2025 Col #3
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Rooted
Rooted
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Nov 2 2025
Colossians #3 2:1-15
Jamey Mills
Good Morning Northside…
My name is Jamey Milles, I’m the lead pastor here, and it's always good to be with you guys.
Last week was incredible.
We did our Trunk or Treat…
I think we had around 1K people come
Met all kinds of new people
Gave away some cool prizes
Special shout out to all of those who helped make that a great event…
We also did our capital campaign reveal…
We had our commitment Sunday, 3 weeks ago…
We revealed the total that has been committed over the next 3 years toward putting a building on the Land that God has miraculously provided.
TOTAL = 3.7 Million - which is miraculous.
Our Goal is 5-7 Million
We still have a ways to go, but that # for a church our size is incredible.
We have info packets back by the welcome table
If you haven’t filled out a commitment card yet they are on the welcome table and on our website.
What a great weekend we had…
Today we’re in the 3rd week of our sermon series on Colossians called…
“Christ Alone”
It was written by the Apostle Paul, around 60 AD to a church in Colossae that was struggling with something that became known as the Colossian Heresy…
The Roman Roads had brought the world to their backyard… All kinds of new ideas and advancements… but also all sorts of immorality and false teaching…
It was working its way into the culture and even into the Church.
Which was leading to this idea that Jesus wasn’t enough… You needed Jesus and strict obedience… Jesus and prayer to angels… or street cred… or special knowledge…
It was blurring their vision as to who Jesus is… causing them to misplace their hope… putting more weight on themselves… what they’ve done… and what they know…
That’s never a good thing.
This is something that Jesus dealt with directly.
On one occasion, Jesus was with the disciples and asked… who do people say that I am? And they told him some were saying
John the Baptist
Elijah
Jeremiah or another prophet…
And then Jesus said, but who do you say I am?
Can you imagine the weight of that question… face to face with Jesus?
What an incredible opportunity to make your colors clear…
And I want to give you that opportunity today.
Who do you say that Jesus is?
Why do you say it?
How do you know?
I want you to know… with my whole heart I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God who came to take away the sin of the world.
And for me… they why and how are similar.
I believe it because
When I look at the world, I see the intelligent design of a loving creator.
I see a world that is its own worst enemy - fallen in sin
I see people fighting and flailing away from Jesus
I’ve seen people radically changed in Jesus
I got really tired of doing it my way… and running into the same wall again and again.
I got tired of basing my worth on what other people thought or on what I could accomplish… often disappointing on both accounts.
When I look at creation… There has to be more to it.
I found meaning, purpose, and direction for my life
Experiencing God’s presence in my life… and in my relationships… and because I’m human… it's sometimes still messy… but these moments of fullness and freedom that I believe are a foretaste of Heaven itself…
Jesus asked… who do you say I am?
Answering that question is the overarching purpose of scripture.
Jesus is the point… the entire Bible points to Him.
Eternal/uncreated
Created all things
All things are created for Him
Sustainer/Over all creation
Firstborn… supreme of all creation, church
Reconciler of all things- through his life, death, and resurrection, including you.
Colossians 2:1–4 (ESV)
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
We see Paul’s heart for all Christians… even those he’s never met.
The word struggle means to agonize.
Why, becasue He knows what's on the line. He knows how important this is… and so we see him fighting for and wrestling in prayer over them.
Two questions:
Who is doing that for you?
Who are you doing that for?
3 ways Paul is praying for them:
Be encouraged
Stick together in love
Have complete confidence in God’s mysterious plan
3 specific ways Paul is praying for them… …
Be encouraged -
Stick together in love
Have complete confidence in God’s mysterious plan which is Christ.
That word is connected to the word for Holy Spirit… be encouraged by the presence and word of the Holy Spirit in you…
Stick together in love
Ecclesiastes talks about how we are stronger together than we ever could be apart.
Have complete confidence in God’s mysterious plan, which is CHRIST.
Unity is good… but what unites us matters a ton.
It has this sense of overflowing confidence… and even being satisfied… in God’s plan, which is Christ…
In a culture that taught you needed mysterious knowledge… Paul says… the knowledge you need is simply Jesus.
A settled conviction on Christ’s deity, sufficiency, and supremacy.
What is your confidence in? Paul says… in Christ.
Being anchored in, find stability in Him alone… steadfast.
Paul tells them that IN Christ… lie all (not some) the treasures of wisdom and knowledge… You don’t have to look anywhere else.
These verses teach that wisdom (the ability to discern and live rightly) and knowledge (understanding truth and reality) originate in God’s character and are revealed to humanity by Him.
“All wisdom and knowledge come from God” means:
God is the ultimate source of all truth.
Human understanding is a reflection of His divine wisdom.
True wisdom is found in relationship with Him through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
IN a world searching for truth, purpose, and meaning… Paul says everything you're looking for and that you need is already found in Jesus.
Paul says don’t let anyone mislead you… with well-sounding arguments… that sound good to our own ears… that centralize what I think, feel and want…
2 Timothy 4:3–4 (NLT)
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
#1 Be rooted and built up in Christ
Colossians 2:6–7 (ESV)
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Paul is saying continue… move forward… don’t get distracted with bad teaching… don’t become apathetic…
But just as you received Christ.. By faith… and not by effort and earning…
So walk in Him… by faith… that phrase is powerful.
To walk in Him describes an ongoing, daily relationship marked by trust, obedience, intimacy, and transformation.
It carries the idea of closeness… of following Him and His example… becoming more and more like Him.
It has to do with valuing and honoring His presence in your life, in your home, in your relationships… in every area of your life.
He says you start by grace… and grow by grace that comes as we walk with Him.
3 powerful word pictures to help us understand what walking with Him leads to..
Rooted = Depth
Built up = Growth
Established = Strength
Rooted
Paul is saying be planted in Christ... not dead dry soil… not in the world… or in the ideas of man.
Draw your life and identity from Him and His truth. He is the source of life.
Your life, strength, and stability must come from Jesus — not from the world, not from religion, not from yourself.
Continue to grow in Him
Being rooted in Jesus means living so deeply connected to Him that His life, strength, and stability flow through you every day — keeping you grounded, growing, and grateful no matter what comes.
Are you really rooted in Jesus? Drawing life and stability from Him?
What would that look like?
Built up
Refers to the ongoing work that walking with Jesus produces in your life.
We aren’t a finished product…
Everything in your life — your character, values, relationships, and mission is aligned with Him… rest on Him.
It refers to having Jesus as the foundation of your life…
The building of your life is only as strong and lasting as the foundation it's built on…
Matthew 7:24–27 (NLT)
“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
Is Jesus really the foundation of your life?
What would that look like?
Established in our faith
Has to do with being steadfast and steady…
Not easily deceived
Ephe 4:14… not being tossed around by the wave of every new thought and teaching… (black lives matter) (cultural trends)
Rooted - Depth
Build up - Growth
Established - Strength/steadfast
You can’t have stability without depth or growth.
- A tree has to be rooted before it can stand tall and firm in the wind
- A building has to have a strong foundation before it can hold weight
And your faith is established… as we grow deeper in Christ and continue to build our life on Him.
And Paul adds thankfulness…
One author said it like this…
A thankful Christian is often grounded in the reality of Christ, know their need for Christ, and hopes in Him alone.
A gumbeling Christian is often a sign that they’ve lost sight of the fullness they already have in Him, that He is not enough in their eyes.
Gratitude acknowledges and values what is… and what’s been given.
#2 Beware of empty substitutes.
Colossians 2:8–10 (ESV)
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Fullness… and freedom are found in Christ.
That phrase take you captive is powerful… it literally means… kidnap…
Taken captive literally means kidnaped.
Paul is saying… don’t let the creation and thinking of humanity run off with you.
There is always some new thought or new idea that promises a happier… more full and more free life… some new strategy… some new thought…
Paul identifies 3 sources of empty substitutes.
Human tradition
The inventions of man… thinking of man
Elemental spirits
Demonic forces that are at work in the world…
Actions and thinking that are not according to Christ
Which should be the test of any belief, conviction…
Is this according to Christ?
Does this line up with Him?
Does this lead to Him?
Does this glorify Him?
Vs 9 says gives us the reason…
Because IN CHRIST… the fullness of deity dwells bodily.
That may be the clearest statement of Jesus’ divinity in the entire BIble.
All the fullness of God… His nature, His power, His presence… Lives in Jesus in human form. Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
And we need to hear vs. 10 well…
And you… have been filled in Him
God and all that He is lives in Christ and Christ lives in you.
You don’t need more religion
You don’t need another ritual
You don’t need higher experience
You don’t need to fight to earn it
You need Jesus!
Paul is agonizing over them… begging them to consider…
WHY are you looking everywhere else for something you already have!
And we do it too…
We often feel like we aren’t enough… It’s not enough… when Christ is all we need!
#3 Christ alone changes everything.
Colossians 2:11–15 (ESV)
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Paul talks about how we have…
A new identity
IN the OT, circumcision was a sign that you belonged to God’s people…
Paul says that in Christ, you’ve experienced a spiritual circumcision… the cutting away of your old sinful nature…
You belong to Him… and one sign that we belong to Him is our relationship to sin… this doesn’t mean that we’ll never sin again, but it does mean that sin no longer rules in us…
And he uses
Baptism as a picture of that transformation.
Baptism is a powerful outward expression of a new internal reality…
Baptism symbolizes our desire to accept Jesus as both Lord and Savior of our lives.
As we go under the water… it resembles the old man dying with Christ
And as we come up out of the water, it symbolizes the new life we have in Jesus.
Forgiven… washed clean… Covered by Christ.
We don’t just follow Jesus, we share in His death and ressurection, and with it comes a new identity… I am His, a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come.
It's a work of God, not a work of man.
A new status
We were once dead in sin… Not weak, not sick… but dead.
We often have a soft view of sin…
We often take out the sting by thinking it's just the bad stuff we do
We often forget that it is also stuff that we know we should do that we leave undone.
But we rarely remember that sin is primarily relational.
We sin against God… It’s a relational break…
That’s why true repentance is so important… it’s not just feeling sorry, its seeing real change and right relationship…
Through owning it, taking responsibility, apologizing, and seeking real change and right relationship.
Paul says once… our sin left us spiritually dead.
Enemies to the cause and cross of Christ.
But God… who is rich in mercy and abounding in love… made us alive in Christ through the power of the resurrection.
Through Christ… there is hope and peace…
And notice what Paul says about your trespasses…
Not some or even most… but ALL are forgiven.
Your record is canceled… nailed to the cross with Christ…
It’s legal demands have been paid in full there…
You, in Christ, are completely forgiven…
There are so many Christians that don’t live like it.
And in that, You have victory, not defeat
At the cross, it looked as if Satan won…
As Jesus died and the lights went out…
But then the ground shook… in the ressurection, sin and death are defeated and give way to new life… eternally in the presence of God.
One author reminds us that we are not fighting for victory in the Christian life…
We are fighting from victory.
As Christians, we are not fighting for victory, we are fighting from Victory. It is Finished!
Christ has already won…
And He is coming again to set all things right.
On the cross, when Jesus said… It is finished…
When the veil that once separated people from he presence of God was torn…
When Jesus rose from the grave… sin and death were defeated and all those in Christ… are victorious.
1 Corinthians 15:56–58 (NLT)
For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
In Christ, you are forgiven
In Christ, you are built up
In Christ, you are forgiven, complete, victorious, and free
As you have received Christ in faith, so walk in Him
Walk with Him… in life, in marriage, in family, in work…
Walk with Him… learn from Him… be like Him.
The church was trying to find its way in the face of an increasingly godless culture…
Trying to blend their faith with the culture…
Trying to make their faith fit into the culture…
And instead of seeking the whole counsel of God… the truth of God in its entirety… it led to them editing the parts they didn’t like or that were abrasive to the culture… and then adding in things that made them “feel” or “look” good.
Today… it sounds like or looks like this…
Believe in yourself, replace denying yourself
Look within yourself to find truth
You're enough, replaces Christ is enough
Faith becomes about reaching your potential instead of submitting to God’s will
Preaching empowerment without repentance and calling it the gospel
Sin is redefined to soften or avoid offense
Love is redefined as affirmation and not based on truth and redemption
Grace is preached without truth
Faith is used to claim more from God rather than to give more to God
We worship gifts instead of the giver
It would be a mistake to think that our culture is much different.
Satan doesn’t have to get you to deny Jesus… He just has to get you to trust in other things… yourself, money, being good enough,
He just has to get you to say… “Did God really say that”?
3 things you can do to fight that heresy in your own life…
Stay rooted in Christ and His Word
Recover the fear of the Lord
Return to the simplicity of Christ
