Putting Off the Old, Putting On the New

Good morning and welcome to CCC

Before we get started this morning I want to urge you to pray for all the men and women in the armed services that will face even more danger than normal in the aftermath of the air strikes that took place last night

Pray for those making plans, those carrying out those plans and all who will be impacted in the coming days and weeks and months

I just want to remind you

Daniel 2:21 KJV 1900

And he changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings: He giveth wisdom unto the wise, And knowledge to them that know understanding:

None of this surprised God

God didn’t have to rearrange plans or react to President Trump’s actions yesterday

This is a time to pray

This is a time to dive into God’s Word

This is a time to be a light into the darkness

So many are scared

so many are anxious

so many are living in fear this morning

be the light of Jesus and live your life in His security which allows you to be calm

fearless

and able to be there for those who need you........Christ’s Ambassadors.....now is the time to go to work!

If you have not grabbed a notes page please grab one now. It also has the devotional for this week inside of it.

Again I encourage you to write down what God says to you this morning and dive into the scriptures this week as well as the devotional in your secret place

Nolan is in Pittsburg at an intensive rehab facility preparing him to return home

Michael also had surgery this past Friday where they removed his right big toe.....keep Nolan and Michael and their families in prayer as they recover

anyone who had students go to Jr Sr High Camp June 1-6 need to plan to attend a short meeting right after church on Sunday July 20.

This is for parents and students.

Students and parents of students who went but left camp early need to attend as well. We will be discussing several things including future fund raising and attendance expectations

Before we get going this morning I want to say something

Melody and I discussed this as we travelled to KC Monday for her appointments and to see Nolan

Last week was the most vocal and responsive the congregation has ever been here at CCC

I don’t say that to bring you glory

I don’t say that to bring me glory

I say that to bring God glory

I have been praying for God to move in your hearts and minds and allow the Holy Spirit control

Saying amen and responding is exactly that

You see when God’s truth is proclaimed the Holy Spirit inside of you reacts...agrees....gets excited

What was happening last week and I pray from here on out is you letting that out

you not holding it in

my prayer has been for God to do this in His time when you were ready......I pray this begins to permeate worship and everything we do here at CCC

Let’s Pray

This morning we continue with our sermon series in Colossians with Colossians 3:8-11. if you would like to start turning there in your Bible or on your phone or tablet....also remember that our CCC app has a Bible feature and in that Bible feature anything we have preached on a specific verse will be linked there as well

Last week we looked at behaviors to mortify....to kill....to walk away from

this week we look at attitudes and words to put away....put off

This is a continuation from last week just as next week will be a continuation from the past two weeks

I pray you are allowing God’s Word to penetrate your hearts and minds

I pray that you are allowing the Holy Spirit to apply God’s Word to your life through obedience

I pray you are a doer of the Word and not a hearer only therefore deceiving yourself

we are going to walk down verse by verse this morning

Colossians 3:8

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Colossians 3:8 KJV 1900

But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

I again want to give you the meaning of the Greek words so we are all on the same page as far as definitions

put off comes from a Greek word meaning to put away, cast off, lay aside.....just like you take off your shirt to put it in the dirty hamper....put off these things

You can’t entertain or justify something and put if off

they are opposites

like oil and water they will never mix

these will be hard to put off

in fact impossible to put off without the Holy Spirit guiding you and impowering you to do so

as I go through this morning you will feel a few things and maybe all of these things

conviction......God telling you that you have these things in your life and you need to put them off....which you can do right there in your seat or at the altar in a little bit

rebuking....God has already convicted you to put off these things and you are refusing so He is taking it to another level of pressure and encouragement to put them off

edification....God has asked you to put them off and through the Holy Spirit you did and now God is letting you know that He took those things you put off as far as the east is from the west....completely removed them

again you may feel all three of these this morning and that is okay....deal with each one accordingly

The first two things we are to put off in vs 8 we are going to look at are

anger this is the same word translated wrath in vs 6....violent passion, by implication punishment, anger, indignation, vengeance

wrath comes from a Greek word meaning passion as in breathing hard, fierceness, indignation....different than the Greek word used for wrath last week and anger here in vs 8

As I was preparing for today I realized I have this wrath a lot.....look at the word.....breathing hard....as I was meditating on this....wrestling with this....asking God to show me this in my life I realized when I am upset or angry as I am talking I have a hard time catching my breath......i am breathing hard due to the wrath inside of me that needs to be dealt with

God has expectations on dealing with anger

Ephesians 4:26

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Ephesians 4:26 KJV 1900

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

You must deal with your anger

How many of you get angry....mad.....i mean fired up but never deal with it

you never approach the person who made you angry to have a conversation

you just push it down and try to ignore it or you are too weak to deal with it so you just accept it

that is not what God just told you do to in His Word

let not the sun go down upon your wrath

deal with it

have a conversation...not a yelling match

have scriptures because if you are angry about something but have no scriptures YOU are angry and your anger does nothing but leads you into sin

how many times has something small caused anger that had you dealt with it right there and then....dealt with it before the sun went down......it would have worked out just fine

if you would have sought out the person who you were angry with and had a conversation

there are so many times people are mad at me and I have no idea

most of the time the people you are angry with have no idea they did anything to cause you anger

but instead of dealing with it you just push it down......ignored it.....said I will just get over it and move on....but you don’t

and it exploded and ruined that relationship or even worse another relationship that just bore the brunt of your anger at someone else

that actually is a secondary problem

the most dangerous problem created by not putting off and dealing with your anger and wrath is

the distance you are creating between you and God for refusing to follow scripture!!!!!

Put off your anger and wrath

malice comes from a Greek word meaning badness, depravity, malignity, trouble, evil, naughtiness, wickedness.....

this goes beyond actions into character and the reason why you are doing something

it points to sin and your sinful nature

malice is a deep seated, intentional evil act taken against someone.....usually someone who doesn’t deserve it

ill will

hate

you are going to get your pound of flesh regardless of the cost

that is the opposite of the Gospel

the Gospel tells us to lay down our lives for others

to put others first

to have the heart of God that all come to repentance and none should perish

malice is of the world

malice is evil

malice is a sin

malice is of the devil

you are to put it away

Ephesians 4:31

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Ephesians 4:31 KJV 1900

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

let it go...

put it away.....

not my words God’s Word!

I mentioned yesterday earlier.......there will be lots of malice as a result of those attacks

If you watched the news last night you already saw that malice on display and will continue to see it build as the days and weeks continue

PUT IT AWAY

DONT FALL FOR THE DEVILS TRICKS TO GET YOU TO STAND AGAINST THE WORD OF GOD!

blasphemy comes from a Greek word meaning vilification especially against God, evil speaking, railing

websters 1828 defines blasphemy as an indignity offered to God by words or writing, contemptuous or irreverent words uttered impiously against Jehovah....

impiously means irreverence for God or contempt for His authority, profanely, wickedly

this is not just cussing....in fact most of us blaspheme without cussing....when you speak of God without reverence.......you blaspheme Him

So many of us causally speak of God......

taking Him for granted......

forgetting what price God paid for you to be His child....to be forgiven and saved and redeemed

how many times do you use His name without reverence

how many times do you look to Him as a genie who is supposed to grant your wishes

how many times do you make the plans and then expect God to bless them

how many times have you used His name to better your position

i pray that when President Trump thanked God last night on national tv that he had reverence for Him and not just saying that to appease his voters and supporters

God knows hearts and God knows when you are blaspheming Him

anytime you are irreverent to God you are blaspheming Him

this is a heart issue that comes out in words and actions and beliefs

Filthy communication comes from a Greek word meaning vile communication...filthy communication

this is cussing and carrying on but it is much more than that

Ephesians 4:29

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Ephesians 4:29 KJV 1900

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Your words matter church

no corrupt communication

Corrupt comes from a Greek word meaning rotten, worthless, bad....

Communication comes from a Greek word meaning something said, reasoning...even your thinking here

let no rotten

let no worthless

let no bad

words come out of your mouth also

do not think rotten

worthless

bad thoughts....reasoning.....

i am fat

i am ugly

that person sucks

you get the picture.....worthless

bad thoughts and thinking

God is serious about this church so you must be also

Ephesians 5:4

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Ephesians 5:4 KJV 1900

Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

God went further

filthiness comes from a Greek word that means shamefulness, obscenity

that is cussing and putting others down

foolish talking comes from a Greek word that means silly talk, buffoonery

buffoonery means according to Websters 1828 The arts and practices of a buffoon; low jests; ridiculous pranks; vulgar tricks and postures.

jesting comes from a Greek word that means humor, facetiousness

convenient comes from a Greek word that means to attain to, be proper

so shameful

obscene

silly talk

ridiculous pranks

vulgar tricks

worthless humor

being facetious

facetious according to Websters means

treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant.

these are not right

these are nothing to be attained

what about your talk?

Gary Kurtz and I have talked about this and its implications

I am still wrestling with this

I like a good joke

I love to use sarcasm

I am down for a good prank

but is God?

does a joke glorify God or edify others

does sarcasm edify or tear down

does a prank bring others to Christ or Christians to maturity

I challenge you to go home and spend time this week asking God to show you what this means for you

ask God to convict you where you are wrong

encourage and edify you where you are good

and most importantly ask Him to show you what you need to do to change to match His Word!!!!!! BE A DOER OF THE WORD NOT A HEARER ONLY

Colossians 3:9

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Colossians 3:9 KJV 1900

Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

This really comes down to do you believe all who are saved are part of the Body of Christ......

do you believe all who are saved are Christ’s bride

do you believe all who are saved are brothers and sisters in Christ

because if you believe that is true why on earth would you lie to each other

Ephesians 4:25

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Ephesians 4:25 KJV 1900

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

You are members one of another.....

you are connected and related in Christ

You are one body......you are not your own you were purchased by Christ with His blood shed for you on the cross

speak every man truth to each other

this goes beyond Christians but to all people

Christians should never lie

well I am doing it for their good

wrong

lying is a sin and if you lie but try to justify it with i am lying for their good then you are still sinning

however since you are justifying that sin you probably wont deal with that sin with confession and repentance because you think it is okay to sin by lying when it is what YOU think is best for someone

Let’s for just a moment think about why we lie

we lie to hide something

we lie to hide our sin

we lie to hide our faults

we lie out of pride and a refusal do deal with the consequences of our actions

we say we lie to protect people

false

give them truth...God’s Truth in grace and love

their reaction is between them and God.....you follow God’s lead through the Holy Spirit

I promise you if the truth is hard

if the truth is devastating

if the truth may truly hurt someone

if that is the truth then pray about it

seek God’s face about it

fast over it

ask the Holy Spirit to give you the words and to be working on that person’s heart to receive the truth

I promise God is bigger than that truth and if you bathe it in prayer and fasting that God will walk you through that situation and it will turn out for His glory and your and their good

Colossians 3:10

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Colossians 3:10 KJV 1900

And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Church you have a choice this morning.....you have a choice every second of every day you are alive here on earth

put on the new man to walk around in a dead

stinky

rotting

fleshly body ignoring God and headed for hell

The new man is created by God through the Holy Spirit in you.....you don’t create the new man but you must choose to put the new man or woman on.....how....being renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him

Romans 12:2

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Romans 12:2 KJV 1900

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Transformed by the renewing of your mind.......that is done as you study God’s Word

As Melody and I were talking with Nolan this past Monday he said something that was profound.....simple....full of God’s Truth

You must LOVE the Word of God

If you LOVE the Word of God everything else will take care of itself

Can’t you hear our brother right now saying that

Do you love the Word of God or are you just infatuated with it

are you just cool with it

are you just okay with it

If you LOVE the Word of God you will be in it always

It will dictate and drive everything that you do

you will consult the Word before anything else

you will search the Word before going to google or facebook or social media

you will allow the Holy Spirit to transform you

you will allow the Holy Spirit to renew you by changing your mind to match the Word of God not your opinions or traditions

Why

Why does all that matter

Ephesians 4:24

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Ephesians 4:24 KJV 1900

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

You were created in righteousness and true holiness by God

you were created to look like God

you were created to be holy

how many of you stop and really think about that each and every day

how many think about why God created you

how many of you stop to think about the fact God created you in righteousness

in true holiness

you were created by God on purpose....never an accident....you were created by God to do the works He created for you to do

when that is your purpose and perspective then everything changes

how does that happen.....through the transforming of your mind by the Word of God

Do you LOVE the Word of God?

Colossians 3:11

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Colossians 3:11 KJV 1900

Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

talking about perspective here is yours

Unity

we are to be unified in Christ as we are all one in the body of Christ

in the song Send Me that we do here there is a verse that says “If its loving one another even when we don’t agree here i am Lord send me”

Is that you

even when you know you don’t agree are you loving

are you willing to die for them

are you willing to sacrifice for them

if not you are wrong

You are to love them

you are to sacrifice for them

you are to die for them because Jesus did all that for you

there is absolutely no difference between us physically.....sure we have different colors and races and ethnicities but in Christ we are all one

How many times do you describe someone by the color of their skin?

how many times do you describe someone by a difference

God just told you there is no difference in us in Christ

If you are a Christian you are to be unified

It is unity that draws people to Christ

If they want to be divided they will turn to the world

satan loves to divide

satan loves to cause fights

satan loves to have people react in emotion and attack each other

all this stuff happening in the USA and around the world is driving people away from God because the church doesn’t look much different than politics

if you are fighting with a Christian brother or sister

figure it out

talk it out

pray it out

get into the scriptures and find reconciliation

you are destroying people not unifying people when you fight

this is serious church

how many times do you get fired up because of style of worship

how many times do you get offended by what someone wears or says in church

how many times do you leave upset because church just didn’t meet your needs today

shame on you

shame on me

shame on us

it has nothing to do with you

it has nothing to do with me

it has nothing to do with us

as a Christian our number one goal among other christians is discipleship followed closely by unity

work it out and if you can’t work it out get with me as your pastor or Kenny as your elder or other strong believers

and if it still can’t be worked out and it has nothing to do with salvation

DROP IT

LEAVE IT

AGREE TO DISAGREE and LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Churches have and will continue to split over the color of the carpet

or where to place a communion table

or style of worship

or what should be worn to church

or whatever else people decide to make an issue

people are dying and going to hell and we are fighting about temporary things that have no impact on the Gospel

a sinner who is seeking Jesus won’t even notice the color of the carpet

the won’t have any idea what a communion table is

they probably have never worshipped before......in the sense of singing worship music to God

they could care less what you have on

all they want to know is Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If we are too busy arguing over temporary things that sinner comes and leaves and is never truly introduced to Jesus

SHAME ON US!

God has spoken this morning the time is now for you to respond

if God convicted you come to the altar get with Him and if you would like write it down and nail it to the cross please do so

if God through the Holy Spirit is calling you to repentance that leads to salvation this morning

come....I will pray with you and talk with you and introduce you to Jesus

maybe you want to say to this body and the world that you want to belong to CCC

you want to lock shields with this congregation

you want to get out of the pew and into the battle through service

come and talk to me

maybe you just need some time with God....come

whatever it is come....the time is now.

invitation