RESURRECTION LIFE

Acts 2:23-24; 32- "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know-Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death. " This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses."

 

The death of Jesus Christ was planned by God. It wasn't a mistake or something that just happened. It was "by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God". Christ had to die in order to be resurrected. Likewise, we must die in our will before we will experience that same resurrection power. Christ lives in us! Galatians 2:20-"I have been crucified with Christ,; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

 

To be a Christian means  to resurrect with the life of Christ!  To crucify means to destroy utterly.  There is a change that takes place- we become new creatures- 2 Corinthians 5:17. Our old nature dies and our new nature takes over, but we must submit to the Lordship of Christ in our lives in order for that change to fully take affect. We must daily crucify the flesh- our old nature and not allow it to take over. Allow the resurrected life of Christ to fully come alive in our spirits.

 

Romans 4:23-25: "Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification."

 

 

Romans 8:10-13 "And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors-not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

 

Ephesians 2:4-7 "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."

 

 

(Taken from Pastor Keith's sermon 3/31/2013)