Key Verse: Galatians 2:20a, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (NLT)

The world is full of evil and wickedness of all types and we know it. What we are currently experiencing in our country today is a clear picture that the world is terrible, horrible, and horrendous. The “world” here is just a word for man. It is the man that is being referred to. We are not talking about the animals, birds, and fishes; they are already playing their roles. Man is very wicked and the Bible confirms this in Genesis 13:13, that the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners before the Lord. 
  
How is man exceedingly wicked? Man is so wicked that all that comes from him is only evil. He does not display evil occasionally, but all the time. God saw that the wickedness of man was great on earth (Genesis 6:5), and somewhere in the Scripture the Bible says that man looks on the outward, but God looks at the inward, and from what He sees in the inward, He classifies us. 
  
Somebody may be very handsome or very beautiful — women in particular know how to apply their cosmetics to look different from what they are — but God is not interested in our outward appearance and the sooner we note this, the better for us. 
  
There must be a differentiating factor between a believer and someone who is not living for Christ. That difference must be clear and visible for all eyes to see. 
  
The Disciples of Christ were first called Christians in Antioch because they behaved like Jesus Christ (Acts 11:26). What is the difference between you and the non-believer? Is Christ the difference in your life? That you built a church: is that all you have to say about your Christian testimony? Sometimes, I attend a burial ceremony and people will begin to testify and say that this brother or sister is always in the church and I do say: ‘And so what? If he or she is always in the church, is that testimony of his spiritual life? Say something; let me hear something else. If you say he is a chorister, many choristers are not even Christians and they sing very well, so, tell me something that makes you different from the man on the street. What is it that makes you outstanding in your family and among your relations? Is it the membership of a church? Membership in a church is good, but I don’t think that is what makes us outstanding because every one of us attends one church or the other. So, there has to be something that makes you different. 
    
Apostle Paul said that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). It is not the power of men or the power that comes from knowledge like they say knowledge is power, but spiritual power. This spiritual power goes into you and transforms your life and you become a transformed being. This spiritual power transforms you, rolling everything around, throwing off anything that should not be there, and making you the new creature that we talk about in 2 Corinthians 5:7. This spiritual power makes you a child of God with clear testimony before God, before Satan, before angels of God who must have rejoiced on the day you gave your life to Christ according to the scripture, and also before men who are close to you.
   
My brother and sister, this is the most important thing to start with. It is the starting point of whatever anybody wants to be in Christ.
  
• Today’s nugget: You must have a Christian testimony. Prayer: I receive the miracle of new birth in Christ. Prayer lines: 08054477940. E-mail: [email protected]. Rev. Pastor Ejikeme Ejim, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God, Nigeria.