Rethink & Return with Jason Shepperd
ABOUT PODCAST //
Rethink & Return invites followers of Jesus to reimagine the modern church and rediscover the simplicity of the New Testament. Each week, we open God’s Word and have real conversations about what it means to follow Jesus, shepherd His people, and live out the ways of the New Testament. Through honest conversations and biblical teaching, we challenge assumptions, explore decentralized leadership, and return to Christ’s design for His Church.
ABOUT HOST //
Jason Shepperd is the Founder and Lead Pastor of Church Project, a growing movement of House Churches across cities, states, and nations. With decades of ministry and church-planting experience, Jason has championed a decentralized model of leadership that equips ordinary believers to shepherd local communities in simple, biblical ways.
Rethink & Return with Jason Shepperd
How to Know God's Will (Colossians 1:9-14)
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This episode covers Colossians 1:9-14, where Paul gives us a powerful picture of what it looks like to follow Jesus and how we should pray for ourselves and others. As the gospel continues to move and grow, Paul reminds the church that gospel participation requires the power and protection of prayer to persevere.
We’ll explore why one of our greatest desires should be to know the will of God and how spiritual wisdom and understanding come from walking by the Spirit. We’ll also look at what it means to live a life worthy of the Lord—not because we could ever earn His grace, but because honoring His name becomes our aim.
This passage challenges us to consider whether our lives are ultimately being lived to please ourselves, others, or the Lord. We’ll talk about how the same grace that saved us continues to sanctify us and how good works are not a way to earn salvation, but the visible fruit of a life transformed by the gospel.
The conversation also explores what it means to continually grow in the knowledge of God and become stronger in His strength. God’s goal is not for us to remain the same, but to grow in endurance and patience so we can keep going and wait for Him to work.
Finally, we’ll celebrate the joyful reality at the heart of the gospel: we were disqualified, but Jesus has qualified us. He rescued us from the dominion of darkness, brought us into His kingdom, and gave us redemption. This is why we pray, why we care about those who are far from God, and why we step into the lives of others with the message of salvation.
Join us as we discover what it means to become people who pray, grow, endure, give thanks, do good works, and live fully for Jesus.
Additional Resources
- Watch or listen to Past Sermons
- Start With 7 (Daily Audio Devotionals)
- GOOD.GOD.GOSPEL. (How to Have Conversations Toward Salvation)
- Learn about Church Project Network and follow our NEW Instagram (@churchprojectofficial)
- Read this book by Jason: “A Church of House Churches: An Articulated and Applied Ecclesiology”
- Website
Hey, thanks for joining us on the Rethink and Return podcast. We're thinking, rethinking, and returning. Like we just want to know what did Jesus have to say about stuff? How did He want us to live? So we're looking at a passage of scripture every week that we preach to a room of people that people are using in house churches in a community here and beyond are doing that too. So thanks for joining us for that. And as always, my amigo Davito.
SPEAKER_00Always great to be back.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for hanging out.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I love that we dive into this text each time again, each time this week. You know, every week that we're back at it. Yeah, me too. And I think it's a good discipline. I think a lot of people hear a sermon once and they're like, that's it. So I like that we have this to return to.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, that's the idea, right? Like when I grew up in church, I mean, it was great that Sunday morning, like Sunday school, I'd do one thing. The sermon would be on something else. Sunday afternoon, I would do one thing at five, and then another thing at six. Right. Tuesday night or Wednesday night, something else, something else, a lot of good stuff. But like I never had a place to really go. Let's take what we just did and go talk about it more. And here what we're hoping for is we got a lot of we got a lot of things on this passage of scripture. We're just trying to milk it because we're not going to probably be back in it again as a church. So we have the sermon, we have this, we have a daily devo for you to read every day. Really good.
SPEAKER_00I've been reading those are really good.
SPEAKER_02And um, and then uh, you know, then of course we have house church to sit down with a community of people, diverse people, old, young, different backgrounds, different places in your walk with Jesus, and wrestle through this and help other people grow and help ourselves. And then we have this for when you're driving or on a bus or on the plane or walking or whatever you're doing, just to think a little more deeply about it. That's right. All right, so here we go. Paul said, Colossians chapter 1, verse 9, for this reason, since the day we heard about you, we haven't started praying for you. What reason? Man, they're in the gospel work, bro. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00They're doing the work.
SPEAKER_02The previous verses, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing uh all over the world, and it's it's doing that among you. And Paul's like, because of this. He said, for this reason, we haven't stopped praying for you. Like when you're in the gospel work, when people are in the gospel work, man, you need to pray for them and you need people praying for you. Because the war's gonna build up. It's just all through scripture. It's told by ancient saints, it's a principle of the word, it's happening all around the world today. Uh, I mean, we see it all, opposition all through scripture for people who step into the work. And so you need, if you're in it, and we have a lot of people who are serving in every way, make sure you have people praying for you. It's one thing to not, you know, want attention or want people to, you know, elevate you or whatever, but if you're in the work, you gotta make sure you got people around you praying for you.
SPEAKER_00That's right. And what are the things that you that people need to be praying for? How how do they pray when you say pray for the gospel work?
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, Paul's gonna talk a lot about it here, but you know, Paul's gonna talk about persevering and enduring. He's gonna talk about that a lot. Yep. You know, and so that's a big part of it. Help people endure and persevere. But he'll be talking about these prayers. He's gonna tell us what he prayed, which is really cool. And then he's like, since the day we heard about it, we haven't stopped praying, but being heard about for the gospel. Man, that's cool because we all want to matter. I mean, that's not bad.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_02Uh, I mean, God made us that when you find something across every human being, it's it's likely gonna be linked back to the nature of God, and then flesh has corrupted it. And so, but we need it, whatever even flesh is corrupted, we can look it for what was the holy thing before flesh corrupted it. And part of that is when God made us in his image, like we matter, you know, and uh he we're we're we're cared about, we're occupying space and time made in his image. Now it's been corrupted, and we got to look and go, what are we trying to be heard about or known for? And a lot of people are trying to be known for this or this. But I love that Paul's like, when I heard about you, what I heard about was the gospel was your life, you know? I mean, that's a great thing to be heard about.
SPEAKER_00That's right. And I think it's important to point out, you know, that when we talk about being known for the gospel, we don't mean being weird.
SPEAKER_02You ought to what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, we we you know, we talked about you don't want to be a weirdo for Jesus or be a jerk for Jesus. Yeah. But there's a there's an atmosphere that someone lives their life in when they're for the gospel. Like it, like we talked about last week. It comes out in our conversation. We're able to take the different parts of the gospel and apply it to people's different situations. Yeah. Like that, you know, like to me, that was one of the things that as you work through these verses, that occurs to me to be about the gospel doesn't mean to be a weirdo about it. It just means that your life is like you're you're you have that front and center, and you're thinking about how it applies to every situation you find yourself in.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I I see these people are going, what I care most about in my city. Yeah, that's right. And what I care most about in my church is that I'm gonna live so the gospel of Jesus Christ will make its way into the lives of people around me, and then that God would use our church and our city to help, as was happening with them, do gospel work in other places. Right. And so I just think these people were I'm just fully committed to the gospel. And I think part of being fully committed to the gospel is going, how am I the aroma of Christ wherever I go? That's good. I mean, you know, does that mean I stand on the corner with a sandwich sign and tell people they're going to hell? I I don't think so. I think what it means is that I'm gonna be, I'm gonna carry the gospel into my community unashamedly, clearly, deliberately, and this is what I'm spending my life doing. And so they're heard about the gospel. So I think you can be rich, you can be poor, you can be pretty, you can be not pretty, you can be famous, you can be not famous. I mean, it doesn't matter where you are, you can be about the gospel, and you should be if you're a follower of Jesus. This is why, this is why we're here. So true. So Paul's like, I'm praying for you, and then this is what he starts praying for people. Yeah. Like, what uh, you know, one of the things that people ask me when they're like, How can I pray for you? This is one of the first thing Paul says here, this is one of the things I I say. Verse 9, he says, We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all wisdom and understanding that the spirit gives. Yeah, like when I when people ask me how can they pray for me, I generally say these two things. Um, I need uh the power to endure and persevere. Okay, and I need wisdom and discernment of the spirit. Those are the two things I pray for the most. Wow. God, would you give me the power to endure? And Paul's gonna talk about that in a minute. But then I ask for this. Would you would you ask that God would give me wisdom and I would discern his will through the spirit? And so I want to know what is God, where is God leading me? Where is he leading us? I want to discern his will. I want to be sensitive to the spirit. We're gonna walk in his word, but also how's the spirit leading us to walk in his will that aligns with his word? And so Paul's like, uh, we we want to do the will of God.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, that's it. I love that you said yesterday you already know the will of God. That's right. That was a powerful like expound on that for a minute. Like, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I you know, uh everybody I think wants to know what is God's will, but I I think I think we do know God's will. We already, always know God's will. Now we need the discernment of the Spirit to know how his will specifically might apply in our situation. But God's word has revealed his will. Like, I already, always know he wants me to love my wife. Right. And how he wants me to love her. He's told me that. Yep. So I'm gonna be on a constant sanctification toward that, but I always, already know. Uh I know how he wants me to lead my kids. I mean, there's all kinds of things in scripture to teach me. Now I'm always on a sanctification towards that, but I I I know I know his will for that. I know he wants me to work hard and provide for my family. I know he wants me to give financially to the gospel, through the local church. Like I don't have to even pray about that. Now I I need to certainly like I know he wants me to use my gifts, however, he's made me. Now I need to discern by the spirit. You know, how much more do you want us to give? Am I using my gifts in the way you want me to, where you want me to? Like these are all the things, but I already know his will. But I need that's why Paul was real clear here. I continually ask God to feed you with the knowledge of his will through all wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. I know your will, it's in your word, but give me the discernment through the Spirit to know how to walk out your will. That's right. And I think that's really freeing for people to go the hit his word. There's not an area of your life that his word is not already telling you what the will of God is.
SPEAKER_00That's right. And I I think it is really freeing because you and I grew up in an environment where they taught the will of God was hidden. People are always like, you gotta go find the will of God. You gotta feel like that. Remember that? Like they would always say, You got to get out there and find the will of God. It's somewhere out there. And I like this for me shifts the whole dynamic to say you already know it, you just need the discernment to know how it's lived out. Like there's a lot of freedom in living that way.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I think, you know, we were like, Am I gonna did I go to the right or wrong university? Right. That's right. Or, you know, am I is this the right major? What is God's will for me to and I mean, we do want discernment that the spirit gives for that, but there are things that we the majority of everything we already know is in his word and we know all of his will. I need discernment of the spirit to how to to know how to walk his will out. Really good. So prol, so if you're praying for somebody, or if you're somebody who's in the gospel work and you need people to pray for you, this would be number one for me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I want help me know how to walk out God's will and discern his will. Let me be sensitive to the spirit through this. So that's one prayer that I that people here pray pray for me for, and I ask them to. And then verse 10, right? So that you might live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way. I just think we have chosen a way of living with our life. Yeah. You know, and if you've chosen that your life is gonna be lived in, I'm gonna live along the way of pleasing the Lord. That's that's a decided path. I think it's the way we decide, am I gonna live my life to please the Lord? And um every life has a way that it is being lived.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02So what it I think the great question is, what is the way that I am living my life? Am I living it to please the Lord?
SPEAKER_00Right. And any other way I think creates a feeling of condemnation, or sometimes people live with that feeling like I'm not enough. I can't live up to this without without seeking the Lord. Don't you think that if you're gonna if you're gonna live your life in such a way to please everybody else, like the the result of that is you never feel like you measure up. Oh, I gotcha, yeah. Right? Or if you're gonna live your life, like you say, for people, possessions, pleasure, place power, yeah, possession. You know, there there's a result that that comes from. That's right, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're right. I mean, that'll never it'll there's no other way that satisfies. But people are choosing, am I gonna live for pleasure? And if so, am I living to please myself or other people? Am I gonna live for power? How much position, how much possessions, how much, you know, platform and fame, what what's enough? Like, and God may give or not give any of those things, but the way that I'm living my life should be as a follower of Jesus. I'm living to please the Lord. Yeah, like what is pleasing to the Lord needs to be our question and our guide. Yeah. And I think we can get it upside down and go, I want to try to please the Lord so that He'll love me. But that we can't see that through the gospel that way. Right. And so the way that we see that through the gospel is He loved me even while I was a sinner. That's right. But now I love him because He loved me first, as the word says. And so, because of that, man, I just want to please Him. Just like a great marriage, I gave an illustration of Brooke, I was doing something for her that I didn't want to do, and it wouldn't have been something I would have chosen. But she wanted it done, and I, you know, immediately was like, okay, sure, I'll be glad to do that. Just because I love her. And um, but if I didn't do it, she wouldn't love me less. And so I think we have to see the Lord like through this gospel lens of man, he loves me, he's adopted me, he's sealed me. Good, man. You know, I have his identity inside of me. All that is there, but so I'm not living to please him so that he'll accept me. I'm living to please him because I love him. And I love him because he loved me first.
SPEAKER_00That's powerful. It's it's power to live to live from the acceptance of the Lord instead of living for it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? You just you just you start with, He loves me, he's for me. Yeah. I'm gonna let everything else that determine everything else I do. Like one of the things that you said was, is this pleasing to you? And like you kind of clicked off your calendar and you know, the the circumstances, you clicked off some practical things that people would go, I'm just gonna let my acceptance to the Lord to say, okay, I'm I'm gonna evaluate everything in my life based on the fact that I want to I want to please God because He has accepted me, because He loves me, not to earn something from it.
SPEAKER_02That's right. I mean, for me to go, hey God, how am I spending my time, my life, my one short life on this planet? Am I am I doing is this is this the way you would want me to do it? Or look in my bank account, is this how you want me to spend my money? Right. And um, how you want me to, am I giving in a way that's pleasing to you? Look at my you know, my Instagram or my Facebook or look in my web browser, is all this pleasing to you? Right, right. Like I I think as a follower of Jesus, the question would, you know, I mean, you know, when I was a youth pastor growing up, kids would say, like, can I can I do this and still go to heaven? I don't know if you ever got that conversation.
SPEAKER_00I got that all the time.
SPEAKER_02But like, hey, can I do this thing and still go to heaven? I'm like, the question doesn't make sense, man. Right. Like that's not that's not the question. You know, I mean, for me, I don't I don't want to go, hey, got it. Um, is my search browser pleasing to you so I can go to heaven? Right. It's just, man, I I love you so much. I want to be pleasing to you. That's right. And um, I want to honor you with my money, with my time, with my body, yeah, with my mind. Yeah. So I do that just because I want to please them. I think that's the question we need to be asking.
SPEAKER_00I do too. I think that you're right. Like in student ministry, that was always the question was how far away can I get from God and still know that He loves me and that I'm gonna go to heaven? When the real question is, how close can I be in the midst of all these things? What can I do that will maintain my intimacy of all things circumstances, calendars, web browser, all those things.
SPEAKER_02That's right. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's why Hebrews says, let's throw off everything that hinders. Right. I want to get rid of this stuff because I don't want it to hinder my relationship with the Lord or him using me. So Paul goes on, hey, I'm praying for this, I'm praying for wisdom, I'm praying that you're pleasing to the Lord. I'm gonna pray that you bear fruit in every good work. And uh, you know, again, when we look at it through the lens of the gospel, we're like, oh, good works, that's bad, because you know, but that I mean, it's really great to juxtapose Ephesians 2.9 with Ephesians 2.10. You know, Ephesians 2.8.9, it's by grace you've been saved through faith. It's not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. But verse 10 says, we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02So we're not saved by good works, yet we're created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Right. That's why James, Jesus' half-brother, said, uh, he's like, Can you show me your faith and not show me your good works? I say it doesn't make sense to me. And so Paul's like, I I want people to see your good works. Like, you know, let your life shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Like, people should just see our goodness and um and the good things that we're doing. I think that's collectively as a church that we've done that for so long, which I love about us. And then collectively, I mean, and then individually, that people we should be doing good things that make people go. Yeah. What's different about that guy? What's different about that girl? And uh, you know, baptism yesterday, which was a beautiful day. We do that every couple months, have another one coming up soon. But um it's a picture like baptism is showing it something's already happened, and this is the outward picture of that. That's right. And that's what good works are. Like it's not I'm doing I'm not doing good works, so something will happen inside of me. Right. Something has happened inside of me, and I'm gonna bear fruit. That's what Paul said. I'm you're bearing the fruit of it. The seed of the gospel was planted, the gospel led me to salvation, and salvation produced that's powerful.
SPEAKER_00And I think I think a lot of believers get it reversed. Sure. They think I'm gonna do this to try to earn salvation. And you said yesterday, no, really, we're saved, and good works come out of that. Yeah. Like it's the overflow or it's the fruit, the result of the salvation, the saving work of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02That's right. Yeah. Yeah, that's what Paul told Timothy. He's like, He saved us and he called us to a holy life. Right. He didn't call us to a holy life so that we would get saved. He saved us, and out of that salvation, he's called us to a holy life. And powerful. Our flesh distorts that, right? Like we want to be like, oh, I can get Tower of Babel. Let me get up to God. It's the latter icon on our gospel. Yeah. Which, you know, and so yeah, no, the the the good works, good works are good. They're not bad. Right. But good works become bad when we think that somehow our good works can undo all the bad we've done. Right. I mean, that's a that's a distorted gospel. Bro, that's profound. Well, yeah, and yet it's the basic, you know, elementary truth of the gospel that our good work can't save us. And so we're bearing fruit in every good work, and then Paul's still praying for them, he's still in the prayer, growing in the knowledge of God. I like the the growing, it's just this ongoing change of status, I mean, change of situation. Like I am not where I once was, yet I am not where I will one day be. Right. And there's there's humility with people who are growing, uh, there is a humility and there's a grace. Like when I'm growing, here's what I know. Man, I needed to be further along than I was.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So we know God gave me grace while I was not there, and it's only by God's grace I came here. But if you know you're growing, you're you're you're then living in the grace because you know I'm not near where I will be one day. Right. Like as long as I'm alive, there'll be more sanctification, more work to do. So growing require requires grace, and um requires grace for ourselves. Yeah. To receive it from the Lord. Yeah. Because I'm not thank thank you, God, for not leaving me where I was, and thank you for not leaving me where I am now.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02It also requires grace uh for other people. And we we've got to be people who are growing, and growing requires grace.
SPEAKER_00I mean, that and that really is the major, like you like we could go down a rabbit hole and talk about how do you measure growth, and you could talk about memorizing scripture and understanding doctrines, and there's a lot of things you think, well, you know, I'm growing in like you said last week, there's things I know now that I didn't know 10 years ago. Yeah, sure. But I I think the kind of the catalyst of all this is like where is the grace quotient in your life? Is there is it is there more of it or less of it? That's right. More of it towards yourself. I I a lot of my conversations are built around me saying you're gonna have to give yourself some grace. That's right. Because a lot of people don't. They're hard, they're harder on themselves than God is.
SPEAKER_02Well, you're you're right. And you know, Paul, Paul like understood grace, it seemed more than most of us, if not all of us, but he like the closer he got to the Lord, the more grace he knew he had received from the Lord. Yeah, and because of that, he was able to give more grace too. And so I think that we know when we're growing in our knowledge of God, like we know God more, and we know more about God too, yeah, when we're growing in grace. Because for me to grow is just an admission of wow, I'm not where I needed to be. Yeah. And you know, and but neither are you, right? And so, and neither are you, and so we we all are we're constantly suspended in grace. This starts by grace, yeah. We're continually sanctified by grace, we're suspended. There's your three S's. So he starts by grace, suspended by grace. We're we're being sanctified by grace. It is a grace of God that he would save us, and it's a grace of God that he would keep saving us, which is our sanctification. Yeah. And so, I mean, what a good gift that God would not just, you know, get me taken care of for heaven and just leave me alone. Yeah. I mean, he keeps growing me and growing you, and so we've got to here's the thing, like the closer we get to the Lord, like it's not that I become it's not that I it's not only that I become aware that I need more grace, like I I'm completely dependent upon it. Right. Like I know I am just I need more grace than I than I've ever known I've needed. And I think that is, you know, the old heads, the old timers that I talk to, that you talk to, that are really walking with the Lord for a very long time. It just seems that their conversation gets to be more about grace. Yeah. And they give more grace than they used to. Right. So I want to learn from those people.
SPEAKER_00I think it's I think it's that that was a all these points are really powerful, but I think that's especially powerful because it's something that you can measure in your own life. You can go, Am I actually growing in grace in my response to people and circumstances? And self. And self. That's right.
SPEAKER_02That's good. So we're growing in the knowledge of God. I've gotten to know God more and more about God. And because of that I have more grace. And then he said being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. And Paul, you know, he he was saying here like this is the next thing that I'll have people pray for me about. Hey, give me strength to endure. Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you have may have great endurance and patience. And um you know one time I had a very encouraging note written to me by a a guy who I worked for for I worked for him for like five years. And he wrote me this note and it was kind. He said you have you have gifts and qualities that I admire he said but the one that I respect the most is perseverance because he said without that the other gifts don't matter if you don't keep going those gifts don't have any impact. Wow. And that that was many years ago when he wrote that note but I you know that that's the power of encouragement by the way like saying real things that matter to people stick with them.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_02So do hurtful things. Hurtful things stick with people too yeah that's true. But encouraging things uh stick with people too and that guy you know it it it it gave me more strength to endure and that's why when people ask me to pray for wisdom to discern and discernment of the spirit and then strength to endure it's really a combination of a couple of these elements from Paul's prayer that he's praying for this church. And so I'll take some good cues from Paul. If Paul led by the Spirit is praying for these things for a local church and the people who are serving in it's probably a good thing for me to pray for myself and to have other people pray for me and for me to pray for them.
SPEAKER_00That's right. I want you to take a minute like when we got to verse 11 uh you used the phrase old man's strength and like I wrote that in my notes because I thought that was I mean there's something to that so just like just explain that just kind of extrapolate on that for a minute.
SPEAKER_02Well I mean you know you hear about old man's strength you know how your grandfather or whatever was strong I think it actually goes back I mean who knows how God kept adjusting things in humanity but you know it goes back to the uh the spies went into the land right and they came out and two of them uh were like hey we can do it yeah and the other ten were like we can't and so God told the two that said you can do it he's like when you you're you're gonna miss out on 40 years because of these other people but I'm gonna I'm gonna give you that strength back. Yeah and it it it's pretty cool sometimes I think about that when I think of the words old man strength because I'm like these two guys who trusted the Lord and because of other people lost part of their life. Yeah God gave them strength uh they ended up not losing it yeah so they had this different kind of old man strength you know and um you know of course in our house we joke about it talk about it right but I mean I think there is really something physiologically to it but I mean Paul was trying to say there's a different kind of strength. We'll see it in a couple of weeks in Colossians 1 29. He said to this end I strenuously contend with all the energy that Christ so powerfully works in me. So like um there's a different kind of strength that we get from the Lord and honestly I don't know if you can be aware of it until you need it. That's powerful yeah I think you become more well you become for sure more aware of it when you need it. But I don't know if you ever are really aware that it's there until you need it and then you realize he's given me some strength that I didn't have on my own. Yeah. And um and again I think this is why it's so wise to have older mentors in your life I mean frankly the people the mentors I have in my life don't have mentors anymore because they're so old. I mean they've told me they're like I don't when I thank them you know for spending time with me they're like one it's my joy uh two it's my calling um but also someone did this for me but I no longer have that because they've all their mentors like people don't live these guys are 20 years 25 years older than me that have been in my life a long time. Right. And the people 20 and 25 years older than them are dead. Yeah yeah and so you know I think there's something to I want to learn from older wiser people and I've been doing that a very long time by God's good gifts to me. Yeah I've had that in my life I have a lot of in my life even still and always have but um yeah we need strength that's not our normal strength.
SPEAKER_00Yeah and I think you're right like there's you don't really know it until you need it. Like there's a convergence between the the crisis and your need for strength where that's awakened.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But we could talk about it all day long and someone would go I intellectually I understand that. That's right. But when you need it then you'll go oh I see the difference.
SPEAKER_02That's right. And I will tell you like you know the longer I live and maybe you for you as you live like you realize a big part of strength is just strength to endure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Just to keep going.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_02Like Paul said here being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. Like growing stronger has a goal and part of the goal of growing stronger is just to keep going. Right. The goal is to keep going and um I I have found that at different seasons in my life to be the hardest thing to keep going.
SPEAKER_00Right. Because there's times when you feel like stopping when everyone feels like it. I think so like the people you just hit a wall you go I don't think I can do this anymore. Or want to or want to do right or want to do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And in those moments like how how do you what do you say or what do you do to keep yourself going when you hit that wall that's where that's where the the strength comes in that you didn't know you had. Yeah okay that's the yeah that's the I Paul Colossians chapter one verse 29 I strenuously contend with all the energy that Christ so powerful. So good. And so that's where I mean that's why Paul's praying this man I I want you guys to be aware that there's a strength beyond your own human strength like beyond your own will beyond your own stubbornness beyond your own ability to endure there's a strength that Christ gives you like that's why he said being strengthened with all power like according to his glorious might there's a strength there. That's right and you don't really know it until you maybe are in it or you're on the other side of it and you look back and say I didn't get through that by my own strength. And I I think I have I don't know maybe three or four different seasons in our staff time this morning I'm yeah we're in a psalm and I'm like hey by the way this psalm right here I got an I got it marked from oh one and oh seven and 2010 and this year like you know there's just we're gonna all have different seasons where we're gonna see God is stronger than me and he's given me some of his strength.
SPEAKER_00That's right. And I always say like the proof that you're experiencing that strength is not that you it's not like you're taking an injection or have some sort of you know superhero rush it is that you get back up the next day and you live another day.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You keep showing up. That's right. That is the strength of God.
SPEAKER_02You know I think on a real personal level we um I think on a real personal level it'd be really good for us to recognize that there are there are people who that we are encountering and it took all the strength they had just to get up that's right and just to keep going.
SPEAKER_00So true.
SPEAKER_02You know sometimes I'll see like a a young family come in or even a or a single mom on a Sunday and they'll be really late and I'll be like I'll I'll literally say I'll I'll say congratulations just for getting here man that's right super well done like um just getting up and getting going and doing it and and I I'll just add this in here just because I can you know who knows um I I I said a couple weeks ago and I I said it because I'm just sensing it right now like uh yeah it just seems to be for a lot of people I'm listening to the season is so fast and so full and frantic yeah that I'm just seeing some people get really overwhelmed young families especially yeah but I'm like hey man you you know there is a strength to just keep going and sometimes that takes a lot of strength. So give going back to give yourself some grace here. That's right. And like I said hey we had seasons that were so fast so hard didn't know how we were going to make it through I look back and I'm like thank you God that we made it through that and you end up missing a lot of it and some of it you don't but um yeah I mean doing what we do as humans living here it it gets to be a lot. It does. And so all right so we just got a few more minutes let's jump down to verse 12 where I just really love this who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light like we were disqualified but we have been qualified. Yeah like we were he he's qualified us and um that means we were disqualified bro like we think about what that means like we we didn't make it like we we were not going to be able to move forward. Yeah and um you know I gave the illustration of you know one of one of uh our kids one of my sons is in um is doing some stuff in the military and he was telling me this week about people who they they got dropped like they just didn't get to move forward in this thing and um and it's like you don't get to you don't get to keep going and uh and that's how we were like it says he was qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light and we were disqualified from that like we were not able to keep going we weren't able to get into his kingdom we were disqualified and uh there's nothing we could have done and then he qualified us yeah like he did it and you know the question is sometimes people say well why why is Christianity so exclusive why do you say Jesus is the only way and I'm like you don't understand your own depravity you don't understand your own disqualification. Yeah like what you're trying to tell me is that you were not disqualified which a lot of people believe I I'm good enough to go wherever there is next right so you don't understand your own depravity you were disqualified or you don't you don't understand what it took to overcome your own depravity like it didn't take some humanborn person nobody was qualified to do this except Jesus nobody could qualify us except the qualified one who is God himself who took on human flesh not a prophet not a good man not another sinner born into this world through the bloodline of Adam and Eve who took on human sin. No it had to be God himself who took on human flesh is the only qualified one the Messiah Jesus the Savior He's not a man he is God who became a man and um he qualified us.
SPEAKER_00I mean he took all the sin that we are he lived a perfect life he died on the cross he rose again and his perfection is transferred to us like that's right I think a lot of people will go well I'm pretty good yeah there's no pretty good when you're disqualified. That's right you're you're all the way out that's right and only the perfect life death and resurrection of Jesus could fix it.
SPEAKER_02That's right. And by the way we all want it to be that way like we don't want God to let pretty get into heaven because then we would take a residue of sin. Right. Even a half percent of sin, even a tenth of a zero whatever percentage of sin, we don't want that to get into heaven because then heaven there will be death again and divorce again and disease again and sickness and sadness and suffering again. We don't want any residue of sin there. So it had to be all taken away if we wanted uh heaven and we're all mad at this world that it's not heaven. We're mad that there's disease and death and destruction and floods and hurricanes and fires. We're all mad about that but sin is what has produced the brokenness in this world and so we don't want to be qualified ourselves because we're broken. So we needed him to qualify us and here's the cool thing verse 13 and 14 as we close he rescued us from the dominion of darkness and he brought us into the kingdom of the sun he loves so good. I just I love this language like Paul said two things about Jesus here he rescued us and he brought us yeah I just love like he rescued us like he he stepped into the dominion of darkness and and here this language is so loving. He brought us brought us like he he did he wasn't like there it is go get it yeah or climb that mountain or cross that bridge or do the best you swim that sea yeah I mean he was like come with me yeah I'll I'll bring you and he brought us into the kingdom of the sun he loves like he brought us he took us from the dominion darkness and he he brought us himself and I I wrote I don't bring myself to Jesus Jesus brings me to him so good I don't bring myself to Jesus Jesus brings me to himself he brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves like how good of God to just himself go get us to rescue us and bring us here and uh yeah this is this is the Jesus that we're following you know so good I mean I I I love that it like when you ended at 14 and I wrote where you it said he brought us in like I wrote he came to get us yeah you know when we couldn't get to heaven he brought heaven to us that's right you know we couldn't get up to where he was he came down to where we are that's right yeah it's the this is the gospel that we're all understanding more of and like uh we become more in awe of it yeah it becomes bigger and more beautiful the gospel doesn't get more boring the more I see it the more I understand it the more words and language and texture I put to it like this the deeper and richer it is it's bigger and more beautiful than it's ever been.
SPEAKER_00And that's really our hope for everybody who listens is that the gospel would be deepened and become richer and that they did that the grace would bring them the strength of God that all this would come together in a believer's life that's right grace and strength and at the same time knowing I was disqualified but I've been rescued and brought in like all that stuff converges into the life of every believer. I think that's that's it that's our ultimate hope.
SPEAKER_02That's right. This is beautiful hey thanks Dave and uh hey thanks for watching this if it's helpful for you you know like it share it subscribe to it so other people can see it if it's not helpful for you spend your time doing something better but if it's good for you we'd love to have you do that for us. Hey you're great you're loved we look forward to seeing you next time have a great week ahead
