17/04/2026
Message by Apostle Bate : Continuation :
Our New Wardrobe
Colossians 3:1-17 Titus 3: 4-8
It is not just enough to say "As He is, so am I in this world". There is a life in the risen Christ
That confession is true and it is purposed and meant to awaken us because as you acknowledge the good things that He has finished, then your faith is made effectual. You are supposed to work and live your confession. You are not supposed to make a confession that is not in alignment with what has already been finished in your life.
Titus 3:4 tells us that God has released His kindness. God's kindness and Grace appeared in a Person Who is The Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the epitome of God's kindness. Jesus is God's Kindnes personified. Jesus is God's Love, Grace, Son personified. It is in Jesus that I know Who God is . That is why the philanthropy of God is Revelatory. He reveals to me Who God is because before Jesus came I was plagued with amnesia. I forgot who I was, I was going my own way and doing my own things and I forgot who my Father was. But when He came, He came to undo my forgetfulness. He came to give me the right perspective, He came that I can attain my purpose in God. When a man is living out of Christ, he is living out of the Will of God. He has missed the mark. The mark is Christ. Out of Christ is missing the mark. That means he has fallen short of the glory of God, the glory of God is in Christ. Anything out of Christ is missing the mark. And so when He came, He came that we should move in the Way that is why He says I am the Way, I am the Life.
Col 3: 1 If ye then be risen...
He is not presenting a condition 'if' even though it looks like but he is presenting a conclusion because you have been risen. It will mean he is unsure that the resurrection has happened or he is unsure that we are risen. It is the truth that you and I have been risen in Christ.
The resurrection is the inaugauration of all the Blessing that has come to humanity. Every spiritual blessing became possible because of His resurrection. The resurrection is the victory of the believer
Apostle Paul says "Because ye are risen" that means something that has finished, it is the work of God and has nothing to do with us . When we rose with the Father we became one with Him so that we began to share in His Common wealth. We began sharing the things that belong to Abba Father. We were in union to share in the Life and the things that pertain to Him. And now he says, " seek those things which are above where Christ is sitted because where Christ is sitted , that is where you are sitting. The believer is sitting in the very sit with Christ so he says be awakened and be more conscious of this eternal reality than your earthly experiences. Seek those things that are above and more important than the things we see on this earth. The bible says Christ is sitted and ruling over principalities and powers and thrones and dominions and kingdoms and where He is sitted, He is sitted to reign. And He wants the believer to be awakened to the fact that we are joined together with Him in this Authority and reigning season. We are to be awakened to this Truth that there are more things to do to partake in Christ than the things we see on this Earth.
Col 3 : 2 Set your affections means to have understanding. Give yourself to know, submit yourself to know the things that are above where Christ is sitted as King of kings and Lord of lords. This means we are kings and lords because we are shareres of the same authority. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. God wants us to know and be conscious of the things, of the realm, of the authority that Chfist has consolidated on behalf of the church. He wants us to be awakened and conscious of this eternal reality. For this is the reason for His coming. He doesn't want us to walk like mere men. We are loved by God and nothing should make us feel like He does not. God's Love for us is not proven by our material possession. God's Love for me is proven by what Jesus Christ did . God loves us and He sent His Son to die for us so that we could be included, become one with Him and share in His Life. We should not be earthly boumd rather we should be heavenly bound. We have been called to participate in the divine nature.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead and your life is hid in Christ. What a security, what a protection what a proximity that we have in Christ. Your life is hid in Christ .
What does that mean to the one that is looking for protection?
What does that mean to the one who is running on the earth looking for someone to deliver them?
What does that mean to the one who does not understand that resurrection has given us deliverance, liberty, freedom?
What does that mean? Our lives are hid in Christ. But sadly there are many who do not understand this Truth. They are running around looking for protection. Rather than asking the Lord to protect you, lift up your hands as a child of God and thank the Father for His protection over your life. Declare these words
My life is hid in Christ.
The devil can not see me
My enemies can not locate me
Hallelujah.
They can see my body but they can not see my spirit
I belong to Christ
I am sealed. The seal of God is upon me
For ye are dead. This is the work of the Spirit. It has nothing to do with you and your resurrected life is hid with Christ.
Even when a believer sleeps in the Lord, we do not cry like the people of the world because we know that they are not lost
Death has lost its sting and grip on them.
For ye are dead in Christ. When did you die? You died when Jesus died, buried when He was buried and raised back to life when He was raised. What does it mean to die? Does it mean physical cessation of life ? No! You are still living. It means everything prior to the resurrection died and was buried. It is not just about your behaviour but your behaviour included. Everything prior to the incarnation, to the resurrection, all died when He died. That means your old man died in Christ. Otherwise the death of Christ has no significance but if it does have any significance, it means something died. Our sins died never to be resurrected. When He rose, we did not rise together with Him in sin. No! A new man rose. This day have I begotten thee. What was left in that grave was the old man with all his infirmities, with all His weaknesses and sicknesses
Col 3:4 When Christ Who is our life ...
Your life is not an ordinary life, you are sharing life with Christ. Christ is Your life. Until you are awakened to this consciousness and hold unto this Truth and are established, they will just be a cliché. You will say it in church but it has no meaning in you when circumstances arise. In a situation where you are sick, you need to speak to yourself that sickness has no power in you. Your life is not ordinary. Sickness and death can not just come and steal it. When Christ Who is our life shall appear.. this appearance is not talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ. No! It is talking about an awakening, a consciousness, this is a spiritual thing where when you behold something like light, it dawns on you. When He appeared you appeared. It is a continuous appearance based on knowledge. The more you study the Word of God, the more this Truth and Reality appears in your spiritual man. The eyes of your understanding are flooded with light. The human Life is in the grave because Christ is our life now. Human life is in hell. Before we progress, let me show you our old wardrobe. If something is new, it means there was an old.
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth... that means your eye, your leg, the different parts of your body. Then I asked the Father.How do I kill something that is already dead? This work of mortifying is not Indicative (legal) it is imperative (vital). It is not objective but it is subjective. That means you have the ability because of what God has done. You can now flow from there and make it a reality by applying it. What are they? Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection... for which thing sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. But note that from our previous studies, we learnt that God does not have wrath. It is the absence of God that is called the wrath of God. God doesn't have anger nor anger issues. God doesn't have temperament issues. God is the One telling us not to have anger. Anger is the work of the flesh. God can not be in the work of the flesh.
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked sometime... this is called the old wardrob. These are old garments and it is not about you because you died in Christ.
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off anger, wrath, malice... these constituted the old wardrobe, the old garments. These are described in Gal 5:19-21 as the works of the flesh. Are these works of the flesh what the Spirit produces in a believer? No! Now also put off these; wrath, anger, malice, blasphemy, filty communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds. This means when Christ died we put off. His death was the putting off of the old man(garment).
Because of what Christ has done, you need to know that your life here on earth must bear, must demonstrate, must live the Christlike character. And Apostle Paul gives us this as a reminder that these things are what the Lord accomplished for us. And so we don't expect to find these things in us. He is not giving us another list of laws to live by. He is letting us know that lying should not be our lifestyle. If I find myself engendering lies this means I have had a wrong meeting with some people. Christlike character, the Life of Christ. How will unbelievers know Christ? Where is Christ's Life? In the believer. The believer walking in the quarter is the Life of Christ in active manifestatiom. I am the Life of Christ in visible manifestion. When people see me, they are seeing the Life of Christ. I am the one chosen to display and manifest the life of Christ in my world. Things will begin to change when we accept this truth. Because we have put off the old man, we should not continue to manifest it.
Col 3:10 And have put on the New man. What the believer has now is the New man that I call the New man which is renewed in Knowledge not in dancing. Renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him. Note that as I am sharing the Word of God, we are renewed in the attitude of our mind
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jews ... but Christ is all in all.
Col 3:12 Put on therefore as the elect of God... these are the garments the believer is supposed to put on. Anger is not my garmemt. A picture of what happens in the courtroom is what happens for the believer when believers stand in the gap making intercessions for the believer against the wickedness of the devil. And in this courtroom we are victorious because Jesus Christ has paid the price. He died for the one you are interceeding for. This one can not have cancer, high blood. It is called intercessory prayer. And what is happening is that everyone in that courtroom knows that Jesus paid the price. As believers in that courtroom, we act like coumsellors and prosecutors. We prosecute satan and we also defend. The accused is then acquitted on the basis of Jesus's death, birial and resurrection. Put on therefore as the elect of God , chosen of God, holy, you are holy, washed, regenerated. You are not strugglimg to be holy. You are holy.
Note that if you don't accept that you are holy, you will not produce a holy lifestyle
Right thinking produces right living. Wrong thinking produces wrong living. You are too important to receive the Word of God.
We are the beloved of the Lord.
Our New garments constitutes
- Bowels of Mercy
-Kindness Titus 3:4
-Humbleness of mind
-Meekness
-Lungsuffereing where you stand before a situation and you don't give up
- Forbearing one another (to support, to stand with one another)
- Forgiving one anothe
Our body has not changed and we still have the inclinantion to do the things that we want to do. But this garment that we have received must have expression in our mortal bodies. Christ in me Glory. No longer hope of glory because it was God's hope that we will be included in Him. Your end is in Christ and when you step into Christ everything is Glory. We don't hope in Christ. We have arrived This garment that we have in Christ is what was called in the old testament The coat of many colours that Joseph's father made for him
It was a typology of the virtues that are going to come on us that we will manifest when we come in Christ. These are the virtues that we will express as a result of the inherent life of Christ that is in us . When you find yourself living contrary to this life, you know that it is not you. The life of Christ is your new life. We are the branches and Jesus is the vine. We are the fruit bearing part and we are the ones expressing the life of God here on earth. We are not expressing Christ when we live short of the standard of God.
Above all these put on Love. This is the greatest vocation. Nobody will stand perfect and not produce these fruits. And let the peace of God that transcends all understanding rule and have its government in your heart. And let the word of God dwell richly in you.
