SUNNY THOUGHTS FROM SUNSET by Rev. Vance Drum 7-20

This past week we mourned the passing of our member Wadell Brimberry, who was 86.  Wadell grew up at Sunset, loved the Lord and his church, and will be missed by all who knew and loved him.

The Sunset pastor continued our “Raised with Christ” series with a message, “Where Is Your Heart?”

The text, about our commitment to Christ, was from Colossians 3:1:  “Set your heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”

 Did you ever see an athletic game where one team was fully committed to winning, but the other team played only a routine game, as if their heart wasn’t in it, and they really didn’t care whether they won or not?

 The pastor made three points:  (1) Christ Is Risen! (2) We Are Raised; (3) Where Is Your Heart?

(1) Christ Is Risen.  V1, “Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”

 Christ is exalted now to the highest place in glory.  He is supremely worthy of all of our honor, thanks and praise — our commitment to Him!

 The song says, “We serve a risen Savior!”  Christ died for our sins on Calvary’s cross, and he was buried, but on the third day he was raised up from the dead by the power of God.

 Not only that, but 40 days after his rising, Christ ascended into the heavens, and today he is seated — high and lifted up — at the right hand of His Father in heaven.

And even though he is seated high, he looks low.  He is concerned about you.

 (2) We Are Raised.  V1:  Since, then, you have been raised with Christ.”  How did that happen?

 First, just as Christ died, so we also died.  V3:  “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”  Paul said, “You died,” and then, he talks about “your life.” So, when did we die?

 Romans 6:2:  “We died to sin….”  When we died in this life, we died to sin.  We died to sin when we decided to put aside the old life of misery, sin and corruption, and come into God’s new, full and abundant life.

 We came up from the devil’s destructive underworld into God’s beautiful upper world.

 The Bible calls this process repentance. It just means to change one’s mind about God, sin and the devil.

 When we come to Jesus, God begins to work a glorious change in our lives. The old fades away, and the new comes in.  2 Corinthians 5:17:  “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed, and the new has come.”

 And what a blessing the new life is!  Where we used to be deceived and cursed by the devil, now the light has come on, we’re no longer deceived by the devil’s tricks, and we are blessed by God.

 We are “raised with Christ, and our life is hidden with Christ in God.”  Jesus and his people are inseparable.  Christ is the head; we are his body.  His saving and redeeming body, through us, is extended all over the world, and it is a blessing that God’s people are here.

 (3) Where Is Your Heart?  Vss1-2:  “Set your heart on things above…set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Paul said two times: “Set.”

Set has to do with commitment. If you walk out on the sidewalk, the concrete has “set” — for a long time, but it was not always that way.  It used to be fluid, but the nature of concrete is to “set.”

 Christians are set:  they are committed to God, and God blesses the believer who is so committed.  2 Chronicles 16:9:  “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

 Committed means pledged first, in baptism.  Then, pursue a lively, growing relationship: talking (in prayer), listening (to His word), and loving (in worship) in a steady marathon, not a sprint. Be blessed!

 “They called on the Lord and he answered them….”  [Psalm 99:6]

 Call on the Lord this week, and He will answer you — our prayer for you from your friends at Sunset Christian Church.

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