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I'd like to ask you to take your Bible this morning to the book of Colossians chapter 1. I'm very, very excited at the opportunity to have the chance to open our series on the book of Colossians and look forward to what God has to teach us as we go through this book together. very much appreciate Pastor Matt and the leading that he has provided us this morning in worship as we have come together. And even though he knew the text of our topic this morning, the first eight verses of chapter one, he had no idea how that text was going to be developed and what the Lord has been dealing with me in my own hard life as I have been interacting with these verses now for some time in preparation for this morning and it's always amazing to me when what we sing together in worship to the Lord, when the ministry of the Word as we sing it together and the preaching of the Word come together and the Spirit of God takes the entire thing and does the work in our heart. And that's evident to me this morning and I hope as you interact with the verses that are before us. that it'll be for you as well. This is our third Sunday in a brand new year. I was thinking about this this weekend and just thinking about the fact that I'm still having to remind myself to write 2017 when I write things or when I date things. You have that problem, you start a new year and it's still 2016 and your hand does not know what your head has recognized. And so we don't write a lot of checks anymore, but I can remember in the days when you wrote a lot of checks, having to tear up checks or having to rewrite checks or having to sort of pretend that you didn't actually write that number and just kind of do those kinds of things. But it takes a while to get into a new year. I hope that as we come together around the book of Colossians, that Colossians every week will be fresh to us and it will remind us of the incredible thing that has happened to us and the riches that have come our way because of what has happened to us and that we will really hold on to our hope, Christ in you, Christ in me, the hope of glory. I was thinking about the text before us this morning, and any preacher who has to begin a series is always looking for something that will bring the entire message together. And so I was trying to think about how to bring our theme together and trying to find a way to illustrate it. And I actually stumbled across a story that sort of just dumbfounded me. It's the story of a 25-year-old named Kyle MacDonald who lived in Montreal, Canada. And in 2005, he made two critical decisions. Kyle MacDonald was tired of paying rent. He lived in a small, dingy apartment in Montreal and he was tired of all of the upkeep and living in this small space and paying rent, so he made a decision that he wanted to own his own house. Critical decision number one. Critical decision number two, he had no job and he had no intention of getting one. I'm going to own a house, but I do not want to go through the major inconvenience of getting a job to pay for it." He was a typical millennial. And so he decided that there had to be a better way. How do I get a home and how do I avoid the inconvenience of something as mundane as a job? And so he was sitting there in his apartment looking at his computer screen in 2005, and he hit upon an idea. He remembered a game that he had played as a kid called Bigger and Better. How many of you have ever played the game Bigger and Better? The way you play the game, the whole premise behind the game is you find something and you take it somewhere to someone and you try to get someone to give you something bigger and better for the thing that you have in your hand. And so Kyle decided that he wanted to play bigger and better in order to try to get a house. But what do you start with? What do I have that I can begin the trading process that will eventually lead me to a house? And he looked down on his desk and he saw this, a red paperclip. I actually brought one just like the one Kyle MacDonald used when he posted it online and he began to play a global internet version of Bigger and Better. You won't believe what happened. Twelve months later, fourteen trades later, Kyle McDonald was the proud owner of a brand new two-story home in Kipling, Saskatchewan, Canada. Let me tell you how he did it. Somebody was willing to trade him this paperclip for a fish-shaped pen. This person lived in Vancouver. He got the pen, and somebody in Seattle, Washington, was willing to trade that, that fish-shaped pen, for a hand-sculpted doorknob. Somebody in Amherst, Massachusetts wanted that doorknob, and they were willing to trade him for a Coleman camping stove. Somebody in California really wanted that camping stove, and they traded him for a Honda generator. Somebody in Mass Beth, Queens really wanted that generator, and they were willing to trade him a big neon sign. Somebody in Quebec wanted that sign and they were willing to give a snowmobile for it. Somebody in British Columbia wanted that snowmobile and they were willing to trade a trip to Yak. I have no idea where that is. Somebody wanted that trip to Yak enough to give him a moving van for it. And someone in Ontario wanted that moving band so much, they were willing to arrange a one-day recording contract with a famous music group. And so he went to Ontario and made the trade, and somebody wanted that recording contract well enough to trade him a year of rent in a home in Phoenix, Arizona. Somebody wanted that year of rent and was willing to trade an afternoon. They had a connection with a famous musician, a famous rock musician named Alice Cooper, and they were willing to trade an entire afternoon for that one year of rent, and so he made the trade. Somebody was willing to trade that afternoon for a motorized snow globe. You know what a snow globe is? And at this point, this had started to take traction and people were watching what was going on and there was great concern that you were gonna trade something this valuable for a snow globe, but he knew what he was doing. Because someone who had a leading part in a Hollywood movie liked that particular snow globe and they were willing to trade a speaking part in this Hollywood movie. Now this Hollywood movie was being filmed in Kipling, Saskatchewan. And the people, the town fathers in Kipling, Saskatchewan, wanted this role to be played by a resident local. And they were willing to trade a two-story house for that role. And that's how Kyle McDonald became the proud owner of a two-story house for a red paperclip. Now, I think that was a pretty good game of bigger and better, don't you? Now don't you go out and put red paperclips on the internet when you go home, but you know as I read the book of Colossians it's like the Colossians had played an incredible game of bigger and better and they had traded in the paperclip of their life for an incredible rich treasure that had come to them from the mouth of a man named Epaphras when he brought to them the news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And when you think about that news, when you think about what had actually happened to the believers at Colossae when they had heard and understood and embraced the gospel that this faithful minister of Christ had brought to them, everything changed for them. They had exchanged all that they had for everything that Christ offered. They had received new life. They had received new standing. They had received incredible treasure that had been laid up for them in heaven. And all of this had come because they had embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ. I mean, think about that gospel that Epaphras brought to them. That gospel has as its heart the good news about a work that Jesus Christ has done. In fact, if you start noticing right away in the beginning of our text this morning, the Apostle Paul introduces himself as an apostle, an official messenger, a servant by the will of God to Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul, a minister of the anointed messenger of God Himself, Jesus Christ. And when the Apostle Paul unfolds the book of Colossians, the first half of the book is all about who Jesus is and what He has really done. I mean, by the time you get through the first chapter, you have discovered that Jesus Christ, this news that Epaphras has brought to Colossae, is all about a person named Jesus who is the supreme and preeminent individual in the entire universe. You can see this in verse 18 if you drop down in the text. I'm sorry, in verse 15, if you notice verse 15 in your text, you notice that Paul begins describing Him as the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all of creation. He is the sovereign head over the church. You notice this as he continues describing Jesus in verse 18. He is the head of the body that is the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. And then you discover that he is the preeminent one in all of creation and over all of the church because he is the sufficient savior of his people. And you can see this in verse 21. and following when you begin to realize what Jesus has actually done. So the Apostle Paul has come to them and in letter form is writing to them and he is saying, when Epaphras came to you and preached this incredible news to you about Jesus and you received it, you didn't just receive a human teacher. You didn't just get news about someone who had a new way of thinking. You received and embraced the truth about the individual who is the single most important, significant, prominent being in all of the universe. He is the sovereign over creation. He is the leader of the church, and He is the sufficient Savior of His people. And this is what He did. Look at verse 20, He reconciled the entire universe through His death. By Him, God, it pleased the Father that by Him He would reconcile all things to Himself whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. This Jesus that you heard about and that you have embraced has rendered a group of people holy and blameless before God. He has rescued these people from the kingdom of darkness and brought them into the kingdom of his own dear son, in verse 13. And this individual, Jesus, has defeated the cosmic spiritual powers of wickedness. He has triumphed over them. And you'll find that in chapter two, verse 15. So when Epaphras came to you with this gospel, it wasn't just another story. It wasn't just another religious pathway. You got the biggest and the best news ever available when Epaphras, the minister of Christ, came to you with the gospel. And by the way, it really worked. I mean, this is Paul's point to them. When you heard this gospel, and you received it, and you understood it, and you embraced it, it really worked. It really actually did what it was supposed to do in your life. It transformed you. Notice how the Apostle Paul points this out to them. He addresses them as saints. This is the idea of holy people. This speaks to the fact that when you embrace the gospel that Epaphras brought to you, you got a new status before God. He addresses them as faithful. These are people who have been given an entire new character before God. You have embraced the truth about God and God has completely changed your status and He has changed your character. and he addresses them as brothers. These are holy and faithful brothers, which speaks to the fact that when they received the gospel, they got a bigger and better family. They didn't just get a new status, a new character, they were made members of a new family, and all of this happened because of a new sphere, an entire new relationship that they had with God when they were in Christ. Paul said, in essence, you have taken your red paperclip and God has taken that and has given you a massive treasure. In fact, all of the riches of glory have been given to you in this new status and in your new character and because of your new family and because of the new sphere in which you live. And as a consequence to all of this, you now have a brand new experience with God. You have grace, in verse 2. You used to be people who only experienced the wrath of God, according to Romans chapter 1, that was falling down on all ungodliness and all unrighteous people. And it was this way because you lived in a realm. You lived in a realm that was ruled by sin and dominated by death. You lived in a realm over which there was a God of this world that was worshiped, who was energizing the entire course of that world. But when you embraced Jesus, When the gospel came to you, everything changed. You received grace. You now live in a realm called grace that is ruled over by the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah. And as a consequence of living in that grace, you experience new and rich and full and growing mercy that is fresh every day. And not only do you live in this new realm, you have an entirely new relationship with God called peace. And that's what he says in verse two, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So there is an incredible thing that has happened to these believers at Colossae because of what they have heard and what they have believed and what they have received. But someone, or some ones, have come to the city of Colossae with a message. And the message is this. We will take Christ, your hope, and we will trade something that we think will make that better and will make it bigger. And these people who were offering this trade were saying things like this, you know, if you have Jesus, that's great, you have this hope in you, you have this gospel that this servant, Epaphras, brought to you, but there's actually more, and if you will let us, we can add to what you have, and we can make it bigger, and we can make it better. I mean, if you let us and you follow us and you just add a little bit of the Jewish legalism that we're talking about, then you can have something that is bigger and better in your experience of the gospel. And in addition to that, if you'll add on top of that some of the mystical experiences that we can teach you about and that we can talk to you about and that we can introduce you to, then it'll even be bigger and better than that. And Epaphras has come to Paul, and he has assured Paul that the gospel had really come to these believers, but he is also alerting Paul that something else has come that is threatening to take all of this away. And the apostle Paul, responding to this, writes the letter of Colossians, and he says to the believers at Colossians, don't trade your hope. Hold on to your hope, and your hope is a person, Christ in you. Hold on to that. Don't trade it away. Don't be persuaded to trade your two-story house for a paperclip. Don't go backwards. Don't go sideways. You hold on to what God has given you in Christ because in Christ, you have everything. And if you trade that away, you have no help on earth and you have no home in heaven. And so the question is, how do you hold on to this hope? Because even though we don't live in the city of Colossae, and even though we are not, in essence, facing the exact error that was being taught in the book to the very same degree, and under the very same circumstances, every single one of us live in a culture, and we live in a context, and we live under the pressure to give away our hope. You would say, you know what? Brother Sam, I don't think I'd ever give away my hope. I mean, I don't think I would ever turn away from Christ. And theologically, I agree with you. And I hope that would be true of me. But I think that there are many, many ways in which we do what the Apostle Paul is warning the Colossians not to do. We give away our hope because we don't make Christ preeminent in every part of our life. I mean, the answer to holding on to your hope is to recognizing its value. I would never trade something that I value for something that I value less. I would never trade something for a red paperclip unless I really wanted the red paperclip more than I wanted what I already had. And the reason that Jesus Christ loses his place in our life is because all throughout our life we live in a context and we live in a culture where other things want to take his place and they vie for our attention. And we take Christ for granted or we take our faith casually or we set our affections on earthly pursuits. And that's exactly what was happening at Colossae. These believers weren't giving up Jesus, they were just moving Him to the side and adding something else that they thought would make them happy or make them holy. And how many times in my life and how many times in yours are we tempted to do the same thing? So when we come to the first eight verses, we find in these eight verses the unfolding of themes that Paul is going to develop for the rest of the book. And as we look at these eight verses, the Apostle Paul actually is telling us, you need to hold on to your faith because it is the most incredibly valuable thing you've ever received. You need to hold on to your hope and here is how you do it. So let me suggest as we look at these verses how the Apostle Paul teaches us to hold on to our hope. I think one of the ways that he does it is by reminding us that holding on to our hope happens when we remember that hope as an occasion of thankful praise. I mean, think about the fact that your hope, Christ in you, think about that as an occasion of thankful praise. Look at verse three, Paul says, we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ every time we pray for you. Every time we think about you, every time we pray for you, it becomes an occasion of great joy for us and great praise to the God who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who did all of this for you. The whole reason that you have Christ, the whole reason that he is in you as your hope of glory is because of something that the Father did. And when you think about that and you remember that, it becomes an occasion of thankful praise. I will never trade my hope and glory when I'm constantly thankful to God for the incredible thing that He has done. And so that's the first question I want to ask ourselves this morning is this. Are we filled with thankful praise to God for the incredible thing that happened to us when we embraced the gospel? I mean as you may have embraced the gospel at a very young age, some of you were 5 or 8 or 10 or 12, but over the years as you have begun to understand the immense thing that happened when you opened up your heart in faith and Jesus began to dwell in you When all of the ramifications of that began to unfold and all of the dots began to connect and you saw the immensity of what God did, are you regularly filled with deep soul thankfulness for that. The Apostle Paul was. Paul said, every time I think about what happened to you at Colossae, every time I remember you, every time I pray for you, here's what happens in my heart. There is this deep welling up of thankfulness and praise to God. Here's the second thing that'll help us to hold on to our faith, when we remember that it came to us and it was accessed by personal faith. Look at how Paul says this, we give thanks to God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, and then look at verse four, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. There was a time when these people came to a place in their life where they made a deep heart commitment to the truth about Jesus. This is not just human belief. This is not just someone who's sort of a person that you can rely on. This is talking about a deep internal work of God that happened in the heart of real people living in a city like Colossae that moved them to rely deeply on God, to believe passionately in Jesus Christ, and to commit themselves in their own energy to commit themselves to Christ. Now let me ask you a question. Does that kind of faith reside in you? I mean, Paul says, when I think about you, And when I pray for you, my heart is overwhelmed with deep thankfulness to God for what He has done for you. And one of the things that has happened to you is this, you have accessed Jesus Christ with a deep personal belief in Him, a reliance on Him, and a personal commitment to live your life for Him. And then notice, thirdly, that This hope is retained not just when we remember that it is accessed by personal faith, but when it is displayed in sacrificial love. Look at verse four again. We give thanks to God, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Jesus Christ and of your love for all of the saints. This is much more than just being nice or kind or considerate. I mean, we all should be nice and kind and considerate, but the Apostle Paul is actually saying something much deeper. I mean, we all know people who haven't embraced the gospel who are nice. I'm sure you have in your circle of acquaintances or people in your neighborhood who may not go to church, they may not be Christians, but they've extended human kindness to you. They have been considerate about you. So what Paul is talking about here is something much deeper. You need to hold on to whatever it is that has produced this kind of deep sacrificial love that has come up in your heart. And the kind of love that is coming up in your heart has a completely different orientation than anything else around you. You used to be oriented to loving sin, and your affinity was to fellow sinners. Now, you love righteousness, and your affinity is for believers. And not just for believers who are like you, and not just for believers who do good to you, but for all believers. It's not just that it has a new orientation, it actually has an incredible breadth and an incredible scope. And it exercises itself in such a way that the world, when it sees it, looks up and takes note. And Paul says, now I know that this happened to you and it happened when you embraced and understood and believed the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is your hope. And that's really the fourth thing that you see here that this hope that Paul is telling them to hold on to is actually not just displayed in sacrificial love for others, it's rooted, it's sourced in a confident hope. Notice what we see here in verse five. All of this, your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of the saints is there because of something. It's coming out of something. And what it is coming out of, the soil in which it is rooted, is a deep hope in something that is laid up for you in heaven. And whatever this is, you have heard about this from the word of the truth of the gospel. When we think about the hope that is in us, the hope of glory, it's not just an optimistic spirit. This is not just a positive outlook. This is not just that person that no matter what happens, they always have the ability to sort of have a cheerful outlook and sort of put a best face on it. This is an entirely new perspective. This is the deep, confident expectation of another world that is waiting for you and you are going to live every moment of this life because you believe that the real value to your life is what is being laid up for you in the next. And that's why the apostle Paul says, now don't trade away that hope. That is why you are willing to suffer the loss of all things. That is why, like Moses, you are willing to lay aside all of the value and treasure that is available to you in this life because of the immense treasure that you know is waiting for you and is reserved for you and is laid out for you and set aside for you by God in heaven. And the evidence of that hope is in you. It is Christ in you. And in him are all riches. And Paul says, now I know that this hope is in you. Because of the way that you love. And because of how committed you are in your belief. So how did this hope come? How did this hope arise in you? Where did this unshakable confidence come for that helps me to live for the right world in a world where everybody around me is living for this life because they have no expectation of a life to come? And Paul's answer to that is the fifth thing that he lays out before us that ought to help us to hold on to our hope, and that is this, it is established in truth. Look at verse five. Paul says, you have this hope because you heard before in a word, and the word that you heard is true. There was a true Word that came to you. It was a Word of truth, and this true Word that came to you is actually the gospel. And this gospel is someone that a credible witness brought to you in his name. And verse seven is Epaphras. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf. And here's what Epaphras did. He told you the whole story. When Epaphras brought this gospel to you, when he brought this good news about Jesus, who he is and what he has done, When He brought this story to you, when He brought this word of truth to you, He told you the whole truth. You aren't missing any parts of it. So when someone comes along to try to get you to trade that story for part two, don't do it. You got the whole thing. Epaphras really told you the truth because he is a reliable servant of Christ and he's gonna tell you the truth about Jesus. And he told you that truth and then here's what Epaphras told us. Epaphras told us, he told Timothy and he told me that you actually heard it and you understood it and you believed it. So when you're wondering whether or not you got the whole story because you're not sure about what's going on in your own life and you've got these incredibly persuasive people in your midst trying to get you to buy into part two or part three, I want you to remember that what you got was established in truth. So don't trade it away. And not only was it established in truth, but it was commonly confirmed. Look at verse six. How do you know that Epaphras is right? I mean, Epaphras told you the whole story, and he came back and he told us that you really heard it, and you really believed it, and you really embraced it, but how do you know that that's really true? And the answer is because it's bearing fruit in you. Notice how Paul says this in verse 6, this whole truth of the gospel has come to you just like it has in all of the world and it is bringing forth fruit among you. This gospel that you receive from Epaphras that you embrace is a gospel that has really changed you. And by the way, it didn't just change you, it is continuing to transform you. It is increasing. And it is bringing forth fruit in your life. And this is the common experience of all believers who have embraced the story that Epaphras told you. Colossians, this story that Epaphras brought to you and told you, that you heard, that you believe, that is producing change in you, that has transformed you and is transforming you, is the exact same story that I wrote to Rome. It's the story I took to Ephesus. It's the story I brought to Corinth. It's the same story. And it's doing the same thing in you that it did at Rome and that it did in Ephesians, among the Ephesians at Ephesus. It's doing the very same thing that happened at Thessalonica. It's doing what it's supposed to do. What is happening in you has happened around the world and is happening around the world. So what came to you is true, it's genuine, it's complete, it's whole, and it's doing what it was intended to do. When you believe the gospel, you really did receive Christ. He really is in you, the hope of glory. So don't trade Him away. And that brings us to the final thing this morning, and that is this. If all of this is true, Why do I find it so hard to keep believing? I mean, why do I honestly doubt the promise that God has made me that there is a better life to come and that all of my riches are there. Why is it so hard for me to keep Jesus at the center when persecution comes? Why is it hard when I don't have answers to all of the options that these teachers are putting in front of me? They seem to be growing. They seem to have all of these incredible experience. And I'm sitting here and every day I get up, it's hard. They come to me and they talk to me about visions they have and they talk to me about the incredible privilege of engaging in the same worship that angels are giving along with angels. And they have a pathway to that. If I'll just do this or not do this. And I have this sort of boring worship experience. I don't have any of that. And they come in and they talk about all this power and, man, I go to work every day and it's everything I can do just to hold on to my faith. And it really does seem like I have a paperclip and they have this glorious thing and if I'll just embrace what they're teaching, I can have that too. And you know what? That same temptation is right here in our day. Man, I go to church every week, and it's just the same old stuff. And I hear about these people who, man, they get in the Word, and it's rich, and it's passionate, and I get in the Word, and man, I can barely stay awake. I can't even pronounce the words. And these people pray, and it's like, man, they have these massive prayers, and it's just like God opens up heaven, and I hear these stories, and I pray, and nothing happens. It's like God has favorites, and I'm not one. You ever feel that way? I mean, we're three Sundays in and you may already feel that way. It's like a new year. You guys said it was gonna be great, 2017. Could be the year Jesus comes. We're three weeks in and he better come. Brand new year, man, it's gonna be different. You know, this is the year I'm gonna lose weight. Three weeks in, I gained five pounds. New year, man, it's gonna be the best spiritual year of my life. And maybe in the last three weeks, you've sinned sins you never thought you would sin. And you're wondering, and I'm wondering sometimes, how do I hold on to this theological truth that I know? And Paul says, well, here's the answer. All of this is energized by the Spirit. and not by you. Notice what he says in verse eight. When Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, declared to us your love, he told us that this was going on in the Spirit. This is the only time in the book of Colossians that we have a reference to the Holy Spirit. This is a book that focuses in on the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the preeminent one. It reminds us of the incredible work that God the Father did in orchestrating this great exchange where his wrath would be exchanged for grace and favor. But right here at the very beginning, Paul says, now let me tell you how it all works. Let me tell you why you shouldn't trade it away. Let me tell you why you should hold on. Because all of this that we're talking about, all of this commitment, all of this love, all of this hope that changes everything is energized by somebody else. It's energized by the Spirit of God. It's energized by the Holy Spirit that Christ said he would send you and the fact that you are believing, and the fact that you are loving, and the fact that you are hoping, is evidence that He is at work in you. He is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So don't trade it away. Walk in his word. Don't grieve him by tolerating sin in your life. Don't resist him when he speaks to you through his word. Because he's the one that's energizing everything. So, how do we end? Let's hold on to our faith. We traded and we got an incredible treasure, Christ in us, the hope of glory. So don't trade down. Hold on to your faith, hold on to Jesus. Rejoice in your faith. Take time to celebrate your faith. Rejoice like Paul did, display your faith. Take time to put that faith out so that others can see it. Let the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, through the worship that we corporately share together, grow your faith, and then let's make sure as believers that we're sharing our faith. It's gonna be very hard for us to give away something that is so valuable to us that we're willing to take that and share it with another. It's gonna be immensely hard to give up a faith that we are spending our life sharing with other people. One of the things I like to ask people who try to sell me things is, do you use the product you're trying to sell me? And when somebody says, well, actually, I really don't. You know what chance that person has of me buying their product? Zero. They probably don't have much of a chance anyway, but it goes to zero for sure. because they're not holding on to the thing they're selling. And you know, when you and I are sharing our faith, we're motivated to share that faith because we are holding onto it as the most valuable thing in our life. And that's the value of Colossians. That's the message of Colossians. Hold on to Jesus. He is your hope of glory. Father, thank you for time around your word this morning. We're excited about the series. We know that this is a portion of your word that is designed to exalt you. It's designed to lift you up. It's designed to keep you prominent in our life. We know that you are the preeminent one in the universe. We know that you're the preeminent one in your church. We can't make you those things because you are those things. The only thing we can do, Lord, is to make sure that you are the preeminent one in our life, that we are holding on to you as the supreme treasure. that we have received because of the gospel. Maybe you're here this morning, and you recognize the preeminence of Jesus over all the universe. You recognize his preeminence in the church. But honestly, you know in your life, he's important, but he's not central. Not the way that Paul's talking about in these eight verses. Somehow your affections, your eyes, have been focused on the wrong world. Your love for Christ, your love for believers, certainly there theoretically, but it's not central. It's not what really marks you. Your commitment to Christ, your commitment to the faith that you have espoused, your deep life commitment to reflecting that faith in the way you live in your marriage, the way you live out in the marketplace is not like what Paul describes here in these verses. And you would say, you know what, Brother Sam, I'm like you, I need to hold on to Jesus. I need to make sure that he's at the center. I can't make him Lord of the church, he's already that. I can't make him sovereign of the universe, he's already that. But he is not central in my thinking at this moment. And I want him to be. And frankly, I need to repent of that. And I need to refresh my soul in that. and I need to recommit to that. And I wanna start that this morning, and I just wanna tell God that. Would you slip your hand up? You say, Brother Sam, that's me, that's where I'm at, all right? I want God to do that work in me. I don't wanna trade away my red paperclip. Father, we take time to thank you for the work that you're doing in our hearts. Thank you for this word, and we pray that you would continue to use it in our life. In Jesus' name, amen.
Hold on to Your Hope
Series Christ in You-The Hope of Glor
Sermon ID | 11617917464 |
Duration | 48:59 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday - AM |
Bible Text | Colossians 1:1-8 |
Language | English |
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