The Cross of Jesus and You - Oct. 22nd - Wednesday Night

Colossians 2:13  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,
Colossians 2:14  by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

God is doing the action in vs. 13 - To rephrase the thought, we could say, "God...made you alive". Why would someone need to be "made alive"? The answer is that they were dead. Just like a person who has drowned and desperately needs someone to intervene on their behalf, we needed God to make us alive or we would have stayed in the same dead state in which we were born.

Eph 2:12  Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 

Many Christians have a misguided idea that our salvation is something that we do and move on from but in Eph. 2:12 we're told to REMEMBER what we were before we came to Christ so that we are completely dependent on God today for life and fulfillment.

"We never move on from the cross, only into a more profound understanding of the cross" (Living the Cross-centered Life by C.J. Mahaney)

October 15, 2014 - Not conforming to this world

We'll be picking up our study on Romans 12:1-2 on what it looks like to not "conform to this world" and how to "renew your mind".

Romans 12:1-2 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.