Sunday Sermon Colossians 1:9-12
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 1:04:47
0 ratings
· 51 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome to FCC ! We are so glad that you have joined us this morning and pray that you have been blessed by the song service and that you will be blessed by God’s Word.
There are a lot of things going on around us like we have a new president, they are working on a vaccine for this Covid, and winter time is here.
We all have so much to be grateful for! Amen!
Prayer
Prayer
Read Colossians 1:3-12
Read Colossians 1:3-12
Don’t fear church, I only read those first few verses again, to lay the groundwork for the verses that we will exegete today.
So let us dive in!
Review
Review
Last week we concluded our study on why the Church at Colossae existed.
Does anyone know why the church at Colossae existed?
It is because Paul shared the gospel with Epaphras and Philemon.
Remember, this church is actually is in Philemon’s house
If the gospel had not been shared and declared, we would not be studying the book of Colossians.
2. We continued our study on the gospel church and we learned several components of gospel and the work that it will do in the life of the individual, the life of the church, and the whole world. After all Jesus said:
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Notice that the word all is used here twice.
The NLT reads preach to everyone.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
3. We learned that when the gospel is working in our lives, that fruit will be produced, not only individually, but corporately.
What is this fruit?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Of course there is the fruit of repentance
The fruit of winning souls to Jesus Christ
The fruit of holiness or sanctification
The fruit of giving. Yes, the fruit of giving! If the gospel is working in us, the fruit we will bear will be moving from a taker, to a giver, therefore, we become others focused, instead of self-focused or centered.
4. We also learned the the gospel comes by hearing.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
How will they hear without a preacher church?
A young salesman was disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, “I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” The manager replied, “Your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty.” So it is with evangelism. Our lives should be so filled with Christ that they create a thirst for the Gospel.
5. The Gospel is the message of God’s amazing grace to all mankind!
Grace is unmerited favor that God bestows upon us all for it rains on the just and the unjust
Mercy is not getting what we deserve
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Grace is the kindness by which God exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases faith, knowledge, affection, and exercises them to exercise Christian virtue. This grace enables us to love when people are unlovable ,and it enables us to walk out our faith day by day.
If we are saved, if we are full of the Holy Spirit church, guess what is going to come out of us in word, thought, and deed? THE GOSPEL.
The Gentile Colossians who where polytheistic in their worship joyfully heard the gospel, accepted the gospel, and started producing fruit. They were loving God and loving others church.
They were set free from the slavery they were entrapped in.
Remember church, the gospel always abolishes slavery!
“There is nothing attractive about the gospel to the natural man; the only man who finds the gospel attractive is the man who is convicted of sin.” (Oswald Chambers)
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
The first question we must ask ourselves is what reason is Paul talking about?
For this reason or this cause depending on your translation refers to the favorable report Paul had received from Epaphras regarding the Colossians
Since the day Paul heard that report, he had been praying for the Colossians.
It may seem unnecessary to pray for those who are doing well.
Much of our prayer time focuses on those who are struggling, facing difficulties, or fallen into sin or physical distress.
Paul, however, knew that the knowledge that others are progressing in the faith should never lead us to stop praying for them.
Rather, it should encourage prayer for their greater progress.
The enemy may reserve his strongest opposition for those who have the most potential for expanding God’s cause in the world.
The story is told of an African tribe where each believing Christian of the tribe had a secret place where they prayed. Each morning they walked there, and spent time alone with God in prayer. The path that they took each day would be worn as time went on, like any path would be. The more you walked on it, the clearer the path would become. But, when they neglected prayer, guess what? The path begin to grow back and others in the tribe knew that they were struggling to pray. They would confront their brothers and sisters and simply say, “I notice that there is grass growing on your prayer trail?
How is your prayer path? Is the path clear or is there grass growing over it?
The Apostle Paul was praying for not only a church, but a people he never met.
It is said, that the prison prayers of Paul did more good than when he was free church!
Since the day that Epaphras brought the report to Timothy and Paul they prayed.
Paul did not cease to pray!
Paul did not cease to pray!
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
I love this scripture, because it gives us the will of God for our lives! Do you see that?
Paul tells the church at Thessalonica to pray without ceasing.
What does this mean church? What does it mean to pray without ceasing? Does it mean to pray constantly?
Such unceasing or recurring prayer (1 Thess. 5:17) demands first of all an attitude of God-consciousness.
That does not mean to be constantly in the act of verbal prayer, but to view everything in life in relation to God.
For example, if we meet someone, we immediately consider where they stand with God. If we hear of something bad happening, we react by praying for God to act in the situation because we know He cares. If we hear of something good that has happened, we respond with immediate praise to God for it because we know He is glorified. When Paul looked around his world, everything he saw prompted him to prayer in some way. When he thought of or heard about one of his beloved churches, it moved him toward communion with God.
So, to pray without ceasing means we are fixed and focused on God, we have a God consciousness and we view everything in life in relation to God!
3. A second aspect of unceasing prayer is people-consciousness. We cannot effectively pray for people unless we are aware of their needs.
Paul exhorted the Colossians to keep alert in prayer (4:2), while to the Ephesians he wrote, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18).
The two elements of praying without ceasing came together in Paul’s prayer life.
His love for God led him to seek unbroken communion with Him.
His love for people drove him to unceasing prayer on their behalf.
So, prayer has to do with loving God church with all our heart, mind , soul, and strength, and loving others!
Let’s remember church that out of the vertical realtionship with God, will come an awareness of the needs of others.
What did Paul pray for?
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
Paul prayed that they may be filled! Filled with what?
Filled with the knowledge of God’s will
In all wisdom and spiritual understanding church.
Filled- plēroō- means to be completely filled, or totally controlled.
Let me give you a couple of examples church:
But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
Church, the disciples hearts were filled with sorrow when jesus told them of His departure.
And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”
The crowd was filled with fear after Jesus healed the paralytic.
But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
The scribes and Pharisees were filled with rage after Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit.
And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch,
Church, Stephen was full of faith and the Holy Spirit!
In each of these circumstances, they were totally controlled by what filled them
Church, what is filling you? Or should I ask what is controlling you?
Is it fear?
Is it rage?
Is it video games?
Is it drugs and alcohol?
Is it shopping?
Is it food?
Or is it the Holy Spirit?
Paul prayed that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will church!
Why did Paul pray this?
He prayed it because he wanted them to have spiritual intelligence
He prayed this because the more we know God, not just know of Him, the more we will obey God.
Paul wants the Colossians to be totally controlled by knowledge.
Knowledge- epignosis n. — coming to understand something clearly and distinctly or as true and valid; often with a personal acquaintance that necessitates a positive or negative reaction.
Epignōsis (knowledge) consists of the normal Greek word for knowledge (gnōsis) with an added preposition (epi), which intensifies the meaning.
This is experiential knowledge, not just intellectual
The knowledge Paul wants the Colossians to have is a deep and thorough knowledge.
Church, the reason Paul prayed this is because of the false teaching that started pouring into the church.
It was called Gnosticism- they were telling the church at Colossae that Jesus was not enough, that they had secret knowledge and this knowledge was needed in addition to Jesus. They believe that God has given them a special message in addition to the Gospel and the Word of God. They believe that everything that is material is evil, therefore, you can do as you want with your body and that spirit was good.
As we continue our teaching through Colossians, we will learn more about this.
The words be filled and knowledge were buzz words for the Gnostics, therefore, Paul prayed that God would fill them with knowledge , wisdom, and understanding to the point that nothing else could come into them.
If we our hearts are completely full of the knowledge of God church, then there will be no room for nothing else.
When some gnostic attempts to bring us their knowledge, we will know that this is not of God.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Wisdom = is what we believe
Understanding is how we behave
Also it is not good for a person to be without knowledge, And he who hurries his footsteps errs.
Therefore my people have gone into captivity, Because they have no knowledge; Their honorable men are famished, And their multitude dried up with thirst.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.
till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
How does a person obtain knowledge?
He must desire it!
If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.
Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
Let us press on to know the Lord church!
2. We must depend on the Holy Spirit!
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
It is through the Spirit that we know the things of God church.
3. We must study the Word of God.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Paul prays that the knowledge we have would be of His will. God’s will is not a secret; He has revealed it in His Word.
Next week, we will learn that when we know God, not just know of God, we will obey and walk in a manner that is worthy of Him.
Having the knowledge of God’s Word control our minds is the key to righteous living.
What controls your thoughts will control your behavior.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Do you fear the Lord? Are you seeking the Holy One? What are you filled with?
Prayer
Prayer
Announcements
Announcements
Are there any announcements?
Operation Christmas Child is a global outreach where we buy simple gifts for kids over seas and fill up a shoe box. the gifts that we but are inexpensive and thing s that we take for granted. Like a calculator. See Kathy
Angel Tree is a local outreach where we but gifts for children whose parent are in prison in the state of Oregon or Washington. See Me
Benediction
Benediction
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
The Lord Bless you!
Your Mission starts now!