Walking in the Newness of Life

There’s a version of the Christian life that runs completely on autopilot. You still pray. You still read a verse before bed or in the morning. You still show up on Sunday. But somewhere along the way, none of it is really coming from need anymore — it’s just what you do. You can sit two feet from the presence of God and still be far from Him, simply because you got used to Him being there.

Pastor Simeon Palmore preached from Colossians 3 on August 9, walking line by line through what it means to have already been raised with Christ. His core question was simple and unrelenting: is your mind actually set on the things above, or has your walk with God quietly slipped into habit?

“Truth is truth regardless of whether you believe it or not. But truth won’t work for you if you don’t believe it.”

— Pastor Simeon Palmore  ·  August 9, 2026

Seek the Things Above

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

— Colossians 3:1-2

Pastor Simeon pointed out that the word “raised” in the Greek carries the sense of being brought up along with a whole group of people — not raised alone, but raised with. Because the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in every believer, we have the actual ability to seek the things above, not just the desire to.

He tied this to David in Psalm 16: “I have set the LORD always before me… in Your presence is fullness of joy.” David didn’t seek God as a last resort. He set his gaze there first, and everything else about his life was steadied by it.

Sin Never Stays Where It Starts

Pastor Simeon then turned to 2 Samuel 11, where David — the king who once wrote about setting the Lord before him — stayed home from battle instead of leading his army. It was in that stillness, on his rooftop, that his eyes landed on Bathsheba. One sin became a lie, the lie became a conspiracy, and the conspiracy became a murder.

“Don’t go back to the old man. Don’t raise the old man up. He’s died. Walk in the newness of life.”

— Pastor Simeon Palmore  ·  August 9, 2026

He drew the same picture from Peter, who went back to fishing after the resurrection — returning to what he knew instead of what he’d been taught. Sin, Pastor Simeon said, never stays at the size it started. It only grows more twisted the longer it’s left alone.

What’s Dwelling in You Will Come Out

“What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

— Mark 7:20-23

Pastor Simeon connected this straight back to Colossians: whatever is really dwelling inside a person eventually comes out through the mouth. Not because someone decided to say it, but because it was already there.

“What comes out of me is not things that defile. What comes out of me is holiness. What comes out of me is love.”

— Pastor Simeon Palmore  ·  August 9, 2026

Put on Love

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering… But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

— Colossians 3:12-14

Everything Pastor Simeon taught — the mind set above, the tongue guarded, the old man put to death — lands here. Compassion, kindness, and forgiveness aren’t decoration on top of the Christian life. They’re what holds a family, a small group, and a church together when love is what’s actually dwelling inside a person, not just what’s coming out of their mouth for show.

A Note for This Week

1. Pick one thing you’ve been doing “by habit” — prayer, giving, reading the word — and do it once this week specifically because you need God, not because it’s routine.
2. Memorize one verse from Colossians 3 so it’s actually dwelling in you, not just something you’ve heard.
3. Before you speak in anger or frustration this week, pause and ask what that reveals about what’s dwelling in your heart.