Putting on Christ: Living as God's Chosen

Good morning and welcome to CCC

We are so very glad you are here with us this morning

there are many places you could be but you choose to put God first and be here this morning

Church is important both the Body of Christ....all believers and individual corporate bodies such as CCC

there are so many confused out there

there are so many misapplying scripture

there are so many arguing and fighting over should you or should you not attend church and I hope to give you scriptural answers to this soon

Couple of announcements before we get going

Pastor Ian and his congregation send their regards and love and prayers to you

I have been contacted by another pastor in Kenya looking for help with Bibles. He is asking for 30 Bibles and that would be about $315.....if you feel called to help bless this congregation with Bibles please see me

Tonight is worship night followed by our fellowship dinner

Worship night stats at 6 pm and meal follows

the meal theme is summer potluck so bring your best summer dish and join us......or just join us

On Sunday July 13th I will be gone on our annual camping vacation with the Sandersons and our very own James Washburn will be filling the pulpit for me

On Sunday July 20 right after services there will be a jr sr high camp meeting

I need all parents and those students who went to camp, regardless of if you left early or not, to attend

I also want to give you a look at the coming weeks

As I said James will be preaching on July 13

July 20th we will finish the Colossians sermon series

July 27th Message on importance of local churches

On Sunday August 3rd Ryan Watts of Brickhouse Ministries will be filling the pulpit. I was blessed to be a small part of Ryan’s ordination earlier this month and i wanted to give him a chance to preach as he begins his ministry

August 10th Juliet Hardee will once again be with us to talk to us about their recent trip to Kenya that so many of you helped sponsor

August 17th we will start the Romans Sermon Series which will take quite some time

Continue to pray for Nolan and Sherryl....Nolan is in mercy at Pittsburg undergoing 3 hours a day of intense rehab to prepare him to come home on July 2

Continue to pray for Michael as he continues to battle some infection and heals from his toe being amputated

Let’s Pray

This morning we continue with our colossians series so be turning to

Colossians 3:12-17

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As I did last week I want to jump into this verse by verse

Colossians 3:12

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Colossians 3:12 KJV 1900

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Again I want to give you the Greek and let God do the talking here

Put On

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comes from a Greek word that means sinking into a garment....putting on clothes

again this is a choice

I want you to understand

you have to choose to put off the old sinful self and ways and put on the new...righteous and holy ways

you are wearing one

old or new

which one is it?

Let’s look at what you are to put on as a Christian

Elect

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comes from Greek word meaning favorite or chosen

think about that for a moment

you are God’s favorite

you are God’s chosen

How in the world could you ever not matter

how in the world could you ever see yourself as useless or worthless

you are God’s favorite

you are God’s chosen

Jesus died for YOU

I Peter 1:2

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1 Peter 1:2 KJV 1900

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Elect.....not because of you or your works

elect because of God.....because of His foreknowledge

He knew before He formed the world that He elected you

that He choose you

How do you become a saint....He choose you to become a saint

There are many who debate this topic.....This is another issue that I think can lead to arguments and take away from unity but I do believe there is a correct outlook based on scripture

God knows everything past, present, future

God knows who will accept His Son Jesus and salvation.....truly accept both

Because God knows that......foreknowledge......He elected those who would choose to accept Jesus

God gives us free will so He doesn’t elect someone and force them to be saved

This election doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter what you do you are going to be saved it you are elected

Not scriptural

I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Me.....Jesus’ words which indicate you must accept Him

God just knew who would accept Jesus and who would reject Jesus before He ever created the earth and you and me and all of humanity

again because we have finite minds.....human minds......not all knowing minds this is very hard for us to understand and because it is hard for us to understand we try to justify or make it sound simple when it is not and that leads to arguments and discourse and takes away from unity

Now there is a time and a place for these conversations......private conversations.....we have a men’s text group from Monday nights and this very topic has been discussed all week long and that is awesome but you have to know and understand that not all conversations are best to be had where all can participate because it can lead to issues if someone only hears part of it or only understands part of it and leads them astray

back to this morning

because He choose you He expects you to be sanctified

that is a fancy word for maturing in Christ

that is fancy for discipleship which is driven by obedience

that is why so many explore discipleship and then walk away

it is hard because to grow and mature in Christ you must obey Him.....many see that.....count the cost and deem it too expensive to continue and walk away from discipleship meaning one of two things......they walk away from Jesus and being a Christian if they reject Jesus or the stay on the milk of salvation if they reject discipleship.......one leads to hell and one leads to a life lived that is missing a deep, intimate relationship with Jesus here on earth

obedience is the fruit of sanctification

you don’t quit sinning to be good

you try to quit sinning because you love God!!!!!

but there is more

Holy

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is from a Greek word meaning sacred....saint

God loves you

you are His favorite

You are chosen by God

you are beloved

and because of all of that you are holy

not because of you

not because of your works

not because of a lack of works

but because HE set you apart

HE made you a saint

That is why you are holy

you have to believe this

God making you holy when you are saved gives you freedom to serve Him

freedom to grow and mature in Christ....move from milk of salvation to the meat of obedience and discipleship

It changes your behavior

it changes your attitudes

it changes your mindset

why

because you put off the old and put on the new

you are no longer caught up in you

your ways

your thoughts

your actions

your words

but you are dead to them

you have put them off

you only care about God and

His ways

His thoughts

His actions

His Word

Let’s keep looking at what you are to put on

Bowels of Mercies

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bowels Greek word meaning intestine

of mercies Greek word meaning pity and mercy

Grace is getting what you do not deserve

Mercy is not getting what you do deserve

Are you merciful

not just occasionally or just when it benefits you

but do you have bowels of mercy.....is mercy so deep inside of you it is who you are.....you have no choice but to be merciful

What does that look like

choosing to not respond

so many times we want to speak

so many times we want to act

so many times we want to give people what they deserve

Someone runs you down on social media everything in you wants to attack back

but bowels of mercy says you dont respond and leave it up to God.....your job is to pray for them and be ready to preach the gospel in season and out!

someone lies about you or lies to you......do you attack or show mercy

someone takes advantage of you.......do you attack or show mercy

someone hurts you.....do you attack or show mercy

now I want you to hear this

boundaries are Godly

it is okay to have distance

if someone did something illegal it is okay to have justice

it is all about why and heart

sometimes the most merciful thing you can do is seek justice

but if you want justice

if you want them to burn

if you want them to rot in prison because you are hurt you don’t want just you want vengeance and revenge and that my friends doesn’t belong to you but belongs to God and therefore you are wrong

follow the Holy Spirit not your emotions!!!!!!

Kindness

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Greek word meaning usefulness, morally excellent in character or demeanor, gentleness, goodness

are your

words

thoughts

actions

useful

morally excellent in character

are you gentle

are you good...again only God in you is Christ and Holy Spirit is good

What would your family say

what would your friends say

what would your co-workers say

what would strangers say

Do you seek to be kind

do you seek to be useful

do you seek to be gentle

do you seek to be good

do you seek to have morally excellent character

not for your gain

not for your glory

but because you are loved

because you are elected

because you are are holy

because of all of that you choose to put on kindness

Humbleness of Mind

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Greek word meaning modesty...humility

are you modest

not just in actions and dress and speech but thoughts

we can fake actions but thoughts are almost impossible to fake

are you humble

i want to make sure you

me

everyone understands our position because of sin

we all deserve death

we all deserve hell

we all deserve eternal torment

we all deserve eternal separation from God the Father

That is what we earned through our sin and sinful natures

that is what we deserve

but

in Jesus and His blood we are sons and daughters

we are saved

we are redeemed

we are free

we are now citizens of heaven

we have a personal relationship with God the Father through Jesus and the Holy Spirit

That is what we get as Christians so that drives us and gives us pure humility because you and I have nothing to do with what we get

we earned death but get life

we earned eternal separation from God in hell but get eternal life with God in heaven

who are you

who am I

what did we do

NOTHING!!!!

we did nothing but sin and deserve eternal punishment for that sin but in Jesus we get

freedom

deliverance

redemption and

adopted into God’s eternal family

be humble

Meekness

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comes from Greek word meaning gentleness, humility

do you think God cares about your attitudes and actions

meek

gentle

humble

you must choose

it doesnt matter your upbringing

it doesnt matter how good or evil your parents were or are

it doesnt matter what situation or circumstance you are in the midst of right now

no

you must choose

God made His choice.......He choose to send Jesus to die for you

His arms are open

Will you choose to accept Jesus and turn from your ways

die to your old self

put of the old you and put on the new you

it is all about choice

Colossians 3:13

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Colossians 3:13 KJV 1900

Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Forbearing

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comes from Greek word meaning to hold oneself up against, put up with, bear with, endure, suffer

choice

they will hurt you

they will anger you

they will frustrate you

absolutely

but you have to choose to forebear

notice the words used to define forbear

put up with...

bear with.....

endure....

suffer...

this indicates you are choosing to put up with this person and their faults....

Just as God chooses to do all of that with you and YOUR faults

I am still learning this as your pastor

being a pastor comes with lots of

expectations

frustrations

disappointments

let downs

harsh words

i dont say that to make you feel bad

i dont say that to try to make you feel anything

i say that because it is true

God chose me

God elected me

God placed me here as your pastor and part of that is learning to forebear

One Another

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Greek word meaning mutual

together

this is very important church

get the meaning of forbearing one another

many of you have learned you must choose to forebear my many shortcomings and failures as your pastor

I

you

we must choose to forebear one another

mutually

together

We are far from perfect but we must continue to choose to forebear

it is mutual

i cant expect you to forebear me and I refuse to do the same for you and vise versa

If both parties are putting on God and forbearing where would conflict be?

It would be gone forever!!!!!!

Quarrel

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Greek word meaning blame, a fault

we think of quarreling as an argument

nope

it is placing blame

focusing on a fault

again are you choosing to look past blame and see them not their faults?

Forgave

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Greek word meaning to grant as a favor

graciously

in kindness

you have to get this church

Matthew 6:14-15

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Matthew 6:14–15 KJV 1900

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

God is serious

Jesus is serious

YOU MUST FORGIVE IF YOU ARE FORGIVEN

you don’t have a choice

you cant choose to not forgive....well you can but you are not forgiven in that case

so many today want to claim God means something different here

Before I begin here I want to say this

there is a difference between refusing to forgive and not knowing how to forgive or wrestling with forgiveness

so many times we are hurt very deeply....so was God by the way when we did what we did to Jesus

rejected, spat upon, beat beyond recoginition, nailed Him to a cross

God gets hurt

He allowed and watched all of that

YET

He forgave us

When you are saved you have to forgive but you may have no idea how to do that

You are saved and understand that forgiveness is no longer optional for you and you truly want to forgive but are struggling with it.....wrestling with it

that is okay.....that is maturing in Christ

that is learning obedience

no what Jesus is talking about is understanding forgiveness

knowing what Jesus says about it and just saying

Nope not going to do that

If that is you and you claim to be Christian you are incorrect and not forgiven because you refuse to forgive

how in the world could you be forgiven of your sins by Jesus

applied the blood to your sin debt

How can you go from headed to hell and God’s Wrath

eternal torment and eternal separation from God

yet because of Jesus and His work on the cross you get forgiveness

you get eternal life with God Himself in Heaven and have a personal relationship with Jesus the moment you are saved

How can all that be true for you and you refuse to forgive someone else?????

So many of us claim to be Bible believing and Bible living Christians

are we here

in fact Jesus goes further

Mark 11:25

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Mark 11:25 KJV 1900

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Forgive

I have said it before and will say it again

i know

i pray

every Sunday some of you dont hear a word I am saying because you are engaged with the Holy Spirit in a real

life altering

eternity altering

conversation

When God is speaking I don’t care who else is speaking including me ignore them and listen to God

How many times I wonder has God called you to forgive during worship and you rejected that call and just kept worshiping

that is not biblical

God says leave the worship and go deal with the unforgiveness

You must choose to forgive!!!!!!

Colossians 3:14

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Colossians 3:14 KJV 1900

And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

Charity

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Greek word Agape

God’s love

the meaning is affection or benevolance

I call this Cross love

it is the kind of love that made the cross make sense

Do you have charity

do you have cross love eminating out of you day in and day out

That kind of love is

The Bond Of Perfectness

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bond comes from a Greek word meaning joint tie, ligament, uniting principle

Ask Logan and Claire how well a knee works without an ACL ligament

it doesnt

you have to have surgery and close to a year of intense rehab

the same is true when the bond of charity is broken...when love is refused

I Peter 4:8

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1 Peter 4:8 KJV 1900

And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

mindset

expose sin or love people and cover sins

now lets make sure you get this straight

you are not ignoring sins

you are not condoning sins

you are not encouraging sins

you are not accepting sins

you just are not broadcasting sins

we are called to reprove

we are called to rebuke one another

mutual

together

but I dont put them on blast in social media no

we pray

we get into God’s Word

we seek Holy Spirit guidance

we seek forgiveness

we love

we cover

John 13:34

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John 13:34 KJV 1900

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Jesus just commanded you to love others as He loved you

cross love

self denying love

sacrifical love

love that costs you dearly

time

money

sleep

right to be offended

etc

are you loving like that?

Colossians 3:15

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Colossians 3:15 KJV 1900

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Peace

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Greek word meaning peace both literally and figuratively, prosperity, one, quietness

Choice

Jesus is peace

if you have Jesus you have peace

if you have Jesus you have prosperity....not worldly prosperity

wealth

health etc

no spiritual prosperity

hidden in Christ

citizen of heaven

child of God

protected

provided for

safe from all spiritual harm

Praise the Lord for your prosperity in Jesus!!!!

Rule

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Greek word meaning to arbitrate, to govern

Hearts

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Greek word meaning thoughts, feelings, middle

who you are

your seat of thinking and emotions

When you put on these things....

peace

Jesus

rules your heart

governs your heart

governs you seat of thinking and emotions

when you choose anything other than peace and Jesus you are choosing to take these things off not put them on!!!!!!!

One Body

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One comes from Greek word meaning abundantly, man, only

Body comes from a Greek word meaning body

When we all put on these things we are one body

we are unified

we are complete

Thankful

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Greek word meaning well favored, grateful

all of this requires thankfulness because without God we are doomed to hell!!!!!

Think about life when you and all other brothers and sisters in Christ put on these things

How glorious would life be

Let’s show the world that very life here at CCC....thankful!!!!!

When you focus on God not physical things your life begins to change

Romans 14:17

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Romans 14:17 KJV 1900

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Stop focusing on physical things

stop focusing on your kingdom

stop focusing on food and drink

and start focusing on spiritual because at the end of the day that is all that matters

You are to be thankful because

Ephesians 2:16-17

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Ephesians 2:16–17 KJV 1900

And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

You are reconciled to God through Jesus as a Christian

you are redeemed

you must then be thankful and live a reconciled, redeemed life!

Colossians 3:16

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Colossians 3:16 KJV 1900

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Word

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Greek word meaning something said, also reasoning or motive....divine expression

Divine expression is God’s Word

Jesus Himself

Dwell

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Greek word meaning inhabit

Richly

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Greek word meaning abundantly

great quantities

Wisdom

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Greek word meaning wisdom...higher and lower...worldly and spiritually

Teaching

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Greek word meaning to teach.....to learn

Admonishing One Another

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Admonishing comes from Greek word meaning to put in mind, to caution, to reprove

one another same as before....mutual...together

You as a Christian are to let Jesus’ Words

God’s Words inhabit you....abundantly......in great quantities....in all Spiritual...higher wisdom...as you caution each other mutually...as you reprove each other mutually.....and do so gently

is that you

does that define your daily life

How

in worship

Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs

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Psalms Greek word meaning a set piece of music....sacred ode

Hymns greek word meaning religious ode....ode is a short poem or song

Spiritual greek word meaning supernatural...religious

Song....Greek word meaning ode

Are you truly worshipping

as we sing together it is supernatural

God uses worship to glorify Him and teach us

admonish us

and each other

Colossians 3:17

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Colossians 3:17 KJV 1900

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Everything you say

Everything you do

Lord

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Greek word meaning Supreme authority....Master

Everything is to be done in the name of Lord...Jesus..Supreme Authority and Master....and giving thanks to God and the Father by Jesus!!!!!

You can’t be focused on physical

you cant be focused on you

and carry this verse out in your life

How do you keep focused on God and His Kingdom

Constantly giving thanks

I Corinthians 10:31 says we are to eat and drink to the glory of God

Changes meal time and meal time prayers doesnt it....GIVE THANKS

I Thessalonians 5:18

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1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV 1900

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Give thanks in everything

good

bad

ugly

Good because it is from God...James 1:17 tells us that

Bad because God is with you and no matter how bad....even death...as a Christian you are spiritually safe

Keep focused on God by giving thanks but also

Hebrews 13:15

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Hebrews 13:15 KJV 1900

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

sacrifice

thought out

willingly given

costs you something

is the fruit of your lips praise??????

It is time to put on these things

If God has moved in your life this morning come give Him glory

Maybe He is calling you to give something up

stop doing something

start doing something

He convicted you this morning come

meet with Him and give it to Him

Maybe He is calling you to lock shields with us here at CCC....come

Maybe He is calling you to salvation Come to me and we will talk and pray about it

whatever it is come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!