In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij begins looking at Colossians 3 and the new life of a believer in Christ. The first characteristic of the new self appears in Colossians 3:1-4: the new self has new pursuits.
1a. The new self is risen with Christ (v. 1a)
1b. The new self is consecrated for Christ (vv. 1b-2)
1c. The new self is identified with Christ (v. 3)
1d. The new self is glorified with Christ (v. 4)
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morning let’s take our Bibles and turn to Colossians chapter 3 Colossians chapter 3.
and this morning we’re going to be looking at verses one through four Colossians chapter 3.
so if you have your Bible there turn to it if you uh have a few Bibles you can turn also to that and find Colossians let me have a word of prayer first let’s pray father we thank you this morning for bringing us here together thank you Lord for the word of God that is our food for our soul I pray father you would mature us with the word of God make us strong in these days to know the difference between your way in every other way and Lord help us to put up put on the armor of God to be able to stand up the Against The Wiles of the enemy and to stand in your strength and I pray Lord this morning as we look at the word of God that we would realize that when we become Christians we become new Everything Has Changed Lord thank you for the word of God teaching us that and Lord even the detail as we go on in Colossians how it will describe what changes take place but today Lord let us at least know that we are partakers with Christ that you not only saved us but you’ve given us your spirit to sanctify us make us like you preparing us for your presence so thank you Lord give us ears to hear and a heart to receive it and a will to do it and I pray in Christ’s name amen according to Colossians because of the supremacy of God the god-man and the completeness of his work Jesus is sitting for his work is done in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 12 it says and he having offered one sacrifice for sin for all time sat down at the right hand of God so let us rise and and rest in him he is sitting on a throne this morning observe his majesty Delight in his power and Trust in his Dominion he is sitting at the right hand of the father at the place of honor and favor this is proof that we are beloved and favored of God for our representative has a choice place he is risen he is done with death and Earth he ascended to a Majesty on high it says in Romans for if we have died with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him so several things come to mind when we consider what that says and what these passages says that we were dead in trespasses and sins but having believed in Christ you have been quickened you have been made Alive by his Spirit you have been made new and then also conviction and confession of sin The Dread of judgment to come and the sense of present condemnation was worked in us we realized the only thing that could rescue us is Christ and here is the point that Believers in Christ Jesus are no longer spiritually dead any longer the first two chapters of Colossians have already laid down the doctrinal foundations while exposing false teachers and the aberrant transitory human and useless methods of their teaching like traditions of church fathers and men like new moons and sabbaths and sabbaths and holy days and holidays Like rules and regulations like mystical teachings like physical philosophical teachings and all the attitudes which really burden us and keep us in the grave all these need to be thrown away all the furniture of your religion needs to be set aside religion is pretty furniture to the spiritually Dead Man’s chamber but the living man rips off the grave clothes and any garments that are unsuitable for life and for maturity a tomb is not a fit place for a living person the Christian has experienced a radical change of spiritual environment and that should affect the whole of our life every aspect of life our life the very way we think the way the very way we look at things through the very way we speak the very imaginations we have in our mind see the Christian is different he’s changed he’s new he’s alive like never before and God has opened a window on his soul which is letting in the spiritual light for the first time and everything looks different you Martin in his Parables of the gospels tells a story of a rather rough uncultured man who fell in love with a beautiful vase in a shop window he bought the vase and put it on his mental mantelpiece in his room there it became a kind of judgment on its surroundings he had to clean up the room and make it worthy of the vase the curtains looked dingy beside the old chair with the stuffing coming out of it out of the seat would not do anymore the wallpaper and the paint needed renewing so gradually the whole room was transformed in a very similar sense and way when Christ is on the mantle of our heart your whole life is transformed and as Christ is reigning in our heart when we look around from our in our pet on our past life and what’s going on things have to change everything looks old and dingy and complicated and confusing but when we come to Christ that all changes now from Colossians chapter 3 to all chapter 4 verse number six the applications are given for living a true Christian Life and practicing biblical imperatives there are at least three three things that are realized very quickly about the actual life of a Christian coming into this chapter the scriptures before us in Colossians chapter 3 helps us to identify some characteristics of this new self this new man this new person in Christ and the first would be there are three but I’m just going to focus on the first this morning the first would be the new self has new Pursuits and then we’ll look at later on the new self deals decipes decisively with the old man and then the new self puts on new clothing but today we’re going to look at the new self has new Pursuits now today if you are a true Christian you are alive and because you are alive God is given to you new aims and Pursuits in your life but there’s a reason for that we have to know the new self we have to know how it looks what the new self does and why the new self is able to do those things it’s not because we have turned over a new Leaf it’s not because we have the willpower to do it it’s because Christ has saved us he’s given us a spirit and we have a new power to live the Christian Life and so really the first thing a Christian sees that is pursuing new things is that the new self is risen with Christ notice in chapter 3 verse number one it says that if then you have been raised up with Christ here we have that if again if and of course this is this first class conditional if and indicates the Assumption of Truth for the sake of argument and the normal idea then would be that if you are raised with Christ and let us assume that that’s true we’re I’m assuming the audience is raised with Christ they are real believers all right and we’re going to do that then you always have the if and the then right if this is true then something else is going to take place something new is going to take place so when Christ died on the cross for believers sins God counted that we were crucified with him even though we were not yet born and when he rose from the dead God counted that we rose with him the Apostle Paul said it this way in another passage of scripture Galatians 2 20 he says I have been crucified with Christ and it is it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life which he now that I now live I live that I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me now that is a very real truth that a Believer has but we don’t all get it right away it’s something we grow into but it’s something that we must be always thinking about because this change has taken place salvation means death to the old life and Resurrection to the new one in Christ the True Believer has real Union with Christ entered into through repentance and faith it is not something experienced after zealous efforts of fulfilling some kind of self-imposed religious ritual not at all it is a settled fact accomplished by God through Jesus Christ that is not something you seek it is something you receive as a gift from God God has done everything for us we receive it by faith as a gift so if then you have been raised up with Christ if you have been made alive in Christ then then you will have new aims and you will be actively pursuing those aims when you are given newness of life we shouldn’t we should know uh we should long to come out of the grave of self-seeking and sin and fling off those worldly desires and habits leaving behind wrong religion and begin to Worship in spirit and in truth so see he’s already talked about this in Colossians the Apostle Paul we are raised with him and because we are raised with him we have Resurrection Life to Live every day while God leaves us here on this Earth to live for him so we have to know that this is all part of the Christian identity and really the Christian people talk about Christian identity today uh so often but I think they distorted biblically there’s only two things could happen in identity either you’re in The Old Man and the old life or you’re have the new man and the new life that’s it that’s my identity right now in is in Christ and so therefore I why because I’ve been raised with him I’ve been given new life I’m alive to God where before I was not alive to God but secondly I want you to notice in verse number one that the new self is consecrated for Christ it says there keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God see the two imperatives in verse number one and two point to what those new Pursuits include and he’s really setting us up for what’s coming in Colossians that the new consecrated life in Christ entails continuing in two imperatives and imperatives are commands but they are commands now because I’m alive in Christ that I want to do no one’s forcing me to do it I want to do it and what do I want to do I want to first of all keep seeking things above like like it says in verse number one and so this first imperative it means to search for and this present imperative points to the an action taken repeatedly as a matter of habit it becomes a habit of a believer and this is what the believer aims and strives for every day this has to do with the the outer disposition of the new man the Practical Pursuits to obtain what God wants us to be in Christ Jesus and this is the outward proof that we are truly saved and risen with Christ because now we have a desire to seek Heavenly Graces Graces to seek the upward things of life and of godliness so the direction of the person has changed radically and it includes some vital activities so our Quest is not simply for a place but our Quest is for a person it says in the scriptures here above means where Christ is up there at God’s right hand in the glory of heaven we now have a christo-centric theology we have a christocentric mindset we Focus On Christ Alone who is the proper object of worship the one whom as we read all treasure and knowledge is found the one who has finished with his Redemptive Mission the one who is now seated in the place of power and Dominion that Christ sitting at God’s right hand is the exercise of all majesty and power of deity according to his risen also human nature that he is sitting there so the fact that Christ is sitting is speaks of his finished work of redemption Christ does not die over and over again when the communion celebration comes he has died once forever and ever so this means that our activity as Christians center around him that we will seek to please him and look forward to being with him see the question we have to ask ourselves is do we want to be with Christ don’t ask answer that question after it’s all over answer it now because that’s where we’re heading we’re heading to a place where we will be with Christ we will labor after Christ’s likeness we will labor after faith and love and patience and Zeal and kindness and humbleness of spirit this also means that we will clean out every catch hall closet and every Shelf with all its old grudges grudges and sinful habits have to go it all has to go but now we can see it we can see the destruction our sin has done in our life we can see what needs to go we can see our speech needs to change we can see the things that we dwell upon in our mind needs to be altered by the spirit of God we see all those things because we’re alive now we never saw them before actually we lived according to our desires and our lust but now we’re examining our lusts we’re examining our desires why because we’re new and let me remind you let me remind you that in the backdrop of this whole letter is the point that the judaistic religious life is the opposite of the new spiritual life of those who have been raised up with Christ and for the Jew that was a radical thought that’s why they wanted to crucify Jesus because he was exposing their religious system as false as empty as just a bunch of dead works and the judaistic religious life consisted of decrees about material Earthly things as it says in scripture destined to perish that means they’re just temporal things like do not handle and do not taste and do not touch which were just the Commandments and the teachings of men also it included a particular or peculiar worship of humility and severity of the body backed by empty philosophy and again the traditions of men like it says in Colossians 2 8 see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men according to the elementary principles of the world rather than according to Christ also they gave a show of Earthly wisdom and Superstition where it says in Colossians 2 23 these are matters which have to be sure an appearance of wisdom and self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body but are of no value against fleshly indulgences so those are religious things that people did could not expose their heart it could not give them power to put away their sin and to put it to death it had no power at all to do that and so it’s just a bunch of pile of dead men’s bones that’s all it was and that’s where Satan works the most he works in religion he deceives people by all the millions of religions that we have in the world today and he does it just to deceive them to think they’re doing right and good but it’s going to end up they’re not not until the gospel of light shines in and exposes that and then they come and call on Christ they repent of their sin they come in now they’re made alive and they see all that stuff meant nothing and could do nothing in their spiritual life see Paul gives this idea and goal in place of merely ascetic rules the admonition here is that for the reader to live the new spiritual resurrected life and to give a display of the spiritual Vitality in your life it was a commentator named Lightfoot who says You must not only seek heaven but you must think heaven there cannot be spiritual transformation unless the mind is transformed so the Lord is definitely going to change your mind so we not only seek the things above where Christ is and the things that go with that but also we are to consecrate Our Lives it also entails continuing in the second imperative in verse number two notice what it says to set your mind on things above not on things that are on Earth so in other words keep minding things above and remember we formally were hostile in mind chapter 1 verse 21 it says and although you were formally alienated and hostile in mind engaged in evil Deeds that’s who we were before we came to Christ Our mind was darkened we could not see the truth but now we’re alive and now we can set our mind above our mind is now bent towards Jesus it’s bent towards truth so in verse number two this imperative to think to have in mind to devote ourselves to attend to something see the things above are not necessarily heaven what I mean is that we are not to strive to attain heaven and let go of Earth but that’s not really the thought here but the believer the Believers are to ever be minding things above and not things that are on the earth and we’re going to either be minding one or the other you can’t just be minding too as a believer that will be a duplicit mindset and there of course is very very bad confusion so the things above are going to be that we are minding what Christ desires for us to put our minds upon now that’s where truth and Doctrine comes in the things Believers are not to attend to or to mine to are the material Elementary temporal things of the world as I’ve already mentioned religiously it would be decrees about handling and tasting it touching and certain things the decrees about eating and drinking and festivals and sabbats and all kinds of religious rules and rituals they thought to be okay spiritually powerful but ended up being all dead works these have no salvific or sanctifying value but instead the Believers are to mind the things above and things above are defined as to their High nature by the Clause where Christ is in his Supreme exaltation and they are just the opposite of things on the earth and some of those things are if you go back to chapter one verse number 14 what about the ransoming and the remission of our sins to think on those things it says in verse 14 in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins to actually be forgiven by God that’s what we ought to be thinking about that your sins are washed away in Christ and nailed to the cross that’s what we mind as Christian and that should be something we mind every day to know we are forgiven by God and when we do we’re able to forgive others because God forgave us in Christ Jesus so secondly it could be the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are all hidden Christ as it says in Colossians 2 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that Christ is the treasure why we why do we have to go anywhere else when he has everything that we need for life and godliness there’s nowhere else to go or that he Christ is the head and supplies the body to make it grow with the growth of God as it says in chapter 2 verse number 19 and holding fast to the Head from whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints of ligaments grows with a growth which is from God that Christ is in control of growing us of sanctifying us of making us new we are not just left alone to do those things God is doing it on us so these are the things some of the things that must occupy our mind not religion with rules about material things temporal things and with superstitious philosophy regarding those things we’re to leave these and then you will be minding a person you will be minding the Lord Jesus Christ you will be setting your affection upon him who has first set his affection upon you in other words you will be minding and attending to sound Doctrine and that is the practice and life based on biblical truth your thoughts should be on spiritual things and the precepts you are to follow concerning moral conduct as we think in our mind as a new believer we died with Christ we were we are raised with Christ we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies we are hidden with Christ we will be received with Christ so in a sense we’re dead we’re resurrected we have new life and what do we have to look forward to we have glory to look forward to there are things we as Christians are to meditate upon and those things are of course all found in the word of God but meditation being that very special thing a Christian has and it was Donald Whitney who compared meditation to hot water in a tea bag and he wrote that hearing God’s word is like one dip of the tea bag into the cup some of the T of the t’s flavor is absorbed by the water but not as much as would occur with a more thorough circling soaking of the bag so meditation is like immersing the bag completely and letting it steep until the rich tea flavor has been exactly extracted in other words the word of God has to steep and permeate your whole mind like a tea bag left to steep in a cup of hot water until the tea leaves Infuse the whole cup only then can you enjoy the full and rich flavor of the cup of tea and only then can we enjoy the full and rich flavor of the word of God when the word of God will be just permeate our minds and Lead You and me to develop an intense christocentric focus of our life that if our mind is said on Christ then our activity will center around him and we will seek to please him and we will look forward to being with him now thinking of that the old self did seek things too and what did the old self seek when the Bible says here set your mind on things above not on the things of the Earth there’s nothing wrong with preferring riches to uh to poverty but when the mind is set on possessions this is worldly and Earthly the things of Earth could be all summarized as self or selfishness actually the the suffolk-ish often has a derogatory meaning and in slang it means horrible and it could be translated what is selfish means horrible self that the new self is to be minding the Eternal not the Earthly so the root cause of sin is self that sinful nature of ours which says I will do what I want instead of living for God and wanting to do his will man loves himself and wants to do his own will so self says I must have my own way and if I don’t get it I will be displeased and I may get angry this attitude of self-will and selfishness is in the heart of every single human being and the world considers this to be natural and normal for a person to live for himself and to seek what pleases him the most the world says seek your own fulfillment you have the right to do what you want seek what pleases you regardless of how it may affect other people and maybe even destroy other people however we cannot live for ourselves and at the same time do the will of God no one can follow the lord so long as self is in control as man continues to go his own way not obeying God he loads himself down with unbearable load of guilt man tries many ways to solve his problem of guilt and escape from his guilt-ridden conscience and some of the ways man tries to meet his inner need and solve his problems is by seeking worldly success many people a lot of people try to find satisfaction in life accumulating things automobiles houses luxuries conveniences these things may make life easier but they do not meet the Deep needs of the heart that scripture tells us beware that you be on your guard against every form of greed for not even when one is has an abundance does his life consist of possessions success money power do not make people happy they don’t even prepare especially don’t prepare people for Judgment of God that comes after death it’s all temporal Pursuits even Mark tells us for what does it profit if a man gains the whole world and forfeit his soul popularity wanes possessions wear out just temporal some people on their other hand the old self seeks worldly pleasure eating drinking and being married for tomorrow we died entertainment fun vacations music movies food and drink and drugs all those things our people are trying to get pleasure some some people are trying to escape their life and one of the ways Satan destroys people is throughout alcoholic drinks and many different kinds of drugs people often turn to these things to escape from their troubles drinking and drugs may seem to give relief from the problems of life but eventually they destroy those who use them and Proverbs gives us wisdom here where it says the wine is a mocker and strong drink a brawler and whoever is Intoxicated by them is not wise it’s foolish Pursuits Beauty fades Health Fades and fails Earthly indulgences do not satisfy they’re all temporal James says they’re rotten to the core your gold and your silver have rusted and the rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire some people just trying to reform in their life they say they just realize hey I haven’t lived such a great life I’ve been a pretty bad person I live this sinful life so they say to themself I’ll reform I will live a good life from now on and maybe that will make up for my past sins and transgressions but no one can live the rest of his life without sinning no matter how hard he tries even if you could even if even if he could he would not make up for his past sins and then some people just say you know what I’ll just be religious that seems like the best way out I’ll be religious and many people go to church and many people pray and they light candles and they give money and they do Many religious things and hope that they will be forgiven of their sins hoping someday somehow they’re good will outweigh their bad but becoming religious does not take away sins nor does it change the person on the inside again all these Earthly things and Pursuits are just again nothing but dead works so in other words the new man keeps minding the eternal so the admonition for us is don’t become attracted and attached to what is only temporary it’s all going to be passing away all of it’s going to be passing away the only thing to live your life for Christ so see the new self is risen with Christ the new self is consecrated for Christ but I want you to notice in verse number three of Colossians chapter 3 it says here this gives us the third one the new self is identified with Christ and there’s two reasons for these exhortations the first reason you are to go on seeking and minding is that it says very clearly again he says this like over again the believer has died that’s in the past tense you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God you died points to a definite event that has happened also it includes here the thought that death which is connect which connected you with the saving death of Christ rendered you dead a dead person as far as religiosity operating merely in the realm of the material and the Earthly that those who have been raised with Christ are to count the old person the old self as dead to the old life finished with Satan’s family that the believer is dead to the old pattern of externalism in religion as well as dead to the guilt and Damnation of of Satan’s family and dead to worldliness defeat and doubt that the new self does not love sin anymore it doesn’t mean that the new self does not sin but the new self doesn’t love it anymore it actually loathes sin the things of sin should be repugnant to the Saint in Christ as a decaying corpse dead decaying flesh if you’ve ever been around it really really stinks it will get your nostrils quick and get you out of there as fast as you smell it so did that old selfishly sensitive part of you come to an end at conversion to Christ did that happen to you and a new nature come alive in your life if that has happened to you I pray that that is your experience but if not Christ is calling you to repent today of your sin and to have faith in Jesus to save your soul forgive you and give you eternal life so you can be made new so see I’m identified with Christ because I died with him and I died to this lust and the desire for sin I don’t want it anymore I want to stay as far away from it as possible but there’s a second reason you have to go on seeking and minding and that is in verse number three that you are HID with Christ and that’s present right now it says you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God and this really points to something that is concealed or covered the perfect tense used here points to something completed and really alludes to a permanent outcome for the believer this has happened to us and this is our case right now as Believers and Believers are HID suggest three things hidden suggests number one secrecy the believer’s life is maintained and nurtured by an invisible power and that power is the holy spirit of God because we seek those things which are above this new life is hidden from you the world can’t see it your family often cannot see it of course they see change but they don’t see that internal working in your heart the world cannot see this new life which the believer has experienced the Christian sphere of life is not Earth but heaven and then also it includes security notice how it says there God in Christ you know that is that’s the mark of double protection that God wants us to know that listen as we go through this life we are protected by God A.T Robertson says it has the force to mean locked together with the unbreakable bond between believers Christ and God the Father are one it is this bond that provides the security for believers as they wait the final fulfillment of God’s plan in history so no so no hellish burglar can break this combination of Christ in God and now the spirit of God indwelling us the Gospel of John says it this way I have given eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one shall snatch them out of my hand my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father’s hand I and the father are one so it’s you know talk about eternal security here it is right here that you and I are HID with Christ and we are HID with Christ and protected by him Satan has no handle on you he has no right to get you anymore Christ has you see that’s something we have to think about every single day no matter how Troublesome life gets no matter how confusing the world gets you are HID with Christ so that means not only is it secret not only are is it security but it’s also identity the believer is identified with the Risen Christ instead of identity markers that provide external identification of those who follow false teachers the colossian Believers are called to identify themselves simply in reference to Christ we are called to identify ourselves as Christ’s followers these are the things that attract and excite Believers we belong to God and our citizens in the Kingdom of his dear son in a very real sense Believers are already living in the company of Christ and in the Heavenly realm all this being hidden from human gaze but the Christian knows it because they trust in the character of God and know what God says is true so that has to be true of you you are resonant with Christ you are consecrated with Christ you are identified with Christ secured in Christ and then why all that well look at verse number three the end of verse number three it says when Christ who is our life excuse me verse number four excuse me when Christ who is our life is revealed then you will be revealed with him in glory so here this is the end result so you had the past being dead with Christ you have the present you’re hid with Christ and now you have the future we always have a past present and future as Believers right that’s what gives us identity and so if the past is true that I’m dead and risen with Christ if the present is true that I am hidden and secure and identified in Christ then the future is true also the future is true also we will be glorified with Christ and this refers to the second coming of Christ and to the revelation of Believers in their new glorified States when we’ll have resurrected bodies and be in the presence of God a time when the veil will be removed so that the things which are now hidden from the eyes will be illuminated in a bright light and we will see him as he is but we will also see ourselves as we are in Christ Christ’s unveiling is inextricably bound with our unveiling in glory this will take place this is our hope as Philippians tells us who will transform the body of our humble State into Conformity with the body of His Glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself so the ultimate purpose of Salvation is to see him to live for him and to ultimately be with him that is the ultimate of purpose of salvation one man went to call at a place of business of one of his friends a jeweler who had a large clientele so he invited them to his jewelry shop and the Jeweler showed his friends a store of superb diamonds and other precious stones among them was a stone so lusterless that the friend says that has no Beauty at all hasn’t it the Jeweler said lifting the Stone from the tray and closing his fist over it covering it a few moments went by and he opened up his hand and the stone glowed with a splendor of a rainbow why what happened what had been done the friend asked the Jewish smiled and said this is an opal he said it is what is called a sympathetic Jewel it needs only to be gripped in the human hand to bring out the wonderful Beauty see it’s like a Believer a Believer once gripped and held securely in the hand of God that is what brings out the beauty of being a Believer the fullness of what we will be has not been revealed yet the luster and the wonderful beauty of Christ and his sheep will not be unveiled until Christ is unveiled Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God the father but one day he will come and take his people home and when he does we shall enter into eternal glory with Christ forever and ever it is all true and this is the encouragement of Believers to go on and live in this world until Christ takes us out and to live for his glory so here’s the reality of the Christian Life this is where the changed life can be seen in accord with the very completeness of our death and Resurrection with Christ we are to render dead our members foreign but here’s a note of warning our measure of Glory in that day will depend upon whether Christ is indeed our very life and the Center focus of our life on Earth that becomes a very important thing is it is that your focus do you know today for sure that you are in Christ that these changes have taken place in your life you can see the fruit of being a believer of of seeing this new self that has emerged once you’ve come to Christ if you haven’t seen any of those things don’t deceive yourself that you’re a believer you’re not they have to be evident see the new self pursues living for Christ because he has risen with Christ he’s consecrated for Christ he’s identified with Christ and he is glorified with Christ and that is our hope amen let’s pray Lord thank you so much again for the word of God for the conviction of it the clarity of it for us to be able to have it in our hands so we can see these things now we can know what you desire and what pleases you we can know the things that should be going on in our life and I pray Lord as we continue in Colossians we will see them the sin that we ought to put off and the new things we ought to put on but I pray until that day Lord you would make Us Faithful followers of Christ and that we would be seeking things above we would be minding things that have to do with spiritual things and biblical things and things that are related to Christ but then also Lord that we know that we have a present a future and a past that is connected to us as Believers thank you Lord Jesus for providing these truth to us so we can live a faithful consistent Christian Life and I pray in Christ’s name