What is the relevance of the Word to my life?
• What areas of your life need to be surrendered to Him and be put to death now that you are alive in Christ?
• Why do we sometimes feel like we do not deserve to come to God and ask for His blessings?
• Do you set your eyes on earthly things or on things above? What does the Bible tell us about this?
How can I apply the Word to my life?
• How can you be more firm in saying no to sin and putting to death the things in your life that do not please God?
• What steps can you take to deepen and strengthen your relationship with Him?
• In what ways can you better take hold of the fact that you are now dead to your old sinful life and are now alive in Christ?
• Pray for God's abundant grace so that we can continue to overcome sins and bad habits in our lives.
• Pray that God will enable us to set our eyes on things that are eternal.
• Pray for the grace to continually abide in Him and live out His purpose for our lives.
I AM ALIVE
Week 2
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· Recall a time when you were so sick or confined in a hospital. How does it feel to be healed after being ill?
· Have you or someone you know ever had a near-death experience? What was it like?
· Do you believe in afterlife? Does it excite you or scare you?
It's an amazing thing to see someone who's really sick become healed. But just imagine how even more amazing it is to see a lifeless being suddenly breathe and have a full and exciting life to live? While we may not see or experience the latter in our world today, according to the Bible, that's what happened when we accepted Jesus in our lives and entered into a relationship with him. How much do we understand what it means to be “alive in Christ?”
Let’s look at the Bible and study what it has to say:
· Being alive in Christ means we can put to death our sinful nature.
“4But God, beingrich in mercy,because of the great love with which he loved us,5evenwhen we were dead in our trespasses,made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5 (ESV)
Trying to become a “good person” is a source of frustration for many of us. As humans, we tend to do what’s bad rather than what’s good. The great thing, however, is that Jesus reached out to us and chose to save us even while we were still sold out to our sinful nature. Through His sacrifice and abundant grace, we are taught how to say “no” to ungodliness and our earthly passions (Titus 2:12).
How can we continue to live this holy life that God has called us to live? ______
· Being alive in Christ means we are now connected to God and His blessings
“ 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurableriches of his grace inkindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2: 6- 7
Being spiritually dead is not just a matter of having a “bad spiritual life” – it means not having a spiritual life at all. Without Jesus, the only way to the Father (John 14:6), we are entirely and eternally disconnected from Him. But because He loves us, He made a way to connect us to Him through His Son's sacrifice on the cross. Now, we can freely come to Him as His sons and daughters, and receive the fullness of His blessings and grace. How does God want us to approach Him now that we have full access to Him? (See Heb. 4:16)
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· Being alive in Christ means we can look forward to a life with Him in heaven.
“6and raised us up with him andseated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2: 6
God made us alive so that we may spend forever with Him. To us who experience constant suffering and challenges in this world, there can be no greater comfort. Not only did He set us apart for a great purpose in this world, He also gave us access to an everlasting life with Him in heaven, where there's no more weeping and separation. This enables us to look beyond our present circumstances and persevere in our relationship with Him, where we became alive in the first place. How does this hope affect us as we live our lives today?
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