Change Your Nature: Your Name Will Change - Pastor Michael A. Oke

Text: 2 Peter 1:4

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

OPENING MESSAGE:
A new name without a new nature is a deadly deception!
Gal 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Do not be deceived, a man can give you a new name because of his affection for you, but if your nature is not changed, you are doomed.
Many people are here present, you are sleeping on the mat of deception because you bear a good name, whereas your nature is bad.
The illustration of deception.
The name you bear through your parents might be nice, but if your nature is bad, your salvation is not sure!
May I tell you today, that a nice name is not a new name!
Your name may not be nice, but if you have a new nature, your salvation is authentic.
Salvation assurance is not about a nice name, it is about a new nature!

WHAT IS THE BAD NATURE AND WHY MUST IT BE CHANGED?
A bad nature is what you are from the womb which can never help you to make Heaven.
The illustration of the nature of a snake!
Your name might be called Joseph or Michael, but if the nature of the snake is in you, you’re not yet saved.
What does it mean to be born again?
It means that the bad nature you were born with has been changed. This is what qualifies you for the kingdom of Heaven.
It is pitiable, many people have changed their name to a Christian name, but the following bad nature is still in them:
The nature of the peacock.
This is the spirit of pride in the mind (arrogant mind)
Pride is not found in the new nature!

When you change from the nature of the peacock – the proud; a new name will be given to you – the humble.

Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
The nature of the ‘he-goat’
The spirit of incontinence, lust, fornication, and adultery (sexual toy).
1Cor 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.

When you change from the nature of the ‘he-goat’, a new name will automatically be given to you – the self-controlled.

The nature of the pig.
The spirit of meditating on filthy things (the architectural designer of sexual immorality). The spirit of drunkenness.
1Cor 3: 6-17 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him…

When you change from the nature of the pig, a new name will automatically be given to you – the sanctified.

The nature of the leopard.
This is the bad nature of wickedness – the spirit of anger, envy – transfer of aggression to the innocent.
Psalm 37: 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

When you change from the nature of the leopard, a new name will automatically be given to you – the meek.

The nature of the serpent.
The spirit of deceit, jealousy, and hatred. The bad nature of wishing evil for someone.
The nature of the serpent in you is what filled your mind with lies, falsehood, vengeance, deceit, and unbelieving.
To become a certified believer in Christ, you must change from the nature of the serpent.

2 Cor 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

When you change from the nature of the snake, a new name will automatically be given to you – the believer.

THREE TIPS TO CHANGING A BAD NATURE
- You MUST be in Christ, not only in the Church – the nominal Christians.
2 Cor 5:17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
- You NEED the grace of Jesus Christ – since you cannot change your bad nature by yourself.
Rom 7: 22-24For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
- You must possess the Holy Spirit genuinely – He will change the bad nature.
Rom 8:9 “…Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Do you want to overcome the bad nature so that the new nature will guarantee your new name?
When you have a new nature, your salvation is assured.
Therefore, the door of salvation is open.
The Holy Spirit will come upon you now, and your bad nature will change.
Change your nature, your name will change!
Altar Call…