Triumph in Christ: Navigating Life's Stages through Faith and Overcoming through the Cross* (04/12/'24) -Viewpoint

Triumph in Christ: Navigating Life's Stages through Faith and Overcoming through the Cross Worth in the Will of God: This concept is similar to passages that discuss God’s purpose and plans for individuals. Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Ephesians 2:10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Stages of Life in Christ (Indifference, Ridicule, Abuse, Repression, Respect): This reflects the idea of spiritual growth and possibly the persecution faced by believers. John 15:18-20: "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." Romans 5:3-5: "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." Overcoming Defeats on the Cross: This speaks to the victory believers have through Christ's sacrifice. Colossians 2:13-15: "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross." Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Pastor Steven G. Lee (April 12, 2024)