Title: REDEEMED, RENEWED, RESTORED
Author: Lenny Ports
Text: 2 Corinthians 5:17
Everybody loves new things. I love out where we live there is all new shops and
restaurants going in. I just love the newness of everything.
Everything starts out NEW. But unfortunately not everything can stay new. Like a
BRAND NEW CAR. Everybody would love to buy a brand new car, but the first problem
is that as soon as you drive that pretty new car o? the lot, it has already depreciated in
value by several thousand dollars. Buying a new car also always comes with it the fear
that your beautiful new shiny car is going to get scratched or bumped in the parking lot
or dented in an accident, or keyed by someone who hates you. The truth is that the car
will get old, it may get dented, it will need repairs. We just can't keep it new.
It is the same thing with us. We need newness. We want to get in shape. We want to
look young and fresh and new.
But in the Spirit, we all start out new and innocent. I was born a beautiful new baby
boy, but it didn't take long for the newness and the innocence to be corrupted by the
things of this world. It usually happens through bad company.
I was raised in a good home. I respected my parents. In high school I had a friend that I
started hanging out with all the time. And he was so disrespectful to his parents, and
they didn't discipline him or make him accountable. As a result of hanging out with him,
I started being disrespectful to my parents and talking to them they way he talked to
his parents. He smoked weed, so I started smoking weed. The innocence of youth was
swiftly stripped from me. I continued to fall further and further into a lifestyle that
involved all kinds of bad stu?. Being in the bar scene, playing in a rock band, and being
around that whole scene was plunging me further and further into darkness.
Then came that day that I cried out to God when I didn't even know Him, and I said
God there's got to be ...
Author: Lenny Ports
Text: 2 Corinthians 5:17
Everybody loves new things. I love out where we live there is all new shops and
restaurants going in. I just love the newness of everything.
Everything starts out NEW. But unfortunately not everything can stay new. Like a
BRAND NEW CAR. Everybody would love to buy a brand new car, but the first problem
is that as soon as you drive that pretty new car o? the lot, it has already depreciated in
value by several thousand dollars. Buying a new car also always comes with it the fear
that your beautiful new shiny car is going to get scratched or bumped in the parking lot
or dented in an accident, or keyed by someone who hates you. The truth is that the car
will get old, it may get dented, it will need repairs. We just can't keep it new.
It is the same thing with us. We need newness. We want to get in shape. We want to
look young and fresh and new.
But in the Spirit, we all start out new and innocent. I was born a beautiful new baby
boy, but it didn't take long for the newness and the innocence to be corrupted by the
things of this world. It usually happens through bad company.
I was raised in a good home. I respected my parents. In high school I had a friend that I
started hanging out with all the time. And he was so disrespectful to his parents, and
they didn't discipline him or make him accountable. As a result of hanging out with him,
I started being disrespectful to my parents and talking to them they way he talked to
his parents. He smoked weed, so I started smoking weed. The innocence of youth was
swiftly stripped from me. I continued to fall further and further into a lifestyle that
involved all kinds of bad stu?. Being in the bar scene, playing in a rock band, and being
around that whole scene was plunging me further and further into darkness.
Then came that day that I cried out to God when I didn't even know Him, and I said
God there's got to be ...
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