Sin-management
Sin-consciousness, leads to sin-management which gets ones eyes to go inward in a bad way. It lead me to 35+ years of bipolar roller coaster riding Christianity. I was always concentrating on managing my short comings. My relationship with God was based on my ability to achieve and do. If man is relying on oneself, man will always fall short. This leads to shame, guilt, and condemnation.
I had read and known and even preached on Romans 8:1-2 but the wording in the Mirror Word opened it up like never before.
Condemnation and shame are no more once ones identity is achieved in how God defines man rather than how man defines oneself. Knowing that the only view that God has of me is that of perfect, forgiven, redeemer, whole, and His son changes everything. My realization of His view of me eliminates my need for sin-management. Talk about mind blowing freedom.
1 Now the decisive conclusion is this: in Christ, every bit of condemning evidence against us is cancelled. (“Who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.” This sentence was not in the original text, but later copied from verse 4. The person who added this most probably felt that the fact of Paul’s declaration of mankind’s innocence had to be made subject again to man’s conduct. Religion under the law felt more comfortable with the condition of personal contribution rather than the conclusion of what faith reveals. The “in Christ” revelation is key to God’s dealing with man. It is the PIN-code of the Bible. [See 1 Cor 1:30 and Eph 1:4].) The law of the Spirit is the liberating force of life in Christ. This leaves me with no further obligation to the law of sin and death. Spirit has superseded the sin enslaved senses as the principle law of our lives. (The law of the spirit is righteousness by faith vs the law of personal effort and self righteousness which produces condemnation and spiritual death which is the fruit of the DIY tree.)
There is no more distance or delay. I no longer look for some place in time down the road to where I can or will be acceptable to God. ..
I AM NOW! I was perfect to him before the world was made. I am made in His template of His own DNA! (Eph 1:4). No toil no striving, my original identity now shines!
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Having God Revealed in You not to You
I was listening to a YouTube video of Don Keathley this morning and he was speaking of Paul’s life and the transition he went through after his Emmaus Road experience. Paul did not immediately go out and share with the world, he instead went into the wilderness to contemplate and marinate in what he had gone through.
Don said something to the effect..
“it’s not about having God revealed to you bout about having God revealed in you.” Been thinking about that most of the day. It’s that revelation that has impacted me huge like.
It takes the God of the universe and puts Him inside oneself rather in some distant realm. It trashes distance and delay. No longer a being to strive to meet but one who has been waiting on each one of us. He is in each one of us right now. Not requiring anything of us to obtain this closeness. It’s a gift a free gift from a God’s very essence is complete love and nothing else.
When Grace Transforms Culture – Pr. Don Keathley: http://youtu.be/NpnMujeMwOw
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Morning thoughts
Jesus is what God thinks about you
This was given to me this morning by a friend. It was an email he had received. ..
“Here is my offering – therfore as it is impossible that we should not please Him through our faith, which clings to His righteousness. Hence it follows that a Christian is entirely without sin. And even if he sins, they can in no ways harm, but are forgiven for the sake of the inexhaustible righteousness of Christ which swallows up all sin and on which our faith relies…”
You please Him right now as you are! That is the Gospel! You need not havethe most impactful ministry, the world’s most extreme prayer life, or anything of the such. If it were based on your ability to do or attain the cross would have not been needed. The cross and what happened represents pure love poured out and a new – genesis for ALL mankind. The plan from the beginning was reconciliation to the Father.
We (or at least me) have seen God as wrath and love. I no longer see that. He is love, His very essence is 100% love. From the beginning He has called us his sons and daughters. His only vision of you has been and only will be of you as His beloved kids perfect as you are. Not one day we will be whole but whole now! Pure, righteous, forgiven, holy, sanctified, redeemed!
Not a license to sin but a freedom to know your identity in Him and be free to come to Him with no shame or guilt.
Romans 8:1 There is now no condemnation for those who are found in Him, all is new! You are new creations in Him!
See His love for you today and tomorrow.
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When God Shows Up
So when we say “Wow! Did God ever show up tonight! ”
What are we thinking? This implies he comes and goes and shows up when He pleases or when we really press in or impress Him. It implies that “we” did something to bring God in, as in we coerced Him in some way.
That was me, that was my mentality for 30+ years. Maybe I prayed more fervently, maybe the praise and worship was that good, maybe I kept my thoughts more pure that week then the week before, or maybe….. well maybe you get what I’m getting at. But in case you don’t I’ll lay it out there. He has never left. He has never thought less of you and I ever. His love is is very essence he is not bi-polar. He does not change His view of mankind ever. He forgave us before the world was formed (Ephesians 1:4) He reconciled “ALL” things not just the ones He thought were pressing into Him, but ALL! (Colossians 1:20). Nothing I could ever do could change that!
I used to run from Him when I felt guilty and ashamed of my self because I was so sin conscious. Romans 8:1 says there is “no more condemnation for those in Christ…” If he reconciled ALL , He brought us ALL into Him. There is no separation from Him. There is no ability for Him to “show up” He’s already and always in you! It’s like The Matrix, we need to wake up and realign our thinking. We or I have aways felt it was on me to coerce God or had to attain some spiritual level to be worthy.
You always hear John 3:16 but you need to also look beyond 16
John 3:16-18 NLT
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him…
Those who believe in Him are new creations ALL is new! There is now no more condemnation!
My identity your identity is found in this! His definition of you is forgiven, holy, pure, whole, complete (NOW!). There is no distance and delay in your j I kķlllllllllllllj standing to God. It was a done deal. You are not partially righteous or sanctified when you believe, you are complete at that moment! It’s like a a treasure buried in a field. The field is just a field nothing special but once you realize there is gold in the ground it now has known worth or value. It was there all along! But it was undervalued because the owner did not know what was inside.
Man is that land. We have God Himself inside of all of us but we live on a lower plane a lower consciousness. We see the short comings while God sees the Gold.
We think it is amazing when God shows up because that is what we have allowed ourselves to be deceived into believing. In reality He is there all the time He never leaves or His power never wanes. It’s our belief or inability to comprehend that is the issue.
Is it “when God shows up” or when we open our eyes to see Him sitting there, He’s been waiting for us on our inside not the other way around.
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When you know who you are…
… through the anointed One, he gave us (all mankind) every spiritual blessing which he had in heavenly places. Because he loved us ( all inclusive) he chose us (all inclusive and unconditionally) before the foundation of the world (before we had a chance to mess up) to be sacred and blameless in his sight ( the only view he will ever have or know about you). He is the One who, before anything was created, set us apart to be adopted into HIS FAMILY through Jesus the anointed One.
Ephesians 1:3-5
This is the gospel this is the good news that you have a creator who loves ALL unconditionally and unconventional like too. The only view he had of you and will ever have is his perfect spotless child and heir. You are complete in him now not some future date but now. When you realize your identity and who you are it changes everything. What used to be sin management becomes a fading memory. Once you know who you are you really don’t want to do those things that bound you up with guilt and condemnation. Your priorities change. When identity is struck on your heart all things are new.
If you found out that you had one month to live you would probably change everything in your life. You wouldn’t worry over the small things you wouldn’t look at your daily interactive the same. Every moment would be lived to its fullest and you would drink in everything around you. The same effect happens when you step into the revelation of who God says you are, with the definition that God has declared over you!
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New God Goggles, Prayed 403 times, new high score!
I was out for my midnight run. Generally I go out for my runs (ungraceful stumbling in the dark) sometime between 11:30 pm and 1:00 am. I do this for three basic reasons;
1. Health
2. In the dark your less likely to become a YouTube viral video
3. It’s my me time, it’s the time I can listen to YouTube teachings. Lately I have been streaming Johnny Cash reading the Bible.
I have read this and heard sermons on Matthew 17 and have always walked away thinking what can I do to walk in this? Always looking for the formula to get that “more than a mustard seed faith.”
Matthew 17:16-21
English Standard Version (ESV)
16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.”
17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.”
18 And Jesusrebuked the demon, and it[c] came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
20 He said to them,“Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
21 But this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
So, back to my thoughts. While jogging the other night I was listening to a teaching by a friend of mine, Chris Berglund and he went into this text.
I’ve always had a works based mentality in my Christiandom and have recently walked away from this mindset. I have been real going deep into much of Paul’s writings and have been purpose to revisit the Gospels. I probably need to do this sooner than later. I say this because many of my old ways of thinking need to be worked out.
Under my old paradigm I won have took Jesus’s really response as a full on rebuke.
“Oh faithless and and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you. ” maybe this was not a rebuke. Have you ever had a boss or someone you worked for? For example, say you botched up the paint mixing machine at work your first week on the job. Does your new boss rebuke you and yell at you or…. does he say something to the effect, “OK head up, I’m only going to be able to hold your hand for so long, listen up and learn what I have to show you.”? I’ve always seen that as a rebuke with attitude, I’m not sure it was anymore. We are told to see Him as our loving father a loving father first loves than corrects while building up.
The second part of this story happens later when the disciples come to Jesus in private. They ask why they were not able to cast the demon out of the person. Jesus replies in verse 20 it was because of their disbelief. It was their ability to see what they saw rather than what was to be.
It’s what they saw rather than what was.
In verse 21 He says ” this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting. ” this verse has always (in my head) made his ability to heal dependant upon my response or works. This has never made sense to me. So God can’t do something unless I prayer or fast? God is not dependent on man. In Chris’s teaching he brought up the idea that maybe Jesus was not talking about healing but maybe he was talking about faith or the ability to believe or see with God’s eyes. So I’m saying that disbelief only goes away through fasting (wanting what God has more than food) and prayer (spending ones time building that intimate relationship with dad).
It’s not about what I do but what He has done!
My view of God has been challenged immensely in the last 2 years. I have viewed the God and read the Bible through a paradigm of a wrathful and judgemental God. The way you view God will totally slant everything, I mean EVERYTHING in your life. Jesus always related to people out of love. He commanded us to walk in love. Never did he call us to judge others. “Judge not or you will be judged” or John 8 “I judge no one” or even with the woman at the well “let the him who has no sin cast the first stone.” He had ample times to judge but didn’t, he moved in love and compassion. He also said “I only do what my father in heaven does.” If Jesus moved in love, God moves out of love. God is not waiting up in heaven to smite people. He is a loving father! We are his children. I am putting on new glasses and putting on God’s love goggles as I read the bible, it can totally change your perception of what you “thought you knew.” Steve McVey has a great book “52 Lies Heard in Church Every Sunday.” He also has expanded it in a series of YouTube videos.
God likes mankind, he created us to be his kids. He really really likes you.
This makes sense to me and it does go against the traditional teaching on it. I would like to get some feedback and thoughts on what you think, feel free to reply below.
Chris gets into Matthew 17 around 12:30 in the YouTube video below
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Hebrews 1
1 Throughout ancient times God spoke in many fragments and glimpses of prophetic thought to our fathers.
2 Now, the sum total of his conversation with man has finally culminated in a son. He is the official heir of all things. He is, after all, the author of the ages. Jesus is what has been on the tip of the Father’s tongue all along! (The revelation of man’s redeemed sonship, as revealed in Jesus, is the crescendo of God’s conversation with humanity. Throughout the ages he has whispered his name in disguise to be revealed in the fullness of time as the greatest surprise. The exact image of God, his very likeness, the authentic eternal thought, became voice and was made flesh in us. The composer of a concert masterpiece knew that the notes scribbled on a page would finally find its voice in a symphony of instruments.)
3 We have our beginning and our being in him. He is the force of the universe, sustaining everything that exists by his eternal utterance! Jesus is the radiant and flawless expression of the person of God. He makes the glory (doxa, intent) of God visible and exemplifies the character and every attribute of God in human form. (Gen 1:26, 27) This powerful final utterance of God (the incarnation revealing our sonship) is the vehicle that carries the weight of the universe. What he communicates is the central theme of everything that exists. The content of his message celebrates the fact that God took it upon himself to successfully cleanse and acquit humankind. The man Jesus is now his right hand of power, the executive authority seated in the boundless measure of his majesty. He occupies the highest seat of dominion to endorse our innocence! His throne is established upon our innocence. (“Having accomplished purification of sins, he sat down …”)
4 No angel can compete with him in rank or name. This is his rightful portion.
5 God did not address the angels when he said (in Psalm 2), “You are my son, today I have given birth to you! I am to you all that a Father can be to a son, and you are to me all that a son can be to a Father. (The resurrection of Jesus represents the rebirth of the human race.)
6 And when he leads his son in triumphant parade, as his firstborn, before the whole inhabited world, he says, “Let all God’s angels kiss his hand in adoration.” (See Ephesians 4:8, Scripture confirms that he led us as trophies in his triumphant procession on high; he repossessed his gift (likeness) in man. Quote from the Hebrew text, Ps 68:18, lakachta mattanoth baadam, thou hast taken gifts in man, in Adam. The gifts which Jesus Christ distributes to man he has received in man, in and by virtue of his incarnation. — Commentary by Adam Clarke. We were born anew in his resurrection.
[1 Pet 1:3, Hos 6:2] The fact that he ascended confirms his victorious descent into the deepest pits of human despair [Eph 4:9]. See John 3:13 [RSV], “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, even the son of man.” All mankind originate from above; we are anouthen, from above. He now occupies the ultimate rank of authority from the lowest regions, where he stooped down to rescue us to the highest authority in the heavens, having executed his mission to the full. Fallen man is fully restored to the authority of the authentic life of his design. [Eph 4:10])
7 He endorses the fact that the angels are his messengers; he made them to be swift like the wind and to move at the speed of lightning.
8 But when he addresses the son he says, “Your throne, O God, extends beyond the ages. The scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom” (Ps 45:6)
9 “You love righteousness and detest evil. Therefore, O God, your God anointed you with the oil of joy to stand head and shoulders above your associates.” (Ps 45:7)
10 “The earth traces its foundation back to you, the heavens also are your invention; they are all handmade by you.” (Ps 102:25)
11They shall become obsolete but you will remain, they shall show wear like an old garment;
12 and you will eventually roll them up as a mantle; they shall be replaced, but you remain “I am,” and your years will never cease. (Ps 102:26)
13 Neither was it the angels he had in mind when he said, “You are my executive authority (the extension of my right hand), take your position and witness how I make your enemies a place upon which you may rest your feet.” (Mt 22:42-45)
14 What role do the angels play in God’s strategy? They are all employed by God in the apostolic ministry of the Spirit to help administer the inheritance of salvation that belongs to mankind.
by Mirror Bible – mobile app. http://www.mirrorbible.com
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Belief & Identity
Believing what God already believes about you will change everything!
His beliefs about you are so much greater than anything you will even be able to remotely comprehend!
Let Him establish your identity no other source. All others sources for your identity are inferior. His beliefs and view of you are perfect. Rest in that thought…..
2 Corinthians 3:18
The days of window-shopping are over! In him every face is unveiled. In gazing with wonder at the blueprint likeness of God displayed in human form, we suddenly realize that we are looking at ourselves! Every feature of his image is mirrored in us! This is the most radical transformation engineered by the Spirit of the Lord; we are led from an inferior mind-set to the revealed endorsement of our authentic identity. Mankind is his glory!
A mirror shows what is directly in front of it. It does not show a past or future version of what is in front of it but that which is there at that immediate moment. He is mirrored perfectly in us, we are mirrored perfectly in Him right now.
He is my identity! What’s true of Him is true of you!
(The word, anakekalumeno, is a perfect passive participle from anakalupto; ana, a preposition denoting upward, to return again, and kalupto, to uncover, unveil. The word, katoptrizomenoi, is the present middle participle from katoptrizomai, meaning to gaze into a reflection, to mirror oneself. The word metamorphumetha is a present passive indicative from metamorpho; meta, together with, and meros, form. [The word commonly translated for sin, hamartia, is the opposite of this as ha, means without, and meros, form.] The word, eikon, translates as exact resemblance, image and likeness; eikon always assumes a prototype, that which it not merely resembles, but from that which it is drawn; doxa, glory, translates as mind-set, opinion from dokeo, authentic thought. Changed ‘from glory to glory’, apo doxes eis doxan; eis, a point reached in conclusion; apo, away from, meaning away from the glory that previously defined us, i.e. our own achievements or disappointments, to the glory of our original design that now defines us. [Paul writes in Romans 1:17 about the unveiling of God’s righteousness and then says it is from faith to faith. Here he does not use the word apo, but the preposition, ek, which always denotes source or origin.] Two glories are mentioned in this chapter; the glory of the flesh, and the unfading glory of God’s image and likeness redeemed in us. The fading glory represented in the dispensation of the law of Moses is immediately superseded by the unveiling of Christ in us! Some translations of this scripture reads, “we are being changed from glory to glory.” This would suggest that change is gradual and will more than likely take a lifetime, which was the typical thinking that trapped Israel for forty years in the wilderness of unbelief! We cannot become more than what we already are in Christ. We do not grow more complete; we simply grow in the knowledge of our completeness! [See Col 3:10] We are not changed “from one degree of glory to another,” or step by step. How long does it take the beautiful swan to awaken to the truth of its design? The ugly duckling was an illusion! Whatever it was that endorsed the ‘ugly duckling’ mindset, co-died together with Christ!)
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Timmy, the Matrix, and Mulan…
I have been going through the Mirror Translation of the Bible by Francois du Toit and have been really appreciating Paul’s thought pattern. I have overlooked Timothy and randomly opened th book to 2 Timothy this morning.
2 Timothy 1:1
The amazing news of announcing this life which is unveiled in Christ Jesus is what my ministry is all about! The promise is a person! I, Paul, am a man on a mission
I really liked how succinctly this was worded. The purpose behind Paul’s mision, his objective was to introduce the man Jesus Christ. What Jesus did to bring back our original identity and redeemed innocence is vital to understand. The moment I started to see it was a watershed moment in my life. My view of Christianity totally changed. He came to restore man expose the laws expiration date. We were created to walk as sons and daughters and as heirs to God. We were not created to be servants but to be in a family type relationship.
Grace is a free gift that God has given to all! It is a matter of stepping into and accepting it. It has already been paid for and given. By accepting his gift he opens his store house. Most people think primarily of salvation but he took not only our sins but all our issues whether it is sin, pain, suffering, sickness, whatever… As a child of my physical parents I was brought into this world to be their son, not there servant. By birth into this family I am a part and take a stake in it. Eventually at my parents death will inherit whatever they have collected and accumulated in their lifetime.
I try to meet with a group of friends that talks about what we are studying or contemplating. We met last night and we were looking at Ephesians 5. Someone started out with verse 17.
Ephesians 5:17
Make his master plan your meditation.
We talked about what this verse meant to each of us. The main theme we came to somewhat of an agreement was keyed into Christ’s sacrifice bringing about our co-death and resurrection giving us the free gift of grace and wholeness of being found in Him. He is the purpose of the gospel. His restoration of our ability to be found in Him is foundational. Before Christ in ones personal life we are walking blindly like zombies. We are alive but no life within. This ties back to the verse in 2nd Timothy that I started with. The promise is a person and His name is Jesus!
Ephesians 5:14
This is the message of light; Christ awakens you from your intoxicated slumber and resurrects you out of the death trap of enslaved thought patterns.
Jesus, the reality and revelation awakens the zombie man. As we were talking I started getting visions of The Matrix. In The Matrix humans were sedated and put into a communal dream world which they were made to believe was reality. Much like man before Christ (BC). The awakening to the reality of the full ramifications of what Christ’s life and death as a man on this earth will wake one up from this dream world that we have believed is reality. Take off your temporal earthly glasses and put on some eternal lenses. Wake up!
2 Timothy 1:9
He resurrected the integrity of our original design and revealed that we have always been his own from beginning, even before time was. This has nothing to do with anything we did to qualify to disqualify ourselves. We are not talking religious good works or karma here. Jesus unveils grace to be the eternal intent of God! Grace celebrates our pre-creation innocence and now declares our redeemed union with God in Christ Jesus.
It’s a free gift that we don’t have to do anything to attain. We do not have to work for it. Prior to Jesus paid the price with his life. He died to redeem our sin nature. Man after Adams fall was born with a sin nature. From Jesus’s baptism to death om the cross our sin nature was taken for us if we walk into accepting it.
My youngest daughter was watching the Disney movie Mulan. The ending has always been a favorite of mine. In the scene Mulan brings a crest and a sword to show/prove what she had accomplished. But in the end her father could care less about the accomplishments and cared more about her relationship as a daughter. Even though she had achieved greatness in mans eyes that is not I what moved her father.
Fa Zhou: Mulan…
Mulan: [kneels] Father. I brought you the sword of Shan-Yu,l and the crest of the Emperor. They’re gifts, to honor the Fa family.[Fa Zhou drops the sword and crest on the ground and embraces Mulan]
Fa Zhou: The greatest gift and honor… is having you for a daughter.
Did I mention God’s my dad and he likes me ….. a lot!
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Blueprint Man
Romans 8:29 NIV
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Romans 8:29 TMT
He pre-designed and engineered us from the start to be jointly fashioned in the same mold and image of his son according to the exact blueprint of his thought. We see the original and intended pattern of our lives preserved in his Son. He is the firstborn from the same womb that reveals our genesis. He confirms that we are the inv we ntion of God.
Each of us were born new when Jesus resurrected. His re-birth was our re-birth. This is man’s re-genesis, man’s redeemed innocence! I seem to be going back to 2 Corinthians 3:18 a lot but it’s a common and rudimentary concept that Pauls message throughout the Gospel expounds.
It states “The days of window-shopping are over! In him every face is unveiled. In gazing with wonder at the blueprint likeness of God displayed in human form we suddenly realize that we are looking at ourselves! Every feature of his image is mirrored in us! This is the most radical transformation engineered by the Spirit of the Lord; we are lead from an inferior mind-set to the revealed endorsement of our authentic identity. Mankind is his glory! ” The word gazing is katoptrizomenoi, it is the present tense meaning to gaze into a reflection, to mirror one self. Transformation is metamorphumeta is present passive indicative from metamorpho; meta, together with meros, form. Image is eikon, it translates exact resemblance, image and likeness; eikon also assumes a prototype, that which it not merely resembles, but from which it is drawn (think sourse).
For such a time as this! God knew you before the land and seas were formed. He knew you! He knows you! He desires to walk with you as he walked with Adam (pre his oops).
Jeremiah 1:5 NIV
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
We were cast in his image, we were redeemed at his resurrection whether we chose to walk in his grace and hope. What is his blueprint for each of us? My identity who I am is not my vocation or what I achieve or don’t achieve. It is not a label put on me by parents, peers, doctor, government, physique, etc. We are bot ugly ducks who will one day transform into that swan. I/we look into that mirror today and we see God’s image and at the same time God looks back and sees us and guess what it is the same image. He sees us transformed metamorphosed NOW. He is not looking at some future us. He sees with his perfect present vision. His son died and and rose again taking back the right the car keys if you will. Satan is a thief, he never had ownership of us or the earth. He usurped authority. Jesus took the authority back. Our original identity was restored at the cross!
We were pre-destined to be his image, the image of his Son! We are that eikon, that exact image/likeness, that prototype.
I choose to walk in his identity, I refuse to be a label put on me by someone or something other than God.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpOGRFZ5qDQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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