"New Life in a New Year"

“New Life in a New Year”

 

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.      Philippians 2:1-2

 

A brand NEW year lies ahead, are you experiencing NEW LIFE?  What does it mean to live a NEW LIFE?  For the TRUE BELIEVER of Jesus Christ, it means that we experience a NEW LIFE, every day, because SALVATION is a LIFE-CHANGING, ON-GOING, TRANSFORMING, lifestyle.  And we, like the Apostle Paul, have NOT ARRIVED at the culmination of our NEW LIFE in Christ.

 

Every day we face situations that come up unexpectedly and our FAITH and CHARACTER are put to the test.  How will we, as TRUE BELIEVERS, conduct ourselves, will we react as Jesus would?  Paul gives us some characteristics of Christ that will help us live a NEW LIFE in Him.   

 

The first thing that we should experience is ENCOURAGEMENT from our relationship with Christ.   We should be ENCOURAGED knowing that He is with us in EVERY trial and will give us the will to PRESS ON toward the goal that is set before us, and we will be VICTORS in the end, if we will put our FAITH and TRUST in Him.  And we should help others to be ENCOURAGED in their relationship with Christ.  The second thing we should experience is COMFORT from His LOVE,  to REALIZE that He LOVES us SO MUCH that He left all the glories of Heaven, came to earth as a simple, ordinary man, to SUFFER and DIE for ALL of mankind.  Then to be RESURRECTED to NEW LIFE so that we too may experience this NEW LIFE, if we will just BELIEVE in Him and ACCEPT Him as our SAVIOR and LORD, that should bring us COMFORT from His LOVE, we should share this too with others.  The third thing we NEED is the COMMON SHARING in the SPIRIT, this is, that ALL TRUE BELIEVERS receive the INDWELLING of the Holy Spirit of God, and thus they enjoy the FELLOWSHIP of the SPIRIT.  And we SHOULD exemplify the TENDERNESS AND COMPASSION of a Christ-like spirit.  We should be LIKE-MINDED, having SPIRITUAL UNITY among us. We do this by having the SAME LOVE, BEING ONE IN SPIRIT, and of ONE MIND.  These are some things that will enhance our NEW LIFE and will draw others into God’s Family.   So are you living the NEW LIFE in a NEW YEAR? 

 

Maybe, your answer is NO, same old sinful lifestyle, because you have NOT SINCERELY given your HEART and LIFE to God, therefore you cannot live a TRUE NEW LIFE, one that will lead you to a NEW LIFE, an ETERNAL, LIFE in Heaven, instead you are headed for an ETERNAL LIFE in Hell.  God is NOW offering you the opportunity to TURN AWAY FROM your OLD SINFUL LIFE and TURN TO Him with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART, CONFESSING your sins to Him, and asking Him for His FORGIVENESS, BELIEVING, with ALL your HEART, that Jesus died for YOU, and is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for you, before God, then ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION, and receive a NEW LIFE in a NEW YEAR, with an ETERNITY in Heaven.  Do it NOW, while you still can.  He’s waiting and coming SOON!!!