Who Do I Turn To? Habakkuk 3:17-19a

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, ¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. ¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. (NIV)

 

Over the last few months I have tried to get us to take a hard look at our walk of faith and I have included the church in that reflection.  Last Sunday night two men from the church and I went down to a home in the Central Davidson area for a time of entertainment, food, fellowship, and listening to the Word of God proclaimed.  As I sat there I looked around at the men who were there not knowing what they were dealing with in life, but I saw retirees, businessmen, farmers, teachers, people who worked for manufacturing companies, salesmen and many other professions represented. I saw husbands, grandfathers, dads, uncles, sons, and brothers represented.  As a good friend of mine was delivering the message the Holy Spirit laid on my heart that someone there was going through something major and I needed to lay hands on him and pray over him.  I asked God to show me who that might be and during my friend’s message he spoke of a man they had laid hands on that morning at church and prayed over.  I knew what I needed to do – as soon as our fellowship was over I sought out this man and we began to talk.  This man was dealing with LIFE!  He had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer; stage 4 cancers have often metastasized, or spread to other organs or throughout the body.  This is as bad as it gets.  As we talked I knew this man’s hope and faith was in Jesus Christ by his attitude toward the days that lay ahead of him.  In your insert the first point in that line says: Life is…  I have purposely left this blank for you to fill in what you see your life as.  Some may see life as uncertainty, others as hard or difficult, some may see life as breathtaking, and others as frustrating, some may want to write down that life is awesome.  I know what some of you are dealing with in your life, but in reality this part of the outline is for you to think about what life is in your own eyes.  The one thing I know is that life is real! Sometimes like the man I met last Sunday night life smacks us in the face with something that has to overwhelm us.  That is what has happened to Habakkuk in today’s Scripture text and I want us to see how he reacted to a life that had become hard, difficult and frustrating.

 

The book of Habakkuk is a conversation with God. Habakkuk is upset because he sees evil winning and it is frustrating to him and he cries out in prayer to God for an explanation.  As I read this small book of the minor prophets I could only think how this book reflected what is going on today in the world in which we live.  It seems that evil is winning, but I stand before you today to say that God is in control and He showed this to Habakkuk.  He said to Habakkuk in chapter 2, ² Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that whoever reads it may run with it. ³ For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."  Prior to this Habakkuk had said he would stand watch for the Lord and then this reply came.  We need to be ready and waiting to receive the message or messages God wants to give us!  This message that came from God is a message of hope that something is coming and although it may be a while in coming to fruition, it will come in the proper time – God’s time.

 

In life we have some really trying and difficult times.  We have financial burdens, health issues, times of depression and loneliness, times of struggle, and it is easy to focus on the difficulties in our life.  We must fight this urge because our feelings cannot be controlled by the events around us.  When we focus on the giants in our life this provides the fodder that Satan needs to bring doubt, worry, and discontent into our life.  One thing I have seen more and more recently is the overwhelming power that Satan is using to try to destroy our relationship with God.  Satan desires that we allow our feelings of unworthiness, uncertainty, harsh realities, and guilt to become the focus of our thoughts and beliefs. Sadly it gets to the point we don’t think we are good enough for God to heal us, fix our financial burdens, or place people in our lives.  We begin to have a negative, defeatist attitude because of where our focus is placed. However, I stand before you today and proclaim that we must have faith in God’s ability to handle what we are dealing with in our life.  Around 2000 prophecies found in the Bible have been fulfilled; Jesus fulfilled about 351 of them.  What I am trying to say is that God does what He says He will do!  Brothers and sisters we must believe in God’s ability because there is no one greater.  Remember the man I spoke about earlier in today’s message.  He was prayed for and prayed over by men and women of God.  Tuesday night I had an opportunity to spend time in a prayer ministry at a local church.  During this time of prayer the pastor came in and told us that the man I spoke to you about earlier had been to the doctor that day and test were run.  Miraculously the test showed he was cancer free!  Now you don’t go from stage 4 cancer to cancer free two days later without the intervention of the Lord.  As I sat there I listened as this group of men and women spoke of the miraculous healings that had taken place over the last 9 years in their church.  These people believe in God’s ability and it shows in the results of His intervention in the life of the people of this church.  With that said we are told at James 5:14 that if…“any one of you sick; he should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.”  I stand before you today saying if you would like the elders to come out and pray with you – we are willing and able, just contact one of the elders or me and we will set up a time to come out and pray over you or your loved one.

 

Now as I said life is real and there are times in life when life just doesn’t make any sense.  When times in your life seem as if nothing makes sense remember God gives strength.  It is easy in times like these when life is confusing and full of chaos and we see in the book of Habakkuk that Habakkuk didn’t understand life, but instead of turning his focus to the difficulties of life he chose to look to God.  As I read the Scripture this morning did you see that things were bleak in the eyes of Habakkuk.  The crops were gone – no food to be found; the sheep and cattle were no more – no meat to sustain them – life was as bad as you can get; yet, through all of this did you see what Habakkuk said?  He said, “I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. ¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength.”  Here was a man that didn’t know where his next meal was coming from or what his future held, but in the midst of the chaos and confusion of his life he chose to rejoice in the Lord, to be joyful that God was still his Savior in this very difficult time, and even though the future was unclear he was choosing to put his hope and trust in the Lord that he knew was still in control of His Creation to be his strength.  What a testimony and what an example for us to follow this morning when we face a life that is difficult.  Just like Job when confronted with the loss of everything said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21) Habakkuk was finding a blessing in the midst of his despair because His eyes were on the Lord and what the Lord could do in his life and the world in which he lived.  You see Habakkuk understood that God gives His followers strength and confidence in difficult times.  It is so easy to see our own limitations in contrast to God’s unlimited power and control.  Human nature tells us to look at the negative, to look at the harshness of life, to look at certain parts of life with pessimism because if God chooses not to take us out of the midst of the difficulties of life we will not be as disappointed.  We pray the small and weak prayers because we feel as if our hurt will be less if God chooses not to answer our prayers in our favor. Yet, we are told in Hebrews 4:16 “… approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  Jesus tells us in John 14:13, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.”  Brothers and sisters we need to quit falling into the trap Satan sets that causes us to focus on our own idea of what we can do, you know our limitations, because when we do we tend to carry that mentality over to how we view God and in turn we limit what He can do for us and through us because of our lack of faith and trust in Him.

 

The final point today is we need to come to this morning is the realization that God gives us confidence and hope in a confusing world!  God desires for us to live an intimate life with Him.  He wants us to succeed and not fail.  At Jeremiah 29 we read, “¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Now notice God wants us to prosper and not fail, He wants to give us a hope and a future, but we need to understand that this can only happen when we call upon Him, come to Him, pray to Him, and seek Him with all our heart; when we do this we will find Him!  I put a number of Scripture texts on the back of your bulletin which deal with living a life that focuses on faith in God – look over these passages this week and meditate on them.  In the verses I read to you from Habakkuk we see a man who lived by faith; a man who did not focus on the difficulties of his life, but understood where his strength came from - GOD; and because he knew this he chose to find joy in the harshness and difficulty of his life.  If you are struggling this morning lean on this Scripture and this man Habakkuk’s example of giving God glory and honor in the deepest valleys we may face in our life – when we do focus our attention on God we will realize that our walk of faith will be one that is strengthen by our Lord and Savior and life will be so much better because our focus will be on Him and not us! 

Dwelling in Jesus - Colossians 3:12-17

 

This has been an awesome week in that God has shown His presence on numerous occasions in my life this week.  It was the woman who asked for three pastors to pray for at the Cracker Barrel on Tuesday – to the two pastors who shared their time together at the Lifeway Christian Bookstore in Greensboro on Wednesday – to a brother from another church who gave me some advice on a prayer ministry they started at his church of which the Lord had spoken to me that we needed to start here at Emanuel.  God is working around us each and every day if we will just look closely at those we come into contact with.  The last few weeks we have been dealing with the book of Colossians and our major theme has been Jesus Christ!  Without Jesus we can do nothing whether individually in our lives or corporately as a church.  Today we gather to learn what a person who has Christ as his or her Lord or Shepherd looks like and how the dwelling of the Word of Christ in their life will affect them in a powerful way.

There are numerous traits that a Christian will exhibit in their life and many of these will match the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians chapter 5, but today I want us to focus on what Paul is telling the people of Colossae.  The first trait we will exhibit is tender mercies. This means that we must exhibit a compassionate heart toward others.  In the Greek it means to have pity or sympathy or an inward affection for what others are going through.  This is hard to do when the world has become so divided and cynical, but we must have compassion for one another.  The second trait we will exhibit if we are a follower of Christ is kindness.  In the Scriptures we are told that we are to treat others as we want to be treated and if we would adopt this attitude when it comes to our interactions with one another I think you would find people acting in a more compassionate and Christian manner in their encounters with one another.  We are to have the character or demeanor that shows a morally excellence in regards to the gentleness we exhibit in our relationships with others.  The third trait we will exhibit as a follower of Christ is humility.  In the Greek this means that our very soul reveals a character that is sensitive in nature with an understanding that Jesus Christ governs every aspect of our life and that we are just His vessel in our interactions with others in the world in which we live.  The fourth trait we exhibit as a follower of God is meekness.  The Greek word here means to be mild and humble in how we live our life.  Have you seen a theme flowing through the first four traits so far?  We are seeing a relational attribute that shows forth in our relationship with God’s creation.  These traits so far speak to attributes that are slow to anger and slow to have resentment for others.  As I have already said this is so hard because we live in a world that teaches us to be in your face and stand your ground; caring more for what is happening in our lives and to us than what is going on in others lives.  Let’s continue to move forward with the rest of the traits of a Christian.  The next trait is longsuffering or as some people like to call it – patience.  This means we have a forbearance or a fortitude in the face of adversity.  When we make Jesus our Lord and Savior we are told the world will not accept us because they did not accept Christ – so we need to understand that when we face these times Jesus has walked our walk and is there to walk with us through our difficult and trying times.  The next trait we should show as Christians is that we should bear with each other. This means that we hold each other dearly and stand firmly beside each other in whatever we may be facing.  Can you see the traits of a Christian deals with a strong relationship that exists between us and our sisters and brothers in the Lord?  As I studied this part of the passage I became so excited to the point of being giddy because I saw a group of people that were committed to each other no matter what the cost; they were committed because of their common bond found in Jesus Christ.  Brothers and sisters that what church is all about!  Watch how the final few traits just build on this commitment to one another based on the foundation we know as Jesus Christ.  We are called to forgive each other as Christ has forgiven us.  We now begin to get to the brass tacks as they say or where the rubber meets the road.  We must have a forgiving heart – this is a must.  We are told in the Gospel of Matthew, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14-15, NKJ).  This is simple – if we do not forgive others – God will not forgive us. Also when we forgive others it releases us from a prison that Satan has kept us in; a prison that he says is where we need to be and tricks us into believing we should not forgive someone for the hurt they have caused, but in reality that is a teaching of Satan and not of God, for God says the only way He will forgive us and we will find freedom is when we forgive others first!  We now move to the motivational tool of all the traits I have spoken about so far this morning and that is that love is the bond of perfection. I love this phrase because what it means is that in kindness and love we pardon or rescue others.  When we have the love of Jesus in our hearts there is a love that bonds all our traits together to make us a minister and messenger for Jesus Christ!  Out of love we serve Him and reach out to others who are in need of Him! When we get to this point in our walk of faith we will find that an amazing trait will take over and we will see that peace will rule our hearts.  This is the type of peace that means we are joined as one with Jesus Christ and with one another and this peace takes over in every aspect of our life.  It is no longer our life, but Jesus Christ living in us and through us, and we have this surpassing peace that cannot be match by anything we have or will experience.  With all these traits it leads to the church becoming one body.  We become so committed to Jesus Christ and each other that our lives function as one with Him and the church community functions as one with each other through their common bond found in Jesus Christ!  As I studied this part of today’s Scripture I couldn’t help but get excited about the future of those who believe in Jesus Christ and place Him first in their lives and the churches that are standing up today and saying, “It isn’t about the church or about the people – IT IS ABOUT JESUS!” 

We are bound together by Jesus but we also need the Word of Christ to lead us and direct us.  Now notice beginning in verse 16 of today’s text it tells us that there are some great things that will take place when the Word of Christ Richly Dwells in Us. Not only should we read the Word, but it must become a part of our life down to our very soul and our life should reflect the Word of God!  The Greek word for richly here means to be completely filled with or to be totally influenced with the Word.  When we allow this to take place in our life we will find that the Word of Christ dwelling in us will give us wisdom.  This wisdom is not a wisdom that is of human proportion, but it is a godly wisdom.  Our decisions will be made with our eyes and ears tuned into the plan of God and not what we see as to how things are to be done or how they may seem.  When our wisdom comes from God we are seeking Him and His plan first and foremost in our life and the life of the church.  We also will find that the Word will teach us.  We are told in 2^nd Timothy chapter 3 (16-17), “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  Because it teaches us, we are able to use it in all aspects of our life in our relationship with others.  The Word also admonishes us.  This means that we the Word will call attention to our sins, in other words it will convict us!  Let’s be honest here today – we don’t like to be convicted, but the Word in its admonishment of us warns us of the consequences that could happen if we did not live our life by its tenets.  The Word is a guideline to live by not just read and forget about what it teaches.  I believe if we would incorporate the Word into our life (that is what Word of Christ richly dwelling in us means) we will see that we have no choice than to be convicted when we move away from what it teaches.  Another thing I love about the Word dwelling in us is that it causes us to sing praises to God!  Remember last week I spoke to there were some who wept because the temple was not going to be the same as it once was; they worshipped the building and not the Savior.  We do that sometimes – we worship the building, the programs and we forget that it is all about Jesus.  When the Word dwells in us we see the great things God can do in the midst of change and by being in the Word we see that this has taken place all throughout the Scriptures.  I love what Psalm 40 says when it says, “He has put a new song in my mouth -- Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD” (Psalm 40:3).  As a new Southern Gospel song today says, “God don’t come in the building, until people come into the building. He don’t live in granite, wood or stone. He lives in an old tabernacle cover over with flesh and bones. It takes a heart not a house if you wantta make God a home!”  Jesus must live in our hearts in order to make us a church!  When we realize this it can only inspire us to have hearts that will sing praises to God each and every moment of our lives!   We also learn when the Word of Christ is dwelling in us it causes us to work in the name of Jesus. In other words what we do is all about Him and not about us – we want to work out of our love for Jesus and when we do, we give all the glory and praises to Him.  It also means that what we do we do in His name and we are committed to doing what we He desires and not what we just want to do or think we have a gift for.  Finally when the Word dwells in us it causes us to give thanks to God through Jesus Christ; we thank God that Jesus saved us and gave us the opportunity to live for Him!  We begin to understand how great a life found in Jesus Christ can be each and every day of our life.  In the good times because Christ died for us we thank God; in the bad times because Jesus Christ died for us we thank God; In the hard times of our life because Christ died for us we thank God; in the easy times of our life because Jesus Christ died for us we thank God; and in the ugly times of life because Jesus Christ died for us we give thanks to God! Because of Christ we give thanks to God!

As we have ventured through the traits of a follower of Christ and the great things that take place when the Word of Christ dwells in us I hope it has given you a hope and joy to face each day that you live on this earth.  God has promised that He will not abandon you if you will just commit to being a follower of His Son.  It is as simple as confessing with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior and believing that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9) that you have this wonderful opportunity to experience the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. But it doesn’t stop there we will continue to grow in Christ and we will begin to look more and more like Him in our daily walk.  This can only be accomplished if we allow the Word of Christ to richly dwell in us so that we can know how He reacted to situations He encountered in His life.  When we see how Jesus lived and we strive to live as best as we can to His example then we will grow more and more like Him.  I challenge you this week to make a commit to be led by the Word and by the Holy Spirit in all you do – to those who have ears to hear, hear the message God has laid on my heart…  

Hold On To Jesus - Colossians 1:15-18

     This week we continue our walk through the book of Colossians and today we find a passage that we need to slow down and not miss what Paul is telling the people of Colossae or us gathered here in God’s house this morning.  I want us to focus today on God’s Word and so turn with me to the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians and read along with me today’s Scripture text.

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 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 may have the preeminence.

     This passage of Scripture speaks to the divine nature of Christ like no other passage in the Scriptures.  Let us jump right into our Scripture starting with verse 15.  ¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Christ is the manifestation of the divine.  In this verse Paul is telling us that Jesus is God spelling out who He is and the Scriptures support this, especially in the Gospel of John where we find Scriptures to support the divinity of Jesus Christ.  We read in John 10:30 that Jesus and the Father are one and a little later in chapter 10 in response to the Jews who wanted to stone Him, Jesus told the people gathered around Him that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father.  The writer of John sets the tone of this wonderful gospel in the very first verse when he writes that the Word was God, meaning that Jesus was God. And finally in the 14^th chapter of this beautiful gospel Jesus says to Philip when Philip has asked Jesus to show the disciples the Father, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father… As we can see in just these 4 verses from John, it is evident that Jesus is God – and there are so many more Scriptures that affirm the divinity of Jesus Christ throughout the pages of the Bible. 

   

     It is important that we come to grips with the divinity of Christ in order to move forward in our understanding that Christ is sovereign over all. Look at verse 16 with me, ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. In this verse we see how Christ is supreme over all things and is in control of this world and the heavenly world.  When I think of the thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers I think of worldly things.  In Ephesians chapter six we are told that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age…We need to understand Satan will use thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers to achieve his evil desires to separate people from God.  Yet in this verse we find that Jesus is over them and we have numerous Scriptures that support this apology.  We read in Romans 9:5 that Christ came and He is over all.  In other words everything is under Jesus’ control.  We are told in Revelation 1:5 that Jesus is ruler over the kings of the world.  I don’t know about you but this gives me great comfort this morning because there is an abundant number of evil men, and yes even women, who are suppressing and leading their nation in fulfillment of Satan’s plan over and above God’s plan.  However, as we are learning this morning that Jesus is sovereign and is the supreme ruler over this world and that this supremacy will come to a total culmination when Jesus comes to set foot back on this earth when He will begin His thousand-year reign on earth.  Although we may know that Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings, many do not see Him in this manner.  He is seen as a prophet, a good role model, but not a Savior and Master in many peoples’ lives today.  Yet, there is coming a day when He will be crowned Lord of lords and King of kings.  I want you to notice that Jesus is one Lord over many lords and one King over many Kings.  At Deuteronomy 10:17 we see another affirmation of Jesus Christ’s divinity when we read this about God which corresponds to what we hear concerning Jesus in the New Testament. Read along with me, "For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe." We read that at Revelation 19:16 when Jesus returns to take His place on the throne at His return we read, “And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”  With this power and sovereignty there is no doubt that Jesus is in control!

The third point of today’s text shows us that Christ holds all things together.  Let’s read verse 17 together - ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. In this verse we see that Christ sustains all things and in Him everything is held together.  At the bottom of your insert you see a statement and I believe it is very profound because if we take Jesus out of the equation we have nothing to hold our life together. In other words it is Jesus who holds our life together.  In Jesus everything is protected.  Now this doesn’t mean we will not see calamity or devastation – it means that no matter what situation we are in He will not leave us alone; the Holy Spirit is ever with us who have confessed Jesus Christ as our Savior and no matter what the future holds we are under the His wings of comfort and protection!  In Jesus everything is prevented from disintegrating into chaos.  Chaos comes from Satan, not Jesus; so as long as we focus on Jesus He will lead us through the difficult times of our life with a peace that passes all understanding.  There is no greater story that explains this point than when Peter stepped out of the boat to walk to Jesus.  As long as Peter focused on Jesus he was able to have a peace in the midst of chaos, but the moment Peter took his focus off of Jesus He began to cave in and sink in the mire of devastation and chaos.  Brothers and sisters as long as we put our hope and trust in Jesus Christ chaos will never prevail – and we know that the Scriptures proclaim there is coming a day when Jesus will come and peace will truly be achieved.  In Jesus we need to understand that we are not independent of Him.   We are told at Hebrews 13:8 that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  This means that the Jesus who created the world, the Jesus of the Old Testament, the Jesus of the New Testament who lived almost 2000 years ago was and is still on His throne today!  I am amazed that so many people know who Jesus is, yet do not know Jesus; they have the book knowledge or know who Jesus is through reading about Him, but don’t know the life-changing Jesus that gives grace to those who call on His name.  In other words we know Him in our minds, but don’t have Him in our hearts.  We need to come to the realization that our live will never have order if we take Jesus out of our life – He is the glue that holds our life together!  We cannot live independently of Jesus if we proclaim Him as our Lord and Savior.  Verse 17 teaches us that we must trust Jesus daily to protect us, care for us, and sustain us.  It means we need to be totally committed to a Savior who wants all of life and not just part of it; and in that commitment our hope, trust and faith is dependent upon Him – not our circumstances – not our own understanding – not our own desires – it is all about Jesus and trusting Him so much that the peace of God will flow through our very soul. This verse ends with the statement that in Him all things consist.  This means that all things are united in Him, all things are under His dominion, Jesus holds all things together, there is no where you can go that Jesus hasn’t already been there, and in Him all things are made one!  What great news of hope we find in this passage of Scripture this morning.

Finally in verse 18 we see 3 points this morning.  First that Jesus is the head of the body – the church.  We can read in 1^st Corinthians chapter 12 and in Ephesians 4 that the church is representative of the body of Christ.  This is important because many churches don’t represent Christ very well.  Dissention, gossip, negativism, divisions, power, and pride are some things that can overtake a church that does not have Christ as it chief cornerstone.  As a church and people of God we should always be aware of where Jesus Christ is set in our list of priorities, whether in our personal life or the life of the church.  Is He at the top of our priorities or down the list?  Next in this verse we see that through Christ death has been defeated.  Let us read verse 18 together: 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 may have the preeminence.  We find in John 3:16 that through Christ we have eternal life and we know that this is because God loves so much that He desired this to take place.  We are told in 1^st Corinthians 15:20 that Christ is the firstfruits of those who die and in 1^st Thessalonians 4:14 we are told because Jesus was resurrected so shall we be resurrected.  What great news that is to each one gathered here this morning to know that our future is secure.  When we confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior death has no victory over us – we are united and made one in Jesus Christ for all of eternity.  Now, I don’t want us to miss the last phrase of this passage where it says, that in all things He may have the preeminence. This word preeminence is such a special word.  It means that Jesus is above others, whether in influence or power – he is to be first in rank or influence.  This means that Jesus has the highest rank, influence and power over all things and with this knowledge we should place Him at the head of our lives and the life of the church.  That should be and must become the priority of all of us gathered here today and must become the priority of Emanuel Reformed Church.

Is Jesus supreme in your life?  Does Jesus have influence and power in your life?  Without Jesus our life will fall apart.  Each one here this morning has the ability to accept or reject what Jesus is trying to do in your life.  I often wonder why we do not want to go to the one who created us, why we don’t totally trust and place our complete hope in the One who knows us better than we know ourselves; unlike us He holds our future and knows what is going to happen.  I pray today you will lay your life, your burdens on the cross and trust the one who is over all things; controls all things, and desires to be our everything if we will only surrender to Him. May God speak to those who this message was given to this morning!  Let us pray…  

My Prayer for You - Colossians 1:1-14

The city of Colossae was probably the smallest and least “important” city that Paul wrote to.  Historically, Colossae was a prosperous city, and famous (with other cities in the region) for its fabric dyes.  But by Paul’s time, its glory as a city was on the decline. 

The city’s religious environment was much like our own today.  It was a time of religious mixing, with people borrowing a little from this a little from that.  There probably was a corruption of Christianity with elements of mysticism, legalistic Judaism, and early Gnosticism (generally speaking, Gnosticism taught that salvation is achieved through special knowledge). This letter was written to combat these problems within the Colossae society of which the church was located and this letter is relevant to us here today.

Last week we talked about the confident hope found in Jesus Christ and that it is through Him we are reconciled with God.  Today we build on that confident assurance of being a part of God’s family.  Paul did not plant the church of Colossae – to my knowledge he had not ventured there – yet, he wrote a letter to them concerning their faith.  He had heard of their love from Epaphras.  Look at verse 8 with me this morning – Epaphras declared to Paul and his disciples the Spirit-filled love of the people in the church of Colossae.  If Paul is mentioning this Spirit-filled love it means that this is an uncommon type of love in the world, but this type of love is normal in the life of these followers of Christ.  People who came into contact with these people saw a love that was not normal; it was a love that was from God and was evident to those who interacted with them. God’s love is given through the Holy Spirit; it is not received in any other way; it is commenced at salvation; it is confirmed through sanctification. When we give ourselves fully to God, we can know His love to its fullest extent and we need to understand that through this love it is complete in glorification.  When we realize that this Spirit-filled love comes from God we then come to the realization that God’s love changes us; His love enables us to love God supremely. We find this in our obedience to Him and this love is natural – not contrived; this love enables us to love others fully, even those who hurt us, even our enemies. This is a love we all need to strive for, so people will see Jesus through the life we live.

Join me as we look at today’s text beginning with vs. 9 and going through vs. 14, following along with me on your bulletin insert. In verse 9 we read together: ⁹ For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. This is the second time in the first 9 verses that Paul has mentioned that he was praying for the church of Colossae.  As I said earlier Paul did not plant this church nor had he even visited prior to writing this letter, but by his message to the church of Colossae it shows an intimacy for fellow believers of the Good News.  He uses two phrases that his prayers for the church were not just a passing “Lord please be with the church of Colossae.” When we read in this first chapter that Paul was “praying always for you,” and “we do not cease to pray for you,” this indicates a continual prayer for these people Paul had never met personally, but had only heard about from his dear friend Epaphras.  But just what was Paul praying for the people of Colossae?  He was praying for them to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will!  That is the same prayer I have as we gather here today; that all of us here this morning will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will!  It brings us to the question – How can we increase knowledge of His will? First we must get serious about our relationship with Jesus Christ – our relationship with Jesus Christ must become important enough to us that we carve out time to spend with Him without distraction; in other words we come to seek Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might.  We do this by spending time in prayer. Not the “now I lay me down to sleep” or “God is great prayer,” which is okay, but we need to spend intimate time going to the Throne of Grace bearing ourselves in openness and allowing God see the real us, not the one we pretend to be.  Second, we increase our knowledge of His will by reading and studying the Word of God.  We need to spend time in focused study of His Word.  I think there is an epidemic that is staggering to me and that is the number of people in the church today – I am speaking of the Universal Church – that are biblically illiterate.  I remember when I was in seminary our first class for Old Testament went something like this.  Dr. Dean McBride walked into our very first class, which was normally a time to go over the syllabus for the course and then the professor would dismiss us to come back for the second class prepared to jump into the course.  However, the first thing that Dr. McBride did when he and Dr. Carson Brisson walked into the room that morning was ask us to take out a paper for a pop quiz.  I remember thinking; I was not in Kansas anymore because in our first class we were getting a grade before we even knew the layout of the course.  The first question we were asked was to name the northern and southern kingdoms in the time of the Old Testament? The majority got this question wrong – how many of us here today know the answer.  I am proud to say that I got the question right only because I guessed right! O by the way Israel was the northern kingdom and Judah was the southern kingdom and the grade did not count although it scared all of us to no end.  The average seminarian that morning got 4 out of 10 correct.  Because of people in churches today not knowing the Word of God intimately I began to wonder why is there a trend to walk away from the Bible and studying it.  I am hearing pastor after pastor say that attendance at their Bible Studies within their church has dropped off significantly.  A Gallup Poll taken way back in 2006 revealed the number of people who read the Bible at least occasionally had dropped to 59 percent, down from 73 percent in the 1980s.  George Gallup summarized it best when he said, “We revere the Bible but we don’t read it.” So why aren’t people reading the Bible?  Tyndale House Publishers did a survey to find the answer to this perplexing question. Their survey showed that 64 percent of Americans said they did not read the Bible because they are too busy. Eighty percent said the Bible is too confusing and hard to understand. Of course these are not valid excuses for not reading the Bible. The majority of Americans are busy but we tend to find time to do those things that we enjoy or that we deem important. Bible reading is simply not a priority to many people today.  In order to gain wisdom or knowledge we need to know the Bible and what it teaches, incorporating it into our lives – it is almost as if the church has followed the man’s example of not asking for directions when he is lost or refusing to look at the directions on how to build something until it becomes a last resort!  We turn to reading and the studying of the Word when we are in trouble or when we have nothing else to do.

Paul prays that the church of Colossae and us here today that will receive spiritual understanding and we need to understand how we receive this understanding this morning.  Guess what – it comes from the same two traits I have explained concerning increasing our knowledge of God’s will.  Our receiving of spiritual understanding comes from the Word of God and Prayer.  But it doesn’t stop there, Jesus said in John chapter 14:26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."  We also gain spiritual understanding from the Holy Spirit when we surrender to His guidance in our life.  Now this is important for us to understand this morning – we need to come to a point of surrender and let me say that is difficult because we have to get out of our own way or at least get out of God’s way; we have to come to the point of saying to God it is all about You and Your plan for my life and not what I desire or expect out of my life.  This is challenging because we don’t want to be so exposed since making this type of commitment gives us a feeling of defenselessness, but in reality it is a place of power – for when we get to the point of giving our complete and total life to Jesus, we can finally say what Jesus said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."  It is in our surrender and admittance of our need of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that His strength works through us.

We will pick up the pace just a bit, let us read verses 10 and 11 together: ¹⁰ that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy. Beginning in verse 10 Paul begins to tell us about the fruits of gaining a knowledge of God’s will and an increase in spiritual understanding. We need this knowledge of His will and spiritual understanding so we will walk worthy of the Lord. Paul is praying that we will live according to the same knowledge we have received, living it out in our walk as a Christian.  When we have a true knowledge of God’s will our walk of faith will match what the Bible teaches in how a follower of Jesus Christ should walk with Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Savior.  We also need this knowledge and understanding so we will fully please Him. We come to the point where we want “to please God in all respects” – not man – not family – we desire a complete, whole-hearted pleasing of Him and this becomes our highest desire.  We need this knowledge and understanding so we will be fruitful in every good work. When we walk in total commitment to God He will give us opportunities to be fruitful and instead of looking at how we can’t do something, we will see this as an opportunity to glorify God.  When we are fruitful it glorifies God, not ourselves!  We need this knowledge and wisdom so we will increase in our knowledge of God.  Instead of making excuses or placing other things in front of the Lord, we desire to spend more time in intimate prayer and the reading of His Word, with the key word here being “intimate,” we will desire and carve out a time of intimacy each day with the Lord.    Finally by doing these things we can live our life more for Him and we will be strengthened with all might according to His glorious power.  As we draw closer to God, He will draw closer to us and we will become stronger in Him.  This whole section is about spending a more intimate time with our Lord and Savior and let me tell you Satan will tell you that you don’t have time – don’t let him deceive you with that argument.  Recently, in my own life I have chosen to focus on this intimate time each day with the Lord and it has been difficult because Satan has tried to make me feel guilty for taking time out of my day that I could be doing more work for the church.  It is pure deception, but the Holy Spirit has begun to move my heart to an understanding that if I spend my intimate time with God, the church matters will work themselves out in God’s time and God’s way; not my own!  As a pastor one time told me “WE SPEND TIME WITH THAT WHICH IS IMPORTANT TO US!”  We did a project years ago before I was a pastor at my home church – we wrote down for a week what we did in our free time – the time we were not at work.  After a week, it was amazing how much time we sat in front of the TV or were listening to music.  Very little of our time was spent with the Lord.  I challenge you to make the time you spend with the Lord an importance in your daily life!

Now let us read verse 12 through 14 together: ¹² giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.  We come to something that many of us here today don’t want to hear but it is the final point I want to make today and that is – it is not us – IT IS HIM! We give thanks to the Father!   Why do we realize it is not about us – it is about God and we desire to give thanks to the Father?  Because it is God who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance. God did this, not us.  I did nothing, He did it all through Jesus Christ – I owe Him everything – I owe Him my life!  Do we really understand that this morning?  I wish I could say yes, but I am humbled by the thought of this point this morning, it is God who decided to qualify us to spend eternity with Him; think about that – how awesome is that!  Because of God we have been delivered from the power of darkness.  For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace (Romans 6:14); But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5). As we can see by these two Scripture passages we have been delivered from the power of darkness – so we give thanks to the Father!  It is through God who has conveyed (transferred) us into His kingdom through Jesus Christ.  It is in Jesus we have redemption through His blood and it is in Jesus we have forgiveness of sins.  These three points dovetail last week’s message which spoke to the theme of Jesus Christ being the vehicle for our salvation and it is through His blood that our sins have been forgiven and we have been redeemed and the good news is that we are transferred into the family of God!  What hope this good news brings to us this morning!

My prayer as we come to a close is that God will give you a passion to desire a more intimate relationship with Him.  I can tell you spending more time with God will be life changing and invigorating.  I cannot force you to make this commitment and guess what God will not force you to make this commitment as well – it is your decision!  Satan will do everything to trick you and deceive you, but God just says “come to me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest!”  My prayer is that you will come to Him and find that rest!

Confident Expectation

As we gather here today there is a lot of uncertainty in the world in which we live.  Our economy is not very good; nation after nation are having upheavals trying to remove their government leaders; an horrific event has taken place in Aurora, CO where innocent people were killed attending a movie; and let’s be real the word being a Christian has a stigma attached to it that makes people see us as lepers in a clean society.  I realize that life is hard and some of us would like to go back to the good ‘ol days, but we are where we are and I stand before you today to talk to you about hope in the light of what seems like a hopeless world.

We are going to jump into the Scriptures right away and if you will notice on your insert on one side is the Scriptures and on the other is your fill in the blank page.  I want to take us from where it all went wrong to a place that will give all of us a hope and joy to face not only today, but tomorrow as well.

In the book of Genesis we read, “²³ therefore the LORD God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”  This pericope of Scripture is the passage concerning man’s expulsion from the presence of God; the relationship between God and man has been fractured and as the Word says, “God sent the man out of the Garden.” Not only that in the very next verse we are told that “God drove out the man.” In a matter of a few words it went from Adam being told to leave the Garden to Adam forcefully being removed from the presence of God.  From Adam’s perspective he had to be feeling a mix of emotions: hurt; concern for his family; a feeling of abandonment; depression; fear; worry; his thought concerning what the future would hold; what emotions must have been running through his mind when he was separated from the actual presence of God. These emotions and concerns felt by Adam are the same emotions all of us feel when we are separated from God.  Adam had to have a feeling of hopelessness in a situation and a world that he saw as hopeless.  We also need to understand that all of these all emotions Adam felt are the same emotions that Satan uses to his advantage in our lives.  Now there is one important thing about Adam being banished from the presence of God, “Man no longer had access to the Tree of Life!”  When man was created by God, he and she were created to have an intimate, eternal relationship that was face-to-face with God and now – “that creation” – had gone horribly wrong.  Man’s hope was gone!  It is just a little while later in the Book of Genesis we are told that, “…the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (Genesis 6:6).  Man and God were separated – what hope is these for mankind?

The good news this morning is that nothing catches God off-guard and He had a plan already in place.  Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1 and let us look at this passage of Scripture.  ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. ⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. If we believe that God is all-knowing and I do, then as this passage tells us, God knew Adam and Eve would sin and so He had a plan in place before the creation of the world to reconcile us back to Him.  I love how in verse 4 it tells us that God chose us before the foundation of the world.  God chose to adopt us through Jesus Christ because it pleased Him to do so.  And we see that through the blood of Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven and we are redeemed.  Are you beginning to see a glimmer of hope this morning?  Can you see that it is God who desires to have that intimate relationship with you and me, even more than we do? It is God who not only wants us back, but wants to give us access to the Tree of Life again and that can only happen through the blood, redemption, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If you are like most people the small book of Titus is one that you don’t frequent too much, but it is chocked full of great information.  Turn with me to Titus 2 and let us read this Scripture together. ¹¹ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, ¹² teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. ¹⁵ Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. First and foremost we need to understand that it is by the grace of God that we are saved. We cannot be good enough, we cannot work hard enough, and we cannot help enough needy people to earn our way in heaven.  As we saw in the Ephesians passage earlier, it is God’s desire that we be reunited with Him in an intimate and eternal relationship; we are to become His “special people”.  Now hope is a word that has so many meanings, but if we look at the Greek translation of this word I believe it puts it in perspective for us this morning.  In the Greek the word hope means confident expectation.  We are confidently expecting what we hear or read to be true and believe that it has happened, will continue to happen, and will happen in the future.  Although we were separated by the fall of mankind, Jesus Christ came back to be our sacrifice, placing us in a right relationship with God if we will only confess Him as Lord and Savior and believe that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9).  Through Christ we are redeemed and purified. It is as simple as that brothers and sisters.  In the beautiful hymn Because He Lives, we hear these wonderful words: God sent His son, they called Him Jesus, He came to love, heal, and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pardon, an empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. Christ came to love us, heal us and forgive us and through His death He bought our pardon and by His resurrection we have the hope of eternal life.  And our hope or shall we say “confident expectation” doesn’t just include the present, but our hope expressed by Paul to Titus is in the return or the 2^nd appearance of Jesus Christ.  The return of Christ to bring us back to Him is expressed in John 14 where He says, “That where I am is where you will be,” is a wonderful and powerful hope of being with Christ for all of eternity!

We have learned today how and why we were separated from God and how God had a plan to bring us back into that right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.  Now we need to learn how to apply this in our lives.  How can we take this hope of the salvation of Jesus Christ and put it into common everyday practice.  Turn with me to Isaiah 63 for just a moment because it will tell us something important about Jesus and also reiterate what He did for us.  Read along with me, “¹ Who is this who comes from Edom, With dyed garments from Bozrah, This One who is glorious in His apparel, Traveling in the greatness of His strength? – ‘I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.’ ² Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? ³ ‘I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes.’” There is a key word in this passage that most of us would miss that describes how Jesus can help us through those difficult and evil times and that word is “Edom”.  Edom was the name that God changed from Esau; Esau became known as Edom. When Saul was king he was told to wipe out the evil Edomites or the descendants of Esau, including the women and children and livestock.  King Saul did not do this and today those descendants of Esau are called Palestinians.  The point I want to make about this word is that Jesus has been to the evil places before us.  There is nothing that we will encounter in life that Jesus hasn’t already been there and done that.  So when we rest our hope in Him we can rest assured that He knows what we are dealing with.  This should give us a confident expectation or confident assurance to put all our hope and trust in Jesus Christ!  In this passage from Isaiah it reinforces and reemphasizes that it is by His blood we are redeemed or healed in the eyes of God.  Nothing we can do can achieve this – only the blood of Jesus Christ!

The final Scripture this morning comes from Philippians chapter 4.  Turn with me to this passage and let’s look at what it is saying to us this morning.  ⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. ⁹ The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.  Now I have to tell you I cannot do justice to this passage this morning from a time standpoint, but I will hit three quick points in these verses.  First, the word “meditate” means to “take an inventory,” so we need to take an inventory of our life.  This means we need to make sure we are doing things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, and worthy of praise and good report.  If you go to Galatians 5:22 you are going to see many of these same words and thoughts used in the description of the fruit of the Spirit – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.  When we take inventory, we are taking stock of our life and we ask ourselves, “Does my witness, whether verbal or life-witness, reflect Jesus Christ or does it reflect the world?”  Once we have taken inventory we are told in verse 9 to put these traits into practice.  We’ve all heard we preach our funeral everyday – well as I have asked in this part of the Scripture: are we living a God-driven life or are we living a life that is more for the world, flesh and Satan.  We need to put into practice what we preach with our words.  This Scripture says that when we do that the God of peace will be with you.  The word “peace” means “to set at one again.”  When I studied this verse in-depth I realized something that all of us already know – we are made one with God through Jesus Christ.  Now this isn’t new to any of us, but something that God showed me in verse 9 did make this thought come to have new meaning.  Remember how I started out this message talking about the separation of Adam and Eve from God at the Fall of Man.  Guess what this verse is telling you and me this morning – it is teaching us that when we come to know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior the relationship God had with mankind before the fall has been restored!  Our relationship with God becomes like the one that existed prior to the fall!  We can walk with God in the cool of the day!  We can talk with God face-to-face!  We can be in the presence of God on a daily basis!  We can have that intimate relationship with God that Adam and Eve had prior to the fall!  We can now eat from the Tree of Life; we are no longer banished from the Garden!  Now that is a confident expectation or as we call it hope this morning!

Do you have that type of relationship with God this morning?  You already have it if you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior and believe that God raised Him from the dead.  If you haven’t made that commitment and want that confident expectation or assurance of having that type of intimate relationship with God this morning, then come forward during our closing hymn and make that commitment today – God desires for you to have it and that is where our hope lies this morning – in Jesus Christ our Lord!  To all those who have ears let them hear!