FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT

Hebrews 13:14–15 ESV

For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Understand the battle

If Jesus fit perfectly into my life, without the need for drastic changes 

- If anyone seeks to come after me, they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. If Jesus comes up only in conversations relating to sin

- Set your affection on things above, not on things on earth. 3 For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life shall appear, then you also shall appear with Him in glory - Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God If ‘enjoying life’ mostly means doing what I want

- For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit If I have a compartment in my life called ‘spiritual life’

- For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places If my life and walk with God are the only things that matter to me

- I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

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Understanding God’s heart on the matter of life and salvationWhat Jesus did  (birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension)What God is doing right nowWhat I see and do in light of these things 1. What did Jesus do? - removed separation, fellowship/ contact restored 2. What did the Father do?- covered over, preserved 3. What does Holy Spirit do?- empower, reveal, teach  4. What do I do?- apply and eat 

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The Divine Exchange

 Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven (, )Jesus was wounded that we might be healed (, -17Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness, that we might be made righteous with His righteousness (, , )Jesus tasted death for us that we might share His life (, )Jesus was made a curse that we might receive the blessing (, )Jesus endured our poverty that we might share His abundance (, )Jesus bore our shame that we might share His glory (, )Jesus endured my rejection that I might have His acceptance with the Father (, , )He was cut off that we might be joined to the Lord(, )Our Old Man was put to death in Him that the New Man might come to life in us (,, READING - Corrupt nature, put on new self, - born of God overcomes the world, - Incorruptible seedCol 3:1-2-2 Corinthians 5:14-21  14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those     whose transgressions are forgiven,     whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the one     whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! 19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.