Speaker 1: I'm super excited about the healing hands clinic kicking off.
Speaker 1: I love that tangible expression of being the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need And we're praying.
Speaker 1: Our prayer is that God would use the meeting of a physical, tangible need to open doors for conversations about deep spiritual needs.
Speaker 1: And sometimes God can use the church to meet a tangible need and then, doing so, he opens a door for a spiritual conversation about Jesus.
Speaker 1: That really, when you pair the meeting of a tangible need with the story of Jesus who redeems and restores, there's a recipe there for transformation and power.
Speaker 1: So that's what we're praying and I invite you to join in and pray that with us.
Speaker 1: As you heard, if you're interested in volunteering today at 3.30 or tomorrow night at 7 in the Clark Room downtown, it's a great spot to check out more about that.
Speaker 1: My name is James, if you have a chance to meet, and I get the privilege of serving here as Campus Pastor and want to extend a warm welcome to our first-time guest, our honored guest today.
Speaker 1: We're glad you're in the room.
Speaker 1: If this is your first time being here.
Speaker 1: All we ask of you there's a communication card.
Speaker 1: You may have gotten one on the way in.
Speaker 1: If you didn't.
Speaker 1: They're in the lobby or out front on the way out.
Speaker 1: If you take a moment, fill that out and hand it back to one of our folks in the green shirts.
Speaker 1: We would love to be able to follow up with you.
Speaker 1: We won't blow your email up with tons of spam and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: We just want to know how we can pray for you and encourage you, and we actually have a small gift of our appreciation for you being here today that we'll put in your hands today on your way out.
Speaker 1: So, with that said, i'm going to pray and then we're going to jump into our scripture for the day.
Speaker 1: Father, thank you for the opportunity to gather in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Father, we thank you for the ability to worship you, to pray to you, to know that, god, you're with us, You're for us.
Speaker 1: God, you are at work in every circumstance of our lives to deepen our faith, to strengthen us at a level beyond our own capacity in our humanness.
Speaker 1: Father, we're just grateful for you.
Speaker 1: And so now, god, as we open your word, our prayer is that, by your spirit, you would work in a way that only you can.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, and everybody says together amen.
Speaker 1: I don't normally do this at the beginning of a message, but I do have a couple of housekeeping items to take care of today.
Speaker 1: One you may notice there's some renovations happening around the building.
Speaker 1: The lobby got renovated this past week.
Speaker 1: We moved to the kids wing down that hall because of renovations here.
Speaker 1: At some point in time renovations are going to start in here And when we know we'll let you know.
Speaker 1: But when that happens we're actually going to move everything to the other side of campus.
Speaker 1: So it is entirely possible that one Sunday morning you show up and there's nobody in here, will all be over there And there'll be signs, and that's about all I know right now at this point in time.
Speaker 1: But if we're not in here, we're over there.
Speaker 1: So don't go home and think you missed it.
Speaker 1: The rapture didn't happen.
Speaker 1: You're not left behind.
Speaker 1: Just come to the other side of campus and we'll be there.
Speaker 1: And this just between us.
Speaker 1: The air conditioner is much better on that side of campus than this side.
Speaker 1: So I'll try to be brief today and we'll get you out.
Speaker 1: There you go, there you go.
Speaker 1: So, with that said, i also want to give a massive thank you to Brian Burton, who spoke and did a phenomenal job last week.
Speaker 1: I got to listen to that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we can clap for that.
Speaker 1: Super grateful man for you.
Speaker 1: I told the first service, noah, my six year old, and I were watching that yesterday together And Noah said, dad, i think Mr Brian should be the real pastor and you should just be his assistant.
Speaker 1: And I was like no, me too, man, me too.
Speaker 1: That sounds like a great plan.
Speaker 1: But, man, just grateful for you.
Speaker 1: And you know, i also got to spend the week away with my family this past week and I love being part of a church that I miss And I miss being here with you guys.
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for men like Brian that can step in and lead the way, and so many of y'all that lead the way in loading in, loading out, serving in kids.
Speaker 1: Men and women just do a phenomenal job And it's just a blessing to be part of what God is doing here, grateful for you, grateful for your families, grateful for the opportunity to do church together and to be the church together.
Speaker 1: So thank you for being a place that's easy to miss and a people that's easy to love.
Speaker 1: With that said, colossians chapter two, we're jumping back today into a series called The Path.
Speaker 1: This is part five.
Speaker 1: I believe we're walking verse by verse to the book of Colossians.
Speaker 1: Today we're going to read verses six through 15 of chapter two and really focus in on the first two verses.
Speaker 1: Paul says this, therefore, and when you see, therefore, in the scriptures, the question you're supposed to ask is what's it there for?
Speaker 1: And really, what we're about to read today is the thesis statement for the entire book of Colossians.
Speaker 1: Like this is Paul's big point, because God, the father, is almighty and ruling and reigning, and because of the work of Jesus, the son, because now Paul is called to be God's servant and we're invited to share in that servant hood.
Speaker 1: Therefore, paul says as you have received Christ, jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith.
Speaker 1: Just as you were taught a bounding in Thanksgiving, 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.
Speaker 1: For in Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Speaker 1: In him.
Speaker 1: You also were circumcised, with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Christ from the dead And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, god made alive together with him, having forgiven us all of our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
Speaker 1: This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Speaker 1: He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open.
Speaker 1: Shame by triumphing over them in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: I think we could almost just like pray right there and be like what a passage, what a word from God this morning.
Speaker 1: To help us kind of get our minds ready to talk about what Paul wants us to learn today, i'll tell you a quick story.
Speaker 1: So I am a, i'm a dog guy.
Speaker 1: Okay, i'm a dog person, not to be divisive in any way, shape or form, but I'm implying everything that you think I'm implying.
Speaker 1: I love dogs.
Speaker 1: Your cat would eat you if it could.
Speaker 1: It just is not big enough.
Speaker 1: I love dogs And I have a golden doodle.
Speaker 1: His name is Yoda.
Speaker 1: And if you, if you're a Star Wars guy, then don't think Yoda on Dagobah laying in the bed when he's old and stealing Luke's food.
Speaker 1: Think Yoda like flipping through the sky with a lightsaber fighting Count Dooku.
Speaker 1: That's my golden doodle.
Speaker 1: He's high energy Yoda, not old laying there.
Speaker 1: Do nothing Yoda.
Speaker 1: He likes to be out and about with play ball all day long, loves to go for walks.
Speaker 1: And so the other morning my three year old Judah and I, we took Yoda the golden doodle for a walk around the neighborhood And I'm like Judah, get your shoes on.
Speaker 1: He's like I got my quacks.
Speaker 1: He loves his quacks.
Speaker 1: They put his quacks on and we're walking.
Speaker 1: I'm like buddy, you need some tennis shoes.
Speaker 1: No, my quacks.
Speaker 1: So we're walking in the neighborhood, probably about a mile or so into the walk, returning and we're going back towards our house And I'm walking the dog and Judah's a little bit behind and he starts to fall behind And I'm like come on, judah, walk with me, keep up, bud, walk with me, keep up Judah.
Speaker 1: And I turn around and Judah's like this like hands on his knees, his heads like laying on his shoulder, like he literally looks like he's like a millimeter away, just like from collapsing on himself And he's like, daddy, my little legs just can't keep up.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh my God.
Speaker 1: And I'm like Yoda, slow down.
Speaker 1: I'm like blaming the dog.
Speaker 1: But I thought about that phrase My little legs just can't keep up.
Speaker 1: And we say all the time in church following Jesus is it's walking with Jesus.
Speaker 1: It's walking with Jesus.
Speaker 1: I'm like Judah, walk with me And you come to church and it's like walk with Jesus.
Speaker 1: And it's like, has anybody watched Jesus walk?
Speaker 1: Like he does it really really well, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like he's perfect in everything that he does.
Speaker 1: He always knows exactly what to say, he always knows exactly how to treat people.
Speaker 1: He's nice to people who are not nice to him.
Speaker 1: He's like walking around healing people.
Speaker 1: He's not afraid of demons, he's Jesus.
Speaker 1: It's hard to walk with Jesus, is it not?
Speaker 1: Because we say the wrong thing that we shouldn't say, and we know we shouldn't say it, but we say it anyway, and we lose our patience with people that don't like us And we send text messages that we know we shouldn't send and we send it anyway.
Speaker 1: Right, we don't get it perfect, we fail, we fall, we fall short.
Speaker 1: And what do we do?
Speaker 1: We get frustrated.
Speaker 1: It's like we're like Judah, we're like our little wigs just can't keep up walking with Jesus.
Speaker 1: And then what happens?
Speaker 1: when we fall?
Speaker 1: and we fall short and we get frustrated with ourselves.
Speaker 1: And then it's like, well, i'm too far behind now, i don't think I can keep up with Jesus.
Speaker 1: I think Jesus has left me behind and he's up there And I'm back here and look at my failure, look at how messed up I am, look at what I did that I said I'd never do again.
Speaker 1: And then it's like, well, how do I ever catch up to Jesus?
Speaker 1: And I think the phrase walking with Jesus it's a good phrase, like it's what we do, like that's the calling of us as followers of Jesus is to walk with Jesus.
Speaker 1: But I want to show you what Paul says here today, because I think what he's going to show us in Colossians 2 is going to help us on this path of walking with Jesus.
Speaker 1: If you feel like, because of your failure or your past, your shame, because there've been moments that you regret, like your little legs just can't keep up with the perfect person of Jesus, then you're going to be encouraged.
Speaker 1: Today Paul says it like this therefore, as you received Christ, jesus, the Lord, so walk with him.
Speaker 1: Wait, did I read that right?
Speaker 1: As you receive Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk with him.
Speaker 1: It's not what it says, is it?
Speaker 1: As you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him, walk in Christ.
Speaker 1: And that's another layer of strange, because what does that mean?
Speaker 1: And here's what I want you to see this morning this path of walking with Jesus, following after Jesus, it's a walk in Christ.
Speaker 1: This is key Paul starts.
Speaker 1: He says as you received Christ Jesus, walk in him.
Speaker 1: As you received Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: How do we receive Jesus Christ?
Speaker 1: Well, scripture teaches that it's by grace, through faith, the gift of God, so that men and women can't boast about what they did to earn it or deserve it or perform well enough for it.
Speaker 1: We don't get Jesus because we've impressed God to the level where God's like that guy.
Speaker 1: He deserves Jesus.
Speaker 1: She is crushing life.
Speaker 1: She hadn't been mean to anybody in at least seven days.
Speaker 1: I think she deserves Jesus.
Speaker 1: Aren't you grateful this morning that we don't perform enough to deserve the grace and the mercy and the love of Jesus?
Speaker 1: How do we receive Christ?
Speaker 1: It's by grace, through faith.
Speaker 1: It's the gift of God.
Speaker 1: God generously gives because he loves.
Speaker 1: We don't earn it, we can't deserve it.
Speaker 1: This isn't one of those things where it's like you sign on the dotted line and all of a sudden you owe a lot of money that you got to pay back over the next few years with interest added.
Speaker 1: This is not that type of transaction.
Speaker 1: It is a free gift from God.
Speaker 1: We receive Christ by grace, through faith.
Speaker 1: Now, sure, that's a game changer and it changes what we do.
Speaker 1: Our response to the gift of God is repentance and obedience.
Speaker 1: We change how we live because of Jesus.
Speaker 1: But I want you to see this morning walking with Jesus.
Speaker 1: Walking in Jesus, is about position, not performance.
Speaker 1: It starts with position, not performance.
Speaker 1: What I mean by that is this by grace, through faith, your life is hidden with Christ.
Speaker 1: When God looks at you, if you know Jesus as Lord and Savior, he sees the perfect blood of Jesus covering your sin.
Speaker 1: He doesn't see your past.
Speaker 1: He doesn't see your shame and your guilt.
Speaker 1: He doesn't see the brokenness that used to define who you used to be.
Speaker 1: He sees the righteousness of his perfect son covering your life.
Speaker 1: You're in Christ, and so when God looks at you, he doesn't see the mistakes and the shame and the regret.
Speaker 1: He sees the perfection of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Your position is now in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Is anybody grateful that, by grace, through faith, your life is hidden in Christ?
Speaker 1: Because what that means for me and you is that when we wake up and our feet hit the floor on Monday, we don't start the day with a checklist of things we need to do to impress our heavenly Father that day.
Speaker 1: He already loves us, he's already for us.
Speaker 1: He's already demonstrated his great love for us through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: If you wonder, could God ever love you?
Speaker 1: God loves you so much that he sent his one and only son to pay the price for my sin and your sin.
Speaker 1: And by grace, through faith, your life is now in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: So we don't perform our way into walking with Jesus.
Speaker 1: It's not a try our best and keep up so that Jesus will grab us by the hand and take us with him.
Speaker 1: No, we walk in Christ, christ.
Speaker 1: There's a foundation of confidence that comes because we know Jesus is our Lord and Savior And it's got nothing to do with what I have done or haven't done, and that is really good news.
Speaker 1: On my best day, jesus is no more impressed with me than he is on my worst day, when I've got it all put together and figured out.
Speaker 1: God does not love me anymore than he does when I am broken and busted and can't get it right to save my life.
Speaker 1: Because I can't save my life, jesus can't in that good news.
Speaker 1: So Paul says let's start there.
Speaker 1: Almighty God has done something for us in the person of Jesus, to bring us on board as his servants, and it's all about our position in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: By grace, through faith, your life can be hidden in God, with Christ, today and forever.
Speaker 1: That's the other beautiful thing about this idea that Paul is giving us today.
Speaker 1: If you didn't earn your way into it, you can't earn your way out of it.
Speaker 1: If you have received the gift of God's grace, your sin cannot separate you from God.
Speaker 1: This doesn't mean we go and just do what we want to do because we've received God's grace.
Speaker 1: No, on the contrary, on the flip side, because we've received God's grace, we want to do what God says.
Speaker 1: We've been set free from sin so that we can be obedient to God.
Speaker 1: But we do that with this perspective that says, hey, in life or death, there's not an angel or a demon.
Speaker 1: There is nothing in heaven or on earth that could separate me from the love of God in Christ.
Speaker 1: I didn't earn my way in.
Speaker 1: I can't earn my way out.
Speaker 1: My job, our job, is to walk in Jesus Christ, and Paul gives us today three pictures to help us understand what it looks like to walk in Jesus.
Speaker 1: And you could think of these as like three seasons that every follower of Christ goes through, and it's more like summer, fall, winter, spring than it is like one, two, three.
Speaker 1: And what I mean by that one, two, three implies that you get to three and you don't go back to one.
Speaker 1: Right, you move forward, not backwards, but summer, fall, spring, winter.
Speaker 1: It just kind of that got all out of order there.
Speaker 1: But that's not the point.
Speaker 1: We just roll them right through, right.
Speaker 1: Praise the Lord that fall is coming And I hope it comes quickly.
Speaker 1: You know, like that's the thing, it's a cycle And in some ways, these three seasons that we're gonna talk about today, that we all walk through as followers of Jesus, they come as a cycle.
Speaker 1: So here is season number one.
Speaker 1: Paul says if you want to walk in Christ, you need to be rooted in Christ.
Speaker 1: There's a season in all of our lives where we are putting roots deep in the ground And I want you to.
Speaker 1: If you're a follower of Christ today, i want you to think back to when you first gave your life to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Think about how excited you were about the things of God, how hungry you were to be in the scriptures, how amazed you were that you could pray to Almighty God and out of eight billion people, he heard your prayer Like.
Speaker 1: You remember those days right.
Speaker 1: Like it's like, i'm excited to come to church.
Speaker 1: Small group is vibrant.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to serve.
Speaker 1: I want to go on mission, like whatever it takes to follow Jesus.
Speaker 1: I'm in because it's new and you're grateful.
Speaker 1: That's the season where our roots are going deep into the ground.
Speaker 1: I think God gives us those seasons in life where it's like our faith is vibrant, so that it drives us to the word of God, so that our roots can go deep.
Speaker 1: Jeremiah 17 talks about being a tree that is planted by the streams of living water, that's got deep roots, so that in season and out of season, it begins to bear fruit.
Speaker 1: Being rooted, it's really important because the winds are going to blow, the storms are going to come, droughts will happen, it will happen.
Speaker 1: We need roots that go deep.
Speaker 1: My family we've got a Leland Cypress in our backyard.
Speaker 1: We planted it when we moved to Somerville about six years ago And for three years it was like a foot and a half tall.
Speaker 1: Then one year the hurricanes came through and the winds blew really hard and tipped the tree sideways And so it was like sticking kind of sideways out of the ground And Tara was like are you going to fix that?
Speaker 1: I'm like it hadn't grown in three years.
Speaker 1: I'm not touching it, and so I just left it.
Speaker 1: It's the highways in the ground.
Speaker 1: And what happened was like the next year it grew like three feet, except for it went from growing like this to growing like that.
Speaker 1: And so what happens now is there's a J shaped Leland Cypress in our backyard.
Speaker 1: What I realized was that in the three years where I thought nothing was happening, that tree was growing some roots.
Speaker 1: So when the winds came it got knocked off, kilter, but it kept growing towards the sun, and now there's this funny shaped Leland Cypress in our backyard.
Speaker 1: That's a reminder to me that roots will hold us tight when the winds of life blow, so that one day the growth will come And see.
Speaker 1: That's the thing about being in this rooted season, like sometimes you're so excited to read the word, you're so excited to pray, You're so excited to show up at church, and then it feels like there's not a lot happening on the outside.
Speaker 1: You ever been there?
Speaker 1: I'm so excited about God, but I don't see a lot of change happening.
Speaker 1: I'm still struggling, or I'm still dealing with what I used to deal with back there.
Speaker 1: Your roots are going deep.
Speaker 1: Your roots are being planted by streams of living water.
Speaker 1: One day the fruit will come.
Speaker 1: Let the seasons do their work.
Speaker 1: Because what Paul says next you want to walk in Christ, be rooted in Christ and be built up in Christ.
Speaker 1: Rooted is a farming metaphor.
Speaker 1: Being built up in Christ is a construction metaphor.
Speaker 1: You drive anywhere in Somerville today.
Speaker 1: What do you see?
Speaker 1: Houses being built everywhere And it's fascinating watching that process of clearing the ground and the pipes come in and the foundations poured.
Speaker 1: Then it's like the next thing, you know, it's a structure that's been built up.
Speaker 1: And Paul says this is a season as well, that for us, as followers of Jesus, there's going to come a moment in time where the roots have gone deep and all of a sudden you realize wait a minute.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm growing in my faith.
Speaker 1: I'm seeing things with a different perspective.
Speaker 1: I'm responding in a different manner than I would have responded in my past.
Speaker 1: My language is changing.
Speaker 1: In the words of Scripture, my speech is being seasoned with salt.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm treating people differently than I would have in the past.
Speaker 1: I've got more patience and I'm slower to anger than I was.
Speaker 1: That's the built up season, and I love that phrase built up in him, because it's Paul telling us that what God is doing in the church, in the body of Christ, is something that God has always planned and wanted to do.
Speaker 1: One of the themes of Scripture, all the way from Genesis to Revelation, is that God wants to dwell with his people.
Speaker 1: Can we just think about that for a moment this morning?
Speaker 1: Almighty God wants to be close to people like me and you.
Speaker 1: Let's just level the ground this morning and say, hey, there is no us and them in the church of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: We are all people in need of a Savior, and the fact that Almighty God wants to be in relationship with us, that's amazing.
Speaker 1: That's incredible.
Speaker 1: He wants to dwell with us.
Speaker 1: We see it in Genesis God walks in the garden with Adam and Eve.
Speaker 1: We see it in Revelation, at the end of the story, john says that there's coming a day where we won't need the Son anymore, because the dwelling place of God is with man And we see him face to face.
Speaker 1: And how amazing is that day going to be, when our faith becomes sight and we see Almighty God.
Speaker 1: That's God's goal to dwell with his people.
Speaker 1: The problem is that his people haven't always wanted to dwell with him.
Speaker 1: And so in the Old Testament, where does God's presence dwell with his people?
Speaker 1: Well, god tells them to build an ark and build the tabernacle, and that's the place of God's dwelling.
Speaker 1: As the Israelites journey through the wilderness into the promised land.
Speaker 1: And then God's presence dwells in the temple.
Speaker 1: And one time a year one guy gets to walk into the presence of God And they got to tie a rope around his ankle in case he's not holy, because if he goes in he might die in the presence of Almighty God.
Speaker 1: They might have to drag him out.
Speaker 1: Like that's pretty wild, is it not?
Speaker 1: And then fast forward 400 years between the end of the Old Testament and the start of the New Testament And John, at the beginning of his gospel, says there's a new thing that is happening here The word has become flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us.
Speaker 1: So the God who used to dwell in the temple in the ark, where only one guy once a year could enter into his presence, the same God has become flesh and now dwells with his people.
Speaker 1: But there's a difference here, because in the Old Testament when people would approach Almighty God, they had to be really careful Because if they weren't careful, their sin, combined with the holiness of God, would take them off the planet real fast.
Speaker 1: And we see that a few times.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a guy where the ark starts to tip over and the guy, like, holds his hand out to stop it and he dies.
Speaker 1: It's like God's serious about his holiness.
Speaker 1: Then Jesus shows up and what's he do?
Speaker 1: He walks among normal broken people And there's a moment where a lady who's been sick for years grabs Jesus.
Speaker 1: He's not expecting it, he's not ready for it.
Speaker 1: She grabs him on the way by, she touches the presence of God and what happens?
Speaker 1: She's not killed, she's healed.
Speaker 1: Something has happened in the person and work of Jesus And Paul says it's this.
Speaker 1: Verse nine in Jesus the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
Speaker 1: And verse 10, you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority.
Speaker 1: So whereas God's presence used to dwell in the temple used to be hidden in the arc so that people didn't accidentally encounter the presence of God, then the fullness of God dwelt in Jesus Christ, the only son of God, And he saved people and he encountered people, and people were healed and set free and their lives were changed.
Speaker 1: Paul says now that same spirit, where does it dwell?
Speaker 1: In me and in you?
Speaker 1: And as our lives are built up in Christ, what happens is that we become the dwelling place of God in the earth.
Speaker 1: How does the world know there is a God?
Speaker 1: because there is a church inhabited by the spirit of God.
Speaker 1: Y'all we are.
Speaker 1: I heard it said one time we are the evidence of God to a world that doesn't know God.
Speaker 1: We're the dwelling place of God in the earth, and that's true when we scatter throughout the week.
Speaker 1: You take the presence of God everywhere you go.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all are like, oh, i should have thought about that before I went some places in my life.
Speaker 1: You take the presence of God everywhere your foot treads.
Speaker 1: God is in you, not just with you, in you In the midst of your pain.
Speaker 1: God is in you In the midst of your uncertainty.
Speaker 1: God is in you and you don't know what the future holds.
Speaker 1: The spirit of God lives within you and you feel like you are weak and tired and cannot take another step.
Speaker 1: The spirit of God is in you and he is building you up to be the representation of his love to the world.
Speaker 1: If we be honest about the building up season, a lot of times this is where we experience some difficulty and some trials.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm growing.
Speaker 1: I feel like God's working in my life.
Speaker 1: Bam never saw that coming.
Speaker 1: You felt that I didn't see that pain, i didn't see that heartache.
Speaker 1: I don't understand why I'm walking Like.
Speaker 1: The building up season is where the tension really begins to come in to our lives And it is in that place of pain and faith where God wants to develop a strength on the inside, by the power of his grace, that will allow you to weather whatever life throws your way.
Speaker 1: You're rooted, your roots are deep And now you're walking through the fire as God is building up your faith so that when he shows up in your life, the world will see his love And you'll have the integrity and the character and the strength to display the love of God to a desperate world.
Speaker 1: Third season, third metaphor that Paul gives us.
Speaker 1: Paul says sometimes we get to the place and we feel like we are established in the faith.
Speaker 1: We're like the tree in Jeremiah 17, bearing fruit in season and out of season.
Speaker 1: Days of drought come, still faithful, still fruitful, and I love that picture of the tree.
Speaker 1: You know you think about a big tree, big oak tree, big live oak.
Speaker 1: Think about the angel oak.
Speaker 1: You can fit a lot of people in the shade of that tree And y'all.
Speaker 1: That's the goal for my life and for your life That, as our roots go deep and God builds us up in strength to be his dwelling place in the earth, that we would build a life that would provide shade for people to follow after Jesus in the shadow of our life.
Speaker 1: Shade for the next generation, if you will.
Speaker 1: Paul said it like this follow me as I follow Jesus.
Speaker 1: It's what it looks like to be established in the faith, trusting Jesus in season and out of season, showing the generation that follows, what it looks like to live a life of faithfulness and fruitfulness.
Speaker 1: Isn't that the goal?
Speaker 1: Isn't that what you want?
Speaker 1: It's what I want, you know, and I want to just be clear on that this morning, that the season of established in the faith is not a season of complacency.
Speaker 1: That's not the time where we sit back and relax because we've made it.
Speaker 1: How do you know that you're established in the faith?
Speaker 1: It's when you realize that I have deep convictions about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.
Speaker 1: And because of my deep convictions about who Jesus is and what he's done, now I've got a really clear sense of mission and calling.
Speaker 1: I know why I'm on this planet and it's so that I can be a shade tree for people to experience the love and the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: So then the question becomes well, how do we develop these deep convictions?
Speaker 1: How do we allow God to mold us into the people that are rooted and built up in him and established in our faith?
Speaker 1: Fortunately for us, paul gives us two components to ground us in Christ and mature us in our faith.
Speaker 1: The first, he says, is good teaching.
Speaker 1: Paul says continue walking in him, just as you were taught.
Speaker 1: The big threat to the Colossian church was bad teaching.
Speaker 1: There were people that were diminishing the person and the work of Jesus Christ, and so people were living with some combination of grace, through faith and works.
Speaker 1: They felt like they had to earn their way into salvation.
Speaker 1: There were other people in this day and age, like early Gnostics, that were teaching there's more special revelation that you really need in order to be right with God.
Speaker 1: Aren't you glad nobody's teaching weird things about Jesus in today's world?
Speaker 1: We've come so far, you know.
Speaker 1: It's like that's the same thing that's happening all around us today.
Speaker 1: We diminish the person and the work of Jesus and we look for something else that we think will fill the gap that we've created in our own lives.
Speaker 1: What we need, paul says, is to continue in the good teaching of the clear gospel That Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who came to seek and save the lost, who resurrected to new life and who one day will return for his church.
Speaker 1: We need the good news of the gospel that bad people like me have a chance, by the grace of God, to be given a new life and then can walk it out every single day.
Speaker 1: That's what we need.
Speaker 1: So what is good teaching?
Speaker 1: What is good teaching?
Speaker 1: Well, good teaching is anchored in the truth of God's word.
Speaker 1: How do we know if it's good teaching?
Speaker 1: Well, is it from the word of God.
Speaker 1: Is it what God says?
Speaker 1: Good teaching, second, will always elevate the person and the work of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: If you're traveling or you move 20 years from now because none of y'all can move anytime soon if you move 20 years from now and you gotta find a new church and you go to a church that's more about you than it is about Jesus, find a church that's more about Jesus than it is about you.
Speaker 1: Right, that's what we need.
Speaker 1: We need more Jesus and less us.
Speaker 1: We need to make much of the person and the work of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: And the third element of good teaching is that good teaching will call us to repentance and to obedience.
Speaker 1: There's a tendency in our day and time to fashion Jesus into someone who is like our best friend, Who always wants to ride along with us wherever our car is going, who always wants to affirm us and make us feel better about ourselves.
Speaker 1: And it's like Jesus.
Speaker 1: You know, the whole Jesus is like my co-pilot kind of deal.
Speaker 1: He's just along for the ride to rubber stamp my life as I do what I want to do.
Speaker 1: The Jesus of the scriptures, the resurrected Son of God, is the Lord of all, and so there's gonna be moments in good teaching where I am confronted and convicted, and I need that.
Speaker 1: My response to that is not to say no, thank you Jesus, i'll do it my way.
Speaker 1: It's to say hey, i'm sorry, jesus, help me, do it your way.
Speaker 1: That's what we need, because we all, like sheep, have a tendency to go astray, and we need Jesus, the King, jesus, the Lord, jesus, the shepherd, to guide us and direct us, and our lives as followers of Jesus have to be characterized by repentance and obedience.
Speaker 1: God, i'm sorry I was going this way.
Speaker 1: I was doing it my way, but now I know I'm gonna turn around and I'm gonna go your way and I wanna do it your way.
Speaker 1: Give me the strength to obey.
Speaker 1: Paul said it's good teaching that will allow you to continue to grow roots and build up your life and be established in your faith, and he says it's abounding in Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: It's gratitude, it's gratitude, and I love this.
Speaker 1: I love this.
Speaker 1: How do we continue to walk in Jesus?
Speaker 1: We stay grateful, we do a heart check every now and then and make sure that deep on the inside, we're still grateful for the person and work of Jesus.
Speaker 1: We're still in awe of who he is and what he's done.
Speaker 1: We're still amazed at the fact that Almighty God would send his son to save broken people.
Speaker 1: We're still floored by the gospel.
Speaker 1: We're still amazed at the beauty of the resurrection.
Speaker 1: We're still waiting with expectancy for Jesus to return.
Speaker 1: He's still the prize, he's still the treasure.
Speaker 1: We're grateful.
Speaker 1: Paul says see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition.
Speaker 1: There's other options available, they're just empty.
Speaker 1: How do we make sure that we don't chase after the emptiness and instead we embrace the fullness of Christ?
Speaker 1: We stay grateful.
Speaker 1: We stay grateful that in Christ we have been filled, that in Christ we've been circumcised, with a circumcision made with out hands, which is always a great line to read in church.
Speaker 1: I was in a small group one time and somebody read something about circumcision and I was like, can you illustrate it?
Speaker 1: I couldn't help it and it was inappropriate, i know, but it's like what's he saying?
Speaker 1: Paul's saying hey, there is something on the inside of us that needs to be cut away.
Speaker 1: In Romans he talks about the circumcision of the heart.
Speaker 1: In Ezekiel 36 it's the removal of a heart of stone and the giving of a heart of flesh.
Speaker 1: We need to be changed on the inside.
Speaker 1: In Christ, we've been filled and our heart has been transformed, but not only that.
Speaker 1: We've been buried with Jesus in baptism.
Speaker 1: The old has gone, the dead has gone and the new has come.
Speaker 1: We've been raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God.
Speaker 1: And then verse 13 says and you who were dead in your sin and the uncircumcision of your flesh, god made a life together with Jesus, having forgiven us all of our trespasses.
Speaker 1: So we've been filled, we've been circumcised in our hearts, we've been buried in baptism.
Speaker 1: We've been raised in new life and our sins have been forgiven.
Speaker 1: A shame has been forgotten, our guilt has been wiped, our record has been cleared.
Speaker 1: We've had the record of death that stood against us, with its legal demands, set aside.
Speaker 1: How Well Paul says it like this it's been nailed to the cross.
Speaker 1: It's been nailed to the cross.
Speaker 1: Why would I continue to walk in the cross When there are other options available?
Speaker 1: because only Jesus has nailed my past and my sin and my shame and my guilt and my condemnation to the cross.
Speaker 1: Only Jesus has done that.
Speaker 1: We were on the beach last week and my brother-in-law had like a book about the Bible or something that he was reading and highlighting and he's making notes in the book.
Speaker 1: And so Noah, my six year old, goes and gets Hank the Cow Dog.
Speaker 1: I don't know if y'all know the book about Hank the Cow Dog.
Speaker 1: Hank the Cow Dog is a great book.
Speaker 1: It's about a dog that lives on a farm, fights off coyotes, has nothing to do with Jesus, but it's a great book.
Speaker 1: And Noah's sitting there he's highlighting Hank the Cow Dog, like just wearing out the highlighter on Hank.
Speaker 1: He's highlighting every word on Hank the Cow Dog.
Speaker 1: And I found out I was like no man, what are you writing?
Speaker 1: He's writing notes too.
Speaker 1: And he's like let me read it to you, dad.
Speaker 1: And this is what he said.
Speaker 1: I've probably word for word, true story.
Speaker 1: This is what he said, dad.
Speaker 1: I wrote that life with God is a miracle.
Speaker 1: And I was like I don't remember Hank the Cow Dog saying that when I read Hank the Cow Dog in elementary school.
Speaker 1: But you're right.
Speaker 1: And I looked at my brother-in-law and I was like Chandler, did you tell him that?
Speaker 1: And Chandler's like I didn't know what he was writing Life with God is a miracle.
Speaker 1: The fact that in Christ we've been filled and circumcised, buried, resurrected, forgiven.
Speaker 1: That it's been nailed to the cross.
Speaker 1: Our sin has been set aside, our shame has been set aside, our past can stay in the past.
Speaker 1: That's a miracle.
Speaker 1: And if you're a follower of Jesus here today, the fact that you're a follower of Christ by grace, through faith, that is a miracle And that's got to produce some gratitude in us.
Speaker 1: God, i'm grateful.
Speaker 1: I don't deserve it, i couldn't earn it.
Speaker 1: I didn't do anything to pay you back for it.
Speaker 1: It's a gift, it's a miracle.
Speaker 1: Grace, salvation, new life that's a miracle.
Speaker 1: And it's a miracle that's available to every single one of you today.
Speaker 1: If you're in this room and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the miracle of new life can happen right now.
Speaker 1: Your sin has been nailed to the cross.
Speaker 1: Your condemnation has been nailed to the cross.
Speaker 1: The weight that you're under has been carried by Jesus to the cross.
Speaker 1: His blood was shed and he resurrected from the dead.
Speaker 1: He is victorious.
Speaker 1: He has triumphed over rulers and authorities, the powers of darkness.
Speaker 1: They have been put to open.
Speaker 1: Shame at the cross of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Christ.
Speaker 1: Translation the only barrier between you and God, between me and God, is you, is me.
Speaker 1: Are you willing to say yes to Jesus, to receive the free gift of grace, through faith, to allow your sin to be included in what Jesus has done.
Speaker 1: You don't have to carry a weight that Jesus carried to Calvary for you.
Speaker 1: So, father, my prayer is that right now, in this moment, for followers of Christ, god, that you are just lifting burdens of weight and shame and guilt and condemnation that we have been carrying unnecessarily for far too long.
Speaker 1: Father, we're grateful that our guilt, our shame, our condemnation was nailed to the cross of Jesus and that Jesus has resurrected, triumphing over all of the forces of darkness.
Speaker 1: We thank you and we pray, god, that you would give us a grateful heart.
Speaker 1: And then, father, i pray right now for anyone in this room this morning who doesn't yet know Jesus is Savior, that right now, father, their response to your grace in Christ would be to repent of sin and trust Jesus as Lord and as Savior.
Speaker 1: Today, if you're here in this moment and for the first time, you wanna give your life to Christ, i just wanna invite you.
Speaker 1: Raise your hand right where you're at right now, lift your hand highs out.
Speaker 1: I wanna give my life to Jesus for the very first time, right here, right now.
Speaker 1: If that's you and that's where you're at.
Speaker 1: I wanna invite you to pray this prayer with me.
Speaker 1: Dear God, by grace, through faith, i trust Jesus as my Savior.
Speaker 1: I turn from my sin and I place my faith in you, in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1: What you need to know today is that, for the first time, you trusted Jesus as your Savior.
Speaker 1: That's the start of a conversation that lasts the rest of your days.
Speaker 1: We got some roots that need to go deep.
Speaker 1: We've got a structure that needs to be built up so that we can live established, mature lives in the faith.
Speaker 1: But the promise of God's word is that we walk in Christ.
Speaker 1: You're in Him, you're positioned in Jesus, and that's good news.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna stand and we're gonna sing together as we do.
Speaker 1: This is your moment to respond.
Speaker 1: If you need to pray, the altar's open.
Speaker 1: If you wanna join the church, i'll be down front to have that conversation with you.
Speaker 1: You say, hey, i know I need Jesus and I'm not sure about the prayer.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure about raising my hand in church, but I wanna talk to somebody.
Speaker 1: Step out for prayer, grad, Come down, grab my hand.
Speaker 1: I would love to talk with you about you giving your life to Christ this morning.
Speaker 1: Let's sing with grateful hearts this morning.