Last week I brought in a caterpillar and we saw how it crawled on the ground, had a very limited life. It ate leaves, dirt and could only see just in front of its face. When God changes it to a butterfly, its life is greatly different. It can fly, it get a heavenly perspective, and is no longer drawn to crawling on the ground and eating dirt, but instead now soars through the air and drinks the nectar of flowers. What a vastly different life. That is how our life in Christ is to be now, no long continuing in the sins that we used to do all the time.

    Then we had a birthday cake for those who said the sinner's prayer - Just as God says - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"  2Corinthians 5:17NIV

When you ask God to take away your sin, to put it on the cross of Jesus, then God puts His Holy Spirit into you and you become a New Creature. You become God's personal son or daughter.    Jesus explains it like this, you are "born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to the flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. John 3:3,5-6 "    Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again....unless you are born again.

God says that there are two types of children on this planet. Children of God and children of the devil.

For the people who did not trust Jesus Christ with their lives personally and intimately, > Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. … Because you are unable to (understand) what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Jn 8:42-45

For those who do trust Jesus Christ with their lives personally and intimately, giving Jesus their sin on his cross, God says - Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in His Name, >> He gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. Jn 1:12-13

Those people are the children of God. That means that their relationship with God is different than it was before. God is now their Father!!

1. Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Mt 6)
2. He Hears you, and your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Mt6)
3. He Wants you to >Speak to Him conversationally< not babbling on like pagans who think they will be heard because of their many words. (Mt 6)
4. He Forgives you when you ask him to (Mt 6)
5. He Gives you what you need, like food and shelter, ... (Mt 6)
6. God Wants you to "Ask Him, seek His wisdom, you will get an answer. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,) how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matt 7:7-12
7. He gives wisdom - If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. James 1:5-8
8. God forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases Ps 103:3 I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. Jer 33:8

Read   Psalm 103
        ² Praise the LORD , O my soul, and forget not all His benefits-
³ who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
⁶ The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
⁸ The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
⁹ He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
(¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. )
¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children- ¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. (<This is something we must to so that we will be protected and cared for by God our Father.)