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Sermon Illustrations: New Creation

A man went looking at real estate. The current owners realised that the property didn't look that good and assured him that they would do it up before he took possession. "Forget it", he said. "I don't want the building. I want the site." God isn't interested in our trying to fix up the building before we come to Him. He's interested in the site. Then He can build what He wants on it.

The Invaders was a TV series that ran during the 70s. In it, aliens came and imitated human bodies. They looked like us, acted a lot like us, and talked like us. But they weren't human. God says that we have been made a new creation. We look like other humans, in some ways we act like other humans, we talk the same language, we have to eat, sleep, drink. But we're not like other humans: We're new creatures.

Converted Indian: "I have two dogs living in me - a mean dog and a good dog. They are always fighting. The mean dog wants me to do bad things, and the good dog wants me to do good things. Do you want to know which dog wins? The one I feed the most!"

How To Flog A Dead Horse. The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. Our modern bureaucrats, however, have a whole range of far more advanced strategies such as:- Buying a stronger whip. Finding lighter riders. Harnessing several dead horses together to improve performance. Arranging an overseas visit to study dead horses. Reclassifying the horse as living impaired. Rewriting the performance requirements for dead horses. Providing additional funding to improve the performance of dead horses. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position. Any similarity between the above and what actually happens in government is purely intentional. This 'n' That p3 A great example of why there's no use trying to fix up the Old Creation. Just let it stay dead.

You may remember the story of Elijah and his servant Elisha. Elisha requested a double anointing of what Elijah had from God, and Elijah told him that if Elisha were around when Elijah was taken from him, he would have his request. Then a chariot and horses of fire appeared and took Elijah, and Elijah's mantle fell to the ground - 2 Kings 2:12-13. Notice this: In order to put on the new, Elisha had to take off the old. That's why the Bible says to "put off … the old man … and put on the new man". (Eph 4:22-24)

If you have two fighting dogs ready to fight each other to the death, which one will win? The one you feed.

AS LINCOLN Greaves waited to receive one of his mother's kidneys, he had every confidence the transplant would give him a new appetite for life. He wasn't wrong. While the 26-year-old once hated casseroles, vegetables, pumpkin soup and fish, these days he can't get enough of them. In an extraordinary twist, Mr Greaves' new food cravings match those of his mother, Wendy. "We totally believe my tastes have become like Mum's because I have her kidney," said Mr Greaves, from Nobbys Beach, on the Gold Coast. "It can't be anything else, because it happened so suddenly. I didn't just gradually start to like the foods she likes. I woke up from the operation and started craving pumpkin soup. "Beforehand I wouldn't go near the stuff, but Mum's always eaten it. It's very weird." Mrs Greaves, 50, from Redland Bay, in Brisbane's southeast, said she had hoped the transplant would help her son lead a normal life again, but never imagined it would have such an effect. "I laughed my head off when he told me he was craving pumpkin soup," she said. "I'd been trying his whole life to get him to eat vegetables and to try different foods, and then to suddenly hear him asking for pumpkin was just wonderful. "I absolutely love it, and the change in Lincoln was so obvious that it had to be as a result of the transplant." The revelation comes after a woman in Britain said she was given a young man's heart and started craving beer and Kentucky Fried Chicken. In the US, another transplant recipient committed suicide - just like the man whose heart he had received. Remarkably, the man had also married his donor's former wife. Mr Greaves' surgeon, Prof Daryl Wall, who is also the medical director of Transplant Australia, said he believed that elements of a person's character could be transplanted along with an organ. "There is no strong scientific evidence to explain this, but it is a recognised phenomena," he said. "Although it is a real mystery, we must observe it because it may turn out to be very important to life on Earth in the long run." Mr Greaves' kidneys began to fail after he was hit in the back during a game of soccer when he was 18. He had his operation at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital. Mrs Greaves didn't think twice when it came to donating her son a kidney. "Lincoln is now far more open with me about what's going on in his life. It's also a lot easier when it comes to making family dinners, because we can all eat the same."¹

1 couriermail.com.au 20-4-08