The
Unlikely Suspects Part III
the
underground
Us
In case you didn’t know: Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes we make poor choices. Sometimes it all gets so messed up. Sometimes we dwell on our wrongness. So much so that we forget that we’re living a
life of freedom. Christ has made us new. And we can live that life now. Today. As Christians, we’re in this already but not yet phase until Christ comes again. When we live in the way that God intended for us, we are already saved, already citizens in the Kingdom. But we are still human. We are constantly being sanctified, being set apart for something better. We are being molded and shaped, becoming more perfected and more holy each day. Already. But not yet. Maybe we’re the unlikely suspects.
e Freedom is HerED IT UN Hillsong by
ne at Available onli EzK6KCE m/watch?v=Mh58
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http://www.yout
CCLI #1363221
I Will Rise
by Hillsong
Available online at
http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=mTwA3NLEjY4 CCLI #1363221
Give Me Faith
by Elevation Worship
Available online at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_Voi3JM8ZA CCLI #1363221
Darkness to Light
from Northeast Christian Church
Available online at http://vimeo.com/23503528 CCLI #1363221
Christ, the Messiah can turn anything around, including us, with all of our backstabbing, gossip, sexual sin, apathy, and every other way we drag His name through the mud. Sometimes we sit in our filth because we don’t know any better. We can get caught in this cycle, perhaps trying to pull ourselves out, but we eventually fall right back into it. And all around us, we feel that our entire situation is fundamentally wrong. We know we weren’t meant for this.
The darkest of sins and situations result in the darkest of lives. We pray, we plead. There’s got to be more than this. There just has to be. Psalm 13:1-4 (NIV) How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and everyday have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. And somewhere, there is more to life than meets the eye. Psalm 13:5-6 (NIV) But I will trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me. There is redemption, made available for all of us. Love and redemption, and the life that we were meant to live.
Darkness to Light
Ephesians 5:13 (NASB) But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
Our greatest sins, the ones we let no one see, will not become our downfall. In fact, once they are brought to light, they will no longer be sin, but will be transformed into something beautiful. We will live a new life that doesn’t even hint at the old. As Christ declared on the cross, “It is finished.”
A New Life
Romans 6:1-3 (MSG) If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace - a new life in a new land! When Christ lives in us, and we in Him, we have a completely new life. We have left the old behind, and we are called to a beautiful reality with our Perfecter of Faith. Romans 6:4-11 (MSG) That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country. Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life - no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.
Freedom
Romans 6:12-14 (MSG) That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time - remember, you’ve been raised from the dead! - into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God. This freedom cannot be taken from us, unless we choose to move back to our old country. We are citizens of God’s Kingdom. Live like you know it. Live like you mean it. Galatians 5:1 (NIV) It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. We are free.
A Call to Holiness Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. The best part of our community is that we’re not alone in this. We are not struggling on our own; we have this great cloud of witnesses, this amazing group of leaders and teachers who encourage us and give us strength to continue living the life Christ has set before us. So we choose life. We fix our eyes on Christ, the One who created life and the One who continues to work in us and through us, carefully crafting and sculpting us into our true identity.
Us
By now, you should know: Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes we make poor choices. Sometimes it all gets so messed up. Regardless of the things we’ve done, and the things we haven’t done, and the people we were, we are the unlikely suspects. We have been saved by Love, called into a
life of freedom. This life of freedom begins now. Christ has clothed us in his love and made us new. We are constantly being sanctified, being set apart for something better. We are being molded and shaped, becoming more perfected and more holy each day. Already. But not yet.
Monday Read Ephesians 5:13. Exposure can be a catalyst for change. What does God need to expose to the light in your life?
Tuesday Read Romans 6:1-3. What does the “old country” look like? How does it differ from the “new land”?
Wednesday Read Romans 6:4-11. What does it mean to say that “sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word�?
Thursday Romans 6:12-14 calls us to remember that we live a life of freedom. How can we remind ourselves daily of the Love we have in Christ?
Friday Hebrews 12:1-3 reminds us that we are not alone in our walk with Christ. We have a great cloud of witnesses, veterans, if you will, who are all encouraging us. Who is your great cloud of witnesses?
Saturday Choose one of the songs from the first few pages to listen to in solitude. How can you fix your eyes on Jesus today?
Sunday What doubts do you have about living the life we’re meant for? Give them to God by writing your prayer below.