Episodes
Monday Apr 24, 2017
Monday Apr 24, 2017
Putting Christ First: Changing Clothes, part 1: Taking off the Old
Colossian 3:5-11
Putting the Old Man Down (v. 5-7)
- Paul calls us to put to death everything in us that is at odds with the new life that Christ is building in us
- Because we have died to our old lives (v. 3)
- This includes:
- Sexual immorality (porneia): refers to any kind of sexual sin
- Impurity: refers more generally to any kind of moral corruption
- Passion: refers to sinful sexual thoughts; lust
- Evil desire: Refers to the human sinful impulse
- Our default mode apart from Christ is to sin
- Covetousness: Greed; an inappropriate desire for more
- This can mean money, power, pleasure, etc.
- Which Paul equates with idolatry
- Because it is placing a love for things over our love for God
- This way of living is what leads to death
- But it also led Jesus to the Cross to remove the wrath that our sinful life deserves (see John 3:36; Rom. 1:18; 2:5, 8; 3:5-6; 5:9; 1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9)
- But, notice Paul’s use of the past tense in v. 7
- Something has changed
Taking off the Old Self (v. 8-11)
- We are called to change
- Starting with how we think
- Anger, Wrath, & Malice: negative, vengeful thoughts towards other
- Moving to how we speak
- Slander: Tearing other down
- Obscene talk: Blasphemy; speaking wrongly about God
- Which results in lying to one another
- Starting with how we think
- This change comes about as we put off the old self
- And take up our new identity in Christ
- When we seek Jesus, we begin to look more and more like Him
- And this includes no longer seeing ourselves or others by ethnicity or social standing (v. 11)
- And take up our new identity in Christ
So What?
- If Jesus has made us new, our we putting the old us to death?
- And are we ready for Him to conform us to look like He does?
- Next week: Putting on the New
Meditation Verse: Col. 3:10
Monday Apr 17, 2017
The Empty Tomb: Mark 16: 1-8; various texts
Monday Apr 17, 2017
Monday Apr 17, 2017
The Empty Tomb
Mark 16:1-8; Various Texts
The Joy of the Resurrection
- Part of Jesus’ mission was to impart His joy to those who trust in Him (John 15:11; 17:13)
- Jesus went to the Cross because of joy (Heb. 12:2)
- Joy is rooted in perspective
- It is not happiness, which is based upon circumstances
- Joy sees beyond the immediate to the final outcome
- For Jesus, the final outcome was eternity with us
The Hope of the Empty Tomb
- Hope is deeply connected to joy (Rom. 12:12)
- Hope is the confident expectation that God is working out everything for our good (Rom. 8:28)
- The Empty Tomb represents hope
- Because Jesus is alive, we have real hope that in Him we can have real, eternal life
- This comes through faith in Him
- And in His death and victory (1 John 5:4-5; 1 Cor. 15:54-57)
- Because Jesus is alive, we have real hope that in Him we can have real, eternal life
So What?
- Because Jesus is alive, we can have joy to move through every hardship of life
- Because Jesus is alive, we can have hope that God is working through everything for our good
- Because Jesus is alive, we can have real live now and forever
- Do you believe that He is alive?!
Meditation Verse: Revelation 1:17b-18
Wednesday Apr 05, 2017
Version: 20240320