New Covenant- the First Body of Christ -Part 3

The real power of the Holy Spirit. They want the power of the Holy Spirit to tickle them and excite them and give them some gifts and show off and have some visions and see angels and all that. I'll tell you this, I don't want to see, I've never seen an angel in my life and I don't want to see.

I've seen Jesus in my heart and that's enough. Why do I want to see angels? It's a tremendous amount of deception going on in the world today as a substitute because people don't give their body. Follow Mary who gave her body and believe that nothing will be impossible with God.

It's not your responsibility to produce the life of Jesus in you. That's the responsibility of God. He says in the New Covenant, I will write my laws upon your heart and your mind.

It's not your responsibility. In the Old Testament it was. You shall not murder and you shall keep the Sabbath and you shall not worship idols and you must honor your father.

It was our responsibility. But in the New Covenant, God says you can't do it. You can't do it any more than Mary could produce a baby on her own.

But nothing will be impossible with God. I will write my laws upon your heart and your mind and boy, you'll be amazed when you become an overcomer. It's just like way back in Genesis 1. What did the earth do? You think the earth could struggle and produce fruit trees by itself? No.

It says the Spirit of God brooded upon that earth and God said let the fruit trees come up and the earth said sure. And the fruit trees came forth. If the earth could speak and you went to the earth and said boy, how did you all of a sudden produce those apples and pomegranates and grapes and oranges and all that? I didn't do anything.

I just submitted to God. That will be your testimony too. When people see your life and say how did you become so pure and how did you become so good and how did you be so effective in your service for God and at the end of it all how are you so humble? I didn't do it.

It's God. It's God producing the life of Jesus. Was Jesus like that? No, Jesus was like that.

The same Holy Spirit that was in him has come upon me. Do you believe that? Nothing will be impossible for God. I'll tell you this.

99% of Christians are living substandard lives. They're like people who are living in a slum. The people who are living in a slum are living on earth, right? There's a lot of difference between living in a slum and living in a palace.

It's like that. There are Christians who are part of the church. They're living in a slum.

They need not. Because they have not submitted to the Holy Spirit. This is a word which is so important.

Nothing will be impossible with God. And she said, OK, I accept that. I submit my body to you.

And the angel said, OK. And the angel departed. And she went and visited Elizabeth.

And Elizabeth gave her a word. Because it says here in verse 41, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And filled with the Holy Spirit, she said something to Mary, which is very important.

Verse 45. Blessed is she who believes. That means blessed are you because you believed that there will be a fulfillment of what the Lord has spoken to you.

OK. When you read a new covenant promise, do you believe that there will be a fulfillment of what the Lord has spoken to you? Or do you say, well, I'm not so sure. Think if Mary had come out saying, well, I don't know.

I'm not so sure whether Jesus will ever be born through me. She said it. I know the angel said it.

But I don't know. I know God said it. I know the promise.

Nothing is impossible and all that. But I don't know. You know, God required faith.

That is the verse that tells us that Mary had faith. Not only submission, but faith. It's not enough to submit and say, OK, God, I give my body to you.

You must have faith. Faith for what? That there, verse 45, there will be a fulfillment of what the Lord has spoken. So many Christians, they surrender, surrender, surrender.

But they don't believe that there will be a fulfillment in their life of what God has spoken in His word. They say, yeah, I know it's in scripture. But will it be fulfilled in my life? I don't know.

Here is a word from the Lord for you. Nothing is, verse 37, impossible with God. You know, back in the Old Testament, also, if you turn to Genesis in chapter 18.

Genesis chapter 18. It's sort of similar words you find here that the Lord spoke at the beginning of the Old Covenant. You know, the Old Covenant really began with Abraham.

I mean, though it was proclaimed by Moses 430 years later. It began, the nation of Israel began with one man and one woman. Abraham and Sarah.

That's how that whole Old Testament nation began. And they had the same problem. How can we have a son? How will the nation come out of our womb? I mean, Sarah is barren.

And it says here in verse 11, Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age, and Sarah was past childbearing. And the Lord told her, you'll have a son. And she said the same thing, somewhat like Mary.

She laughed and said in verse 13, shall I indeed bear a child when I'm old? And what did the Lord say? Is anything too difficult for the Lord? Is anything too difficult for the Lord? Nothing is impossible for God. That's how the Old Covenant began. And that's how the New Covenant begins.

That is the message of the whole Bible. Old Covenant or New Covenant. That which looks impossible in man's eyes is fulfilled.

Earlier on we read in Genesis 15. The Lord said to him in Genesis 15 verse 5, look at the heavens and count the stars, your descendants will be like that. And it says just like Mary, what did he do? He believed in the Lord and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

So you see a lot of similarity between the beginning of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In both there was a case of a woman for whom it was impossible for her to have a child. And the Lord did it supernaturally.

And in both cases he expected them to have faith. And so this is important for us to see in the New Covenant too. The whole ministry of the Holy Spirit is so important.

So turning now to Matthew chapter 3. Before I come into that, let me also say something else. In Matthew chapter 2. We see something else about the New Covenant which is also distinctive. And that is the first people who came to the Lord.