Message: “Dead Man Walking, vol. 5: the New Creation and New Selves” from Ross Stackhouse

We’ve been talking about how this word we may have heard before–salvation–is perhaps not what we’ve heard. Or maybe what we’ve heard is just a small part of the picture. According to the Bible, Jesus’s life and death does something in our lives and world that is bigger, brighter, and more beautiful, mysterious and freeing than we’ve heard. One way the writers of the Bible talk about this is “new creation.” Jesus comes to bring his kingdom of light and glory to a world that is getting crushed by evil and death. He comes to restore and renew all things, including you and me. He invites us to lay down our old selves and take up our new, trues selves in him.

Related Topics: discipleship, theology | More Messages from Ross Stackhouse

From Series: "Dead Man Walking: Why Jesus Died & Why It Still Matters for Ordinary People"

Statistics and stories tell us that the percentage of people who are turning to Jesus for help, hope, and is going down. Fewer people see faith as a trustworthy path to transforming our problems. A fair amount of folks see Christianity as a part of the problem. People might understandably ask, I don’t have a problem with Jesus and Christians for the most part, but what honestly does Jesus have to do with what we’re dealing with in the 21st century? People might even say, To be honest, can we really even be sure he existed? And even if he did and he was a great man who helped people, Christianity has had its shot in history, and it just hasn’t helped. In this series, we want to take these questions very seriously. We want to reflect together on this question, Does Jesus really save us? His name means “He saves.” Throughout the ages, much has been made about how Jesus’ death, in particular, saves us. Really? How? Why did he die, and why should I care? What does it have to do with me and the challenges I face? What does it have to do with us, and why should we as ordinary people care? In this series, we want to discover hope and new life as we pursue answers to these questions. We hope to discover, again or for the first time, how Jesus’ life and his death save us.