New Year, New Life, New Clothes

In one paragraph

This message came from Colossians 3, continuing a series on new life in a new year. Pastor looked at what Paul says believers are to take off and, more fully, what they are to put on as people who belong to God. The heart of the message was that what we wear on the inside shows up in how we treat everyone around us. Paul's list of things to "take off" had been the starting point the week before,...

Read together

1. 2 Corinthians 5:17 used to frame the new year as a new life and transformation in Christ
2. Colossians 3:5 lists things to put off: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, greed, idolatry
3. Colossians 3:12-17 the main passage for the sermon, covering what believers are to put on: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, love, peace, and gratitude
4. Psalm 47 cited as a source for the song clap your hands all you people
5. Psalm 48 cited as a source for the song great is our Lord
6. Psalm 28 cited as a source for the song unto you oh Lord
7. Psalm 8 cited as a source for the song how majestic is your name
8. Psalm 33 cited as a source for the song sing to the Lord a new song
9. Psalm 40 cited as a source for the song I waited patiently for the Lord
10. Psalm 42 cited as a source for the song as a deer pants for the water
11. Psalm 51 cited as a source for the song create in me a clean heart oh God
12. Psalm 68 cited as a source for the song let God arise and enemies be scattered
13. Psalm 89 cited as a source for the song I will sing of the mercies of the Lord
14. Psalm 103 cited as a source for the song bless the Lord oh my soul
15. Micah 6:8 briefly mentioned as a project connected to the forty days in the word study

Talk about it

1. Pastor talked about idolatry being anything we put above God, including family and our pleasure life. What are some things in your own life that can quietly edge God out without you even noticing it happening?
2. Pastor described compassion as entering into another person's journey, not just feeling sorry for them from a distance. Think of a time someone genuinely entered into your story. What did that do for you, and what made it hard or easy to receive?
3. Pastor held up Marty Murphy as an example of humility, someone who serves through pain without drawing attention to it. What does that kind of humility look like day to day, and what gets in the way of living it?
4. Pastor said patience has a negative side, holding back when someone irritates you, and a positive side, forbearance, actually bearing another person's burden. Where do you find it easier to hold back, and where do you find it easier to enter in and help carry the weight?
5. Pastor read from Colossians 3 that the message of Christ is to dwell among us richly, and he connected that to the songs the congregation sings together. How does singing scripture or hearing it sung affect you differently than just reading or hearing it spoken?