THE “NEW” YEAR
February 25, 2009
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Posted by admin
mahesh vasanti with their son Magdiel
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:22-28 )
Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born from above, in other words, you must be born again.
Ezekial and Jeremiah, faithful hearers and accurate speakers of the word of God, proclaim a newness in the midst of the destruction of Jerusalem
a new heart… a new spirit… a new covenant
I. A NEW HEART
In the Old Testament, the heart is not the place of love and sorrow, romance and tenderness, joy and compassion. These are old Western meanings of the word heart. In the Old Testament, the heart is the seat of wisdom, the place of memory. A person thinks with the heart, makes plans with the heart, comes to a decision with the heart. Those who are righteous love the Lord with all their hearts, they are upright in heart, pure in heart. But the heart is also the place of our downfall.”The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt. Who can understand it?” In our hearts we are deceitful and corrupt. Sin was classically defined as the heart curved in on itself.
Our brother Thomas with Eva
·Something is wrong. Something needs to change.
God says, I will give you a new heart.
And God says, I will give you a new spirit. The spirit gives us power. The spirit gives us energy. The spirit is the wind beneath our wings. God gives us a new spirit.And when we have a new heart and a new spirit, we are ready for God’s third gift. God says, I will make a new covenant with you. A covenant is a relationship. God says, I want a new relationship with you. God says, I want to live within you. God says, I do not want to impose my will on you from the outside. God says, I will write my law upon your heart.
III. A NEW COVENANT
I will make a new covenant…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. Jeremiah 31. 31, 33 At the beginning of the year we renew the covenant. We offer ourselves to God. We enter once again into this relationship. God wanted to start all over with Israel. Israel
God wants to start all over with us. We have broken the commandments. The breaking of the commandments leads to the destruction of our institutions. Our lives, our cities, our nation, our world, are in fragments.
Our Sister Vasanti Performing small worship Dance with her kids Mahima and Vishaka!
IV. And today is, A NEW BEGINNING……
I will give you a new heart, God says. A new heart is a new way of thinking.
I will give you a new spirit, God says. A new spirit is a new motivation.
I will make a new covenant with you, God says. A new covenant is a new relationship.
In Christ, all things are made new. The commercials connect with a deep truth. We can become new creatures. We can change! But we cannot change on our own. Change comes from within. The beauty of the new covenant is that the change comes from within. There is not someone on the outside, forcing us to change; the word is written on our hearts, the spirit is placed within us, and God says, I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Today, in this New Year, God offers you a gift. A new heart, a new spirit, a new covenant. A new way of thinking, a new motivation, and a new relationship. We accept this gift in a very tangible way. We take it, and we eat it. We take it, and we drink it.
·Sometimes, when we come to worship we think we are giving something to God. Why not begin the New Year with a clear realization that God wants to give something to us? My prayer for you, at the beginning of this New Year is that you will receive the gifts of God:
A new heart,
A new spirit,
A new covenant,
For A New Beginning!
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