CBC family,

The songs we’ll sing on Sunday are: 

Sanctus
The Solid Rock
Resurrection Power
Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery

You can listen to them here.

In 2 Corinthians 5, the Apostle Paul tells us that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. “The old” is dead and gone, superseded by something new. That new thing is life in Christ - the same life John keeps talking about in his gospel. More than just a way of living (what we do), this transformation is a way of being (who we are). “The old” was dead in sin, enslaved to sin, and unable to seek God. “The new” possesses eternal life, starting right here and right now; we know and pursue God.

The abundant life Jesus offers to us is a fundamentally changed - and changing - life. We are a new creation, with new desire and power to live in line with our new identity. In another of his letters, written to the Colossian church, Paul tells Christians that, since we’ve been raised with Christ (same idea - brought to life in and with Jesus, with a fundamentally new identity), we continually strive to “put off” the ways and values of our old identity, and “put on” the ways and values of Jesus. It’s a long process, but it’s wonderfully inevitable.

Sundays with our church family are actually a vital part of this process, as we heard last week. Worshiping with our brothers and sisters and sitting under the Word read, sung, prayed, and preached both reminds us of our life in Christ and then sends us out to live in and from our new identity. Brothers and sisters, the old has passed away and the new has come; we are alive in Christ and connected to each other. So let’s celebrate and encourage one another as we fix our eyes on Jesus and testify about what he’s done!

To prepare for Sunday, read 2 Corinthians 5:11-21.

Grace,

Pastor Joseph