Resurrection Life Church

We are created in the image of God in the fact that we are a triune being; Spirit, Soul & Body. God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit three parts of a whole. Part of who we are is we are spirit. When God reconciled us to Himself He had to change what was corrupted and that was our spirit. That's what happened when Adam and Eve fell in the garden, their spirit was corrupted and God could not fellowship with an unholy spirit.

But God had a plan. That plan was to give us a new spirit and that could only be done by sending His Son, Jesus, to come and take our place and suffer and redeem or buy us back from the enemy. Who we are is spirit.

God doesn't give us new rules and regulations in order for us to follow after Him and live the way He wants us to. He gives us a new spirit which now has access to Him in order for Him to give us all we need to live the life He has destined us to live.

What would it have been like to be there when Jesus Christ performed His miracles?  When He raised Lazarus from the dead, or when He cast out demons, or fed five thousand men with tw loaves and five fish? When He walked on water or healed the blind man?

What would it have been like to have been there when He was betrayed by a friend and arrested in the garden?  What was it like to watch Him being treated like a common criminal?  Being spit on, yelled at, made fun of, kicked, punched and stabbed.  What was it like to have seen the Roman Soldiers grab him and tie Him to a post and beat Him with a “cat of nine tales” a massive and lethal torture tool, to an inch of His life.

What would it have been like to have heard people talk about how great He was and praise Him as one who came from God one week and then next week curse Him and laugh at Him?  What was it like to have had someone notice that you were one of His disciples and point you out to others and then you scream and curse saying you don’t know Him nor have you ever even met the man?

There was one that knows exactly what it was like, Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples.  This week’s message comes from that perspective.  It is emotional, riveting and heart wrenching.  Yet, filled with grace, love, peace and hope.  Hope, Peter found and hope for us today

What would it have been like to be there when Jesus Christ performed His miracles?  When He raised Lazarus from the dead, or when He cast out demons, or fed five thousand men with tw loaves and five fish? When He walked on water or healed the blind man?

What would it have been like to have been there when He was betrayed by a friend and arrested in the garden?  What was it like to watch Him being treated like a common criminal?  Being spit on, yelled at, made fun of, kicked, punched and stabbed.  What was it like to have seen the Roman Soldiers grab him and tie Him to a post and beat Him with a “cat of nine tales” a massive and lethal torture tool, to an inch of His life.

What would it have been like to have heard people talk about how great He was and praise Him as one who came from God one week and then next week curse Him and laugh at Him?  What was it like to have had someone notice that you were one of His disciples and point you out to others and then you scream and curse saying you don’t know Him nor have you ever even met the man?

There was one that knows exactly what it was like, Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples.  This week’s message comes from that perspective.  It is emotional, riveting and heart wrenching.  Yet, filled with grace, love, peace and hope.  Hope, Peter found and hope for us today

We are worshipers. We all are. Every person on the face of the earth is a worshiper whether they believe it or not. We we created to worship. The question is not whether we are worshipers or not but what or who do we worship is the question. So, who do you worship? Yourself, knowledge, fame, other people, religion, the list could go on forever.

As followers of Jesus Christ we worship one God and one God only. Jesus Christ was the personification of God. In other words God in a bod. He came to give us access to Him once again by paying the perfect and complete sacrifice that would legally redeem us back from the enemy. And in so doing giving us the right and power to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

When Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem the people were crying out His praises and the religious people told them to be quite and only give praise to God and not to a man (paraphrased). Jesus replied, "if this people don't praise me, the rocks will cry out in praise." (paraphrased). Why? Because God was gonna make sure His Son would get all the honor and glory due Him. That is how much God thinks of His Son. What do you think about Him?

We are worshipers. We all are. Every person on the face of the earth is a worshiper whether they believe it or not. We we created to worship. The question is not whether we are worshipers or not but what or who do we worship is the question. So, who do you worship? Yourself, knowledge, fame, other people, religion, the list could go on forever.

As followers of Jesus Christ we worship one God and one God only. Jesus Christ was the personification of God. In other words God in a bod. He came to give us access to Him once again by paying the perfect and complete sacrifice that would legally redeem us back from the enemy. And in so doing giving us the right and power to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

When Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem the people were crying out His praises and the religious people told them to be quite and only give praise to God and not to a man (paraphrased). Jesus replied, "if this people don't praise me, the rocks will cry out in praise." (paraphrased). Why? Because God was gonna make sure His Son would get all the honor and glory due Him. That is how much God thinks of His Son. What do you think about Him?

Over the past eight weeks we have learned a lot about who God is, who we are, who we are in Christ and about Christ in us. We have learned a lot about who we truly are. We are all made in the image of God in the fact that we are triune beings. We have a spirit, soul and body. Unfortunately we have live by our “flesh” most of our life until we were “born again” and our spirit became alive in Christ. We made all our decision based off of our soul (our intellect, emotions, etc…) and body.

All our battles were fought within the arena of the soul. But now that we are alive in Christ and our spirit is alive we no longer battle with the same “flesh” weapons. According to scripture our battles are not to be fought with the “weapons” of this world but by the power God gives us through His Holy Spirit.

This week we find out that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, are also Warriors in a war that whether we like it or not is going on, all around us. If we are to come out the victor we are going to have to wage war the way God tells us to and with the artillery that He provides and not through our own weapons and strategies.

Over the past eight weeks we have learned a lot about who God is, who we are, who we are in Christ and about Christ in us. We have learned a lot about who we truly are. We are all made in the image of God in the fact that we are triune beings. We have a spirit, soul and body. Unfortunately we have live by our “flesh” most of our life until we were “born again” and our spirit became alive in Christ.

We made all our decision based off of our soul (our intellect, emotions, etc…) and body. All our battles were fought within the arena of the soul. But now that we are alive in Christ and our spirit is alive we no longer battle with the same “flesh” weapons. According to scripture our battles are not to be fought with the “weapons” of this world but by the power God gives us through His Holy Spirit.

This week we find out that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, are also Warriors in a war that whether we like it or not is going on, all around us. If we are to come out the victor we are going to have to wage war the way God tells us to and with the artillery that He provides and not through our own weapons and strategies.

As we learn and live out who we are in Christ one of the most important aspect and characteristics of being a follower of Jesus is to be a servant. Being a servant is not convenient or easy. But it is more than worth it. What was Jesus motivation to come as a humble servant and serve His own creation? Love! This kind of love doesn't just come by choice but it is divine and imparted by the power of God's Holy Spirit.

It's easy to choose to love the loveable but to love and serve those who don't deserve it is truly God-like. Why serve anyway? Because it's your job as a Christian? It's just what we do? It's a grand choice we make? No, No, No. A Thousand times over, NO! We serve and love those who don't deserve because we can't help it. It is now our nature to love the undeserving or deserving.

The love of God that resides within us "compels" us to. It's beyond our choice and it's our nature!

As we learn and live out who we are in Christ one of the most important aspect and characteristics of being a follower of Jesus is to be a servant. Being a servant is not convenient or easy. But it is more than worth it. What was Jesus motivation to come as a humble servant and serve His own creation? Love! This kind of love doesn't just come by choice but it is divine and imparted by the power of God's Holy Spirit.

It's easy to choose to love the loveable but to love and serve those who don't deserve it is truly God-like. Why serve anyway? Because it's your job as a Christian? It's just what we do? It's a grand choice we make? No, No, No. A Thousand times over, NO! We serve and love those who don't deserve because we can't help it. It is now our nature to love the undeserving or deserving.

The love of God that resides within us "compels" us to. It's beyond our choice and it's our nature!

As Christians we are people who have found their identity in Christ. But what does "in Christ" really mean? Is He literally living inside of me? Does it mean that in a metaphoric kind of way? Being able to know who you are as a follower of Jesus you have to understand what being "in Christ" means.

This week Pastor Allen continues the message series Who am I? with a very tough question to answer, what does "in Christ" mean and how do we live that out everyday of our lives. Being in Christ is much more than doing christian things or speaking "christianese". It is more about Him changing who we are and forming us into His image through the power of the Holy Spirit than it is an American Southern thing. Many people think begin in Christ is all about going to Church.

But God want us to BE the church rather than going to it. We can't do that unless we are "in Christ".