Root It, Kill It, Live It! | Happy New Year!

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths and Happy New Year.

[00:00:11] This is the time of the year, obviously the first day of the year, when we think of New Year's resolutions.

[00:00:15] So I have three New Year's resolutions for you and me that I hope is helpful and Christ-centered and Christ-exalting and beneficial for you in this year ahead.

[00:00:29] I want to talk about three things today, three New Year's resolutions for us as believers in Jesus Christ.

[00:00:35] And they are these, root it, kill it, and live it.

[00:00:40] Let me say that again, root it, kill it, and live it.

[00:00:46] Let's talk about the first one, root it.

[00:00:48] First of all, the book of Colossians tells us to be rooted in Jesus Christ.

[00:00:53] Ephesians chapter 3 verse 17 says, rooted and grounded in His love.

[00:00:58] What does it mean to be rooted and grounded in the love of God?

[00:01:02] It means to have this faith relationship that's deeply rooted in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

[00:01:07] It means that we would embrace and ever hold fast to the incredible love and mercy that God has given us through His Son Christ.

[00:01:15] The Bible says in Romans, God demonstrated His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ Jesus died for us.

[00:01:22] So we're rooted in the amazing, astounding, unconditional love that God has given us in Christ.

[00:01:28] When we sin, His love is there.

[00:01:30] When we mess up, His love is there.

[00:01:32] When we disappoint God, His love is there.

[00:01:35] When we fail Him, His love is there.

[00:01:37] When we transgress His holy law, His love is there.

[00:01:41] We're rooted and grounded in that love.

[00:01:45] So root it.

[00:01:46] Root your faith deeply in the love of God.

[00:01:49] Secondly, kill it.

[00:01:51] The book of Colossians says this,

[00:01:53] In Him you are circumcised in the putting off of your sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by hands, but a circumcision done by Christ,

[00:02:02] having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through faith in the power of God who raised Him from the dead.

[00:02:09] Martin Luther put it this way, that our baptism signifies that the old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all its lusts,

[00:02:18] and that daily a new man should arise and live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

[00:02:24] What does that mean?

[00:02:25] That by daily sorrow over sin and repentance of our sin, we drown our sin in the blood of Christ.

[00:02:32] And then just as Christ has been raised from the dead, we are raised up to a new life.

[00:02:38] So we daily kill that sinful inclination, that sinful nature inside of us by contrition and repentance and rise up to a new life in Christ Jesus.

[00:02:49] And that brings me to the third point.

[00:02:51] So the first one is root it and then kill it and then finally live it.

[00:02:57] Romans chapter 12 verse 1 says this,

[00:03:11] Ephesians 2 verse 10 says this,

[00:03:14] We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus beforehand, that God created good works beforehand, that we should walk in them.

[00:03:21] What does that mean?

[00:03:22] That every day as we kill our sinful nature, we rise up to a new life, dedicating our whole lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, giving Him our heart, soul, mind and spirit in His favor, in His hands to live for Him day in and day out.

[00:03:42] My friends, this is the goal for me and I hope for you.

[00:03:46] Of course, you have other things you want to accomplish, I'm sure in 2025.

[00:03:50] Maybe you want to read the scriptures more or be kinder to other people or exercise more.

[00:03:55] That's a big one, right?

[00:03:56] I mean, just about everybody, you know, the workout centers are so busy on this day and in the days ahead.

[00:04:03] You know, it's the day that people say, OK, I ate way too much and I need to go to the rec center, the workout center because I need to lose some of this weight, right?

[00:04:11] So along with it, what do we say today?

[00:04:15] We say, let's root it, root our faith in the love of Christ.

[00:04:20] Let's kill it.

[00:04:21] Let's kill those sinful inclinations by daily contrition and repentance.

[00:04:25] And let's live for the Lord Jesus Christ, not for ourselves, not for other people, but for the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:04:33] To Him, we commit our life.

[00:04:36] So that's our goal for 2025.

[00:04:38] And I hope and pray that in 2025, DT is blessed with further growth.