New Clothes for a New Life

In one paragraph

The message drew on Colossians 3:1-17 to pick up where the previous week's sermon left off, calling the church to live out the new life that comes with being in Christ. Pastor Mike framed it around a phrase introduced the week before: "This year, we're going to do things differently, because we can't wait another year." The sermon was the first installment of a series that will carry into the...

Read together

1. 2 Corinthians 5:17 quoted and discussed as the basis for the prior week's sermon on new life in Christ, and referenced again as the foundation for the current sermon on new things
2. Colossians 3:1-17 read aloud in full as the main text for the sermon, covering putting off the old self and putting on the new self
3. Psalm 127:1-2 quoted by Melissa Landis as a verse on her heart about relying on God rather than striving in vain

Talk about it

1. Pastor Mike said that change begins in our head and then moves to our heart, and that when it truly reaches our heart we embrace it. What does that journey from head to heart look like in your own experience?
2. The sermon drew a distinction between reading God's word and studying it, and between reading what someone else gets from it and digging in yourself. Where would you honestly place yourself on that spectrum right now?
3. Colossians 3 uses the picture of taking off old clothing and putting on new. Which of the things Paul lists to 'take off' is hardest for you to admit still shows up in your life?
4. Paul says to put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love, and then describes love as the overcoat that holds all of it together. What does it look like practically when that love is active rather than just a cliche?
5. The message this morning closed with the question: what would happen in our lives, our children's lives and our community if we as families really embraced God's word through the Holy Spirit? How would you answer that question for your own household?