Untitled Sermon

Hey well goodevening everyone. It’s good to actually be in the company of some Godly men and to actually get out the house. If we have never met my name is Kevin. To give you all some details of my life the last year and half. 7 months ago the second love of my life was born. Here is a photograph. Her name is Zoey and I love her with all my heart. There are no butts to that, but on a different note. Parenting a new born or a child in general is hard work. For a season and many other seasons it robs you of what you want to do. It puts challenges on your marriage and it begins long before the baby is born. The challenges of helping your wife or girlfriend through that can be difficult. What’s ironic in all this, is marriage, fatherhood and hardships are meant to grow you and an even better word is mature you into a Strong Godly man. Which leads into this whole study Colossians which is all about believers maturing in their faith. Y’all have been in and grateful that Erik asked me to do this with him. I have a passion to study and teach the bible. I have bought college level commentaries and books to read and use in my spare time. Its been a long time since I have been able to do something like this. I’m very greatfull and hopefully I cant keep coming the group. As we have already discovered that Pauls “end game in writing this letter is the that that this young church in the City of Colossi is “

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Col 2:6-7 NIV).

As eric put it, We have been baptized into Christ death and resurrection our live has been hidden with Christ. This isn’t merely symbolic for some illisusion to water baptism. If you have placed your faith In Jesus Christ and you believed that died on the cross and got up from the grave on third day. It some strange way every part of your old life has died with Christ. You have risen to a new existent. An existant where the spirit of God now lives in you and you now have power to become all that God made you to be. In an ancient context, power to be God’s true image barriers. Something, that isn’t often seen by us in the modern world, but Paul understands and his Jewish/Gentile Audience is that Jews believed this idea that God would eventually accept the gentiles but after the restoration of Israel and the resurrection at the end of time and what Paul had come to realize that this had already taken place in Christ death and resurrection. That believers were already living in what you might call the age to come and the present one at the same time. So not only is this idea of death and resurrection for certain to be our future when God will finally put an end to death once for all but, its true of you right now. You are a new creation the old is gone and the new has come. Christ indenty is now yours. The good news is this true of you and me no matter where we find ourselves. If we find ourselves overwhelmed by the storms of life, or we go home everynight from work fealing that old man got the best of us today. Anger, selfishness seem to have the upperhand. Everyone one of us in the room never have to earn God’s favor, It is yours. Since we have such a great salvation lets put to death whatever belongs to our early.

Picking up in verse 10,

and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

As in the previous few verses, Getting rid of Malice, Anger, Strive , these are all are sins one commits against people. Sure, its an inward conflict but it comes out against people. This is what Judiasm had become at this point. Intense hatrid for gentiles, selfish pride over them being the chosen people. Paul is saying to the converts in Collosea this Christ has come to put an end to national, ratial, and even religoius boundaries. In his death and ressurection he has acheived the creation of a new humanity.

I want to discuss what do yall think about the implications of passage for us today. How are we doing as a church or small group maybe here on a national stage? How do we current divide people inside our church? or maybe its just in our minds? Or what do we currently do well at that. Are we accepting to our universalist brothers hahaha.

Examples: A homeless person walks in. Democrats -republicans

I think merely being passive or merely focusing on what we are to get rid of is not enough we must put bring to life and nuture christ like quaities. As Paul say this

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony( Col 3:12–14).

When I read something like this what does it mean? How do I do this? How do I put this on? What do you guys think?