Living the resurrected life - Setting new benchmarks

Col 3:1-4 - So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from His perspective - The Message Bible 

 This Sunday morning I spoke in PEC on living the resurrected life. The text taken from Col 3:1-4 . The text for three fundamental truths:


1.        We were dead before.

  • Eph 2:1 - As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
  • Col 2 13 - You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.
  • Rom 6:23 - The wages of sin is death.
2.     Because Christ rose, we also were raised together with Him.
  • We are no longer dead spiritually
  • Rom 6: 4 - We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
  • Colossians 2:12-13 -- "having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions."
3.     In the resurrected life we are now partakers of:
  • His salvation 
  • The son-ship 
  • The spirit filled life and all that comes along with it 
  • Heaven is our home 
  • Eph 1:3 - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ
4.        We can only fully transit to the resurrected life when we put our mind and heart in the throne room of God:
  • Verse 1 - set your hearts on things above
  • Verse 2 - Set your minds on things above,
What are the new benchmarks of the resurrected life?

A change in the perspective of :
  • Our earthy living - A life of holiness.
  • Our earthly possession - A life of sacrificial giving
  • Our earthly suffering and pain - A life of total submission
  • Our earthly worship -  A life of sacrificial worship
  • Our earthly relations - A life of witness and evangelism
See things from His perspective.

How can that be done? Be found in the throne room of God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Sis Jenima Sharma - A tribute

Image
Sis Jenima went to be with the Lord on 14 Nov 2024, after battling with  Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) for some time.  This is our tribute to her. It was in 2008, when I first met Sis Jenima, the wife of our Bishop Samuel Sharma. It was during our first trip to NE India, Jaigaon in particular. We were there to conduct a pastors' conference at the bidding of Bishop Samuel who had attended the Haggai Leaders' Experience in Singapore a few months earlier. This was the beginning. She was demure, quiet, hardly spoke a word in English. But she was extremely hospitable and genuinely kind. At that time they lived in a very simple house, with hardly any furnishing, all because of the call of God upon her life to serve the Master.  But one thing was certain. She loved the Lord, her husband and her two young children. She always wanted them to serve the Lord all their lives. She was a remarkable woman whose life reflected the love and grace of God in every aspect.  He...
Read more

Devotion - Psalms 44: 6-7 - Its God who gives the victory

Image
Psalms 44:6-7 - I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame. Any soldier will know that the basic weapon of warfare, in those days, were the bow and sword. Without which no soldier will not venture into the battle field. Even the famed Goliath was geared in full battle order when he faced David with the stones and the sling. Isn't it a paradox then that David, one of the finest soldiers Israel had ever produced, proclaims that its not the bow and the sword that gives the victory. Its is the Lord, Jehovah, that gives the victory. I don't think David is trying to say that we should not prepare ourselves for warfare. His concern is that we recognize that ultimately its the Lord that gives the victory. A few things we need to remember: Human efforts are necessary in the God-man partnership Human efforts alone does not guarantee God intended results Recognize that its God that always gives u...
Read more

25th Wedding Annivesary - Silver Jubilee

Image
11-1-11 - 25th Wedding Anniversary. Today my wife and I celebrate our Silver Jubilee, 25 years of being married together. How time flies. I look out of the window, the weather reminiscent of the day we got married. It was raining the whole day and so is today. How appropriate. Praise God for His faithfulness in our lives and for the blessings He has given us. Lam 3:22-23 - Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. It has been a wonderful journey. Yes there were disagreements, quarrels, desperation and even "fights" but through it all, our love has grown stronger for the Lord , for the family, for the ministry and for one another. Jeya has been the magnet that holds our family together. Almost three months in a year I am out of country for ministry and kids busy in school. But she has always been the inventory holder that keeps reminding of the things that needs to be done an...
Read more