Paul's Gratitude for the Graces of Christian Life

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Colossians 1:3–8 Pastor Rob Kimsey December 31, 2024

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When the times are good, often we don't pray as much. Daily prayer increases when there is a need.
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I read an illustration on this idea. Once there was a rich man who had a son to whom he promised an annual allowance.
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Every year on the same day, he would give his son the entire amount. After a while, it happened that the only time the father would see his son was on the day of allowance.
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So the father changed his plan and only gave the son enough for the day. From the next day to the next day.
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Well, then the next day the son would return. From then on, the father saw his son every day.
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And this is the way God dealt with Israel, as we see in the Old Testament. It is the way
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God deals with us. During the storm, we cry out to our
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Heavenly Father for help. But how do you continue in prayer and thanksgiving always?
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Good times or bad times? Think about what's going on when we pray.
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We cry blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving to God. We give thanks to the
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Lord. We give blessing to the Lord. But what do we do that with? What with?
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With the gratitude of the blessing that he puts in our lives. Not only everything that we have, but everything that we are comes from him.
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The graces of Christian life come from God. How delighted we are when we offer that back to him in prayer.
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And to acknowledge before all the world that there is nothing that we have or that we could be that does not come from God.
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In that way, let's read this first part of this letter to the Colossians. Look at Colossians chapter 1, starting in verse 1.
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Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ and Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our
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Father. We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and multiplying, just as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, who also informed us of your love in the
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Spirit. For this reason also, since the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the
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Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the
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Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, who rescued us from the authority of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the
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Son of his love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
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In verses 3 through 8, Paul explains faith, hope, and love as the graces of Christian life, so that you can increase in thanksgiving in your daily prayer life.
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Faith, hope, and love. Paul taught the church at Colossae concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that their union with him was possible because of their reconciliation with God the
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Father and their new lives in God himself. Paul started his letter by establishing his authority as an apostle of Jesus Christ, and he wished the
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Colossians grace and peace from God the Father. Paul was thankful for the faith he saw in the church for Jesus.
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He expressed his gratitude to God for their faith in Jesus Christ, and also for their love of fellow believers in the church, and that's where we are this morning.
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Paul encouraged the church by letting them know he prayed for them without ceasing. His prayer for the church was that they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will in spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that they would live lives that were in a worthy manner according to their salvation.
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Colossians was written by Paul to teach the believers about the resurrection of Jesus.
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Their new lives in Christ, reconciliation with God the Father, and to challenge the believers, to exhort the believers, to live their lives in an outward display of their union with Christ.
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Union with Christ is one of the key themes of this letter amongst others. In today's passage,
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Paul explains three fundamental graces of Christian life.
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Number one, faith. We'll see that in verses 3 and 4. Number two, hope in verses 5 and 6.
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And number three, love, verses 7 and 8. Three fundamental graces of Christian life.
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Number one, faith. Look at verse 3. Paul says, we give thanks to God, the
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Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. Well, notice first that the verses 3 through 8 are one sentence, one logical flow of thought, one sentence.
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This beginning part of Paul's letter is typical to the writing style found in his correspondence throughout the
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New Testament canon. It was also a style of writing in Paul's time that would point out the writer and the intended readers, accompanied with a salutation of peace.
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As usual, Paul added Christian elements to his greeting. He reminded the
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Colossians of his call by God to spread the gospel. Paul strongly emphasized that the authority for his words came from God.
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The term give thanks Paul uses can mean to show that one is under obligation to be thankful, as in to feel obligated to thank.
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It can also mean pray in some nuances. It's the first verb in the verse with the other being the participle praying, praying.
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Here, Paul is using the verb to give thanks, to communicate an expression of appreciation for benefits or blessings.
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This is giving back thanks or rendering or returning thanks, paired with the verb for praying that is described with the adverb conveying at all times, at all times.
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This is an ongoing thankful praying that acknowledges the blessings of salvation are from God.
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Paul is saying he and Timothy acknowledge God's blessing for them and return thanksgiving in their prayers without end.
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And consider the source to whom they return their thankful unending prayer. It is God the
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Father, the source of our unending salvation. The words of our
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Lord Jesus, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
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You know, for folks that are not in the predestination camp, that's a difficult passage.
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No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. Our salvation is from God, not from us.
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An important observation also needs to be made here that Paul gives us an example to follow in his thanksgiving.
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The example is for us to acknowledge not only the blessing God gives to us, but also the blessings
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God gives to others. This is a thanksgiving that gives preference to others.
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This is a thanksgiving that does not focus on self. In verse three, he was giving thanks for God's blessings and then he points out the first grace of Christian life in verse four.
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Look at verse four. He says, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints.
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The word faith is extremely rich in meaning. It commonly conveys that which evokes trust, that which evokes trust and faith.
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Think faithfulness as in reliability. Fidelity, commitment. This might manifest in the form of a pledge or an oath.
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It can also mean that which is believed as in a body of belief or teaching.
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And that is closer, but Paul isn't talking about reliability or a body of belief. The word
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Paul uses here also means the state of believing on the basis of the reliability of the one that is trusted.
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Capital O, the one who is trusted. This is divine confidence enabled by the source of the faith.
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The source, capital S. Spiritual confidence that comes from a divine source, from the divine source.
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The faith is in the Lord Jesus. In Hebrews 11, the great hall of faith, biblical faith is defined like this.
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Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The conviction of things not seen.
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Same Greek word here. And that is helpful, but circling back to the theological themes of Paul's letter to the
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Colossians is important. If we as readers are to correctly understand what
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Paul is saying about faith. In his letter, Paul is combating a heresy similar to Gnosticism.
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The Gnostics taught incorrectly that it took special knowledge to be accepted by God.
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Paul says no, no. I don't think so. These false teachers proposed Christ alone was not the way of salvation, even for those who profess to be his followers.
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Paul would address Christ's supremacy and exclusivity early on in the letter to silence, to put an end to these demonic doctrines.
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And so right after our passage today, we see this supremacy of Christ.
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Speaking about Jesus, look at chapter one, starting in verse 17. And he is before all things.
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And in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that he himself will come to have first place in everything.
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For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
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In the introduction portion of his letter in verses three through eight, Paul commended the
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Colossians for their faith, hope and love as they looked forward to eternal salvation in heaven.
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He said something similar in his first letter to the church in Corinth when he described the excellency of love.
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He was speaking in the context of describing the spiritual signs or the gift signs of the early church ceasing when he said that if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
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But now abide faith, hope, love, these three.
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But the greatest of these is love. That's 1 Corinthians 13. Paul intentionally left out the word knowledge because of the special knowledge aspect of the
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Gnostic heresy. It was the same in his letter to the church in Colossae as he addressed the
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Colossian heresy. Paul was saying that it is not what we know that brings salvation, but it is the one we know.
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Knowing Christ is knowing God. That's faith that is a grace of Christian life that inspires ceaseless thanksgiving in prayer.
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Again, it goes back to the source of our faith. For by grace you've been saved through faith, not of yourselves.
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It's a gift from God, not the result of works so that no one may boast,
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Ephesians 2. But we can't leave it there because Paul doesn't leave it there. This letter is soaked with theological significance that is profound and amazing.
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But with all of Scripture, the theological truths in their endless depth are not meant for acumen and head knowledge.
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This isn't just for us to know and have head knowledge. The theological truths and their implications are meant to be lived out.
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We're meant to live out the Word of God. Paul says, your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints.
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In the original, it literally reads, the love which you have for all the holy ones.
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The love which you have for all the holy ones. Same word used is sometimes used for angels.
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Paul is talking about faith given by God's grace that produces a love for other believers, loyal followers of Christ, consecrated by God, his holy ones.
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What he says here is not a one -off. We find this theme through many of his writings. Consider Paul's remarks to the
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Ephesian church in the context of the spiritual blessings in Christ that result from salvation.
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He says, for this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which exists among you and your love for all the saints,
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Ephesians 1 .15. Or how about Paul's letter to his brother in Christ, Philemon, when discussing
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Philemon's love and faith. Because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the
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Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, Philemon 5. Paul is connecting thankfulness in God's grace in faith toward God the
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Father, but not disconnecting genuine believers' love for one another.
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There's no disconnect here. Your love for Christ is displayed in your love for other
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Christians. Have you ever considered that your salvation does not separate thankfulness and saving faith with love for other believers?
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In other words, if you are a follower of Christ, then your gratitude in faith will not be separated for love for other
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Christians. A lack of love for other believers signifies a lack of gratitude in salvation and may reveal a faith that is not genuinely in Christ.
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Does that describe you this morning? Does that describe you? Are you genuinely thankful for your faith?
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Are you genuinely thankful for other believers? Do you have a genuine love for other believers?
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And before answering that in your head, ask yourself, are you consistently praying with thanksgiving?
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Are your prayers soaked with thankfulness? If you are not praying at all times with a sincere heart of gratitude toward God, then a more thoughtful self -assessment is needed.
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In a 2015 article titled, Do Christians Love One Another? Ian Paul, an
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Anglican reverend, recounted his conversion at a young age. He would go on to write that as a struggling teenager in a large all -boys school, he was keenly aware of the competition to be accepted, to be cool, and aware that he wasn't doing very well at it.
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By an odd series of providences, even coincidences as he described it, we know there's no such thing as coincidences.
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He met people from the youth group of the local Anglican church, and over about nine months decided he wanted to be part of this, quote,
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Christianity thing. The relationships of the Christians and their genuine love for one another drew him to Christ.
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Ian Paul writes, one of the hallmarks of true church is that it includes people who would not otherwise associate together.
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If we meet to worship with people who we would like anyway, then it is not the love of God which has drawn us together.
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He notes in the article, quote, the kingdom of God is a celebration or a party with a bunch of people with whom we wouldn't be caught dead spending a
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Saturday night had not we also been invited. He gave the example that he had recently heard a church leader talking about some of the tensions in their congregation between a judge who attended and ex -convicts who also came.
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Imagine that fellowship lunch. The judge is there and the ex -convict who the judge put in prison is there.
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The judge was finding it quite a challenge to worship alongside people he had put in prison. It's the kind of challenge that God's love poses to us.
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Ian Paul ended the article reflecting on his own salvation saying, I think I have learned to love people, even people quite different from myself, but to so long for the best for others that I am in pain until they have attained it, that is another whole kind of love.
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It raises the bar way above anything I have reached. It is a love that might change the world, but I am very clear that it is a love
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I cannot work up in myself. It is a love that must be the gift of grace from God formed in me by his spirit.
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Maybe it's just the kind of love by which they'll know we are Christians. Three fundamental graces of Christian life so that you can increase in thanksgiving in your daily prayer life.
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Number one, faith. Faith in Christ produces thanksgiving and genuine love for other believers.
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Faith in Christ produces thanksgiving and genuine love for other believers.
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And number two, hope. Hope. Look at verse five. Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel.
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Verse five, Paul now deepens his explanation of thankfulness for faith by giving the reason of our love for other believers.
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He says, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Paul's hope is in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And there are two nuances to the kind of hope Paul is referring to here.
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The first kind of hope is the idea of looking forward to something. You're looking forward to something.
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You're hoping for it. With the implication of confidence about something coming to pass. To hope for something.
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But let's think about this for a minute. The implication of confidence is with an indication of what is hoped for.
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What Paul is talking about here is with an indication of the person or thing on whom or which hope is based.
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To put one's confidence in someone or something. But the second kind of hope exists in expectation.
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To look forward to something in view of the measure one takes to ensure fulfillment.
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To expect a result. Paul uses the same word in his letter to the
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Philippians in chapter 2 verse 19 and verse 24 when explaining to the believers in Philippi his immediate and future ministry plans.
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He says, but I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly and I am confident in the
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Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly. Paul's hope is not in Timothy.
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Paul's hope is not in his circumstances. Paul can say he hopes or has confidence with expectation just as soon as he sees how it will go with him because his confidence isn't in the outcome of his earthly circumstances.
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Paul's expectant hope and confidence is in the Lord working out his earthly circumstances.
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His hope is confident because it's based on the expectation that the Lord is with him.
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That the Lord is working in the situation. And what Paul is talking about in Philippians with hope and trust clarifies the source of hope.
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The source of his trust. He is literally saying to trust in or to depend on.
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But the trust is directly related to the hope. It's directly related to the confidence.
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Paul is talking about being so convinced that one puts confidence in something.
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In this case of his imprisonment, the something is the outcome of the circumstances. Ultimately, he's talking about being so convinced that he puts confidence in the someone controlling the something.
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Paul trusts in the Lord. Remember, Paul wrote four letters during his Roman imprisonment.
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Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians, likely written in that order from the year 61 to 62
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AD. With the exception of Ephesians, the other three letters start with a similar opening.
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Paul, a slave of Christ, Jesus by the will of God, Timothy, and our brother.
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Colossians and Philippians have many similarities, but here in verse 5, we see Paul talking again about hope.
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Specifically, the source of hope. Paul is saying this hope, this hope, it's located beyond the portion or portions of the universe generally distinguished from the planet earth.
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Not the atmosphere, not outer space, the place where God dwells beyond the universe.
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This hope is laid up in the very throne room of God, in the very presence of God himself.
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Going back to Paul's citation of thanksgiving of God the Father, and then Paul moves on to point out the reason we know this as believers is because of the word of truth, the gospel.
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I think most of us know the gospel literally means the good news. We get that, the gospel, the good news.
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In the original, the word literally means, listen to this, God's good news to humans.
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This is God's proclamation. All believers should have a real, tangible, confident hope of what
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God has prepared for us in heaven. Blessed be the
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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you.
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That's 1 Peter 1. Know, know it, know this, that your future destination and salvation are secure.
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In that knowledge, we are free to live for Christ and love others. If you find yourself doubting, if you find yourself wavering in your faith or love, remember the hope of the gospel.
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Remember your destination. It's heaven. Remember your great God who is waiting for you there.
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Paul will go on in verse 6 as he explains the gospel, the gospel which has come to you just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and multiplying just as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard and understood the grace of God in truth.
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Paul now explains how the gospel that came to them as it has everywhere else will now bear fruit and multiply.
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The point is that wherever the gospel is planted, it has an effect and that effect is growth.
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The term bearing fruit is one word in the Greek. Paul's not talking about to cause production of fruit seeds.
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Paul is talking about to cause the inner life to be productive, to cause the inner life to be productive.
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This is an inner heart commitment to do what is right, to resolve to do what is right and to multiply, to cause that to become greater.
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And this is not works -based salvation. This is divine works demonstration of salvation.
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What or who is doing the work of growing in the Colossians a resolve to do what is right and causing that inner heart commitment to become greater.
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The what is the gospel. The who is God. Paul says the graces of faith and hope in their salvation is evidence that this had already happened and was currently happening.
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It is the gospel and God working in them since the day they understood the grace of God in truth.
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Again, the grace of God is the starting point in salvation. The grace of God produces faith and understanding and hope.
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Any local community that Paul visited proclaimed the gospel. Paul preached not only to Jewish leaders, but to Gentiles, those outside the camp, including the very
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Roman guards who were over him in prison. In every place, in every place, when people believed, they were never the same again.
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The word of truth, the gospel, is not just for our information. The gospel is for our transformation.
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Becoming a follower of Christ means starting a new relationship with God. This is more than changing the way we live or resolving to do what is right.
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New Christians have a changed purpose and direction. Our attitude is different.
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Our attitude and behavior will change. This is not religious legalism.
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It's changing perspective about ourselves. Genuine followers of Christ are no longer seeking to serve themselves.
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It's not about us anymore. Part of our bearing fruit for God is seeking to serve others and seeking to save others.
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How is the gospel reaching others through your life? How is the gospel reaching others through your life?
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Is the hope of the gospel manifest in your life with thanksgiving?
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One way to assess where you are spiritually is to see if the hope you have in the gospel is producing a heart of thankfulness.
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If you are thankful for the hope you have in the gospel, you will share it with others.
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How is the hope of the gospel reaching others through your life? In a journal entry by the evangelist and gospel preacher
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Billy Graham, Graham wrote this, he said, heaven is real, but what difference does it make right now?
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Heaven is real, but what difference does it make now? Is the old quip true that Christians are so heavenly minded that they aren't any earthly good?
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Definitely not, and in fact, the opposite should be the case. First, because heaven is real, we have hope for the future and hope for our lives now.
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No matter what happens to us, we know it won't last forever, and ahead of us is the joy in heaven.
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In addition, because heaven is real, our lives have meaning and purpose right now.
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Heaven doesn't make this life less important, it makes it more important. This leads to a final difference heaven should make, because heaven is real.
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We should live every moment for Christ. Life is short, none of us knows how long we have, so we should live each day as if it were our last, and I love how he says this, for someday it will be, someday it will be.
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If we were ever going to live for Christ, it should be now. Don't let the burdens and hardships of this life distract you or discourage you.
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Keep your eyes firmly fixed on what God has promised and the end of our journey, heaven itself.
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Three fundamental graces of Christian life. Number one, faith. Number two, hope. Hope. Hope in the gospel produces thanksgiving and a desire to do what is right.
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And number three, love. Love. Verse seven, Paul writes, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf.
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Paul now describes the human means God used for the proclamation of the gospel in this local community.
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There is a strong likelihood that Epaphras founded the church after returning home to Colossae from visiting
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Ephesus where he was converted by Paul. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that Paul was there in Ephesus for a bit preaching the gospel.
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This took place for two years so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
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That's Acts chapter 19. We know also from Paul's statements in this letter that he had not visited
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Colossae, for I want you to understand how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea and for all those who have not seen my face in the flesh.
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That's verse one of chapter two in Colossians. Epaphras is mentioned three times in the
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New Testament. Here in verse seven and again in chapter four verse 12, Epaphras, who is one of your number, a slave of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand complete and fully assured in all the will of God.
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He's also mentioned in Philemon 23, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you.
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At some point he visited Rome and apparently Epaphras had been in prison there while visiting Paul.
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While there, he must have told Paul about the problem of the Colossian heresy, that a special knowledge was required for salvation.
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Obviously, this prompted Paul to write this letter. The main point here is that Epaphras is identified by Paul to be a faithful slave and servant of Jesus Christ.
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He is identified as both a slave of Christ, and Paul qualifies this with how Epaphras is serving his master
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Jesus as one who serves as a go -between in a transaction. Paul says
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Epaphras is an agent of the gospel. Very high praise indeed.
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And we can see an implication of biblical love here that Paul has for Epaphras. Although we do see the love that the
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Colossians have for one another based on their faith in Christ, we see that in verse 4, I chose to explain love as a grace of Christian life in verses 7 and 8 because Paul gets specific in his love for Epaphras as one of the
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Colossians. And what Paul says about the source of their love for one another in verse 8, who also informed us of your love in the
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Spirit, capital S, he's referring to the Holy Spirit. The reason
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Paul knows of their love for one another is because of Epaphras. He communicated to Paul an update previously not heard, and this congregational love fest is a reason for Paul's thanksgiving.
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Try looking at verses 5 through 7 as a parenthetical. It's an insert in between verse 4 and verse 8.
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Look at the source of their love, the Spirit. The source of their love for one another is
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God. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints,
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Epaphras, who also informed us of your love in the Spirit, because of their love for one another, the
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Colossians had an impact on one another. They were bearing fruit and multiplication of the gospel.
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We as believers can have an impact that goes far beyond our own neighborhoods and local community.
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Genuine Christian love comes from the Holy Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is what?
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Love. Love. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.
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Against such things there is no law, Galatians 5. Love is an action, an attitude that is directly related to our thanksgiving in salvation because true thanksgiving reflects we understand the gospel of our salvation as a free gift of God's grace.
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Love is not an emotion. Love is an aspect of gratitude. If a person is genuinely grateful for their salvation, then they will be genuinely thankful for others who have been given the same gift.
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And all this from the Spirit. All this from God. Love is an undeniable byproduct of new life in Christ.
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There is no excuse for not loving other believers because Christian love does not originate in the flesh.
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It's from the Spirit. Paul qualifies the action of love when he describes its excellencies in his explanation of the sign gifts passing away in his first letter to the church in Corinth.
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He says love is patient. Love is kind. It is not jealous.
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It does not brag. It is not puffed up. It does not act unbecomingly.
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It does not seek its own. Love is not provoked. It does not take into account a wrong suffered.
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It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.
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It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
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Again, 1 Corinthians 13. As we struggle in the flesh and we hold on to petty issues with others, we must make a decision to let go of perceived slights.
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Let it go. We can choose to love one another and be forgiving toward one another because our love is in the
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Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Do you hold on to perceived slights?
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Do you have a mental list of things that have offended you?
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True biblical love is from God and reflects our level of thankfulness in the gospel. Do you think of ways that others should or should not be doing something for you or to you?
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Is thankfulness in the faith in Christ and hope laid up in heaven demonstrated by your love for other saints?
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Think about it like this. Do you have the best interest of others in mind or do you seek to claim your own rights?
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In a 1996 article by John Piper titled, How Does the Spirit Produce Love? Piper said,
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The Holy Spirit is God. Well, thank you for that very theological sound truth.
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Thank you, Piper. He has the power to create love in our hearts any way he pleases.
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And then he asked this question, why then does he create that love only through our conscious trust in the promises of Jesus?
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We see that the Holy Spirit does not produce the fruit of love apart from faith in Jesus and His word, particularly acts of faith in His promises bring empowerments of love.
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Now the question rises, why? Why does the Spirit limit himself to bring about love only through conscious faith in the word of Jesus?
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The answer seems to be that the Holy Spirit loves to glorify the all satisfying dependability of Christ and His word.
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And Piper concludes, when you want to become a loving person, by all means, pray for the transforming and empowering work of the
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Holy Spirit. But also take down your Bible and look to Jesus in His word.
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Meditate longingly on His promises until He satisfies your heart and with all that God has for you.
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He says when that happens, the Spirit and His fruit of love will flow. Three fundamental graces of Christian life so that you can increase in thanksgiving and your daily prayer life.
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Number one, faith. Number two, hope. And number three, love. Love for one another comes from the
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Spirit as a reflection of our thankfulness in the gospel. Love for one another comes from the
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Spirit as a reflection of our thankfulness in the gospel. In verses three through eight,
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Paul expressed his gratitude to God for the Colossians' faith in Christ and also for their love of fellow believers.
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Paul encouraged this local congregation by letting them know he prayed for them without stopping. Paul taught the church at Colossae concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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He honed in on this very important theme, the union with Christ. Union with Him was only possible because of their reconciliation with God the
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Father and their new lives in Christ. The letter was written by Paul to exhort the believers to conduct their lives in this outward display of their union with Christ.
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And part of that outward display is a robust prayer life. As we start the new year, you know, the new year's resolution that will benefit you the most is increased
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Bible reading and daily prayer. We can, we will admit, we can concede that praying more is actually easier when the trial hits, and daily prayer increases when there is a need.
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But we can also concede that the more you read the Bible, the more you will pray. Your relationship with Jesus and time spent reading the
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Bible and praying will benefit you and bring glory to God. Think about it like this, whether trials or not, our prayer life should be consistent.
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Whether trials or not, our prayer life should be consistent and God -glorifying. I once heard an illustration about prayer as it relates to trials.
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In 1972, Joan Baez was a singer and activist who was always working on a cause.
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So she's kind of a protester, celebrity person. Well, during the Vietnam War, she traveled to Hanoi with a peace delegation there to protest.
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At that time, there was an American bombing campaign that lasted 12 days. She recounted this, quote, she said, we spent the whole time in the basement of our hotel.
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I have never been so afraid in my life. I thought I was going to die, but I learned something.
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When the flames start coming towards you, everybody starts praying, even the atheists and the agnostics.
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But when the flames start fading away, we all go back to the structures and beliefs that we had before.
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It's a very true statement. To pray always with thanksgiving as the trials fade, we need only to reflect on the gospel.
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The graces of Christian life that flow out of God's grace in the gospel. Hope, faith, love.
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In today's passage, Paul explained these three fundamentals of Christian life. They're the graces of Christian life.
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So that you can increase in thanksgiving in your daily prayer life. Faith in Christ produces thanksgiving and genuine love for other believers.
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Hope in the gospel produces thanksgiving and a desire to do what is right. Love for one another comes from the spirit as a reflection of our thankfulness in the gospel.