Sunday Re Cap (4th April 2010)

We Are An Epistle Of Christ

Act 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

As we celebrate Resurrection Sunday today, we look into the lives of the early believers who had such powerful convictions about the physical resurrection of Jesus. This powerful conviction led them to witness with great power and as a result received great grace. How can we witness with such conviction? Only by BEING an EPISTLE of CHRIST.

2 Corinthians 3

³ clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

1. The Spirit of God writes in our hearts AS we are aware that we are forgiven.
   

We are an epistle of Christ everywhere we go! How? When we allow the Holy Spirit to write on our hearts. The Holy Spirit writes our destiny and puts new desires in our hearts. When does that happen? When we receive God's complete forgiveness for our sins through Christ! Heb 8:10-12

4And we have such trust through Christ toward God.

1. Faith arises as we TRUST in a growing relationship with The Father.
   

How can we trust someone? Relationship. Who makes this relationship possible? Through Christ! Joh 14:6

We come to the Father through resting in the FINISHED work of the CROSS. Christ alone brought us to God. Jesus not only took away our sins, He opened the way to The Father.

⁵ Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency
is from God,

⁶ who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

1. When our SUFFICIENCY is of GOD.
   

Note 3 times the word sufficient, sufficiency. Sufficiency in ourselves or God. One is the LAW and the other is of the Spirit.

If there is a minister of the NEW COVENANT, then there is also a MINISTER OF THE OLD COVENANT. A minister of the OLD COVENANT ministers about our sufficiency being in ourselves.

We have been called MINISTERS of the NEW COVENANT when our sufficiency is of God!

When the LAW was given, 3000 people lost their lives (Ex 32:28); When the Holy Spirit was given 3000 lives were saved (Acts 2:41)!

Samuel Hari © GROW BM