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Grace,
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mercy and peace to you from God
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our Father and from our Lord
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and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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Amen.
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Dear brothers and sisters
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in Christ,
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what a joy it is to be in this
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Easter season with you.
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We have left behind the
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nasty weather of Lent.
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It's beautiful outside.
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The flowers are blooming.
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The trees are budding.
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It's nice to be outside.
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We've turned away from all this
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reflection on our sin,
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on fasting,
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on lamenting and grieving.
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We've turned away from all
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of this sad, sour,
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dark season of Lent,
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and we've turned to the
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season of Easter,
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which is filled with celebration
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and feasting.
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It's filled with hallelujahs.
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Indeed.
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Alleluia Christ is risen.
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Hallelujah.
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It's good to be in this season.
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It's good to be out of a season
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where we're giving up things for
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Lent. Did any of you do that?
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Give something up for Lent?
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I know that this has become
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sort of a thing.
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Lots of people like to do this.
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Some people give up chocolate.
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Some people give up ice
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cream or potato chips.
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Some people,
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Catholics give up red meat for
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Lent and thereby provide these
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wonderful fish fry Fridays,
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lavish meals that even a lot of
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Lutherans have gotten on board
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with. They're quite tasty.
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And I've enjoyed a few myself.
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My boys gave up YouTube on
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their phones for Lent,
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which was a serious deal
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because, well,
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they could have used to spend a
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little bit less time on YouTube
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on their phone.
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My wife and I decided this past
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Lent to give up alcohol,
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for the most part,
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to give up alcohol in the
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evenings when it was just us,
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and to limit ourselves as much
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as possible during
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social occasions.
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I told a friend about this,
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a mature Christian and
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astute theologian,
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and his response after hearing
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that I had given up alcohol for
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Lent was that's ridiculously
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stupid.
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Dear friends,
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the more I've thought about it,
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the more I think he
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might be right.
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And and I want to think with you
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a little bit this morning
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about this
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discipline of giving
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things up for Lent,
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especially as we turn ourselves
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toward this season of Easter.
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Now that we're out of
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this season of Lent,
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I can rest assured that nobody
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is probably going to try to
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stone me here in the pulpit
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because I'm tempting them to
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break their Lenten fast.
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But I do want to think about
00:03:22.212 --> 00:03:24.946
it for future Lents,
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but especially for the
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season of Easter.
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And I want to do so by focusing
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actually on our Epistle lesson
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this morning. In fact,
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would you open up your pew Bible
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in the pew in front of you to
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the Epistle, to Colossians.
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Paul's Epistle to
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the Colossians.
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We're not just going to
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look at our pericope,
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but we're going to take a little
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walk through Paul's Epistle to
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the Christians in Colossae.
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It's on page 983.
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If you're flipping around
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for Colossians,
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page 983 in your pew Bible.
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Look especially at verse two,
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Chapter one, verse two.
00:04:05.176 --> 00:04:07.086
Paul starts out his Epistle
00:04:07.118 --> 00:04:09.390
by addressing his readers,
00:04:09.470 --> 00:04:10.670
his hearers,
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by saying this to the saints and
00:04:13.031 --> 00:04:14.482
faithful brothers in
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Christ at Colossae.
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How easy it is to skip over
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those two little words
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in Christ.
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How simple those two little
00:04:25.916 --> 00:04:29.020
words in Christ are,
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and yet how profound.
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Paul develops a whole theology
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in his Epistles around
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these two words,
00:04:40.530 --> 00:04:41.854
what it means for us
00:04:41.892 --> 00:04:45.040
to be in Christ.
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It defines our entire identity.
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Our salvation is in Christ.
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Our justification is in Christ.
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We are not far from God.
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We are in Christ.
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It changes everything
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that we do.
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It impacts every single minute
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of every single day
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that we live.
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We are dear brothers and sisters
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in Christ, in Christ.
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And what does this mean?
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The good Lutheran question what
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does it mean to be in Christ?
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Well,
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scan with me just a little bit
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further down the column to
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verses 13 and 14 of chapter one.
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He that is the Father,
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if you notice just above
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in verse twelve,
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he the Father has delivered us
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from the domain of darkness and
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transferred us to the kingdom of
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his beloved Son in whom
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we have redemption,
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the forgiveness of sins.
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He has delivered us that word
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in the Greek is erestitoe.
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It means to rescue.
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tTo get somebody who
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is in a place of
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danger to a place of safety.
00:06:04.130 --> 00:06:08.010
He delivered us from the domain
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of darkness. Now, now,
00:06:09.412 --> 00:06:11.114
that sounds a little ethereal.
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What is this domain of darkness?
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In the Greek,
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the word domain is Exusia.
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The same word that Jesus says
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in Matthew 28. All exhusia,
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all authority in heaven and on
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earth has been given to me.
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Jesus said it.
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Paul says that we have been
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delivered or rescued from an
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authority, a dominion,
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a domain of darkness,
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the realm of our enemy.
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A divine rescue mission that the
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Father sent his son on to rescue
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us out of this horrible
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place of darkness
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and to transfer us
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it says mates, maytestas.
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It can sometimes be used to talk
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about the deposing of a ruler.
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A ruler that is on a throne is
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deposed, is brought off,
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the throne is gotten
00:07:10.142 --> 00:07:10.866
out of there.
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The picture here for us is that
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there's a ruler on a throne and
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we are taken out from under
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his dominion and domain.
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The word can even be used
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for transplanted.
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We've been put into
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a whole new place.
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We don't live in a domain of
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darkness and dread and
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fear of Satan.
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We live, as Luther said,
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under Christ and in his kingdom.
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It's a kingdom not of darkness,
00:07:44.682 --> 00:07:45.680
but of light.
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A kingdom not of death,
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but of life.
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It's a kingdom of redemption
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and forgiveness.
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Most of the rest of chapter
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one and chapter two,
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Paul is elaborating on this
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theme of what has
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happened to us.
00:08:03.656 --> 00:08:04.942
What it means for us
00:08:05.016 --> 00:08:07.159
to live in Christ.
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But,
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dear brothers and sisters in
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Christ, make no mistake,
00:08:13.210 --> 00:08:14.360
this transfer,
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this taking out of this rescuing
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it didn't happen because you
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gave up something for Lent.
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It didn't happen because
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of your own doing.
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It's, in fact,
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not something that you could
00:08:32.212 --> 00:08:33.280
do for yourself.
00:08:34.049 --> 00:08:36.190
You had to be rescued.
00:08:36.530 --> 00:08:39.021
You had to be delivered because
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you couldn't get yourself
00:08:40.932 --> 00:08:42.080
out of there.
00:08:44.750 --> 00:08:47.546
And so giving up something for
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Lent has nothing to do with this
00:08:50.592 --> 00:08:51.994
new reality that we
00:08:52.032 --> 00:08:54.540
have in Christ.
00:08:56.470 --> 00:08:58.610
Paul says if you flip the page
00:08:58.680 --> 00:09:00.334
with me to chapter two,
00:09:00.372 --> 00:09:01.360
verse twelve.
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If you're wondering how did
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this concretely happen?
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When did this happen to me?
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Paul says chapter two,
00:09:10.788 --> 00:09:11.262
verse twelve.
00:09:11.316 --> 00:09:12.542
Having been buried with
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Christ in baptism,
00:09:13.930 --> 00:09:16.042
in which you were also raised
00:09:16.106 --> 00:09:18.046
with him through faith in the
00:09:18.068 --> 00:09:19.982
powerful working of God who
00:09:20.036 --> 00:09:21.898
raised him from the dead.
00:09:22.074 --> 00:09:23.882
See this power that raised
00:09:23.946 --> 00:09:25.670
Christ from the dead.
00:09:26.730 --> 00:09:28.038
is the same power
00:09:28.124 --> 00:09:29.400
working in you.
00:09:30.890 --> 00:09:31.880
Your life,
00:09:32.410 --> 00:09:33.890
all your sins,
00:09:34.050 --> 00:09:35.554
they were put to death
00:09:35.682 --> 00:09:36.760
with Christ.
00:09:38.090 --> 00:09:40.682
And this new reality is that
00:09:40.736 --> 00:09:43.100
you are raised to new life.
00:09:43.630 --> 00:09:45.674
Someday Christ is going to
00:09:45.712 --> 00:09:47.462
appear and he is going to raise
00:09:47.526 --> 00:09:49.034
all people to new life.
00:09:49.152 --> 00:09:50.665
And we will have resurrected
00:09:50.698 --> 00:09:52.590
bodies and it will be glorious.
00:09:53.250 --> 00:09:56.160
But that reality of new life
00:09:56.530 --> 00:09:58.480
is yours even today.
00:09:59.730 --> 00:10:01.870
It is your new reality.
00:10:02.210 --> 00:10:03.826
You are in Christ,
00:10:03.928 --> 00:10:06.878
you are raised from the dead.
00:10:06.974 --> 00:10:08.526
This is called realized
00:10:08.638 --> 00:10:09.662
eschatology.
00:10:09.806 --> 00:10:11.874
What will happen in the future
00:10:11.992 --> 00:10:14.002
has already happened to you.
00:10:14.056 --> 00:10:15.414
You have already been
00:10:15.452 --> 00:10:16.726
raised to new life.
00:10:16.828 --> 00:10:20.069
And so this means a lot for
00:10:20.140 --> 00:10:22.040
life in the day to day.
00:10:22.410 --> 00:10:24.102
Look with me at chapter two,
00:10:24.156 --> 00:10:25.080
verse 20,
00:10:26.010 --> 00:10:28.614
Paul writes if with Christ you
00:10:28.652 --> 00:10:30.294
died to the elemental spirits
00:10:30.342 --> 00:10:30.842
of the world,
00:10:30.896 --> 00:10:32.310
the domain of darkness,
00:10:32.390 --> 00:10:33.530
Satan himself,
00:10:34.030 --> 00:10:35.434
why as if you were still
00:10:35.472 --> 00:10:36.314
alive in the world,
00:10:36.352 --> 00:10:38.134
do you submit to regulations?
00:10:38.262 --> 00:10:40.550
Do not handle, do not taste,
00:10:40.630 --> 00:10:41.546
do not touch,
00:10:41.648 --> 00:10:43.002
don't eat potato chips,
00:10:43.066 --> 00:10:44.394
don't eat ice cream,
00:10:44.522 --> 00:10:45.950
don't drink wine.
00:10:47.970 --> 00:10:49.502
Referring to things that all
00:10:49.556 --> 00:10:51.246
perish as they are used
00:10:51.428 --> 00:10:53.198
according to human precepts
00:10:53.214 --> 00:10:54.210
and teachings.
00:10:54.710 --> 00:10:56.830
These have indeed an appearance
00:10:56.910 --> 00:10:58.210
of wisdom.
00:10:59.110 --> 00:11:00.706
Sounded pretty good to me to
00:11:00.728 --> 00:11:02.610
give up alcohol for Lent.
00:11:03.990 --> 00:11:05.814
These have an appearance of
00:11:05.852 --> 00:11:07.958
wisdom in promoting self made
00:11:08.044 --> 00:11:10.982
religion and asceticism and
00:11:11.036 --> 00:11:12.566
severity to the body.
00:11:12.748 --> 00:11:15.302
But they are of no value in
00:11:15.356 --> 00:11:17.358
stopping the indulgence
00:11:17.554 --> 00:11:18.970
of the flesh.
00:11:20.510 --> 00:11:22.165
What Paul is really concerned
00:11:22.198 --> 00:11:24.330
about is not those things
00:11:24.400 --> 00:11:26.074
outside of us chocolate and
00:11:26.112 --> 00:11:28.486
ice cream and Barola wine.
00:11:28.678 --> 00:11:30.021
What Paul is really
00:11:30.096 --> 00:11:31.200
concerned about
00:11:32.450 --> 00:11:34.000
is the sin within.
00:11:36.130 --> 00:11:40.480
The sin within the darkness that
00:11:40.930 --> 00:11:43.822
we sometimes encourage and
00:11:43.876 --> 00:11:45.226
almost act as if it's
00:11:45.258 --> 00:11:46.350
still alive.
00:11:47.569 --> 00:11:49.950
But Paul says put it to death.
00:11:53.170 --> 00:11:54.606
Our pericope says if you've been
00:11:54.627 --> 00:11:55.622
raised with Christ,
00:11:55.675 --> 00:11:57.042
seek the things that are above
00:11:57.106 --> 00:11:58.658
where Christ is seated.
00:11:58.834 --> 00:11:59.940
Set your minds on things.
00:12:00.090 --> 00:12:00.714
Things that are above,
00:12:00.762 --> 00:12:02.842
not on things on the earth.
00:12:02.986 --> 00:12:04.590
And so he says in verse five
00:12:04.660 --> 00:12:05.850
put to death, therefore,
00:12:05.930 --> 00:12:08.110
what is earthly in you.
00:12:08.180 --> 00:12:09.898
Sexual, immorality, impurity,
00:12:09.994 --> 00:12:10.874
passion, evil,
00:12:10.922 --> 00:12:13.466
desire and covetousness,
00:12:13.658 --> 00:12:16.350
which is idolatry.
00:12:17.490 --> 00:12:19.758
Far better than giving something
00:12:19.844 --> 00:12:23.694
up for Lent is dying to the
00:12:23.732 --> 00:12:26.166
things which are part of
00:12:26.188 --> 00:12:28.150
the domain of darkness.
00:12:28.970 --> 00:12:31.474
That's part of our resurrected
00:12:31.522 --> 00:12:32.454
new life.
00:12:32.652 --> 00:12:34.006
Not something that we have
00:12:34.028 --> 00:12:35.510
to do for ourselves.
00:12:35.850 --> 00:12:37.602
We don't have to give up
00:12:37.676 --> 00:12:38.650
something for God.
00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:41.514
He gave himself up for us when
00:12:41.552 --> 00:12:43.786
he gave up his very life on the
00:12:43.808 --> 00:12:45.414
cross and was raised
00:12:45.462 --> 00:12:46.460
to new life.
00:12:47.070 --> 00:12:49.786
That life is your life.
00:12:49.968 --> 00:12:52.182
That reality is your reality.
00:12:52.246 --> 00:12:54.140
You are in Christ.
00:12:55.630 --> 00:12:57.966
So put to thing put to death the
00:12:57.988 --> 00:12:59.886
things that are of the
00:12:59.908 --> 00:13:01.310
domain of darkness
00:13:02.370 --> 00:13:03.630
and rejoice.
00:13:04.530 --> 00:13:08.030
We live in a season of Easter.
00:13:09.330 --> 00:13:11.582
We live in a season of life
00:13:11.716 --> 00:13:14.990
under Christ in his kingdom.
00:13:15.530 --> 00:13:18.069
Alleluia Christ is risen.
00:13:21.690 --> 00:13:23.410
Alleluia. Amen.