God’s Family

Welcome to the Family of God. The Father has been waiting for you all this time. The Lord Jesus Christ has already introduced you to the Father and the heavenly orchestra has organized a welcome celebration for you. And of course, the Holy Spirit, whom you have already met, the One that opened your eyes to the love of God and led you by the hand, through the entire process of New Birth, and is now resident in you, is here also. 

You are now a citizen of the Kingdom of God. And more than that, you are royalty, for you’re a child of the King of kings, Who is the Possessor of Heaven and Earth. You are His handiwork, His masterpiece, His workmanship, newly created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that you should walk in them(Eph 2:10). You are a part of the ’New Creation’ people of God. It does not matter whether you’re tall or short, fat or skinny, bald or Absalom-level hairy; Or whether you’re brown, black, or white; you automatically become a member of the New Creation nation once you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord. 

But some who are haunted by what they did before accepting Christ as Savior might still have one major lingering question. And if this question is not answered correctly so they are clear in their mind, they could go back and start digging up the grave of the old-man. So let’s help them ask this question and then joyfully answer it for them: 

Question: What happened to my old life and to the old-man of sin and all his atrocities? How does God see me in the light of what I’ve done? 

Answer: The Old Has Gone, the New Has Come. 11 96 

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.(2 Cor 5:17) 

Every born-again child of God needs to understand this so they are not living under the guilt and condemnation of past life that has been done away with, dead and buried with Christ’s and in the sea of God’s forgetfulness. We all need to know that: 

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Rom 8:1) 

You are now a new creature, a member of the household of God, and part of the royal Priesthood. You belong to the company of priests and kings unto God. 

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy (1Pet 2:9,10). 

And there’s much more, the Lord Jesus says that “the Father Himself loves you.” Listen to Him in the 16th chapter of the Gospel of John says: 

At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God. (John 16:26, 27). 

So now, if you just became a ’new creature’ in Christ Jesus, that is you just got born-again recently, follow the words of the Lord and Master, suspend everything right now and reverently walk into the Presence of your loving heavenly Father and worship Him. He’s been waiting for you. You have an open invitation to come in to Daddy and communicate in love with Him anytime, the more frequent the better. He wants to hear your voice and desires to speak to you. He also has gifts, blessings, and graces, prepared specifically for you. 

Prepare yourself, and with reverent excitement and joyfulness, enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. The Apostle admonishes us to therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16) 

And for those among us who have been born again for some times now, maybe few months ago, or few years ago, or few decades ago, or maybe even over a century, the same invitation daily awaits us all. He remains the loving Father for us all. His steadfast love never ceases, His mercy never comes to an end, they are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. 

Speaking to His disciples and to the multitudes about the Father, Jesus once said, 

But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your Father, which is in heaven (Mat. 23:8-9). 

We all have one Father. 

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all (Eph 4:4-6) 

You belong to the Family of God Almighty. And there is only one God who is the Father of this family. Every child born to this family have the same status, they are all endowed with full citizenship rights. There are no classifications or distinctions like Jews or Gentiles, Greek or Barbarians, educated or illiterates, black or white, tall or short, rich or poor; Unlike man’s family and corrupt societies, there are no favoritism, racism, or nepotism in His Family and in the Kingdom of His Dear Son. And there’s only one Body of Christ, one Church, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one Family, one Father, and one God. And this one Father and God is above all and is in us all. 

Now, You Make an Announcement 

While we’re still talking about the Family, and you’ve met and spoken to our Father yourself, face-to-face, as a child speaks to his Dad, You need to make an announcement, if you haven’t yet done so before. Through this announcement you will declare to the world, to the devil, and in the presence of your family members that you are for Christ Jesus. 

Through this announcement you will go through an outward demon- stration of what already happened to you spiritually in Christ Jesus at your new birth. For Baptism in water is a symbolic act, literal demon- stration of what already took place in the spirit realm. By getting water-baptized(immersion in water) which must be after you’ve been born again, you are making a loud declaration of your identification with Christ in His death and ressurection. Think of it as you getting on a loud speaker that can be heard from everywhere on earth and you saying: 

Hear ye, Hear ye!
This announcement is to let heaven, and earth know; And the world and all that’s in it, And you devil and your little cohorts, 

That I (insert your name, e.g. Joeboy Jesusaves or JJ initial.), has been crucified with Christ and I died with Him, and I was buried with Him in Baptism, and now I have been raised up together with Him to a newness of life. 

Yes! I am now a New Creation in Christ Jesus.

I am for Christ! I will live the rest of my life for Him, who died and gave His life for me; I am His for all eternity. 

It doesn’t matter if your baptism takes place in front of one person or a million people. The cloud of witnesses is there, the devil sees it, and the world knows about it too. You do this to obey and honor Christ, and to slap the devil, the defeated one, on his face. 

“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.“This is the real meaning of baptism of which the outward water baptism symbolizes. Water baptism does not bring us salvation, and it’s meaningless and useless if performed before a man is born again, but should be an experience of every born-again child of God. It should be by immersion in water, for that’s what that symbolism represents that we have been buried with Christ, and then raised up with Him into new life. 

I was water baptized in the early 1960’s in the Anglican Church before I was born-again. Had to memorize several Bible passages which I accurately recited during the ceremony before the Arch-Bishop sprinkled holy water on my face. That was a useless religious exercise. I got baptized properly, several years later, after I was born again. If your experience is like mine, you should get baptized properly, because you have never being baptized. Again water baptism is not what brings us salvation, but it is an outward demonstration of the supernatural experience and an outward identification with Christ from you and me in His death, burial, and resurrection, and should be done properly. It also symbolizes the real baptism that has already taken place. That real baptism is the process that the Holy Ghost took each of us through when immersing us in Christ, is what Eph 4 quoted above as “one baptism” and Peter also speaks about as the baptism “that doth saves us.“

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 

This baptism is carried out on each of us by the Holy Spirit as stated in the Epistle to the Colossians: 

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit (1Co 12:13). 

We have all been immersed into the same Body of Christ by the same Spirit. And this has made our identification with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection possible. 

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Rom 6:3) 

As You Have Received Christ, So Walk Ye in Him

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Col 2:6,7). This is clearly rendered by the Berean Translation of the Bible as quoted below: 

Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands. And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. 

When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! (Col 2:6-14). 

But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 

made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:4-6). 

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20). Therefore, you and I ought to live for Christ for we have died and have been buried with Christ. As Apostle Paul puts it: 

And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again 

“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Rom 6:13). 

However, do not live this life as an imitator of other believers how- ever spiritual you think the are. Let Christ live through you. As Christians, we have been called to live by His in-dwelling life. The greater One dwells in us now, let us submit to the Spirit so He can live the life of God through us. We cannot do it ourselves. If we try by our own efort, we will fail miserably. Let’s live by the Spirits enablement. Remember the Lord Jesus own words: 

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57 KJV) 

Our Lord God is a living Person who dwells in us and whose Life we can live by. Paul’s central message was 

Not I, but Christ; and Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col 1; Gal 2; and John 14:17), Just as the Lord Jesus Christ lived His life by His indwelling Father in the same way, we as believers must live the Christian life by our indwelling Christ.