2 - Seeing the New Creation

The way we see ourselves and the way we see others must change. Even Christians often don't realize how much has changed when they receive Christ. We're not the same anymore. The way we think about things and the way we respond in situations become very different. And the way we see other people changes at least as much as the way we see ourselves. Paul goes so far as to say we are a new creation of God. Our old lives have passed away, and we now live new lives. Jesus didn't come just to help us try harder or patch us up. His Cross has actually destroyed the old things that controlled us, filled us with an enormous  new power, and lifted us to whole new relationships with God, with each other and with those who don't know Jesus yet. Not only is each of us new inside, but we are joined into a new corporate entity, His Church. Old human distinctions have fallen away and we have been made part of a new unified people, with a new mission, a new Leader, a new power at work among us and a new goal.