What it's All About

Kyle Johnson

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Good morning, turn with me if you would to the book of Colossians. Our world is becoming more and more educated, but have you noticed that the world by in large is decreasing in intellectual ability.

There are more high school diplomas and College degrees more schoolwork has been done than in anyone previously, but even though that is true, that there has been an increase in education there has been a diminishing intellectual issue.

People have educated themselves to ignorance, people are so smart now they cant even use common sense. For examples of what Im talking about just watch the liberal news media and you will see what Im talking about.

But this is not just an opinion, according to a study done by John Robinson of Stanford University, he wrote a book called entertaining ourselves to death. What he talks about in this book entertaining ourselves to death is, he says, that our society is becoming dumber and dumber due to educational tv.

You know the PBS channels, you know sesame street, and shows like that. He says they are learning the basics from educational television, and there is music and colors and sounds, and everything moves fast, and then they go to first grade and they have to listen to Mrs. Johnson teach and she cant compete with big bird, and she doesnt compare to the cookie monster and all of that interesting stuff and all of that production isnt matched in the classroom, so little Johnnie sits there and hes bored, and turned off and we now label that ADD or ADHD or whatever it might be.

But doctor Robinson argues that alot of it is a result of our culture, that they are so stimulated from such and early age even with good things. But what it does is it causes a diminishing ability to focus for any length of time.

There has to be entertainment, there has to be dancing bears and marching bands and colorful things or we just kind of turn off. Thats true, I mean think about elections for a moment, back in the itme when Abraham Lincoln debated his rival, during the Lincoln/Douglas debates, they debated for 8 hours.

They didn’t have 90 seconds to speak and then turn over the microphone, Lincoln was given a topic and he would talk for an hour, and then Douglas would give his stance and he would talk for an hour, and they went back and forth for 8 hours and people would just sit there and take it all in.

Now who in our culture would be able to sit through that?

I mean we cant even listen to music nowadays without there being a music video attached to it. There used to be a day when an artist would record something and the music was enough but not anymore we even have entire television channels for music videos, and they are up on youtube, and Dr. Robinson argues that we have went from being a typographic culture, to a telographic culture.

It used to be that people would read, typographic, but now its all visual its all telegraphic its gotta be colorful and stimulating you see, and so people read less and less. They cant listen for very long without some form of entertainment.

We’ve changed as a culture, and it wasnt so long ago that I recieved and email, that is geared towards pastors and it talked about the fact that pastors need to be relatable, you have to understand what are the felt needs of the congregation.

Its all about felt needs see, analyze those felt needs and then plan your sermons around the felt needs in a way that moves quickly. Dont study a book, or sit behind a stool.

Felt needs....

Its all about comfort you see, its all about what feels right to people.

It is all about meeting needs rather than teaching truth.

This is why our children struggle today to become mature adults, the truth a parent needs to be teaching their child, is this, look Im not here to make it easy on you son, I am here to share truth with you, this is how life works this is the reality, this is how it works, and this is what you need to know.

Spiritually. Practically, in every way. This is what you need to know to succeed and do well, but we don’t do that anymore. We try to make everything faster and easier, and as a result we are actually hurting ourselves.

The way our world thinks is crazy, the two most important selling points of a house are not the foundation, the air conditioning system or even the floorplan. The most important seeling points these realtors were saying in this interview...

#1. Curb Appeal

That is how does the house look as someone is driving by.

Its not about whats inside the house or how solid or sound the foundation but how does it look from the curb.

#2. Entry Impact

Since we dont have people come in anymore and sit down and visit, they come into the entryway, they want the entry look to be great so when people walk in they look at the view and say WOW!

Its all about imagery, its not very deep, its surface level and what does it look like. Its all about what things appear to be even if they are not that way at all. Thats true all over in society in families, in the church too sad to say.

The church so much of it today is how to minister to the needs of people during a worship service rather than building a solid foundation and a solid structure. Truth is what we need you see, it is what gets you through some of the darkest times of you life. We dont need 3 ring circuses.

Charles Spurgeon tells a story one time… and its true

Of Cesar Nero in his reign as Emperor there was in North Africa a terrible famine happening, and Nero dispatched a number of ships to Northern Africa. When the residence saw these ships coming they cheered they thought someone is coming to relieve us! This is great, this is wonderful!

Only to find out that when the ships came into shore that they were carrying sawdust and sand. Not food, not grain, not fuel for their famined condition. but sand and sawdust, why? For the circusses that were traveling through the area. Nero was dispatching these circuses throughout the area with elephnats and Lions and entertainers, when in reality what they needed was food.

Nero living in his dreamworld didnt understand the real need of the people their in Northern Africa, so to when I see whats happening today I really think there are alot of ships being sent out and ships pulling in to various churches not full of food, but full of sand and sawdust.

for the circus, to entertain people who are starving. Well in this book Colossians there is SOLID meat for me. Truth important stuff that I want us to think through, to look at I think to benefit from.

Because in the book of Colossians the Apostle Paul is writing what is called a Polemic. That is just a fancy word that means this letter is arguing for truth. He is declaring truth defining truth talking about Jesus.

the book of Colossians is broken down in four parts

The Truth about the Christ (1)

The Truth about the Cults (2)

The Truths about the Christian (3-4)

The Truth about the Christ

Colossians 1 HCSB

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother: To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth. You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf, and he has told us about your love in the Spirit. For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross — whether things on earth or things in heaven. Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him — if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body, that is, the church. I have become its servant, according to God’s administration that was given to me for you, to make God’s message fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me.

Colossians 1

Colossians 1:1–9 HCSB

Praying for you

Let me ask you something, when you hear about a a brother or sister in Christ or a pastor who are doing well, and serving the Lord faithfully. Do we pray for them?

Honestly my tendency is to pray for people when they arent doing very good. I heart somone is not walking with the Lord, or hurting physically, or stressed out relationally I tend to pray for them more readily than I pray for someone who is doing very good.

But the apostle Paul says hey we ought to pray always for those who are doing well, why? So that they might keep doing well, that they would keep going and growing and not become a casuality or sidelined.

Paul says I have heard that your doing good things and we pray for you always. Weve heard about you guys at Colossae.

3 key marks of these guys in Colossae, and really 3 key marks of any church that is doing well, any family that is doing well, any person that is doing well.

Colossians 1:4 HCSB

for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints

Colossae

FAITH thats the first mark of one who is doing well, a person or in this case a congregation.

The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God. There are many ways to please God but none of them as crucial as Faith, Faith is the key. That is Lord I dont understand whats going on, I dont see what your doing but I have faith in You. I walk by faith and not by sight.

That your going to come through, and do what you promised you would do. If today your sitting there and you havent got a clue whats going on or whats taking place and your in the dark, great news for you, this is a chance for you to please God.

How

Walk in faith.

Say Lord I thank You for what you are doing even though I dont have a clue what it is. I thank You Lord that your at work even though it doesnt seem like you are to me at the moment. I thank You Lord that You right now you are causing everything in me and around me to work together for good for me, because I love You.

Second mark here not just faith

2. LOVE FOR ALL THE SAINTS

Faith and love by this shall all men know your my disciples by your what?

LOVE

Greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends love.

3. The HOPE which is laid up for you in Heaven

Hope is the absolute expectation of coming good. I am not hopeless but I am hopeful, I believe that good is coming. Ultimately I am going to be in Heaven but in the meantime I believe that there is something good coming.

I have hope

Now when a person or a family, or a congregation has faith and hope and love youve got it all. Faith hope and love those are the marks of a truly Spirit filled Jesus filled church.

Faith- Im not worried about whats taking place

Love- I choose to love everybody unconditionally

Hope- Im going to Heaven one day

So Paul says I have heard these things characterize you guys, and we praying always for you.

Colossians 1:6–7 HCSB

that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth. You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf,

Colossians

Epaphras is the man who planted this church, he went to visit Paul in prison, and told him of the Colossian church.

I like this guy Epaphras he talked about his church positively, he told Paul all about their love. They were loving the Lord Jesus and they were loving others. Listen thats the kind of gossip I want spread about me.

Thats the kind fo things I want said about our church. Epaphras he was the guy who were saying man Paul these guys in Colossae they are growing spiritually like weeds their full of faith, they love each other they have the hope of HEaven in their hearts.