Alive For The Very First Time Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• A couple of weeks ago in our passage we saw that we were buried with Christ in baptism and that God raised us to life in Christ as a result!

• What does it mean to be raised with Jesus through the power of God?

• Have you ever woke up and just felt so alive? Something about the day is different and you just feel good and are ready to take on the day?

• I get that feeling when I am with my wife or I am on my bike.

• I got to experience the joy of seeing my youngest daughter being born; once they got her stabilized I got to carry our new bundle of joy to the next room.

• I will never forget looking into her eyes with a sense of awe and, I remember it like it happened just yesterday.

• My daughter alive outside of the womb for the very first time. What a joy.

• Of course I do not remember my own physical birth, but I am sure my parents were overjoyed. 

• There is another birth I remember, my spiritual re-birth. I remember knowing I was going to step forward to be baptized into Christ in the evening service because there were fewer people and I was a bit shy.

• But that morning, while I listened to the message, I was moved, when the invitation song started, I remember feeling the pull to go forward, I remember kung Fu gripping the pew in front of me, my shyness was trying to keep me in the pew.

• Then I thought, it is time and I stepped forward to be immersed into Christ where I was born again.

• I felt so alive for what seemed the very first time. Something was different for me.

• Life for me was going to change in a big way even though it was going to take some time. By the way I pray my life never stops changing.

• You can experience being Alive For The Very First time also! We experience life in Christ not be filling our heads with knowledge or by behavior modification, we can experience LIFE and LIFE ABUNDANTLY BY BEING TRANSFORMED BY JESUS into HIS IMAGE!

• Today we are going to look at three reasons we can experience being Alive for the very first time! These three reasons allow us to live a transformed life in Christ!

• Let us turn to Colossians 2:13-15, we will start with verse 15!

• SLIDE #2

• Colossians 2:13 (ESV) And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

Being alive for the very first time is possible because…

I. In Christ your sins are forgiven!

• It is worth taking note that Paul speaks on the issue of forgiveness in each of the first three chapters of Colossians.

• I wonder why?

• Forgiveness is an important issue, it is one of the keys to us being able to enjoy being in fellowship with God.

• One thing I have noticed about forgiveness and it is the part that can seem unfair, is this: The one who have been wronged is the one who needs to forgive.

• Think about that one for a minute. Your spouse has cheated on you and YOU need to forgive them?

• The one who transgressed cannot forgive themselves; they need the one whom they have wronged to forgive them.

• Try telling that to a person whose heart has been shattered and crushed by the one whom they had the most intimate of relationship with.

• For the relationship to be repaired, the transgressor (cheater) HAS to be repentant and the one sinned against has to be able to forgive. That is not always easy to do.

• When it comes to God, we are the transgressor; He is the one who has been transgressed.

• I have dealt with situations where the one who cheated tried to dictate the terms of being forgiven, THAT does not work. The result is the end of a marriage.

• The same result happens with God, when you try to dictate the terms of HIM forgiving YOU, the result is a continued

• Without God forgiving our sins through Jesus, we would never be able to experience new life; we would never be able to experience the joy of being transformed into the image of Jesus each day!

• We start out in a woeful state. In the context Paul is emphasizing to the readers who were mostly Gentiles that they were in a particularly bad state.