Live and move and do what you do according to your New Covenant culture and values…
Some believers try to ad Christianity to the worldly culture that they have become a part of – this will never work! Paul totally dismissed the ‘culture’ and the ‘worldviews’ that he had adopted as a non believer and claimed to know NOTHING, except Christ and Him crucified. New Covenant principles, truths, culture and values cannot be successfully added to worldly, secular culture. It would be like trying to make tea with sewer water – no matter how good the tea leaves, sewer water will always produce putrid tea. The world, its culture, it’s values and it’s way of thinking is a contaminated, putrid cesspool. Like Paul, we need to totally discard everything we thought that we knew and then let the Lord renew our minds.
Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in His eyes.
Ephesians 4:17-18 says, ‘So with the wisdom given to me from the Lord I say: You should not live like the unbelievers around you who walk in their empty delusions. Their corrupted logic has been clouded because their hearts are so far from God—their blinded understanding and deep-seated moral darkness keeps them from the true knowledge of God.’ (Ephesians 4:17-18 - TPT)
So many leaders in the church world have implemented worldly culture, worldly values and worldly standards to Christian living. By attempting to implement today’s culture onto Jesus culture, they have ended up with powerless social club religion.
Jesus said the ‘new wine’ cannot be contained in ‘old wineskins’…
Believers would do good to discard everything they think they know about relationships, finances, leadership, family life, work ethics, values, tradition, right and wrong, what they believe and life in general, and then read the New Covenant again ‘for the first time’.
Study everything from Jesus’ resurrection to the end of the Bible, then study every prophecy concerning the New Covenant that was recorded in the Old Testament. (Example, Psalm 91 in an old Testament prophesy of who we are and how we are protected in Christ, our secret place). Study everything that Jesus said about the New Covenant – study the book of Acts, the epistles and the book of Revelation, and ask the Holy Spirit to renew your mind and to impart New Covenant culture, New Covenant truth, values, principles and the New Covenant approach to life and godliness.
The New Covenant is a culture, it is a way of living…
The New Covenant has a way of leading, a way of receiving truth, and a way of implementing truth – the New Covenant deals with financial stewardship, it deals with the relationship between a husband and a wife, it deals with sexual conduct, it deals with priorities and it deals with attitude. The New Covenant is a culture, it is a way of thinking, it clearly lays out our responsibility’s and our rights as children of God – it teaches us how to walk in faith, how grace and faith work together and how to receive what Jesus freely gave – the New Covenant culture is more than philosophy, more than religion and more than adding Jesus and His Word to a existing culture – it is a brand new culture of life, a brand new way of thinking, a brand new way of doing things and a brand new approach to life.
In computer terms, instead of erasing the hard drive, removing the software, adding RAM, adding new hardware and then installing totally new software, new screen, new keyboard, new mouse, new external speakers and basically new, updated everything – instead of doing all of that, throw out the old computer, and get a new, fully updated computer and then begin to install the latest, New Covenant software - 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, ‘Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new creation. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.’ (2 Corinthians 5:17 - TPT)
The footnotes in The Passion Translation say, ‘This would include our old identity, our life of sin, the power of satan, the religious works of trying to please God, our old relationship with the world, and our old mind-sets. We are not reformed or simply refurbished, we are made completely new by our union with Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.’
If you are trying to implement New Covenant truth to an area in your life and not getting the desired results, you are probably trying to add something that you have learned onto your old ways – Go back to the Lord, discard the old, then put on the new by the power of the Spirit and see what happens - Selah
Make this confession of faith - say this out loud with me…
“John 17:17 says that I am sanctified and set apart by Your truth - Your Word is truth - Your Word absolute truth – the Word is for me to walk in, to accept as final truth and for me to stand on, to declare by faith and for me to do – I am who the Word says that I am - I can do what the Word says I can do - I can be who the Word says I can be - Christ in me can do all things – I can do all things through Christ - I have absolute POWER over ALL the Work of the enemy – nothing shall by any means harm me – I have power to raise the dead – I have power to heal the sick – I have power to do the works of Jesus – I have total authority over all of the works of His hands in Jesus Name! – the power and the authority of the creator of all things is on the inside of me – when I speak by faith, I ALWAYS have what I say – As I speak the Word, the Father ALWAYS watches over it to perform it – The Father loves it when I expect Him to ALWAYS perform His EVERY Word! – I always expect the Father to bring to pass every word that I speak according to His Word – God is not a man that He should lie – His Word is literal, His Word is truth and His Word is final!”
