Introduction
1. Off with the ‘old’, on with the ‘new’ (v1-3)
- Malice The desire to hurt someone or make them suffer.
- Deceit Knowingly withholding the truth (to your own advantage).
- Hypocrisy Pretending you’re something you’re not.
- Envy The bitterness we feel at another person’s success.
- Slander Speaking ill of others behind their backs.
2. Jesus Christ: A chosen and rejected Messiah (v4-8)
- If he is chosen and rejected, then so must we be.
- Black Lives Matter → Antifa, RAM
- Don’t bend the knee to lawless tyranny
3. The Church: A Chosen and rejected People (v9-12)
- You have been chosen for a purpose … to declare God’s praises!
- Love as Christ loved the world – sacrificially.
- Love the Burwood community
- Pray for politicians and police
- Support Scripture in schools
- Help those less fortunate
- Fight the good fight in our own lives
Conclusion
It’s time to answer the call to holiness:
- Restore your appetite for God’s Word.
- ‘Grow up’ in Christ, and ‘grow down’ in sinfulness.
- Make a clear-cut decision about your spiritual diet.
- Be willing to choose what’s right over what’s convenient.
- Don’t bend the knee to tyranny.
- Declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness
into his wonderful light.
Kingdom People → Kingdom Hearts → Kingdom Lives