Colossians 1:1-8

Well, this is great to be able to lead in today's message.

I was just thinking the last time that I taught in a situation like this was with a crib in the back was like 25 years ago.

We had a Sunday school class with a lot of young people, and we would just put the packing plays in the back and let all the babies stay with us.

And it reminds me of that.

I remember that.

If you would turn to Colossians chapter 1, that's where we're going to be at this morning, Colossians chapter 1, 1 through 8.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention Colossians 1 · chapter mention

So turn there, and we will talk about this particular passage a lot.

All right, Colossians chapter 1, 1 through 8.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

Let me read that.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,

because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.

Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing,

as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, he's a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,

and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we come to you again this morning, and we thank you for a time of worship.

We thank you for this time where we can open up your word together.

And Jesus, we pray for your gospel.

I pray for a deeper understanding of the power of your gospel, what that means in my life, in our life, in this church's life.

And Father, I pray that you would teach us now, and Holy Spirit, give us power as we look into these sacred words.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

So, I like octopuses.

I would like one.

I like to watch them.

I'm fascinated by them.

I would like one for a pet, but they're also good to eat.

I don't know if we've had octopus, but this is the thing.

And I was watching a show on octopuses.

Is that right, octopuses?

Octopi?

However, whatever the plural is there.

So, I was watching this show on the octopus, and there was like, he was chasing a crab for dinner.

You know, like that's what they eat, and among other things, I guess.

I don't, I've never actually touched one.

I would like to someday.

So, this octopus, there was a big piece of coral or rock or something.

And talking about the cracks where the light all gets in and everything.

He jumped over this, or it might have been a she, I don't remember.

But got over this coral, and then with all of its legs, almost like a, it reached into every part of that piece of coral.

And there wasn't, the legs, they can get skinny, and they can get into each little crack, you know.

And that's what it did.

And then with one of them, it pulled out that crab.

And then he ate it.

You know.

They had like a beak inside that they crunched these crabs up with them.

Anyway, I thought about that because this passage today, the power of the gospel is what this message is about, is what this first, what I want to draw out of these first eight verses.

And when I thought about that, in my mind, I sort of equated the gospel as going into every part of the world and into our lives.

Sort of like that octopus that just reaches around and gets into every crack of that coral.

So, they worked, those tentacles worked their way into every crevice.

The gospel also reaches in and affects all areas of life.

Every bit of us, the gospel affects.

The power of the gospel finds its way into our lives.

So, Colossians is where we're at.

Now, I want to just give a quick background since this is the first lesson on Colossians of many.

Probably we'll need to come back to this a few times.

But just a couple of high points.

It was written by Paul.

Very few disagree with that.

About 60 or 61 A.D.

So, that means this was about 35 years, give or take.

We can all wrestle with this number, but about 35 years after Jesus died on the cross.

So, this time had elapsed.

And the church was going out.

Paul was in prison in Rome.

And the church at Colossae needed encouragement in their growth.

And there were some warnings in this book as well.

Many warnings about false teachers in particular.

But then a lot of encouragement and instruction on life, family, and going back to important concepts like the preeminence of Christ.

So, that's a little bit of background.

Paul had not been to this church in Colossae.

Some people say it's different.

Colossae is what I think.

Paul had not been to that church, but he may have known some of the workers that came from this church.

May have met them around at different points.

And Epaphras is mentioned, a fellow worker, and most likely an apostle with Paul, planted this particular church.

So, Paul himself didn't actually plant Colossae.

Epaphras was sent there.

So, the gospel is on the moon.

That is one of the main points of that.

It was spreading and bearing fruit in the world.

And the first eight verses of chapter one, what we just read, begins with a salutation, spiritual description of the Colossians, and some words of the gospel.

And that's what we're going to dive into this morning.

So, let's go back to verses one through three and take a look at this, what you would call a salutation or a greeting, how he opened up many of his letters.

It looks the same in a lot of these.

So, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father.

So, it's to the saints and faithful brothers.

This, Paul immediately was encouraging them, building them up.

He had concerns that he explores later in the book of Colossians in this letter.

But right now, he's building them up, and he's talking about their faith and important parts of who they are.

And one of the most important, they were saints.

These were believers.

They were ones that were carrying this gospel out from the church that they were a part of.

They, this is a great tactful beginning by Paul when you think about it.

He did have tough stuff to talk about, but he opened up with the good stuff of who they were and what they were about.

And this is really a great way to interact with people, isn't it?

Make a habit of offering positive, strengthening feedback to people.

Do you do that?

Like, there's so many times, I want to talk about it later, but so many times when we have opportunity to give that encouraging feedback, and we should.

Maybe it's on our minds or the tip of our tongue, we have to just offer it.

Just give these encouraging words to one another, even if something negative needs to be addressed.

Maybe in business or managing, sometimes you start with, well, Jim, you're doing great.

You know, I really like the way you do that.

But, you know, then you're hammering me over whatever you've done wrong.

But anyway, so Paul's sort of starting out this way in a very encouraging way to a group that he does want to also talk serious as well.

So a great, great tactful beginning.

Paul and Timothy are great examples of perseverance, love, care.

They were apostolic, compassionate, understanding.

And probably one of the main things that I see here at the beginning is they were invested in the Colossians.

In their hearts, in their minds, in the way that they saw this group of people, they were invested in them.

Beginning with verse 3 is when he starts to share his thankfulness in a prayer and in their prayers.

But when I think about this invested, who are you invested in?

This is a small group right now, right?

And it's really cool to be a part of this group right at this moment.

It's not going to stay this way, is it?

We'll look back in however long, whatever distance of time.

We'll look back and we'll think about these days and be like, laugh at each other.

Wow, can you believe, you know, this is what it looked like?

Once it starts to grow, once people start to come in, this question just keeps coming up.

Who are we invested in?

Right now, who are we invested in?

There's an investment that we put into our family, our MC, our church.

But there's also this investment that truly, I guess last Wednesday, we started to really consider and think about and plan for.

And that's the investment in Raytown, namely.

How are we going to invest in them?

Does it look the same way as it did with Paul and Timothy?

Who's the Lord leading you to be invested in, in his power?

Not just in what we come up with or what we think might be good,

but how do we invest in his power with one another and now on mission, now that we're on mission?

Verse 3, he expresses thankfulness.

Let's look at that.

Verse 3, we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints.

The apostles are consistent.

They are all, look at that, we always, in verse 3, we always thank God.

They're consistent with this investment in the church at Colossae.

The apostles are offering prayers, remembering the Colossians, when we pray.

So we get this picture of these guys, at least Paul and Timothy, probably the rest others as well.

But at least these two guys, remembering this church in prayer and speaking of them.

He goes over their names later, speaking about them and praying for them specifically in their needs

and whatever encouragements there.

Paul and Timothy also are praying together for the Colossians and considering them together.

The testimony of the Colossians begins in verse 4.

So, we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.

Since verse 4, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus,

of the love that you have for all the saints, and then beginning of 5,

because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.

There's faith in Jesus, love for all the saints, and hope laid up for them in heaven.

Does that ring a bell?

These three things, this triad of maybe 1 Corinthians 13, we know better.

There's faith, hope, and love, right?

Same three group there of characteristics.

1 Thessalonians 1, 2 through 3.

1 Thessalonians 1, 2 through 3 also demonstrates this triad.

He says,

We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,

remembering before our God and Father your work of faith,

and labor of love, and steadfastness of hope.

Here he's talking to the Thessalonians at the beginning of that book.

So, your work produced by faith, labor motivated by love, and endurance inspired by hope.

These three go together.

When one of these three, if you will, rises in us, the other two do as well.

These all work with each other.

And so, that's why you see it in the various ways.

Let's examine Christian hope, the idea of hope.

So, I can find myself, I learned this about myself.

I can find myself hoarding my time, and my energy, and my words.

Now, this is, you know, even God-given words.

I can find myself hoarding that, or holding on to it, when I should be letting it go.

Right?

That's kind of what hoarding is.

We've seen hoarders, you know, the TV show.

You know, that's sometimes what my heart can look like.

This is changing, and it has changed a lot over the last couple years.

But once I really realized this thing about myself, is that I was holding all of that inside and not giving it away.

I came up with this illustration.

I love illustrations, by the way.

I've got a couple more, because I really like it.

I did tons of illustrations.

I need to hold back on them.

But anyway, this is the illustration I came up with, and it really helped me.

It's like coins.

Like, you have, like, ten coins.

And when I would go, I came up with this a couple years ago, maybe the first time.

And so I would go to church, and instead of listening to lies like, you don't have a good word for anybody.

You're not contributing to anything.

You don't have anything to share.

Instead of listening to that, I pictured myself having ten coins.

And these coins, I would get to church, and I would try to give away.

And those coins were in the form of a good word, a word from the Lord, an encouragement, asking somebody about their life somehow or how something went.

Instead of being turned inward and expecting something to be given to me, I wanted to give.

And I wanted to sort of encourage myself or force myself to do that.

And be that sort of non-hoarding person, right?

Give these things away, what God has given to me.

Well, when it comes to this thought of the triad, there's Christian hope.

And I think how this is sort of playing out with these Colossians is when they stand on hope, the hope of heaven, the hope that Jesus gives, that fact doesn't leave.

And what is produced then is love, right?

If I trust in him for eternal life, for he's got me, he will never forsake me or leave me, then my love for the saints grows.

My faith in what he does in this relationship grows.

You see, the three are dynamically connected there.

Verse 8, I mean 5, I'm sorry, 5.

He begins it with the end of that triad, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.

But then he says, and it almost sounds, or the beginning of it there says, because of the hope laid out for you.

That's just really illustrating the fact that these are all interconnected.

So there's faith and there's love because of the hope that you have in heaven.

So it really plays into the other two.

They were heavenly minded.

These Colossians, they were heavenly minded.

Because that's what hope is, right?

When we think about the future and what the Lord has for us and the idea of heaven, that's heavenly minded.

Thinking that eternally.

John Piper, he has a good quote on this.

He says, it is not heavenly mindedness that hinders love on this earth.

It is worldly mindedness.

And therefore, the great fountain of love in the powerful freeing confidence of Christian hope.

So, worldly mindedness is not where love comes from.

It's the heavenly mindedness.

It's the hope that we have.

Are you confident in Christian hope?

Or does this world and its worldly mindedness drag you down?

Or are you confident in this hope?

Can you stand on that looking forward?

Well, this hope is part of the gospel.

Look at 5b, verse 5b.

So, he says, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel.

You heard of this hope.

You heard of this eternal life, this hope of heaven.

Of this you heard in the gospel.

The word of truth is the gospel.

And the gospel is active.

It's spreading.

If we look on to verse 6, or end of 5.

Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing, as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

It's spreading.

It's spreading.

It's come to you.

It's going out into the world.

It's bearing fruit in the world and in you.

And it is increasing in the world and in you.

The gospel is powerful.

It's powerful.

It's tentacles, if you will, are reaching out and working into the world.

Romans 1.16.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

1 Corinthians 1.18.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

The gospel has the power to immediately do these things.

Look back at the beginning of 6.

He says, which has come to you.

Wait.

Just before that.

Where does he say the day of?

Verse 6, is it?

Which has come to you.

Indeed, the whole world is bearing fruit.

Oh, yeah.

As it does among you.

Since the day you heard it.

Since the day.

So it's immediate.

This is immediate power.

It's immediate power to bear fruit.

Faith, hope, and love.

What Paul is commending them for.

The gospel working out through them.

Faith, hope, and love.

But it's also immediate in redeeming people from death's grip.

Immediate.

Their lives are different.

It changes lives.

It heals.

It sets free.

Immediately.

Immediately.

Gospel has the power to increase and go throughout the world.

Increasing in lives, churches, and all corners of the globe.

The gospel itself is the life-giving agent of change, which is another way of saying that God acts in the gospel.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is moving through Raytown.

And this, I think, is the crux of what I want to bring out.

What do you believe?

What do you believe on this?

Do you believe that this gospel can immediately save and change and heal and set people free?

Do you believe that?

We have to answer this question in our own hearts to be a messenger of this gospel.

Because if we go out and we do not believe this thing that we're saying, then who's going to listen to us?

Who's going to understand this as truth?

If it hasn't even infected or changed me, you understand?

Like, this has to be what is on our mind.

Is it powerful?

Will it save?

Will people change as we evangelize, as we go out?

And I'm talking to somebody.

Am I so worried or concerned about me and what I'm saying or my own thoughts or whatever, my fear, blah, blah, blah, you name it.

Or am I concerned about the gospel changing that person?

And do I believe it?

If I don't believe it, it's just going to be an exercise in a memory, an act of memorizing verses and words,

and then going out and standing in front of somebody and parroting that.

That's all it will amount to be.

I used to sit and play cards on a Mark 48 torpedo in the torpedo room.

There was a whole bunch of them.

And on the boat, sometimes when we would go on long deployments,

we would actually set beds up because there wasn't enough space for everybody.

We would set up like a little flat board or bed and strap it onto a Mark 48 torpedo.

Right?

And so we would sit there when they weren't sleeping in it,

and we would play cards on that and sort of straddle these torpedoes to play cards.

And, you know, we were sitting on a torpedo that carried a 700-pound high explosive,

and we didn't think a thing of it.

It was no big deal to sit on this torpedo and visit or whatever we were doing.

We got used to hanging out, sitting on that much power, and it became nothing to us.

It became ordinary to us.

It was just a routine thing.

It made no difference.

It was another chair on the boat.

We could sit anywhere.

This was just a place we could hide away.

It was routine and ordinary.

May the gospel never be ordinary to us.

This is power.

The gospel is power.

When we treat it like ordinary, when we treat it like it's just something that we memorized a Roman road,

now we're going to go share this with somebody, and then walk away and feel great about ourself,

that is not gospel power.

Right?

If we are not allowing the gospel to work in our own lives, to change our own lives,

how can we possibly explain that to somebody else?

May it never be ordinary.

Is it powerful?

Will it save?

Will people that we talk to be changed?

Here's the big question, though, which has to be answered first is,

is the gospel accomplishing these things in your life?

Is the gospel accomplishing these things in your life?

I just described a challenge that I had to face up to.

The idea of I'm holding back what God has given in some way.

I'm hoarding or I'm holding back.

Now, I've spent a little bit of time with you guys,

and I know that some of you also can deal with this as well.

All right?

I want to encourage you that the way that we employ what God has given in our gifts and talents

is when we believe.

When we tap into that power, and he works through us,

and he gives us those words or that action or that love or that care

or that willingness to sacrifice.

That's his power through us.

It's not of ourselves.

Not of ourselves.

Look at verse 6 again.

This is kind of where I hung out a bit, and I thought it was really great.

So, I'm sorry, let's start at the 5B.

If this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,

which has come to you as indeed in the whole world,

it is bearing fruit and increasing, as it also does among you since the day you heard it

and understood the grace of God in truth.

Do you truly appreciate God's grace?

Verse 6, that's it from the ESV, the way I just read it.

In the Christian standard, it says it a little bit different,

but it helps to sort of understand this little phrase better.

He says,

since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate God's grace.

So, there was a point in time where you recognized that you were elect by God.

He brought you, he gave you life and regenerated you.

You recognized and understood, I am elect of God,

and I truly appreciated God's grace from that point.

Now, did you know everything about it?

No.

Is that a learning thing until the day we die?

Absolutely, because it is so deep.

Let's turn to Psalm 108, 8 through 14.

Psalms 108.

I want to talk about grace for just a second.

Psalm 108, and we want to look at 8 through 14.

Ah, where is it 106?

I think I've got the wrong.

I've got a typo.

Sorry.

I'm looking for where he knows our frame.

If somebody, I've got 108, but that's not right.

That's 103.

103.

Oh, maybe it is.

I probably should have put it on my glasses.

I don't know.

Okay, let's get to 103.

Yeah, 103, 8 through 14.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yes.

Okay.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger,

and abounding in steadfast love.

Now, as we listen to this, think about grace.

Think about the understanding,

truly understanding the grace of God as we read through this, okay?

And where we stand in respect to him.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame, he remembers that we are death.

So a couple key things that jump out to me for grace is slow to anger.

Slow to anger does not deal with us according to our sin.

We're forgiven.

How long does it take to truly understand that?

To really let that sink in?

Right?

A lifetime.

A lifetime.

Sin was taken on the cross.

1 Peter 2, 24 and 25.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.

That we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed.

Not by our wounds.

We're not healed by our wounds.

That's grace.

That is grace.

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

He also talks about in 103, steadfast love.

He mentions this.

It doesn't go anywhere.

He's not fickle.

He's not going to be upset with us and leave or walk out the room or something like this.

Compassion on his children.

In verse 14, this is one that has just really stuck with me.

He knows me.

He knows that I'm...

He knows my frame.

He knows my errors, my mistakes, where I fall, where I...

Just...

My propensities towards sin and problem.

He knows these things about me.

So do you truly appreciate his grace?

This grace...

And that's just a snippet.

That's just a little bit.

We're just hitting some high points here in those points of 103.

How do you know that you truly appreciate his grace?

So this is sort of a personal heart check that can be done, right?

Uh...

So do you exhibit these qualities?

And Paul mentions these with the Colossians.

So I just want to go back over them.

Specifically, faith, hope, and love.

That's kind of what these are all couched in.

But if I exhibit those qualities, then just like the Colossians,

because he says, you guys have this,

and you are understanding deeply the grace of God.

So let's take some of these qualities and see if they apply.

This is our own personal heart check is what we do.

So first thing is,

do you recognize this truth in your beliefs?

Or does your faith grow?

Do you recognize this truth of grace in how you believe?

I believe he has forgiven me.

I believe he knows me.

I believe he does not hold my sin against me.

Do I believe those things?

And then do I see that evidenced,

that I do believe in those things?

Another area,

you will behave similar.

Love, grace, forgiveness.

If that has been given to me,

if I believe in this grace,

I'll act like him.

And I will forgive as I have been forgiven,

like Jesus says.

I will love because he has loved me.

These things will naturally come forward in my life.

I will find rest in him or faith.

Take my yoke and I will give you rest,

Jesus says.

His grace leads me and shepherds me.

That's if I believe this.

And you will be heavenly minded or hope-filled.

The Colossians,

this describes their state,

what Paul was telling us about this group of people,

is these were characteristics of them.

His grace prepares a place for us

that we don't deserve.

It's that hope and that heavenly mindedness.

We don't deserve heaven.

We don't deserve to live with him eternally.

That's not something that we've done

something good to get there

or be a part of that.

It's his grace.

Colossians came to a place

where they heard the gospel

and truly appreciated,

it says,

God's grace.

The results were seen and noted by Paul.

Evidence of the power of the gospel

must show in our lives.

It's tied to what we believe.

When we're challenged,

we take that power

and we stand on it

and we meet the challenge.

Whether that's a personal thing,

whether it's a Christchurch thing,

we meet this challenge

in his power

because we believe it.

Because we believe it.

Now,

there are some areas

that we can,

by flipping that coin,

we can see

where powerlessness

is evident in our life.

Okay?

So,

you see what I'm doing here?

The gospel has power

far beyond ourselves.

It's of God.

But sometimes we can forget

and attempt

to circumvent that

and work on our own.

We can try to do things

by the arm of flesh,

not in his strength.

So,

here's just a couple areas

that I want to bring up

that we can,

there's flags in our life

that show us

that we're off track,

that we're trying to operate

in our own power

and not in God's power.

Right?

So,

first one,

and this is,

I've got a couple

that I think are key.

I think they're all pretty good,

but this one I think

is kind of key

because it's easy.

This is an easy thing.

The first one,

how do we know

that we're off track?

Our emotions take over.

Our emotions take over.

Anger,

frustration,

jealousy,

selflessness.

I mean,

selfishness,

not selflessness.

These things,

when these things happen,

we realize,

hey man,

I'm off track here.

I'm about me now.

I hear it.

I hear it in my words

in the ways

that I'm acting.

Galatians 5,

19 through 24.

Let's look at that.

And it just really outlines

pretty much all of them.

Galatians 5.

Now the works of the flesh

are evident.

Sexual immorality,

impurity,

sensuality,

idolatry.

Idolatry creeps in

so many ways

when we're not,

when we're not believing

in the power of the gospel.

Sorcery.

I don't know how many of us

get into that,

but it's possible,

right?

Enmity,

or,

or,

you know,

strife,

jealousy,

fits of anger,

rivalries,

dissensions,

divisions,

envy,

drunkenness,

orgies,

and things like these.

Man,

if we as a group

stop trusting

in the power

of the gospel,

there's a couple

of these

that really stand out

to me.

dissensions,

divisions,

we'll see it

as a group.

We can see it

in our own lives

when these things

start cropping up,

when we're even

doing the work

quote of the Lord.

We're here,

we're serving,

but what happens

when these things

show up

as we operate together?

What happens

when we go out

and we're evangelizing

and these things

show up?

We're working

in our own power.

We're not in the Lord's power.

We're not working

in the power

of the gospel

that saves.

Emotions,

super key

to knowing

when I'm off

on my own way.

And it's so easy

because we see it right away.

Second thing,

exhaustion.

No refreshing

of my body,

mind,

or spirit.

I'm just exhausted.

I don't want

to go further.

I'm tired.

not interested

in the work

anymore.

Maybe even

spiritually,

exhaustion leads

to a

letting go

of maybe

spiritual disciplines,

things like that.

These things start

to go by the wayside

when I get

exhausted

in this way.

Well,

that's obviously

not

how the Lord

designed

His power.

It,

um,

we don't find

ourselves

exhausted

like that.

That's striving.

That's striving

on our own

in some way,

shape,

or form.

Third thing

is confusion.

We know

that we're not

operating

in the power

of the gospel

when confusion

is abound.

trying to make

my own

plans,

trying to

get other

people to get

onto my

plan,

trying to

make

these things,

whatever plan,

work out

on my own.

Um,

sometimes

this,

uh,

steamrolling

others

can be a

part of this,

you know,

just,

just running

over people

because I

have a plan.

I have an

idea,

and I don't

want anybody

else to,

to get

in my way.

Red flag

right away,

isn't that?

Confusion,

and that's

personal,

that's personal

confusion,

right?

It could cause

other confusion

as well,

but,

but I

can tell

when I'm

off track

when I'm

confused,

and I'm

going about

things my

way.

Fourth thing

is disregarding

God's timing

or instructions.

One good

example,

uh,

of how we

should do

it is in

Acts 1,

when they

were to

wait on

the Holy

Spirit to

come.

One bad

example is

Saul getting

out ahead,

King Saul,

um,

was just in

our reading,

if you're

doing the

McShundry,

I think it

was this

last week

or something

like that

a week ago.

I don't

know.

But anyway,

so he,

he is,

uh,

going out

to battle

because he

doesn't want

to wait

around anymore.

So he's

going to

take the

group out

and of

course he

is,

gets in

trouble for

that.

That's when

God says,

you're not

to be king

anymore.

Um,

because he

wanted to

take it on

himself and

go about

it his

own way.

So,

uh,

disregarding

God's

timing,

you may

find yourself

trying to

hurry or

stall God's

work.

That's us.

That's,

that's a red

flag.

And it

takes,

I think,

where emotions

are an easy

key,

uh,

indicator.

I think

something like

this is a

little harder

because this

is what we

think should

happen rather

than,

uh,

really,

truly trusting

in the Lord

and in his

timing.

That's a

little harder

to discern

in ourselves

sometimes.

Five and

six would

be distance

from God

and distance

from brothers

and sisters.

And these

are both

key things.

These are

both in,

in our

lives,

um,

when this

flag comes,

we easily

see this.

We easily

see it.

Uh,

we see

ourselves

separating

from the

group.

We see

ourselves

doing our

own thing

between us

and God.

It's easy

to see.

We stop

reading.

We stop

praying.

We find

that we've

gone a

week,

two weeks

and,

and not,

not even

looked at

the word

and not even

really had any

meaningful

prayer.

That

distance

from God,

a hundred

percent,

it's me

operating in

my own

power.

I am

totally

disregarding

that power

in the

gospel that

he provides.

Um,

and this

can turn

into an

even uglier

situation

in our

hearts,

if I can

kind of

run down

this track.

Um,

because when

we distance

ourselves

from God,

uh,

we start

to use

the things

of God

for our

own

purposes.

And so

the things

of,

of maybe

it's

leadership

or the

things of

the church

or the

things,

um,

of relational

issues,

um,

we can

start to

use one

another

to get

what we

want

or to

scratch an

itch or

to feel

good about

something

in my

own

life.

And so

I start

to,

uh,

use

people

or the

things

of God

for my

own

purposes.

Um,

and,

um,

uh,

basically

denying

the power,

denying

the power

of the

gospel.

So I'm,

I'm working

hard right

now at,

um,

um,

keto.

I,

I am

doing

keto.

Um,

and keto,

uh,

you've,

you stop

eating sugars

and carbs

and you

eat a lot

of fats

and protein

and things

like that.

And so

I'm,

I'm,

I've learned

this.

I've had a lot

of help

to,

to learn,

you know,

we got some

books and

watch videos

and stuff

learning

keto.

Um,

well,

if,

if I learned

all about

it and

then just

like went

around and

became sort

of a,

uh,

a spokesperson

for keto

and then

still ate

my M&Ms

and my

chips when

I watched

movies,

uh,

I,

I'm not a

very good

spokesman for

keto anymore.

Um,

that's not

something that

I,

I can talk

the talk.

I can do

those things

because I

can learn

it and I

can behave

that way.

But,

uh,

and I,

I can sound

like,

this was a

new word

I learned

yesterday.

We were

watching the

thing.

I can sound

like a

key toner.

That's what

they call

us keto

people.

Um,

I can sound

like a

key toner.

Um,

but I'm

really not.

Maybe I

just want

somebody to

think I

am.

Maybe I

want them

to think

that I'm

on track

or,

or doing

things right.

Not that,

you know,

they couldn't

tell if I

kept eating

chips,

you know,

you know,

proofs in the

pudding there,

you know,

but,

um,

but here's,

here's the,

the,

the analogy

here,

the illustration

is denying

the power

of the

gospel.

Uh,

we,

we can

distance

ourself

from God.

Okay.

Find

ourself

in a

small group

and

with,

even with

that distance

and we

can talk

the talk

and we

can look

like all

the rest

of the

people,

but am

I,

you see

what I'm

saying?

Uh,

any one

of us

can fool

another

one for

a while.

I'm not

saying there's

people in

the group

fooling people,

but what I'm

saying is

that,

uh,

is using

the things

of God

for your

own purposes.

And I feel

like those

kind of things,

it creeps

in all the

time from

time to

time,

but we

have to

arrest

those things

and bring

those thoughts

captive.

Um,

use these

flags in

that way

to say,

okay,

listen,

if I'm

distant

from God,

I've,

I've got

to come

back,

number one,

I've got

to come

back to

the power

of the

gospel that

saved me

and,

and come

back to

God in

this way.

I can't

play like

I'm

something.

I can't

rely on

back

understandings,

you know,

well,

you know,

five years

ago,

man,

I was

studying all

the time

and it's

kind of

tapered off

since then.

Here I am

now.

Why the

distance?

Why the

distance?

We have

to rely

on the

power of

God and

the power

of the

gospel.

The

self-serving

part looks

like selfish

ambition or

fear of

man.

These are

all,

these are

all parts

of that.

Let's

look at

verse 7

of Colossians

there.

Just as

you learned

it,

the

gospel,

just as

you learned

the gospel

from

Epaphras,

our

beloved

fellow

servant.

He is

a faithful

minister of

Christ

on your

behalf and

has made

known to

us your

love in

the

spirit.

So we

have this

final example

and this

is what

we'll close

with.

The final

example of

Epaphras

and his

comments about

the Colossians,

he was a

faithful

minister,

Paul says,

exemplified

the gospel

and power

in life.

He believed

it and

shared it,

planted that

church,

knowing that

his power

would be

evident.

Verse 8,

the Colossians

are again

encouraged in

their testimony

of faith

through what

Epaphras said

about them.

He mentioned

their love

in the spirit.

man,

wouldn't it

be great

to be

known this

way?

This is how

we want

to be

known,

as having

these

characteristics

of living

in the

power.

So,

our testimony

through belief

in this

powerful gospel,

number one,

we will

care for

a lost,

troubled,

and shipwrecked

world around

us.

This is what

energizes us,

empowers us,

gives us our

marching orders,

to Raytown.

This is the

gospel.

That's the

power to

save.

We'll stand

in confident

Christian hope,

knowing that

Jesus is

King of

Kings,

and we

have nothing

and nobody

to fear.

Nothing.

There's,

you know,

they can,

we're saying

they can kill

us.

Hopefully it

doesn't happen

in Raytown.

It's possible.

But hopefully

that's not

what we're up

against.

Third,

we can

accurately

assess our

own lives

and let

the Holy

Spirit

convict us

of unbelief

where it

rears its

head,

which

personally,

that's how

the power

of the

gospel works

in our

life.

The Holy

Spirit

convicts us

and we

grow.

That's where

the power

comes from.

It's not

from ourselves.

It's not

from something

that we

figure out

on our

own.

Romans

116,

I'll

close with

this.

For I

am not

ashamed of

the gospel,

for it

is the

power of

God for

salvation to

everyone who

believes, to

the Jew first

and also to

the Greek.