Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Fresh Beginnings in Christ's Love
Join us as we delve into the transformative power of living in Christ's newness, drawing from Romans and Hebrews, to cultivate a more authentic spiritual life. We contrast the rigid adherence to the old law with the liberating new way of the Spirit, inviting you to contemplate how a personal relationship with God can lead to meaningful change. Our discussion spans personal healing, daily renewal, and a shift towards a life-giving spiritual engagement. As we wrap up, we encourage you to make a resolution to enrich your spiritual practices with prayer, fasting, and scriptural engagement, setting the stage for profound personal growth and a deeper connection with God throughout the year.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
I want to start this morning by reading 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. But if we look at the New Living Translation and read the same scripture, it says this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has begun. Life is gone, a new life has begun. And just to push my point home, in the new international version, right, the same scripture says therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come. So for those that are taking notes, my subject title for tonight or should be tomorrow. I keep forgetting. I'm speaking to people all over the world, so we've got to put things into perspective A new year and a new you. Now, a lot of people say this because sometimes they look at things like, if you're turning over the calendar and it becomes a new year, people everywhere feel like this is the moment to turn over a new leaf and make some changes to their life. Have one way to do Join a gym. Change your diet. Break an addiction form a healthy habit. Break an addiction, form a healthy habit. Read your Bible daily and stay on top of your inbox, whatever personal or professional goal it is. You might automatically just see that January is the best ideal to start Now. The reason I read those scriptures to Corinthians 5.17 is because, as far as I'm concerned me personally I think any time is a good time to turn over a new leaf, to start something new. But we sometimes have one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of god, so a lot of people have a tendency to go along with. You know secular things. Which is new year's day? You know the old just passed away. Let's start something new and we start up an organization, and I think I said this once before. You know it's amazing that gymnasiums put in all new equipment, additional equipment to what they've got for the first month of the new year, because so many people take up gym membership, but their New Year's resolution literally lasts less than a month and then they're back to the old them. So I'm talking about you making a new life, a new change, becoming a new you from a biblical perspective. Now I don't want to criticize anyone's New Year's resolution and I wish you well in anything that you embark on. However, perhaps we would do well to dwell on something else. Maybe we have lost sight of all that is new for us as Christians. Maybe some of our resolutions are birthed out of frustration, and we might be helped by pondering more deeply all that is new for us in Christ. We live under the blessing of the new covenant, god's great plan that was anticipated and predicted in the Old Testament but has now been launched by Christ at his death and is the reality that we exist as Christ's people. And that's why Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 5.17. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and the behold has come new. And if that's not good enough for you, you can also check out Galatians 6.15.
Speaker 1:If you read through the epistles, you see they reveal many aspects of the new covenant that are true for us today. What I'm going to do is I'm going to highlight six of those Three which specifically pertain to you as an individual and three that are looked at from a corporate perspective or more like a group. So like, say, if you're looking at your home fellowship group or a connect group or something like that, or just as a church. Now, jenson Franklin I don't know whether you know of him or read any of his books, but he started off for the first month of the year. He would actually do prayer and fasting for the whole month. Now he was telling his congregation to do this, and over an extended period of time I'm not going to quote it because I do not know exactly what the timeframe was but he chose to do that and he invited his congregation to do the same thing. So it took a while for that to happen. But now they do this every year. The first year, before they get into what they want to do and the goals that they want to set and the relationships they want to improve with our Lord, they actually do a full month of prayer and fasting. Now I personally believe and this is why I like the way that he did it, because I have been at other churches where it's been an executive decision by the senior pastor and the associate pastors that they say we are going to do this. They say we are going to do this and. But when it comes to um, fasting and prayer, I believe that it has to be self-led or holy spirit led, if you know what I mean. Okay, we'll leave that for now. Maybe I can use that for something else a bit later on. But let's get into these new covenants that we can use for ourselves. Number one is obviously new life.
Speaker 1:In Romans, paul equates the resurrection of Christ with the newness of life that is ours to live today. That's in Romans 6.4. What does this mean? Well, he writes that we are released from the law, no longer held captive, but free to serve in a new way, in the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code or the Old Testament. If you read Romans 7.6, what would it look like if I or you sought to live in this new way of the spirit rather than by keeping ourselves in check via a written code? Would my life look differently? Would yours look differently? So what I'm saying is that this is a difference between the Jewish nation and also you've got those that are still in the Old Testament. They're still waiting for the Messiah to come, and then you have the Messianic Jews, and those are the ones that believe that Jesus was the chosen one and he was the Messiah.
Speaker 1:All right, point number two this is from an individual perspective, new and living way. Now in Hebrews, the preachers urge us to move forward into the presence of God by the blood of Jesus, that is, by the new and living way that he has opened up for us. Easily, we can get caught up in an exercise fad or a desire to do something on a daily habit, while ignoring the wonders of being able to boldly enter into the presence of God in prayer. If I belong to Christ, then prayer would be the most natural feature of my life in 2025. I wouldn't need to change anything because it would be something that I would automatically do.
Speaker 1:And even though that I've read the Bible from cover to cover, probably I would say that I've done that three times Bible from cover to cover. Probably I would say that I've done that three times completely from cover to cover. But once again, I am actually starting off doing that for a fourth time, reading Old Covenant, new Covenant and going backwards and forwards between the two, but also expanding on certain passages of Scripture, so I get a better understanding of what it's actually really all about. And it doesn't matter how many times you do this. I can tell you right now. You'll always go wow, I never saw that or I never understood it from that perspective, because every time you read the word of God it's exactly the same thing, but sometimes you just read it and sometimes you get that revelation knowledge or that rhema knowledge as you're reading it and you go, wow, I never saw that the other 40 times that I read that particular passage. I hope this clarifies things for you and puts things into a new light for you.
Speaker 1:Because the third one is you want a new self. I can't remember the exact scripture, but if you look at the Old Testament, through Genesis and even in the New Testament talks about this that every day is a new day. The Lord does not do the same thing every day. It's different. It's like when I got healed from being in the wheelchair, people asked me what did you do and how did you do it? And so then I can copy you and I can get my healing and I can be blessed. It doesn't work that way. What he did for me, he did for me, and what he's going to do for you, even if you've got exactly the same ailment, will be different, because that's the way he is. So, new self.
Speaker 1:When Paul wrote about the new life we can live, he refers to it as putting on a new self. This new me is no longer hardened and calloused by sin, but instead through knowing Christ. This new me is a heart, mind and lifestyle, transforming reality that is created after the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4.24 and Colossians 3.10 tells us that the new covenant promise of a God-given new heart is excited, I know myself, and it is so, so easy. But we're able to focus on our attempts to tweak small issues in our life but ignore the wonderful privilege of true holiness that is ours in Christ.
Speaker 1:You want to be different. What is the difference between a flowing river and just a pond of water? Between a flowing river and just a pond of water? The pond of water, if left undisturbed, will eventually start to stagnate and it will actually eventually be something that nothing lives in right, something that nothing lives in right All the plant life and the aquarium life that is in there. There is constantly fresh water flowing past any particular point and that actually stimulates life, because you know the fish that are actually in there, the frogs, the tadpoles and all of that sort of actually in there, the frogs, the tadpoles and all of that sort of they want to, you know, propagate and to fill the stream because they've got this fresh flowing water. Okay, point number five. No, sorry, let's try point number four.
Speaker 1:Now, a new covenant ministry is what I'm talking about here. Jesus declared the inauguration of a new covenant at the Last Supper, as Paul described it in 1 Corinthians 11.25,. He picks up that theme and really develops the wonder of participation in the new covenant In 2 Corinthians 3.6, where we see that we are actually ministers of the new covenant covenant, no longer ministers of the letter that kills, but now of the spirit who gives life. Also, as well as that, I recommend that you read Hebrews 8.8, hebrews 8.13, hebrews 9.15, and Hebrews 12.24. You know, it doesn't matter to me whatever the size of my ministry might be big, small or there's what the issues of the quality of it is is what the issues of the quality of it is and I don't mean just in comparison to my preaching against someone else's, I mean the spiritual quality that makes my feeble efforts in ministry quantifiable, and quantifiably different from the express works of a highly equipped unbeliever. See, there's an old saying. It says build the church and they will come. You don't have to have a large congregation before you start your ministry Me.
Speaker 1:I started this right in the heart of COVID when I started Great Vine Ministries and literally it started with me just sending messages of hope and encouragement to a very small group of people that I knew were not attending church, and part of it was out of fear, which is understandable, but it's also it was they just didn't want to take any chances. So they were always contacting me saying what about this and what about that. So my very first sermon and if you look at that now in comparison to what I do at this point in time which hopefully in 2025 it will go to a next level as well my very first message was fear versus faith, because I could see the need for that and all of these people were good, grounded Christians. But because of what was happening, something that was unheard of ever before a global pandemic there was that the world was changing and people were worried that it would affect them changing and people were worried that it would affect them. So that's why the New Covenant ministry is very important and if you have a call on your life, I strongly recommend you do something about it and you just do the Lord's work and you will touch people's lives and you'll have an impact and you'll change their lives, and I hope and pray that that's what Grapevine Ministries does. So moving right along, otherwise we'll run out of time.
Speaker 1:Number five the new unity. The new unity, you see, what Christ has accomplished is not just individually transforming. It goes much broader than that. With you and me, our spiritual life needs to change. We are brought together, jew and Gentile, into one new man in place of the two. Because a Jew and a Gentile okay, one has the Lord, god Almighty, and the other one has nothing. So, basically, it's the difference between a person of faith and an atheist, but the difference between a Jew and a Gentile is because that's all there was. You were either Jews or you were Gentiles. There was no other categories before Jesus. We're brought together into one new man in place of the two. Ephesians 2.15,.
Speaker 1:How easily we take for granted the opportunities to worship with others and to have other believers come around us. Sunday has become a steady part of my weekly routine, but there is nothing routine about unity among a fallen humanity. What opportunity is God giving me and giving you this year to experience this new unity that Christ has made possible on a local and a global scale. How can we continue to the beautiful unity of believers? And I've already started that, because we've now started up a new home fellowship with just a small group of people and it's just called, you know, hand in hand with Jesus. So if it grows and expands, then we know it's of God, but if not, it'll fall by the wayside.
Speaker 1:But you've got to step out there and start doing stuff. And my final point that I want to talk about is the new commandment. It might be good to lose a few kilos and it might be a bit more efficient. But I would especially do well by prayerfully pursuing the new commandment from Christ, that is, in the coming months. I mean, I definitely want to lose a bit of weight and I think I'm off to a good start, but time will tell. But you've got to step up to the plate before you can take a swing. It's no good being in the dugout. Or you know, from another perspective, those that are into football of any kind, whether it's round ball or I don't know what the other shape really is. But football, you've got AFL, you've got rugby union, rugby league, you've got soccer. So pick your poison, so to speak. But the thing is, if you're sitting on the sidelines, you're not in the game and you've got to get into the game.
Speaker 1:As the light of God's good news breaks into the darkness of this fallen world. What could be more distinctly Christian-like than his followers following his instructions? How many times every day will I be given the opportunity to love others as he has loved me, as he has loved me? How many times in a calendar week do you have the opportunity to share God's love with others? 1 John 2, 7 to 8 and 2 John 5 will be a good place for you to start, will be a good place for you to start.
Speaker 1:So, as we start this new year, let us consider all that is new for us in Christ. Individually, we have a new life with new access to God's presence and the privilege of godly righteousness that we could never achieve by our own natural inclinations and efforts. With that, we have the privilege of a new, spirit-empowered ministry, united together and loving one another. This is the new me and this is what the new you should be going into 2025. Then the year ahead is already exciting. Let's anticipate that excitement and start doing a new thing in Christ.
Speaker 1:Any other little tweaks are necessary bonuses, but they can't come close to the wonder of what God has done for me and what he wants to do for you, and what he wants to do in me and in you this year. Look at it from this perspective a new heaven and a new earth. Our life is not all wrapped up in the details of 2025. The truth is that we are awaiting for the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness dwells. It's in 2 Peter, 3, 13. The life we have to live this year is a life with a new heart, a new and special access to God, a new privilege of holiness, a new spirit-empowered ministry if that's what you're called to do a new controlling principle and a new hope. We live in a world that is fascinated by what is new and exciting, but let's not allow the artificial and the temporary newness to take our focus away from the wonder of all that is new is in Christ.
Speaker 1:And they talk about New Year's sale and end of year sale and Boxing Day sales and all this sort of stuff end of year sale and Boxing Day sales and all this sort of stuff and if you do what I, this is what I did one year. Right, just hear me out. I'll just finish off on this right what I did. There was something that I wanted to buy okay, and my kids had all given me some money. It was for a TV right and I was going around checking prices. I wanted to get the best value for money I could by getting a new TV right, and I was originally going to get a 55-inch.
Speaker 1:But as I was shopping around I was seeing that all of these sales were coming and going and I kept finding out that the new sale wasn't a new sale, it was an old sale with a new price tag on it. It's a bit like putting new wine into old wineskins it won't work. New wine into old wineskins, it won't work. So eventually I waited for the right moment and I went out and bought the TV that I wanted and I got a bigger TV with better features for less money than what I would have paid if I had bought it saw the very first TV that I saw, because the prices fluctuate and whether it's on sale or not on sale, you've got to see that you're getting value for money.
Speaker 1:You always get value for money by spending time with the Lord. I strongly recommend that you make that a New Year's resolution that the time is to spend more time in his word and more time with him. Prayer and fasting is a good way to begin, but if you want to spend some time in prayer with him and seek his guidance of what he wants you to do in 2025, we will see great and mighty things starting to happen. All right, well, god bless you and we'll get into the new year and a new subject next week. All right, bye for now.
