Embracing New Life Through Christ's Resurrection

"Pete Rose, big, big, big name in baseball history. Now, I ask if you know that name because there might be a couple of younger generations here, you know, that just may not be all that familiar with him. I want you to listen to some of his statistics here, okay? He still holds the following Major League Baseball records, and he hasn't played since, what, 1989, I think was his last year. Listen to this. He has the most career hits of 4,256, the most played games of 3,562, the most at-bats at 14,053, the most singles of 3,215, the most seasons with 200 hits or more at 10 seasons, the most RBI for a player without a season of 100 or more at 1,314. He won three World Series championships, three batting titles, one MVP, two Golden Glove awards. He has 17, he's a 17-time All-Star, played five different positions. He holds the Reds team record for the longest consecutive game hitting streak of 44, surpassed only by Joe DiMaggio, 56, and he did that at the age of 37 years old." [00:01:37]

"You could basically say, you know, that all that he had done. All the accolades, all of his achievements were forgotten because of one mistake. Because of a mistake that he made. And because, you know, he just, he made a bad choice. He did the wrong thing. I can't think of a greater example to use going into the beginning of baseball season. Talking, going into, well, we're not, we're actually in the Lent season right now. You know, Easter is just three weeks away." [00:03:59]

"Time flies so fast, and yet, what is it that we are still hanging on to or holding on to from our past? Here in a couple of weeks, the worship ministry, they're working on a celebration on Easter Sunday, and they're calling it Our God Reigns. And so, for these three weeks leading up to that Sunday, my sermon emphasis is going to be on how God reigns. And right now, today, what we're going to talk about is how God reigns over our past." [00:05:12]

"We cannot change our past. But we can ensure that our past doesn't have any control over our future. How can we ensure that? That's where 2 Corinthians chapter 5 come in. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 starting at verse 17. It reads, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, behold, he is a new creation. The old has gone. the new has come. All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation." [00:07:28]

"And now he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Can we say amen?" [00:08:33]

"God has taken off of us the weight of our sin he's taken off of off of us the penalty of our sin he's taken off of us he's removed it it might still be in our minds that this is once who I was but he's replaced that sin with something that is new he's given us something and in order for the old to be removed there there has to be something true and this goes back to the main theme he something or someone has to be greater than our sin something or someone has to be able to remove that sin to remove the the you know the effects of that sin to to remove the the feelings of that sin to remove the fear of the sin to remove the penalty of some something has to be greater than that someone has to be greater than the the thing that is lording itself over you someone has to be lord over that and that is who jesus is he is lord over" [00:11:31]

"If our God is great and I believe he is if our God is greater and I believe that he is then my sin my past cannot hold any ground when Jesus comes in and cleans up my house he is greater we have no reason to be holding on to shame we have no reason to be holding on to guilt he has wiped that clean Psalm 103 verse 12 says as far as the east is from the west so far as he removed our transgressions from us but some of us are still traveling to that east or west corner some of us are still holding on maybe not maybe not to that sin at least I hope you're not hanging on to that sin I hope you're not making excuses for that sin because that's what our flesh wants to do it's what the devil how the devil tries to deceive us is that you can handle it it is okay for you to do those are the type of lies he tries to get us to believe but one of the things that that we in our flesh do tend to do is we hold ourselves back to what is possible because we know what we used to be like we know what we used to do we know what has been a part of our life but God is greater than that and as the passage here says we know we know" [00:13:17]

"He says, he has made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. He has taken that. He has removed that from us and he has replaced it with something greater. He's taking the shame, the guilt, the heartbreak, the depression, the failure that we in our flesh are holding on to. He has taken that and he has replaced it. The old is gone, the apostle writes. The new has come and all this is from God." [00:14:59]

"And if you believe that He is great. If you believe that He is greater. If you believe that He reigns. If you believe that He is Lord of all. Then what is it? Why is it? That we still sometimes find ourselves holding on to something lesser. If He has erased your past. Your past is erased. If He has forgiven you. Your past. Your past is forgiven. All of its effects. Forgiven. Done away with. And He has replaced it with something better. He wants to produce in your life. His jubilee. His renewal. His refreshment. His jubilee. His jubilee. His jubilee." [00:17:44]

"our sin but now our focus is on his glory it's on his presence it's it's on what god has done don't dwell on your past recognize it recognize it for who you once were but see it for right now for who you are what is it that god has done over our past well god reigns over it god says yes this is who you once were but you're not that anymore the old is gone the new is come if you're going to focus on anything from this point of finding jesus forward it's the ministry of reconciliation that he's given you to share that's why in our our our our third stop on the discipleship pathway ministry missions we have this this passage because this is now who you are to be i mean it's it's very easy you can say well you know i'm a teacher i'm a nurse you know i'm a doctor i'm a mechanic i'm an engineer i'm a clerk i'm you can say all those things but those are second only to who you are in jesus you are a reconciler who happens to do those other things all those other things come second to who you now are what is our focus now and this is what he says and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation" [00:19:52]

"God has planted within you all of the elements necessary for his jubilee to be real and present. And as we recognize the presence of his jubilee in our life. He has now given us the responsibility to make that jubilee known to others. The reconciliation. What does that word mean? It means, you know, to reconcile, to make right. Or better yet, to make whole. It's the coming together of two who were separated. It's about recognizing that you have been separated from someone. Who is it that we've been ultimately separated from? And that's God because of our sin." [00:21:55]

"The Bible says that God wants everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. I'm going to paraphrase that. This is the JDT paraphrased version of that. Is that God wants to free everyone from the weight and the burden of their sin. And give them new life in Christ. What is the means? What is the means to make that known? And he says it right here. He has given us the ministry of reconciliation." [00:23:44]