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TruthQuake (Colossians 1:1-8)
52 Plays2 years ago
TruthQuake (Colossians 1:1-8)
Colossians: The Preeminence of Christ
Sunday Message recorded 23 July 2023
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Acknowledgments
00:00:06
Speaker
Thank you, Jana, for honoring our Savior and our Lord so beautifully. Good morning. It's good to see you, especially with my eye surgery behind me. It's really good to see you this morning.
00:00:18
Speaker
You know, if they were to ask me, why do you want your eye repaired? I would have told them so I can see those who dozed off during the sermon. So just know that I got my eye on you. I want you to put your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ today. That's what really it's all about when we gather together.
Paul's Prison Letters: Ephesians and Colossians
00:00:37
Speaker
You know, I appreciate so much, Josh, my associate pastor, finishing up Ephesians.
00:00:43
Speaker
last Sunday, so wonderfully. And thank the Lord so much for all we learned. There are actually so many similarities between Ephesians and Colossians that I thought, well, since we're in the neighborhood, before we leave, let's just do a quick flyover of some of the great truths that are given to us in Colossians, as well as those that we've already studied in Ephesians.
00:01:10
Speaker
You probably know this, but the author, the human author, of course the Holy Spirit is the ultimate author, but the human author that the Lord used, the instrument, was the Apostle Paul. He says that in Colossians 1.1. He said that in Ephesians 1.1.
00:01:26
Speaker
You'll also recall that we learned in Ephesians that when Paul was inspired to write the letter to the church in Ephesus, he was in prison in Rome. Well, if you were to look in Colossians chapter 4 verse 3, you would see he's in the same spot. He actually wrote four letters from the prison in Rome.
Tychicus: Paul's Trusted Messenger
00:01:48
Speaker
It was actually, he was under house arrest.
00:01:51
Speaker
It's interesting how both letters, Ephesians and Colossians, were delivered by the same mailman. Do you know your mailman by name? Paul knew Tychicus was the man that delivered the letter to the church in Ephesus, and he was also the one in Colossians 4-7 who delivered the letter that Paul wrote to the church at Colossae.
00:02:13
Speaker
You'll see some similar things when we go through Colossians, like praying for spiritual growth. I hope you're growing in the Lord. You'll see an explanation once again of redemption. You'll see how we should be laying behind us the old man, who you were BC before Christ. And you should be moving forward in the new man of who you are in the Lord.
00:02:40
Speaker
You'll also hear a little bit, not as much in Colossians as we learned in Ephesians, but you'll hear some about family life as well once we go through this entire letter. But I didn't want you to know there are some differences. And I want you to know why we're doing this and what those differences are.
00:02:59
Speaker
You know, for example, Ephesians, it was clear on who we are as the body of Christ. It was clear on who we are as born again believers, as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians filled it out really clear. This is who you are. This is what you have in Christ.
Theological Themes: Preeminence of Christ vs. Believers' Identity
00:03:20
Speaker
But when we go to Colossians, there's going to be a different focus. We're not going to be talking about who we are.
00:03:26
Speaker
We're going to be talking about who he is, who Jesus is, because this letter, the theme is the preeminence of Christ. You'll notice in Colossians 1 at the end of verse 18, it says that in everything he, that is Jesus, might be preeminent. Might be preeminent.
00:03:48
Speaker
You see, in Ephesians we talked about how all of us become one. It's a mystery, right? How all of us become one in Christ. Most likely, if we didn't have the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we would not be together. We wouldn't even know one another.
00:04:06
Speaker
Christ brings us all together into this oneness. And I think that's amazing. That's what we just studied in the letter to the Ephesians. But when we look into the letter to the Colossians, we'll see how we individually, each one of us, we're complete.
00:04:24
Speaker
in Christ. Oh, there were people who were trying to give the Colossians a hard time and saying, you don't know enough. You don't do enough. You got to keep all these things and all these rules and whatever, or you're not going to be favored of God and so forth. And so Paul is writing to the Colossian church and he's saying, look, the
Completeness in Christ: Countering False Teachings
00:04:44
Speaker
truth is
00:04:45
Speaker
When you gave your life to Jesus Christ, you're complete in Him, because all the fullness of God dwells within the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's probably no surprise that the theme and one of the themes in Ephesians was the mystery of how the Jews
00:05:06
Speaker
and the Gentiles who normally didn't get along, how they were brought together, how they were brought together as one in the body of Christ. But the mystery in Colossians is how Christ, being so preeminent and so great and so supreme, how can He care about me? How can He care about you? How can He come and dwell within us?
00:05:32
Speaker
You see, Colossians could be divided into two different parts. Chapters one and two is a doctrinal part. Chapters three and four is a practical part. The doctrinal part stresses the supremacy of Christ. How great is he? Have you forgotten? Have I forgotten? We're gonna be reminded as we go through Colossians just how supreme, how great, how wonderful like those songs that we sang, how wonderful the Lord Jesus Christ is.
00:06:02
Speaker
But then in chapters 3 and 4, we're going to learn if he's so great, chapters 1 and 2, what's our response? Submission to the Christ. Submission to Him. If we study how supreme He is and how great He is, you ought to say, it's no problem for me to surrender my life to someone as awesome as you.
00:06:25
Speaker
Whereas chapters one and two describe what Christ did for us, get ready. When we get to chapters three and four, it's what Christ can do through us. And it's going to be amazing as we go through this together. But there were people that were giving them a hard time in Colossae.
00:06:45
Speaker
You know, if someone assumes that God did not create the world in the past, then it's likely they will also make another presumption, another assumption, to assume, well, if He didn't create it in the past, He's sure not working in the present, in my world, to help me in my life.
00:07:06
Speaker
But He is. He is. And that's what we're going to see later in chapter 2 verses 8 through 23. You see, these guys were new. They hadn't known the Lord a long time. Some of you have been on the trail following Christ as your Lord and Savior. You've been in His word for many years.
00:07:25
Speaker
but not classic, not these disciples who were there. They were just starting. They didn't know. And so some people were trying to take advantage of what they didn't know. And so when you look,
00:07:38
Speaker
In chapter two, verse eight, he says, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. And listen to how he says, you got all you need. For in him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him.
00:08:06
Speaker
who is the head of all rule and authority. See, Jesus, He has authority not just in this room, not just over the body of Christ. He's got authority over all of it. And the reason He has authority over all of it is because of who He is. He is the Son of God. He was there when this world was created.
Colossae's History and Earthquake
00:08:30
Speaker
So don't act like, well, he just came on the scene in Bethlehem at Christmas time as a little baby. No, he always was. The Councils of Eternity, he always was. You see, Colossae, it's interesting how such a great letter was written to such a small town.
00:08:50
Speaker
I think we can relate. It makes us feel, wait a minute, God's not forgotten us because Colossae was not the largest city center that Paul wrote to. Also, it was written about AD 60. And Colossae was located in this region of Phrygia that today we would refer to it as South Central Turkey.
00:09:15
Speaker
Keep that in your mind. By the time we get to the end of the message, I'm going to tell you about an earthquake that happened this year in South Central Turkey. But this place of Kalase was located along a river. Hey, aren't we located along a river? It's amazing how we got so many things in common with these people there in Kalase.
00:09:39
Speaker
You see, this community though was located a hundred miles from Ephesus. It was a much larger center. And so maybe they felt forgotten, but whenever you read this letter, you'll say, man, I can't believe the truth that was given to these people who were following Christ in that small place of Colossae.
00:10:03
Speaker
But do you know that just a few months after they were given this incredible letter, they experienced in 8060
00:10:12
Speaker
a terrible earthquake. It was a major one. It basically destroyed all of Colossae. And as a matter of fact, there are different opinions among historians on how long did they last after this? But basically, they never recovered the influence that they once had. And so today, if you were to look at it, it would look a lot like that picture over on the right. It's just totally uninhabited. There's nothing there.
00:10:43
Speaker
You see, there are several earthquakes mentioned in Scripture. If you were to go to the Institute for Creation Research, they'd probably tell you there are 17 earthquakes that are listed throughout the Bible. Some of them, you know, it doesn't use the word earthquake, but I looked up those that do use the word earthquake, and I counted up 10.
00:11:04
Speaker
There are six in the Old Testament. There are four in the New Testament. Do you know that when Jesus was crucified, there was an earthquake that was shaking. God was saying, I'm doing something important here. I don't want anybody to miss it. And so the earth shook, shook when he died on the cross. But do you know that when he rose from the dead, once again, the Lord said, hey,
00:11:26
Speaker
world, I want you to pay attention. Something mighty happened because the stone was rolled away so that we could see the Son of God's no longer dead. They placed Him in a tomb dead
00:11:39
Speaker
But three days later, he rose from the dead. And that's why he's so great. That's why he's so preeminent. That's why later in the book of Acts in chapter four, when they were praying to this great God, praying in the name of Jesus, you know what happened to the place? It says that it began to shake. The whole place began to shake.
00:11:59
Speaker
Sometimes when we were in Japan, it shook when we weren't praying. And I was like, hey, we're not even praying in this place. It's rocking and rolling. I thought this is where Elvis got jailhouse rocked. No, it's not. But anyway.
00:12:12
Speaker
There was a prison in Philippi and two of God's servants were in there. And the Lord just sent an earthquake and he said, you know what, I'm not done with these guys. So the prison doors open and incredible things happen. We'll look more at that as we finish the message a little bit later. But I think my point is God's got something to say. He had something to say to these people.
00:12:36
Speaker
You see, the earthquake had not occurred yet when Paul wrote this letter, or he would have referred to it. But I tell you what was happening, a truth quake, a truth quake.
00:12:50
Speaker
You know, this weekend, a family in our community, they had a celebration of life service for their 27-year-old son. He was on the way back from Houston and he had a severe asthma attack and they lost him.
00:13:07
Speaker
You know, sometimes there are quakes that cause you to seek truth and to say, I don't understand, Lord. He was only 27. Sometimes life itself causes you to really get shaken up. And if you're not careful, then just like when Paul wrote to the church at, I think it was Thessalonica,
00:13:28
Speaker
He said to them, all of the afflictions, I'm praying that it would not cause you to be moved. Don't be moved in your faith. That's the purpose of why Josh and I will share some of these truths that are found in this book of Colossae. It is true that they experienced an earthquake later.
00:13:49
Speaker
but you may be experiencing an earthquake now. And you're looking for answers now. Lord, I need to know truth. I need to know where you are because I'm looking for you. I'm searching for you. There were people that are mentioned throughout the New Testament and out of all the places, you know where some of those people were from? This little place of Colossae. I guarantee you God knows your name. God knows where you are. He knows what you're going through.
00:14:17
Speaker
So I want you to stand in honor of His word. I want to read Colossians. We're just going to look at the first eight verses today, just to sort of set this whole study up.
00:14:27
Speaker
And we're going to hear what God would say to us to reinforce us. Because if it's good times right now, praise the Lord. You need to be thanking the Lord for the truths that are helping you stand there and give thanks during the good times. But if it's hard times, I want you to know there are some truths that are unshakable.
00:14:48
Speaker
and they will give you the security and the strength to stability that you need. So let's look at these together. It says in Colossians 1, 1, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. Intimidity our brother to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
00:15:12
Speaker
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because the hope laid up for you in heaven of this, you have heard before, get this, in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you as indeed in the whole world,
00:15:40
Speaker
it is bearing fruit and increasing, as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. Just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, he is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
00:16:06
Speaker
Let's pray together. Lord, all we can say is speak to us by your Holy Spirit. Lord, I wanna submit myself to your Holy Spirit and say, fill me, anoint me, empower me that I might share from these wonderful truths just a little bit of the glory that is here. Lord, today we can't get it all in, but just a little bit, Lord. Help me in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated.
00:16:39
Speaker
You know, in verse five, Paul made it clear that when the people were going through this truth quake, when all these false teachers were shaking them up and getting them to think, hey, I'm missing out on something. He said, you know what you need to hear? You need to hear the word of truth again, the gospel, verse five.
Gospel's Four Pillars for Stability
00:16:57
Speaker
So when everything around you is shaking,
00:17:02
Speaker
The gospel offers you and me four pillars of truth for security, for support, for stability
00:17:10
Speaker
The first one we'll see are the marvels of the gospel of Christ. Then we'll see why are we called to do life together, to follow Christ together. You'll see membership around the gospel of Christ. You'll see the message of the gospel of Christ. Some here need to hear it. Some may have heard parts of it, but you may say, I just need to hear what is it that all of y'all are so excited about?
00:17:34
Speaker
And then the mission of the gospel of Christ. There's definitely something about that. When even in the midst of hard times, when that earthquake struck Philippi, you won't believe what Paul and Silas did. They did it run. They stayed. And you know what they did? They shared that gospel message with a guy that needed it, that was still in the jail.
00:17:59
Speaker
Let's look at these four pillars briefly. The first pillar of truth, I would say, would be the marvels over the gospel. If you ever read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you'll find that all of them talk about how people were astonished. They were amazed. People could not believe it. They marveled. Matthew says in Matthew 9, 33, after Jesus did incredible things that no man could do.
00:18:27
Speaker
It says, and the crowds marveled saying never was anything like this seen in Israel. Maybe there are some in this congregation right now that if I gave you the opportunity, you could stand up and say never had I ever seen what God's done in my life. He's been so good to me.
00:18:46
Speaker
the ways he expressed his incredible grace and mercy and power. You see, that's the first thing that I noticed when he says Paul. It may seem like just a name, right? Paul. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. But you know what? There's a marvel there. There's something astonishing there because if you were to read Acts chapter eight, Acts chapter nine, you know what you discover? This same man, Paul, who at that time was called Saul,
00:19:17
Speaker
He hated Christians. He wanted to arrest Christians. He wanted to put every Christian behind bars. And so you know what happened to him? His life was changed. It was an incredible thing when they said, look at that guy. He used to persecute the church. And now he's preaching Christ. I can't believe it how this man's life has changed.
00:19:41
Speaker
There may be somebody here today, there may be somebody that's going to be listening to this online. And they're going to be thinking, man, I wish I could get a new start. I wish I could get a new life. I'm so tired of my life. I'm so tired of all the mistakes that I've made in my life. Do you know that 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. The old things have passed away. The old new things have come.
00:20:07
Speaker
The best way to get a new start is to submit to Jesus Christ the way that Paul did back in those days in Acts chapter 9.
00:20:17
Speaker
But I believe there's also a marvel, a marvel of purposeful living, a marvel of purposeful living. It may seem simple enough in verse one when he goes on to say, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God and Timothy, our brother. But I'm telling you something, there's depth there.
00:20:38
Speaker
There's depth there that this man whose mission was to follow the law, this man whose mission was at the time, let me just lock up all the Christians, he totally was gutted of that mission. It was over. Maybe in your life, you're in a major transition. And you're saying, man, I don't know what God's going to do now. I don't even know which direction to walk.
00:21:00
Speaker
Do you know there's purposeful living whenever you submit to Christ? And you say, Lord, just like Jesus prayed to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said, not my will, but your will be done. Have you ever tried that to God? God, not my will, but your will be done. I want to live from now on the rest of my life according to your will.
00:21:23
Speaker
I don't think Paul ever forgot this. Look at chapter one, verse nine. We didn't read that, but listen to what he prays for them. This has already taken place in his life, right? But listen to what he's praying for them. And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Isn't that something? He's praying for them.
00:21:52
Speaker
that they also will live by the will of God, not by self-will, not by self-plans. As a matter of fact, there's a man we'll learn about later named Epaphras, and you will believe what this guy is also praying for the people that are in Colossae. He's from Colossae, so he's a homeboy, but look at chapter 4 and verse 12.
00:22:13
Speaker
Chapter 4, verse 12, if you're ever looking for something to pray, if you've got, let's say you've got a young adult that's about to go to college, let's say you've got a young adult who's in college, just graduated, one that's going for their master's or doctorate or whatever, wouldn't this be a great way to pray for them? The paphorus prayer.
00:22:33
Speaker
Colossians 4, 12, Epaphras, who's one of you. He said, you know, Epaphras, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you always struggling on your behalf in his prayers. What are you praying for, Epaphras? For all those people that you love back home. He says,
00:22:54
Speaker
What he's praying for you is that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. That's a great prayer. That is a great prayer to pray for anybody. You can pray that for me anytime you want. But pray that for your kids. Pray that for your grandkids. Pray that for others. Pray that for your Sunday school teacher. Pray that for other church members that are sitting on the pew with you.
00:23:18
Speaker
But it's a marvel whenever somebody takes that seriously. And someone says, you know what? My life is no longer mine. I'm letting the Lord in the driver's seat. Remember, whenever we did the Spirit-filled life, we looked at the diagram. There's like a throne that is represented in our lives. Well, it's like whoever sits on that throne controls your life. Who does control your life? Others? The culture? Is it yourself? Or is it Jesus?
00:23:47
Speaker
You see, whenever we let Jesus sit on the throne and make the decisions, whenever we're saying, I'm following you, wherever you're going, that's where I'm going. When we do that, you know what he says? I'm going to put my power behind that life right there. You know, I think another marvelous thing is how, look at verse three. This is going to really shock you whenever you realize, where is he writing from?
00:24:14
Speaker
Oh, I know he's sipping on an iced latte overlooking the Caribbean, and he's at a really nice resort. No, that's not really right. He was in a room where, but he had a soldier chained to him, and so only people could come to him. He couldn't go where he wanted to go. And yet look at his attitude. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.
00:24:44
Speaker
There's a couple of things that stood out to me. One is, I can't believe this guy's thankful for anything. Shouldn't he be grumpy? Shouldn't he be complaining? Shouldn't he be griping? Shouldn't he say, I was serving you God, why am I sitting here chained to this soldier and not able to go free out there?
00:25:03
Speaker
But he does it. As a matter of fact, if you want to write these down, if you've got a rapid fire handwriting like Stephen Tice, then just go ahead and write these things down. But Colossians 1-12, Colossians 2-7, Colossians 3-15, Colossians 3-17, and Colossians 4-2.
00:25:28
Speaker
because it's a theme. And what I'm saying is he doesn't just talk about Thanksgiving in his introduction. He just keeps it going. He just keeps it going all the way through every chapter. He's just saying, the Lord has done so much for me. Who am I to walk around and just be grumpy, just complain?
00:25:48
Speaker
when the Lord has been so good to me. I know the King, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. My goodness, he's made a place for me to go to. And so what in the world, why would I be down?
00:26:03
Speaker
I think another marvelous thing is when he says, I'm praying for you. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't he start out saying, don't forgive me folks. Remember, I'm over here in the slammer cause I'm living for Jesus. I've been trying to tell people about Christ and now I'm not out there free like y'all. So please pray for me. Now I get out of here real soon. Now that's not what he says. I mean, the text tells us exactly what his prayer was. He said, I'm praying for you.
00:26:32
Speaker
Who can do that? Who can change somebody that normally used to be so selfish to becoming somebody that thinks about others? I only know of one, the Lord Jesus Christ. I've told you many times before, but I had this bad habit when I was a teenager that if anybody passed me, even on a four lane, somebody just passes me, a guy's enjoying his family, he passes me, I take it personally. I took it personally.
00:27:01
Speaker
And so I would say, that's not right. So I would pass him, no matter how fast I'd have to go. Even when I was on two lane roads, it's a wonder I'm here talking to you. I'm telling you, God was merciful. Just like those commercials, kids, don't try this at home, okay? I'm telling you, it was a bad habit. I could have died. But the thing is, God changed me. And God made me think about other people and not just myself. And so isn't it amazing that this man would be praying for them
00:27:30
Speaker
All of this surprises me. All of this amazes me. That's why I can't hardly keep from getting choked up when we sing some Christian songs like Charles H. Gabriel's old hymn that sort of moved him and motivated him when he read Luke 22, 41 to 44, when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane saying, not my will, but your will be done. Says he sweat gray drops of blood. And he wrote a song.
00:27:59
Speaker
And in the song, he's recounting what Jesus did for him. And he says, how marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. I'm so glad in my generation when I was a young adult.
00:28:17
Speaker
Phillips Craig and Dean wrote another song, and it's called Your Grace. Oh, it still amazes me. Your love, it's still a mystery. I don't understand is basically what that song celebrates. I don't understand why you would love somebody like me. I do not understand grace and mercy like I have experienced. Man, that is just amazing whenever it sits in.
00:28:44
Speaker
That'll help you get through the hard times. Whenever life's shaking and you say, I don't understand my finances, I don't understand my physical health and the medical report I just received. But you already say, wait a minute, even though I don't understand that, I don't understand that. I tell you what is really hard to understand is how much God could love me, how much God could forgive me, how God could make a place in heaven for me.
00:29:09
Speaker
I want to give you a second one. The second pillar of truth is the membership around the gospel, the membership around the gospel.
Importance of Church Community
00:29:18
Speaker
You know, in order to survive a truth quake, whenever your faith is tested, whenever you're saying, I don't understand what's going on in my world, in my life, you're really confused over it. Whenever that happens, you know what you've got to have? You've got to be connected.
00:29:37
Speaker
to a local church. You've got to have brothers and sisters in Christ who will bear the load. You know, there's a verse in Galatians that says we each have our own little bitty burdens that we carry, but sometimes
00:29:53
Speaker
There are burdens that aren't like a little backpack. They're more like a boulder and they can fall off on you. And suddenly it's like you gotta have somebody underneath that boulder that's gonna be there. You know who that somebody I've seen? I've seen it over and over again.
00:30:10
Speaker
It's a church like this one, a church. It's almost like church members are first responders because life can be so hard. And so those brothers and sisters in Christ, as though they were first responders, they dig through the rubble and the debris of life.
00:30:31
Speaker
They rescue those who are pinned down, and you can't move. You can't get out of it. You can't seem to get away from the weight that's laying across your whole life. And suddenly some brothers and sisters say, hey, we can pray for you. We can help you with that load. And they push it off of you. And they lift out those who are wounded, those who are saying, I don't think there's any hope. I think this is where I finish. No.
00:30:59
Speaker
Not when you're connected to a local church of brothers and sisters in Christ who say, you know what? We care about you. We care about you. And that's why we break up into smaller Bible study fellowships. We call it Sunday School. And we have it for all different ages. There's all different life situations. But you're welcome in any of those classes. But the thing is, we're coming around God's word, and we're learning to care about other people. And we need that.
00:31:29
Speaker
Because I really think that a lot of times are hard times, rather than God just saying, no, I'm not going to let any hard times come to them. You know why I think He does let hard times come to us? Because it drives us to Him. And you know what it causes us to do? It causes us to reach out to other people. Sure, when everything's fine, maybe you feel like, I don't need anybody. But you know what you just overlooked?
00:31:54
Speaker
other people need you. When you're doing okay, other people need you to say, let me help you. But if you're not there, or if you're rarely there, it makes all the difference. So all I'm saying is, whenever I read verse two and verse four, I couldn't help but think, look at that, look at what he's doing. He says to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father.
00:32:24
Speaker
He's talking about a local church. They're in Colossae. They needed one. We need one. This community needs more than one because each local church has its own personality. And so you got to find one that fits for you.
00:32:40
Speaker
But I got to looking at what he says there in verse two and then what he also goes on to say in verse four. He says, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, what would be our church's reputation in this community? What do you think we're known for?
00:33:03
Speaker
I read a post that someone sent me last night about the funeral service that happened here yesterday. This person is not a member of our church, but you should read what they said about our church.
00:33:16
Speaker
It was really encouraging. It was really a blessing. It was really affirming. But what is the reputation that the Apostle Paul said, when I hear about all of you there in Colossae, you know what I'm hearing? I'm hearing about faith in Christ. I'm hearing about faithfulness to Christ.
00:33:38
Speaker
I'm hearing about love for other believers. See, that's what really I think churches are all about. Churches are all about staying faithful to the Lord. Churches are all about being born again like saying, okay, have I placed my personal trust in Jesus Christ? See, it's not a religion. It's not about a denomination. It's about you personally turning from sin and putting your faith and trust in what Jesus Christ did for you.
00:34:09
Speaker
But then once we do that, it's like, help me. Help me to be faithful to this one who loved me so much that he laid down his life. And that's what we do as a body of Christ. We help one another. Stay true. Stay true to the faith. Stay true to the scriptures. Stay faithful. Don't give up.
00:34:27
Speaker
But we also love one another. That's what he's saying that he heard. He said, you know what I heard from Tychicus, what I heard from Epaphras, what I heard from Philemon? I heard that you, the love you have for all the saints is incredible. I think that something very similar could be said about you. See, I've been around you for several years now. I know you.
00:34:50
Speaker
And I've seen your faith, and I've seen your faithfulness, and I've felt and tasted your love. I taste it every night when I go to lay my head down on my pillow. When I know that this congregation said, you need a place to live, why not our parsonage? You can live in our parsonage. I just want you to know that your love is a testimony. It validates everything about the message of Christ that we're going to look at when we gather next time.
00:35:21
Speaker
But you know, Paul was writing to a younger pastor named Timothy. And I thought it was really interesting the terminology that the Holy Spirit gave to Paul to share with Timothy in first Timothy chapter three and verses 14 and 15. You won't believe what he says. He says, I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay,
00:35:50
Speaker
You may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God. And listen to how he describes us, a pillar and a buttress of what?
00:36:05
Speaker
of the truth, of the truth. That's why I think it's so important that we marvel at the gospel, the truth of the gospel, that we marvel over membership around the truth of the gospel, that we live those things out with one another. And the one the message of, I just wanted to say how ironic I think it is,
00:36:29
Speaker
that just a few weeks, maybe even months after Paul wrote to stabilize the faith of the Colossians, their whole city was destroyed. It was a major earthquake in AD 60. You can look it up and read all about it. It was actually the second earthquake that hit Colossae. But you see, I think sometimes
00:36:54
Speaker
that we assume life's good, man. It's always gonna be good. There's never gonna be any kind of a truth quake, any kind of an earthquake, any kind of a storm. It's gonna be great all my life.
00:37:06
Speaker
You see, the truth is, life's unpredictable. You can't say that. I can't even promise you that. I had a fireman on Okinawa, and he said to me, if you can promise me that nothing bad will ever happen to me, if you can promise me that nothing bad will ever happen to anybody in my family,
00:37:26
Speaker
then I will follow Christ. I'll surrender to him. But if you can't promise me that," he said, I know what my family's waiting on. They're waiting on me to embrace that Western religion Christianity. It's not even Western. But to embrace that Western religion of Christianity, and then they're going to blame me. When anything bad happens, they're going to say, see, you became a Christian. The ancestors are cursing us because you became a Christian.
00:37:57
Speaker
There was a lot of shaking, like I said earlier, in Japan. You know, the Japan earthquake called the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995? It happened my second year of language study.
00:38:12
Speaker
I was good friends with Barry and Tammy Walker. They said, we're going to go not to Tokyo where you are, but we're being sent by the mission to Kobe. We're going to Kobe. And that's where we're going to go through language study. Three days later, after they moved to Kobe, the great Han Shin earthquake happened. And it shook them up. And they said, really, they had such a hard time for months afterwards being able to sleep because they just kept thinking bad things were going to happen.
00:38:41
Speaker
But I couldn't help but notice whenever Paul experienced the earthquake in Philippi, it was a great opportunity. If your life is shaking or if somebody around you's life is shaking, some kind of quake, some kind of storm, some kind of hardship, I want you to know this could be the moment
00:39:02
Speaker
because there's a jailer in there in Philippi. And that Philippian jailer asked one question of Paul. He saw all the doors were open. He assumed every prisoner in there escaped, but not Paul and Silas. They stayed. And so the jailer falls down on his knees and he said, what must I do to be saved?
00:39:23
Speaker
Paul looked right at him and he said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved, you and your family, your household. And then he goes on to say he shared more of the word of God with him, but that's where it started. And that's where it starts today.
00:39:38
Speaker
wouldn't you want to trust Christ so that no matter what happens in life, you're not basing your happiness on what happens. You're saying, no, I want that assurance that I see other Christians have. Let's stand together. I want to give the opportunity for any of that need to make a decision today. Any of that say, you know what? I want to be secure. I want to be prepared. I want to have that
00:40:05
Speaker
solid foundation beneath my life that I believe others have in Christ. That's why we give this opportunity. If no one comes, it's okay. We always just want to give the opportunity. We want to give the opportunity in case there is someone who's at that point. So let's pray for them together. Lord, thank you for this time to
00:40:25
Speaker
Extend a gospel invitation in Jesus' name. Lord, I just pray that you would draw those to yourself who need to, they need to follow Christ. They need to maybe cry out to you in repentance and faith and say, please, Lord, save me, save me. I'm just like that jailer. My life is rocking. I can't stop it. Everything is destroyed.
00:40:49
Speaker
Maybe this is the time for them to trust you. So whatever that is, Lord, help them to do it as we sing this closing song today. Help us to turn our eyes upon Jesus. It's in His name we pray. Amen. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.