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The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the bedrock of Christian faith. It is the singular feature that makes Christianity unique and lively.\u00a0 It is the foundation of every hope and expectation that believers have in this life and hereafter.\u00a0 The grace to run the Christian race is anchored on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our mentor and mediator.<\/p>\n
There is metaphoric symbolism between the death and resurrection of Christ on one side and the true practice of our faith in God on the other side. It is expected that every believer will die to self, resurrect, and then have a new life devoted to the service of God.\u00a0 This happens at the point of salvation and with the infilling of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 The believer is said to be \u2018Risen with Christ\u2019.\u00a0 It comes with the privileges, implications and challenges.\u00a0 This study will therefore focus on these privileges, challenges and implication of being \u2018Risen with Christ\u2019.<\/p>\n
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The term \u201cRisen with Christ\u201d, refers to the lifestyle of someone who has accepted Christ as his lord and personal Savior and has experienced true transformation in character and in their goals of life. It means to be converted from darkness to light and form sin to righteousness by the grace of God.\u00a0\u00a0 Colossians 3:1-2 (NKJV), \u201cif then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.\u00a0 Set your mind on things above, not on things on earth.\u201d\u00a0 When a man is risen with Christ, he is given power to overcome evils such as fornication, unclean-ness, evil desires and covetousness, idolatry, pride and unforgiving spirit.<\/p>\n
The man who has risen with Christ is that believer who has submitted totally to the will of God. He does not compromise in any way, his attention and focus is to do the will of God.<\/p>\n
The desire for sin is mortified and the grace of God is quickened. He is governed by higher principles which emphasize total surrender to God, a refusal to let sin reign in one\u2019s body and the desire to always be in the will and service of God.<\/p>\n
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Any man without Christ is living a life that is dead in trespasses. All he does is to please himself and the devil.\u00a0 The works of the flesh are wholly manifested in such life; and these are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, jealousy, outburst of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, drunkenness, murder, etc.<\/p>\n
A lifestyle that is dead in trespasses will also exhibit anger, malice, blasphemy, filthy language and telling of lies without remorse. The conscience is dead and does not hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 His focus is materialistic and satisfaction of carnal passions.\u00a0 He is blind to eternity and cares only about the present life.\u00a0 He may be in church, but just to socialize.\u00a0 His prayers are mere academic expressions, and giving bites him very hard in the bones.\u00a0 Such are the characters of one who is dead in trespasses.\u00a0 Only the quickening power of God can redeem him.<\/p>\n
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These are those who subscribe to Satan. They are at his mercy, and with him, there is no compassion.\u00a0 So it is actually terrible for them both here and after now.<\/p>\n
It is never the will of God that anyone should perish. God sent Jesus Christ to redeem us from our destruction and the consequences of our sins.\u00a0 The wrath of God is coming upon those who are dead in trespasses.\u00a0 It can come in form of sickness and disease and affliction.\u00a0 They are aliens to the grace of God, they are hopeless and helpless.<\/p>\n
Also, those who are dead in trespasses and refuse to come out of them will not inherit the kingdom of God. They shall have their part in the lake of fire.<\/p>\n
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This is someone who has put on the new man through salvation. A man who is risen with Christ is a disciplined and dedicated follower of Christ.\u00a0 He is an elect of god, holy and beloved, who manifests tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness and longsuffering.\u00a0 He sets his eyes on things above, leads by example with Christ-like humility and he is prayerful.\u00a0 Moreover, he is regenerated in the love of God, and speaks the truth at all times.\u00a0 When he gets angry, he does not allow anger make him commit sin; he forgives.\u00a0 The fruit of the Spirit are manifest in him; which are love, peace, longsuffering, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.\u00a0 One risen with Christ crucifies the flesh with its passions and desires.\u00a0 He lives in the Spirit and also walks in the Spirit.\u00a0 He is committed in time and resources to the cause of the gospel and eagerly awaits the coming of Christ.<\/p>\n
He runs a home where Jesus is Lord, and an office where faithfulness in service is evident.<\/p>\n
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The benefits of this kind of life are very numerous. First, we please God and receive His commendation when we are risen with Christ.\u00a0 We make ourselves worthy vessels for His use and for Him to indwell.<\/p>\n
We defeat sin and Satan when we are risen with Christ. We are privileged to live above natural limitations. \u00a0We are given authority over pains associated with trials, temptations and anxiety.\u00a0 When we are risen with Christ, we receive grace to fulfill our calling and to be faithful in the work of God.\u00a0 We are not distracted by the lures of carnality because our affections are set on things above.\u00a0 Finally, we are assured of eternal life where we will reign with Christ in glory.<\/p>\n
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Just as Christ died and rose from the dead, unto a new and incorruptible life, even so believers are enjoined to put the old self to death by renouncing the works of darkness, resurrect through repentance and forgiveness of sins, and put on a new life of righteousness and faith in Jesus Christ. It is then that we will be truly reconciled to God in fellowship.\u00a0 His grace is then made available to us to run the race.<\/p>\n
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Colossians 3:2 \u2013 \u201cSet your affections of things above, not on things on the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Risen With Christ Central Thought: The Christian race is anchored on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hymn: Christ is Lord is risen today. Text: Colossians 3:1-17; Ephesians 2:10-10 The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the bedrock of Christian faith. It is the singular feature that makes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sundayschool"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1072,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions\/1072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}