God's Rolling Thunder
Carnal or Christian
  • Blessed be The Name of The Lord
  • All My Hope
  • God With Us
  • Break Every Chain

  • Living the New Life

    When we talk about who we are in Jesus, we are identifying with Jesus Christ. All that he did and continues to do. Identifying with Jesus means that you and I belong to Him, He paid the price so that you and I did not have to. He looks at you, recognizes you, knows your name, and says “that one is mine.”
    There are three things that the Apostle Paul points out in His great letter to the Colossians that every believer should be reminding themselves of everyday. The first is this:

    We Are Raised With Christ

    “I am Raised in Christ!” The weight and the power of what Paul says in the first half of this verse hit me like a truck this past week.
    Colossians 3:1 NLT
    1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
    Paul puts this to the believer as an in your face fact! “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ.” These ten words crush any and every excuse a Christian can make. This is not a flippant statement. This is the answer as to the “why” our lives change when we become followers of Jesus! To be raised to new life with Christ means that we must have died to something. The old self.
    We need to realize something this morning, that Yes, Jesus died as the atoning sacrifice for your sin and mine, but he also died UNTO sin. Unto sin means that Jesus Christ broke the power of sin over your life and my life.
    This means that we can have victory, through Him, over the old sinful nature and the weapons the enemy and this world use against us. Jesus looks right at us and says “remember me? I overcame the world. I overcame death.”
    I recently read a story about two sisters who loved dancing and wild parties. They both became believers. After converting to Christianity, they received an invitation to a party and were asked to RSVP. Their response was incredible: “We regret that we cannot attend because we recently died.”
    We must die to the sin in our lives. The old man or woman died with Christ and was raised again in New Life. The question is, have we put away the childish things and worldly ways having been raised in new life in the name of Jesus?
    The Apostle Paul is telling us that if we are not experiencing a new life in Christ, if our lives do not show a change as a result of following Jesus, if there is minimal change, there is a problem. We may need to check ourselves at the foot of the cross.
    It is possible for someone to be alive and still live in the grave, metaphorically. In Luke 8:27, Jesus met a demon possessed man living in the graveyard. We are talking serious cra-cra crazy. Everybody was running away from the man, Jesus ran to meet the man. He raised this living man out of the tombs. I believe that many in this room can relate to the man in that graveyard. I know I can.
    To be raised with Christ means we are alive in Christ. He pulled you and me out of the grave! Our thoughts, our motives, and our principles are to reflect our life in Christ. We don’t jump back in the grave, we walk a new life with our LORD and Savior.
    Think about this for a moment. As believers, we identify with Christ in his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus sits in the place of honor at the right hand of God. If you are a believer this morning, risen in Christ, you are seated there “in Christ.”
    The name above all names, Jesus Christ, whom we exalt, brings you and me with Him into that exalted position. That position in Christ is not hypothetical, or a goal, or something we strive and work toward. It is an accomplished fact. He has already done it!
    The second thing to remember is that:

    We Are Hidden in Christ

    Colossians 3:3 NLT
    3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
    “I am hidden in Christ!” We are talking about relationship not knowledge. The world does not know Christ. Those who do not have an ear to hear will mock, scoff, and laugh. We don’t give up.
    Our security, our satisfaction come from the LORD. Our motives and our strength come from heaven. We are to help one another, show mercy, show grace, and truly love. What did the prophet Micah say: “Seek Justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”
    This does not mean that we are hiding from this world, or not fulfilling our earthly obligations. It certainly does not mean that we are hiding from God. It means that we submit ourselves to the power and authority of Jesus Christ in our lives.
    Two fingers representing Jesus and You.
    Hidden in Him means that we put Him out front, in front of us. He guides and he leads, that is what the world needs to see! You are the living testimony and a witness unto Jesus.
    We sing the songs, we talk it. minister it, but we must do it. In those seven words of John the Baptist:
    John 3:30 NKJV
    30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
    Are we putting ourselves out in front, on display for this world? Or do we choose to put Him out in front of us? I will absolutely hide behind the cross, I will hide behind the Word of God, I will hide behind Jesus.
    He is my savior, He is the LORD, he is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and immutable. Yet, He chooses to love you and me this morning. Thank you Jesus!
    Jesus did not stop there! Why make every effort to live this new life? Why reject the sin in our lives? Why live the Christian life at all?
    We are Raised With Christ
    We are Hidden in Christ
    We are Glorified in Christ

    We Are Glorified in Christ

    Colossians 3:4 NLT
    4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
    “I am glorified in Christ.” If you are a believer this morning, Jesus has already shared His glory with you! Jesus gave you “right standing before the LORD in Him.” The full revelation of His glory will not be revealed until His return, yet He shares in His glory now and forever with us!
    As believers, we have a great responsibility. “Seek those things which are above.” We must make it a habit to set our minds on things above, not on things of the earth. Our feet must be here, we are the hands and feet of Jesus, but our minds must be on things of heaven.
    Having been glorified in Christ, not only do we get our direction from Christ in heaven for our everyday affairs, we see the world and others through the eyes of Christ.
    Worship Team to Stage
    We have been separated from the old life of this world and we belong to a new heavenly life. Thank you Jesus. A love so great that He literally moved heaven and earth to be with you. Born in humility, scorned, tortured, and death on the cross that we may be raised with Him, hidden in Him, and glorified with Him.
    How we stand, how we walk, will depend on where we are seated. I am seated with Christ in the Heavenlies!
    Where are you seated this morning? In this world or with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Where do you sit? Where do you stand? In this world or in Christ? I pray it be Jesus.
    Alter Call/Prayer
    ​

      • Colossians 3:1NLT

      • Colossians 3:3NLT

      • John 3:30NLT

  • I Can Only Imagine

      • Colossians 3:4NLT

God's Rolling Thunder
pastorbob@godsrollingthunder.org
http://www.godsrollingthunder.org
42 members • 17 followers