Knowledge in Action
Notes
Transcript
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Welcome
Praise Report:
1. David is back!
2. Soup & chili fundraiser:
* total money $822
* items purchased
- 96 soccer balls & 110 pumps for the balls;
- 100 sewing kits and extra items to go with them.
- 400 snap on hair clips
- playing cards
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Wisdom is the power to see and the inclination to choose the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it. - J.I. Packer
Power, understanding, choice, and means.
These together make up wisdom.
And they also make up the Christian life.
We have the power - we have been clothed with power from on high. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to act according to the wisdom of God.
He has also given us understanding. We can spiritually discern the truth. We can understand God’s Word. We can know His will.
We can see Him as He is.
We have the means. God has gifted each of us to carry out His will. He has built His church so that we would lack nothing in carrying out His will together.
He has made us able.
But more than that, He has given us His Son. He has given us everything we need but don't deserve by giving us redemption, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life all because of Christ’s work on the cross.
So we have the power, we have the understanding, and we have the means.
God has granted us all of these!
All that’s left, is the choice.
And that’s what we are going to consider today
Continuing in series in Colossians
And I’ll probably say this more times than you care to hear throughout the series, but we need to keep in mind that we are taking like four months to preach through a short letter that was meant to be read in one sitting.
So no sermon is going to be disconnected from the rest. We need to keep the context of the whole letter in mind each and every week.
Last week we saw Paul greet the Colossian church and then begin his introduction with:
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
And then he got into the truth of the Gospel - the truth of Christ - and how it needed to increase and bear fruit in them, and in their church, and in the whole world.
But Paul is still speaking of his prayers for the Colossians here.
Look at verse 9. He said all that we considered last week, about Christ and the Gospel increasing and how he heard from Epaphras that they were living this out, and he says:
And so, [or “for this reason” - because they were living this out] from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Since they were living out the truth, and since Paul now knew this, his prayer was that they would do it more and more, and for that, he asked God to give them knowledge. He prayed they would be filled with knowledge.
Now remember, there were false teachers among them who were teaching that special knowledge was required to truly know God. Paul here says that, contrary to that, he prays that the Colossians would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will.
What does that mean? How can we know God’s will? How do we know what God wants? How do we know what He wants from us?
Well, He tells us. He does it through His Word.
Remember, God reveals Himself in His Word. He reveals Himself through the covenants - or promises - that He makes to His people.
And by His grace, as part of those covenants, He tells us exactly what His will for us is.
He objectively reveals His will.
So often, we think of God leading us or revealing His will to us as some internal, mystical, gut feeling kind of thing. Like God leaves impressions in us and that is Him leading us by His Spirit.
But not only do we have no examples of that happening in the Bible, but we have commands in the Bible that reveal God’s will very clearly.
No special knowledge required, except to know His Word.
Just like for the Colossians, there is no special knowledge required to know God and His will.
God has revealed His will.
And Paul prays that the Colossians would be filled with a knowledge of His will.
And that knowledge of God’s revealed will is, Paul says, “in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
What does that mean?
Well, this is an Old Testament principle Paul is referring to here.
This wisdom and understanding are found in the revealed will of God. They are rooted in knowing God’s revealed will. In His commandments for His people.
Moses said of these commands in Deuteronomy 4:
Keep them and do them, for that [in the keeping and the doing - that] will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples
It’s like we saw last week: our faithfulness to the commands of God will be seen by others, and that will reveal God to them.
Christ said being faithful to His command to love one another will show all people Who He is and Whose we are.
In other words, true wisdom and understanding are found in following Christ. In obeying Him.
Because wisdom and understanding are His.
Turn with me to Isaiah 11. This is a prediction of Christ. And look at what God says through the prophet:
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. [sounds familiar] And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, [what we’re talking about] the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
This is the wisdom and understanding that Christ had, that bore fruit through His work.
And the wisdom and understanding of Christ, is shared with us. And we will see, so is the might, because so is the Spirit.
But Paul here prays that the Colossians would have this wisdom and understanding all the more.
He says:
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
He wants them filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
The knowledge is worked out in the wisdom and understanding.
That means that these don’t all mean the same thing: knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.
So understanding is different from knowledge. The word for understanding is also translated as “discernment” or “insight”.
Because you can know something without understanding it.
When my beautiful Ford Flex died, I tried to explain what happened in the motor to a friend of mine and he didn’t understand a word I said, but he still knew the motor died. He knew that my car runs on gas and that the motor makes it go when the gas combusts, but he had no understand of how the engine actually works.
He has knowledge, without understanding.
In the same way, we can know about Christ and not understand Who He is. We can know what He did, but not how that should affect what we do.
We can know what God said, and not understand it. We can know His will, and not have any discernment of how to live it out in our own lives.
We need what Paul prayed for these Christians in Colossae. We need to move past knowing and seek to truly understand what we know. What we know of Christ. What we know of His Word. And what we know of His will.
That’s what Paul wanted for the Colossians.
But they - and we - need to go a step further. We need wisdom.
And wisdom is different from both knowledge and understanding.
What’s the difference?
R.L. Dabney:
knowledge is the simple cognition of things; wisdom is the selecting and subordinating of them to an end, as means. Not only must there be the power of selecting and subordinating means to an end, to constitute wisdom: but to a worthy end. Wisdom, therefore, is a higher attribute than knowledge, involving especially the moral perfections. For when one proceeds to the selection of an end, there is choice [there’s our choice] ; and the moral element is introduced.
The difference between knowledge and wisdom is that knowledge is amoral - not immoral - but amoral. There’s no morality to it. You can know lots of things. You can know facts, even of sin. You can even know things you wish you didn’t.
But there is no moral choice involved in knowledge.
But wisdom is applying that knowledge, and you can apply it either morally or immorally - either according to God’s will or contrary to God’s will.
Because knowledge is in our heads, but wisdom is in our mouths and our hands and our feet.
Knowledge is in us, but wisdom works through us.
As Charles Spurgeon put it:
Spurgeon:
Exceedingly practical is the difference between knowledge and wisdom… [because] it is faith, [and] faith alone, that turns… knowledge into wisdom… “Knowledge is power,” but wisdom is the application of that power to practical ends.
Knowledge is good, but it’s passive. It is having something.
Wisdom is better, because it’s active - it is giving something. It is giving something, by faith.
So we need to move from knowing, to understanding, to putting our understanding into action. That is when we have wisdom.
It is an exercise of faith.
We put our understanding into action by faith.
We do it according to God’s will because we believe Him when tells us what’s right and what’s wrong, and what’s good for us and what’s not.
We believe Him when He says that what we endure in this world is nothing compared to the glory we will one day surely receive, and so we live now in light of then.
Let’s look at what James said about this.
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Wisdom is full of good fruits.
Wisdom leads to a harvest of righteousness.
You see, it is this wisdom that leads to the bearing of fruit. Paul talked about that, as we saw last week, and he talks about that same thing here. He prays for understanding and wisdom for these Christians, and to what end?
so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Here we are, back to bearing fruit and increasing again.
Simply put, Paul is looking for the Colossians to put what they know into action. To be wise and understanding, and as James said, and to let that bear fruit in them and in their lives.
Like it has to in us and in our lives.
And that is where our choice comes in.
We can choose not to do this. It doesn’t mean we aren’t Christians. It doesn’t mean we are falling away.
But it does mean that we aren’t bearing the fruit like we should be. And we will not only miss the blessing of seeing God and the Gospel bear fruit, but we will miss out on knowing God like we should.
We will not be filled with the knowledge of God and His will.
⬇️Last week, we talked about the Gospel bearing fruit and increasing in the world, in our church, and in each of us.
Which of those is Paul referring to here? What fruit is he looking for? Fruit in the world, fruit in the Colossian church, or fruit in each Christian there?
Yes. Paul wants the increase everywhere. He wants all the fruit.
Because - let me tell you something - Christ wants all the fruit.
But if what the Colossians do - if how they walk - is going to bear fruit in the world, it has to bear fruit in their church. And they have a choice in that.
Like if we want how we walk to bear fruit in the world, it has to bear fruit in our church. And we have a choice in that.
This is something else I’ll probably remind you of too many times, but remember that this letter is written to a body of believers. To a whole church as a collective. A corporate whole.
This is not for them to carry out each of them separately on their own, but together as a body.
Well, the same is true for us. When we read Paul’s letters, we shouldn’t first think in terms of “me.” We tend to do that.
We read a letter like Colossians and think, “okay, what is God saying to me?”
But Paul doesn’t write most of his letters to individuals. He writes them to churches. To whole bodies.
So when we read these letters, don’t think in terms of “me” first and the church second. We need to think in terms of the whole first, with “me” being an important part of that.
Youth group this week: We all need each other, and we need to each use our gifts together to be a complete body - look around and see your team
Just like the kids - look around - our team/family/body - we are stronger and will bear more fruit when we work at it together
And we need to bear fruit together.
Will we choose to do that?
Well, if we want to, then we each need to choose that. I can’t choose it for you. You can’t choose it for me.
But for that to happen - for all of us to do this together - we have to do it, each of us, because we are all members of the body and members one of another.
We each need to choose to do it.
We each need to determine in our own hearts to work as one to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work.
But how do we do that?
How do we walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and pleasing to Him. How do we bear fruit in our works?
Well, there’s a reason Paul pairs the works with something else.
We bear fruit in every good work AND we increase in our knowledge of God.
It may feel like we just went in a circle… because we did. It’s a wonderful, glorious, holy circle.
(a circle)
We are filled with the knowledge of God and His will. And we seek to understand it. And when we do, we strive to apply it in all wisdom.
And applying that in all wisdom means we wisely choose to walk in a manner worthy of Him. Worthy of bearing His name and being His and claiming Him as ours.
We choose to put what we know of God and His will into action.
And when we wisely choose to do that, we are fully pleasing to Him in that we bear fruit in every good work we do, when we walk in a manner worthy of Him, and by that we further increase in the knowledge of God.
This is why I said we will miss knowing God as we should if we don’t choose to walk pleasing to Him. If we don’t choose wisdom.
Because doing that - walking according to what we know of God’s revealed will - that reveals God to us. It helps us to know Him more.
(a circle)
And when we increase in the knowledge of God - when we are more filled with that knowledge in all spiritual wisdom and understanding - we will choose to walk even more in a manner worthy of Him, and we will please Him all the more, and then, we will bear fruit and increase in the knowledge of Him more.
Paul is saying that actively seeking to know Him and His revealed will, will lead us to live according to that will. And then living according to that will, will help us to know Him.
It is a vital part of how we seek to know Him.
And knowing Him more will change how we live, and how we live increases our knowledge of Him, because it increases our wisdom - which is practical - which is the working out of our understanding of Him - and that wisdom gives us a better understanding.
To put it a simpler way: How well we know God determines how well we live out our faith, and how well we live out our faith, determines how well we can know God.
Do you want to know Him?
Do you want more of Him?
Do you want to understand His will?
You have a choice in that.
And here’s the real beauty of that and proof of just how gracious God is.
What we want determines our focus. When we want something badly enough, we work for it. And the more we work for it, the more we focus on it. It is on our minds often. It takes our thoughts and runs with them even when we aren’t trying to let that happen.
But that works the other way, too.
Because what we focus on, becomes what we want.
If our focus is on Christ, we will want more of Christ.
If our focus is on God’s will, we will want to do God’s will.
So, what knowledge we choose to be filled with - what we fill our minds with - is what we will know, and what we will want to know. And that is ultimately what we will live.
Paul prayed that the Colossians would be filled with knowledge of God and His will.
Because there was competing “knowledge.” There was the special knowledge the false teachers were bringing in.
That was the way of the world at the time, Colossae was a syncretistic town. They just crammed a bunch of deities together into their worship. They worshiped Artemis - like they did in Ephesus. They worshiped Zeus - like they did in Laodicea. The sun god Helios was big in Colossae - he was on their coins.
But there were also cults that worshiped angels.
There were mystical religions that learned special knowledge from the spirit world.
There were some that mixed in some Jewish beliefs with their polytheistic religion - and why not, you already believed in multiple gods, what’s adding one more?
This is exactly what Paul was trying to keep out of the Colossian church. He wanted them to be exclusive. He wanted them to worship Christ, and Him alone.
He wanted them to have a singular focus.
And I thank God that we don’t live in a world with a whole pantheon of gods, because that would make being a Christian so difficult. It would certainly make pastoring a church so much more difficult.
I mean, if there were other gods competing for the time, and the attention of people - other gods they wanted and filled their heads and hearts with - man, I would spend every day struggling to stay focused on Christ.
And I would have to spend so much time doing what Paul did, and trying to show you all from God’s Word why all we need is Christ and Him alone.
I couldn’t imagine living in a world like that.
If you can’t sense my sarcasm here you must be a first time visitor.
Don’t think our society is any different from ancient Colossae. The world around us just has different gods.
Oh, sure, we’re in a scientific age and we don’t believe in a whole pantheon of mythical gods that we just keep adding to.
It’s actually worse than that. Because we have very real gods in our pantheon. And we just keep adding to it.
And we are very good at syncretism - better even than the Colossians.
Because theirs was obvious. You can’t add another so-called god from heaven into your worship without noticing.
But ours is so subtle, that we have hardly noticed the gods that have slipped in.
And there’s so many of them, that everyone’s is different.
I don’t know what each of you spend your time on. Where your focus is. What you fill your minds with. What it is you want, that takes your thoughts captive.
But you do.
And God does.
I’ve gone over the statistics before regarding how professing Christians in America spend their time. I’ll spare you all of that.
But we need to ask ourselves: is my focus on Christ more than it is on my phone on any given day? More than it is on TV? More than it is on my hobbies?
Do any of these things grab my focus, and take it away from Christ?
We have a choice.
We can choose to be filled with knowledge of God and His will.
Knowledge in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Knowledge through action.
Knowledge that leads to action that leads to knowledge.
We have a choice.
And as I said, Paul is writing to a church, so like the Colossians, we do that together - that’s the goal.
And I can tell you this: Sunday morning is not enough to do this together.
But we each make our choices.
Like Christ made His.
And like He still does.
And praise Him! His choice was - and is - us.
Which is why - thank God - His grace never ends and He is willing to do this work in us.
Lets look at this all together. What is it Paul wants for his brothers and sisters in Colossae?
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;
Christ came to give us knowledge of God and His will. And He died and rose again and sent His Spirit so that we could have understanding of His will.
We have the understanding.
And He left us His Word that we could know and understand Him more and more. That we could be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom.
And this spiritual wisdom - putting our knowledge into action - Paul says here that it strengthens us with all power.
Remember, God has all the power, every last bit. But in His grace, He shares that power with us.
By His Spirit, we have power. So we have the means.
This is why Christ told His disciples to wait until they received power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them before they undertook the work of being the church.
And they needed - and we need - that power to be the church. To carry out the Great Commission and be His witnesses. To live the truth He has given us so the Gospel will increase and bear fruit in the world, in our church, and in each of us.
And that is what Paul is talking about here. How this happens in each of us so it happens in our church.
Because Paul is talking about all of the Colossians bearing fruit as a collective, all of them increasing in the knowledge of God as a collective, and all of them being strengthened with power as a collective.
And note, we are strengthened - it is something done to us - it is God’s work. It is us being strengthened according to His glorious might - or literally - with the might of His glory
⬇️You know, God said He would share His glory with no other. But He actually shares it with us.
We will share in it more when we become like Christ at the last day, when our blessed hope appears and our faith becomes sight.
But we share in God’s glory now. Turn with me to John 17. Christ prayed this.
The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
Christ gives us glory.
Christ prayed that the glory we receive from Him and the Father would fulfill its purpose. That we may be one even as Christ and the Father are one.
Think about that. Christ wants us, His church, to be one, even as He and the Father are one.
In fact, that is what Jesus is really praying for in this whole part of His high priestly prayer. Let’s look at this in its fuller context here:
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
We are not of the world. But we are in the world.
A world full of false gods that try to grab our attention. Full of false teaching and alternate truths.
But Christ prayed we would be sanctified - made holy in the truth. And that truth is the Word of God that reveals Him.
And note, Christ prays for us here. He prays for those present with Him, and for “all who would believe in Him through their word.”
Because as we saw, the word of truth bears fruit. We are fruit of God’s truth in action.
And this is all, Christ says, that we may be one. Perfectly one. Perfectly one so that the world may know Him and His love.
You see, what we are as a church matters. Our one-ness matters. Our doing this together matters.
It matters because it affects the world.
God designed it that way. The fruit we bear in our church is fruit that we will see in the world.
This is Paul’s prayer for the Colossians. He is speaking to them as a united whole - united to each other through their union with Christ, and there’s a purpose for that. They need to, together:
being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;
Notice, it is in the power of the Spirit - the power of God - that we carry out His will. And the result?
Paul says that we will be strengthened with all power. With His power.
Like knowledge, begets action, begets knowledge, so too, power, begets action, begets power.
Isn’t God good??
But there’s more, because Paul says this is for all endurance and patience with joy.
The result of working out our knowledge, in all wisdom, all in God’s power, is endurance.
The more we do it, the more we are empowered to keep doing it.
And we are called to endurance. We are to endure in running our race - endure through our trials - like we saw last week, even in our failures, we are to endure in seeking that holiness that Christ has graciously given to us.
We saw this when Geoffrey preached about the perseverance of the saints, even though it is God Who preserves us, we still have that responsibility to persevere, to endure.
Paul says we do that, we hold up our end and fulfill our responsibility and our calling, by enduring - and that is done in His strength. Even here, Christ does it, if we choose to do it.
Like He grants us patience
Oh, man… I may be the least qualified person in this room to comment on patience… I am not a patient person, by nature. God has definitely done a great work in me when it comes to patience, but I started so far down the scale that am only now hitting normal impatience.
But thank God, He is patient, and He works this patience in us. While Paul talks in multiple places - including later in this letter - about our responsibility to be patient, he also tells us that God will do it.
Part of the fruit of the Spirit is patience.
Again, God works it in us both to will and to do.
Which is why we endure patiently, and we do it with joy.
We choose to do it with joy.
Because even when we patiently endure suffering in this world, we can do it with joy.
As we wait eagerly for our hope to be fulfilled at Christ’s return, we can wait with joy.
As we work together so that the Gospel bears fruit and increases - we can do it patiently and with joy.
We are to have this patience for each other, like God had patience with us.
And we do it with patience as God works it all out in us and through us in His perfect timing.
And we do it all with thanks to God.
Paul says:
being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Give God thanks!
God has qualified us for our inheritance. For the inheritance of all of God’s holy ones. He has qualified us by sending His son to take on our disqualification.
By paying for our sin on the cross, Jesus qualified us to receive our glorious inheritance.
Just like Christ took our unholiness and gave us His holiness, He takes the sin that disqualified us from any inheritance in God, and gave us the inheritance that was rightfully His - our Brother shares His glory with us, His holiness with us, His power with us, and His inheritance with us.
And we all share it together. With every single one of God’s holy ones, we share in this power, and we share in this inheritance.
With every single one of God’s holy ones who are in light, Paul says. Or literally, in the light.
That light is the knowledge of God Paul started this section with.
As we read in the Gospel of John:
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
The world is in darkness. Those of the world have not been given the right to be children of God and share in His wonderful inheritance.
And notice - that we have… is only by the will of God. And God’s will is that we should walk in light - in the knowledge of Him that the world doesn’t have.
And we need to choose to walk in light. We need to choose to know God more and more. By knowing what He has revealed, and by living that out in all wisdom.
We need to choose to put knowledge into action.
That is living in the light.
And if we do that, we do that in His power - in His glorious might. Because it is His power that has placed us in the light.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
This is what God has done for us.
We are not only changed when we believe, we are moved. We are transferred. The word means to transplant.
We move from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of light - to the kingdom of Christ. We are transferred from one kingdom to another.
This is why Jesus prayed that prayer and acknowledged that - just like Him - we are not of this world. Of this kingdom. Of this darkness.
We are children of light. Because our King is the light.
The true light, who came into the world, and was rejected by those He came to - but for all who believe in His name, He has given us the right to become children of God - and we receive our inheritance as God’s children.
And we have this all in Christ:
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Paul brings it all back to Christ and His work.
We will see next week that Paul said all he did to the Colossians, to point them to Christ. That they may know Who He is.
That’s what we need. That’s where our focus needs to be. That’s what we need to fill our minds with.
Christ and His work.
Paul wanted the Colossians to be filled with that knowledge so they would know Who Christ is.
And that they may know who they are.
They are those redeemed back to a right relationship with God.
We are those redeemed by the blood of Christ back to a right relationship with God.
Are we choosing to live as those redeemed… as those in the light?
Or are we more often choosing to live like those in darkness?
We who have been given a knowledge of God
Are we living out that knowledge? Seeking that knowledge through knowing it and living it out in all spiritual wisdom?
Let me put it another way: Is our focus more on the light, or more on the darkness?
Because we have a choice.
Let us choose, every day, and every moment, to:
be filled with the knowledge of His will
so we can walk in a manner worthy of our calling
so we can be strengthened with power according to His glorious might
so we can endure, patiently, with joy, giving thanks to God
so we can truly know Him.
Let’s choose Christ, today and every day.
Let us choose, in light of what God chose to do for us:
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Let’s give thanks to God.
Prayer:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.
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Pray for Mark
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Easter Week Schedule:
Thursday, April 2 at 7:00 PM - Holy Thursday Communion Service
Fast declared until Friday Night
Friday, April 3 at 6:00 PM - Passover Seder and how it points us to Christ
Saturday, April 4 at 11:00 PM - Holy Saturday Easter Vigil (we will start at 11:00, and will go for one hour, and at midnight, read Matthew's account of the resurrection)
Sunday, April 5 at 10:00 AM - Easter Service
