Author: effulgence

We do not need to seek the Holy Spirit, He has already been given. He is here.
Luke 11:13, “how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Notice, “your heavenly Father”; that is for a believer. That was not written for the Jews, for He was not the Jews’ Heavenly Father. Gal. 3:2 “This only would I learn from you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the message of faith?” That settles the issue! But, you say, the disciples waited ten days. Yes, but they didn’t know what they were waiting for. They didn’t know that Christ had died for their sins according to the Scripture. They didn’t know during those ten days why they were waiting in that Upper Room.

They didn’t know anything about His Substitutionary Sacrifice. None of them believed in His resurrection, even when they saw Him after He arose. They knew nothing about what the three days and three nights meant to the human race. They didn’t know what Jesus meant when He said they were to tarry and be baptized. They didn’t know that baptism meant the New Birth. They didn’t know anything about the indwelling of the Spirit that was to enable them to speak in tongues. They didn’t understand it. 1 Cor. 12:13 “For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.” That is the New Birth.

Immersion doesn’t mean a filling, for when I immerse one in water, I don’t fill them with water. When they were immersed by the Holy Spirit in that Upper Room, they weren’t filled with the Spirit until after the immersion. The question we should ask is the question that Paul asked the Ephesians, “Have ye received the Holy Spirit since ye believed?” This is an intelligent question. When you ask a believer if he has received his baptism, and the believer is instructed in the Word, he will say, “Certainly, I have received Eternal Life. But if you mean, have I received the Holy Spirit, that is another question.”

We do not seek for Righteousness. We are made the Righteousness of God in Christ.
We do not seek for power, because we have the Holy Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead, within us. We do not seek for faith, because we are believers. We are not doubters, we are the true Sons of God. We are men who act upon the Father’s Word just as Jesus acted on His Father’s Word. This new order of Life, this new type of Christianity that has unveiled to us the truth about sense knowledge and has made us Masters in the Name of Jesus over the forces that have held us in bondage all our lives, has become a Living Reality. We know now what makes an atheist, an atheist; a modernist, a modernist.

We know the why of metaphysics. We understand why men have become philosophers.
It is all sense knowledge seeking after something to satisfy a hungry human spirit that is craving God. These people are all in one class. They are all sense knowledge devotees. They tell me they are scientific. What is science? It is but sense knowledge gathering together certain data. They haven’t one thing except what the five senses have contributed. They are sense knowledge men, ofttimes drunken with the few facts they have collated, gathered, classified. Philosophy is sense knowledge seeking after God. No philosopher ever found God in the realm of philosophy. It is the child of the senses.
The seeking philosopher finds only himself, for he is seeking in himself. He can’t seek outside of himself. The natural man cannot find or know aught but himself.

The philosopher is a psychical, mental man. Psycho-analysis is but discovering oneself. He has not discovered the real self, for he can’t find that. The real self is a spirit. The only self he has discovered is the mental self that has derived all his knowledge from the five senses. When one searches in his inner self, he only finds what he has already built there or else someone else has built. Philosophy is a total failure in seeking the solution of the human problem. Psychologists have called our human spirit, “a subconscious mind,” for this searcher in his own self-consciousness, has discovered that there is something besides the reasoning faculties.

He can’t find it nor diagnose it, so he calls it “a sub-conscious mind.” It is his spirit. That is not the right way of expressing it. It is himself, his spirit, that the reasoning faculties cannot find or understand even if they found it. When that spirit receives the Nature of God and gains the ascendancy over the reasoning faculties that get their impulses from the senses, then man can study psychology and get to know himself in Reality. There is room for a new psychology, but it will not be called psychology – it would be Spiritology.
It is knowledge of the activities and operations of the recreated human spirit in its relation to the renewed mind.

The one who thinks that knowledge is all that is necessary will fail.
It is the doer of the Word, the man who practices it, lives it, walks in it, that builds it into his own life, whom God honors.
There is a grave danger of deluding our own selves.
We know the Word. We may be familiar with the original Greek or Hebrew. We may know the history of the Word, but that is all wasted energy if we do not live the Word, practice it.

When you come to a hard place, and need money, you resolutely turn to the Lord, because you know that “My God shall supply every need of yours.”
You have taken your place. You act the part of a real believer.
Instead of turning to the beggarly elements of the world, you turn to the Father.
Or if a loved one is sick, instead of being frightened, you remember the Word: “Surely He hath borne our sicknesses and carried our diseases. And we have come to esteem Him as the One who was stricken, smitten of God and afflicted with those diseases.”
We know it now. We act on that Word. We do not fear; we are not disturbed, because we know that the Word says that with His stripes we are healed.
Or if some calamity has come, some rumor, the adversary has stirred things to our detriment, we know that the Word tells us in Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me.”

You see, you can trust Him. You bank on Him. Your expectations are from Him. You do not turn to the beggarly help of Sense Knowledge.
We do the Word, we live the Word, we act the Word, we trust implicitly in the Word, and we know that God and His throne are back of every word. That gives us a quiet, restful confidence.
John 15:9, “Abide ye in my love.”
You remember that He loves you and that you are born of that new kind of love. You remember I John 4:8, “God is love.” And you remember that you are a partaker of His nature. (II Peter 1:4.)
And so, with a quiet confidence, you live love, you practice love. You are a doer of love. You are not a hearer only. You are not only an admirer of love, but you are an actual doer. You live in the love realm. You speak love, you walk in love, you live the love life.

John 13:34, 35, “A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another, even as I have loved you.”
You face that squarely and you decide it definitely in your own life, that you are going to love men “even as.” That means that you are going to practice it.
Men may not understand you. They may think that you are unwise. But you live this love life. You are taking Jesus’ place, acting as Jesus would act. You are one that loves as Jesus loved, and you are not deluding yourself now; for in John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He that followeth (or practices what I teach)… shall have the light of life.”
You are going to prove to the world that you have the light. They that walk in human reason are walking in darkness, and they know not whither they go. They have deluded themselves. The great teachings are mere doctrines to them, a part of their creed. They will assent that it is true, but they dissent when you ask them to practice it.
The one who loves as Jesus loved will not delude anyone else.
There are Word-hearers, mere listeners-good talkers, but not doers.

John 15:5-8, “I am the vine; ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit.”
What kind of fruit is it? It is love fruit; It is faith fruit; it is prayer fruit. It is the same kind of fruit that Jesus bore.
It will be doing what Jesus did.
“If ye abide in me and my words abide in you; ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
The doer abides in Christ, and His words are living in him in the measure that he lives them, does them, practices them.
All his decisions are made by the Word. He is living in the realm of the living Christ. Notice this eighth verse: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be my disciples.”
What kind of fruit is it? It is the fruit that comes from doing the Word.

The hearer may show many blossoms of promise, but it is the doer that delivers the ripened fruit. The Word lives in him; he lives in the Word. He is the fruit-bearing branch-a real doer.
Prayer is a reality. He is not talking off into space. He is in the Throne Room in the presence of the Father. Here the Name of Jesus is always honored. He receives that for which he asks.
Did you notice, “As you live in me and my words live in you”?
That is the real doing of the Word, not just a doctrine, but God speaking and God living in His own Word in us.

We have tried to build faith in the believer by condemning their wrong doings, and preaching sin and condemnation. No one ever gets faith that way. Anyone can see that this destroys what little faith one has. All prayer for faith is nothing but unbelief. Unbelief grows out of sense of unworthiness.

Sin consciousness is the greatest destroyer of Faith. Now, what shall we do about it? In the first place one must know what he is in Christ. As a new creation he has passed from death to Life. He has eternal life; he is a son of God, an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ. This gives him legal ground for a perfect fellowship with the Father. This fellowship is based on the fact that this New creation has become the Righteousness of God in Christ. There is now no condemnation. He is complete in Christ. If the Law could not help a Jew, how can it help a believer. Teach the message of righteousness not the law. We have majored sin consciousness. We have preached the Law. We have kept our people under condemnation. Faith cannot grow in that kind of atmosphere; consequently almost none of the believers today have any active faith in the Word.

Only the word of Grace can build a believer, reinforce him with the strength of the Father, and give him an inheritance among the saints. The Law was for the dead in the spirit; Love is for the living. The Law of sin and death was for the dead old creation while the Law of Life and spirit is for the new creation.

Two Kinds of Righteousness

John 1:1-4 Word is so important so much so that it’s significant can never be overlooked, the world we are seeing is a product of the word and everything that is in the world came into existence through the word.

The potency of the word is such a powerful one that cannot be neglected.

What I do with the Word will determine what the Word will do to me one of these days.
The Word is takes the Master’s place in my life. The Word will work in me, building Jesus’ life in me, building Life, Faith, Love, Grace and strength into me, or else it will judge me in the last day. What will it do for me? It will work for me. If I preach it and live it, it will work for me. It will reveal the very riches of my inheritance to me. It will give me courage to enter into and enjoy my inheritance. It will build the Master’s steadfastness into me. The very character of Christ will be built into me, and only He knows what it will do through me. It has saved the lost; it has healed the sick; it has built faith and love in multitudes.

Let the Word of Christ then dwell in you richly. You can so soak in the Word and the Word so soak in you, that your word and God’s Word become blended into one. It will be your language and your words, but it will be His Word. His Word in you becomes a part of you. It has made you what you are; it will make others like you.
You are lost in the Word, but the Word is found in you. The Word became Flesh once. It is becoming spirit in your spirit. The Word dwells richly in your practice, in your conversation, in your prayer, in your convictions.

You are using the Word to cast out diseases, to bring money to people, to save lost souls. This Word and you have become one. You remember that for more than fifty years after Christ’s death, the Written Word was known only in a very limited way. The New Testament wasn’t brought together until the middle of the second century. The Words that Jesus spoke were not yet written. It was the “Spoken Word,” but He was in it. They were a part of Christ and they breathed Christ’s Nature. Remember, the Word of God liveth and abideth. All right, speak the Word and it will live in the lives of men who hear you. He said, “I watch over my Word.” He will watch over the Word you preach and teach. Jesus said, “If my words are living in you and you are speaking them, I will live in them as they pass from your lips.” The Word of Christ becomes a Living thing in your lips. Speak the Word fearlessly. Let the Word live in you gloriously and richly.

New Creation Realities.

Your feelings will want to pay people back. Feelings will tell you, “Get in there and get even. Stand up for yourself.” If you let feelings rule you, you’ll get upset. You’ll end up giving away your joy. It says in Psalms, “God has given us the power to remain calm in times of adversity.” It doesn’t say God will keep all the adversity from us, keep the negative chatter, the opposition. It says, adversity will come, we’ll have opportunities to get upset, but God has given us the power to stay calm.

ONE COMES into the family of God by confessing the Lordship of Jesus over his life.
Romans 10:9-10, “Because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness: and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” And then in the eleventh verse He climaxes it by saying, “Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be put to shame.”
You see, the recognition of the Lordship of Jesus is the condition on which we receive Eternal Life. Faith is not a creation of the intellect but of the human spirit; and when He says, “Believe in thy heart,” He means that our spirits act upon the Word. So with the heart man believes that Jesus is his Righteousness, and then he makes a confession of his salvation, of the Lordship of Jesus over his life. “Lordship” really means “the bread provider,” the one who sustains, protects, and cares for us. So in the very beginning of the Divine Life, Jesus assumes the responsibility of our caretaker. We have Matthew 6:25-34. Jesus gives us a bird’s-eye view of the Father’s attitude toward His own children.
This was written for the New Creation. The Jews could not understand it. Notice this: “Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.” He illustrates it by the Father’s care for the birds, and says, “Are not ye of much more value than they?” And then we show lack of wisdom in worrying over our finances, “Why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin.” Then the thirtieth verse, “But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith? Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat,' or,What shall we drink’: or, `Wherewithal shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”
And then we have the climax in the thirty-third verse, “But seek ye first His kingdom and His Righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” We are in His kingdom. Colossians 1:13, “Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” We have found His Righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “Him Who knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the Righteousness of God in Him.” Then we are in the family. (Romans 8:14-16.)
And in 1 John 3:1, we read, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God: Beloved, now are we children of God.” And not only are we sons, but we are heirs of God and joints heirs with Jesus Christ. God is our actual Father. John 16:27, “For the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved me.” If we are His children and if He is our Father, then He is responsible for us. If we take our place as sons, He is bound to take His place as a Father.
John 14:23, “If a man love me, he will keep my Word; and my Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” “If a man love me he will keep my Word.” That means that we are taking our place as sons. We will take the responsibility of sons. We will bear the burden of it, and we will enjoy the privileges of it. If we do that, then He will assume His place as a Father and will make His home with us, take care of us and enable us to meet our obligations, enable us to walk in love and in wisdom, and to walk in the fullness of His fellowship.
Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me.” Here is the ability of God that becomes ours the moment that we come into the family. And Philippians 4:19 reads, “My God shall supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” That will be the end of worry, the end of fear. That will mean that God, our Father, has assumed the responsibility that came to Him when He gave us Eternal Life. Study this section very carefully. Proverbs 3:5, 6, “Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart and lean not upon thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths

Time: the Purest Currency in this World

“Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.”” (Revelation‬ ‭12:12‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

If you think about it, all money is received by exchanging time for it.
The rich know how to leverage on other people’s time, convincing them to use their time to enrich the rich.
When products are sold, they command a higher price when these companies can convince you why it’s worth parting with more money (which you used your time to exchange for).

Time is the purest currency in this temporal world. When you grow crops to sell them for money or to barter for goods, you’re choosing to spend your time in a certain way.

It’s possible to get a good deal for your time, and a bad deal for your time. When you spend time on unprofitable ventures like indulging in sin, you’re being cheated out of your precious time.

The devil is someone who is poor, because the Scriptures say that he has “but a short time”.

Satan lacks time because his eternal fate is to burn in the lake of fire. Today, his mission is to rob people of their time by killing, stealing and destroying.

When people die prematurely because of allowing sin to mature and bring forth the fruit of death, they are robbed of their time.
When people spend time indulging in fruitless activities all day long, their time is stolen from them.
When people work in jobs or organizations that advance the devil’s plans, they are giving him their time—he leverages on that borrowed time, and doesn’t mind paying you money for it because money is worthless to him.
He is interested in hurting God by damning human souls to Hell.

The one who is truly rich is God who has always existed since eternity past, and will continue to live in the eternal ages to come.

““I am the Alpha and the Omega, ” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”” (Revelation‬ ‭1:8‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

All the time belongs to Him—He created time. We who have been saved will join Him in eternity, sharing in His abundance.

Meanwhile in this mortal lifetime, let us get a good deal for our time. Be wise in how you spend this precious currency.

“Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians‬ ‭5:15-17‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The main will of the Lord is the salvation of mankind. To spend your time wisely is to partner with Him in this venture of soul winning, through the unique way that He has graced you.

“Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke‬ ‭12:33-34‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

When you make God’s love known to the world through the anointing and gifts that are in you, leading to their repentance in Christ Jesus, you’re gathering up eternal rewards that are infinitely precious.

This is the wisest way to spend your time—the best investment you can make. Don’t spend time to purchase death—use your time to redeem eternal rewards!
If you want to do this, ask God, and He will lead you to do so through the Holy Spirit.

THE spiritual swamp land of the human race, the soil out of which all sin has sprung came into man in the Garden when man disobeyed God and made partnership with Satan.
Satan imparted to him his own substance and nature so that this thing called death passed into him and has followed down the stream of human life through the ages.
Every man has been touched by it.
Spiritual death gave to us Satanic dominion. It separated us
from God. It made of us criminals and renegades from the will of God.
Spiritual death gave to us mortality with all its diseases and pains that end in the physical dissolution of the human body.
Spiritual death is the parent of all sorrow, grief, and tears. It marred not only the human . but the animal and vegetable world. It is the curse that came upon everything at the fall of man.
Man is not lost because of what he does, but because of what he is. You can see now that forgiveness of what a man does would not reach the issue . He must have a new nature.
This old nature must be taken away, and a new one must fill
its place.
That is the reason why Jesus said: “I am come that ye might
have life and have it in abundance.”
That life is the Nature of God.
The spiritually dead man is to receive this New Nature – Eternal Life, which will make him a New Creation in Christ Jesus.

Many people think that going to church occasionally or simply believing in God makes them a Christian. But the Bible presents a different perspective and definition of a Christian.

A Christian is someone whose behavior and heart reflects Jesus Christ.

Followers of Jesus were first called “Christians” in Antioch. Acts 11:26 says, “…for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” They were called “Christians” because their speech and behavior were like Christ.

When we put our faith and trust in Christ, when we commit our lives to serving Him and serving others as He served us, our behavior and mindset reflects the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Christ is with us and in us. We are new creations!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” — 2 Corinthians 5:17
Our old way of thinking is gone. Our motivation, desire, and purpose are replaced with delight in the things of God. The joys and pleasures of our lives are exponentially enhanced through our relationship with Christ. And our selfish and worldly pursuits are exchanged for desire to honor God.

Life in Christ is not a life of “I don’t get to do what I like.” It’s not a life of loss. Instead, it’s a life of abundance, where what I used to like and desire pales in comparison to what my heart now desires. Christians see, feel and experience the world in a different way. A much grander, deeper and meaningful way.

The outward, or the visible man, is the one that you salute on the street.
The inward man is the one who gives this outer man either his attractiveness or his repulsiveness.
It is a very remarkable fact that God deals with the “inward man” instead of the outer man.

Spiritual things are unveiled to this “hidden man of the heart.” The Holy Spirit makes His home in the “hidden man.”
Sin consciousness comes from this “inward man .
It is deeply important that you understand this fact : it is the recreated spirit that convicts of sin in the believer, and our conscience is his voice speaking to our reason .

We stated before that man is a spirit being. He possesses a physical body in which he dwells, He has a soul. The “hidden man” is the part of us that is recreated, receives Eternal Life, and becomes a New Creation .
A translators recently gives 2 Cor. 5:17 like this, “Wherefore if any man is in Christ there is a new self brought into being, but old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.”
The reconciliation it speaks of in the next verse is between this “hidden man of the heart” and the Father-God.
He never speaks of a reconciliation between the mind, or the reasoning faculties, and God, it is always a reconciliation of the heart.
This is the truth unfold, it should have an effect upon our attitude toward some of the teachings we might have accepted at some point in our lives or during our early days of christianity.
Let us think of man as being in God’s class. He is a spirit. He is an eternal spirit. He is capable of receiving the nature of God. He is capable of loving God. He is capable of becoming a son of God.
You understand, he was created in the image and the likeness of God, that is “spiritual likeness” .

He lost that image in the Fall, but it is restored in the New Creation.
There is a very remarkable term used in the Pauline Revelation many times. For instance, in the first chapter of Ephesians it occurs (in one form or another) eleven or twelve times.
Take this as an illustration, Eph. 1:7 “In whom we have our Redemption.
Notice the first two words, “In whom,” “in Christ,” or “In Him.” For a long time that bothered me. I wondered what it meant.
There is something in John 15:5 “I am the vine, and ye are the branches.”
The branch is a part of the vine. The vine is a part of the branch. The two are one.

In Eph . 1 :6 he says, “We are in the beloved .”In Eph . 2:6 it states, “We are seated together .”We are seated with this Beloved One at the Right Hand of the Father.Eph . 2:6-7 “And raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
In Eph. 2:10 it tells us that “we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus.”
You see, this occured before the Resurrection of the Master .
When Christ was recreated the Father said, “This day have I begotten thee.”

In the mind of Justice the entire Body of Christ was recreated .
This becomes a reality in us the moment we accept Christ as our Saviour and confess Him as our Lord. We then receive Eternal Life, the Nature of the Father . This makes us New Creations.
Now come back to this scripture “Wherefore if any man is in Christ there is a new creation, a new self . The old things of the old self have passed away, behold, they have become new, and all these things are of God : who has reconciled us unto himself through Christ.”
Romans 6 :4-8 “We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in the newness of life.”
Notice the next verse. “For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin .” Note the tense, “was” not “is.”

“For he that hath died is justified from sin . But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.”
Way’s translation throws much light on this . “Well then, if that baptism made us share His death, it must have made us share His burial too. It must follow that, as Messiah was raised from among the dead by means of the descent of His Father’s glory, so we too, who arose with Him, are to be employed wholly in the activities of the New Life.

“For if, by having died like Him, we have entered into living union with Him, most certainly we shall not be less so in consequence of having risen with Him. This we recognize, that our former self was nailed to His cross with Him, so that that body which was the instrument of sin might be made impotent for evil, so that we could not any longer be slaves of sin .”
Notice carefully that the part of us that was recreated, made new, was “the hidden man of the heart .” He is called “the old man.”
This old man was crucified with Christ . It was neither our physical body nor our reasoning faculties, but our spirit . That is the part of us that was Spiritually Dead and had to be recreated.
Col. 3:9-10 “Seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, and put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him.”
Notice that the “old man” was put off, crucified with Christ .
When Christ arose from the dead a “new man” arose with Him. That new self is the human spirit.

Now the physical body, which is the home of the five senses, must be brought into conformity with Christ, who is the Head of the Body.
This brings us to Romans 12 :1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service .”
“And be not fashioned according to this age : but be ye trans- formed (or transfigured) by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
This body is the home, or dwelling place, of the spirit. This recreated human spirit wishes to communicate its new-found joy to those about it.
Hidden away as it is in the human body, it has no way of communication but through the five senses .

Therefore, the first thing that must be done after one is recreated is to bring these five senses into subjection to the recreated human spirit, and the Word. When this is done the mind will be renewed.
Although you are Born Again you still possess the same mind and body that had been under the dominion of the Adversary. This is the reason that it is so important to renew the mind and bring it into harmony with the recreated spirit.
You must bring it into subjection to this new self that has come into being.
The trouble with the majority of believers is that their minds have never been renewed .
The mind will never be renewed until they begin to practice love. They must live this love life that Jesus introduced to the world.

INTRODUCTION

2 Corinthians 5:17-21
[17]Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
[18]And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
[19]To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
[20]Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
[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.

A New Creation is a New Identity in Christ; a new being with a new personality, someone whose sinful nature has passed away and the nature of God is born afresh, anew in you, a brand new specie, hence You Are Born Again!!!

The Word CHRISTIAN was not given by God or Jesus or the Church, No. It was given by “People” in the Bible.
Acts 11:26:
“And it came about that for an entire year they met with the church, and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” The city named the disciples and the church, “CHRISTIANS“.

The early saints were addressed as saints, brethren, Believers or the church but when they got to Antioch, the people in Antioch who were not part of the believers, saw their lifestyles. How they gathered for a whole year without DIVISION among themselves, in UNITY and LOVE.
How they taught considerable numbers of converts, discipling them to be rooted in the Word of God and they called them Christians.
In other words, Christ means the anointed, then they were addressed as the anointed ones.
They saw the True nature of Christ in these brethren. They knew they were followers of Jesus, they carry the virtues of Christ and they also manifested the Annointing of Christ.

A Christian is beyond church activities. A Christian is the one who after being Born Again, continue to bear and manifest the True Nature of Christ.
Note that A CHRISTIAN is not just like everyone and should not be like everyone.
Acts 26:28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

Can People See Your Lifestyle, hear you Speak and then make this Statement?
Your Christ-like Character is what actually portray you as A CHRISTIAN.
Jesus said “Ye are the light of the world”
He also said “let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and Glorify your Father in heaven”.

As A Christian you are the reflection of Jesus here on earth.
A New Creation is being Born Again, the Lifestyle you begin to live is what defines you as a Christian.

As a Christian you have to realise your new identity in Christ.
You are a new person now. Your old sinful nature has passed away. You are born of God. The nature of God is born in you. You are a new creature, brand new specie. The nature of God is in you.
Therefore, you must learn how to live your new life just as a newborn baby must learn to do certain things in this world. (1pet 2:2)

A NEW BIRTH

1. WHY IS THE NEW BIRTH NECESSARY?
(a) Man was created in the image of God, a ruler on the earth
(Gen 1:26-28)
(b) Man was disobedient to God, lost his position and took on the nature of the devil.
(Gen. 2:16-17, Rom 3:23)
(c) The new birth is man’s only opportunity for restoration
(John 3:3-6)

2. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE NEW BIRTH?
(A) Jesus took your place.
When he died you died (Romans 6:8)
When he was buried you were buried
(Colossians 2:12)
When he was vindicated, you were vindicated.
(1 Tim3:16)
When he was raised to sit in heaven you were raised with him
(Ephesians 2:6)

(B) The legal and vital aspects of redemption.
One is in the past, the other is in the present raised with him. (Ephesians 2:6)

3. YOUR NEW STATUS
(a) You are Redeemed
(1Cor 6:20,
Rev 5:9-10)
(b) You are free from the bondage of Satan and sin (Rom 8:2)
(c) You have been transferred into God’s kingdom.
(Col. 1:13-14)
(d) You have access to God’s throne.
(Eph 2:18)
(e) You are now righteous (2Cor 5:21)
(f) You are God’s ambassador on earth (2Cor 5:20)
(g) You have power over Satan and sin
(Luke 10:19)
(h) You are a new creature
(2Cor 5:16-17)

4. MAINTAINING YOUR NEW STATUS

According to what Paul the Apostle says in (Phil 2:12)NKJV
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”.
After being Born Again, we need to constantly work out our Salvation with fear and trembling: meaning that we should subject ourselves to every ordinances of God in all diligent to grow spiritually, not wanting to slide back into the world. Hereby Growing daily in the Word of God and deliberately forsaking the world and it’s lust.
Worldliness is a great tragedy for a Christian. You know why?
The devil uses the love for the world to blind you from your inheritance in Christ Jesus.
There are Great heights assigned for every Believers in Christ Jesus. Every CHRISTIAN has a throne where he/she must rule and reign as kings and priest in Christ Jesus (Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen). This is your inheritance in Christ. The devil uses worldliness to distract you from ruling.
Worldliness is a cheat to every Believers in Christ Jesus. It comes so sweet and interesting. You tends to enjoy its benefits but Satan is just depriving you of the Great Glory ahead of you because worldliness profit nothing. It picks you up, carry you around, you enjoyed the pleasure and then it dropped you suddenly and empty.

BAPTISM

THERE ARE THREE MAJOR BAPTISMS

– Baptism in Water – Identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and a public declaration for Him. Immersion by watering the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Rom. 6:3-4, Matt. 28:19).

– Baptism in the Holy Spirit

The fact is, adult believers often act as if the Holy Spirit really was hiding in the church cellar. They may know something about the Holy Spirit, but they don’t know Him personally or realize that He is God in the same way the Son and the Father are God. When they read the Bible, many people are surprised to find that the Holy Spirit was at the very dawn of time: “The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:2), and many are amazed to find out there are approximately 100 references to the Holy Spirit throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Nevertheless, the Spirit’s role is fundamental both to creation and the life of the believer. When a person comes to Jesus Christ, he receives Christ into his heart. The Spirit of God comes and joins with the spirit of the believer. This “indwelling Spirit” reproduces the life of Jesus in the believer’s life.

What, Then, Is The Baptism In The Holy Spirit?

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is an empowering for service that takes place in the life of the Christian (Acts 1:5,8). In it we are immersed in the Spirit’s life and power.

To illustrate, if we drank water from a glass, then the water would be inside us. However, if we went to the beach and stepped into the ocean, then we would be in the water. We receive, as it were, a drink of the Holy Spirit when we are saved, but when we are baptized in the Spirit, it is as if that initial drink becomes an ocean that completely surrounds us.

There is In–filling and Outpouring of HolySpirit– Just as the indwelling Spirit that Christians receive when they are saved; reproduces the life of Jesus, so the outpoured, or baptizing, Spirit reproduces the ministry of Jesus, including miracles and healings.

Why Do We Need The Baptism In The Holy Spirit?

We need a power beyond ourselves for service and ministry in Christ’s Kingdom.

When Jesus gave the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), He knew that His disciples could not fulfill it in their own power. Therefore, He had a special gift in store for them: It was His plan to give them the same power that He had — the power of the Spirit of God. So, immediately after giving them the Great Commission, Jesus commanded his disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father promised, “which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4-5). He further promised: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the outermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The disciples waited in Jerusalem as Jesus had commanded, and one day when they were all together, “suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing winds, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance” (Acts 2:3,4). Then Peter explained to the crowd that gathered that they were seeing the working of God’s Spirit and told them about Jesus. The Christian church began that day with the disciples and the 3,000 people who joined them as a result of the day’s events.

We can undertake making disciples of all nations with some degree of success without the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but when we do, we are undertaking a supernatural task with limited power.

It is God’s will – it is His commandment – that we be baptized, or filled with the Holy Spirit: “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). The knowledge and reality of the empowering Spirit enables us to reproduce the works of Jesus.

When May I Receive The Baptism In The Holy Spirit?

It can take place at the moment you confess faith in Christ, as in the case of the first Gentile convert, Cornelius (Acts 10:44-46; Acts 11:15-16); but often it occurs some time after the salvation experience (Acts 8:12-17).

How Do I Receive The Baptism In The Holy Spirit?

You only have to do two things.

First, once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior you just have to ask God to baptize you in the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “Ask, and it shall be given to you” (Luke 11:9).

Second, believe you have in fact received this gift from God. The apostle Paul, writing to the Galatians, said, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith?”

(Galatians 3:2). The answer, obviously, is faith. You have to believe that if you ask, you will receive.

This can be also received by the laying of hands (Acts 19:1-6)

LAYING ON OF HANDS :- Placing hands upon the body of another
Person for a definite spiritual purpose.

– It has a lot of significance in the old testament (Lev. 1:1-4, Gen 48:14, Deut 34:9)
– Reasons:
(a) To impart healing (Luke 4:40 Mark 16:17)

(b) To impart baptism of the Holy Spirit
(Acts 19:6)

(c) To impart spiritual gifts and blessings
(Rom 1:11, 1tim 4:14 2tim 1:6)

(d) To set people apart for specific assignment (Acts 13:2-3)

However, care should be taken in the laying on of hands (1Tim 5:22).

HEB 6:1-3, LUKE 6:47-48

INTRODUCTION:
A Foundation is that basic part of a structure that provides strength and stability.

The Six Foundational Teachings Of Christianity are listed in Hebrews 6:1-2.

1. REPENTANCE FROM DEAD WORKS
2. FAITH
3. BAPTISMS
4. LAYING ON OF HANDS
5. RESSURRECTION OF THE DEAD
6. ETERNAL JUDGEMENT

1. REPENTANCE FROM DEAD WORKS

– Repentance is a change of mind and attitude leading to a change of action
“2 Chr 7:14 If My People who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
In Repentance you must be sorrowful about what you did wrong and then this leads to a change of mind and attitude to bring about a change life.
– A Dead Work is anything we do which is devoid of the life of God. HEB 9:14 “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God”?
– The Marks of true repentance are:
(a) Godly Sorrow
2Cor 7:10 “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death”.
(b) Confession of sin
*1 john 1:9
(C) Forsaking Sin *(Proverbs 28:13)*
(D) Hatred of Sin
( Eze 20:43-44)
– Repentance is an attitude of the heart essential to our on-going relationship with God.

2. FAITH
Faith is absolute trust in God (Heb 11:1)
– Without Faith, It is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6)
– Faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8)
– Faith comes by hearing ( Rom 10:7) Our faith should grow just as a seed grows
(Rom 1:17)
– With Faith, all things are possible
(Mathew 17:20)

THE PLACE OF PRAISE AND PRAYER

Two other spiritual weapons available to us are praise and prayer.
Praise defeats the devil quicker than any other battle plan, but it must be genuine heart praise, not just
lip service or a method being tried to see if it works. Also, praise and prayer both involve the Word.
We praise God according to His Word and His goodness.
Prayer is relationship with the Godhead. It is coming and asking for help or talking to God about
something that bothers us.
If you want to have an effective prayer life, develop a good personal relationship with the Father,
Know that He loves you being full of mercy, He will help you. Get to know Jesus. He is your
Friend. He died for you. Get to know the Holy Spirit. He is with you all the time as your Helper. Let
Him help you.
Learn to fill your prayers with the Word of God. God’s Word and our need is the basis on which we
come to Him.
So, our weapons are the Word used in various ways. As Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians, our weapons
are not carnal (fleshly) weapons; they are spiritual. We need spiritual weapons because we are
fighting spirits, yes, even the devil himself.

THE PLACE OF THE WORD
God has given us His Word, and we can feed upon that Word.
This will renew our minds. But He also put teachers in the
church to renew our minds and to bring us the revelation of the
knowledge of God’s Word.
So our minds are renewed by two methods:
(1) Feeding upon The Word of God in our own private study and meditation, and
(2) Being taught by Spirit-anointed teachers. In this way we can
grow in the strength and knowledge of the Word, and can walk
in its light as our minds are renewed daily with the Word of God.
….If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live inaccordance with them], you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free. John 8:31-32
Here Jesus tells us how we are to win the victory over the lies of Satan. We must get the knowledge
of God’s truth in us. Renew our minds with His Word, then use the weapons of 2Corinthians 10:4-5 to
tear down strongholds and every high and lofty thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.
These “weapons” are the Word received through Preaching, Teaching, Books, Tapes, Seminar and
Private Bible study. But we must “abide” (continue) in the Word until it becomes revelation given by
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Continuing is Important. In Mark 4:24 Jesus says . .The measure [of
thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that
comes back to you .. . I repeat, we must CONTINUE using the weapon of the Word.

Even Jesus used the weapon of the Word in the
wilderness to defeat the devil. (Luke 4:1-13.) Each time the devil lied to Him, Jesus responded with,
“It is written,” and quoted him the Word.

The Place Of The Word overcome the weaknesses of our Mind.
It is very important for us as Christians to Continue in Studying The Word of God, the more we Study, the better we become.
Our thoughts began to reflects in our Daily lives as the Word Of God Changes us Daily, We become better person.