John 10:7-10 7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8...

John 10:7-10

7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who

have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and

find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they

may have life, and have it to the full. (KJV) “have it more abundantly”

The Abundant Life of a ChristianPart 2

(KJV) “have it more abundantly”

Don’t you just love being able to do things for your kids…

God is no different, last week we looked at several passage that revealed to us God’s desire to bestow blessings in abundance…

But with that He expects us to live a certain way, He calls us to live Holy, different, He wants us to stand out from the sin and shame in the world…

Holy Living from Colossians 3

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Where are we focused in life?Setting our heart & mind means that we

need to make a deliberate choice .


Luke 9:23 pulls these two ideas together for us…

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.


Taking a closer look at those earthly things we realize it always has something to do with self…

What can I do, What can I be, What can I have, What will you do for me, How have you hurt me, What is my right! And it goes on from there…

Bill Gates is given credit for this quote, “When we are caught up in self, failure is our only hope for success.”


One of the keys to Holy Living is desiring the same things that God desires for us.

That’s pretty easy when we remember Ephesians 3:20…, when we remember, God wants His people to be a blessed people…


Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.


The Abundant Life requires an Abundant Death!

You can’t be half-committed to the task of killing or quitting something…

When you don’t kill properly it actually becomes torture, something that is very cruel…

When we fail to put to death, to crucify, the things that God demands to be removed from our lives we only set ourselves up to be tortured by sin…


Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

When something is removed it creates a void that must be filled…


The “new self” more clearly defined…

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.


Note the characteristics of a life changed and blessed by God, an Abundant Life…

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

A life to be cultivated

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The idea of growing brings to mind the need for cultivating in our own lives and admonishing (vs16) others…

Invitation

9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

I am more concerned that we may be lying to ourselves…

Have you put on the new self? It begins when we bury the old self in baptism…

Romans 6

3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

John 10:7-10 7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8...

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