Faith Development – Putting on the New Self

I'm so grateful to teach a life group that is called Step-by-Step, and a pastor's message develops from the spiritual journey that the pastor is going through. And this message today comes from our Step-by-Step life group's study of Paul's letter to the Colossians. Now turn to John 3. I know it says Colossians 3 on the board, and we'll get there in just a little bit.

But I want us to start in John 3, and if you'll turn there, that would be super. As we study this, this book of Colossians, the Spirit used this study to help me reflect on my own spiritual life. And I feel like that there might be some of you here today who might be able to benefit from what God spoke to me during our journey through Colossians. So I want to thank the Step-by-Step life group for assisting me with my sermon preparation. And I also want to invite you, if you're not a part of a life group, the very best life group at Calvary Church meets in room 238.

Okay? So after the service today, if you want to join us in room 238, we would love to have you as we start the book of Proverbs today. So John 3, verses 1-8 is where I'd like for us to begin today.

If you'll turn there and read with me. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.

And let me stop right there. As we look at this passage, we note that Jesus is still in Jerusalem following the Passover when he receives a night visit from a man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Now let's look at verse 1 and we'll see that Nicodemus was a Pharisee and that he was the ruler of the Jews. So verse 1, now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Now Nicodemus was a Pharisee and that means that he is a strict observer of the law, the Torah, or the first five books of the Bible. What's more, being a Pharisee meant that he was an expert at Jewish law.

And Jesus in the 10th verse of this chapter calls him Israel's teacher. He was probably wealthy, both to be considered a member of the Sanhedrin, which is a council of 70 elected leaders, spiritual leaders for Israel, plus the chief priest is a part of that group making 71. So he was probably wealthy to be considered a part of the Sanhedrin. And he was probably wealthy because he assisted Joseph of Arimathea both physically and financially in purchasing Jesus' burial spot.

And you'll see that in John 19 verse 39. The second thing we see about Nicodemus is that he was a ruler of the Jews. And that means that as a member of the Sanhedrin, he made all the decisions for Israel, the nation of Israel. Now I know that Israel was under Roman control at that time and Rome was really in charge, but Rome allowed people groups to be able to maintain their identity within their kingdom. You still had to follow Roman law, but all of the legislation that took place for the Jewish people took place in front of the Sanhedrin.

And they are the ones who govern Israel at that time. You might remember that when Jesus was being tried that he went to the court of the Sanhedrins to be tried. And that there was a court of the Romans that he was tried in.

So he went back and forth between these two just to give you an idea of how the government took place during that time. So verse 2, look at verse 2 if you would, tells us that there's something different about Nicodemus from the other members of the Sanhedrin. He was a seeker. Verse 2, this man, Nicodemus, came to Jesus by night and said to him, Redeemer, we know that you're a teacher from God.

For no one can do these signs unless God is with him. So in reading this passage, my first thought was why did Nicodemus come at night? Now the first thought is that it could have been fear. Fear is what caused Nicodemus to come at night. We're told that fellow Sanhedrin member, Joseph of Arimathea, publicly identified himself, hadn't publicly identified himself with Jesus because he was afraid of the Jews.

So here's Joseph of Arimathea in John 19, 38, who when confronted about being with Jesus, did not identify himself with Jesus because he was afraid. And Nicodemus possibly could have been afraid as well. Perhaps he seemed a little bit bolder since he stood up for Jesus in John 7 whenever Jesus was in front of the Sanhedrin, but perhaps fear is what controlled Nicodemus and had him coming at night.

We're not really sure. Possibly it could have been that Nicodemus was just being cautious because if Nicodemus was seen in public in dialogue with this new Galilean teacher with these new teachings, he could have been seen as endorsing Jesus and His teaching. So perhaps Nicodemus was being wise and cautious and that's why he came at night. Or perhaps it was Jesus' accessibility. Perhaps the best reason for seeking Jesus at night was that Nicodemus would have the, the, the opportunity to engage Jesus a little bit longer. There would be no one there to interfere with his questions.

He could ask earnest questions, seeking questions without interruption. So nighttime was probably a good time for an earnest seeker like Nicodemus to come to Jesus. Notice that this esteemed scholar of the law, what he acknowledges whenever he meets Jesus.

And we see this still in verse 2. He calls Jesus rabbi, which in Hebrew means teacher or leader or great one. Nicodemus acknowledges the legitimacy of Jesus' teaching role by calling Him rabbi. And though we don't know if Jesus was taught in any school, we do know that Paul was from the book of Acts. We know that Jesus was knowledgeable of the Scripture. You remember that in Luke 2 that Jesus impressed the temples of the teacher as a boy of 12 with his knowledge of the Scripture. And no doubt that he had studied Hebrew at one time, that Jesus knew the law. We don't know if it was a local rabbi that taught him. Maybe it was Joseph, his father, that taught him. But Jesus was well versed in the law and was able to teach Pharisees and teachers of the law even at the age of 12.

How did that happen? It's not that God divinely sent the Word to him. Just like you and I, He has to — had to study the Word of God. You know, I wonder what Jesus' childhood was like. I don't think He had Awanas or anything, do you? I mean, I don't think He came on Wednesday night and had great Bible teaching as a children.

We don't know exactly what took place. But Jesus was well versed in the law and we know that Joseph, that Nicodemus recognized this. Nicodemus was impressed by him as a teacher which is high praise coming from a member of the Sanhedrin like Nicodemus. The second thing that we know is Nicodemus also calls Jesus a teacher come from God. Unlike most of his fellow Pharisees who claimed that Nicodemus — that Jesus was of the devil himself since he cast out demons, Nicodemus recognized that Jesus had a divine origin and that His miracles were of God. I think that Nicodemus maybe was flattering Jesus, at least I used to think that. I used to think that when he came to him and said, oh, you're a teacher of the law, you're a great miracle worker, that it was flattering.

But I think I was wrong. I think that Nicodemus was just being honest and it is these miracles that made Nicodemus so very curious. There are lots of people that had seen Jesus' miracles at this time and had been attracted to Him. In chapter 2 of John, verse 23, it says while Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many people saw the miraculous signs that He was doing and they believed in His name.

Now, I think Nicodemus was one of these. He was a witness to the miracles that Jesus had done. He wasn't a full believer yet, but I believe the miracles caused Nicodemus to recognize that God is behind Jesus' miracles. And unlike the fellow Pharisees who were rejecting Jesus' miracles, I think Nicodemus sees them as an indication of God's hand at work in Jesus.

And He had come at night to learn more. So let's look at verses 3 through 5, because this is where I'd like to make a big point for us. Jesus answered him, verse 3, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old?

How can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, I know there's a great lesson here about the kingdom of God, but that's not the topic we're going to look at.

That's a topic for another time. I want us to focus on Jesus' statement when He said, you must be born again. This being born again is a central theme of the New Testament.

And I want us to look at a few other places where this theme of being born again is used. Turn, if you would, to Matthew 18, verse 3, Matthew 18, 3, and you're going to use your Bibles a lot for the next few minutes. So this is Bible drill time. If you're not familiar with your Bible, this is that opportunity.

Matthew 18, 3, Jesus said, truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, become like children, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now, flip back over to John chapter 1, verses 12 through 13. John 1, 12 through 13. But all who received Him, who believed in His name, that's Jesus' name, He gave the right to become children of God who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, born of God.

And then turn over to the book of Titus, to the letter of Titus, Titus 3, verse 5, 3, verse 5. It says, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration. And this word, regeneration, means rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit. And I've got several others, but let's go to 1 Peter chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 3.

It says, blessed be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His mercies, He has caused us to be born again, to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So, this being born again, what does it mean?

Being born again, being born of God, this is a common theme, and being born again happens to every believer. So, what does being born again, Nicodemus asked that question, turn back to John 3, please, verse 4. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

And this is a valid question. Nicodemus was trying to gain some understanding to what this being born again is, and Jesus clarifies it. Jesus answered to him in verse 5, truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. Jesus intends this to be understood, not as a repeat of a previous birth, but like enter into the mother's womb for the second time, as Nicodemus asked, but he clearly identifies this as a new kind of birth that is brought about by the Spirit. This rebirth, this born again is a new kind of birth that is coming from the Spirit. Now, John the Baptist sheds a little light on this. Turn to John 1, verse 33.

He talks about this new type of birth that is going to come. John 1, verse 33. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. So here's John the Baptist baptized by water, and here's the one that came to him that was baptized, that's Jesus, who was going to baptize by the Holy Spirit. Now, excuse me, so there are two kinds of baptism here. John's baptism with water was a baptism of, anybody? Repentance.

Somebody said it. Repent and be saved, right? So it was a baptism of repentance. Now, to repent before God, you've got to humble yourself before God. You repent of your sin, and you ask for God's forgiveness. And this baptism by water, this repenting is necessary for one to be born again. We've got to humble ourselves before God. This is the baptism of water that Jesus is talking about.

We've got to repent of our sins, and we've got to ask God to forgive us. This is baptism by water. I know it's confusing because we look up to the baptistry and we think, is this what they're talking about here? But no, it's talking about John's baptism of repentance is necessary. Now, Jesus' baptism with the Holy Spirit represents a rebirth when the Spirit of God comes into a person. The Holy Spirit comes into a person at their time of salvation and makes them new. We're born again. The Spirit of God lives in us.

So both are necessary. We know that in order to be a believer, in order to have salvation, we have to repent of our sins, that we have to ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins, and then we have to trust Jesus as our Savior, and His Holy Spirit comes into us. And that is the process of being born again. So in this context, I believe that Jesus was saying in Nicodemus, you must be born anew by repentance and by humbling yourself before God. And when you do that, the Holy Spirit will come into you and begin a regenerative, a rebirth inside of you. And let me tell you, you cannot enter the kingdom of God by your own efforts. There is no way. You must surrender yourself to God, and God only can make you into that new creation.

So let me try to clarify this with an illustration. I can remember the day whenever I was born again. Can you, can you remember when you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and was born again?

I can. There was a children's crusade at my church that I attended whenever I was growing up. I remember getting to the chapel and gathering there with all the older children.

I was nine years old. That was an older child at that time. And I can remember sitting on the very back row of the chapel because that's where all the good, good boys who behaved always sat on the back row, right? I remember that the pastor shared that God loved me. And he used John 3 16. He said, for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. And I said, OK, God loves me.

I know that. I have known that all my life. I remember the song Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, probably one of the first songs I ever learned. Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. I knew to pray to Jesus because He cared about me. I knew that God loved me.

And then the pastor started talking about sin, about being disobedient. Now I, I knew that I had no big sin in my life. I mean, I hadn't killed anybody, you know. The only thing I had stolen was probably from my brother, you know.

It was, you know, not that big of a deal, I guess. But he started talking about having an attitude of disobedience. I was on the back row. That described me. He shared John 3 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. He explained to me that everybody in that room was a sinner and had fallen short of God's glory.

And that was me. Okay, God loves me. Okay, I'm a sinner. I've got this attitude of disobedience that is a part of my life, okay? I'm a sinner.

And then he shared something that was troubling for me. He shared that my sinfulness, that the punishment for it was more than just a spanking. You know, disobedient kids get lots of spankings. Nowadays, I think they go to time out or something else. I don't know. Or get a trophy. I don't know.

Nowadays, you get a participation trophy for everything, right? But he shared that sin's punishment was eternal separation from God. And that eternal separation from God would take place in a place called hell. Now, I knew about hell. I knew that hell was a place where bad people went and they would burn eternally.

As a 9-year-old, I knew that. I knew the difference between heaven and hell and that I wanted to go to one place and didn't want to go to the other. I wonder if our children know about hell anymore.

Sometimes I think we've kind of tried to soften things up so much that we forget to teach our children and our adults about punishment. This pastor said that God is holy and sinless and will not allow sin in His presence. And that all those who are sinners, I'm a sinner, that they're going to go to hell. He said, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.

That's Romans 6, 23. You know, for me, I sat there recognizing that I was separated from God and that I was destined for an eternity in hell because I wasn't holy and I could not enter into His presence. And there may be some this morning who recognize that they're in the same place, that they're separated from God because of their sinfulness.

And my thought was, what am I going to do? I don't want to go to hell. That's when the pastor shared Romans 5, 8. But God shows His love toward us and that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Here the pastor explained that Christ lived a perfect life, that He took my sins and that He was punished and died on the cross for my sins so that I did not have to and that He did it because He loved me. Jesus exchanged His sinless life for my sinful life. He took my sins upon Himself and carried them to the cross and paid a debt that I could not pay and He gave me, His righteousness was imputed upon me.

Now, I didn't know that as a nine-year-old what that means, okay? Imputed on me. He exchanged, we exchange lives, you know? So I now would have the opportunity to enter into the presence of God, His holy presence because Christ could make me sinless. So I got on my knees and I repented of my sins, born of water, okay, born of water.

And I trusted Jesus to take my sins and give me a new life, a life that had Jesus living in me, living in my heart, making me into a new person, being born again. Where's the temple of God for a Christian? Their hearts, right? Where does worship take place for a Christian? I mean, it takes place here, but it's in our heart. I mean, when we're singing, when we're celebrating in worship, it takes place right here in the temple of God. It's where worship takes place and this is where the indwelling presence of God is.

It's in my life. At that time, I knew that Jesus had come into my heart. I was born of the Holy Spirit and God lived in me. How did I know that Jesus was living in my heart? First, the Scripture tells me.

It's a promise. Romans 8, verses 9 and 10, if you would turn there. Romans 8, verses 9 and 10, it says, you, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, and He was because I had accepted Christ as my Savior, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit of life because of righteousness. God was in me.

His Son was living in me. And rather than being just to me, Christ lives in me. Galatians 2, verse 20.

Turn there, if you would, quickly. Galatians 2, 20 says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now have in flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Here, Paul did not say that I live in a Christlike way or that I glorify Christ through my behavior. He said Christ lives in me. And this clearly shows us that Christ lives in His believers. And because He lives in us, the Christian life is not a matter of just trying to behave like Christ, but trying to allow Christ to live in us and through us. Now second, how did I know that Christ had come into my heart?

Through personal experience. I could sense that there was a new friend that walked with me each and every day. His presence, the Holy Spirit was there to convict me of my sinfulness. Now listen, I was a disobedient kid. I wish that whenever I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, it was like shazam. I was a new super-Christian, you know? It doesn't happen that way. Even though Christ was in my life, my behavior really did not change that much.

There was still that disobedience there. But the Holy Spirit was there convicting me that what I was doing was wrong and calling me back to the Savior. So when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are born again. And when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Spirit of God comes into our heart and lives there and wants to live through us, in us and through us.

But remember this message is about faith development. And this old self we're supposed to start putting to death whenever we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Look, if you would, to our text for the day, which is Colossians 3 verses 5 through 7. And that doesn't mean I'm just starting the sermon, okay?

This is just the next section. Verse 5, Romans, Colossians 3. Jesus, or Colossians 3, Paul says, put to death therefore what is earthly in you. That's after you've accepted Christ as your Savior.

Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these, you too once walked when you were living in them.

Okay? That's my old life. Now I wasn't involved in all those things that, that Paul mentions here. But again, I was living a sinful lifestyle of disobedience. And Paul was talking to the lifestyle of disobedience that the Colossians were living at that time.

He was specifically talking to them. But what meant to me was that I had to put to death sin in my life. I had to put away my old way of thinking. Now, I love the church I grew up in. But someone forgot to tell me that. It was like when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. The box was checked.

Cashwell's good. He's got his fire insurance. Now we're going to move on.

Right? And I was stuck. You know what the first thing that I got after I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior? I know most of you are thinking a Bible. I already had a Bible. My parents gave me a Bible. But this was a Baptist church and the first thing I got were, were offering envelopes. You know? And on the front of the offering envelope, there was a little, you write your name on it, you write what you were giving, and then you had check boxes at the bottom.

Some of you all remember that. And you checked on time. You checked present. If you're on time, you're present.

I don't know why they had that box there as well. Daily Bible reading, check. Whether you did or not, most kids, check because you want 100% at the end. Attending worship, check. And then you had all your, your checks 100%.

You know? And I thought that in order to be a Christian, a good Christian, all I had to do was come to church and check all the boxes. I was 100% a new Christian.

100% a Christian. Changed life. Christ in me. But nothing had really started changing in my life.

The old self was still in charge. It was this, it was if I was stuck spiritually just doing the checklist and it left me as empty as before I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. That's what a works-based faith can do for you.

OK? Now I want to stop here for just a moment and ask you to allow the Holy Spirit to do some searching in your own life. Is your life just a life of works?

Your boxes might be different nowadays. But is your relationship with the Lord based on doing the right things, the church things, or do you have an intimate relationship with the Lord? Now, I'm afraid that some of you that your relationship is with the Lord is about church. Attending church, volunteering for different helps, opportunities, check. I attend a life group, not the one that meets in 238, which is the best one, but I attend a life group, check.

I work in the food pantry, deliver food there, check. These are all good things, they're great things, but they should manifest themselves out of our personal walk with the Lord and our desire to serve Him and to be Him to others. I can remember the first time that I had an intimate encounter with the Lord. It came six years after my profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.

It started with being alone with Him. I found myself in a spiritual wilderness. I had gone after other idols in my life, and as idols do, they left me broken. This playing church had left me empty, and the Holy Spirit was calling me back to my relationship with the Lord. And that's where I came, back to Colossians. I remember reading Colossians 3 chapter, chapter 3 verses 5 through 11. We've already talked about putting off or putting to death the old things, but look at verse 8. It says, but now you must put them all away, anger, malice, anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk for your mouth, do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.

There are more sins that are listed there. I had not done the first group, but the second group I thought, goodness, that probably does describe me. I still had idols in my life. Titus 3 describes them, Paul says there, he says, for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. That was still my life. My idols, even though I was a believer, were pride, my personal opinions and rights, power and popularity.

My idol was still myself and Jim was still living on the throne of his life. At that time, the Christ in me, the Holy Spirit began to speak to me. And I read verse 10 of Colossians 3. It says, have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. You know, I had never heard this before about putting on the new self. And I want you to know that what I've learned is this putting on the new self is not a one-time action. But this is a lifelong process of becoming more like Jesus.

So here's what's happened. We put to death the old and we start putting on the new, the new self. Now this putting to death the old, it too is a lifelong process. Because that old life wants to raise its ugly head time and time again and control my life and keep me from enjoying the abundant life that God has for me. So it's a constant battle of putting to death the old. And it's a constant opportunity for us to put on the new self. Colossians 3 verses 12 through 17, turn there if you would.

Because this is what God wants us to put on. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Now this is the new character that I'm supposed to demonstrate. I'm supposed to imitate Christ. Verse 13, bear with one another. If one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And again this is, I'm supposed to imitate Jesus and be forgiving. Forgiveness is supposed to be my guide. Verse 14, and above all these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Above all things it says, put on love.

I remember a song from my teenage time and I'm dating myself. It's a little chorus that said and they will know we are Christians by our love. I wonder how the world sees me, a believer today. Do they see me loving others as I relate to people of different colors or ethnicities? How do they see me as I relate to people who have different values than I do?

How do they see me as I react to COVID? Can they see the character of Christ in me? Can they see Jesus in me? When an unbeliever looks at us as believers, do they see me living a life of works, checking all the boxes and almost hating others who are not like me?

Or do they see me living a transformed life by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ? That day was a significant day in my faith development. I saw that there must be a constant battle, there would be a constant battle in my life of the old self and the new self. And this battle will exist until the day that we reach heaven.

Now why is this such a vital topic for today? Because I think Satan's greatest tool to keep us from experiencing God in an intimate way is to keep us busy doing religious things. And Jesus wants a personal relationship with each and every one of us. First, that's what he wants. Serving him comes as a response to that loving relationship. Once I begin to put on his character, his passions for others becomes my passion.

One last thing. How does this new life develop? We're to put to death the old self and put on the new self.

But how does this putting on happen? Look at Titus 3 verse 5, and I know I've got to hurry here. Titus 3 verse 5, he saved us not because of our works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. And I want us to consider the word regenerate quickly. You know how a starfish can grow its arm back if it becomes missing? Some of you probably didn't know that. I had to look it up. I knew that a starfish regenerated, but I didn't know that their star, those were called arms.

Did you know that? I thought maybe they were feet. But the feet are the little tentacles, and on the end of each arm is an eye.

Kind of strange how God creates everything, isn't it? But back to regeneration, okay? The starfish can grow an arm back if it becomes missing, and that's called regeneration. The arm grows back with all its feet, eyes, etc.

It's pretty cool. This regeneration for a starfish can happen over 200 times. When we put to death the old self, the Holy Spirit regenerates, makes a new self in us. The Holy Spirit makes us over again, and we are born again. And this is what Jesus was trying to help Nicodemus understand. Now this becoming a new person by the Holy Spirit just does not happen. It happens when we study the word of God. Romans 12 verse 2 says, do not be conformed by this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what the will of God is, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Do not be conformed to this world, Paul says. That's the old life, but instead be transformed, be made new. That's that regeneration, that new life.

And how does it happen? It happens by studying the word of God. This is God's word.

And when He spoke, creation came into existence. And when He speaks to me in His word today, He recreates life in me and makes me into a different person. Being a believer is not about checking all the boxes.

I hope you're not stuck there. Being a believer is about having an intimate personal relationship with the Lord and recognizing that Jesus walks with you and talks with you and carries you through the difficulties of life and challenges you and shapes you each and every day into the vessel that He wants you to be and into the vessel that He wants you to be, that He wants to use. So, as we conclude, if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, I know that you've heard the Gospel today and I pray that you recognize that you are undone before the Lord if He were to call you home today. And in your own righteousness, there is no way that you can gain access into heaven. But by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, not only will He forgive you of your sins, but you'll begin that process of becoming a new person, the person that God always wanted you to be, the person that you probably want to be. And it doesn't matter how bad that you have been because Jesus is in the business of changing no matter how wicked a person is into a new creation as you study the Word of God.

There may be others of you who are believers, just like I was, but that got stuck, that are stuck spiritually. It's time to repent before the Lord. It's time to get back to the Word of God.

And it's time to allow Him to help you start putting to death the old and putting on the new. Join me as we pray together. Father, we thank You so much for this opportunity that You've given us to study Your Word today. And Father, we thank You for clearly telling us what You want to do to us and through us, that You want to forgive us of our sins, Father, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness through the blood of Jesus Christ. And that Father, You want to do a great work in us, that You want to create us a new Father and make us into the person who is more like Jesus. So today Father, we've heard Your Word. May Your Spirit now move among us and move us, Father, to where You would have us to be in our relationship with You. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.