Happy New Year everyone! We hope you've enjoyed some great holidays and have come back tonight ready to tackle 2016 with rejuvenated determination to pursue all that God has for us under His New Covenant. With this issue we begin our nineteenth year of ministry through this publication and look forward with EXPECTATION to what God will show us in the weeks and months to come. With that said, let's all start off the New Year from the same place by recalling THE major idea we've focused on over the last sixteen weeks:

 

The main objective has been to point out that according to what the Word of God actually says, believers are supposed to live under the New Covenant and not under The Law. Before we were born again, the Law was there to show us that we needed a Savior, but after we're born again we're supposed to leave The Law behind and start living under the New Covenant that Jesus made with the Father on our behalf. Here are just a few of the scriptures that instruct us to do this:

 

Galatians 3:25 = now that faith has come we are no longer under the LAW.

Hebrews 7:18 = the covenant of the LAW has been set aside.

Hebrews 8:13 = the New Covenant made the LAW obsolete.

Romans 3:6-9 = we are servants of a New Covenant that brings life instead of death and
                             condemnation.

Romans 6:14 = we are not under the LAW but under GRACE.

Romans 7:4 = we are dead to the LAW.

Romans 7:6 = we have been released from the LAW.

Galatians 5:18 = those who are led by the Spirit cannot be under the LAW.

Romans 10:4 = Christ is the end of the LAW.

Matthew 5:17 = Jesus has fulfilled the LAW.

Romans 8:2 = the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the Law of sin and
                         death.

Galatians 3:13 = Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law having become a curse for us.

 

As pointed out in previous discussions, there's a tendency for Christian Believers, until we know better, to try to live our lives in varying degrees under The Law thinking that it makes us more holy and will please God enough to attract His FAVOR. Indeed, the FAVOR of God is something we're all hoping for. But The Law wasn't designed for believers to try to live by. In fact, ACCORDING TO WHAT SCRIPTURE ACTUALLY SAYS, its purpose was/is to show mankind that we're actually INCAPABLE of living at the level of holiness God requires and that we need help to bring us back into the fellowship with Him that was broken by Adam back in the Garden. Yes, The Law is still holy (Romans 7:12) and it will last until the work of reconciliation has been completed (Matthew 5:18, Luke 16:17), but it's directed at non-believers for the same purpose as before: to show them that they need a Savior. Believers have been instructed to live under the New Covenant based on a NEW law called "the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:2) that has reconciled us back into fellowship with God AND has reconnected us to the BLESSING of Abraham (Galatians 3:14) so that His FAVOR can be accessed by FAITH. Did you get that? God's FAVOR under the New Covenant doesn't come by obedience and holy living; it comes by FAITH.

 

 

I want to start off the New Year by discussing the subject of God's FAVOR and how believers under the New Covenant should be EXPECTING it to manifest in 2016. The first thing to point out is that the FAVOR of God under the New Covenant can't ever be deserved. It's by definition unmerited and that makes it GRACE. The GRACE of God is His undeserved, unmerited FAVOR which includes His EMPOWERMENT to carry out His purposes in our lives. We connect to GRACE by FAITH because it's simply an undeserved gift from God (Ephesians 2:8) that He gives because He wants to. The only requirements are: 1) confessing Jesus as Lord and believing that God raised Him from the dead in order to receive salvation (Romans 10:9); and 2) sincerely trusting the Lord to make all things work out to the good for those who seek and love Him (Hebrews 11:1, 6 with Romans 8:28). Under the New Covenant, it's IMPOSSIBLE to please God except by FAITH (Hebrews 11:6). And so, FAITH can't be called a WORK because according to His Word God doesn't respond to works. Rather, He responds to FAITH. So FAITH is a decision, a commitment one makes to TRUST in Him instead of in the world or in oneself.

Now one of the things Old Covenant thinking does is cause us to put limits on ourselves. Example: God controls our success and how far we get in life by deciding when and where and to whom to release His FAVOR according to how holy we've been. When FAVOR doesn't show up for a while, Old Testament thinking causes us to blame God and to get all religious trying to appease Him. Soon enough we stop expecting His FAVOR because we've concluded from our stumbling attempts at appeasement that FAVOR is really hard to come by and we wind up in lives of failure and defeat and low expectations and the belief that God doesn't want us to succeed under this New Covenant after all. Over the years of our counseling ministry we've met thousands of Christians who had become accustomed to chronic failure thinking it was God's doing and that it was His plan for their lives that they live with it.

 

If New Covenant FAVOR of God is truly undeserved as the Word says it is, then none of those negative limited ways of thinking are scriptural. They make sense under the Old Covenant but under the New Covenant the blessings of God are no longer doled out according to whether or not we've obeyed the various laws and statutes. Indeed, we need to come to a place where what we THINK about ourselves AGREES with what the New Covenant says about us. And there's no place in there where the Lord places any limits on us. So if any limits show up in our lives, we're the ones who've put them there. God says He has ABUNDANCE for us in all areas of life (John 10:10) through GRACE by FAITH. So, if we're not presently enjoying that in our lives, it's NOT because He's withholding His FAVOR. It's because we're not THINKING right about Him and about ourselves and about the New Covenant. So, here are a few New Covenant scriptures for us to agree with and release our FAITH over for the New Year:

 

The Word SAYS that you can do ALL things through Christ (Philippians 4:13).

The Word SAYS that if we ask for anything according to God's will, we can have what we ASK FOR
                                     (1 John 5:15).

The Word SAYS that Jesus became poor so that you might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).

The Word SAYS that God causes ALL things to work out to the good for those who LOVE Him
                                     (Romans 8:28).

The Word SAYS that God is willing to make it possible for you to have ALL sufficiency in everything
                                     (2 Corinthians 9:8).

The Word SAYS that God will make available an ABUNDANCE so that you can perform good works
                                     (2 Corinthians 9:8).

The Word SAYS that God does not show partiality among Believers (Acts 10:34 and Romans 2:11).

 

In sum, GRACE is the undeserved FAVOR of God expressed to its fullest extent under the New Covenant. It is His EMPOWERMENT to overcome problems and to accomplish whatever He's calling us to do in life simply because it pleases Him to do it. It's UNDESERVED because it's been made available to Believers not because of anything we've done but because of what Jesus has done.

 

In the meantime because I trust and love God, I speak by FAITH for the things of His Kingdom, I try to live my life in agreement with His Word, I submit to the authority of His Word, I RESIST contrary influence from the enemy and from my own Flesh and innocently transmitted from other people. I try to obey God, to not sin and to do my best to put His Kingdom first as I live my life on earth, not because I'm trying to impress Him but because I trust Him and because I LOVE Him. Then when FAVOR shows up, it's NOT that God has given it to me to reward my good works, it's rather that I put myself in position to CONNECT to it by FAITH because I'm involved in agreeing with the Word and it's the Word that has the POWER I need for success and victory.

 

 

If I understand this, and if I have finally personally received the UNDERSTANDING that scripturally God's way of operating is always INCREASE AND ABUNDANCE BY FAITH, then eventually I have to come to a place where BY FAITH I ALSO EXPECT that God's FAVOR will show up continuously in my life. I'm no longer surprised when solutions for my problems suddenly appear. If I need money for something it shows up and maybe I don't get sick as much as I used to or I recover more quickly. I EXPECT FAVOR because I know what the Word promises, because I know that God has sworn to fulfill His EVERLASTING Covenant and because it has happened countless times in the past.

 

So, why is it so hard for us to EXPECT God's FAVOR? It doesn't show up because of any righteous works we've performed. It doesn't show up because we haven't sinned so much over the last few days. It's not because of luck or being in the right place at the right time independently of God. No, it's because we BELIEVED in the Truth and then we released our FAITH over it. FAVOR is already out there, available to Believers through GRACE by FAITH. That's the way the Kingdom of God works under the New Covenant. And eventually we come to EXPECT favor because in the past it has manifested when we most needed it and we were able to CONNECT to it by FAITH. As our FAITH grows stronger because our knowledge and understanding of the Word is growing (Romans 10:17), and as we're faithful to use our increasing SUCCESS the way God wants us to, then we come to EXPECT to live in a state of ALL sufficiency and abundance in every area of life (2 Corinthians 9:8 with John 10:10).

 

Friend, EXPECTATION develops when we finally understand and ACCEPT the Word and refuse to give up on it and when we cast down religious traditions and ways of thinking that are holding us back. Even when a tough time lingers for a while, we continue to TRUST the Word and look for God's FAVOR to connect to. His GRACE is never too far away from a serious Believer. Just look for it in the spirit, believe that if you seek you'll find, speak directly to His FAVOR and decree boldly for it to MANIFEST to you according to whatever specific promises from the Word you've released your FAITH over. Stay in the Word and INSIST that the FAVOR of God will soon show up. If you EXPECT it to show up then it's sure that it WILL!

 

Thanks for joining our discussion tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on January 10. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), pushing you to VICTORY in every area of life!

 

 

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If you've never invited Jesus to be your Lord, you can do so today by believing and saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

 

If you were sincere as you prayed, God has already come into your life and you're a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

When you get a moment have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer and believing what you said:

 

 

 

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