In Christ - connecting with power in your life

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Sermon Outline - “In Christ” —connecting with power in your life

Outline

  1. We in Christa new kind of being & living
  2. Christ in usa new strength
  3. Walking in freedom, in Christ

What does it mean?

  • In Christ means union with him, he in us and we in him.
    • we are going to look first at us being in Christ and then Christ in us

1. We are a New Kind of Being

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

  • Story of the huge butterfly that was trapped under a sheet of plexiglass in the corner of my deck

Christ and the Spirit: John 14

  1. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
  2. even the Spirit of truth…
  3. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Romans 8:1-16


  1. For those who live according to the flesh
    have the mindset of the things of the flesh,
    but those who live according to the Spirit
    have the mindset of the things of the Spirit.
  2. For the mindset of the flesh is death,
    but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace,
  3. because the mindset of the flesh is hostile to God,
    for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.
  4. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
  5. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit,
    if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
    Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
    this person does not belong to him.
  6. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin,
    but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness.
  7. Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you,
    the one who raised Christ from the dead
    will also make your mortal bodies alive
    through his Spirit who lives in you.

So what does this new way of living look like?

In Christ: A new way of living

  1. Love for others that is so radical, it is like laying down your own life
  2. Pouring our lives into the plan to spread this love
  3. True happiness comes through this new way
  • “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” [Luke 9:24]

2. Jesus Christ is Living in Usa new strength

Romans 8:1-16

  1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
  2. For the power of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus
    has set you free from the power of sin and death.
  3. For God achieved what the law could not do
    because it was weakened through the flesh.
    By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
    he condemned sin in the flesh,
  4. so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us,
    who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Streetcar tracks

Streetcar tracks

Image source: Emdx

3. Walking in freedom: Lies that Trap us and Truth that sets us Free

Good “tapes” to play

  • “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me”
  • “The power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in me”
  • “I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus”
  • “the power of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the power of sin and death”

Electric Fence

Electric Fence

Image source: Sarah McGuire

Romans 8:1-16

  1. So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation,
    not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh
  2. (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.
  3. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.
  4. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear,
    but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”
  5. The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.

Frigate

Frigate

Image source: trafalgar

Romans 8

  1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
  2. For the power of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus
    has set you free from the power of sin and death.
  3. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin,
    but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness.
  4. Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you,
    the one who raised Christ from the dead
    will also make your mortal bodies alive
    through his Spirit who lives in you.

Romans 8

  1. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear,
    but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”
  2. The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.