Sermon Tone Analysis

*/Freedom in Christ/* ~/ nv 10~/7~/07pm Col. 2:6-19

*OS: *Houdini – supposed story ~/ jail escape ~/ failed something was different in the lock, exasperated he leaned his head on the steel bars of the door and it just swung open –

*I.      **We tend to limit our self even after Jesus has released us.*

A.   Snicker’s invisible fence – even when it’s not working it takes weeks, and sometimes months before he realizes it.

B.    We spend most of our time rehearsing why we can’t rather than resolving to try and trust God.

(Ex: Go stand in the water…)

C.   We inadvertently create and build our own prisons, and that is how we will look at our text tonight in Colossians

*II.

**Colossians 2:6-19*

A.   As we read look for a comparison of what the world offers and what Jesus offers.

B.    The encouragement is to make Jesus our only Lord.

He is superior to everything the world has to offer.

*TS] *Read verses 8-10

*I.      ** Jesus has set us free from the world – we no longer have to settle for what this world offers.*

A.   Notice, (8) “See to it” ~/ “Beware” ~/

                 1.

Be proactive in making Jesus our Lord.

2.

How?

Focus!

B.    Jesus is sufficient to meet our needs!

Compare….

1.

Security ~/ Jesus = Love  ~/ World = Money

                 2.

Significance ~/ Jesus = Purpose ~/ World = Applause

                 3.

Assurance ~/ Jesus = Hope ~/ World = Power and Control

                 4.

The world is not sufficient in that the world cannot satisfy.

There is never enough money, applause comes to an end, and power and control are won and lost in a moment.

C.   Jesus is sufficient

                 1.

love – Go to Calvary

                 2.

Purpose – Make an eternal difference in the live of someone.

3.

Assurance – Jesus provides hope that is sure.

D.   There are many philosophies in this world that invite us to stray from Jesus alone.

1.

Individualism is one of the most influential in our day, and it is more than a philosophy its part of our worldview.

2.

“What is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine”

                 3.

Individualism will always leave you alone, and who really wants to be alone?

*TS] *Text 11-12

*II.

**Jesus has also set us free from our self.*

A.   “Putting off of the sinful nature”

                 1.

We are spirit and we are flesh, and the flesh is more than just our skin it is the worldly desires that surface in our daily lives.

2.

Ever wondered why sin is still a struggle after putting away the sinful nature?

B.    Baptism is where all this takes place

                 1.     2 Corinthians 5:17, /Therefore//, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!/

                 2.

Romans 6:3-11

                 3.

But I’ve been baptized and I still struggle….Romans 8:5, /Those// who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires./

4.

Jesus must be Lord all the time – and remember struggle is not the same as bondage.

C.   Temptations will come – “It seems like I can resist everything except temptation.”

1.

“If you keep courting trouble, you’ll soon be married to it.”

2.

“What makes resisting temptation difficult, for most people, is that they don’t want to discourage it completely.”

/D.   /James 1:14-15, /but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.//

//Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death./

1.

Outside temptation

                 2.

Inside desire

                 3.

Maybe we spend too much time on our struggles and failures and not enough time on Jesus.

*TS]* Text 13-15

*III.

**Jesus has also set us free from our past.*

A.   Before we were dead – why?

                 1.

Remember the first point?

With the world there is no satisfaction.

2.

Notice it is God who made you alive.

B.    The written code nailed to the cross.

1.

Old Covenant

                 2.

Invoice document listing every sin you were liable for.

C.   The problem is we often want to hang on to a copy.

1.

30% of the average person’s anxiety is past regrets.

2.

“The Land of Beginning Again!” Philippians 3: 12-14 Key verse(s): 13-14:“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

\\ \\ I wish there were some wonderful place called the Land of Beginning Again, \\ Where all of our past mistakes and heartaches, \\ And all of our poor selfish grief, \\ Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door \\ And never be put on again.

(Louisa Tarkington quoted in Putting Your Past Behind You, E. Lutzer, Here’s Life, 1990, p.13.) \\ \\ The Land of Beginning Again.

Isn’t that a warm and comforting thought?

How often haven’t each of us felt that if only we could go back and do it all over again.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of the grief, regret and sorrow that we carry with us every day could be translated into joy by simply wandering back into those halcyon days when things were better; when the bad things in this life had not as yet occurred?

“Dropped like a shabby old coat,” we could shed our burdens and leave them behind in a place that we need not visit again.

\\ \\ “Over 2,000 years ago a young Greek artist named Timanthes studied under a respected tutor.

After several years the teacher’s efforts seemed to have paid off when Timanthes painted an exquisite work of art.

Unfortunately, he became so enraptured with the painting that he spent days gazing at it.

One morning when he arrived to admire his work, he was shocked to find it blotted out with paint.

Angry, Timanthes ran to his teacher, who admitted he had destroyed the painting.

‘I did it for your own good.

That painting was retarding your progress.

Start again and see if you can do better.’

Timanthes took his teacher’s advice and produced Sacrifice of Iphigenia, which is regarded as one of the finest paintings of antiquity.”

(Today in the Word, September 2, 1992.)

Forgetting what is behind, even the moments of time just recently passed, is an important part of understanding what hope is all about.

Hope is about what is to come not what has been.

The Apostle Paul understood this well.

His past was filled with pictures of hurt, sin and abuse.

He had done many things that were reprehensible and sinful.

He knew that he had to let go of the past and live fruitfully in the present because tomorrow would soon be here.

Focusing on our relationship with God in the here and now is the only promise of hope and joy in life.

Christians need to move on because there is a “wonderful place” where all “mistakes and heartaches” are removed.

It is the real “Land of Beginning Again.”

It’s called the moment.

In this time we are forgiven and in this time we are to dwell.