Freedom in Christ – Mississippi

Who are we now that we are in Christ?  This sermon was preached at Turning Point Church in Petal on November 12th, 2017.

Finding peace with the battle taking place in your thoughts. #battleforthemind

Bitterness is at the root of so much bondage in our relationship with family, friends, neighbors, churches and even God.  The Christian faith is based on God forgiving us through the work of his son Jesus Christ.  We live forgiven and we forgive to live.  When we stop forgiving others we will loose our joy and start to live in the darkness of bitterness and depression.

There is a spiritual war taking place and the battle ground is in and for our minds.

Strongholds are sin patterns that have developed in our lives and require focused attention to destroy.

Now that we are “in Christ” we need to understand why we often still feel drawn to sin (this is our flesh).  We are now dead to sin, (Romans 6:11; 8:9), but sin still exists in our flesh (Romans 7).

The best testimony is a life that demands an explanation.

One of the ways we realize faulty worldviews have affected us is when we find ourselves searching for experiences to validate truth. For instance

“We know that our old self was crucified with {Jesus] in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6). 

Many who struggle to apply verses like this to themselves wonder,

“What experience must I have in order for that to be truth? I don’t feel dead to sin?  

The only experience that had to happen in order from that to be true happened, over 2000 years ago when Christ died in our place and the only way we can appropriate that is by faith.  Faith in the promises of God allows us to participate with Him in his divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4).

Adapted from “The Power of Presence” – Neil T. Anderson