God's Offer of a New Life

I want to share with you just one verse of scripture tonight based on everything we've heard this evening. And then we're going to go to the communion table, which means we're going to celebrate God's mercy and God's victory for everyone here, both in the sanctuary and online that are listening tonight. The Lord has given us an amazing victory. One verse of scripture. So Father, I just thank you for the, excuse me, the touch of your Holy Spirit. I thank you for the strength, God, that you're willing to give to each of us as we make our choice to live for you and to serve you. Thank you Lord for your word, which is indeed a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. I pray God that just even these few thoughts that I'll share this evening, God, that you would have it go deep into the heart of somebody tonight that's listening, who needs to know that there is a savior, there is a salvation, there is a future, there's a life eternal and an abundant life on this side of eternity, promised to every heart that would turn to you. God Almighty, I thank you Lord for the demonstration on this platform tonight of how powerful and how faithful you are, and that you are indeed raising a generation in a season of darkness. Oh God, you're raising leaders for tomorrow, pastors, evangelists, teachers, leaders in every sphere of society and life. Oh God, that will stand as light in this darkened time. Thank you for the young people around the world, God, that will be going back to their home countries, in some places, places of persecution and trial, to live for you and to share this great good news that they've learned in their heart and to stand in the strength of the God they've come to know and to love. Father, we thank you for it and we praise you tonight in Jesus' name. You know, I had a whole message prepared tonight, but I really can't speak it, because it wouldn't be appropriate tonight. We've already been spoken to so powerfully. Ephraim, if I ever move to Latvia, I'm going to sit under your ministry, I'll tell you that right now, because you have a touch of God on you. And you know, you made a statement, you said, can God use me after all this time? Well, I'll tell you something, he can use a surrendered vessel more in five minutes than an unsurrendered one in 50 years. And you have surrendered your life, and there's a seasoning upon you now, and God's going to use your life for his glory. You have a very clear and articulate way of speaking the gospel, and I know it's going to affect a lot of people's lives. So my dear brother, go forward with all your heart in what God's called you to do. And I thank you, Sarah, tonight for your testimony and your story of just how line by line, precept by precept, step by step, the promise of God is freedom in Christ Jesus. And sometimes we get discouraged if it doesn't happen in an instant. You know, I have a testimony in a sense of being delivered from fear, from nine years of fear and in one minute of time, and I thank God for that. But I wish everything else in my life went as fast as fear did. But some of the other things didn't go as fast as fear went. Some of the other things took a long time. In some of the other cases, there has to be an embracing of God's word, a longing in the heart to say, Lord, this is what my life should be. This is your promise to me. And though I'm not yet what I should be, as Paul the apostle said, I'm leaving behind those things that need to be left behind. And I'm going to press forward to the high calling of God that's upon my life. And so some things pass away very quickly and some others don't pass away as quickly. But the truth of the gospel is that they do pass away. I've often liked the, you know, we talk about dying to self, you know, and, and, you know, everybody here, some of you might be familiar with the old Western movies. Most of you are too young to remember them, but you can archive them on YouTube and you can go back and have a look. But some of the areas in my life died quickly. It was like a gunfighter. He gets shot, he goes down the dust, he's dead. They just died quickly. And others were like the movie, the proverbial Western movie where the bad guy gets shot, he falls over a chair, then he gets up, falls over the table, he climbs up the stairs, he falls over the railing behind the bar and he climbs over the bar and he falls on the floor, goes out through the swinging doors and falls into the street over the thing you tied the horse on. And you just watch in the movie and say, when is this guy going to die? Like, why doesn't he just lie down and die? And some things in our life just die that way. They do die. They just don't die very graciously. And they fight to live and they fight to last. But 2 Corinthians chapter 5 in verse 17, this is the verse that actually won me to Christ at 24 years of age. It was a promise in the word of God where Paul the Apostle says, therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away and behold all things have become new. I remember the first time I ever heard that verse was from another Christian police officer who told me what his life used to be and what in Christ his life had become. And it was very, very interesting because I was looking at a man who, when he told me his story, he was everything other than what he said he used to be. And I remember thinking, how is that possible? Because over the years I had tried to change some things in my life. I tried to be a better person. I tried to be a better husband. I tried to be a better father. There's just certain things in your life that you promise yourself that you're going to change, only to find that you're getting worse over time. Paul the Apostle said it this way in the book of Romans. He said, I know in the inner man what to do. He actually said, I actually delight in the thought of doing it, but I find another law inside of me warring against this law that's in my mind. And it's a law that's dragging me down. And he defines it as the law of sin and death. And he concludes his essay in a sense on this by saying, who shall deliver me from this body of death? And finishes with one statement. He says, I thank God through Jesus Christ, my Lord. In other words, there is a deliverance. There is a newness of life. Actually, the Bible calls it being born again by the Spirit of God. Born again, given a new lease on life, given an interior, not only just a cleansing and a right standing in the sight of God, but this interior dwelling of God's Holy Spirit, who makes the promises of God real to the heart and to the mind, and then by his power, these promises that we long for, he brings them into focus and he brings them into reality. And we are changed. You know, that's why Paul said elsewhere in the scriptures, as we simply behold Jesus Christ and the victory that he won for us, we begin to be changed by the Spirit of God from image to image and glory to glory. Now those words are phenomenal because what it really means is we are changed into that which brings God into reputation. That's what it means, image and glory. The word doxa means that which in us brings God himself to reputation. So as we behold this incredible victory that was won for us, and the promises of God that are given to us, and the power of God to make these promises a reality in our lives, then we begin to be changed by the power of God's Holy Spirit in us from image to image and glory to glory. In other words, we begin to be line by line, as Sarah shared, and little by little and step by step, we become more like the person that God actually created us and destined us to be. And that which brings God to glory, because we stand one day as I am and as others have here on this platform tonight, and we say to those who can hear, I'm not what I am because of human effort. I'm not what I am because of the resolutions that I have made in my life. I am what I am because of the presence of God inside of my life. I chose to believe him and I longed in my heart, you see, for this new life. Now, here's the problem that people face. This incredible promise of new life is given to all people, anyone, it's a whosoever will promise that can come and have this new full and abundant life in Christ. But many people try to hang on to a little bit of the old and make a bargain with God. I want the new, but I want the old at the same time. Now, I think Ephraim talked a little bit about that in the context of his sharing. And a lot of people don't get the victory because they don't want to let the old go. They're very comfortable with the old. You remember the blind man on the side of the road who was crying out, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And when Jesus called him, it says he threw off his coat, which is a symbolic of his old way of living, his old comforts in his life. He threw these things away and he got up and left it behind. And you know, you're blind, the odds of finding it again are not very good. And he left it behind and he was led to Jesus. And in a sense, I'm throwing off the old comforts, the old ways of doing things, my old plans, my old pattern of life. And I want this new pattern that God has for me. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation by virtue of the fact that God's spirit is now upon him or her. And the old things have passed away. Yes, they may stand for a season. They may look like they still have life, but they don't. They've lost their hold. They can't form your future any longer. They might try to tell you they're still there and they might even be in measure still there, but they've been given an eviction notice. Do you understand? When the spirit of God came into your life, he didn't come to be just part of your life. He came to evict everything unlike God from your life. He took over your life and he gave an eviction notice. And these old things may hang on. They may even go to some tribunal and try to reason their way to stay, but they can't stay any longer. They passed away and all things have become new. And I want to encourage you tonight to long for the new. Long for the new things and have enough courage to let go of the old. The old ways of thinking and living and doing and those things that bring everyone who practices them into captivity and destroys everything around us. Let them go. Invite Jesus Christ into your life. Admit you can't save yourself. Pastor Tim Delina always says it this way, and I love him for it. He keeps it simple. It's as simple as ABC. Admit you can't save yourself, that you need a savior. And believe that God loves you and sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in your place to pay the price for the sin, the wrong you've done, which the Bible calls sin, that has separated you from this wonderful life of God that we've been talking about tonight. And then confess him with your mouth as Lord of your life, not just savior, but Lord. In other words, you didn't come to rent my body. You bought me with your blood, and I belong to you now. I am yours and you are mine. And so I'm not just going to put my toe in the pool of my salvation. I'm going to dive in off the high diving board. I'm going all the way. You know, anybody who just goes part way only gets part victory. May I put it that way? But those that go all the way, they get immersed in God. They get the fullness of the victory that Christ has, because he said the devil comes, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I've come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly. I've come that you might have not just eternal life, but a full life on this side of eternity, and a reason to live, a purpose to life. It won't always be easy, but it is divine. It is God. It does bear eternal dividends, and it does give us a reason to live. And if we've seen it on this platform tonight, and young people, and it just so excites my heart to see these young people heading out into various callings all throughout the world. All different callings have importance, whether it's to be a babysitter of children, or a preacher to tens of thousands. Every one of them is important in the sight of God. There's not any big callings and little callings. They're just callings of God, and opportunities to give glory to his name wherever we go. And so my challenge to those that are listening online tonight is, as they say, get up out of the grave. Let's keep it simple. There's a choice that you have to make to get up. There's a choice that you just say, I'm going with God tonight. I've tried it my way, and it hasn't worked. And it's just brought me into this place of despair, or fear, or depression, or addiction, whatever it is you're facing tonight. But tonight Jesus Christ offers you not only just eternal life, but a reason to live. And he tells you that the old things, if you will let me come into your life, the old things in your life will lose their hold on you, and they won't dictate your future anymore. They've been relegated to the past. And as a matter of fact, he says, I will throw them into a sea called forget, and I will put a sign there that says no fishing. You're not allowed to fish in that sea. Nobody can go and drag up your old sins and throw them in your face anymore. I will forget. I will remember your sins, he said through Isaiah, and your iniquities no more. And so Father, I just pray my God tonight for people who are listening. Lord, we know you're coming soon. The signs of the heavens, the signs of this earth point to your soon return. Oh Jesus, but you said that before you come, you would reach out in mercy, and you would have a harvest of people who can still hear your voice. And so tonight, my God, I'm asking Father in Jesus' name, help those online to join the 41 in the last month and a half that have surrendered online and given their lives to Christ. Would you help those that are listening tonight to add their name to that number? The numbers of people say, I'm just going with God. I'm done living like this. I'm done letting the devil come in and destroy my home and my family and my mind and my future. I'm finished with it. I'm going with God. If that's you tonight, I want you to pray this simple prayer with me. We're going to pray it here in the sanctuary for your sake, but I want you to pray it out loud in your living room, your car, on your park bench, wherever it is, whatever you call home tonight, whether you do have a home or you don't, you pray this prayer with me and you watch this old way of living will pass away, and in Christ, everything will become new. And the testimony that you've seen tonight of these young lives that are just so filled with hope for the future in this season of such incredible depression, this testimony will become yours. The songs that they sang tonight will become your songs. You will have a song of praise to God. And before you know it, you'll be telling everybody around you, I can't just tell you what God has done for me, because you will know that the change that's come into your heart and into your life is supernatural. It's not you, it's Christ in you. That's what the Bible says, which is your hope of becoming the person that God destined you to be. So just bow your heart before God tonight and pray this simple prayer with me. Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for loving me. You love me so much that even in my failure, you've come to get me because you want me as your very own for all of eternity. And so tonight I open my heart to you and I believe that you died for me in my place so that I can be forgiven for all the wrong that I have done. I'm really sorry for my sin and I don't want to live this way anymore. I want the life you have for me. I want to be the person that you destined me to be. I want to think the way you want me to think, and I want to live the way you want me to live. From this day forward, Jesus Christ, I declare you to be the God of my life. I will follow you. I will live for you as you give me this chance. And I believe that I will have a new life in Jesus' name. Now, Father, I pray tonight God seal that work in somebody's heart tonight. Some young person, some older person, seal the work. Don't let the devil come and tell them it wasn't real. Seal it. Seal it with your presence. I ask you, Holy Spirit, to literally invade the room these people are in tonight. Invade the room. And let me know without any doubt that this is real. Your promises can be trusted. Your cross is real. Your redemption is more real than the air in the room where they sit. Lord, I thank you for it and I praise you for it in Jesus' name. If you did that tonight, if you prayed that prayer and you meant that prayer, just do me a favor tonight. Do us a favor and just text the word decided to 51,000 on your cell phone tonight. Just decided to 51,000. And you'll get a video from Times Square Church and we'll help you as best as we can to get started in your new walk with God. God bless you and welcome to the family of God tonight. We're just so happy. We don't see you, but God sees you. And we know that you've come through to salvation in Christ. What a beautiful, wonderful day that this is for you. We're going to have communion together in just a moment after this one song that we're going to sing. We're going to have communion and then we're going to pray together. And then as always, we encourage you at the end of the service to stay and pray. Just maybe five minutes. Just stay and pray and ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit. Ask him. If you don't understand what that is, he knows what it is. So don't you worry about it. You just ask him to do it. Say, give me your Holy Spirit. The man on the screen said I could have the Holy Spirit. So give me the Holy Spirit. You don't have to worry about that. God knows what that means.