Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Power of Christ Within Us | Ep. 79 | Thursday May 25, 2023

Episode Date: May 25, 2023

It's time to live a new life in Christ. To see things through the lens of eternity and set our sights on the realities of heaven. This new normal is not about following manmade rules or rituals but about the power and presence of Christ within us. This means we don't have to hide or manage our image but can find peace, safety and security in Him. By seeking this new normal with passion and gratitude, we can experience a life that is truly fulfilling and purposeful. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up, everybody? Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive. My name is Mike Bro, and we are diving into a letter written by a church planter named Paul.

The letter is called Colossians because it's written to people living in a town called Colossae. And nothing impressive about the city, but their church was super impressive. They were really trying to make a difference. So Paul writes them this letter to encourage them in their new walk with Jesus. And as we've said all along, even though it was written in the first century, it was written to us. And we're in chapter three today. And remember, there were originally no chapter divisions. This is a letter written and read as such.

So just because you move on to the next chapter, doesn't mean that Paul is saying, you know, like Forrest Gump, that's all I have say about that, and now onto something different. It all flows together. And we talked about how this is a letter, all about new life, kind of telling them what walking with Jesus looks like.

You know, one of the terms that got tossed around during the pandemic as we wondered about the future was that term new normal. You know, will mask and social distancing be the new normal? Will periodic lockdowns and quarantines be the new normal? Will business conversation and church online? Will that be the new normal? Will we ever hug each other again? We'll ever shake hands again?

What's going to be our new normal? Well, the Bible tells us that if anyone comes to Christ, the old is gone and the new has come. There is a new normal. And that new normal is radically new. So in this letter, Paul shares what this new normal looks like. And the first couple of chapters we've already trekked through are all about who Jesus is and what He is done for us.

We've seen that God's plan for saving us, redeeming us, rescuing us, transforming us, and bringing us home with him someday is a Jesus plus nothing plan. He is enough. We are made complete in Jesus and he is alive in us. And now we get to chapter three. He begins to describe how this new normal, this new life, what it looks like. So let's just dig into chapter three. for a little while. If you get a Bible that you're using or an app that you use, you can look at the verses.

If not, just go back and read it later. Paul starts with a since then, or a therefore. And remember, a rule of thumb for Bible studies when you see a therefore, go back and see what it's there for. I know, pretty genius, but it always helps me not just to plow ahead, but to look back at what was previously said. Now, we've already done the look back with the first two chapters. So we get here, and he says, since all of what we just talked about is true, that he is the image of the invisible God, that everything including me and you has been created by him, that he holds all things together, that you and I have been qualified, rescue, transferred from darkness to light, that he is not just with you, but now he's in you, giving you the power to live this new life,

and that power and presence is enough that you are complete in him. There's no need for man-made rules or rituals or attempts to do better. It's all about the one who moves inside of us so that we can become better. So Paul gets here and he says, therefore, since all of that is true, since you've been raised a new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven where Christ sits at the place of honor at God's right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. In other words, he's saying, man, don't live with your eyes to the ground all the time. Just grinding away, doing the same old things everybody else does, trying to grab the most stuff, trying to get the most fame, the most followers, the most likes. Your new life is so much more than that.

It's not about temporary stuff of this world. It's not about making a name for yourself. Now it's about seeing the world in your life through the lens of eternity, knowing that your name is already written in the book of life, that you are accepted and dearly loved, that while life on this planet can be pretty good, the good is only a preview of coming attractions.

And the hard stuff, one day forever, is going to be history because this world is not your home. I love those verses. Verse three, he goes on, for you died to this life. You have a new normal. You no longer just go with the cultural flow. Man, you're headed upstream toward the source of all life. Your real life is hidden with Christ and God.

And when Christ who is your life, I love that. When Christ who is your life is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all of its glory. Paul is saying, it's going to happen. It's going to happen. You guys ever play hide and seek before? I used to play it all the time with my kids. We would get like Nerf guns, had Nerf bow and arrows,

and the kids would go hide somewhere in the house and in the dark, and I would walk through, we couldn't turn on any lights, and I would walk through the house and play hide and seek. We have so many great memories about playing hide-and-seek together. And I like that phrase that Paul uses, Hidden with Christ. When sin enters the world through Adam and Eve's free choice to rebel against God, What was the first thing they did? They tried to play hide and seek.

Well, actually, they weren't trying to play seek. They just wanted to play hide. They attempted to hide from God. You know, shame will do that to you. It'll make you hide. But how can you hide from an all-knowing, all-seeing God? He's undefeated in hide-and-seek. But now, Paul says, we are hidden in Christ.

Jesus took all of our sin and rebellion and nailed it to the cross, at the cross, naked and exposed in our shame. crowned with the thorns of our lies, held by the nails of our lust, our envy, our greed, pierced with the spear of our arrogance, he took it all. And we, as sinful people, now have a hiding place in him. You know, outside of Christ, men, there's no place to hide. But in Christ, there is peace and safety and security. There's an old hymn that says, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide me.

myself in thee. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Our life, our sin, our failures are all hidden with Him. And then Paul says, since all that is true, don't hide, don't hide, just seek. Since you don't have to try to hide anymore, since he has set you free from all the gameplay and all the image management you used to do, since this world was not your home anyway, Why not just go after this new normal with passion and with gratitude? Now we're going to unpack some really cool stuff in the coming days, but for now, let's just let these verses guide us today. Let me read it again.

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at the place of honor at God's right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life, your new life, is hidden with Christ and God. And when Christ, who is your life,

is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all of His glory. Man, I hope you have a great day. See you back next time. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m.

and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this, podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.