Scripture referenced 3 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
-
2 Corinthians 5:17 quoted and discussed as the basis for the prior week's sermon on new life in Christ, and referenced again as the foundation for the current sermon on new things
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
Colossians 3:1-17
read aloud in full as the main text for the sermon, covering putting off the old self and putting on the new self
1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;
6 for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
7 You also once walked in those, when you lived in them;
8 but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
9 Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,
10 and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,
11 where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
14 Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Psalm 127:1-2
quoted by Melissa Landis as a verse on her heart about relying on God rather than striving in vain
1 Unless Yahweh builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to stay up late, eating the bread of toil; for he gives sleep to his loved ones.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The message drew on Colossians 3:1-17 to pick up where the previous week's sermon left off, calling the church to live out the new life that comes with being in Christ. Pastor Mike framed it around a phrase introduced the week before: "This year, we're going to do things differently, because we can't wait another year." The sermon was the first installment of a series that will carry into the church's upcoming "Forty Days in the Word" study.
What was said
Pastor Mike opened by pressing on the urgency behind that phrase. The community around us, families, and individual believers cannot afford to keep doing things the way they have always been done. Change that stays only in the head is not enough. It has to move from the head to the heart, and when the Holy Spirit does that work, it changes not only the person but everyone that person comes into contact with.
He then connected the passage to the previous week. Second Corinthians 5:17 had established that anyone in Christ is a new creation and the old things are gone. Colossians 3 is the natural next question: what does that new life actually look like, and how do you put it on?
The first three verses of the passage set the foundation. Because believers have been raised with Christ and their lives are now hidden with Christ in God, Paul calls them to set both their hearts and their minds on things above rather than on earthly things. Pastor Mike read the "death" image in verse three not as grim but as freeing: what is dead no longer responds to the old pulls and patterns.
From there, Paul lists what has to come off. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, greed, anger, malice, slander, filthy language, lying. Pastor Mike was careful to note these are not an exhaustive list, but a pointed one. These are the things that once occupied believers' thoughts and actions, and they are exactly what the people around us, neighbors, coworkers, families, do not need to see continuing in those who claim to follow Christ.
Then Paul turns to what gets put on in their place: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and over all of it, love. Pastor Mike described love as the overcoat that holds everything else together. It is not a Sunday habit or a cliche. It is something a person is becoming as they allow those things to take root inwardly, and it shows up actively in words and actions.
The sermon closed with an honest challenge. Most Christians, Pastor Mike said, do not actually know how to study God's word. Reading a passage or a devotional is not the same thing as studying. The "Forty Days in the Word" series is designed to begin closing that gap, and he pressed the congregation to join a LifeGroup and engage the material seriously, because the word has to do more than be read. It has to penetrate, and that requires allowing it to.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Mike said that change begins in our head and then moves to our heart, and that when it truly reaches our heart we embrace it. What does that journey from head to heart look like in your own experience?
- The sermon drew a distinction between reading God's word and studying it, and between reading what someone else gets from it and digging in yourself. Where would you honestly place yourself on that spectrum right now?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,774 words
4:44
Alright, you guys may be seated.
4:58
Good morning. Let's bow our heads and open with word of prayer, please. Dear heavenly father, we just thank you for this day to be able to come into this church and worship you, lord. We just pray that we would glorify you through worship and through the word today. Please bless all those involved in Jesus name.
5:14
Amen. Few announcements today. Next week, during the connect hour at 10AM, that will be our annual church meeting. So if you remember, come on in for that. Again, during the connect hour 10AM, several things on the docket for that including election of the new church officers, and you'll see a list of those in your bulletin, as well as, we'll be reelecting a couple of elders, not reelecting, one reelection, one election for elders.
5:45
And so we'll be praying about those before next Sunday. Also, you can look inside your bulletin and check out all the Bible studies that are getting ready to start up again, and lots of things happen as the New Year starts. One other thing that's going to be happening soon is the elders have been working with the staff with a gentleman by the name of Nick Stern here, who's gonna be putting on a little seminar, we'll call it. And, I'd like to bring him up and tell you a little bit about that at this time.
6:15
Good morning. When I moved to Jackson three years ago, I met a young man named Todd who was, a Mormon, and I didn't know what that meant. So I I did some research. I read three books and wrote a five page paper form on what, you know, his history was and kind of our reaction to that. And I wanted to present some of that information in a seminar here to the church to share it so you guys don't have to read as many books as I read.
6:39
And, we put a little postcard inside your pamphlets today, and it's gonna be a very gentle talk, very open, easy discussion. And, on the back, if anybody wants to, you can see a website right there, mormonismseminar.tumblr.com. And from there, you can actually get the entire text of what we're gonna be talking about that day. And you can see it's very it's a very calm presentation, very straightforward, and very historically based. And I would like to invite each and every one of you to come out to that seminar.
7:07
It is Saturday, January 21 at 06:00 here. And then the following day, that next Sunday, we're gonna just do a little question and answer session downstairs in the library, during the fellowship hour. So that way if anybody wants to come and you have some questions, feel free to bring them there. We'd love to have everybody come. So keep these.
7:26
And if nothing else, if you could just post these on your fridge and just pray for us too, because we realize it's a sensitive subject, but I wanna give you my pledge that we're just doing our very best to present in a straightforward historical manner and be very respectful of everybody's beliefs. And at the same time, present a historical look at that, that religion there. So hope to see you all there.
7:48
Thank you, Nick. One of the things that the elders have been, looking at, is the I 15 Corridors is what we call it. And that, you know, surrounded by the LDS Church of Latter day Saints. It's something that this church and this and the elder board have looked at at at that huge untouched mission field there. And, again, always, presenting the truth and love is the first goal, with all of this.
8:13
So, with that, I'd like to give you a search committee update as well. Last Thursday, we had a Skype interview with one of our leading candidates. Right now we have two leading candidates we are very that have kinda raised to the top, so to speak. And we have two others that are kind of in the hole, and we're trying to work through that process. Several other candidates are still coming forward, and we are processing them as we go, but, right now we have four four at the upper echelon of the of the search committee, two, they're actually above those, And so we're, in the next, last Thursday, we did a Skype interview with one of those candidates, and this upcoming Thursday, we're gonna do another Skype interview.
8:55
The last one lasted about two hours, and, some of the high points, I just wanna share with you, some of the the high points for this young man, well, he's not that young, but it's my age, so I'll call him young. Were his love for the Lord and his passion for the word. Some things we got out of that search committee, his approach to ministry is holistic and looks at the big picture. He relates well to all generations. He is a young man who has a I already said young man, but he has a young family is what I meant to say.
9:27
He considers himself a relational pastor who is passionate about missions and telling people of the gospel, and introducing them to Jesus. Part of his vision is to equip the church to do the church's work, not so much about programs. The committee felt, as an overall view after that Skype interview that he's a genuine, authentic man who loves the Lord and is a natural pastor. So that was just some of the highlights. Again, you can talk to any of the elders or search committee members, you know, if you have questions about the the process and where we're at with all of that.
10:02
So with that, I would like to also, introduce a video clip right now. LifeGroups is coming up, and, Eric Wachup is doing a great job with that. So we're gonna show you a a quick clip about what's gonna happen with the next session for small groups.
10:15
Hi everybody, I'm Rick Warren, pastor at Saddleback Church and author of Purpose Driven Life. And I listened to my dad preach sermons all the time growing up, and actually my dad was on the staff of the seminary, and I heard more sermons than you could imagine growing up. And so many times I would write over into the side of my Bible as I was taking notes, YBH, YBH, yes but how, yes but how. And one of the things that I was always confused about was people would tell me what to do, but not So all my life growing up, I was Study your Bible. But nobody Hi everybody, I'm Rick Warren, pastor at Saddleback Church and author of Purpose Driven Life, and I've got a confession to make.
11:12
You know, I grew up in a Christian home, and I listened to my dad preach sermons all the time growing up, and actually my dad was on the staff of the seminary, and I heard more sermons than you could imagine growing up, and so many times I would write over into the side of my Bible as I was taking notes, YBH, YBH, Yes, but how? Yes, but how? And one of the things that I was always confused about was people would tell me what to do, but not tell me how to do it. For instance, all my life growing up, I was taught, you need to study your Bible. But nobody ever taught me how.
11:48
I didn't know how to do a character study. I didn't know how to do a word study. I didn't know how to study a chapter or a verse. I didn't know how to do a synthesis of a book. I didn't know how to study a theme through Scripture or how to do a character study.
12:01
And so it was very frustrating. I'd take my Bible, I'd read it, and I'd do the best I could, but then I would just put it away and give up. Our churches, your church and our church, and thousands of other churches across America, are going to do a spiritual growth emphasis together called forty Days in the Word. During that six week period, we're going to learn the word of God, I'm gonna teach you how to study the Bible for yourself. Your pastor's gonna teach you how to love the word of God through messages on the weekend, and questions like, where did we get the Bible, where did it come from, how do we know it's true, Where did we get the manuscripts?
12:44
And we're going to live the word of God. Now, to be a part of this, you're going to need to join a small group, and if you're not in a small group, your pastor and your church leaders can help you figure out how to start a small group. I'm not asking you to join one for the rest of your life. I'm asking you to join one for six weeks so we can study forty days in the Word together. It's going to be a great time.
13:08
God bless you.
13:14
Alright. I'm glad we got that working. Why don't you guys stand up one more time with me? Greet one another now that we're all filled up, and then we'll get into another song. You may be seated.
22:46
Amen. Thank you. Wow. Don't you love those words? Wow.
22:49
You have my heart, and I'm yours forever. Powerful, powerful words. Thank you, team. Perfect. Alright.
22:53
If you just quickly look at the prayer request on the, flyleaf of your bulletin right there in the little insert there, we'll wanna be praying for a number of people this morning. Wendy Marion just got back from the hospital. She had surgery a couple days ago, day and a half ago. Well, was yesterday, Friday. Friday.
23:10
Yeah. So, recovering at home and doing well but, needs full strength, so we wanna be praying for her. And there are a number of other people that, need our prayers and you see those listed in your bulletin and so let's remember them together. In a few moments we're going to hear from Melissa Landis. She'll be leaving to go back, to South Africa.
23:29
And so we've asked her to come and to share, and then we're going to commission her off again today and pray for her. So we're gonna be taking two offerings. And and our policy here is that and we believe that God's heart is missions. And so when we take two offerings, and we always tell people if you've only come prepared for one, then keep that one for the second offering. We believe that as we give to missions, God will take care of our needs here, as a church.
23:53
He will take care of paying the bills. And so we do that. We believe that that's what God does and that's how God does it. And so we wanna do that this morning. So we're gonna be taking two offerings.
24:02
The first one will be for the general expenses that we have here and then we'll hear from Melissa and then the second offering will be to to help her, to bless her as she goes off in a couple of weeks back to South Africa to minister, and she'll be gone for a year. And we just wanna embrace and love on her. Between the services at our connection time at the, in our fellowship hall, we wanna encourage you to go and meet with her, get one of her prayer cards, and just love on her today. Just let her know that she's not going alone, that she's part of a bigger picture of what we are here at First Be. That that she's part of she's part of us, and as we are sending her off, we're also going there with her through our prayers.
24:41
And it's not a matter that we and it's so easy to say, you know, we're gonna pray for you. The easiest phrase in the English language is I'm going to pray for you. The hardest phrase in English language is to keep it. And so it's easy for Christian to say, yep, I'm gonna do it. But when it gets really tough and and things start taking our time, we forget.
24:57
And so please go back and see her and get one of those cards and and, let God do what only God can do in our hearts and lives today. I'll ask the ushers to come and, we'll pray this morning for the offering as well as for these requests that are here. Let's pray together as our ushers come. Father God, we thank you for the privilege of being here today. We thank you for the beauty of the day, how gorgeous it's been, and we thank you for all of that.
25:23
We thank you, Lord, for how you will care for the needs of our church, for the corporate needs, for the needs of just daily operations and caring for just the bills that we have. And then, Lord, how you care for the physical needs. And we bring Wendy to you today. We thank you for how you have undertaken for her. We ask that you pour strength into her today and bless her family.
25:44
We pray lord that quickly she will recover and be able to do all that you have for her. We pray lord for Dan today. Ray and Susan is a foster son. We ask lord that you would bless him and encourage him during this time of of recovery from back surgery and Ray lord, we ask that you minister to him as he is needs of healing for his back and knee. And continue Lord for to pray for Linda and for Carol and for the many many needs of our family.
26:11
And we ask that you would just do that for your glory and for the good of your people here. We thank you for this New Year and what this New Year means and we ask as we move forward especially as we embrace forty days in the word. You will help us. Wanna be a part of that and be a part of a life group if we're not already and be immersed in your word over the course of these next months to help us take care of all the things that we need spiritually as we dig into your word, how to understand your word, and we'll give you thanks. Now, lord, will you take these gifts, multiply them, use them for your glory in Jesus name.
26:43
Amen. Thank you, Keel. Melissa, get the microphone from Mike and come on up. Did Mike leave? There you go.
28:51
Thanks. Welcome back this morning. Will you have Melissa
29:06
Can you hear me? Awesome. Good morning, everyone. My name is Melissa Landis, and you may some of you may know me, some of you probably don't. Last year, I was able to spend the year in South Africa working with our full time missionaries here at First Baptist, Kelly and Shree Smith, who serve in a rural community over there with the Zulu people.
29:27
The community that they serve with is ravaged by AIDS and HIV AIDS. And it is a very poor community. There's a big gap between the rich and the poor in South Africa. And the community that we work with is dirt poor, and they need Jesus. And so, we're there to meet the physical needs in order to meet spiritual needs.
29:50
I am headed oh, sorry. That's really small. I thought it was gonna be bigger. I'm headed back in about two and a half weeks to serve for another year with Kellen Shreese. And some of my ministries last year, actually all the ministries that I did, I'm going be doing again.
30:08
And you can go to the next slide. The main ministries that I was able to do were coach soccer. I built a soccer team, just a bunch of the Zulu kids there who love to play. They would come every day and work really hard, and we were able to play games on the weekends. And we lost every game except for one, but we're gonna go back and have a better record this year.
30:31
Just continuing to build relationships with the kids is huge. I think in long term, looking in long term, it's just awesome to just go deeper and deeper in those relationships and that's what I hope to do this year. I teach in the three local schools and I'd like to start incorporating more Bible teaching at all the schools. There's actually four, and I want to include start teaching at the school I haven't taught at yet. And there's a sport that girls play called netball, and it's it's not basketball.
30:59
It's like basketball, but the good. And I'd like to do at least maybe once a week or twice a week, play netball with the girls in order to start to get to know them better to impact and empower them. In the Zulu culture, they're very it's a male dominant culture. And usually what they do is they grow up. And at some point along the way, they have a baby with a man.
31:23
And then maybe a couple years down the road, have another baby with a different man. So they end up just raising children and staying at home. And so if you can start to, I hope to not change the culture, but to impact them with the hope of Jesus Christ. And that's kind of my focus in going back is to more I've been working with the boys in the soccer team and some girls, but I want to focus more on the girls as I return. I also want to continue to do more Bible studies.
31:49
I was able to hand out some a lot of Bibles last year in Zulu and English. And we have that available to us, I hope to just continue discipling those kids. And then basically, at some point, working with the Smiths, I'd like to do some sort of a health ed class and just start to educate people about HIV and AIDS. There's a few prayer requests that you guys can keep in mind. After the service, I'll just be hanging out in the fellowship hall, there's these cards that you guys can pick up with specific prayer requests on them.
32:25
And basically, just continued prayer for me for passion for serving alongside the Smiths, working with them, and working with the people in the Zulu community. Salvation specifically for my soccer kids and the kids I work with, and that I would be a light to them. Specifically, SPA, who's a man I mentioned before. He's about 21 years old, and he works with me to help coach. And if he came to know the Lord, it would be incredible.
32:51
I think God could just use him in such an awesome way because the kids really look up to him, especially the boys in the community. Prayer for Angel. Angel FBC helped to build a house for Angel last year and you guys have blessed her with an amazing, awesome house that's incredible for her And she is a new Christian, and Kelly Smith has been working through the Bible with her, you know, going over passages, and it's just come alive to her, and she is on fire for God. And if you guys can just keep praying for her because that's exactly what this community needs is more people who are deepening their relationship with Jesus Christ because there's not many of them. She's one, maybe one of two in the whole community and there's, you know, hundreds of people.
33:35
And then lastly, just obviously prayer and protection for physically and spiritually protection. Sorry. And then for the Smiths, just encouragement for them. They're there full time. And they're working with a local church about forty five minutes away from them to hopefully start a children's village in the next couple years.
33:56
That's their hope is to help abused children in their community and in other communities across South Africa to be able to have a second chance at life. Kids who are orphans, kids who have lost their parents from HIV and AIDS, they hope to get them into this amazing community on their farm that they hope to build up, to have a house mother who can take care of them, to get education, to be able to have access to health care. And this is a dream that the Smiths have had for years, and they're hoping to develop that in the next couple years. So just prayer that God would continue to open doors and close doors what He wants and to direct. And then the final slide is just oh, it's horrible.
34:36
Terrible to see. So don't worry about it. That's just my contact information. And if you're interested in in the back, there's the thing that holds all the prayer cards and stuff for the missionaries. I have contact information in the back.
34:50
And then you can meet with me in the fellowship hall if you have any questions after the service. But I just want to share a verse with you guys that's been on my heart this week. It's Psalm, and I lost it. I had it. Psalm one twenty seven.
35:06
Sorry. I had this card in there and then I just ripped it out. Okay. Psalm one twenty seven one through two. It says, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
35:27
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil for he gives to his beloved sleep. And I just like that verse. It's really stuck out to me this week because unless God is leading us in a certain direction or showing us what he wants us to do, sometimes it's easy for us to take on purposes in our lives or to have a drive to do something out of a selfish nature or to just do it all ourselves. And I think that this verse highlights how we need to rely on God to do that and to not be anxious about anything.
36:02
It can be anything that you're facing in life. And for me, this verse just helps me to understand that to see that God's preparing the way for me to go through you guys here and your encouragement to me and through other doors opening and that I don't have to be anxious about it and that he is the one who's going to give me sleep and rest and peace. And I just wanna thank you guys because you're involved in this, and you're all part of my lives in so many ways. And I really believe that what the Smiths are doing in South Africa is changing lives, and that's why I'm I wanna be a part of it because my heart's there and my heart's, you know, with these kids that I work with every day. So if you have any questions, meet with me after the service and we can talk about stuff.
36:45
So thanks.
36:54
Ask the elders to come please as we pray from us that it's great to support missions. It's even greater when they come from your church. And so it's a beautiful opportunity for us to be able to say, wow, we're behind you. Not only behind you, we're with you. And, being with you is by praying for you, by committing to do that, and by putting the card in our Bible and our on our wherever it is that we spend time in prayer and not forgetting you.
37:19
So I'm gonna ask the elders just to lay hands on her and to for Mike to give her prayer of of consecration as she goes.
37:29
Dear heavenly father, we just thank you for the heart that Melissa has for missions. Lord, we ask that that you would bless her journey to South Africa, that the people would be touched there by by her service, lord, through you. Lord, we ask for salvation for those in need of it over there. Lord, be with her in in strength of body. Help to keep those ailments away from her.
37:53
Lord and and also just spiritually help her to know the word so she can transmit it to others. Lord, we just thank you again for her heart, for service, and Lord, just be with her. Be with the Zulu people. Thank you for this church and the blessings you bestowed upon it. In Jesus' name, I pray.
38:11
Amen.
38:12
Amen. God bless you, Melissa.
38:13
Thank you very much.
38:15
We're gonna take a second offering as we sing, and so I ask the ushers to come and, that we take this offering. It's to bless Melissa and to say thank you for hearing God's call and for honoring that in God. Lord, take these offerings now as we give them to further the gospel in South Africa and specifically to help Melissa as she goes and we'll give you thanks for what you do in Jesus name. Amen. Thanks guys.
41:35
Appreciate that. Last week, we had our first sermon in the New Year from second Corinthians chapter five verse 17. We went through the second chapter or the fifth chapter of second Corinthians talking about it's a new year, a new life. This morning, we wanna talk about new clothes. Last week, we started out with this phrase.
41:59
We had a video clip and, we talked about this phrase. This year, we're going to do things differently. And then in that clip, it it talked about the things that that, this particular group that was putting on this little clip, we're going to do differently and we were able to relate with that. We're we're going to act differently. We're going to say things differently.
42:16
We're going to dress differently. We're going to approach people differently. We're going to be kinder. We're going to love differently. Our life is going to be different.
42:23
This year, we're going to do things differently And then at the end of the clip it gave that powerful catchphrase. The reason why we're going to do things differently is because we can't wait another year. And I believe that's the focus of where we're headed in 2012. We must do things differently because we can't wait another year. The world around us can't wait another year.
42:53
Our community can't wait another year. Our families can't wait another year. And may I be so bold to say, you and I cannot wait another year. There are too many things going around us. There are too many things out there that pull us.
43:08
It's too easy to fall into the trap of doing things the way we've always done them. It's too easy to fall in the trap of, well, it's just the way it is in the valley. Just because it's just the way it is in the valley doesn't mean it's the way it ought to be in the valley. And so often we find ourselves just being satisfied, just falling into that trap of saying, well, you know, I can't change anything so I might as well just accept it. That certainly isn't what God would have us do.
43:36
Change begins in our heart and actually it goes from our head to our heart and when it's in our heart we embrace that change. And God does an extraordinary thing through the Holy Spirit to work in us in such powerful ways that everything that we do and say is changed, is impacted, and when it's impact, when it impacts us, it has to impact others that we come in contact with. And so last week, we talked about in second Corinthians chapter five verse 17 that therefore, if we are in Christ, that means we found Christ as personal savior, we become new creatures, new creations. The old things are are passed away or gone and and new things begin. It's a new life.
44:17
Things change And so this morning we want to move in that vein, and I understand and know that I'm not going to finish this method this morning. In fact, I'm barely going to start it because it goes on for the next couple of weeks as we prepare for forty days in the word. By the way, this particular, life group study that we hope the whole church will embrace because if you're not already in a life group, we want you to be in one. So find one, and next week we'll have all the listings of the groups that are there, with numbers and you're able to contact them. They can if you're interested at all, if you haven't already become a part of one.
44:54
And those groups that are started, some of them took a break as ours did over the holidays and we're restarting again in another week and we'll begin with all the other groups in this pack, study of forty days in a word. Some have said, you know, and true because the Rick Warren series is not developed to take you deep in the word. It's developed to get a lot of people in the word. It's developed to get a lot of people in life groups. That's been the case of the other studies done.
45:21
This one however, this one however, is deeper than any that I have experienced from him. It really helps us understand how to study God's word. And in this new year, it's gonna be not only critical, but so important to the success of not only the church, but to you as a family and individuals that you understand how to study the word. Not just understand how to read God's word. Because we can read it together, and and we will in a moment, and we can read verses.
45:49
That isn't studying God's word. That's reading God's word. And we can read little clips, and I do every day. We can read our our devotional books, and we read a paragraph or two paragraphs that that people write for us and we read them and we're blessed by them. That's not studying God's word.
46:04
That's reading what someone else has gotten from God's word. All of that's good. But in order for you and I to be able to handle the test that you and I will get, And I always say if you haven't gotten any yet, cheer up, you will. Because they are coming. And as we look at the way the world is now, not the way it was forty years ago, but the way the world is now and the culture that you and I live in now and the things that you and I talk about now and the things that we see on television now and the books that our children read now and the movies that our children go to now, and the things that occupy our children's mind now.
46:48
If we do not have an understanding of how to get into God's word and do more than merely read it and do more than merely read what someone else gets out of it. If we cannot go further and deeper in God's word to understand what it says for me, to understand what it says for you, to apply it and move it from our head to our heart, and allow God's word through the Holy Spirit to reveal truth and to change us unless unless that happens, unless we are willing to do that, then we will find ourselves in a roller coaster life and the results and consequences of which will bring distress, discouragement, and just a lot of junk into our life. You don't need that. I don't need that. We don't need that, and we don't have to settle for it.
47:47
That's why we say we're gonna do things differently this year because we can't wait another year to do them. So I encourage you to get excited about being a part of this venture as we go together. Will you go with me, this morning? This is Colossians chapter three one through 17. And again, we won't even begin to delve into it.
48:08
I just wanna give you a couple of quick notes as I move in it and next week we'll break it apart for you. But I want us to read it together. First, Colossians one to three. Read it with me as we have it in front there. Since then you have been raised with Christ.
48:24
Set your hearts on things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. The first emphasis of Colossians chapter three that Paul brings to the believers attention is now that there are new things because, in second Corinthians chapter five verse 17 it says, all things are passed away. Behold, all things become new.
48:53
What are these new things? And we're talking about in these next couple of weeks what these new things are and how to apply these new things. And remember what Rick said earlier, good but but but how do I do that? Yes, but how? Well we want to begin to show you how.
49:10
By by by making some significant decisions that will impact the rest of your life. So as you look at the first verse there, since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above. He's telling us we're going to move now in this new year, in our new experience, and he's saying that to the Christians, your life is going to change. You're going to move from where you were, to the thought patterns that you had, to the habits that you did, to the things that you embraced. You're gonna move them.
49:37
They were earthly things. They were things that you did when you were away from Christ, but now things are different. And when things are different, you now set your hearts on things above. Say it with me. Set your hearts on things above.
49:50
Say it.
49:50
Set your
49:53
See, we're going to move from where we have been. Just having our heart embracing things that are earthly, things that are around us, things that that tempt us, things that impact us, things that keep us really from knowing what truth really is. So, we're going to move from that to things above. Why? Because Christ is there, seated at the right hand of God.
50:12
Then in verse two he said, set your mind on what? On things what? Above. Again, he says it again. Things above, not on earthly things.
50:20
And he gives a word picture in verse three. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Gives the picture of death. You say that's not a very good picture. I mean, that's kind of a gruesome picture.
50:34
I think they don't like to think about death. Well, in this word picture of death is what he's saying is we we are dead. We are no see, when a when something's dead, there's there's no life there. So, you know, you've heard that expression that sleeping dogs die or or dead men tell no tales. And what Paul is giving the word picture about here is when we are dead, we are no longer doing the things that we did before.
51:01
So Paul gives this picture of dead to the old life, dead to the old way. No longer allowing those old influences, those old patterns, those old things to now impact our life because we're gonna move from that which we did before to what we need to do now. And so he's saying, for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. And and look at verse four. Verse four says, he he gives us, when Christ who is your life appears and you also appear with him in in glory.
51:29
What he what he's saying verse four is, we're gonna move our affections to Christ and put em on Christ. Then, he moves in verses five through 17 and he says some things that are entered. Let's go there. Read it with me. Put to death, therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature.
51:48
Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourself of all such things as these. Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
52:17
Do not lie to each other since you've taken off your old self with its practices and put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator. Here there is no gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, cynthian, slave or free. But Christ is all and is in all. Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another.
53:01
If any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body, you are called to peace and be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through Psalm, hymns, and songs from the spirit. Singing to God with gratitude in your heart.
53:39
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through him. Lots of verses, lots of things. But what he says in those in those verses, you have in the the insert, in your bulletin. He says, we we need to take off some things. We need to take off some things, and then we need to put on some things.
54:05
So, so it gives us spiritual peril and and I'm not going to speak about them this morning. Just list them and next week, we'll go through them. He says, take off immorality. Take off idolatry. Take off anger.
54:18
Take off malice, take off slander, take off filthy language, take off lying. You see, that's a pretty and it's not, it's not inclusive. All inclusive, there are many many more things. What Paul is saying is that this group of things, these are the things that that we once did that occupied our time, occupied our thoughts, occupied our actions. We were people of immorality.
54:40
We were people of idolatry. We were people of anger. We did malicious acts toward one another. We were people of slander. We had filthy language coming out of our mouth.
54:48
We lied. Paul Paul is saying, those things have to go. And when you ask Christ to come into your heart, all those old things are passed away. Now, if they keep creeping up into your life, then those are the things that you they gotta make sure taken off. Those are the things that that can't continue to go on as usual.
55:08
This year, we're gonna do things differently because we can't wait another year. The people around us, our community, our schools, our our businesses, the people that see us every day. They don't need to see immorality in us. They don't need to see idolatry in us. They don't need to feel our anger.
55:27
They don't need to hear slander. They don't need to see and hear the filthy language that comes from our mouths. They don't need to be victims of our lives. That's not what it's about. And so Paul is saying, if in fact you are in Christ, if in fact you have asked Christ to come into your heart and you are a new creature, then you cannot continue to live as you did before.
55:49
So he's saying, take those things off and we'll talk about it more next week. Then he says, when you take those things off, here's some things you need to put on. A new nature, that new nature came in when you accepted Christ as personal savior and with that compassion and with that kindness and humility and gentleness and patience and forgiveness and love. These are the things that that we need to put on and in fact, he he says he uses it in in the last part put on love. It is kind of an overcoat of all those things.
56:18
That's what holds it all together, the love. The love you have for Christ and the love you have for others as it lives out in you. When it's inside of you and you've been moved it from your head to your heart and you now embrace it, That love that you have now for God now is seen in love for others, is seen in the love that is actually spoken and words spoken and actions done. It's seen actively. It's not just a cliche.
56:46
It's not just something that you do because you've gone to church. It's something that you are and you are becoming as you put these things on. And then the next couple of verses, that he talks about, let the peace of Christ rule in your heart since as members of one body you were called to peace. Be thankful that the message of Christ dwell among you richly and teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, songs, and so forth. We're gonna talk about that next week in a very detailed fashion because when we let the peace of Christ rule in the and then in verse, 16, look at that one.
57:19
It says, let okay. Alright. Sorry, I guess. Yeah. There it is.
57:28
Let the let the peace of Christ rule and then let the message of Christ dwell among you. So so there's the ruling of Christ, his peace, and the message of Christ that's dwelling in you, inside of you, inside of you. And that's really the genius of the forty days in the Word program. For some it'll seem academic. For others it will seem so practical.
57:50
But in order for it to be realistic, in order for it to become an impact item in your life, you need to embrace it. And so I want to encourage you to grab a hold of this opportunity. That's the purpose of us doing another thing together as a church body. So that we can not only hear the Word of God, but allow the Word of God to penetrate us into us in such a manner that it changes everything about us. If the Word cannot do that, the Word is not what the Word says.
58:20
If the Word cannot pierce our heart and teach us then the Word is not the Word. And so the Word can do that, but we must allow it. And we don't really understand that if all we do is read together and all we do is grab a morsel here and a morsel there. And one of the biggest issues among Christians, and we often don't say it because we don't want to admit it, But most of us really don't know how to understand God's word. Most of us are satisfied with the crumbs that we get on Sunday morning or the quick fix we get from reading a passage here or there or grabbing what someone else says.
59:10
What would happen? What would happen to you? What would happen to us? And what would happen to our community if we really understood God's word? What would happen in our lives, in our children's lives, if we as families really embraced God's word?
59:35
What would happen if the Holy Spirit revealed the truth of God's word to us in practical ways that it changed all we did? What would happen? Wouldn't that be an exciting thought? Let's move it from our thought to reality, shall we? Let's pray.
59:57
Father God, your word is so powerful, and we would ask that during these days that we would fall in love again with your word, that we would become people of the word, and that your word would penetrate our hearts and change our lives. We desire to do things differently in 2012 because we can't wait another year. Do that in our hearts we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand together as we sing and close this one.
1:00:35
I hope that when we, also sing our worship songs that we take that same approach with the the words that are written, those whether they're hymns or whether they're contemporary songs, they're all jam packed full of wonderful scripture as well as just great ideals. So when we sing, hope you guys just take a second also to realize what you're singing. And when that happens, you can really project it to God. I am not skilled to understand
1:04:41
Praise offering. Will you? What a beautiful song to end today. Hallelujah. Alright.
1:04:47
Please don't forget to go back and meet Melissa in the, fellowship hall as we close the day. Take that opportunity to just love on her and get one of her cards and bless her. Father God, thank you for this morning. Bless our people. Encourage them.
1:04:59
Love on them today by your Holy Spirit and use us for your glory. In Jesus name. Amen. God bless you. Have a great great day.
Share this message
Every word on these came out of the message. Download one and post it anywhere.
