Sunday Sermon Colossians 1:9-12
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome to FCC where we worship God in Spirit and in Truth, one verse at a time.
As you know, we are still in Covid season and this is effect us all. Here at FCC we normally have two different worship teams, two guitarist and two pianist, so please pray for the team during this unusal season of life.
Prayer
Prayer
Read Colossians 1:3-12
Read Colossians 1:3-12
Review
Review
In looking back over the last few weeks we learned that the church in Colosse was located in the Lycus Valley, in the area we know today as modern day Turkey.
One of the interesting things about this letter is the fact that Paul had never visited Colosse. He is writing to people, most of whom he has never met personally.
The church was started by a man named Epaphras who probably came to know the Lord through Paul’s ministry while Paul was staying in Ephesus, about 100 miles to the west of Colosse.
We also learned that to love God means we love others, not just the saints in the church, but those that are not believers. We are called to love the person, but to not need to love what they do!
We learned about the triad of Christian virtue that the Apostle Paul uses throughout his writings. Faith, Hope, and Love.
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
6. Then finally we learned about Paul central focus here in the first 8 verses and that was? The Gospel.
When the church becomes ashamed to share the gospel, we are headed for destruction and chaos church.
Our great nation, was founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
When the church stops proclaiming the gospel, when it stops living the gospel out in word, thought, and deed. Guess what? The church dies.
U.S. church membership was 70% or higher from 1937 through 1976, falling modestly to an average of 68% in the 1970s through the 1990s. The past 20 years have seen an acceleration in the drop-off, with a 20-percentage-point decline since 1999 and more than half of that change occurring since the start of the current decade. ~Gallup April, 2019~
The best estimate among researchers is that 3,850 to 7,700 congregations closing a year, which works out to around 75 to 150 congregations a week. September , 2019
Most of the decline is attributable to increase in percentage with people that have no religion at all!
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
7. Last week we learned that the Gospel is truth!
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
8. We learned that the Gospel is for individuals
which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;
Note the text says: “It has come to you!”
If you look back over your life, you can see times that God sent a gospel worker to share the love of God, what Jesus did on the cross for you, to call you out of your sin and back into a relationship with him. Think about this!
8. We learned that the Gospel is for all the world church.
Not just a particular group of people
Not just a special group of people
Not just a certain culture, country, or church
But for all the world!
Obviously, during the days of Paul the gospel conquered the Roman Empire and Asia Minor
Today, the gospel is reaching peoples from every tribe and tongue church!
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
End Review
End Review
which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;
We see here in this text church, that the gospel is not just for individuals, but it is for the whole world!
But look, the gospel is universal and if it proclaimed, if it is lived out look ta what the text says it does:
The Gospel produces fruit in the believers life and the churches life.
What happens when trees or vines stop producing fruit?
What fruit are we talking about here?
Pop Quiz
What book is the fruit of the Spirit located in?
Galatians 5:22-23
2. What is the fruit of the Spirit?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
3. What is the central focus of the first 8 verses of Colossians?
The Gospel
4. What is the longest book of the Bible and how many chapters are there?
Psalms
150
So church, the gospel will produce fruit in our lives.
Is the fruit for us? Or for others?
There is fruit in winning souls.
Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.
b. There is the fruit of repentance
c. The fruit of sanctification and holiness
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
Church, we will bear fruit if we abide in the vine and if we are abiding in the vine, the gospel will be going forth!
which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;
2. The Gospel comes by hearing!
Now you might think this is a no brainer, but remember, we must listen with our hearts.
Today, I want to give you a verse that will revolutionize the way you think about faith and about the Word of God. Check this out!
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Did you catch that?
Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God!
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God
Hearing comes by the Word of God
What more do you want if you are a true seeker of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Church, it is the Word that sanctifies, it is the Word that produces fruit, in fact, the Word is the seed.
“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
If the Word of God is the seed, and seeds produce fruit, then what should we desire more of? God’s infallible Word or the word’s of man that return void?
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. “For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
The devil and his cohorts were devising plans to get people to reject the Gospel. “Let’s go to them and say there is no God,” proposed one. Silence prevailed. Every devil knew that most people believe in a supreme being. “Let’s tell them there is no hell, no future punishment for the wicked,” offered another. That was turned down, because men obviously have consciences which tell them that sin must be punished. The concave was going to end in failure when there came a voice from the rear: “Tell them there is a God, there is a hell and that the Bible is the Word of God. But tell them there is plenty of time to decide the question. Let them ‘neglect’ the Gospel, until it is too late.” All hell erupted with ghoulish glee, for they knew that if a person procrastinates on Christ, they usually never accept Him.
Church, man will sit under the Gospel of Jesus Christ and never listen.
Yet, no person can ever hear the gospel until he opens his ears and heart and willingly receives the message.
The decision is his.
But note: the gospel, the message of the glorious hope offered to man, comes only by hearing the Word of God.
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
3. The Gospel is the message of grace to mankind!
Church, there is not greater message that the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The grace of God is the great hope which God who is rich in mercy offers mankind.
But note, the blessings of God are not forced upon man.
It is up to mankind to receive them.
When the gospel is accepted church, the grace of God will be known! Why? Because we are saved by grace through faith!
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
4. Ultimately and finally church, the Gospel results in love.
as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
Your love in the Spirit!
Faith, hope, and Love, but the greatest of these is love church.
When the Colossians accepted the Gospel of Grace, the good news oh by the way, we must first here the bad news, before the good news.
Does anyone here today know what that bad news is?
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
That’s right, the bad news is that we are sinners!
If we are sinners before we come to Jesus Christ, then we must ask ourselves what is sin?
What is sin?
Sin- hamartia (hä-mär-te'-ä ) -to miss the mark, to err, be mistaken to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong, to wander from the law of God, to violate God's law.
A good solid biblical definition of sin. In short, is defined as "missing the mark" of God's righteousness, through transgression of His laws or rebellion against His rule.
The Bible clearly states that all humans (except Jesus Christ as both human and divine) have sinned and fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23).
While some people sin more than others, "there is no one righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10)
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
Hamartiology, therefore, is the study of sin. From a biblical perspective, the study includes how sin was introduced into the world, how it impacts the world today, the solution to the sin problem of humanity, the judgment of sin, and the removal of sin at the end of time.
So if we are all sinners, violating God’s law, living outside of thew will of God
Then We all needed a Saviour and this is none other that Jesus Christ!
Praise God his one and only Son to die in our place church!
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
So what is the Gospel of Grace?
The best place to look is our Bibles church because it has given us everything for life and godliness.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
Did you see that grace?
The Gospel
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures
He was crucified
He was buried
And he rose again on the third day
He died for you and for me
God loves us so much that he sent his Son Jesus to die in our place church.
Jesus is the only way to heaven for the Scripture says:
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Church, did you see that? There is no other name under heaven which one can be saved!
Let’s look at :
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Church, we just walked the Romans Road, we just shared the Gospel.
“If the Lord’s bearing our sin for us is not the gospel, I have no gospel to preach.” (C.H. Spurgeon)
“There is nothing attractive about the gospel to the natural man; the only man who finds the gospel attractive is the man who is convicted of sin.” (Oswald Chambers)
I close with this challenging illustration from Dr. Paul Chappell
Some time ago an 18-year-old girl from Washington state attended a worship service. For the first time in her life she heard the gospel message. The following Tuesday the members of the church received a letter from her. It read:
Dear Church Members:
Last Sunday I attended your church, and I heard the preacher. In the sermon the preacher said that all men have sinned and rebelled against God. Because of their rebellion and disobedience they all face eternal damnation and separation from God. But then he also said God loves man and sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to redeem men from their sins and that all those who believe in Him would go to Heaven and live with God eternally. My parents recently died in rapid succession. I know they did not believe in Jesus Christ, whom you call the Saviour of the world. If what you believe is true, they are damned. You compel me to believe that either the message is true, that you yourself don't believe this message, or that you don't care. You see, we live only three blocks from your church, and no one ever told us.
Church, if we are going to be the change that people need to see, we must proclaim that gospel, we must live the gospel out loud.
Did you sahre the gospel this past week?
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Prayer
Announcements
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Angel Tree
Pray for Juan’s family with the loss of Ben
Don’t forget to vote church!
Benediction
Benediction
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
The Lord Bless you!
Your Mission starts now.