Life Capsule for Today Date:12th April, 2024
Theme: Bible Restitution (6)
Memory Verse: Matt 5:16
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. NKJV
Topic: Old and new covenant restitution compared
Today’s Reading:
2 Cor 5:17-19
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. KJV
Words of the Ministry:
Amen, we have considered restitution both from the old covenant, we cited several examples from both parts of the bible and we emphasized that while we have a clear teaching on restitution under the old covenant, the new covenant had no direct teaching on it but a few examples we can draw our conclusions from. We considered some of the examples like Act 19.19, where the new believers under the leading of the Holy Spirit burnt their magic books, we saw the account of the thief by Jesus’ side, Onesimus, Paul and Zacchaeus, one thing we saw in common with all the examples was that none of them was directed either by Jesus or the Apostles to restitute, for those that did, it was under the influence of the Holy Spirit, we did emphasize that doing it didn’t make them believers rather it helped their testimony before men and enabled them have a clear conscience before men.
We can therefore see that the bible before the law, God spoke in some cases to men like Abimelech to correct their ways because there was no torah, in the period of the law he spoke through Moses giving instructions on how restitution should be made because their conscience were hardened, in the period of the judges, he spoke through men like Samuel to correct their ways, then we see a greater light in the new testament which we believe is the actual mind of God as its demand could not be met in the old testament. We see from examples like Zacchaeus, Onemious, teachings of John, Jesus and Paul that little emphasis was placed on what was previously done rather the emphasis was on how the Holy Spirit challenges our heart, we must be responsive to obey the holy spirit even if it concerns a matters in our past, and we must also do the needful concerning material loss that can be restored as it affects our testimony and may hinder the preaching and effectiveness of our ministry.
We must ensure we don’t overburden the young saint with their past as that leads to condemnation. Our passage todays say when we are in Christ we are a new creature; our old record of sin is gone. Regardless of how good we were before salvation, we could never be good enough to be saved and regardless of how bad we were before salvation, we can never be too bad to be saved. Our past is past and except the Holy Spirit convicts us concerning it, we should leave in the joy of our salvation. When we realize a certain matter affects our testimony and conscience before men, we should address it. As we walk with the Lord we realize that believers in Christ are the ones needing restitutions after salvation their conscience is alive being better calibrated, as we see the light we realize that a little slander, gossip and cheating matters, argument and curse word on your partners, siblings and friends really matters, things that seem normal because everyone does it become a matter of concern to us. Rom 12.18 encourages us to live peaceably with all. The Holy spirit’s work is to convict us Jhn 16.8 and using the word we are better corrected 2 thim 4.2. We also need proper counsel if our restitution would hurt another party. May God grant us light.
Bible in one year: 2 Sam 3-5. For further fellowship send us an email on godmanvideos@gmail.comor visit our youtube channel: @godmanmedia. You can also interact with us by dropping your comments on our facebook page. Our physical meeting, Word feast comes up every Wednesday by 5pm and Prayer Gym every Saturday by 7am while PENIEL comes up once a month, every last Sunday of the month from 4pm to 6.30pm at Suite A10, Ahser Office Complex, beside Living Faith Church, Opposite Hassan Stores, Arab Road, Kubwa Abuja.