because you and I know that you and I have a battle each and every morning is Christ going to be supreme in my heart today or are the other things in my life going to be more supreme am I going to trust god enough to worship him today and let him take care of those things I need to and let him be supreme or am I going to allow the other things in my heart to take root the past month we as a church walk through five sermons five distinct sermons covering a multitude of different areas we started with the importance of a church why we need to gather and then we walk through the joy of Christ in the life of the believer and then we saw what it is what it means to fight for the sanctity of life and then last week we saw that the one hope this world has is going to be told to them through the church and as we saw last week the answer to everything that is going on the one answer the only answer is in Christ if we truly preach Christ being the answer and the fulfillment of all things we will be incredibly offensive to a world that hates him
the problem the lie that this world has bought into is we want just enough Jesus to solve our problems but not enough Jesus to change us the problem is we want him to solve our problems but we don't want him to tell us what to do we want enough of Jesus we want enough of Jesus who agrees with us but not enough of Jesus to where he challenges us we want a Jesus that will softly rock us into a lullaby but not enough of Jesus to where he'll wake us
we want a Jesus that will give us enough of this world to where we can enjoy it but not enough of Jesus to where we'll hate the things of this world
this is the central problem we face in the preaching and teaching of god's word in our culture
one of the major hurdles that we have is to show people that they can go to church they can raise their hands they can sing their songs and they can be as far away from Jesus as the hardened atheist who never steps foot inside the church we have a duty we have a responsibility to love and show the love of Christ by exalting the savior who gave his life for the church and what we've run into and what we're working through as a church not only this church but multiple churches bible-believing churches is that there is a pervasive idea that was told in our culture that if you pray the prayer they throw some water on you or dunk you under they'll say you're good to go and no challenge of a changed life no challenge of seeing and savoring god that would be the same as someone handing me a doctorate and saying go perform surgery
it is absolutely ludicrous and inconceivable to ever suggest salvation without the love of god overflowing into a changed life that reflects the greatness of him when you think of the new testament especially the epistles you realize that the authors are writing to churches and they're challenging churches they're correcting believers they're strengthening churches always convicting them to be holy as god himself is holy and as we saw over the past month god is god-centered god is not man-centered god is god-centered and why god saves his church is that so he may be glorified and he is glorified when the church says thus says the lord therefore salvation is not a simple prayer it's not some sort of incantation salvation is the sovereign glorious miracle of god by bringing man or woman of god from being haters of god into being worshipers of god salvation is to call from death to life through the power of god to the glory of god church you must realize that you have been placed in a time such as this god has specifically ordained you for a time in a place such as this that he may be clearly displayed through you and so therefore therefore we see that the supremacy of Christ is the most important fight we have in the world in our state in our city in our neighborhood in our homes but most importantly in our own hearts because why god has given Christ the name that is above every name he has seated him at his right hand and given his enemies to the son and the world is his footstool our savior is a living savior who has conquered sin and death and holds the keys to sin and death
so that is going to be our theme for the next however many months the supremacy of Christ so if you ever bob's go ahead grab them we're going to be in the book of Colossians Colossians will be our texts over the next few months we're gonna be in Colossians one this morning if you don't know where Colossians is that's okay most bibles have a kind of table of contents feel free to look at that no one's gonna make fun of you it's going to all good uh we all started somewhere so we're glad if you don't know where Colossians is we're glad that you're gonna be joining in on us as we work through Colossians uh how long are we gonna be in Colossians I say this come and see uh you're you know as well as I do how long we're gonna be in Colossians and so what does that mean for us as a church with our reading plan uh let me tell you your temptation and let me tell you why you should run as far away from that temptation uh we're gonna get to a point we're gonna be like four or five weeks and say Colossians one and you're gonna be through your reading plan you're like dude I’ve read this I got it but I just want to share with you why you should not skip reading on the fifth and sixth week through the same chapter you have because any educator with half a brain will tell you one thing the best way to master material is through repetition so why would we neglect the most important way to learn something why would we neglect that so don't get into that point don't get lazy in your reading I just want to share with you I started reading Colossians every day for the past few weeks there are things I’m seeing today that I didn't see in week one and so here's how this kind of works now I just want to share with you how this will work when you read through Colossians and read it over and over it will solidify you for you what is being said from the pulpit so I want to encourage you we in home groups are going to continue to go through the reading plan right home group leaders amen good um we're going to go through the reading plan together why because we know that the most important way a Christian can grow is through the word of god and so I just wanted to encourage you church don't Christian get lazy it is for your good that you will walk through this and wouldn't it be great if you had so many parts of Colossians memorized I think one of the scariest things is we go into the world and we don't have scripture coming out of us at our out of our mouths and so this is a good way you'll have Colossians coming out of your mouth if you continually repetitively read Colossians so we're going to dive in let us pray together and we'll go
father god we thank you for this morning god we thank you that you have brought us together for the worship and the praise of your name father god you are supreme over all you're the creator the redeemer the sustainer of all things and so god may we praise you as such now church let's pray for yourself pray that god will open up your ears your heart your mind this morning pray that he'll remove distractions this morning
now church just pray for me I pray that I’ll be helpful this morning pray that god will hide me behind beneath his cross that will humble me that it will not be my opinions but what the lord says
father god this time is yours we ask you to do mighty work in our hearts for your glory and your majesty we pray this because of your son's atoning work on the cross through a spirit that's alive and active within all who believe amen one of the saddest things I run into when I start to talk to Christians is there are so many people that think god cannot use them because they don't have certain credentials or certain platforms it's amazing when you look Christians through church history how often and how many times god has used no name no credentialed average joe's if you will for his greatest glory and this is seen in the book of Colossians you're going to see a name twice in Colossians then we get to Philemon once in Philemon and that name is Epaphras Epaphras is not mentioned in the book of acts he's not mentioned anywhere else in the bible he's just mentioned twice in Colossians and once in Philemon so who is Epaphras and why should we know his name Epaphras was the one that started the church at Colossae it wasn't Paul but it was Epaphras so from best we can tell Paul was in Ephesians and you all remember what Ephesians was like right Paul’s preaching the gospel people take all their idols they throw it in the middle of the square they burn it all up it's a big deal and then what happens uh it started to press in on the money of the government and they start to get mad at Paul you all remember this right so pathways was a part of that ministry and what'd he do he took the gospel we don't know jew gentile we have guesses but we don't know for sure he took the gospel back to his home city of Colossae and he starts the church here in Colossians and this is my encouragement to you this morning Epaphras was not some sort of great theologian some sort of super apostle he was an average guy working an average job heard the gospel and took the gospel to his home city and god showed up my friends do not despise do not despise what god is doing even amidst the smallest of things god will often use the smallest things for the great things never turn a blind eye never turn a blind eye to what god is doing or you will miss the blessings and the greatness of god why because god does not call the equipped he equips the called
and so to think god can't use you I want to encourage you there's this whole thing called genesis to revelation where god uses the most unlikely people for his greatest glory so what about the church colossal excuse me what about the city of Colossae what was it like what was the city of Colossae like before Jesus before Jesus Colossae was this big hustling bustling uh really rich kind of a city it was the city of cities and then this other city that you've heard of called Laodicea comes on the map and they start to become the bigger city and if people move from Colossae and go to Laodicea and so Colossae became the kind of the redheaded stepchild of the cities in that area that was just a small podunk little city that no one cared about just very similar to how phoenix thinks of Tucson right and I know there's some more going on there but Tucson you know how phoenix thinks we're just this little podunk place down south that we they'd rather not talk about us right so very similar to Laodicea and Colossae so that's kind of the big deal laid to see a big big big big city and Colossae the small little podunk city now what was the area what was what was going on in the city what did the city think about one thing we can surmise is that the Tucson city of Colossae was a religious pluralistic city which means what they had multiple religions and multiple gods this sounds very familiar because this sounds like our culture does it not let's be nice to everyone let's all get along here all religions are the same all roads lead to heaven a religious pluralistic city culture will tolerate any religion until the religion starts to claim exclusivity you can say all day in our culture I love Jesus and people will be like good for you buddy but the moment you go out and bravely and boldly preach Jesus is the only way the only truth and the only light and all other religions are damning to hell the moment you preach that kind of exclusivity that becomes fighting words in our culture it is the exclusivity of the Christian faith that separates us from all other religions
that's where the fight will come religious pluralistic societies will tolerate all religions that aren't exclusive so this is why Paul reminds the church this is why Paul reminds the church of the supremacy of Christ because what started to seep in was workspace theology and all roads will lead to Jesus Jesus is not supreme over all so Paul is going to remind us over and over and over again Christ is supreme and here's why this is important for you and for me this morning because you and I know that you and I have a battle each and every morning is Christ going to be supreme in my heart today or the other things in my life going to be more supreme am I going to trust god enough to worship him today and let him take care of those things I need to and let him be supreme or am I going to allow the other things in my heart to take root so let's look at Paul’s intro verse one Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of god and timothy our brother so I love when we get to kind of the epistles a lot of us like to skip the intros and it's sad uh boo on us forever skipping the intro so we're going to spend the whole time in the intro so here's what we know we know Paul is the writer of this epistle how do we know because he signs his name here right it doesn't take a rock it's not a scientist figure this out all of Paul’s letters he will sign his name he wants you to know I Paul am writing this letter uh so what's going on in Paul’s life he is during his first imprisonment right so acts 27 acts 28 so Paul had two imprisonments at the end of life at end of his life while he was in Rome this is the first imprisonment if you read through acts 28 uh Luke tells us he was chained to a roman guard and he had to pay for his own lodging wouldn't that be great if we could get the never mind I’m gonna go there so anyways so Paul had to pay for his own lodging he was under house arrest what Luke tells us is is he was able to receive friends for encouragement if you read the book of Philippians Paul will say that the roman guard sends his greetings to the church Philippi which means what here you've got Paul chained to this roman guard and what is he saying hey man can I tell you about the supremacy of Christ isn't that great that everywhere Paul went he wanted people to know how great god is this is really encouraging to us why because during Paul’s first imprisonment he wrote some of the greatest of all his letters he wrote Ephesians Philippians Colossians and Philemon so Colossians and Philemon probably written at the same time and sent at the same time towards the then he then he went and was on trial and they went into a second imprisonment that second imprisonment by the way is where he wrote first timothy and second timothy I want you to hear how Paul understood his imprisonment this is what he says in second timothy chapter two remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead the offspring of David as preached in my gospel for which I am suffering bound with chains as a criminal here you go church but the word of god is not bound therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory so as Paul is in prison what is he doing he is praising god and he's saying just because I’m in prison does not mean the gospel cannot go out what I love about this how we have the heart of Paul is simply this we must not look to our circumstances but we must look to our savior do we have that heart do we know god that way so what caused Paul to worship in that sort of way because Paul had knew two undeniable unshakable firm truths that we must know and that these two truths are this god is in complete sovereign control over every single molecule and dust particle in this world he's in charge of every single act he's in charge of every single thing that is happening in this world he is in complete control that's truth one truth two god is good those two truths Paul ignited Paul to have the worship that he did so that he could praise god even amidst a prison cell this gave Paul a heavenly perspective not an earthly perspective this is what Paul is he's going to say later in Colossians set his eyes on heaven where god is seated because he believed these two truths god is in complete control and god is good church I want you to hear me this morning no matter what is happening in your life or in this world you must start with those two truths or you will be sorely confused and frustrated and you will not be able to stand against the doctrines and lies of the world
Paul was able to do this because his circumstances weren't his savior his god was his savior and he knew what he says in Philippians that god has highly exalted Christ and given the name that is above every name so that by that name every kneel bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is lord Paul did not see four prison walls a roman guard and chains he saw the glory of Christ and it is through this view that he is able to encourage a hurting confused church during Paul’s worst of times is when he became the most encouraging can you say that of yourself this morning so verse one Paul that's who Paul is good uh an apostle of Christ Jesus so we have this phrase an apostle now most people just run past an apostle and they never ask the question what is an apostle so the bible uses apostle in three different ways three distinct ways how Paul uses it here the first and foremost is what we call the office of the apostle the office of the paw of the apostle what an apostle was was somebody who walked talked with Jesus now Paul is unique because most of you are like wait a second he wasn't one of the twelve disciples so in first Corinthians Paul will tell us that he and that's where he defends most of his apostleship he had an untimely apostleship an untimely meeting with Jesus right Jesus comes to him Saul Saul why are you persecuting me that was his apostleship Jesus himself gave credence he gave evidence that he is an apostle by giving Paul the supernatural gifts of the spirit that he gave to the apostles so Paul is using this word apostle as the office of apostle which tells us what that the office of apostle has ceased with the death of john the Baptist so the we call this in theology by the way the big a apostleship the big a apostleship the bible then goes on and it talks about apostleship in the next form okay and that just means a missionary to an unreached unengaged people so what is unreached and what is unengaged what what do those two phrases mean and I just want to share with you what this means so America is reached it's very reached it's very very reached just because there's rejection doesn't mean it's not reached okay we define reached as being over three percent of the population reached and involved in a local church right so that that's how we use it so that's America reach so therefore unreached is two percent or less unengaged is means that there are no missionaries no churches no one to share the gospel within that culture within that community within that country so let me give you an example so America is an example if someone is reached okay you go to Egypt this is a place that is engaged but unreached less than two percent of Egypt is Egypt is Egypt evangelical Christian what's an example of unreached and unengaged would be somewhere like Lebanon where it is dark and dark and dark no churches in there no churches in there so what's the good news for us here today what's really cool is the most places where you have unreached and unengaged is in the middle east this is the most unreached unengaged part of our world we call this the 10 40 window you all could do your own homework on that we call this 10 40 window what we're seeing is people are able to get bibles in the hands of the people in these areas thanks to technology it's easier to smuggle the bible through a cell phone than it is to carry the bible in so in these unreached unengaged places there are people who are coming to Christ because there are people sneaking into these areas and getting the bible into people's hands it is a really cool thing which is different than somewhere like China China is very technologically advanced and they're able to stop some of these apps from going out so that China has a different mission strategy than say the middle east so an apostle is someone who China goes to an unreached unengaged place just to give you an idea before we start to kind of do a woe as me here in this country may I remind you that about 30 percent of the world's population is considered unreached and unengaged thirty percent of the world's population is unreached and unengaged praise god that the word of god is going out into these places because the bibles are getting in the hands of people in this country and they're starting to say I want to know this god may we never take the word of god for granted finally apostle is used in the new testament as a very general term it's not an office it's just a general term and it's just a messenger they would take apostles the messengers and they'd send them from church to church and say hey here's what we're going on and this is just kind of how they collaborated right a lot of these cities Colossae Hierapolis uh Laodicea Ephesus they were all within about a week's journey of one another so this is how they started to build with one another the apostles would go and they'd help strengthen churches this is another little an apostle so why do you need to know that why does that matter to you this morning and here's why because it matters to us today as I said the office of apostleship has ceased it died with john the Baptist so when Paul writes in Ephesians that god gave the apostles the prophets the evangelists the shepherds the teachers to do what to equip the saints for the building up of the church that's Ephesians chapter four what does that mean that means my job as a shepherd teacher is to come before you and to teach the apostles teaching was the apostles teaching the new testament what the apostles declared in the new testament so I don't come up here I don't give my opinions I don't tell you about what's going on in the world I say this is what the word of god says given to us by the apostles who god gave the authority to give his word to so Paul the big a apostles next he reminds us by the will of god he reminds us that what apostleship was not a choice it was a sovereign preordained plan of god a plan of god which means what do you all remember in acts chapter 9 god appears for Ananias and he says the apostle Paul is going to go and I must show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name you all remember that so Paul he's been through lashes he's been through beatings he's been through stonings he's been through nights without food nights without water he's been in danger in his travels and what does he say it is all according to god's plan so that his glory may go out Paul celebrated what the lord was doing but Paul also saw the blessings the lord gave him and one of these blessings was timothy our brother so I want us to think why does Paul mention timothy why is timothy important timothy is a reminder to us as believers that we should all seek out discipleship from other believers you should have at least two people in your walk one more mature than you and one less mature than me the more mature should be pouring into you and you should be pouring into a less mature every believer should have a Paul and a timothy in their lives how do I know this because this was god's plan from the beginning Moses to Joshua Elijah to Elisha Jesus to his disciples his disciples made disciples Paul to timothy this is how god strengthened the believers strengthened the church and he also gave commands to us first Corinthians follow me as I follow Christ second timothy 2 2 these things you've heard in the presence of many witnesses and trust of faithful men who could do the same Titus chapter 2 older women teach younger women older men teach younger men so why is discipleship important why is discipleship important outside of it being the command to reach the world because it's how god strengthens the believers it's how god grows his church this is a reminder that the life you live is not to be lived in your isolation with your own little family unit but in the family of god if you don't participate in isolation you can hide and you can hide and you can hide we saw this this week in our reading do we not proverbs 18 1 again just reading the mail y'all whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire he breaks out against all sound judgment when you disregard the call to be discipled and to disciple you will find yourself seeking your own desires saying what you want the bible to say to satisfy your own heart and your own affections by the way this is what the bible calls wickedness when you disregard what the bible says so that you can save yourself
god has given you the church in order to remind you that our hearts can't be trusted we need another brother we need another sister come along beside us and say thus says the lord therefore isolation will kill you spiritually isolation will wither you up and you will die spiritually you will not grow in isolation guaranteed promised
so why how does this happen how does discipleship do this very simply it is hard to hide when you're in a discipleship relationship because eventually you're going to go through books of the bible you're going to get to somewhere like I don't know romans chapter 12 verse 10 where it says be devoted to one another in love outdo one another and showing honor and you're going to look across from someone and you're going to ask are you doing that and am I doing that you see if I’m not in that kind of relationship guess what I’ll do I’ll read romans 12 10 and I’ll say I’m doing it I’ve arrived and I’ve made it and you'll never challenge yourself to really ask do you see that fruit in my life in my heart
you might be in here this morning and you might be bro I know it's easy for you because you only work one day a week but I’ve got a busy life I’ve got kids I’ve got work I’ve got everything going on let me tell you busyness is not an excuse to be disobedient
busyness is not an excuse to be disobedient here let me just help you along with this maybe you're in here and you're like you know what we've got a whole bunch of kids running around my house they're screaming for my attention you have a spouse don't you want you work together to see how you can serve one another to make sure that your spouse is involved in a discipleship relationship knowing that it is good for your walk because what it will ultimately do it will help your own marriage because when you sit with an a more mature believer that more mature believers going to ask you are you loving your wife like Christ loved the church those questions will come up god will always provide when we are obedient so what do we talk about in discipleship let's start with what we don't talk about and then we'll work out what we do talk about we don't talk about the weather we don't talk about politics we don't talk about covid we don't talk about the state of the country all those are interesting go have fun at those on your own time in discipleship we talk about one thing and one thing only thus says the lord what does god's word say well where do I start do I just kind of pick a random page and just get into Isaiah where I have no clue what's going on no you have this really cool thing in our church called the reading plan and you can take that and say I’ve been reading through this here's what I’ve seen here's where I’m walking now let's work through this together what happens if a question comes up and we can't answer it that's why you have home groups hey man I was meeting with my discipleship guy we have no clue what this verse says and guess what your homegroup leaders will do they're going to tell you and guess what you get the home group in your home group where I was like I have no idea what it says so they come ask me you know I go I have no idea what it says that means I got to go do some research right it builds us so discipleship is purposeful in saying thus says the lord why so he can be transformed by the word of god talking about covid will not grow you closer to god amen all right send me an email later if you disagree verse two to the saints and faithful brothers in the Christ excuse me to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae grace to you and peace from god our father y'all this verse two is jam-packed with theology I now don't know if you could read verse two and not just be blown away so uh let's start with to the saints unfortunately in our culture we don't know what saints mean because we've been given bad terrible horrible definitions most people when they read saints thinks sainthood means some sort of super Christian who's done some really great things in this world wrong that's not what Paul is saying here that none of the new testament uses saint in that way saint literally means a holy one a set apart one so there's two types of people in the world there are saints and there are children of wrath there are ones adopted by Christ and there are ones who hate Christ there are those that want to exalt Christ in every area of their life and those who want to exalt themselves in every area of their lives there are those who love god those who hate god there are those who've been born again to a living hope and those who are still dead in their sins and trespasses so a saint is one who is in Christ how do I know that john 14 20 in that day you will know that I am in my father and you and me and I in you do you see that a saint is in Christ Paul is affirming this teaching because he goes on to say that a saint is one who is in Christ see faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae which tells us what you are in Christ in a city for a specific purpose and he has a qualifier the faithful one so what is the saint a saint is a faithful one parenthetical note I know it says faithful brothers here that's also to the women by the way it's not just to the men it'd be the same as me coming up and saying hey guys that's just a general greeting by the way so in case anyone gets weird on that um you can just tell them that's it so what is faithfulness faithfulness is a distinct act of trust and a distinct act of trust over time faithfulness is a work of the spirit faithfulness is an evidence of salvation therefore where does faithfulness come from it comes not from our willpower but from the glory the majesty the power of god at work within the believer it comes from us setting our eyes on the glory and the majesty of Christ it comes from us seeing Christ and recognizing that he is in control and he is good so how this works out is us not blindly walking out but a setting our eyes on Christ why because when we see Christ’s faithfulness it causes us to be faithful so how faithful is god let's take a look mount Sinai I’ll be your god you'll be my people I will never leave you or forsake you Matthew 28 I’ll be with you to the end of the age Philippians I who began the he who began the good work in you will see it to completion god will finish what he has started first Corinthians chapter one verse nine god is faithful it's who he is if he is faithless he is not a god to be worshipped he is a false god but he is faithful by whom you were called into fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our lord our faithfulness comes because of his faithfulness we remain faithful because we have the promise of him I will never leave you nor forsake you if my god won't leave me why would I ever dream of leaving him that gives us great call if god has called you holy who can take that away three promises he who calls upon the name of the lord and believes in his heart that god raised him from dead will be saved they will be a new creation the old will pass away the new will come john chapter 3 you must be born again to be one of my children and this is where Paul lands our discussion this morning because he calls god father can I just say father is one of the most important words in the new testament father is one of the most important words in the new testament why because it gives us a key to understand the relationship between us the church and god the creator and sustainer of the universe so most people struggle with this word because they don't know the relationship between the old testament and the new testament think about it this way the old testament was about what separation right it's about god is holy man is wicked there's separation the holy holies all the separation to let us know what sinners is and what holiness is new testament father boldness access the temple torn so we can enter into the boldness to holy of holies with boldness there was a cost because our rebellion had eternally separated us from him yet because of Christ Christ has brought us near this is the gospel my dear friends by our natural state we were born into iniquity we were born rebellious but because of the great love in which he loved us god sent his son and crushed him on the cross so that his church can be brought near and be called sons and daughters of the king of kings the lord of lord therefore there is no sin where god has declared right most of us neglect this part of the gospel we understand if I believe in Christ there is no sin but we automatically go into this weird thing when we think that god is up there some sort of holy judge watching us making sure we stay on the straight narrow and if we get off a little bit he's going to squash us like the bug that we are but that's not how the new testament talks about god is it Matthew talks about it talks to us about god being our father that there was a distance between god and us in eternal distance that has brought us near by the blood of the lamb the son of god and so he we call him father because he is and we have boldness to enter in to his arms like a child runs to their father and is secure most of us unfortunately think god is constantly consistently frustrated with us like he's up there going oh my gosh I just wish they would do this I just wish they would do this they're not doing it well I guess things are just going to get worse so I’m just going to wait for the church to do something that's not how the new testament talks about god is it not one place is that how the new testament talks about god it talks about god as our father who grabs his children and says you're mine you're my family I have bought you I have paid for you with my son's blood you're mine and no one can take you out of my hands most of you might be struggling this morning because you didn't have a good father most people like Matthew this doesn't apply to me I don't have a good father and I’m gonna tell you you probably know better than I do what a good father is because you saw what a terrible father is and what god is is he is a perfect and righteous father everything you have the idea of what a father should be he is which means what he cares about the big things he cares about the little things because he cares about his children
and so what that means is if we've been adopted into the family of god we receive the benefits we receive the benefits of what the son had so what are some of the benefits that the son had first and foremost I want to say to you eternal security eternal security in the same way a good father would never reject their child so will the heavenly father never reject those whom he has paid for and purchased by the blood of his son
if a good father would never reject his child a perfect holy father certainly would not
remember Jesus in john chapter 11 father I thank you that you have heard me and I knew that you always hear me so what next adoption gives us is it gives us instant access it means what we can pray to god and we know he hears us even though we say silly and stupid things in our prayer read romans 8 we cry out abba father and he hears us which means what because you walk through difficulties does not mean the father has abandoned you every child is walked through difficulties but where does the child run to the father and so the church runs where to the father and what does that mean doesn't mean that we'll be protected from death and persecution it means we'll be protected from falling away he protects us from the lies of Satan that when we sin that we are no longer his his blood protects us from that we overcome the accuser by the blood of the lamb revelation chapter 12 we run to the father all the time even when we have sinned against him this is love friends this is mega off the charts love that our relationship with god is not some sort of distance he's up in the heavens we're down here trying to figure it out but no no no no we are as close to him as a child is to their father and just like a good parent god doesn't always give us what we ask for does he but he gives us exactly what we need I’m so glad my parents didn't give me everything I asked for
and so he has given us exactly what we need most
so I want to ask you this morning do you know god like that is that's your relationship with god this morning may I encourage you that if you believe Christ died buried and is resurrected and is seated at the right hand of god and you believe that your hope is found then you're adopted and you can run to the father in every circumstance
and you get to say to a world that hates god have you seen my dad
so how do we what do we do with all this we gather we grow so how do we go into Tucson
first we must hold on to those two truths it's at the center of the belief of the Christian that god is in control of all things and that he is good that everything that will happen is happening according to god's plan and god is good if you do not hold on to these truths you will be lost you'll be frustrated you'll be wringing your hands going what is going to happen oh god so I encourage you rest your head on the sovereignty of god we must fight for these truths in our own hearts and in our own lives just as heat tempers metal hardships is one of the most efficient tools in personal preparation for glory we must remind one another these truths this is not optional this is not up for debate this is not some sort of theological little tiny premise of mine this is from genesis to revelation god rules and reigns from heaven next discipleship is not about personal knowledge but about personal transformation by the power of god information changes you from the outside in while discipleship changes you from the inside out if you don't make time for discipleship in your busy schedule you'll be missing out on one of the greatest blessings of the church we are in all we are all in need of encouragement and be called to spurred on to holiness
finally if you want to know if you're an adopted child of god answer this question where do I run to when I sin where do I run to when I sin do I run from god or do I run to god just like a child breaking a lamp in the house do I run to the one whose lamp it was that I broke who's the only power to fix the broken lamb to buy a new one or whatever needs to happen or am I like a child who runs out the door and runs away from the parents in your sin where do you run do you run to god or do you run from god why because for the Christian we are constantly and consistently being changed into the image of god you cannot walk into the presence of god and remain the same you're either radically changed or you run
who is your god this morning and where do you run in your sin let us pray father god we thank you for this tax god we thank you that you are the king of kings the lord of lords god we thank you that you have given us son the name sons and daughters and so we are that you are our father and we can run to you for safe haven god let us be a people who are changed from the inside out god let us be a people who want to see you glorified in all areas of our life we pray this in your son's holy righteous name amen hi I’m pastor Scott pastor of the oasis church listen we are so excited that you decide to join us for the preaching and teaching of god's word we just pray that this will stir your affections towards Christ but we have one encouragement we want to leave you with please do not allow this to take the place of the local body of believers we pray that you will be involved in a local congregation a local church that you can find yourself submitting under the eldership and the leadership of a local church we pray that you will find yourself stirred towards Christ and that your joy in Christ will be ever increasing