Bro Gary Sunday Morning 10/2/11

Bro Gary Sunday Morning 10/2/11

Col 1:9  For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Col 1:10  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.  It is the will of God that we be saved, that we be sanctified, that we worship God in spirit and in truth, and that we abide in all He has taught us.

Col 1:1  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,

Col 1:2  To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is a wonderful thing to live in the day of grace: we can have the inspiration of the divine upon the soul.  We all receive thoughts that come to our mind from something or someone.  It could be the voice of our flesh, or of someone else, or of the enemy that is trying to lead us down the wrong track.  It is wonderful to receive instruction from God. 

The eternal God brings peace.  Every one of us that is here this morning has a past.  “All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God.”  It is a natural thing to have regrets for our past.  Even after we have gotten saved and repented, confessing and turning form our sin, people can live in the past regretting constantly their sin.  It is not the will of God that you live in constant regret of your past. 

When you get saved, God removes your sin as far as the East is from the West never to be remembered against you again.  We make a choice to remove our self from the regrets of the past and to draw near to God and allow his peace to dwell in us.

From the Gentile point of view, we look back and think of Jesus bringing peace.  There is no peace in the world; there is no rest to the wicked.  Peace is a part of the kingdom of God.  “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost.”  God wants us to have peace.

Reference to being thankful:

Col 1:3  We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Col 1:4  Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,

We have lots to be thankful for.  We have brothers and sisters that are praying for us every day.  Fellowship is a wonderful thing.  We live in a world that is full of lonely people.  Many are lonely because they don’t know God and don’t have someone to care and share. 

We are thankful because God has ordained that we be made one in Christ.  Paul had everything going for him as far as the literal Jew was concerned.  He gave all of that up in order that he might win Christ. 

We can be thankful for all the brothern even if we don’t know them all because we make up the body of Christ and there is a oneness, a unity.  Not a binding together of gruesome relationships, but of coming together in unity of the Spirit and in oneness of heart. 

Col 1:5  For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

It is wonderful to have the hope of heaven.  We don’t have the concept that we would feel more at home here if there were more gold trimmings.  We are thankful to have this nice building and that it is clean.  We are thankful to have something that so far exceeds anything that our eyes have ever looked upon. 

As nice as a literal building may be there is no way to compare it to the hope we have in heaven.  It is not just the streets of gold, or the mansion that we have in heaven.  It is the land that God has prepared for us and being with all those that have prepared and written songs and served God here on earth and encouraged us.

Think how wonderful Heaven will be.  We will see that one that came to earth so that we could go to heaven.  That One that spanned the gulf, we couldn’t get to Christ, but He spanned the gulf. 

Many in this audience have had spiritual miracles and physical miracles.  IT is wonderful this morning that we will be able to thank Him in heaven.  The greatest miracle is not healing to our body, but a changed life, a new heart and a new spirit.

Col 1:6  Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:

It is a challenge to us today.  In the known world of AD 64 the gospel had reached out to all and had brought forth fruit.

Col 1:7  As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;

Col 1:8  Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.

Not only did Paul love those that he had not seen, they loved him who they had not seen. 

We don’t know all that preaching the gospel cost Paul.  We don’t know how his own rejected him.  We don’t know how he felt about the literal Jew’s attitude toward him for preaching the gospel of Christ. 

His testimony is that he counted it all dung.  We may not know what price someone else has paid to serve God but we know that for each there is a cost counted and a price paid that we might please Him.

Col 1:9  For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Where ever you are spiritually, you can thank God for the knowledge that you have now and how far that God has brought you.  But you must still have the desire to be filled with all the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. 

It is an old story that people try to influence others to go a different way.  It is an old way.  It didn’t happen just yesterday, the enemy worked on Adam and Eve with unbelief in the thought, “you shall not surely die.” 

We have people that come along with a strange doctrine some completely contrary to truth and others with a little bit of Bible doctrine mixed in.  Some may feel they have a revelation that goes past the gospel and they may, but it didn’t come from God.

It is the will of God that all be saved.  It is the will of God that all be sanctified.  Sanctification is attainable in this life.  It is not a weird doctrine and it does not make you weird.  The gospel of Jesus Christ brings us back into the image of God: the image that Adam and Eve had before they sinned.

Thank God we can be freed from the nature to sin.  It doesn’t make it so that you cannot backslide.  You can be tempted and yield to sin and backslide.  But it gets rid of the war on the inside.

Jesus Christ did away with all those partitions that come in the world of clicks and special groups that people belong to that make them stand out or apart from others. 

When one member suffers, we all suffer.  When one member rejoices we all rejoice.  We are not to have partitions in the thought of there being “a little select thing that a select few belong to.”  God wants us to love everyone.  God wants everyone to love us. 

We are to be a body.  I need both hands, I need both feet, and I need all five toes.

It is the will of God to know the doctrine. 

Joh 7:17  If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

When you are saved, the wonderful thing about God is that He always witnesses to truth and He always witnesses to error.  If you will stay saved and true to God when someone wants to make you their convert, He will witness to you that that doesn’t sound like the certain sound of the truth of God’s Word.

Col 1:10  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

 Col 1:11  Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

God knew that we were headed for tests.  Whether you are saved or unsaved you will have tests and trials and difficulties.  If you are saved, you have someone there that will help you carry your burdens.  Christ has a way of strengthening you and me.  When Christ was in the garden, in a tough test, an angel came and strengthened Him.

I

was reading about a man with the last name Bradford.  He was known for saying when a criminal was executed: “But for the grace of God, there go I.”  He loved God and one day they got a queen by the name of Bloody Mary that didn’t have an appreciation for God and for the things of God.  He said when one came and told him that the queen wanted him dead, “God will sustain me.”

We want to live so that when the big task comes, we have the attitude: “God will sustain me.” 

When we are faced with a trouble, we don’t usually think that “This one is so small I’ll just sail through it.”  We look at them as large.  We need to be strengthened by Christ. 

Jesus stood by Paul that night when they were going to be shipwrecked.  This word of God is full of strength.  We’ve all felt so week that our knees shook and trembled and we didn’t know if we could go on.

If you’re in need of strength, have patience and long suffering, God will send you strength.  Longsuffering with joyfulness, God doesn’t want you grumbling and complaining. 

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

It is wonderful to be out of darkness this morning.  This is a present reality.  We can be delivered out of darkness and a partaker of the inheritance.

I am dwelling on that mountain where the golden sunlight gleams,
O’er a land whose wondrous beauty far exceeds my fondest dreams:
Where the air is pure, ethereal, laden with the breath of flowers:
They are blooming by the fountain, ‘Neath the amaranthine bowers.

Is not this the land of Beulah, Blessed, blessed land of light,
Where the flowers bloom forever, and the sun is always bright?

I can see far down the mountain, Where I wandered weary years,
Often hindered in my journey By the ghosts of doubts and fears:
Broken vows and disappointments Thickly sprinkled all the way;
But the Spirit led, unerring, To the land I hold today.

I am drinking at that fountain, Where I ever would abide;
For I’ve tasted life’s pure river. And my soul is satisfied:
There’s no thirsting for life’s pleasures. Nor adorning rich and gay,
For I’ve found a richer treasure, One that fadeth not away.

Tell me not of heavy crosses, Nor of burdens hard to bear,
For I’ve found this great salvation Makes burden light appear;
And I love to follow Jesus, gladly counting all but dross,
Worldly honors all forsaking for the glory of the cross.

O the cross has wondrous glory! Oft I’ve proved this to be true;
When I’m in the way so narrow, I can see a pathway through:
And how sweetly Jesus whispers, “Take the cross, thou need’st not fear,
For I’ve tried the way before thee, and the glory lingers near.”

Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

God will take the spirit of man and use His finger to become a candle of the Lord to search the heart.  When you cry out “search me O God.”  be aware that the enemy may come and accuse you. 

When God searches the heart he reveals when something is wrong.  He does not use the “maybe” topic, or the “You could have done something better.” topic. 

When God reveals something to you He shows you that there is something that He is displeased with.  It doesn’t matter if it is our lingo or a habit of life or thought, our attitude is, “God I love you more.”

Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

God only allowed evil so that you could have victory over it.  When you are struggling with temptation and you wonder “Why would I be tempted with sin of any kind?” He only made evil so that you could have victory over it.  Christ to have preeminence: He wants first place in our heart and life.

Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Col 1:20  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Col 1:21  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

To think of Him loving us so much that you and I can be saved!  Walk worthy.  He gave Himself so that you might present yourself holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight.  There are people that can pick us apart but so far no one has ever seen my heart.  If our heart attitude toward God is, “I want to please you.”   

Then we are unblameable before Him. 

My wife loves me so she doesn’t magnify my faults.  Thank God for a good wife.  I have a heavenly father that sent His son so that I could be holy before God with the right attitude toward Him, the right attitude toward one another, and the right attitude toward family. 

If you will allow your family to be a tool of the enemy then you will be constantly oppressed.  If they are constantly hurting you, you will find that you are constantly oppressed. 

You have another family, the family of God.  We are not looking for pats on the back and recognition; we’re looking for people that love us.  When one is walking on air, we don’t think of ever popping their bubble. 

Walk worthy so that your mind is holy.  God is a shield.  Use it on your mind.  Our mind is often a target of all sorts of things.  Any thought that comes to you that you can do something about, pray and do something.  When your mind becomes a target of things that you can do nothing about pray for that shield.

It is wonderful that God has put a seriousness upon our soul to not do anything that would hinder any soul, and a seriousness to love one another.  He put a seriousness to be unblameable, to not defraud anyone, to not take advantage of someone that is in trouble, and to be holy, unblameable, and unreproved.

You may wish you had handled some things differently in past years.  Rest it and let God put his arm under you and give you the thought before you meditate upon it and the word before you say it.  Let Him guide you for He always leads in the paths of pleasantness.

Col 1:23  If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

It is never wrong to take the hammer of the Word of God and drive in the stakes of, “I’m going to serve God.”  The parents are among the especially blessed in this congregation.  Parents drive the stakes, “I’m going to pray for these children and love them.”  Grandparents pray for your grandchildren and love them.

There are some that are heartbroken because you don’t have a mother’s or a father’s love.  Don’t mess up the bouquet that you have for the bouquet that you may never have.  Don’t forget the good mothers and fathers in the Church. 

Don’t be moved away from the hope of the gospel.   Stay believing God, and walk worthy.