does that, He will wipe away all our Earthly Memories and Mindset.

And He will outfit our bodies with a brand New Body called a Glorified Body; and our Minds would be New, the Body New, the Spirit New.

And it is when we get to that Place that the Full Potentials of what happened to us at Salvation would be Manifested.

And that is why, Heaven is not just about going to sit down and sing ‘Holy, Holy, Holy for ever because God will not go to the extent of outfitting us with such Capacity, just to sit and sing Holy, Holy, Holy!

The work of the Believer will now begin at that time: And the Bible says we shall Reign with Him and Rule over His Creation in every Spheres.

Because the Spirit and the Mind and the Body we have, will be able to function way, way, way beyond, what any human Potential and Capacity will.

Until that day: we have a New Spirit, we renew our Minds, we conform our bodies; so that the extent of the Spirit Capacity would begin to manifest in our lives.

That’s when we will walk in Victory, that’s when we will walk over serpents and scorpions. That’s when we will walk over sickness and disease. That’s when we will walk over every Power of the enemy.

Because if you don’t renew your Mind and your Soul, your Spirit is seated above Principalities and Powers, your Mind is afraid.

Christ gives you Victory, but your Mind is scared.

So inside you is Victory, outside you is defeat.

The defeat is not from your Spirit, it is because your Mind has not comprehended what has happened.

This is how Apostle Paul puts it.

But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has Prepared for those who love Him” – 1 Corinthians 2:9

You have no idea what is sitting on the inside of you – Your body is Old, but your Spirit is a Brand New Spirit!

May the Lord help us to walk in the Fullness of the Authority we have in our Spirit, in Jesus’ Name – Amen!

GOD BLESS YOU!

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