All Things New – August 2, 2026 (258/365)

Christ’s scars are His saying, ‘I wanna spend eternity with you‘

We’re singing ‘Jesus, You’re the Center‘ because He loved us first. In a sense, He sang to us first, ‘You to Me are everything‘.

One thing I’ve observed about our people is that we’re pretty good in hiding our burdens… But what’s great is that we’re still able to let things out when we get everyone to pray for each other.

Like a good salesman, it was an observation made when I intentionally went over my thoughts on a good number of folks in the congregation. The next step was to ask the Lord what needed to be done, or what was next in line.

Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

Jeremiah 33:3

Last July 5, Pastor Danny shared a message to us. As agreed upon, He encouraged the youth to get into the Word. What I did not expect is him doing an altar call, for prayer, and eventually the message we received was, all of us in that service had great potential.

In the days leading to this Sunday, I’ve been led to ask the Lord for new things. In our reading, we’ve discovered something about renewal – Christ makes all things new in our past, present, future.

Future:Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.Isaiah 43:19

Present: Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”Revelation 21:5

Past: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.2 Corinthians 5:17

What I liked in particular, or what stuck out for me the most was that Christ was making the past new. The older one gets, the bigger the past becomes… and knowing Christ is PRESENT in the PAST, not merely renewing the past at present – well, that just amazes me.

Our mistakes, our blunders, the things that happened because we didn’t know any better, the victories, the failures, the lessons – Behold, Christ makes all things new.

One last thing. In our going through the Word and all cross references pertaining to Christ renewing our past, present and future, one other Scripture we came upon was Romans 6:4-5.

⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection…

First of all, observe how the resurrected Christ walked ‘in newness of life’; He set us free, He made us new so we are able to fully walk ‘in newness of life’, instead of the old. The old has already, absolutely passed away no matter how we try to ‘resurrect’ it.

Second, and this is probably more important, look at Verses 4-5 in the KJV version:

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. 

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Did you catch that? We’ve begun talking in length about how we are going to double down on being rooted in Christ, from now to the end of 2027.

Here, we see another botanical perspective to our being rooted in Christ: We’ve been planted together in the likeness of His death.

A clarification: In John 15, Christ refers to us as branches. I clarified this means that we are not roots. Christ is the rooted Vine.

Understand that we would also be referred to as whole plants, or trees. An example is Psalm 1, where we who meditate on the Word are as trees planted by streams of water.

Here, we also see that being rooted in Christ also means being planted, which also means being buried. Our salvation implies that the old has not merely passed away but is also buried as Christ was planted.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.Colossians 2:6-7

Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God1 Thessalonians 4:1

We’re obviously in need of learning more and more of this concept. There’s much more to it that merely getting deeper, and I am thankful that we’ve been given this direction in the months to come.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your message, and thank You for ministering to me, my family, our congregation, and their families. I pray, in the name of Jesus, and by the power of Your Holy Spirit, for us to continue to understand and appreciate the implications and the benefits of our being rooted in Christ.

Thank You for what has been revealed, what You are revealing, what You will reveal in the days, weeks, and months to come.

Thank You, Jesus. Indeed, we place our trust in Your Word, particularly where You said that You have made all things new, You are making all things new, and You will make all things new.

Thank You, Lord. We acknowledge You, knowing that our thoughts shall be established, and our steps shall be directed.

We place our trust in you, knowing we shall never be put to shame.

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