Raised to a New Direction | Raised to Life – Week 3 | Pastor Derek Berry

In Week 3 of our Raised to Life series, “Raised to a New Direction,” we’re challenged with a hard truth—following Christ doesn’t automatically change your direction unless you intentionally leave the old one behind.

Paul shows us in Colossians 3:5–11 that real transformation requires more than managing sin—it requires putting it to death. You can’t walk in a new direction while still holding onto old patterns. What you tolerate will eventually control where your life is headed.

True change happens when you stop feeding the old life and start fully stepping into the new one. Christ isn’t meant to be an addition to your life—He is your life. And when He becomes your focus, your direction begins to change.

Transcript

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Excited to open the word this morning in the book of Colossians, in chapter number three, raised to a new direction. We've been looking at this uh thought that followed Easter Sunday raised to life, and we've seen different truths down as we went week by week, but today I want to look in Colossians chapter number three and look at some verses specifically from maybe verse five through verse number 11, and I've got some other verses that I'll give you along the way, but I want to look at this thought about how we were raised to a new direction. You know, if you've been raised with Christ, which we understand that scripturally and spiritually, that the second I got saved, I was raised with him. If we've been raised with him, your life should begin to move in a different direction. And I want to focus some thoughts on that, on that thought, on that theme, if you were, on this new direction. And I was beginning as I was getting prepared for this and praying and reading, I was thinking about a time uh several years ago when I was at this meeting in South Georgia and hadn't to come home. And before that, every once in a while when I come home from making, you know, 75 was hit or miss. And so I learned to just throw it in the GPS so that I would uh not get lost or get stuck in traffic if I had to get off the expressway and weave around some problems. And so at this particular time, I threw it in the GPS and gave several different options. You could stick on 75 and turn a two-hour commute into four hours because of uh an accident that's not there. Or you could, you know, goose the hog trails and go through some scenic routes. And so I chose the hog trails. I picked that as my option, got in the truck and began to drive. And as I was heading, I everything felt right. I was making progress. I was getting the miles down. And not too long I was getting into whatever I was listening to, and then all of a sudden the lady on the phone chimed up and kept saying, recalculating. Recalculating. And I began to look at it, and I'm thinking, what's weird is that I'm on a road, but the GPS shows my location as if I'm in some cow field or something. I'm not on a road according to GPS, I'm just in the middle of nowhere. So what do I do? Do I worry? No. I just keep driving. I'll figure it out. I just kept going. I get to the intersection and I had a choice to make and I chose the direction that I went and kept driving. A little while later, she chimed up again. She's recalculating me again. I look, there's no road. There's just green areas everywhere. So what'll I do? Keep driving. I kept moving, kept going. Then I get to another intersection, take another turn. Before too long, I realized that I was driving for sure, but I was in the wrong direction, wrong place. I was far from where I was supposed to have been. I wasn't a little off, I was way off. I was in a spot whenever the service came, it let me realize that I had turned what would have been a few hours into maybe double that. But what was confusing to me was I was moving. I was driving. I was continuing to make progress down the road, but where I thought I was going, I was not. And as I was thinking about that event that took place, I started thinking about us spiritually and our lives, spiritually. There's a danger if we're not careful. We can be moving. We could even be busy in life, and we can even be doing life, and we could still be spiritually heading in the wrong direction if we're not careful. Last week we saw very clearly in the Gospel of John, you know, if I am free, and so we are free, we saw that in John. And my question that I may give you this morning before we read these verses is if I'm free, which I know that we are, and I know that I am because of my salvation, why does my life feel like it hasn't changed? Why, if I'm free, do I not always feel free? Well, Paul answers that question, I believe, in these few verses in the book of Colossians, and he shows us some truth here that a changed heart should always produce a changed direction. Look with me in the text in chapter three, verse number five. Paul says, therefore, he begins with therefore, and he says, therefore, and he's pointing to what was already spoken, the first four verses, which I know that uh you you've heard those before the last couple weeks, and so we won't reiterate the first four verses here. But Paul's saying, therefore, because of everything that I've just stated, put to death your members. He's talking about your body, your fleshly desires, what you naturally would want before salvation. So put to death your members which are on the earth. And then he lists them out fornication, uncleanliness, passion, evil desires, covetedness, which is idolatry. Verse 6, because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which yourselves once walked when you lived in them. He's talking about how you were before you came to know Jesus as your Savior. Verse 8, but now, uh, but now uh you yourselves are to put off these, all these things. Anger and wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie one to another, since you have put off the old man with its deeds. Since you've got saved, since you know the Lord as your Savior, and you're you're new, you're made free, you're you're made to walk again, you're you're now you're walking in a new direction. Put all that off and start something new. And then he goes in verse number 10 and tells us what to put on. And have put on the new man, which is renewed. Renewed. We'll get to that eventually, but that's a verb, it's a continuation here. Renewed, a continual renewal in knowledge according to the image of him who created you. Then he goes in verse number 11, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian or seeth in saved or free, but Christ is all and in all. He kind of capitalizes it at the very end in verse number 11. It talks about Christ is all and in all. Now, Paul is opening this text up, and I want to use this premise of understanding that we're raised to walk in a new direction. I want to give you a few things this morning that pop out of my, uh into my mind in these uh few verses that will help you as much as they've helped me is my prayer and my hope. Here's the first thing I want to sort of give you right off the bat. Find it in the first couple verses of this text is this. You cannot go in a new direction without stopping going in the other direction. I can't change directions if I don't stop what I'm doing and start something fresh or new. No different than me trying to make it home from South Georgia. If I would have continued to go down the direction that I thought I was to go, I may not, I still may not be here this morning, you understand? I may still be driving around looking on how to get home. I had to stop where I was and realize that I'm going in the wrong way, that I need to turn and go a different direction to get me home. And Paul uses some very strong language in this verse to open our minds up. He uses in verse number five right off the bat, and he and he says this terminology to make our minds, I think, open and realize the importance of it. And he's essentially showing us that change starts with confrontation and not comfort. At times I think that I just want to be comforted in all this, but he's letting you and I know in verse number five when he uses this terminology, put to death. This is a confrontation, not something to be comforted with. You and I have got to realize that sometimes I've got to stop and change directions. It may take a level of confrontation, a level of, man, I've got to realize this. I've got to change something in my life for me to stop doing this. This is not something that could be, oh, it'd be okay, easy and comfort. No, this is a real conversation. He's saying, put to death. He's saying you cannot manage this. Now that'd be comfort. He's saying you can't control it yourself. That would be a comfort. He's saying you gotta get rid of it. You gotta kill it. And remember, he's pointed back in the very beginning in verse 5. Therefore, he pointed back to the first four verses. He's saying, because we have died with Christ, according to verse 3 of the text, we have the spiritual power to slay those earthly desires. Now, you may not feel that you have those, though, those, the ability to do that, but he's letting us know because we died with Christ and rose with him, you and I have the ability to stop what we once did to begin what he wants for us. Is it easy? No. Is it possible? Of course. That's why he laid it all out. See, you don't drift into a new life, you decide it. This is not something that I felt like I could just drift over there. It'd be like me trying to get home from that meeting in South Georgia and feel like, man, I'll just keep turning right until I get home. Doesn't happen that way. It's a choice, a decision. You've got to stop and think, and I've got to stop doing these things. See, the old life isn't, it's still present in your life, but it's not supposed to lead you. See, we were made new. We are new in Christ. He's saying the old still exists, but it's not supposed to control you like it once did. That's why he said in the terminology put off, and then he reiterates it in verse 10 to put on. What you tolerate, listen to me, you might want to jot this one down. What you tolerate will control your directions. What you tolerate will control your directions. If you don't kill it, it'll lead you. It's no different than this time of the year. We're in spring. Who's getting your yard ready? A few of y'all. Who's out there weeding the flower beds? Who's trying to make the flowers look pretty? Man, I'm walking around in the grass out there trying to figure out what kind of weed is this? And if I if I don't kill it, what's it gonna do? It's gonna lead my yard. I don't I don't like that. I want a weedless yard, you understand? Well, that takes a little bit of a work. I have to stop what I was doing and pull it up from the root to get rid of it. I'm not waiting around for the guy that sprays it to show up. I am taking matters into my own hands. I'm getting out there, bending down and grabbing it. I put some gloves on, so don't worry, I keep my preacher hands looking good, all right? And I deroot that and then I throw it in the garbage can. I don't throw it out in the woods, why? I don't want to blow back over. I don't want to take up root there. I get rid of it. And what we realize in our life, if you what you tolerate will eventually control you. I mean, Paul said this in other parts of Scripture. Uh uh Romans chapter 8, verse 13 comes to mind, and you can look it up later, but he says, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if you live by the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. He's reiterating what he's telling the church at Colossae, for you and I to live a spiritual life, we've got to make a choice and we've got to make a decision. We've got to stop doing one thing to begin doing something else. You know, on Wednesday nights we're going through and reading and studying the book of Joseph. And his life is so interesting because when life doesn't make sense at times, you know, you've got to still continue to seek the Lord. And what popped out to my mind in this chapter 39, it was a couple Wednesday nights ago, I was looking at his life, and if you remember the life of Joseph from Genesis, a temptation showed up. You remember he was sold into slavery, and now he is living in Potiphar's house, and his wife had come on to him. She was tempting him and wanted him to lie with her. And she was very enticing in her words. And he was there serving them, and he didn't want to give in to that temptation. And eventually, as you read Genesis 39, you'll read that she grabbed a hold of him. And what did he do? If you remember in the text, the Bible says that he ran out of there so fast that Potiphar's wife kept his garments in his hand, in her hand. He ran out of the house as fast as he could. And I started thinking about this thought, right? You can't, you can't go in a new direction without stopping the old one. He had a choice and a decision to make in that moment. He doesn't try to manage the situation and try to mitigate it, try to try to negotiate what was going on. No, he made a decision. He said, I am running out of this house. I can't deal with this any longer. He didn't stay and he didn't fight it. He left so he wouldn't have to fight it. Now I know as men, that don't sound too much. We might want to take matters in our own hand and see what we can do. But I think he did the most manliest, uh godliest thing by running from it. Because he knew that he wouldn't fight that and win that battle. He would fight but lose the battle. Let me tell you something, men. There's times we think we can fight through something, but let me tell you something. The best thing that we might could ever do is run away from whatever might be tempting us. And listen to me, there's times in my life as a person I've got to realize I can't go in a new direction by trying to negotiate my way out, by trying to mitigate it, by trying to figure it all out and see what's best and what isn't. No, I might just need to stop doing one thing so I can do something new. I think some of us may be trying to live the new life while keeping a hold of some of the old things in our old life. Think about that for just a moment. It ain't gonna work. Let me leave you with this and we'll move to the next few verses. You can't walk in a new direction while keeping the old life alive. I think some choices and decisions must be made with habits and patterns in our life for us to get all we can get from the Lord and live with purpose and have the right direction in our life. Let's move on to verse number eight. So not only you gotta go in a new direction, you gotta stop the old way. Number verses eight, nine, and ten, or excuse me, eight and nine really say, uh, what you keep feeding will lead you. What you keep feeding will lead you. Now think about what you feed in life. Anybody ever had a kitty cat show up? I had a two or three kitty cat show up. You know what I told the kid? Don't feed them. Don't put no milk out there. Don't put no scraps out there. Because I want them kitty cats to go back to their house. If you feed it, what's gonna happen? It's gonna stay put. And it's gonna expect me to continue to feed. I ain't feeding that cat. It'd go home. Okay? I got plenty of mouths to feed in my house, right? I got five mouths. Not counting Megan and I and the dog. Okay, we got one dog, all right? She don't eat much. Listen to me, what you feed will keep leading you. Paul moves in this text in verses 8, but now, if you notice how it starts, but now you yourself are to put off. But now, he he he be sort of changes directions here. He moves from what you do to what comes out of you, essentially. He's talking about the first few verses of what you do now. He's changing what comes out of you if you're feeding the wrong thing. Direction shows up in how you respond. And he uses some terminology in this text with anger and words and attitude, etc. This is everyday life. This is something that he's speaking about that will pop out of you if I'm not careful by putting off the old so that I can move in the right direction. See, what comes, what's coming out of you reveals what's still within you. I think it's why Jesus wrote what he wrote in the Gospels. Uh, what's in the heart eventually will come out. I was reading just a couple days ago in Luke chapter number six. In verse 43 through, I think 45 or 46, Jesus is sort of teaching on this thought about the fruit that we produce in our life. And he's sitting down and having a conversation, a teaching moment with his followers, and he uses the words in verse 45 of the text out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. What eventually is in here will eventually come out of here. Now listen, in my 42 years of life, I've worked hard, and I'm better than I was, but I'm not where I want to be. There's a, you as a as you pour so much in, I feed the spiritual side that every once in a while that old flesh wants to pop out. The greatest thing that you can ever do is continue to feed the spiritual side of you. See, believers, yes, we sin. But you think about the witness of our words and our works are what is going to constantly and continually give glory to the Lord. So what's in here is gonna come out of here eventually. What are you feeding? What are you feeding? Are you feeding yourself spiritually or are you feeding your fleshly side? I was thinking about over the years, you know, as you grow in life and learn, I remember as I turned 18, 19 years old, I would go to these stores in the mall. That was back when you'd go to the malls, right? I think they're all closed now, but you'd go to the mall and you'd order something, buy something, a shirt or two, and the lady at the counter would say, Would you like to get 10% off? Say, Yeah, sure would. Go ahead and just put it, apply it. Well, you got to fill out some credit card information. And I'm thinking, I got me one shirt, I think, one of them Abercumbie t-shirts when I was 18 years old with a few holes in it and a few bleach spots, you understand? You buy it that way. I'm thinking I could save $5 off this shirt, I got a better idea. I'll come back when I need a whole wardrobe. And then I'll apply for that credit card, and then instead of getting $5 off, I might get a lot of dollars off. So what'll I do? Like any smart 18-year-old that knew everything, I said, man, I'm gonna go in there, I'm gonna get me three or four pairs of blue jeans. I'm gonna get me 20 shirts. Nah, not really 20, I couldn't afford 20 shirts. I don't know how many shirts I got, some cologne, some flip-fly, everything. Go to the counter. You wanna save 10%? I sure do. I'd love to save 10%. So what do you do? I fill all the credit card information out and application out. I got approved, of course. I think they'd approve anybody at that. They'd approve my dog at that point, right? It was just, yes. Have it have your way. So what'll I do? Oh, I get me a lot of dollars off. I get me a whole new wardrobe. And at first it felt free. I felt like, man, look at me, look what I've done. It's freedom. I've got this. I bought what I wanted to buy, I got what I wanted to get. I didn't have any pressures of life. I felt cool, I felt good, I was there putting all these new outfits on. There was really no consequences until the bill came. And I'm thinking, I what? Now, of course, they got you with the introductory 0%, you know, at the beginning. So, I mean, I figured that out. I divided it by however many months that was, and I paid that minimum. And I paid that minimum. I didn't read the fine print, because the fine print was if you don't have this first purchase paid off at so many months after, then not only did they collect you that interest, but all the interest they should have collected to begin with. So before long, what I thought was free and what I thought was cool and was good with no consequences and no pressures, eventually it got to the point where my balance grew. The payments increased, the stress began to build upon me. And one day I realized I'm not using this anymore. This thing's using me. And over time I felt like, man, I was taken advantage of. When I thought I could control, I no longer could. What I thought was fun was no longer fun. This thing was controlling me. And I began to think about that in my life. That's what sin does. That's how sin works. At first you can control it. Oh, that's easy. But then what happens eventually it begins to control you. See, sin never stays as a it never stays as a convenience. It always becomes controlling of you. Every time, no matter what it is or how it starts. What you allow in your life will eventually define you. You don't just struggle with things, you become shaped by the things that you allow in your life. And some of us, that might just be something as simple as anger. Maybe anger controls you. Maybe it's a habit that controls you. Maybe it's a pattern that controls you. Maybe you keep saying I can stop at any point, but I think if we're honest with ourselves, you probably tried and hadn't been able to. I'll leave you with this before I get to the meat of the term and in verse 10. What you keep feeding will keep leading your life. Don't forget that. What you keep feeding will eventually lead your life. Look with me in verse number 10. The meat of this section of scripture. If it's real, it will show. Verse number 10 when we were raised to walk in A new direction. He goes on and says this, and have, verse number 10, put on. He uses the terminology like you and I putting or taking off clothes, uh, an item. It says, put on the new man who is renewed. Now, if you read those verses and quickly just start thinking about them, I'm thinking, man, I'm saved. I know that I am. So I know that I died with Christ and I rose with Christ. I get that. And I understand the things that come with that. The freedom, for example, of last week and now today, this new direction. Why is it that I have to now put on something if I've been saved? Why do I have to do that? Jesus did it all. Now listen to me, he's not talking about putting these things on to get to heaven. No, your salvation secures that. He's telling you and I in our Christian walk, and as we go day by day, he's saying, put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge. So he says, put on the new man who is renewed, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. So he uses some terminologies here. I'm trying to get my head wrapped around these things. He tells us to put on something. And as we put this on, he wants our mind to be renewed with knowledge of something. Now remember, you've got to put all these steps together. I've got to stop something to start a new direction. Okay? What I feed will lead. And now what he's showing me right here, I've got to put on something. And if it's real, it will eventually show. I love that portion of verse number 10 that says, put on the new man. He's saying not to just stop doing wrong, but start living differently. If I'm not careful, I'll just stop doing everything that's wrong. Stop this and stop that and stop that. And eventually I feel like all my Christian life is a stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. But once I realize the value of Christ and the relationship with him and the things that come from that relationship, I realize it's so much more than just stopping this and that. It's living a new life so differently, living for him. See, I think real change is visible. Real change is visible. You know, years ago, I remember when the reality TV shows took off and they started having these home fixer-up things, and they would fix up these new houses, and these people would come in and get to see what was created from their old house to what their new house. And then that was some spin-offs that came from that. There was one particular show of, it was, I forget exactly what it was called, but something about a makeover. I mean a physical makeover. Okay. And these people that had had some struggles in their life, they would go to these different plastic surgeons or dentists and so forth and have a full makeover of their body and their life or whatever was going on, their hair. And they would always have a big picture of what they used to look like up. And then they would run through it if you were, it would rip or whatever the case may be. And you know, never once did they ever have a picture of the person and what came out looked exactly like it. Every time the person that came out was made fresh and new. Their hair was different, their teeth were different, their body looked different, their outfit looked different. Everything about them was totally different on the outside. And I began to think about that. If somebody ever showed me a picture of their before and after and it was exactly the same, I would think, did you get anything done? Maybe you should go get your money back if that's the case, right? But but in these cases, in this reality TV show, unless it was some uh generated thing of a computer, it was a completely different transformation of before and after. I knew without ever being told that something changed. I didn't have to be told, hey, guess what? This person had a makeover. I was able to see it with my own two eyes. Nothing about what they currently look like, what was looked like them from just a few months ago. Something changed. And I think about that in my Christian life. I want people to know that I'm different than I once was. Now I got saved at eight years old, but the man I am today is not what I was at eight. The man I am today is not what I was at 20. The man I am today is not what I was at at 25 years old. The man that I am today is not what I am at 30 years old because every day in my Christian walk, I realize that I've got to stop doing this to start doing that. It's a daily decision that you have to make. Every day I have to wake up and decide that I'm not gonna feed the old man, I'm gonna feed the new man. And every day I've got to realize it's real, it'll be visible. Somebody else will see what I am. It's nothing, it's a huge compliment when you meet somebody, they say there's something different about you. And I know when you're thinking with me, with my hair, what do you mean by that, right? No, they don't necessarily mean the way I look because I'm different than most. No, it's because of how you act. What a compliment that is. You know, the uh epistles will say that, you know, you're you may be the only Bible that some people read. I want my life to be a visible arrow pointing straight to Christ that I can lead somebody just by how I act. He's showing us in the text right here, if it's real, it'll show. The new life is not necessarily perfect, but it's progressing towards Christ. And that's the nitty-gritty of verse, probably my favorite word within all of this in verse number 10 is renewed in knowledge. He tells us if it's real, it'll show. Put it on. And then he follows that up with the new man who is renewed to knowledge or renewed in knowledge, I should say. That word renewed is a verb. Now I'm no English teacher. I I know I could have fooled some of y'all, right? Rex, your tutoring is going good with me, right? They thought I was an English teacher, okay? He helps me with this. But this verb renewed is an action word. Here's what it means. Who constantly is being renewed. Who constantly is being renewed. And so what I understand this to mean is not perfection, but direction, meaning that every day I want to wake up as a follower of Jesus Christ, whether God allows me to live till I'm a hundred years old or longer or shorter, I want to wake up and say, God, I need my mind to be renewed in knowledge. Because when my mind is renewed by Him through His Word, everything around me changes. It's real, it's seen. My joy is big, my peace, my comfort, my purpose, everything that I thought I should know or would know is different when I realize what I am in Jesus Christ. And that essentially is the text, what he's trying to show us, a new direction. Because us as believers are alive in Christ, I've got to seek the things that are above. See, I think my direction that I walk proves my transformation. My direction proves my transformation. You're not perfect, but you're not the same. There's a difference there. The only way I'll be just like Christ is the second I get to heaven, but until then I'm gonna try to be like him each and every day. You know, I was reading in some Old Testament and New Testament, trying to just find a picture of somebody that radically changed for the Lord. And I was reading in the Gospel of Mark, chapter number five. And if you remember in that text, the man that was possessed with demons, if you remember in Mark 5, if you don't go back and read the verses, I think it's the first half of that uh chapter, but you can see this man. He he he essentially was acting crazy. Uh Jesus was traveling from point A to point B, and his boat arrives, and Jesus gets off the boat. And this man who is possessed by a demon runs towards Jesus. Now I like that because he knew how to get help. You know, there's times in my life where I know I need to go to the doctor or I need to go to the hospital. I know where to go. This person needed spiritual help, and where did he run to? He was possessed by demonic forces, but he ran to Jesus, the only one that could actually help him in his time of need. And he runs to him. And as Jesus steps off the boat, there is the man there. So this man before Jesus, who was he? He was out of control. This man, the scripture will tell us that he lived amongst the dead. He lived in the graveyards. Kind of weird. He was broken. He he needed some help. The Bible goes as far in one of the verses in Mark chapter number five and says that no one could constrain this man, meaning that chains couldn't hold him, uh, meaning that a person couldn't hold him. Anything couldn't hold this man back because he was so uh consumed with those demonic forces. Listen to me, the man had no peace. The man had no hope. The man was broken to the core, falling apart, and then he ran unto Jesus, the only one that could fix anything that was going on in his life. And so what happened when the man met Jesus? Before Jesus, we know he was isolated and broken. We know that he would cry out constantly, we know that he would cut himself, we know that he would live among the dead. That's what those uh verses tell you and I. Then he meets Jesus, and the next time we see this man, after him and Jesus had a conversation, the man is sitting down. The man is clothed, the man is right in his mind. Same man, by the way. Same man as before that was uncontrollable, the same man that was lashing out and cutting himself is now completely different. Jesus did something that he would like to do for you as well. That man approached him. Jesus identified the problem and casted those demonic forces out of him and put them into the pigs who ran off the cliff and died. Now listen to me, just because you have no peace doesn't mean you got demonic forces within you, and so forth and so on. The point of the story is this man was totally lost, broken, isolated, controlled by the devil, and but yet ran to Christ. Those demonic forces within him knew that Jesus could cast them out, and they they didn't like that. But nonetheless, Jesus cast them out. So what's the difference here? Same man, but completely different. See, nobody had to ask that man, did something happen to you? Now he was sitting there clothed and calm, sitting there, right frame of mind. Did somebody walk and say, Did something happen to you, man? No, nobody had to do that. Nobody had to walk up to him and ask him what happened. Now, I know it was obvious that something had taken place because he was radically different than what he once was. Now I know that Jesus told him to leave there and go tell. No different than you and I should go tell the world what Jesus has done for us, but I would love to come in contact with somebody that I hadn't seen in 20 years and them say, There's something different about you. What an opportunity it is to say, Yeah, that's Jesus, and this is what he's done for me. That man has got a story to tell for the rest of his life. When Jesus changes your life, it will not be hidden, it will be seen. If it's real, it'll show. A changed heart will produce a changed direction. Let me leave you with this, and I'm gonna read it verse number 11. If Jesus changes your heart, it'll show up in your life. Remember that. Verse number 11. Last thought that we'll get to. If Christ is your life, he will change your direction. If Christ is your life, he will change your direction. We are alive in Christ. We've learned that from this sermon series. We saw that from Easter Sunday to today. Therefore, we should seek the things that are heavenly. It's what this scripture says. He says we can't become like Christ. We can become like Christ, therefore we must be strengthened in him. And how do we do that? Spiritual things. Your old labels don't lead you anymore. Your past, listen to me, your mistakes, your struggles, we all have them. We all have a past, we all have struggles, we all have mistakes. No more do those control you. Christ is not part of your life, he is your life. You understand when it says in the last few words of the verse, but Christ is all and in all. You understand that Christ, Jesus Christ is not part of your life, he is your life. It's all about him. That's why Paul said in Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, that it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Ever since he got saved, he realized it isn't about him no longer. It's all about Christ who's within him. See, Jesus didn't come to improve your life, he came so that you could have life. And there's a change of mindset we must have. See, most of us have been taught our whole life, man, he came to, he came in my life to improve my life. No, he came, and that is my life. Everything changed with him. When Christ becomes your life, directions change. I can show you Paul as he got transformed into Saul, or Saul into Paul, and how he was before and how he was after. I can look throughout the entire New Testament and give you name after name where somebody got radically changed because of Jesus. Listen to me, there's people in the room today that could stand and testify what God did for them and why they are changed the way they are. Listen to me, Saul had a completely different mindset when he got saved, and that's why God called him Paul. Everything changed about him, his direction instantly changed. When Christ becomes your life, your directions will follow. When he changes your life, everything will follow. I want to say a few things before we close. When you're going the wrong direction, like I was on my trip back from South Georgia, there was a moment when I realized that where I was going was not the right way. And I had a choice to make. I could have kept going and ignored the GPS telling me that it's recalculating, or I could have turned a different direction. I chose to make a turn. And listen to me, in your life, right now, you got choices to make. You can continue on, ignore what the scriptures tell you, or you can make a choice and turn. The truth is, you already know probably where in your life needs to change. We're all we're smart, we're wise. God speaks to our hearts. You know exactly what needs to change in your life. It could be your habits or your pattern, it could be your direction. You've probably felt it. You don't need more knowledge, what you need to turn. You need to turn. Here's a question I'll give you. Where is your life right now heading? Something that you can only answer. Because direction, not intention, determines where you're going. Direction, not intention. Most of us have the best of intentions. But it matters where our directions are going. Where is yours? If your direction hasn't changed, your life hasn't changed either. What this week needs to be put to death in verse number five? What habit? What pattern? What direction? What do you need to do away with in your life? Put off so that you can put on what he says in verse number 10. What do you need to start putting on in your life? Those are the questions that I want to leave you before we pray today. Take one step this week. Would you pray with me, God? I come to you. Oh God, I praise you for your words. I I thank you for the truth that you've laid out in this text. Lord, this new direction. Lord, I pray in the name above all names, Jesus, for this moment of invitation. Lord, I don't know the heart of all, but I know that you do. Lord, there may be somebody under the sound of my voice that has never put their life and trust in you. And because of that, they haven't died with you and rose with you. And Lord, they could if they accept you as Lord and as Savior. But Lord, there's folks here today that know you as Lord and Savior that died with you and rose with you. And maybe today they've realized there's some things in their life they must change. The direction that they're going is not good with certain avenues of their life. God, I pray not through my words, but through your mighty power of your Holy Spirit. Speak to them. Help and encourage. Do what only it is that you can do. We love you and do praise you.