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TruthQuake (Colossians 1:1-8) - Part 2
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TruthQuake (Colossians 1:1-8) - Part 2
Colossians: The Preeminence of Christ
Sunday Message recorded 06 August 2023
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Challenges of Faith in College
00:00:06
Speaker
You know, I'm so excited that when your students go to, let's say college, we've got college students ready to go, right? When you go, do you know that the Lord is gonna be working on the campus wherever you're going? And I know that there are gonna be those that will try to pull you away from your faith, but there are gonna be others that God's gonna have on that campus that they're gonna be trying
00:00:30
Speaker
to strengthen your faith, to deepen your faith. One of those is a young man that I spoke with this past week, Mason Simmons. He's here today, and you know what?
Meet Mason Simmons
00:00:41
Speaker
He graduated from Oklahoma State University. His major was Jesus. No, wait a minute.
00:00:48
Speaker
No, his major now is Jesus, but his major then was mechanical engineering. But anyway, so he goes, I didn't know Oklahoma State studied Jesus over there. But anyway, he learned the Lord over there and he's walking with him. And you know what? God has called him to work with crew. They're a ministry that works on several college campuses across the United States. And I'm so excited. On his way down, I talked with him and I heard his story.
00:01:15
Speaker
And I was just so blessed. And I felt like Moses, you know, God told Moses to take off his shoes because he was about to walk on holy ground. When he shared his testimony with me, I thought, that's holy ground.
Power of Stories and Upbringing
00:01:29
Speaker
And I wanted you to also be able to be blessed to hear how God has worked in this young man's life. And now he is leading him now to multiply a movement of disciples. You don't have to remove your shoes today, but would you welcome Mason Simmons as he
00:01:51
Speaker
And Mason's mom is here with him today. Cynthia, would you just stand and let us welcome you? This is his mom that loved him, led him. Thank you so much for all that you did to have him here. God bless you.
00:02:04
Speaker
Thank you Victor so much for that introduction and what a blessing it's been to get to talk to you. I hope you all know how blessed you are to have a pastor in Victor, someone who's just so missionally minded.
00:02:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's just been such a blessing to hear your story. I want to thank you all for letting me be here. If you can't read the screen up there, I'm Mason Simmons. Like you said, I was born and raised in Oklahoma, graduated from Oklahoma State just three months ago. Go Pokes!
00:02:40
Speaker
And I'm honored to be sharing my story with you today. And I'm honored to be here. I'm thankful that you all are here. Go ahead and turn to your neighbor and just say, I'm thankful you're here.
00:02:59
Speaker
You all, each and every one of us here today is a sign of God's miraculous rescue. Whether that is miraculous rescue that's happened or miraculous rescue to come, our presence here today, each of us individually, is a miracle of God. So go ahead and turn to your second choice, your other neighbor, and say you are a miracle.
00:03:35
Speaker
Each one of us has a story of God's work, and how many of you all know there is power in stories? There is power in a story. When God rescued and redeemed Israel out of slavery from Egypt,
00:03:53
Speaker
He endeavored to make Israel into a people that wouldn't just obey his will, right, but would have his will written on their hearts. In other words, their desires would always be the same as his desires. How many of y'all know it would just be so much easier if we all just always wanted what God wanted, right? Life would be so much easier and better, and that was what God wanted for Israel.
00:04:22
Speaker
And so in order to do this, he gave them, he told them to meditate on two things. Number one was his instructions for how to live. And number two was their story, was their story about how he redeemed and rescued them out of Israel. And he's given us three things really. He's given us Jesus, who died and was resurrected for us.
00:04:48
Speaker
He's given us also instruction on how to live and he's given us our story of his rescue. And he invites us to meditate on it and to grow into people who want to be more like him and want to do the things that he wants us to do.
College Struggles and Pandemic Impact
00:05:07
Speaker
My story begins with my upbringing from my beautiful mother and father and just parents that followed Jesus and loved Jesus. And I grew up watching what they did as followers of Jesus and their servant hearts. My mother is a wonderful servant and my father is a courageous leader. And I got to watch them and grow up watching them.
00:05:37
Speaker
But the reality is what they did took them away from me in a lot of ways. And I grew up watching what they did, not the God that they loved. And that loved them. And I learned pretty quickly that my value
00:05:54
Speaker
much like what I was seeing of them, my value was not in Christ, was not in who I was, it was in my usefulness and my ability to lead and serve. And if I didn't have that, I was not valuable. And so my value was constantly under threat and it was fragile.
00:06:15
Speaker
And so I grew up like that, and I came into my freshman year of college, much like some members of this congregation are stepping into college. And I really had two priorities in mind. Number one was to fit in, right? And really find people who would affirm my value. And number two was just don't screw up. Don't disappoint my parents who've worked so hard to get me here, and really just to prove my value.
00:06:46
Speaker
And these were both under threat very quickly. I was isolated. I was struggling to adapt to college, lacking motivation. My performance was slipping, struggling to find community, spending time in isolation wondering, what am I doing here?
00:07:07
Speaker
Why am I here? Nothing is working and coping by numbing out, by spending time alone where nobody could see the pain and the brokenness.
00:07:24
Speaker
and doing things that were just adding shame on top of that and adding pain and brokenness. And so my freshman year was actually cut short by the pandemic. I went home for spring break and didn't come back. And it was in that pandemic that, like a lot of people, I began to intently open my Bible. I often tell people I wasn't chomping at the bit to, but there wasn't much better to do.
00:07:51
Speaker
And so I began to read about God's story and about his grace and his love and the abundant life that he offers. And I was excited about it, but it was all things I was thinking about and learning about. I wasn't experiencing it. And I was reading my Bible and I was really just trying to prove to myself that I'm a good Christian guy.
00:08:16
Speaker
that I've got it together, I know what I'm doing, I was trying to prove to myself that I had value. And so I come back to campus my sophomore year, and I'm thankful that the Lord, as Victor said, the Lord has people on college campuses working to pull your heart to Christ. And the Lord sent me, some guys from a campus ministry called CRU,
00:08:43
Speaker
And it was through these guys that I was able to meet people who love Jesus.
00:08:48
Speaker
and who invited me into that. And I started attending a weekly Bible study, but really I was still just trying to do this to prove not only to myself, but now to so many others that I'm a good Christian guy. I've got it together. I know what I'm doing. I have value, but I still wasn't experiencing Jesus. And I still wasn't experiencing the life that I was reading about.
00:09:17
Speaker
And so the Lord gave me a conversation and said, here is your chance. And that conversation was
Breakthrough and Understanding Christ's Love
00:09:24
Speaker
with a senior and crew. And for the first time, I was emboldened to just open up about what I was experiencing and stop trying to prove myself and live this almost lie that I know my identity because I didn't.
00:09:47
Speaker
And I was struggling and hurting and I finally let someone into that. And I was met with love and grace and truth. And the Lord actually gave me a new conversation with a new person every day that week that was so life giving and so revealing.
00:10:12
Speaker
And it was in that week that I realized that the way these guys see me, the way these guys are treating me, the way these guys love me, that is how Christ loves me. That's how Christ sees me. And so it was in that moment, in that week that I decided I want to take him seriously and I want to give him authority.
00:10:38
Speaker
but I was still struggling to give up control, right? Still kind of running from Christ. And I wanted to be closer to Christ, but I didn't want to be exposed to him because how could someone see, whoops, see all of the brokenness? How could someone be invited into that and still love me?
00:11:04
Speaker
And so I thought I was running to him, but I was actually running away from him and I ran all the way to a summer mission with crew. And on that summer mission, I was focused on what I was doing, not on what he was doing. And I came back to school and I had that same experience, this time leading with crew, leading Bible studies, discipling young guys. And so I was still,
00:11:33
Speaker
struggling and wondering, but I had price to lean on, but there was still more. And so I went on another summer mission with crew actually
Mission in Italy and LSU Calling
00:11:43
Speaker
in Bologna, Italy, and I experienced a whole new culture, one that was slower and simpler and forced me to stop running and start walking with Christ.
00:11:56
Speaker
And it was in that walking and in that stillness and that quiet that Christ whispered to me, I loved you and you were valuable to me before you took your first step. And I was overwhelmed with joy. And it was in that moment that I felt a call.
00:12:21
Speaker
And God told me there are students just like you who need to know that I love them. And so I knew I needed to do something. And so I came back to school and I was my senior year and I figured out what that was going to look like. And that was a lot of wrestling with God over how am I going to reach students? How am I going to reach people like me?
00:12:51
Speaker
And so that, you know, I came back and I knew I was still dealing with brokenness. It wasn't perfect, but I was, I had stopped running from Christ. And I learned my senior year to expose myself to Christ, to let him into those things and those parts of my life that I felt so much shame over.
00:13:15
Speaker
And I learned to slow down and walk and even to be still with Christ. And it was in that time that I also learned about LSU. I learned about 32,000 students who are enrolled there, 97% of whom don't know their heavenly father and don't know their identity. And they're chasing satisfaction and answers just like I was.
00:13:41
Speaker
God just grew my heart for them. Because I know he's redeemed me and has rescued me and continues to call me closer in relationship with him. And he has sent me to go and tell others of the good news of his rescue.
00:14:00
Speaker
And so as a side note, I just want to say I'm entirely enabled to do that by people like you, people who pray for me and even support my mission financially. I'd love to talk with you guys.
00:14:16
Speaker
a little bit more if you were curious about how to do that or if you just want to hear more of my story because I know there's power in stories and I know each one of us here has a story. I know mine is still nowhere near finished, but I know each of us here has a story of God's rescue and I know there is power
00:14:42
Speaker
and that story. I'm so thankful for the way that God's rescued me. Why don't you join me in prayer. Lord, you are so good and you love us so much and have given so much to rescue us to the point of giving your son to die so that we can be reconciled to you.
00:15:12
Speaker
And we can never fathom the love that that takes. And we know we were created in your image that we are valuable to you. Lord, I pray that you would reveal to us your goodness through our stories, that you would remind us of who you are when we go through the storms, when we go through the wilderness,
00:15:38
Speaker
of life that you would remind us of the goodness of your work and our stories and that you would use that not only to bless us, but to bless others and to lead others to your love and to your riches. And it's in your son's name I pray. Amen. Thank you guys.
00:16:08
Speaker
Thank you, Mason. You know, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 says that we are a poemma
00:16:15
Speaker
a poema of God, that God has written a story, a poem. And so that's what this plaque over here that is so beautiful reminds us of is that we are the poetry of God. You know, God is writing something very beautiful through our lives. And so thank you so much, Mason, for sharing with us your story and how God's working in your life. And we know that it's also not over.
00:16:40
Speaker
that when he gets to LSU, I know that he and his mom have a hike left to get all the way to Baton Rouge tonight. So anyway, pray for them as they finish.
Faith Growth through Colossians
00:16:51
Speaker
But I would like for you to look with me at Colossians chapter one, verses one through eight, because I want to try to finish this message that God has given to me.
00:17:03
Speaker
In Colossae, just like Mason said, we can go through life and suddenly everything begins to shake. And we felt secure. Everything was stable as long as we were at home. We were mom and dad, as long as we could be around our grandfather or grandmother.
00:17:21
Speaker
As long as we can be around other church people. But sometimes God takes you out of that and suddenly things begin to shake and you realize everyone in the world doesn't believe like my mom and dad. Everyone in the world doesn't believe like me and like my church. And so that's what was happening with some new disciples that were in a place called Colossae.
00:17:43
Speaker
They had only known the Lord for about five years. And so they knew a lot about him, but there were false teachers who were shaking them up. What's really amazing is that just a few weeks, perhaps months later, it couldn't have been beyond that because when Paul writes this letter, it's 8060. But in 8060, historians tell us there was a major earthquake in Colossae that pretty much destroyed the place. But before the earthquake,
00:18:13
Speaker
There was a truth quake. What about in your life right now? Are you being shaken? Are you looking for value? Are you looking to know that you are significant? You're important. Are you wondering what's beyond this life? Would you stand with me as I read just a few verses here and then I want to pick up with where we left off last time.
00:18:34
Speaker
Colossians 1, 1 says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. And Timothy, our brother to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our father. 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,
00:19:01
Speaker
that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of truth the gospel which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood.
00:19:24
Speaker
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 is made known to us your love in the spirit.
00:19:40
Speaker
Let's pray. Lord, speak to us through your living word today. You know what each one here needs to hear. So speak to us that word of truth from your Holy Spirit through your word that we need to hear this day. In Jesus' name,
Community and Family Support in Faith
00:19:55
Speaker
amen. Thank you. You may be seated.
00:19:58
Speaker
I just want to remind you that last time we saw the marvels of the gospel, we saw that here's a man named Paul who was against Christ, but now he's speaking up for Christ. He's not against him anymore. How did that happen? Now we see this man, his life is so changed. Here he has this new call on his life, just like Mason. I mean, Mason's from Oklahoma, but he's going to Louisiana. Why?
00:20:23
Speaker
because God has laid it on his heart. God has called him. Do you know that God, before you were born, just like that verse says in Ephesians 2.10, before time began, as we know time, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, they were there. And do you know they made a plan for your life.
00:20:43
Speaker
God was thinking, I know exactly what I'm going to do through their life. It's a marvel when you see someone finally come to the point where they say, I'm tired of trying to make my own life make sense. Just like Mason, I'm ready to surrender. I'm ready to slow down. I'm ready to walk with you. I'm ready to know you. I'm ready to give my life to you, to surrender, to obey. When that happens, you begin to see the beauty and things begin to make sense.
00:21:10
Speaker
Well, we saw the marvel last time, but also you won't get there alone. You know, I appreciate it so much getting to meet Mason's mom, which he came through the door and I said, you can't be his mom, you look like his sister. And so anyway, I was like, wow, that's amazing. But you know what?
00:21:26
Speaker
She and her husband have been shaping this young man. God used them in a powerful way. And kids, God's using your parents. And that's why you're here today, because they care
Gospel Pillars: Faith, Hope, Truth, Grace
00:21:38
Speaker
about you. They want you to know the truths that will help you. But also, you know what? When you're in the student ministry with Josh and Hannah and the big team that works with students,
00:21:49
Speaker
When you're in the children's ministry and you're going to camp with Trudy and all those different ones, all of those things God is using, you know what that is? That's the body of Christ. That's the local church. All of those positive role models that you have here.
00:22:05
Speaker
When you go to college, don't forget these faces. Don't forget these hearts that care about you, that love you, that are praying for you. This is your team. You might as well get a t-shirt made with your name and just say, I got a team supporting me back in Columbus, Texas. We love you. We're on your side.
00:22:27
Speaker
God is using us and that's why everybody that the Apostle Paul would win to Christ's disciple, he would gather them into local bodies of believers so that these local churches would encourage each other, affirm one another. Whenever you're looking for value, you can go to the church and say, somebody tell me that God loves me because right now I'm really in a tailspin. I don't understand. And they will, we will.
00:22:55
Speaker
But there's the membership around the gospel that's characterized, I think, by two things. If you were to read verse two and verse four, you would see the Apostle Paul. We saw this last time. He said, you know what? Membership is about faithfulness and membership is about love. If you ever get those off balance and you're all about faithfulness and you have no love in your life, you're going to be a Pharisee.
00:23:18
Speaker
But if you ever get that off balance and you say, who cares about faithfulness? Who cares about truth? Who cares about holiness? Who cares about obedience to Christ? Who cares about the word? All it's about is love. Then anything can go.
00:23:31
Speaker
That's off balance. But God says it'll work, faithfulness and love. And so all you got to do is be around some of the people in this church and you'll see it at work in our midst. But I want to pick up today with something else. You know, we're looking at four pillars.
00:23:48
Speaker
If you're in a truth quake, you're looking for something stable and secure, something you can say, I need something anchored down because everything around my life is moving. Is there anything stable and secure? The gospel. The gospel is.
00:24:04
Speaker
So I want to introduce you to four basic components or characteristics of the gospel. When I was looking through verses four and five and six, I saw these four things and maybe you're saying, what is it that's changed all of your lives? I'll tell you exactly what it is.
00:24:21
Speaker
It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so if you want to walk with Him, if you want to know Him, there's four things here that you need to remember. These four pillars, they're so anchored down. When everything else is moving, they won't move. The first thing is this.
00:24:40
Speaker
This message requires faith in Christ. You know, in verse four, he says these words, we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. Just because Jesus died on the cross for your sins and my sins and the world's sins, it doesn't mean everybody's going. Because everybody hasn't repented of their sins and turned in faith to believe what God has said. And so we have to say, wait a minute,
00:25:08
Speaker
It's necessary, and it's an essential thing for me to place my faith, my trust, my hope in Jesus Christ, but it's also necessary, it's essential, that we profess that. Can you just be a secret, silent Christian that nobody knows about? That way you don't ever face any persecution. Well, it's interesting that when Paul is talking about these disciples in Colossae, let's read it one more time. Listen for the word heard.
00:25:38
Speaker
We heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. It's pretty hard to hear somebody's faith in Christ that never says anything.
00:25:47
Speaker
But he says, you know what? We heard it. You know, that's why Jesus calls us to profess our faith. Don't be silent about it. You need to be bold about it and say, you know what? I'm a Christian. I'm on Christ's team. But also an essential part is that it's personal. It's not your dad's faith. It's not your mom's faith. It's not your grandparents' faith. It's not the church's faith. It's got to be yours. Let me read it again. We heard of your faith.
00:26:17
Speaker
We're to your faith in Christ Jesus. You see, it's a personal relationship with a God who loves you so much that he gave his son to down the cross as a substitute for our sins. And so that's why whenever we profess our faith, it's gotta be personal. It's you and the Lord. That's all that matters. Don't follow the rest of the world. Say, I wanna follow Christ. I wanna trust Christ. It's a message requiring faith in Christ.
00:26:46
Speaker
But there's a second thing. It's also a message offering hope, a message offering hope in Christ. He says in verse five, the hope laid up for you in heaven. The hope laid up for you in heaven. You see, our hope is in heaven.
00:27:04
Speaker
1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 through 9 is incredible. If you read 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 through 9, you'll see he says it's not going to move. It's not going to change. As a matter of fact, it's been, it's being kept. It's been placed. It's been deposited. It's been laid up right there in heaven, waiting on you.
00:27:25
Speaker
Is it all just a fable? Is it all just something made up by a man? It's not. Heaven's real. Heaven's real and God wants you to know and heaven's real and we want you to know.
00:27:37
Speaker
Heaven won't feel the same without you there. And that's why we're saying, please, put your faith in Jesus Christ because not only is our hope in heaven, our hope is in him.
Understanding Sin and Christ's Sacrifice
00:27:50
Speaker
And that's why it has that word because, because, because our hope is laid up for you in heaven. That's why he's talking about going back to those that place their faith in Christ.
00:28:03
Speaker
You see, there was a group of disciples around Jesus one time, and one of those disciples said, Lord, I don't know the way. And he's like, you mean the way to heaven? He had just been saying he's gonna go to prepare a place for us so that when he comes back, he'll take us there. And he says, I don't know the way. And maybe you're here today and you say, I honestly don't know the way. Could somebody please tell me the way to heaven?
00:28:28
Speaker
Man, I remember when I first moved to Columbus, people would say, could you tell me the way to Wymer? I'd say, I never heard of it. And they'd say, could you tell me the way to El Campo? And I'd say, I never heard of it. And people are like, you don't know nothing, do you? I said, I know where Columbus is. But listen, you know the way to heaven if you know Christ, because he answered that disciple in John 14.6. And he said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. No one goes to the Father except by me, through me.
00:28:58
Speaker
If you know Christ, you know the way. He's the way to hope in heaven. But there's also another thing about this message. It's a message presenting the truth.
00:29:10
Speaker
Some people just will tell you exactly what you want to hear, but you know what God does? He tells us what we need to hear. He tells us objective truth. So sometimes I look in the scripture and it says it's like a mirror and it's like what I face in the morning. I think, I didn't know I looked that bad. You know, I tried to do the best I could today, but here's the thing. Whenever we look into the mirror of God's word, he's going to tell us the truth.
00:29:34
Speaker
Aren't you glad he does that? You know what he tells us the truth about? He tells us the truth about sin. Sin is rebellion against his will.
00:29:44
Speaker
Sin will never get us to that perfect plan that he's had for us from before we were born. Sin's going to hurt you. Sin's going to hurt other people. And so he's going to tell you the truth about sin, that the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is going to be separation from God and eternity. You don't want that.
00:30:05
Speaker
You want to do an about-face and go to him. So he's not only going to tell you the truth about your sin, he's going to tell you the truth about Christ's substitution. You see, really, on the cross, you know who should have been on the cross? You know who should have paid for the sins of Victor Morrison? Me. I deserve it. It should have been me on that cross. But instead of me on the cross, Jesus said, I'll pay the sin debt you owe. That's the same thing he did for you.
00:30:34
Speaker
And so God's going to tell you the truth about that. And that's amazing. But what if I died for you? It wouldn't make any difference if I died for you, because my life's not perfect. But you know what? When Jesus laid down his life for me and you, for everybody around the world, you know what happened?
00:30:52
Speaker
The father said, you know what? My son was perfect. He was innocent. He does not deserve death. My son deserves life. And so maybe you've never understood what's the connection between his death and his resurrection. Why did that have to happen?
00:31:09
Speaker
Why is it only Christ that is raised from the dead like that? Why did that have to happen? It's because the Father was satisfied. So the Bible, it's going to tell you the truth about God's satisfaction with that sacrifice that was given on the cross for me and you. The Father says, that's enough.
Biblical Stories of Grace
00:31:28
Speaker
That's why Jesus, when He died on the cross, He said, it's finished. And the Father looked at what was finished and He said, you know what? That's enough right there. And that's why He raised Jesus from the dead three days later. He's alive. And so all of this is included in these words when He's saying,
00:31:44
Speaker
the truth of the gospel of Christ. But there's a fourth thing about this message. It points to grace in Christ. It points to grace in Christ. Look at verse six, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God.
00:32:03
Speaker
I think both of those are very important. There's a lot of people who hear the gospel, but they still don't quite get it. They still don't quite understand. And so hearing and understanding are very different.
00:32:19
Speaker
But nevertheless, God says, you know what? It's not going to be by your works. It's going to be all by grace because you don't have to do the heavy lifting. My son already did the heavy lifting. My son perfectly obeyed me. And all of us, as broken as we are, we can't perfectly obey the Father.
00:32:38
Speaker
And so the Father says, you know what, I want you to know that there's grace through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, even in the Old Testament, sometime when you have a chance, maybe this afternoon even, read 2 Samuel chapter 9. 2 Samuel chapter 9.
00:32:58
Speaker
It's a wonderful story about a man named Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth, he was associated with Saul, and he was the enemy of David, who was now the king. King Saul had hunted down David, and so you would think, anybody related to Saul, it's over for them.
00:33:15
Speaker
But you know what David says, I want, God's been so kind and good to me. I want somebody that I can show kindness and goodness to. And so they said, well, there is Mephibosheth. Where is he? He's in a place called Lodabar. And you know what? They sent a chariot over there and they got that guy, Mephibosheth.
00:33:35
Speaker
they got him and he was able to sit at the table of the king and he knew every single day he sat there he thought I'm not worthy I'm not worthy to be here I don't know about you but when I get to heaven I'm not gonna walk around and strut and say look at all I did to get here I'm gonna fall down before Jesus Christ and I'm gonna say what we sang earlier you're the only holy one
00:33:57
Speaker
You're the only one that perfectly obeyed the Father. I wouldn't be here if it were not for you, Savior, if it were not for you, Lord Jesus. Man, Mephibos-Yeth is such a picture of us where we sit at the king's table.
00:34:13
Speaker
enjoying something that we don't deserve. There's the prodigal son. What another picture that is of a prodigal son that wasted his father's inheritance. He strayed away. Finally, all those so-called friends, they rejected him. So he found himself in a pig pen and he thought, man, this can't be right. See, it's all about grace when you're talking about the gospel.
00:34:40
Speaker
Sometimes I encourage you to read a short letter in the New Testament. Maybe you've never, if you don't watch it, the pages will stick together. You'll go right by it. It's called Philemon. Philemon. Man, maybe it's like I didn't even know it was in there. Read Philemon. Why would I say read Philemon? Because Philemon's from this town. He was one of these disciples. He was from Colossae. Philemon.
00:35:02
Speaker
But you know what happened? Philemon had a servant who worked in his house named Onesimus. And one day Onesimus said, you know what? I'm out of here. So he just gathered up some of the possessions that Philemon had and he bolted. And you know what? I've always heard once you start stealing, you can't quit. And so he must have kept on going until finally he got busted and he got put in jail in Rome. But you know what?
00:35:31
Speaker
Just because you're in jail doesn't mean God can't speak to you. Because in there, guess who was in the jail cell with him? This old guy named Paul. And Paul says, hey, what's your name? You know, my name's on Mismus. And he said, what's your story? So he began to probably tell him his story, how many mistakes he had made in his life.
00:35:50
Speaker
Paul said, have I got a message of grace for you, buddy? You know, God can wipe all the way that away. He said, you know what? The guy that you said you stole from, Philemon?
00:36:03
Speaker
Yeah, I've heard about that guy. Yep, I have a semi-relationship with that guy. So I'm going to write him a letter and I'm going to tell him that you've trusted Christ. It's amazing whenever you put it all together. But that message that he heard that day, Onesimus sitting in that jail cell was a message of hope.
00:36:24
Speaker
is a message of, hey, you know what? I can trust Christ. Do you know you can trust Christ right there? I want to end with this. There was an evangelist in Wales, and the guy's name was Christmas Evans. Christmas Evans. He was from 1792 to 1823.
00:36:43
Speaker
But he would share the gospel, but people would say to him, when were you born? He was saying, my name is Christmas Evans. When do you think I was born? So they say, you must have been born on Christmas. So he said, that's right. You know what? He must have liked Christmas so much. Whenever he found the girl for him, he proposed to her. You know when he said, we're going to get married?
00:37:05
Speaker
You've got it. Christmas, you know, so the guy's born on Christmas, he gets married on Christmas. It kind of makes you wonder if this guy Christmas Evans thought, you know, life is a gift, just like a Christmas gift. And I thought to myself, wow, but here's something Christmas Evans used to say to the people back in his day.
Inspiration to Spread the Gospel
00:37:23
Speaker
And he used to say this. He said, you know what? You could get a man and put him in a wooden barrel. Now, don't try this at home. Don't try this as an evangelism strategy, OK? But he said, you could get a man and put him in a wooden barrel. You can nail down the lid and seal it tight. You could wrap it with chains and even put a padlock on those chains. Then you could take a punch, and you could punch a hole in that wooden,
00:37:52
Speaker
barrel and you could say to him, Jesus loves you. You could share the gospel through that little hole. And right there in that barrel, he can't get out. He can't do nothing else. Right there in that barrel, Christmas heaven used to say that man could be saved because he could repent of his sins. He could place his trust in Jesus Christ.
00:38:19
Speaker
Wow, so can you. There's an incredible message. Mason's going to take that message to those thousands of students at LSU. Will you take that message to those that are here in our community? Will you take that message to the school where you go to?
00:38:34
Speaker
Will you take that message to a lost world? I thought it was interesting how, you know, when Mason was telling his story, it was like in Italy, of all places, where God was slowing him down and saying, you know what, you need to learn to walk with me. Maybe you need to learn to walk with the Lord.
00:38:50
Speaker
What is it? Maybe it's you. Maybe you're like Onesimus. And there you are and you're saying, you know what? I'm in a prison of my own sin. Lord, I just want to repent. I want to surrender. I want to put my trust and my faith in Jesus Christ. Why don't we stand? We always like to give an opportunity because we never know. Would you stand with me?
00:39:11
Speaker
We never know when someone has a decision that they need to make, so our musicians are going to come and we're going to sing this song that's a great song that gives us the leadership that we need at such a moment. The song says, I surrender all.
00:39:29
Speaker
I surrender all. That's what it takes to become a Christian just to say, Lord, you died for me. You gave it all. Now I surrender all. Let's pray and ask the Holy Spirit to move as we have this time together. Lord, thank you so much for this time to look into your word. I pray that you would
00:39:47
Speaker
Speak now to each individual heart. If there are any that need to surrender all to you, I pray they would. It may not be that we finished the conversation today, but we can finish any time, Lord. But I just pray that they would begin the conversation. Maybe more than me, they need to have a conversation with you. Help them to know that before they were born, just like Mason said, just like Ephesians 2.10 says,
00:40:16
Speaker
Before they were born, you were already drafting a wonderful plan for their lives. But so far, they haven't surrendered to you, and that's why they haven't seen it yet. So Lord, today, let today be the day when they say, I surrender all to Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:40:42
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.