SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the City Life Church podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We hope it encourages you.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to learn more about City Life or our mission, connect with us online at CityLifesandiego.org.
SPEAKER_00: And while podcasts and Sunday mornings are helpful, they are no substitute for deeper personal relationships in the church.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we overlook the things that you consider great because you abhor what humans call great.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing is hidden from you and only light dwells within you.
SPEAKER_02: It's to your glory to conceal a matter, and it's the glory of kings to investigate it.
SPEAKER_02: Please reveal our hearts to us through this sermon and help us to teach our children how to read your word so that your wisdom is plain and delightful to them.
SPEAKER_02: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Now kids 0 to 6 can head on to their classes.
SPEAKER_03: We hope you can make this uncomfortable, but not too comfortable.
SPEAKER_03: Because what is the yard?
SPEAKER_03: And we just got to be fresh and causes churches bright.
SPEAKER_03: He calls his churches body.
SPEAKER_03: His hands and his feet.
SPEAKER_03: It's no better than the church on the street.
SPEAKER_03: We love our things of outcasts.
SPEAKER_03: We believe we are better together.
SPEAKER_03: And God is not done with us.
SPEAKER_03: Because the spirit of God builds us in our gaps and empowers us to do greater things than we can ask for that.
SPEAKER_03: So we have a meaning that I believe is impossible to agree with grace.
SPEAKER_03: Allow the work to waken your mind to open you up to constant conflict children.
SPEAKER_03: So, yes, come as you are, thank you to you, please obviously.
SPEAKER_03: We're so glad that you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, good morning, uh City Life Church and guests.
SPEAKER_00: Um it's good to be with you guys this uh this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Um, if this is your your first time here, we always want our guests and our people to know that we have free Bibles available, really good free study Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: I think they're Tony Evans study bibles.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh they're in the back there, they're free.
SPEAKER_00: Um feel free to drop something in the bucket if you feel led to.
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm gonna say that in Spanish as best as I can.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Tenemos Biblios Belingues, Disponibles Al Costada del Salon.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and now I'm gonna try a Haitian creo.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Nujin Bib An Creo ICN non deia a uh si al bisuen yon yogrotis.
SPEAKER_00: It's the heart behind it, you know.
SPEAKER_00: It's the heart.
SPEAKER_00: I probably made no sense.
SPEAKER_00: Well, um, I hope everyone had a uh a pretty good uh Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: I think we're on day four now of leftover Thanksgiving food, and so we're on turkey sandwiches, uh turkey hamburgers, uh hot dogs, turkey, pizza.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we're trying to figure out ways to use enchiladas, trying to find ways to use all of that good uh Thanksgiving food.
SPEAKER_00: Uh my my Thanksgiving was was pretty good.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we we typically do the same thing every year.
SPEAKER_00: My grandmother cooks a huge, a huge meal, um, and uh usually our family goes and we meet there.
SPEAKER_00: She has macaroni and cheese, yams, greens, the whole, the whole nine, all soul food, and and it's it's usually a a good a good time.
SPEAKER_00: This year was a little bit different though.
SPEAKER_00: There's there's and it's it's kind of been uh uh happening for a while where less and less people come.
SPEAKER_00: Um it used to be when I was a kid, there was no room to move in our house because there was so much family at the house.
SPEAKER_00: And so my grandma prepared all of this food for expecting all of these people, and uh she still does that today as if we still have the same amount of people coming to her house.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, more than welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Two-hour drive, but uh, she would actually love that.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I I gotta say, I I love being at home because it reminds me just how much my grandma has been there for me and her faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: Uh her her entire house is is covered with with photos.
SPEAKER_00: So you you walk in, my grandma uh she she's fostered many children, she has many children, and she took care of her grandchildren.
SPEAKER_00: So you walk in, you see pictures of of every child, you see every baby picture, every school picture, every team picture.
SPEAKER_00: She keeps every jersey, every drawing, every trophy.
SPEAKER_00: Um, some might call it hoarding, but today uh we're gonna say it's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: My grandma keeps things for uh a long time.
SPEAKER_00: If it ain't broke, she ain't gonna fix it.
SPEAKER_00: So she she has uh couches.
SPEAKER_00: Uh she recently got rid of this one, but it was like a 30-year-old couch from like the 80s.
SPEAKER_00: Um she had a TV that's uh a wooden TV that she had on cinder blocks um that she kept until it died, and she still has it.
SPEAKER_00: She uses it as a TV stand for her new TV.
SPEAKER_00: So so my grandma knows what she she values.
SPEAKER_00: She she loves her her family, she loves her household.
SPEAKER_00: Um she has her family, she feels like she has everything that she needs.
SPEAKER_00: She loves deeply a good, God-given deep love.
SPEAKER_00: But now that her kids have grown and left and begun to start their own traditions, the things that the thing that she invested in the most, her family, it feels like it's abandoning her.
SPEAKER_00: So she feels sad more often.
SPEAKER_00: She calls me and expresses how sad she's feeling.
SPEAKER_00: She often asks, Isaiah, when are you you moving back?
SPEAKER_00: Can we can we move in together?
SPEAKER_00: I I love my grandma's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: She's she's the most consistent and reliable person I've ever been around.
SPEAKER_00: I had a I had a very rough, rocky childhood, and she's kind of been the rock and the most stable person for me.
SPEAKER_00: And so I love her for how consistent she is.
SPEAKER_00: My my grandma will show up, and if she needs to, she will show out.
SPEAKER_00: She has a nickname, so I don't call her grandma, I call her Nana, and so her nickname is Pirananana.
SPEAKER_00: When she when she when she has to go and show up for one of her children, she's Pirananana.
SPEAKER_00: And so I again I love her her faithfulness, but in some ways it's it's been misplaced.
SPEAKER_00: So she she believes in the Lord, but she would she she would be classified as some might call a creaster.
SPEAKER_00: Um she goes to church on on Christmas and Easter.
SPEAKER_00: She's never really developed uh her her walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: She's sold out for her family, but she's never had a church family.
SPEAKER_00: So she doesn't have the stability that she's she's seeking, the comfort that she's seeking.
SPEAKER_00: Inside of every one of us is a desire to devote our lives to something, whether it's work or uh uh um sports, or we're all called, or we're we all feel a desire to devote our lives to something, work family.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so she chose her family.
SPEAKER_00: We all need a per a purpose, we're wired for devotion.
SPEAKER_00: The truth is though, everything outside of Christ eventually fails you.
SPEAKER_00: Your children will grow and then they'll leave.
SPEAKER_00: Your spouse will age and one of you guys will pass.
SPEAKER_00: Your job eventually will end, and the strength that you have will fade.
SPEAKER_00: Only Christ is worthy of your whole life.
SPEAKER_00: So as we as we we talk, um, she's been telling me how much she's you know, getting into the Bible and reading the word.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm just praying for her that this season draws her closer.
SPEAKER_00: I think the Lord can use this to draw her uh to himself.
SPEAKER_00: So our our our earthly family is just meant to be a shadow of what the what we have in Christ, in our family, in our body that will live and be together eternally.
SPEAKER_00: The truth is we we all get busy, we get distracted, we chase pleasure, and we fill up on junk food and we we ignore the bread of life.
SPEAKER_00: And by the time we look up, we realize how sick we are.
SPEAKER_00: Um I mentioned how I walk in and we we see all of the trophies in the in the pictures.
SPEAKER_00: Sports in my family is a huge deal.
SPEAKER_00: Uh my grandmother and I, we share the same uh same favorite movie, best movie ever.
SPEAKER_00: You can't convince me otherwise.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the Titans.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and it's it's it's good because it's a sports movie, but there's so much meaning in it, there's so much depth to it.
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's a it's a football movie about a school that's been uh recently desegregated, and they're the only school in the district that's been desegregated.
SPEAKER_00: And so they hire a black coach at this all-white school when they're trying to integrate other uh young black kids into the school.
SPEAKER_00: And so his mission is to unify this team, uh, this new diverse team, and so everyone looks different.
SPEAKER_00: They're the school in the entire district that that stands out, and so um they go through all of the the training camp and it's time to play the game.
SPEAKER_00: And so the the coach, um Coach Boone delivers a speech.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Tonight, we've got Hayfield.
SPEAKER_00: Like all other schools in this conference, they're all white.
SPEAKER_00: They don't have to worry about race, but we do.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something though.
SPEAKER_00: You don't let anyone or anything come between us, nothing tears us apart.
SPEAKER_00: As Christians, this is similar to our walk where we we all look a little bit different.
SPEAKER_00: We all come from different backgrounds, and we have to learn to let ourselves go to operate as the team of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We can't be siloed in our own comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Real family means discomfort, unity and sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: I I played sports growing up, and I don't remember any of the the wins or the losses, but what I remember is the unity, the feeling of it's us against the world.
SPEAKER_00: I remember the bond.
SPEAKER_00: If if uh your teammate was was on the ground, you'd pick him up and encourage him, hey, don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_00: You got it next time.
SPEAKER_00: I made that mistake as well.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I did to fix it.
SPEAKER_00: There was a commitment to each other.
SPEAKER_00: We supported each other, we protected each other, we promised and committed to work hard for one another.
SPEAKER_00: We had long, uh long, hot two-a-day practices.
SPEAKER_00: Those are illegal now.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but in high school, we were able to do two a day.
SPEAKER_00: So we'd go in the morning, we'd have a practice, a workout, we'd go back home, get something to eat, and we'd come back for practice again.
SPEAKER_00: We'd run heels, we'd uh run bleachers, lift weights, and we were suffering together to build a bond.
SPEAKER_00: The bond was meant to sustain us from all of the in-season trials that we would for sure face.
SPEAKER_00: When times got tough, you were able to stand side by side, win or lose, because that's what family does.
SPEAKER_00: My favorite part before each game, the we would huddle up and um the crowd would be would be roaring, and and we would get together as a team, the opposing team on the other side, we'd say something like just a reminder for the team hey, you worked hard for this.
SPEAKER_00: Remember all that we've endured.
SPEAKER_00: You are prepared, we're ready, give it everything that you've got today.
SPEAKER_00: And then we'd end with, we're all we got, we're all we need.
SPEAKER_00: Which meant we were enough.
SPEAKER_00: We've we've we've got everything we need to succeed in this group.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to add anything, we don't need to take anything away.
SPEAKER_00: Through all of our trials during the the two-a-day practices, through all of the film study, the weightlifting, we are prepared.
SPEAKER_00: So our our message today in Colossians is is similar.
SPEAKER_00: Um, Paul's writing this letter from prison to uh the church in Colossae.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't he didn't directly plant this church, um his disciple Epapras did.
SPEAKER_00: Um and so Epapris uh reports back to Paul, and and Paul starts out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna orient us.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna be in 15 through 29, but I'm giving us the whole chapter because we have not been reading it.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul starts off his his letter and he says, uh, I thank God for you, Colossians.
SPEAKER_00: Because they believe, they heard and they believe the gospel, and they're starting to bear fruit.
SPEAKER_00: They've they had they've shown great faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul praises the way that they love each other, they're loving each other well.
SPEAKER_00: They're gentile believers, meaning they're they're non-Jewish, probably like mostly you and and I.
SPEAKER_00: And they're they're starting to, like I said, bear fruit, which means their worldview is changing.
SPEAKER_00: When we believe in Christ, our worldview changes.
SPEAKER_00: The way that we see things changes, and so their their worldview is changing, and so their behavior is changing as a result of it.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul is trying to nip something in the butt.
SPEAKER_00: There's false teaching that's been that's been creeping in in the church.
SPEAKER_00: There's there's a temptation to mix Christianity with old Jewish customs, there's a temptation to mix Christ with mystical experiences, there's a temptation to mix Christ with human philosophy and and self-made religion.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul is trying to get them not to drift back into the same thing that they came from.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 9, Paul gives a reason for the entire letter.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy and endure with joy.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom is seeing life the way that God sees it.
SPEAKER_00: Understanding is applying God's truth and real and uh and real life decisions.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to see life the way that God sees it and understand how he sees it and apply it to our real life situations.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, the purpose for all of our study, the reason we come to church, the reason we go to foundations classes, the reason we listen to sermons, the reason we try to equip ourselves is not just to grow in knowledge, it's to apply our knowledge to real situations, is to be able to share the gospel, to share the hope with the people that we come uh across.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul prays for this church for wisdom and understanding.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh, what exactly is wisdom?
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's seeing the way that it's seeing the world the way that God sees it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I have no clue what I stepped on, probably a light.
SPEAKER_00: Um also uh Paul says in uh 1 Corinthians 24 that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so in this Paul is saying, Christ is wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: So this means wisdom is not just an ideal or an ideal or a theory, it's it's a person.
SPEAKER_00: Everything God wants us to know is is found in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul writes this letter to say, just like we said uh with my team, He's all we got, and He's all we need.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we're gonna be in uh Colossians, so that was Colossians 1 through 14.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna pick up our reading in uh Colossians 15 through 29.
SPEAKER_00: So hopefully you are are there.
SPEAKER_00: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
SPEAKER_00: For everything was created by him in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him.
SPEAKER_00: He is before all things, and by him all things are held together.
SPEAKER_00: He is also the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
SPEAKER_00: For God was pleased to have all of his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on this earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions, but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him.
SPEAKER_00: If indeed you remain grounded and fed fast uh fed man steadfast in the faith, you are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard.
SPEAKER_00: This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
SPEAKER_00: Now I rejoice in my sufferings, and I'm completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for his body, that is the church.
SPEAKER_00: I have become its servant according to God's commission.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's been given uh that's what that was given to me to uh make the word of God fully known.
SPEAKER_00: The mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints.
SPEAKER_00: God wanted to make known among Gentiles the glorious wealth of his mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
SPEAKER_00: We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: We may present every everyone mature in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh the main idea here is Jesus is everything.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is above all, before all, he sustains all, he's all we need.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna try to do a quick callback.
SPEAKER_00: So when I say he's all you got, you guys are gonna say he's all we need.
SPEAKER_00: So he's all we got.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So uh that brings me to our first point.
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing greater than Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So in in Colossians 15 through 20, Paul is confronting the Colossians temptation to add to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not an option among many, he's not a spiritual being among many, he's not a God among many, he is God in God alone.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not Jesus plus angels, it's not Jesus plus philosophy, it's not Jesus plus performance, Jesus alone is supreme.
SPEAKER_00: Paul tells us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to see God, look at Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says that he's the firstborn, the supreme one.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, this is a statement of rank and position.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a statement of actual uh birth order.
SPEAKER_00: So a lot of uh cults like to use this and say, see, Jesus was created, he was made, he was born.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but Paul continues and he says that Jesus is above all and sustains also.
SPEAKER_00: If he's above creation, if he made creation, he can't be a part of creation.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the creator, the sustainer, he's the head of the church, he's the beginning, uh, he's the firstborn of the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the fullness of God, he's a peacemaker and a reconciler of all things.
SPEAKER_00: Everything was created by him and for him.
SPEAKER_00: Everything is held together in him.
SPEAKER_00: Without him, everything fails.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need anything but Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If he's all you got, all right.
SPEAKER_00: So oftentimes, you know, you and I uh we we like we like money, we like power, we like uh affection, comfort, success.
SPEAKER_00: Um, oftentimes we we live with a scary, a scarcity mindset in pursuit of these things.
SPEAKER_00: We feel like there's a finite amount of resources, so we've got to do everything that we can to accumulate and accrue resources for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: You guys remember uh toilet paper during COVID?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it that that's a perfect picture of what that looks like, the human heart.
SPEAKER_00: I I remember going to, it must have been Costco, and people are fighting over toilet paper.
SPEAKER_00: And they probably have a lot of toilet paper already at home.
SPEAKER_00: But it felt like if I don't get this now, I don't know how I'm gonna provide for my family.
SPEAKER_00: So we we often uh we we we we fear not having enough.
SPEAKER_00: We hoard, we grasp, and we cling to things um in pursuit of what?
SPEAKER_00: Something that's gonna perish.
SPEAKER_00: What we really are after is is rest.
SPEAKER_00: We're after rest that only comes from Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We're after a peace, an inner peace in our heart where we we don't have to worry about anything because we're well taken care of.
SPEAKER_00: Everything was created by him and for and for him, meaning he he gives everything purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Without Christ, there's meaning to nothing.
SPEAKER_00: He upholds all things, and without him, all things fail.
SPEAKER_00: All things are reconciled to God through him.
SPEAKER_00: Our relationship with God would not be possible without Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We were singing that that song earlier, you made a way.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm standing here only because you made a way.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the only way that we are here.
SPEAKER_00: Without without Jesus, we deserve hell.
SPEAKER_00: We deserve death.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul's trying to trying to hammer home that you don't need anything but Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Stop trying to add to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to worship angels or demons, spiritual beings or earthly powers, money or success, comfort or asceticism.
SPEAKER_00: We just need him and him alone.
SPEAKER_00: Giving our life to anything else leads to emptiness.
SPEAKER_00: Placing our hopes and our dreams in anything else leads to devastation.
SPEAKER_00: Tim Keller says this about marriage, particularly.
SPEAKER_00: He says, All of us enter marriage with inner brokenness.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us try to fix our insecurity by throwing ourselves into our careers.
SPEAKER_00: When that happens, we end up prioritizing work over our spouse and family, which harms our marriage.
SPEAKER_00: Others try to fix their insecurity by expecting constant affection and praise from a romantic partner.
SPEAKER_00: That turns the relationship into a kind of savior, and no human relationship can carry that weight.
SPEAKER_00: This is why Paul begins his teaching on marriage by calling us to love one another out of reverence for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We all come into marriage with fears, desires, and unmet needs.
SPEAKER_00: And this isn't the only this is this isn't only true in marriage.
SPEAKER_00: This is true in every season and every relationship.
SPEAKER_00: If I expect any role, achievement, or person to fill the God-sized emptiness in my heart, I will end up disappointed and demanding.
SPEAKER_00: Only God can fill a God-sized whole.
SPEAKER_00: And so He has first place in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I will always feel like the people around me, especially my spouse, aren't loving enough, respecting enough, or supporting me enough.
SPEAKER_00: Have you guys heard of the fire movement before?
SPEAKER_00: It stands for financial independence, retire early.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's this entire movement where people are trying to save 80% of their 70 to 80% of their income so that they can stop working completely.
SPEAKER_00: So the the the fire movement says, because of my money, I can retire early and not be dependent on anything.
SPEAKER_00: The fire movement promises rest.
SPEAKER_00: Early retirement means no more daily grind.
SPEAKER_00: I don't gotta get up and go to work anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to pursue anything when I don't want to.
SPEAKER_00: It's just I have freedom to be.
SPEAKER_00: And so don't hear me say that there's there's wisdom in stewarding your resource resources well, but but money and comfort make for a terrible God.
SPEAKER_00: Money can't save, comfort can't save, and success can't save.
SPEAKER_00: Everything outside of God comes with a disclaimer.
SPEAKER_00: Subject to change.
SPEAKER_00: So instead of fire, we we should aim to join the FIC movement, the freedom and Christ movement.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of the fire movement where money is the savior, we have Christ as our savior.
SPEAKER_00: We no longer need to be dependent on sin that causes us to pursue empty idols, uh, empty idols.
SPEAKER_00: We can have true rest, not the false rest that freedom, that uh the fire movement uh promises.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus frees us from insecurity, he frees us from pressure to perform, he frees us from comparison, he frees us from needing to prove ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have a have this deep need, a deep yearning in our heart for God.
SPEAKER_00: We want God, we want Him desperately.
SPEAKER_00: As a father, uh my daughter's still learning how to communicate, and so often instead of words, she cries.
SPEAKER_00: She cries when she's hungry, when she's sleepy, when she needs a change, or when she wants to be held.
SPEAKER_00: She's not at the point where she knows exactly what's wrong, but she feels that something's off.
SPEAKER_00: And often what she needs, she rejects.
SPEAKER_00: If you ever tried to put an overtired baby down for a nap, they do not sleep.
SPEAKER_00: Janea will be hungry and push the bottle and push food away.
SPEAKER_00: She's not yet matured enough to understand what these feelings are.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are very similar to this.
SPEAKER_00: When we when we um when we're feeling uh insecure, what we need is God.
SPEAKER_00: What we pursue is podcasts, books, or media that makes us feel better about ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: When we're depressed, what we need is the Lord, and what we pursue is often the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: All humans need five things.
SPEAKER_00: We need identity.
SPEAKER_00: Who am I?
SPEAKER_00: We need a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Why am I here?
SPEAKER_00: We need belonging, who is with me?
SPEAKER_00: We need security, am I safe?
SPEAKER_00: And we need hope.
SPEAKER_00: Where is this going and is there a plan?
SPEAKER_00: Paul shows the Colossians that Jesus alone satisfies all of these needs.
SPEAKER_00: Identity isn't found in mysticism or religious performance.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus alone rescued them.
SPEAKER_00: He claimed them and named them forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: They named them named them love.
SPEAKER_00: Um they're called to reflect him and obey him.
SPEAKER_00: I I skipped the line here, sorry.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, he named them forgiven, loved, chosen, holy, and complete.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says uh purpose isn't discovered in in hidden knowledge or or books.
SPEAKER_00: Everything was made in him, uh made for him by him.
SPEAKER_00: So our purpose is to know him, to love him, to reflect him, and to obey him.
SPEAKER_00: So if ever lost, the North Star is those four core things.
SPEAKER_00: We have to know Christ and reflect him, love him and obey him.
SPEAKER_00: If you're doing that, you're on track.
SPEAKER_00: Belonging isn't secured through status, it's not secured through money or family or team sports or spiritual elitism.
SPEAKER_00: He reconciled us fully into God's family.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus reconciled us into God's family.
SPEAKER_00: He removed every barrier between man and God so that we can be with him and belong fully, eternally.
SPEAKER_00: Our security is that he created every authority, he created everything, and he crushed the enemy on the cross so that nothing can threaten who belongs to him.
SPEAKER_00: We might suffer trials now, but ultimate victory is inevitable for those who remain faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Church, he's all we got.
SPEAKER_00: Brings me to my second point.
SPEAKER_00: This is Colossians 21 through 23.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus turns enemy into family.
SPEAKER_00: Trust that Jesus turns enemy into family.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Paul says, You were once alienated and separated, hostile in mind and evil in actions.
SPEAKER_00: But now he's reconciled us by his physical body through his death to present us holy and faultless and blameless if we remain grounded and not shifted away from the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul gives us a promise here.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You will be presented holy and blameless before God as long as you stand firm in the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says the way that we stand firm is by not shifting away from the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: So in order for us to stand firm in the gospel, we've got to know what the gospel is and what it isn't.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is not self-improvement, self-help, self-development.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel isn't religious performance.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is not earning God's approval.
SPEAKER_00: You can try and try, but you will fail and you will feel like it.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is the good news that the creator, the sustainer, the person that upholds the universe stepped into our world and took our place.
SPEAKER_00: Crime requires consequence, sin requires death.
SPEAKER_00: We sinned, so death was required.
SPEAKER_00: He died in our place.
SPEAKER_00: He bore our judgment, he gave us righteousness, his righteousness, and so we're accepted because of his work, not ours.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus doesn't just doesn't just uh save our souls though, he transforms everything that we see, he transforms our real reality.
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom is seeing uh seeing life the way that that the Lord sees it.
SPEAKER_00: He turns garden or graves into gardens, he turns mourning into dancing, he turns enemies into family.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are just like the Colossians.
SPEAKER_00: We're we're often tempted to add to Jesus, to the work of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We're tempted to build our identity on anything but Him.
SPEAKER_00: There's so much marketing in the world that tells you you need this latest and greatest thing.
SPEAKER_00: This thing is brand new.
SPEAKER_00: This new car is gonna be the best car you ever drove.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna make you so happy.
SPEAKER_00: Um and it's true, it'll make it'll make you happy for like five minutes, and then you'll be seeking something else.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, we have a God-sized hole that only God can fill.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel says, stop upgrading your life with idols and start resting in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We've gotta stay anchored, we have to continue to preach the gospel to ourselves, we have to get it in our in our guts.
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's why we read every day.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we have to meditate on the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: It just means to think about the implications over and over and over and over.
SPEAKER_00: When you're going through something, how does the gospel impact what you're going through?
SPEAKER_00: How does what does the gospel say about what you're going through?
SPEAKER_00: The gospel applies to everything, friends.
SPEAKER_00: And so you have to meditate on that.
SPEAKER_00: We have to reject being performance-based.
SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a natural thing to us.
SPEAKER_00: We have to play a part in in God's work.
SPEAKER_00: We have in in some way, somehow, some shape or form, there's no way God could have saved us on his own.
SPEAKER_00: We we've got to be able to do something, and so we often perform to to get um acceptance.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes when you've been uh you've been um in something for so long, you can be tempted to just fade off and get lazy.
SPEAKER_00: I played football my entire life, and I'd be lying to you if I said there weren't times where we're conditioning, and I'm like, you know, I'm just not feeling it today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna be in the back.
SPEAKER_00: We have to reject it drifting, and so we have to fight against that temptation to just take the day off.
SPEAKER_00: We have to build confidence through meditation and thinking through the implications of the gospel that his work is finished.
SPEAKER_00: And when the gospel finally grips you, it changes you.
SPEAKER_00: And not only changes you for yourself, for your sake, it sends you.
SPEAKER_00: Which leads me to my final point.
SPEAKER_00: My wife always says I'm a 20-minute sermon guy, and it's true.
SPEAKER_00: Um, my third point is rejoice in gospel suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians 24 through 29, Paul says, He rejoices in the suffering he endures because it's part of the cost required uh to bring the finished work of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There's people who haven't heard it yet.
SPEAKER_00: He's called to serve the church by making them known the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: It was once a mystery that was hidden from generations, but now it's it's revealed.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is living in his people, giving them sure hope for future glory.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul proclaims Christ with the goal of presenting every believer mature in him.
SPEAKER_00: And through the work, um, and and through and though the work is hard, he labors with with Christ, um, not under his own strength, but with the strength of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Paul embraces the cost.
SPEAKER_00: The ministry is going to be costly, and he he said, I'm I'm here for it.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is what God has put me on this earth to do.
SPEAKER_00: He sees suffering as a part of the mission.
SPEAKER_00: Believers will suffer for the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That's just the thing that we have to accept.
SPEAKER_00: Um, this is not in my notes, but I'm I'm a big Eagles fan, and we won our first Super Bowl in 2017, and there's a famous play.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's called the Philly Special, where our backup quarterback goes to our coach at halftime, and uh they had won a couple games and they are they are locked in.
SPEAKER_00: They are they're thinking the same exact thing, they're won.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh Nick goes to the to the sideline, he's a quarterback, and and he's like, they're looking for a play.
SPEAKER_00: It's halftime.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta score, we're on the goal line.
SPEAKER_00: And Nick goes, Hey, you you want Philly Philly?
SPEAKER_00: And and Doug looks up, Doug's our head coach at the time, he says, Yeah, I want I want Philly-philly.
SPEAKER_00: I I think sometimes like we've gotta we've gotta be like uh like Nick Foles in that at that time where we've got to be so aligned with God, so in tune with his call in our life, so in tune with his the desires he has for us, that sometimes when we pray, it's like Lord, this is this is the desires of my heart.
SPEAKER_00: And God is like, Yeah, that aligns with my will as well.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul Paul is saying the a part of this mission, a part of his calling to is to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we suffer, we're we're often in his will.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we we attribute our suffering to we're quick to attribute our suffering to Satan or to the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes God wills it for us.
SPEAKER_00: Paul wasn't doing uh this Christian ministry alone, though.
SPEAKER_00: Um his his mindset should be like ours.
SPEAKER_00: We labor together, we teach each other, we all disciple, we all serve.
SPEAKER_00: Anything worth having is gonna cost us something.
SPEAKER_00: Ministry is gonna cost us something.
SPEAKER_00: Ministry is not preaching from the pulpit, it's not just being a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: We are all called to ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Ministry will cost us time, it'll cost us energy, it might cost us money, it'll often be inconvenient, it'll cost you emotional effort, you'll invest in someone and they'll leave.
SPEAKER_00: You'll need to love selfless, selflessly with patience and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: But Christ is in us, and that's our hope.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is our strength.
SPEAKER_00: He will produce in us a good works to endure with consistency, he'll give us the ability to endure.
SPEAKER_00: Our goal, like Paul's goal, is spiritual maturity.
SPEAKER_00: So a healthy church requires people who see the vision, embrace it, endure the cost, labor with each other with Christ's strength, and our aim is for spiritual maturity together.
SPEAKER_00: Each believer has a role to play.
SPEAKER_00: When we avoid uh playing a part, when we avoid cost, we end up lacking depth.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to embrace sacrificial service, we have to show up and serve, we have to take a we have to build habits that produce maturity.
SPEAKER_00: It means we we're worshiping together weekly, we're we're meeting together in our our city groups, our small groups, we're reading scripture consistently, we're praying together, we're discipling others.
SPEAKER_00: Um mission uh is is gonna be inconvenient.
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's a part of God's plan.
SPEAKER_00: We have to see it the same way God, or the same way that Paul uh saw it.
SPEAKER_00: We have to depend on Christ's strengths and and not our emotions.
SPEAKER_00: It's important as we as we walk.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we are we are it's in it's it's good and in Gali that we are we are we're learning and we're equipped, but it's not just for us.
SPEAKER_00: If if we're not sent, if we're not um doing it to equip others, to tell others about the good news of the gospel, we have to we're missing the point.
SPEAKER_00: We have to do that.
SPEAKER_00: We need to invest in others spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: We have to adopt a team vision, we have to be on one accord.
SPEAKER_00: This is our goal, this is what we're doing.
SPEAKER_00: We have to stick together to do it.
SPEAKER_00: We need a vision, we don't need comfort.
SPEAKER_00: And so, despite all the things that um the chaos uh around us, it's important.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's trying to tell us have have confidence, be steadfast.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be hard with do or endure the trials of life, endure the trials of ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And the way that you're able to do that is because your hope and your faith is in the Lord and Him alone.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one who upholds the universe, he's the one who upholds you, he rescued you, he defines you, and he set your purpose.
SPEAKER_00: You can endure anything by holding on to gospel hope.
SPEAKER_00: I'm closing.
SPEAKER_00: If you haven't um given your life to Christ, today's the day, we'll have um pastors or someone here who will be willing to pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: I'll I can also pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: The Supreme Christ, the one who created and upholds the universe in Colossians 1, stepped into our world.
SPEAKER_00: He took our place and reconciled us to God.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to him, trust in his finished work, draw near and obey faithfully.
SPEAKER_00: Stay anchored.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray for us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you for uh providing us with Jesus, who is sufficient for all that we could ever need.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to learn how to fully depend on Him.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, give us wisdom to see the world the way that you do.
SPEAKER_00: Strip us from our temptations and desires to feel emptiness that only you can feel.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to not seek information or empty relationships or things that were marketed or cars or toys, the next latest and greatest God.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to only pursue you.
SPEAKER_00: We want to come to full and we want to come in full surrender to you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to understand and align with your plan.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, help our will align with your will.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we want to be good disciples.
SPEAKER_00: We need your help to do it.
SPEAKER_00: So in Jesus' name we pray these things.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Communion?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we've uh I'm gonna do communion.
SPEAKER_00: Um we've reached the point in our service where we are going to uh do our communion.
SPEAKER_00: Communion is um nothing, it's it's not uh something that