We are sinners, alienated from God. However, we can become a new creation in Christ. Our sins can be forgiven and our relationship with God restored.

Introduction

Have you ever messed something up so badly that you couldn’t fix it?  Your only choice was to scrap it and start over?  My husband has Celiac disease, so we have to be on a gluten free diet.  Baking gluten free is not easy, and gluten free food doesn’t always turn out the same as regular food.  I tried making biscuits one time using my mom’s recipe, but substituting a gluten free flour for the regular.  They were totally inedible, as hard as rocks.  We had to throw out the whole batch and start over. 

Unfortunately, we humans are good at messing things up.  It may be something simple like dinner, or it may be something important like a relationship, but we all tend to ruin things at times.  It all started with our first parents, Adam and Eve.  God had given them this beautiful life in paradise, but it didn’t take long for them to ruin it with sin and rebellion.  They were used to walking with God in the Garden and talking to Him face to face, but their sin destroyed that relationship.  They were forced to leave the Garden, also leaving behind the intimacy with God that they had previously known.  Not only were they cursed as a result of their sin, the earth itself also was tainted and is in a state of decay.

As a result of Adam’s sin, all of his offspring through the generations have been born with a sinful nature.  Because we are all sinful, we are also all alienated from God.  On our own there is nothing we can do to restore that relationship or remove our guilt.  The good news is, we don’t have to do it on our own.  God chose to provide everything we need through the life and death of Jesus Christ. 

Adam and Eve messed up this world, and we continue to mess it up. God, however, has a plan to restore things to the way they were meant to be.  When we are saved through faith in Christ, that restoration process begins in us, and Jesus promises that what He begins in us will be completed one day (Philippians 1:6).  God will also start over with the earth by destroying the fallen word and creating it anew. 

Our study is called “A New Creation.”  The focal verse of the study is 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!”  This verse is full of such beautiful promise!  Over ten lessons, we will take this verse apart, looking at it piece by piece.  Join me as we discuss what it means to be in Christ, how we become new creations, and what it looks like in our daily lives that the old has gone and the new has come.

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Instructions

There are ten lessons in this study.  You may choose to read the lesson for each day by downloading the lesson transcripts, reading the blog post, or watching the video.  Please note that the content is the same no matter format which you choose. 

Please be sure that you have downloaded the Bible Study Pack, in which you will find the study questions and video notes (with blanks to fill in as you watch) for each lesson.

This study was originally intended to be done over the course of ten consecutive days.  If you choose to read the lesson transcript, you may work at your own pace.  However, I will only post one lesson video each week. I will also be publishing the lesson notes as a blog post each week, in case you prefer to read it that way. You can find both the new video and blog post on this page each Monday.

Resources

Lessons Transcripts: This pack contains written notes for each lesson. Once downloaded, you may read them at your own pace. You can also use them to answer the questions and fill in the video notes found in the Bible Study Pack.

Bible Study Pack: This pack contains study questions and video notes for each lesson. The video notes can also be used with the lesson transcripts.

Lesson One Resources:

Lesson One Video

United to Christ Through Faith (blog post)

Lesson Two Resources:

Lesson Two Video

Following Christ: United to Christ by Our Commitment (blog post)

Lesson Three Resources:

Lesson Three Video

You Must Be Born Again (blog post)

Lesson Four Resources:

Lesson Four Video

Sanctification: Becoming More Like Christ (blog post)

Lesson Five Resources:

Lesson Five Video

The Christian’s Goal: To Become More Like Christ (blog post)

Lesson Six Resources:

Lesson Six Video

Good Fruit: A Way to Test Our Faith (blog post)

Lesson Seven Resources:

Lesson Seven Video

Our Love for God Should Guide Us (blog post)

Lesson Eight Resources:

Lesson Eight Video

Lesson Nine Resources:

Lesson Nine Video

Lesson Ten Resources:

Lesson Ten Video