Hope Of The World: Hope of Change | Ps Jonathan Clark

We are in a series called Hope of the

World. And this series is going to go on

all until our Easter Sunday celebration.

Um last week we had Pastor Luke and

Pastor Zanell preach at the night

service as well. They preached about

hope of forgiveness. Um and today I'm

going to keep on um with our series

preaching about hope of change. Everyone

say hope of change.

and we're looking into uh the book of

Colossians. I love this type of message

when we go into the letters of Paul

because it's always full of just pure

gospel, right? And what we believe as

Christians. Um but we're talking about

change. We all hope to change somehow.

Everyone wants to change, but it doesn't

always become a reality, right?

Have you ever promised yourself that

you'd change something and you ended up

the same place where you started? You

know, like when you say, "Oh, I'm going

to go to sleep early today."

Two hours later, you're still scrolling.

You know, oh, I'm going to start my diet

today. Super healthy. You know, it's new

year, new me, new Monday, new me. I'm

going to start my diet on Monday. Comes

Tuesday, it's already over. No more

diet. For me, um, it's been the gym. I

struggle to stay consistent with the

gym, okay? I've joined the gym three

times already. I always drop out. And

last week, Andrea and I just joined the

gym for the fourth time. And I'm

believing this is the one. All right. My

record is eight months. If I pass that,

it's a win for me. We're all on a

process. Um but we know that change is

important and there is no improvement

without change. You won't learn if you

don't study, right? You won't magically

get fitter and stronger if you don't

exercise. And the truth is that everyone

naturally

hopes for something better. We want to

find a better job. We want to find we

want to buy a better phone, a better

car. We want to get healthier. We just

want to be better people.

And one of because of this, one of the

most popular shelves on a bookstore is

the selfhelp section, right? Thousands

of books saying what you need to do, you

know, to become a better person. In our

days, we have YouTube. There's something

called motivational videos. I don't know

if you've ever seen one. There are

millions of views of these motivational

videos just saying look if you just do

this promising if you only do this one

thing then you will be finally happy.

But say but the gospel is not a

self-help message.

The message of the gospel is that we are

all helpless. We are helpless without

Christ.

All have sinned and fall short from the

glory of God till Christ rescued us

through his sacrifice. So today we're

not talking about surface level change.

We are talking about hope for real

change. The kind of hope that changes

your heart. The kind of hope that

transforms your personality.

God called us to change and to be

transformed. Say transformed

by All right, we can do that better.

Transformed

>> by the renewal of our minds. And my hope

today is that you'll be compelled to

change. Not just for the sake of being a

better person, but for the sake of

fulfilling the calling that God has upon

your life as a Christian. [snorts] So,

let's bow our heads once more. Oh, dear

Lord God, we thank you for the word. We

thank you, Lord, that it does not return

void. We thank you that it is a lamp

into our feet, a light into our path.

And we pray, Holy Spirit, that as the

messages preached this morning, Lord,

that it would bring conviction to us,

that it would be bring something new.

Lord, open our ears so that me we may

listen to what you have to say in Jesus

name. and we all said, "Amen." So, we're

looking at the book of Colossians. And

before we jump into it, we actually need

to uh understand a little bit of the

context, right? What was going on in

Colai? Some people say Colasai, some

other people say Colise. I'm not exactly

sure the English pronunciation. Um, but

this is a letter sent by the Apostle

Paul. And when he wrote this, he was

actually in prison in jail. and he wrote

this letter to the church of Colossi.

And what was happening right there is

that Colossi was a a very culturally

mixed city, right? Colossi was a major

trading center of the ancient world. And

it it's a bit different. It wasn't like

attached to the sea. It wasn't in a port

like the city of Corinth or Ephesus. But

there was a famous trade route or route

route. Let's keep route. Um and

basically this route connected trade

between the east and the west. So very

multicultural just like Australia. You

know I remember the first time I got

into a metro in Australia. I felt like I

was in the United Nations conference.

You know, I had an Asian person on my

side, an African person the other side,

a Middle Eastern guy in front, and then

in in the corner that was this young tan

guy, and he like had his headphones on,

but he was like fully vibing. I'm like,

he's Latin, Latino, my man. And that's

what was going on in Colassi. There was

many people coming and going uh

multiculturals

um multicultural

um culture being built. But the problem

with that is that they would also bring

their religion and they would also bring

their rituals.

They brought Greek philosophy. They

brought Jewish traditions. So the church

was basically being pressured by voices

around them saying, "Jesus is good,

but he's not enough.

You need some extra experiences. You

need to add these rituals. You need

extra stuff so that your faith would be

complete." So when Paul writes to the

Colossians, he's basically saying,

"Don't listen to them." Tell the person

next to you, don't listen to them.

Paul was saying all you need all you

need is Christ. Christ is the real deal.

You don't need more rules. You don't

need secrets. You don't need uh special

knowledge. All you need is Christ. It's

a bit like salt in a Brazilian barbecue,

right? That's all you need. If you go to

a Brazilian barbecue and you see this

random guy putting weird seasoning on

your picana, it's clearly a sin.

Correct.

All you need is salt. And that's what

Paul is saying. Look, you need Jesus.

You don't need this added stuff. Okay?

No additions needed. And based on this

context, we're exploring what real hope

for change looks like. And we're going

to start with Colossians 2:8.

Colossians 2:8

And Paul writes this. See to it that no

one takes you captive through hollow and

deceptive philosophy which depends on

human tradition and the elemental

spiritual forces of this world rather

than on Christ. For in Christ all the

fullness of the deity lives in bodily

form and in Christ you have been brought

to fullness. He is the head over every

power and authority.

So Paul starts chapter 2 by saying you

know

first thing if you want to see change in

your life you need to understand that

there is fullness in Christ. Say

fullness.

Point number one there is fullness in

Christ. In our world people are

constantly looking for satisfaction.

People are constantly being looking to

be fulfilled. Some people look for

satisfaction in drinking. Some other

people look for satisfaction in partying

or in being a business owner or you can

find satisfaction in so many things. And

the interesting thing is that this is an

neverending

search.

There's a neverending search. There's an

ache in the human heart that cannot be

filled with the things of this world

because true satisfaction,

true satisfaction

only comes from Jesus. Amen.

So the false teachers were saying you

are missing something. But Paul is

saying no if you have Christ you have

everything.

Paul's statement in verse 9 is actually

the stepping stone of our faith. I'll

read it again verse verse 9 he says in

Christ all the fullness of the deity

lives.

This is the core difference between

Christianity and all the other religions

out there. That Jesus isn't just

partially God, right? He's not just a

prophet like the Muslims believe. He's

not just just the son like the Jehovah's

Witness believe. He's not just some sort

of angel like the Mormons believe. He is

fully say fully fully God. And if Jesus

is really fully God, there is nothing

that his sacrifice does not cover.

Even if you achieve everything in this

life, you got it. You got all your

goals. You hit it. you want in life, all

of it is worth nothing without Christ.

You know, when I was um younger around

10 to 11 um back in Brazil, I remember

there was this uh super rich kid and he

was like super super rich, right? And he

was like really trying to bully me. And

and the way he did it is he was just

basically saying, "I have all these

things, you know, my dad is so rich.

Like he has a hundred people working

under him. You know, what car does your

dad have?" And like he was like he was

really like going for it. Like he was

trying to poke, you know? I'm like,

"Lord, give me patience." But he was

like, "You know, I think my dad's car is

worth 10 times more your dad's car." And

then he like started pointing out my

things. Look at your bag. Look at my

bag. I'm like, "This guy needs some

help."

Uh, and he actually stopped and and he

really wanted an answer. What do you

have that is good? What do you have that

is nice? And for that moment, I think

for the first time in my life as a 10 or

11 year old boy, I actually realized,

you know what? We have God.

We have God. That's all we need. I don't

need any extra stuff. Right? Now, I wish

I said that, but I didn't. [laughter]

You know, I could have made it into this

beautiful, you know, sharing your faith

moment. All we need is God. I was just

too annoyed at him and I just realized,

you know, I'm going away, bro. I left

him. And I regret that a little bit. I

hope he he found Jesus at some point in

his life. Um, but sometimes we just have

to remember and acknowledge that we got

more than enough. We've got more than

enough with Jesus. Real transformation

starts with calling Jesus Elshadai,

allsufficient

God. And this word is is is shown

throughout the the story of Genesis. God

reveals himself to Abraham and says, "I

am El Shai. I am the all sufficient

God." So we are no longer spiritually

empty. When Christ fills us, he makes us

alive. He gives us a new identity. say

new identity

which brings us to point number two new

life and new identity. Paul goes Paul

goes on Lord bless my English. Paul goes

on in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 13

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

he writes this. When you were dead in

your sins

and in the in circumcision of your

flesh, God made you alive with Christ.

He forgave all of your sins.

Have you ever reflected on how crazy

Paul's transformation actually was?

Right? for him to be able to write this

for he for him to be able to say Christ

forgave all of our sins. It's not a

small thing. You know, Paul went from

persecuting and stoning Christians to

now being in jail for preaching the

gospel. That is how transformative his

encounter with Christ was. And he knew

that he was not wherever your

forgiveness. Paul knew what he had done.

I can only imagine what it was like to

be ministering, but but knowing of the

hard time you gave to so many Christians

in your past.

But Paul also knew that God made him

alive in Christ. He didn't make him

better. He made him alive. Paul was

saying, "I was once dead, but Jesus gave

me life." You see, you're not defined by

your circumstances. You're not defined

by your past. You are who God says you

are. And this reminds me of a beautiful

story in the New Testament, the woman

with the issue of blood. And maybe

you've heard of this story already. It's

a beautiful story of healing where there

was this woman she was outcast of

society struggling with the issue of

blood for years and years her whole life

and she really believed she had huge

faith if I only touch the garment of

Jesus I would be healed and she pushes

through the crowd and she finally

touched Jesus's cloak and she is healed

and it's an amazing story but we often

miss what else happened in in that story

that when she is healed, Jesus turns to

her and the first thing that Jesus says,

the first word that comes out of his

mouth is daughter.

Just like that, with one word, he gave

her a new identity.

She was taken from an outcast to a child

of God. And that wasn't just a normal

saying. Actually, in all of the gospels,

Jesus only addressed someone as daughter

once, and this was it. He didn't just

heal her. He gave her a new identity.

In an everchanging culture where there

is such extreme loss of identity, the

only thing the only thing that remains

unchanging is God.

He is our cornerstone. Jesus Christ is

the same yesterday, today and forever.

In him we find purpose. In him we find

stability. In him we find identity. This

is the core of the gospel. And maybe

you're here this morning and people have

labeled you according to what they can

see.

Maybe they've called you a loser or a

liar.

But I'm here to tell you today that

Jesus calls you a son and a daughter. He

wants to give you a new identity and a

new life. In Jesus, we are made new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "If anyone is

2 Corinthians 5:17

in Christ,

the new creation has come, the old has

gone, and the new is here." And if that

is true, if God gave us a new identity,

if we are truly alive now, we was were

once dead and now we have full life,

then something in our lifestyle needs to

change.

And this brings us to my third and final

point,

which is real repentance. Say

repentance.

In chapter three, Paul gets a bit more

practical. You know, he talks about the

theology. This is Jesus died for our

sins, blah blah blah. Now, let's get

practical. There's some stuff that you

need to do that you need to change. Paul

says Colossians 3:5, "Put to death

Colossians 3:5

therefore whatever belongs to your

earthly nature, sexual immorality,

impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed,

which is idolatry." And he goes on verse

9, he says,"Do not lie to each other

since you have taken off your old self

with its practices and have put on a new

self which is being renewed in the law

in the knowledge and in the image of its

creator." You see, the core of

repentance is a change of action. That's

what repentance is all about. It's not

just feeling guilty about something you

did. That's great because you

acknowledge you did something, but the

core of repentance is doing something

about it. Right? If I'm driving a car

and I'm going this direction and I know

it's the wrong direction,

feeling bad about it won't change

anything. I need to re reroute. Did I

say that right? Route. Reroute. Change

direction. This is where God wants me to

go. I need to change something.

James chapter 2 verse 17, it says this.

James 2:17

In the same way,

faith by itself, if it is not

accompanied by action, it is dead.

Because real faith produces real

evidence. Real faith produces fruit. And

this is an ongoing thing. Paul is

saying, "Keep putting to death your

earthly nature, your fleshly desires

every morning." This is we're we're not

perfect. I woke up today. Lord, help me

put to death my earthly flesh.

God calls us to repentance.

He called us to produce fruit.

And if our faith is not producing any

fruit, then there's something wrong.

I believe God wants to compel some of us

to some sort of change. And I can't tell

you exactly what this change is, but

we're going to have a moment soon. And I

believe we can, you know, just spend

[music] some time in his presence and

let the Holy Spirit speak to us. What

are the things, Lord? What are the

things that I can change for the better?

How do you want to shape me? How do you

want to shape my personality?

Having hope for change is good, but

hoping without acting won't get you

anywhere.

So many people want to change. They want

to reinvent themselves. You know, oh,

now I can do it. You know, I want to

break free from my sins. They have all

these plans yet it never works because

they haven't [music] started taking

action yet.

So I just want to give us a moment to

reflect. Just 20 [music] seconds. 20

seconds. What is one thing you hope to

change in your life? And what's an

action you can take to get there? One

thing

Lord, what is one thing that you want to

do within me? What is one way

that you want to shape my character into

and how can I start walking towards

that?

You know, maybe

maybe the Lord is compelling you to be

the spiritual leader of your household.

Or maybe the Lord is compelling you to

strengthen your marriage a little bit

more.

Or maybe there's an addiction there that

you need to overcome.

What is one thing that you can do?

What is one habit that you can put into

place? You know, maybe it's doing a

Bible plan with your son or with your

daughter.

Let's open the Bible together. Maybe

it's praying with your spouse before you

go to sleep.

Maybe it's approaching a friend, a good

friend, a godly friend, or a mentor

about your addiction, asking for help.

Come on, would you help me? I need to

get over this.

You see, God's grace doesn't excuse sin.

It transforms our hearts.

It brings us new life.

It compels us to act differently.

And this is our final verse. Colossians

Colossians 3:12

3:12,

Paul says, "Therefore, as God's chosen

people, holy and dearly loved, clothe

yourselves

with compassion,

kindness, humility,

gentleness, and patience.

Clothe yourselves with the fruit of the

spirit.

Believing in God is amazing, but Lord,

how can I be more like Jesus? How can I

clothe myself

with with gentleness, with humility,

with compassion?

Hope for change is only complete

with repentance. And no matter what you

did, no matter how bad it is, he is

faithful to forgive you of your sins and

purify you of all injustice.

Hope for change starts with

acknowledging the fullness in Christ. It

continues

by a change of identity and it is

completed with real repentance.

Colossians gives us true hope for change

because if God can make the dead alive,

he can also transform us into the image

of Christ.

And one of the biggest joys of my life

is actually to see lives changed by the

gospel. There is no greater joy. It is

such a pleasure to be a youth pastor.

[music] come come here on a Friday and

see the youth students just surrender to

the war

and to see their families change.

Recently we had we had youth students

come and their whole family was

impacted. Whole household came to Christ

totally transformed totally set free.

Breakthrough by the name of Jesus.

There is nothing greater than that.

The gospel is simple.

All we need is to say yes, Lord,

and run towards the cross. The cross is

enough.

Church, the gospel isn't a self-help

tool.

Christ didn't come to make bad people

feel good. He came to make dead people

come alive.

And maybe you've been feeling dead

spiritually. God is telling you today,

it's time to come alive. It's time. It's

time to run after me. It's time to chase

me. And God will meet you there. He will

give you fullness, a new identity. He

will change your life. Hope. He will

give you hope for a better, for an

eternal life. Come on. Can we close our

eyes and bow our heads?

Jesus, thank you that you're in this

place.

Jesus, we thank you, Lord, that you give

us an opportunity

to say yes to you.

I believe Jesus wants to transform lives

today. I believe he wants to work within

you.

Maybe there's something you've been

holding on to.

And Jesus is saying, you know what? Cast

all your burdens upon me.

He wants to give you hope. He wants to

give you a future.

He is not mad at you. He is madly in

love with you.

So with every head bowed and every eye

closed,

just want to give you an opportunity to

respond and say yes to Jesus.

Yes to the gospel,

yes to life in the fullness of Christ.

Lord, you see every heart here.

Lord, I pray right now, Holy Spirit,

would you fill each heart?

Holy Spirit, we thank you for the

conviction that you bring

that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Lord, we want to have a radical

transformation.

Help us hold on to that hope, that hope

for change. Come on. If this is you

tonight, in the count of three, I'm

going to give you an opportunity to

boldly just pop your hand up and say yes

to Jesus.

One, that Jesus loves you.

He loves He is madly in love with you.

Two, he wants a relationship with you.

He calls us

to be his sons and his daughters. He

gives us a new name.

And three, he wants you to say yes. He

wants you to repent. He wants you to

[music] change direction. Come on, if

that is you, why don't you pop up your

hand right now and say yes to Jesus.

Jesus, I'm saying yes to you. I want

more of you right now, Lord. Thank you,

Lord, for [music] every heart in this

place. I see a hand. See that hand at

the back? God bless you. Come on.

If there is anyone else here that wants

to say [music] yes to Jesus, say yes to

the cross.

I see that hand. Come on. God bless you.

hope for change, lives being transformed

in the name of Jesus.

Come on, church, repeat after me,

[music] "Dear Jesus,

I'm a sinner. I need a savior.

Forgive me.

Make me new.

Give me a new identity.

Be my Lord.

Be my Savior.

I commit to you all the days of my life.

Be the center of it all

in Jesus name. And we all said amen.