Paul explains how transformed thoughts should result in transformed actions.
A change in our behavior starts with a change of mind. We are no longer to live the lifestyle of the world, so how do we start "living a new life?"
Though we don’t need to be baptized to be saved, when we’re saved we do need to be baptized. It’s a step of faith and an act of obedience to our Lord.
If we imagine Death as a person, we can trace his biography from birth, through his centuries-long reign of terror, to the day Death died. Christ has defeated Death and given us victory!
When things go our way, it’s easy to cheer. When God doesn’t do things our way, however, our cheering often stops. Why?
Christ, the head of the body, calls for unity because there is only one faith, one hope, one God.
The empowerment by the Holy Spirit allows us to experience the indwelling of Christ as he takes control of our life. As we begin to imagine all that God can do in us and through us, we’ll see him start doing immeasurably more!
God, by his grace, has given us, his church, the responsibility to use the power and authority of Christ to break into the darkness and make the love of Jesus known to all.
God’s mission is to seek those who are separated from him, reconcile them to himself through Christ, and to unify them all together in the body of Christ – the Church.
God sees us as his handiwork: he took that which was worthless, transformed it through the work of Christ, and now wants to use us to accomplish his purpose, for his glory and honor.