Sermons on Colossians
Just as Paul challenges believers to love with authenticity in verses nine through thirteen, he is now challenging believers to overcome evil with good in verses fourteen through twenty-one. These two phrases—let love be genuine and overcome evil with good—serve as bookends to this section dealing with the characteristics of true believers. Starting in today’s study and continuing to the end of this series, we will be considering specific steps that we must take in order to overcome evil with good.
When it comes to our Christian walk, we want instant spiritual maturity. We want all our sinful desires to just magically disappear. We don’t understand why the war between the flesh and the spirit continues to rage inside of us. We struggle to see God’s plan at work in our lives as we flounder in mediocrity—mediocrity in our prayers, mediocrity in our Bible reading and study, mediocrity in witnessing and mediocrity in ridding ourselves of all the sin that weighs us down and trips us up. The problem is that there is nothing about spiritual growth and maturity that comes quickly. We need to think about discipleship more like a crock pot, not a microwave!
In our text today, we’re going to be introduced to the concept of the New Covenant—God’s promise to all mankind that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This new covenant can be summarized in the message of the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). We will pick up where we left off last week in 2 Corinthians 2. Paul is still referring to the “stern letter” that he had written to the Corinthian believers. We learn from other passages that it was Paul’s disciple, Titus, who delivered the letter to them. Remember, Paul didn’t want to go there himself because he did not want his visit with them to be filled with conflict and difficulties. Titus was to go to Corinth, deal with the issue and then meet Paul in Troas, but as we’re about to discover, Titus never showed up in Troas and this worried Paul.
In Nehemiah 9 and 10, the people covenanted together to “observe and do all the commandments of the Lord.” Now in Nehemiah 11, we see the result of this covenant and how it impacted the lives of these people. Many people pay lip-service to following God—or committing wholly to Him—but commitment to God does not come without effort and sacrifice. As we pray each time before studying God’s Word, we must be doers of the Word, not hearers only.
Every year, we have an opportunity to reevaluate our walk with the Lord—to make adjustments to our daily routines and recommit our lives to Him. I want to encourage you to make a plan for your daily disciplines with the Lord. If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. How will you invest time with the Lord in 2022? The final section of this second chapter of Luke focuses in on an event that happened when Jesus was twelve years old. As was their custom, Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem during the feast of Passover. But as they left, Jesus did not leave with them. Let’s take a look at Luke 2:41-52 to discover just what He was doing and why He was doing it. From His example, we will learn what our priorities should be when it comes to spiritual growth.
One of the things that I hope to go see one day is the world’s most famous geyser, Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. This geyser faithfully erupts about 20 times a day. As we think about the concept of faithfulness, I want us to think about how that no matter what is going on in your life, if we want to truly be faithful to the Lord then we need to be faithful in every situation. In Luke 2:22-40, we will spend some time looking at each of the characters in this story to see how they demonstrated their faithfulness to God.
When Joshua was charged by God to lead the nation of Israel into the Promised Land, he was not given a series of military strategies or a five-step plan for success. Instead, God’s instruction included meditating on His Word day and night. Why this? What is so significant about meditation and how is it different than what we see portrayed in Hollywood or in Eastern cultures?
HELP US GO INTO ALL THE WORLD, “For the body does not consist of one member but of many.” 1 Corinthians 12:14
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Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? These are all crucial questions that we must ask ourselves before we hit send! In this final message of the series, we are going to consider the last crucial question—“Is it clear?” Dr. Eggerichs writes, “We need to be clear in our own minds as to where we are headed in what we are saying; otherwise, those on the receiving end will be more confused. As pastors, we say, ‘If there is a mist in the pulpit, there’s a fog in the pew.’”
“People hear your words of truth, but the feel your words of kindness… I am defining kindness as being a loving and respectful person” (Before You Hit Send page 63). Our first concern in communicating with others is to be truthful; but when you communicate truth without love and respect, you are not communicating at all because people will not listen to someone who is disrespectful and rude. In this message, we will look at several motivations for communicating with kindness.