Part Two | 04.10.16

• start setting my mind on the things above
• Colossians 3:5-11 (Put On the New Self)
• unless we experience Christ, we cannot face sin
• the second we take our eyes off Christ, we will move in all directions
• even after we experience sin and fall -> EYES ON CHRIST
• even after we experience victory -> EYES ON CHRIST
• past, process, overflow
• don’t try to manage your sin; KEEP YOUR EYES ON CHRIST
• when we don’t see in Christ, we can only see the pleasures of our sin
• you cannot worship if you cannot surrender your heart
• we struggle with sin because we are in this “unformed” state
• seeing as nagging vs. recognizing the value of the warning
• read 5:11 only through the context of v.1-4
• this is not a call for legalism or asceticism
• it’s a call to enjoy the gifts of Christ and never want to look back
• idolatry is the counterpart of worship
• whenever evil gets casted out of you, you need to fill that void with worship of the true God (because we will need a replacement before the sin comes back stronger than ever)
• sin cannot survive on its own -> it is a leech, it needs a human to live (our hearts)
• unless we are not enlightened about the power of God, we will not activate
• put on my new self so I can become a blessing to those around me

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Now What? Where Do We Go From Here? | 04.03.16

Colossians 3:1-4 (Put On the New Self)

• order of salvation (how we are saved)
  • we are already saved when we accept Jesus Christ, but we are still being saved
• When the Israelites left Egypt, they were freed from slavery, but not yet in the Promiseland
  • in the same way, we are set free from the slavery of sin, but we are not yet in Heaven
• JUSTIFICATION, SANCTIFICATION, GLORIFICATION
• Justification: moment in which the things of Christ are given to us
• Sanctification: period in which you now live to follow Christ (the wilderness when the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years)
• the first step to sanctification is to have a renewal of the mind (SET OUR MINDS ON CHRIST)
  • Ephesians 4:23
• before anything else, there must be a reorientation in the way we think
• Colossians 2:21-23
  • as long as we keep trying to quit our addictions without a renewal of the mind (a change in mindset), we will FAIL
• Instagram is conditioning the way that I think -> shape what my goals are
• renew=start afresh (and how do I start afresh? I have to get rid of my old habits and begin with new ones WITH CHRIST)
  • listening to the Word of God (because God tells us how to live)
• as long as we are not reading the Bible, Satan has succeeded
• when we start the day with Word, we look at the world through the lens of what God has said
• when we don’t start with the Word, we begin to see God through the lens of this world
• reading the Word is not an extracurricular activity; it is part of the core-curriculum

Easter Sunday | 03.27.16

• what is the purpose of the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
  • to prove that Jesus is the Son of God
• the reason why we go through spiritual rollercoasters is because we have an understanding of the crucifixion but not the resurrection
• the crucifixion and the cross is only the beginning of our faith
• we look no further than the cross -> we struggle in our faith
• after the disciples witnessed the resurrection, they went out and transformed the world

Romans 6:1-14

#1 purpose of crucifixion

• in Romans 6, he is explaining the purpose of the crucifixion and the resurrection (empty tomb)
• salvation does not come with the crucifixion alone, it also comes with resurrection
• we are not longer slaves to sin
• one of the purposes was to put sin (its power) to death
• the power of sin shapes the kind of person we become

#2 purpose of the resurrection

• what David did on the field for the Israelites is comparable to what Jesus did on the cross for all of God’s people (He is our representative)
• we must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (which is why we cannot continue to sin despite being forgiven)
• God set the Israelites free so that they may worship God
• as long as we are under the power of sin, we are unable to worship God (this is what God is most concerned with)
• our lives are the salt preserving this decaying would as the instruments of righteousness
• Am I living my new life in God, for God?

03.19.16

Mark 11:8-10, 14:22-25

• Passion Week–the week between Palm Sunday and Easter
• 2000 years ago today, Jesus entered Jerusalem
• This Friday, Good Friday, Jesus had his last supper
• Easter: Jesus is resurrected
• Jesus came during the Passover (Jewish holiday–this was intentional)
• Passover is a season of celebration
  • commemorate the day the Israelites were freed from slavery
• Israelites did not fight for their independence; they were redeemed through God
• name of Passover comes from the event when the Angel of Death “passed over” the houses with the blood of innocent lamb smeared over the wooden door frame (during the Plague of the Death of the Firstborn son)
• the lamb was the atonement
• if God didn’t send the Angel of Death, the following day, the houses marked with blood would face the wrath of Pharaoh (because the blood was a symbol of rebellion to Pharaoh)
  • therefore, this act was an act of immense faith
• Passover meal has specific elements
  • lamb, wine, bread
  • but during Passover: wine=Jesus’ blood, bread=Jesus’ body, lamb (not on table but sitting their during the dinner)=Jesus himself
• during the Last Supper, Jesus was showing his disciples that he was the lamb of this world
• if we hide behind Jesus’ blood, the Angel of Death would also passover us (hide behind the cross)
• lamb’s blood on wooden doorframe=Jesus’ blood on a wooden cross
• salvation does not come by the intensity or quality of our faith, but by the blood of Christ

03.06.16

Romans 6:6-11

• Jesus, through his death, removed the power of sin

#1 Power of Sin

#2 Putting of Sin to Death

#3 Slavery to Freedom

• the power of sin is doing things you don’t want to do, and not doing things we want to do
• desire to live a righteous life but lack the ability
• we are enslaved to sin –> we were born into it
• sin is our slave master
• the slave master is always demanding your servitude, but is never satisfied
• slave master robs you of your happiness
• slave master (Sin) pulls you further and further away from God
• every single one of us have different combinations of slave masters
• cancer cells die with the death of the cancer patient
• sin dies with the sinner it has been enslaving
• Jesus took all the slave masters and drowned them to death in his own body on the cross
• parallel to God drowning the slave masters chasing after the Israelites into the Red Sea
• sometimes we are set free, but out of our desire, we return to our slave master
• union with Christ: what Jesus Christ did on the cross, we reap the benefits of too (because we are in a union with him)
  • just like whatever money our parents make, we reap the benefits of

02.28.16

Why is it that our understanding of math becomes more complex as we get older, but our understanding of Christ has remained the same?

• imputation of Christ’s righteousness: Christ lived for 30 years before he began his ministry to live perfectly so that he can impute (add on) his life into ours

What Jesus Accomplished Through His Death

• if our knowledge of Christ is great, our appreciation and worship of him is great

#1 Substitutionary Atonement

• atonement: making right the wrongs
• Jesus Christ made right our wrongs by taking our place
• expiation: removal of our sin and guilt (has to do with legal standing before God)
• Jesus removed the guilt of our sins from us (in Him, we are justified before God)
• propitiation: removal of God’s wrath from us and turning it into favor
  • satisfying the wrath of God so that it is subdued
• Jesus cleared us legally, but God’s wrath still remained
• propitiation deals with our relational standing with God
• on that cross, Jesus absorbed the full wrath of God so that none remains on us
  • this is why Old Testament God is fearsome and terrifying
  • this is why New Testament God is loving and merciful
• Jesus’ suffering was not from the beating or torturing or being hung on the cross (other Christian martyrs have died more painful deaths)
  • BUT, Jesus’ suffering came from having to receive God’s wrath
• Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 4:10
• redemption (adoption)
  • Jesus expiated and propitiated on our behalf so that he could redeem us
• Matthew 20:28
• Jesus brought us into the family of God

02.21.16

Colossians 1:21-23

• all things come into existence by Christ and for Christ
• Christ holds all things together–the more we walk away from Him, the more our life begins to unravel
• Christ displays God for us to see
• He is the head of the church
• He comes before all (preeminence of Christ)
• the modern-day Christ has been watered-down –> very fragmented; we don’t believe that He has the power to move our lives
• “I pray that Jesus will come to know Christ, that Buddhists will come to know Christ, that Muslims will come to know Christ, and that Christians will come to know Christ”

GOSPEL

#1 condition of ourselves without Christ

#2 criteria that needs to be met to enter heaven

#3 works of Jesus Christ

• when we are without Christ, we are alienated and hostile in mind
• ripped apart from our Maker and condition to despise Him
• we do evil deeds (the sins we repent are only the tip of the iceberg)
• conditions to get into heaven: holy, blameless
• all of us are infected with sin and live outside the walls of heaven (think of zombie movies and compounds)
• Jesus Christ has the vaccines
• Christ lived the life we were supposed to live, and died the death we were supposed to die
• why was Christ born as an infant?
  • because the first 30 years of his life He lived holy, blameless and above reproach for us
• forgiveness of our sins is not an entrance ticket into heaven
• what happened on the cross is an exit ticket out of hell
• a perfect life is the entrance ticket into heaven (which is why Jesus’ life substitutes ours)