Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
September 7, 2008 - W0836

In the last two weeks, 174 people have received Christ. And it was not me alone leading them to the Lord.  It was all of us working together. Everything you see here, the television cameras, the big screens and the volunteers are all a delivery system for the message of Christ for the whole world. This is what I call doing church as a team so I thank all of you.  Part of the reason we have these services is to partner with you in reaching your family and friends for Christ. And many of you are the 34,000 that have received Christ since New Hope began!

We have been given new life through Christ even though the Bible says that we were dead in our transgressions. This is being born again. Some people may think that they do not like all this talk about Jesus and that they can learn to be a good person without Him. But in reality, it is sort of like giving a dead person good food or vitamins.  It will not work!  He will still be dead!  You have to revive him first before you can feed him or teach him anything. The Bible does not say we were only sick but that we’re dead in our sins and that we are made alive again through Christ.

Once we are alive in Christ we have a chance to say no to our old sinful habits. When others see that we still have our old sinful habits they say that we Christians are no better than them. We have to realize that the outside world cannot or will not see our salvation or our being born again. They only see our old sinful behavior. That is why it is so important that we say no to our sinful habits and give God a chance to transform us step by step more into His image. While it may be true that some nonbelievers may behave better than Christians, without Christ they have no eternal life. So after the first step of becoming alive in Christ, the next step is to behave more like Christ. If we do not change our behavior then our Christian influence on the world is limited because the world will simply say that we are no different from them.

All of us are still learning to put aside old ways so that we can look more like Christ. We are getting better but have a long way to go and we still are finding ourselves doing sinful things. We need to develop an inner system to monitor ourselves. In Bible College, it was helpful to read descriptions of the early church and one of them was a letter that stated, “For Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by a country or language or customs. They do not live in cities of their own and they don’t have a certain particular form of speech. They don’t follow an eccentric manner of life. They actually follow the customs of the country in which they live. But at the same time they give remarkable proof that they’re following a constitution of their own. They live in their own countries but only as aliens. They marry like everybody else. They beget children but they don’t cast off their offspring. They share their food with each other but they do not share their marriage beds. They busy themselves on earth but their citizenship is in Heaven. They obey the established laws but in their own lives they go far beyond what the law requires. Christians dwell in the world but they don’t seem to belong to this world.”

People of the ancient world perceived Christians as different – not because of the way they looked or spoke - but because of the way they behaved according to a higher power. Peter knew this but denied Jesus three times, anyway. Even so, Jesus took Peter back and Peter eventually wrote his first epistle in effect saying that he knows the struggles that each of us go through with our faith because Peter himself went through the same doubts and trials. The bottom line is that God chose you despite your faults. As Peter wrote, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, … a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. … you are aliens and strangers here. So … keep away from evil desires because they fight against your very souls. Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will believe and give honor to God when He comes to judge the world” (1 Pet. 2:9, 11-12 NLT).

YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE.

He did not choose you because of your race or anything you have done. He chose you because of His love for you. If He had not chosen you, you would not exist. You did nothing to earn this. Dr. Seuss wrote a poem about being happy to be chosen and born.  It is called Happy Birthday to Me:

If you’d never been born, what would you be?

You could have been a rock, a toad or a tree.

Or worse than all that, you could have been a wasn’t.

Now a wasn’t has no fun at all, no he doesn’t.

A wasn’t just isn’t. He isn’t present

but you, you’re right here, now isn’t that pleasant?

Today you are you and it is truer than true

that there’s no one alive that is youer than you.

Shout out loud I’m glad of who I am.

Thank God I’m not a rock, a clam or a ham or a dusty old jar of gooseberry jam.

I am what I am

and it’s a great thing to be

and if I should say so myself, Happy Birthday to me!

So Happy Birthday, New Hope! But remember, you have been chosen for a purpose.  As the Bible says, “… so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). In order to proclaim who He is we have to get rid of old habits so that we can help others get to Heaven. As Jesus said, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last” (John 15:16).

WE ARE ALIENS AND STRANGERS, VISITORS WITH A PURPOSE.

We are actually spinning through space at thousands of miles per hour. We are simply visitors on earth sent to proclaim the excellencies of the Lord. So we have to get rid of the old man or woman that we used to be. We are visitors with a purpose.  This is not our land, our citizenship is in Heaven.  Our purpose here is to influence others toward Christ. It is written, “Before the creation of the world, He chose us through Christ to be holy and perfect in His presence. Because of His love He had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this” (Eph. 1:4-5).

So what are the characteristics of true Christian?

FIRST CHARACTERISTIC IS THAT WE THINK DIFFERENTLY.

Even if we own land fee simple, it is not our land so we should not think in terms of this world. We are simply stewards of what we have for a season. The land was there before we came and will be there after we are dead. Heaven is our land. We have to think differently because Satan is a headhunter and he is after your head and soul. One important prayer is “Lord, may my thoughts please you today.” The reason is that our actions tend to follow our thoughts. Stinkin’ thinkin’ is what gets us into trouble. Sometimes our minds can be our worst enemy. We should try to get our minds to encourage us, instead.  We should all strive to have the mind of Christ. You should always remember to “… keep away from evil desires because they fight against your very souls” (1 Pet. 2:11).

If you do not rid yourself of your old habits/patterns, you will be tempted to sin and “If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6).

SECONDLY, THAT LEADS US TO LIVE IN SUCH A WAY THAT PEOPLE SEE GOD.

You must “Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will believe and give honor to God” (1 Pet.2:12). You should also “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

The reason your conduct is so important is because people do not read the Bible much but they read Christian people a lot. If we think differently, then we will live differently and then others will see Christ through us.

There was a Christian named Doug Nichols who tried to pass out Bible tracts in India but no one would accept them. Doug eventually became sick with tuberculosis through his work trying to help sick people. While in the hospital one night, he observed a sick old man who cried because he was too weak to get out of bed to relieve himself.  The next morning the nurse mistreated the old man because she had to clean up the mess he had made in his bed.  The next night the same thing occurred and the old man began crying again. Doug left his own sick bed and carried the old man out of his bed and to the rest room. After the old man had finished relieving himself, Doug carried the old man back to his bed and covered him.  The next morning, Doug was surprised but other patients began asking him for the Bible tracks that everyone had refused before! So remember, people are taking note of how you behave as a Christian!

This week many doors will open for you as opportunities to behave as a Christian. Walk through them. We are the chosen people. Never forget who you are.

You have been chosen for a specific purpose by God. We belong to Heaven, not this world so our purpose should be Heavenly. We need to think differently from nonbelievers and that should lead us into behaving more Christ-like so that others can see Christ through us.

DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS

1.      What is your specific purpose?

2.      Why did God choose you?

3.      How can you improve your thinking to be more Christ like?

4.      How are you living so that others can see Christ through you?

5.      What sinful thought is your most difficult to banish? What can you do?

6.      How are you different from a nonbeliever?