The New Testament Reality
Pastor Gareth De Wet
INTRODUCTION
Morning friends it truly is such an honour and privilege to be sharing the word of God with you this morning. I want to take this time to thank Pastor Shaun for this incredible opportunity. It’s one I don’t take lightly. I am so excited for what God is doing in our midst and where He is taking us. I know beyond a shodow of doubt that the best is yet to come.
For those that don’t know my name is Gareth and Im one of the Pastors here at Revival City Church. I am originally from South Africa and a Bssm Graduate where I had the incredible honour of interning for Michael Brodeur the Apostle over this church. It’s through Michael that I got connected to this amazing family, and its been a beautiful few months running with you guys so far, hasn’t it? I truly and deeply love you all!
With that said someone say revival. Someone say glory, someone say fire, someone say no limits. Tell your neighbor this is gonna be your best meeting yet. When I was praying and preparing for this morning God told me that your gonna be speaking to a bunch of world changers. He said these sons and daughters of mine are going to advance my Kingdom in profound ways. He said these are burning ones who are gonna start revival fires wherever they go. Do you believe that this morning church? Im telling you God thinks of you highly and we truly have an exciting future.
This morning I want to speak on something that has been brewing in my heart for a few years now, and I believe its a word that the body of Christ desperately needs to grab a hold of. It’s a word that I know beyond a show of doubt will change and transform you. It’s a word we need to settle in our hearts in order to step into all that God has called and destined us to walk
So with that in mind this morning I will be sharing a message that I have titled “The New Testament Reality” As a church part of our vision is that we will be a church that lives out the Kingdom Culture in our everyday lives. We will jump into that looks in more depth as the weeks go. But the truth is that before we can fully start to live out the culture of the Kingdom where ever we go, we have to get a few foundational beliefs settled in our hearts, because we will never fully embrace and live out the Kingdom Culture of God until we settle these truths in our hearts. I will go as far as to say that they are to become absolute realities in our lives.
Something I have come to notice, is that there is so much unbelief in the body of Christ around the world in regards to living in the New Testament reality. So, this morning I want to remind us of the truth of who Jesus is, what He accomplished and who we are because of all that He is and all that He did. Too many of us are stuck living with mindset we had pre cross. There is a reason that Paul teaches us in Ephesians 4:23 That we are to renew our minds. What he is saying is that are to change the way we think. We are to get God’s perspective, God’s mindset.
1. IT IS FINISHED
Now many of us know this story where this statement comes from, but the question I want to ask is, Do you fully grasp and understand the power of that statement? Do you? I want to paint this scene for you….. It was about 3pm the sun was belting down as Jesus who had been beaten beyond recognition just prior is now hanging on the cross. He is just about to die and accomplish what He came to do… When suddenly with a loud cry He cried IT IS FINISHED
At the moment the ground began to shake, the curtain was torn into two. The guards at the cross post probably fell to their knees saying truly this was the son of God.
Do you know all of the Old Testament pointed to this very moment…. All of Heaven waited in eager expectation for this very moment. Why? Because in that very moment every single individual that turns to Jesus to save them from their sins is fully restored, made whole as if the tree never happened! Are you getting it…. If you do it will literally change your life!!
The English word it is finished is a translation from the greek word Tetelestai. Now in the culture of the greeks in those days the word tetelestai was used in various contexts. So to fully understand what Jesus meant when He said It Is Finished lets look at the contexts this word was used in.
When Jesus hang on the cross and He cried out IT IS FINISHED, He was declaring:
Your debt of sin is fully paid, the judgement for your sin has been fully served, and the spiritual war against, death, sin and satan has been completely won!
In Christ the work of Salvation, victory, reconciliation and new life is fully yours… It is Finished!!!
Now how many of you believe Jesus meant what He said when He said it is Finished? Do you? Because most of the body of Christ doesn’t. They partially believe it. But today I want to remind us of this New Testament Reality that it is indeed finished…. Jesus made a way! The blood of Jesus is speaking better things!
If you are a born again believer, and I mean you have come to that placed of absolute surrender before our glorious saving King then the issue is never again about sin and our past. We will never be judged for that because we are dead to that. We live differently now, we think differently now.
Analogy:
We have to realize that we don’t have to survive to make it to heaven, we’ve already won! We never gonna die because we’re one with the eternal one so we have already won!!
He makes all things new and restored us to original value and design.
2. Our Royal Identity In Christ
This brings me to my 2nd New Testament Reality which is Our Royal Identity In Christ.
There is so much that can be said when it comes to our identity in Christ, so Im just gonna touch on 3 points here. The first being our Adoption as sons and daughters, secondly our Authority in Christ and thirdly our lifestyle as sons and daughters of God.
1) Our Adoption in Christ
Turn with me to Romans 8:14-17 and now to Ephesians 1:5-6
From these verses I want to highlight that we have all been adopted as sons and daughters of God. Now we have to understand what takes place with an adoption to fully grasp and comprehend how beautiful it is that we are now indeed His. His sons and daughters that He adores. If we step back a little bit and look at the heart of the Father through it all we see that it has always been about a deep intimate relationship with us. At creation Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day and we can see this in Gen 3:8. But because of being deceived and eating the forbidden fruit mankind lost intimacy with God and so God the Father wants to restore that relationship and so He sends His son Jesus to die so we don’t have to and to restore us back to original design, value and original intimacy.
Now back to what takes place at adoption. When one is adopted there are a whole bunch of things that take place.
Tell story about being able to places where the public weren’t at the my dad’s memorial day because I carried the name.
Are you getting it friends? Jesus made a way and who we were pre cross is irrelevant now. We are to step into the fullness of our identity in Christ, and one of the ways we do that is by realizing our Authority in Christ. (Use Movie reference of Thor when He discovers the Power he always had.
2) Our Authority in Christ.
Now we have to realize that when God created Adam and Eve. He called them to have dominion and authority over the earth and we can see this in Gen 1:28 where it says, And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
It was when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s commandment that they handed over dominion and authority to the devil. But Jesus not only made a way but restored us to original design because after His death and before His resurrection He went to hell to fetch the keys of dominion and power and gave it back to the church. We can see this in Matt 16:17. This is huge guys because when we realize the authority we walk in we would carry ourselves very differently.
1 John 4:17-21 (As he is so are we in this world)
3) Our Lifestyle in Christ
Lets read Gal 5:22
Here we can see what the Character traits of a son and daughter of God are when we are so connected to our daddy we start to look like Him. People are meant to see Jesus in us…. In our speech, life , love, faith and purity
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In verse 24 it says and those that belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Note that Paul doesn’t say will crucify the flesh, it says have crucified the flesh already. Now these fruits don’t come by trying harder, they simply come supernaturally by His grace when we die to ourselves. We have to die so that we can live in our true identity!
3. EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
The 3rd New Testament Reality is that we are empowered by The Holy Spirit. Now we all know the scripture where the power of God feel upon the church in the upper room in Acts 2:8. Its where the church was empowered to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Their was fruit to this baptism of fire… We can see that 3000 were added to their number that day. But I want to bring to your attention something that I feel the church has lost that the early church and generals walked in.
This is what I have noticed is that the church have confused the Holy Spirit in me for The Holy Spirit on me. In John 20:22 we see that Jesus breathed onto His disciples and said receive the Holy Spirit, and then he says later that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you in Acts 1:8. I think Bill Johnson quote sums this up best when he said, He’s in me for my sake, but His on me for yours.
Now I have realized that a majority of the body of Christ has confused the Holy Spirit in me( He makes me feel good, eat) with The Holy Spirit that empowers me to be His hands and feet. His power wont come on you just to do nothing, no in fact He will lift off His power if we don’t use it because the only reason the Holy Spirit empowers us is for others. So don’t confuse Holy Spirit in me for Holy Spirit on me.
The other thing I want to encourage us with is to tarry (Wait on) in the Holy Spirit. We live in a generation that wants things now, but I believe the reason the majority of the body of Christ isn’t walking in the power of the Holy Spirit because they have either confused the Holy Spirit in me for the Holy Spirit on me, or they are impatient and have learnt the art of waiting on the Holy Spirit. Tell testimonies of the generals of the faith… Every single one of the them had a defining moment which is basically they were empowered from on high. There will always be fruit to being empowered by the Holy Spirit.
4. GO CHANGE THE WORLD
So in conclusion
Lets live in the reality that it is indeed finished and Jesus meant what He said, the we have a Royal Identity In Christ and that Jesus restored us to original design which. We are to be empowered by the Holy Spirit for the sake of the world and not ourselves, because we are called to advance His Kingdom here on earth by fulfilling the great commission He gave us! The best is yet to come and our greatest days lie ahead of us!
In a minute I am going to invite you to come to the front if you need to respond in any way to this message. Now listen to me, don’t be worried about what anyone else thinks…. You come and meet with God this morning. If that’s you come up now. Ministry team I will call you to come up in a little while. Now the rest of you I want you to intercede for them while they have a moment with God.
Morning friends it truly is such an honour and privilege to be sharing the word of God with you this morning. I want to take this time to thank Pastor Shaun for this incredible opportunity. It’s one I don’t take lightly. I am so excited for what God is doing in our midst and where He is taking us. I know beyond a shodow of doubt that the best is yet to come.
For those that don’t know my name is Gareth and Im one of the Pastors here at Revival City Church. I am originally from South Africa and a Bssm Graduate where I had the incredible honour of interning for Michael Brodeur the Apostle over this church. It’s through Michael that I got connected to this amazing family, and its been a beautiful few months running with you guys so far, hasn’t it? I truly and deeply love you all!
With that said someone say revival. Someone say glory, someone say fire, someone say no limits. Tell your neighbor this is gonna be your best meeting yet. When I was praying and preparing for this morning God told me that your gonna be speaking to a bunch of world changers. He said these sons and daughters of mine are going to advance my Kingdom in profound ways. He said these are burning ones who are gonna start revival fires wherever they go. Do you believe that this morning church? Im telling you God thinks of you highly and we truly have an exciting future.
This morning I want to speak on something that has been brewing in my heart for a few years now, and I believe its a word that the body of Christ desperately needs to grab a hold of. It’s a word that I know beyond a show of doubt will change and transform you. It’s a word we need to settle in our hearts in order to step into all that God has called and destined us to walk
So with that in mind this morning I will be sharing a message that I have titled “The New Testament Reality” As a church part of our vision is that we will be a church that lives out the Kingdom Culture in our everyday lives. We will jump into that looks in more depth as the weeks go. But the truth is that before we can fully start to live out the culture of the Kingdom where ever we go, we have to get a few foundational beliefs settled in our hearts, because we will never fully embrace and live out the Kingdom Culture of God until we settle these truths in our hearts. I will go as far as to say that they are to become absolute realities in our lives.
Something I have come to notice, is that there is so much unbelief in the body of Christ around the world in regards to living in the New Testament reality. So, this morning I want to remind us of the truth of who Jesus is, what He accomplished and who we are because of all that He is and all that He did. Too many of us are stuck living with mindset we had pre cross. There is a reason that Paul teaches us in Ephesians 4:23 That we are to renew our minds. What he is saying is that are to change the way we think. We are to get God’s perspective, God’s mindset.
1. IT IS FINISHED
Now many of us know this story where this statement comes from, but the question I want to ask is, Do you fully grasp and understand the power of that statement? Do you? I want to paint this scene for you….. It was about 3pm the sun was belting down as Jesus who had been beaten beyond recognition just prior is now hanging on the cross. He is just about to die and accomplish what He came to do… When suddenly with a loud cry He cried IT IS FINISHED
At the moment the ground began to shake, the curtain was torn into two. The guards at the cross post probably fell to their knees saying truly this was the son of God.
Do you know all of the Old Testament pointed to this very moment…. All of Heaven waited in eager expectation for this very moment. Why? Because in that very moment every single individual that turns to Jesus to save them from their sins is fully restored, made whole as if the tree never happened! Are you getting it…. If you do it will literally change your life!!
The English word it is finished is a translation from the greek word Tetelestai. Now in the culture of the greeks in those days the word tetelestai was used in various contexts. So to fully understand what Jesus meant when He said It Is Finished lets look at the contexts this word was used in.
- Business context. Used on a business receipt to communicate that a literal Debt had been completely paid in full
- Judicial context- When a particular sentence had been fully served. Crime completely forgiven, no longer exists.
- Military context- The battle has been won… Complete victory and triumph
When Jesus hang on the cross and He cried out IT IS FINISHED, He was declaring:
Your debt of sin is fully paid, the judgement for your sin has been fully served, and the spiritual war against, death, sin and satan has been completely won!
In Christ the work of Salvation, victory, reconciliation and new life is fully yours… It is Finished!!!
Now how many of you believe Jesus meant what He said when He said it is Finished? Do you? Because most of the body of Christ doesn’t. They partially believe it. But today I want to remind us of this New Testament Reality that it is indeed finished…. Jesus made a way! The blood of Jesus is speaking better things!
If you are a born again believer, and I mean you have come to that placed of absolute surrender before our glorious saving King then the issue is never again about sin and our past. We will never be judged for that because we are dead to that. We live differently now, we think differently now.
Analogy:
- Use rope as generational line.
- Use plant as the tree.
- Use 2 figurine as Adam+ Eve and as an individual who becomes a new creation.
- Use cross as the cross of Christ
We have to realize that we don’t have to survive to make it to heaven, we’ve already won! We never gonna die because we’re one with the eternal one so we have already won!!
He makes all things new and restored us to original value and design.
- You’re not broken anymore you’re just realizing how whole you really are. Get rid of the lies that tell you your in bondage and not free… Its lies… Renew your mind with the truth. He makes all things new, makes all things whole. Who the sun sets free is free indeed!!
2. Our Royal Identity In Christ
This brings me to my 2nd New Testament Reality which is Our Royal Identity In Christ.
There is so much that can be said when it comes to our identity in Christ, so Im just gonna touch on 3 points here. The first being our Adoption as sons and daughters, secondly our Authority in Christ and thirdly our lifestyle as sons and daughters of God.
1) Our Adoption in Christ
Turn with me to Romans 8:14-17 and now to Ephesians 1:5-6
From these verses I want to highlight that we have all been adopted as sons and daughters of God. Now we have to understand what takes place with an adoption to fully grasp and comprehend how beautiful it is that we are now indeed His. His sons and daughters that He adores. If we step back a little bit and look at the heart of the Father through it all we see that it has always been about a deep intimate relationship with us. At creation Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day and we can see this in Gen 3:8. But because of being deceived and eating the forbidden fruit mankind lost intimacy with God and so God the Father wants to restore that relationship and so He sends His son Jesus to die so we don’t have to and to restore us back to original design, value and original intimacy.
Now back to what takes place at adoption. When one is adopted there are a whole bunch of things that take place.
- You get a new name & Identity (Whatever was connected to your old identity is now irrelevant.
- Your debts no longer exist, because your old identity doesn’t exist.
- You get an inheritance.
- You carry the authority of the Father as a son or daughter
- Share story of The extravagant Father. He restored the son to His original value.
- Analogy: Graphted into the family of God.
Tell story about being able to places where the public weren’t at the my dad’s memorial day because I carried the name.
Are you getting it friends? Jesus made a way and who we were pre cross is irrelevant now. We are to step into the fullness of our identity in Christ, and one of the ways we do that is by realizing our Authority in Christ. (Use Movie reference of Thor when He discovers the Power he always had.
2) Our Authority in Christ.
Now we have to realize that when God created Adam and Eve. He called them to have dominion and authority over the earth and we can see this in Gen 1:28 where it says, And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
It was when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s commandment that they handed over dominion and authority to the devil. But Jesus not only made a way but restored us to original design because after His death and before His resurrection He went to hell to fetch the keys of dominion and power and gave it back to the church. We can see this in Matt 16:17. This is huge guys because when we realize the authority we walk in we would carry ourselves very differently.
- Don’t give the enemy more authority than he has.
- We are in Christ so the enemy has to go through Christ to get to us.
- We overcome Him by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.
- About 3 weeks ago I woke up and felt a demonic presence in my room… I laughed and went back to bed because the enemy doesn’t phase me because I know that I am protected and besides my daddy is God.
1 John 4:17-21 (As he is so are we in this world)
- We are children 0f God who are like our Father.
- John 20:19-22
- He breathed in to His disciples and said receive the Holy Spirit… He was saying I have restored you back to before the tree. He breathes into them in the garden and gives the mandate, breathes his breath and gives us the great mandate. Whoo Im so pumped. When Adam and Eve messed up. God never changed His mind about us.
3) Our Lifestyle in Christ
Lets read Gal 5:22
Here we can see what the Character traits of a son and daughter of God are when we are so connected to our daddy we start to look like Him. People are meant to see Jesus in us…. In our speech, life , love, faith and purity
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In verse 24 it says and those that belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Note that Paul doesn’t say will crucify the flesh, it says have crucified the flesh already. Now these fruits don’t come by trying harder, they simply come supernaturally by His grace when we die to ourselves. We have to die so that we can live in our true identity!
3. EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
The 3rd New Testament Reality is that we are empowered by The Holy Spirit. Now we all know the scripture where the power of God feel upon the church in the upper room in Acts 2:8. Its where the church was empowered to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Their was fruit to this baptism of fire… We can see that 3000 were added to their number that day. But I want to bring to your attention something that I feel the church has lost that the early church and generals walked in.
This is what I have noticed is that the church have confused the Holy Spirit in me for The Holy Spirit on me. In John 20:22 we see that Jesus breathed onto His disciples and said receive the Holy Spirit, and then he says later that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you in Acts 1:8. I think Bill Johnson quote sums this up best when he said, He’s in me for my sake, but His on me for yours.
Now I have realized that a majority of the body of Christ has confused the Holy Spirit in me( He makes me feel good, eat) with The Holy Spirit that empowers me to be His hands and feet. His power wont come on you just to do nothing, no in fact He will lift off His power if we don’t use it because the only reason the Holy Spirit empowers us is for others. So don’t confuse Holy Spirit in me for Holy Spirit on me.
The other thing I want to encourage us with is to tarry (Wait on) in the Holy Spirit. We live in a generation that wants things now, but I believe the reason the majority of the body of Christ isn’t walking in the power of the Holy Spirit because they have either confused the Holy Spirit in me for the Holy Spirit on me, or they are impatient and have learnt the art of waiting on the Holy Spirit. Tell testimonies of the generals of the faith… Every single one of the them had a defining moment which is basically they were empowered from on high. There will always be fruit to being empowered by the Holy Spirit.
4. GO CHANGE THE WORLD
- Matt 28:16
- The great commission
- Sent ones…. We are all called to be Apostolic!
- Analogy about Centurions being sent as Apostles to go and create the Roman culture in the area they were sent. Believers are sent ones called to do the very same thing by fulling the great commission in order to see the Kingdom of God advanced!
- We are called to manifest what He is doing in our lives.
- You are in the A Team your not on the bench. Your in the game… Your it! You are His hands and His feet!
So in conclusion
Lets live in the reality that it is indeed finished and Jesus meant what He said, the we have a Royal Identity In Christ and that Jesus restored us to original design which. We are to be empowered by the Holy Spirit for the sake of the world and not ourselves, because we are called to advance His Kingdom here on earth by fulfilling the great commission He gave us! The best is yet to come and our greatest days lie ahead of us!
In a minute I am going to invite you to come to the front if you need to respond in any way to this message. Now listen to me, don’t be worried about what anyone else thinks…. You come and meet with God this morning. If that’s you come up now. Ministry team I will call you to come up in a little while. Now the rest of you I want you to intercede for them while they have a moment with God.