Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good morning, we have the pleasure of having some colder temperatures this past week with Christmas and all… And here we are and it is New Year’s Eve...

And it has already started?

What have you promised yourself about the New Year...

Please don’t be embarrassed, or think to yourself, I don’t know why I even think about those things....

It is good that we set some goals for the coming year, and with this bringss the last night of the year, ole 2017 - we say goodbye too!

And tomorrow if the Lord allows us to wake up, well, it will be a day we can give to Him with a new thought, plan or a purpose.

So what do you want to do this coming year?

And better yet, what do you want to do for God this year?

Here is a thought...

How about we with the Lord’s help, we get a person involved in church,.

What about leading someone to Christ, or seeing someone walk in victory over addiction or sin????

That would be awesome...

It is possible!

if we are willing to walk with the Lord!

So with all of this in mind, lets turn to the book of Colossians in the New Testament and see what God would say to us today.

Colossians 1

, Verses 1-8

-88

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Now Paul opens this letter with a greeting, one like he always does and with it He has some very warm words for those he loves at the church at Colossae.

There has been some false teaching in the church, Paul is not there and neither is Epaphras, who we believe was there at the beginning and helped this church in the beginning.

The type of false teaching appears to have a Jewish note to it, so most like Judiaizers were mis leading forcing some to continue to practice Jewish observances in the newly formed Christian church.

It is nothing more than a form of heresy, it has no meaning on the first century Church.

So as we walk through this sermon series I believe there is much we can learn from the text.

So here is my first point....

Give Thanks for One Another

Consider this..... What are you thankful for ?

There is indeed much we can be thankful for day in a day out, the Lord is and continues to be so faithful in providing for His people.

Yet, What the Lord provides each day is more than provision, it is more than health or His watch care over us.

Each of these are important, but I want to pull you forward and ask you this...

Are you thankful for those around you...

This is a concept that we have talked about before, so often in the Scriptures we see great men of God expressing their thankfulness for their brothers and sisters in Christ.

And we must do the same.

Give thanks for one another.

Look back at our text my friends, verses 3-4

Paul shares his heart here for us to see.

He is thankful, and he gives thanks to God the Father when they pray…

Why?

Because of the great faith the believers exhibit, and the love they have for all the saints.

Now this phrase “all the saints” is inclusive… the love other believers, no matter who they are, where they are from.

They recognize the truth that they are family.

The word Paul uses in verse 3, pray… the Greek word means to petition daily.

So Paul is expressing that daily,- every single day Paul is sharing his thankfulness in front of God as He prays.

He is praying for and thankful for their faith and love that comes only from a redeemed heart, because they are brothers and sisters in Christ.

Why am I bringing it up?

To remind us through this coming year to exercise a spirit of love in such away that our hearts are in tune with our father above and we have a love for each other.

You see there is nothing the devil would enjoy more than getting a wedge into the church.

Finding a little crack of division, animosity, drama what ever it is… and it disrupts the work of God.

Am I saying there is division here… no not at all....

So what will keep it away?

Prayer, Love and true thankfulness for each other.

I want to challenge you, each day this year 2018… please ask God to examine your hearts, my heart: proof our words and take captive our thoughts, that in all things we might live in peace, harmony and love, helping advance the kingdom of God.

Now as we love in this passage, what else can we learn.... from this passage.

We must be Careful to Walk Upright.....

I have spent the last month and a half reading a new book my Johnny Hunt, the pastor of 1st Baptist Church of Woodstock Georgia.

The title of this book is Demolishing Strongholds...

It is a great book, and it speaks to so many points of action necessary for the person who has put his or her faith in Jesus Christ.

It is a good read for anyone.

What did i glean form it....

At the heart of it all is obedience, being a person who is pure, able to walk in ways of the Lord.

Walking Upright is a necessary point for the Christian life.

Now please understand this statement doesn’t mean there are people who have lived so well, they have made no mistake.... no that doesn't exist.

Look through the Bible and you find people who sinned, messed up, failed in front of God.

Adam, Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Samson, David, Solomon, Peter, Paul.... and I mean those are just the well knowns....

People fail all the time… I do, and frankly you do as well.

But here is what is special, they didn’t remain in failure!

They turned back to God, repented of theirs sins and pushed forward.

Side note....

No one as the right to say I have done to much, God doesn't want me.

The promise of God is this

They pushed forward and got on track....

So if you are on track today or off track, everyone can move forward and live for God.

Now let me take you back to our text… look at verse 7

The phrase that is important here is “…just as you learned it from Epaphras.....”

Epaphras is the one who planted the church at Colossae.

He most likely encountered Paul at Ephesus we think, but it is possible that Paul was closer than we think to Colossae.

But none the less, Epaphras modeled the faith in front of the church, he provided and taught them a Christian witness that was a faithful one.

The Word “learned” in verse 7, means to learn as a disciple...

By his faith and witness, they learned what it was to walk upright in front of God.

And again we see why Paul was again thankful for these precious brothers and sisters… they walked upright.

It is a blessing to God and to each of us when we know our brothers and sisters are walking upright in such a way that benefits the church and blesses their Father in heaven.

What does it mean to walk upright?

It means to walk rightly before God..... Listen to the 1st Psalm....

David contrasts two types of people here in this chapter.... a blessed man is one who lives, acts, tarries with the righteousness… The wicked are not so...

Verse 5 is key, in judgment, the sinner will not stand.

but the righteous will....

We must be careful.... my friends it is so easy to stumble, We never intend too… but it happens.

Pray, invest the Word into your life so that we can stand in our day of trouble.

Be careful my friends, it is dangerous out there.

Now just one last thought I see in this brief section that we can pay attention too…

Bear Fruit....

If there is anything we are designed to do, it is to bear fruit my friends.

You see all of creation is called, created with the unique purpose of reproducing after their own kind.

You take one of these beautiful oak trees out there on the mountain, any tree or plant for that matter… But that ole oak tree, grows and when it is ready it begins to produce acorns..

The acorns are food for so many animals, but their real purpose is to hit the ground and remain there, sink into the ground and then sprout, grow and become another mighty oak tree.

We as the children of God are called to reproduce, bear fruit!

Look at verse 6

The hope we have is because of the gospel, it changed us forever, made us alive and has given up hope.

Hope is a beautiful word my friends.

(Jesus, the gospel gives us hope).

And the gospel in us grows, flourishes and produces growth, which is fruit.