Building Community Through Service and Encouragement
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "You might need encouragement, quite often. But turn the question around the other way. Can you give encouragement? As Paul encourages the Colossians. He gives encouragement to the Colossians through Tychicus, it says in verse 8. Tychicus comes to encourage your heart. He says, could you be an encourager? Could you be an encourager to others?" [29:26]
2. "Could you be a comfort to others? Everybody needs comfort. Paul himself says that he needs comfort. These Jews, among my fellow workers, verse 11, have proved their comfort for me. Paul needs comfort. The great apostle. Yes, he does. And if Paul does, then we'll all need comfort, surely, won't we? But we can give comfort as well as receive it. And a good way to get comfort, a good way to get government encouragement, is to give it. As Jesus said, it's more blessed to give than to receive. So, let's look to give encouragement and comfort as well as receive it when we need it." [30:03]
3. "Do you sometimes worry that as a Christian, things haven't changed too much over all these years? Do you still sometimes think that there are aspects of your personality, your behaviour, your temperament that are still not Christ-like? I'm still me, not like Jesus. Well, I think the message from Epaphras is, don't give up, grow up. That's the challenge, that we grow up more mature. We don't, oh, it's not worked, I can't do it, I'm useless." [33:27]
4. "The church isn't a place. It's not a building. It's people who come together. Between Colossae and Laodicea, well, they're about 12 miles apart apparently. And Colossae and Hierapolis are about 15 miles apart. So these are churches that are closely geographically linked. And they're linked. And they're linked together, it seems, in fellowship as well." [04:36]
5. "Paul has received comfort. And he writes to encourage the Colossian Christians. You might need encouragement, quite often. But turn the question around the other way. Can you give encouragement? As Paul encourages the Colossians. He gives encouragement to the Colossians through Tychicus, it says in verse 8. Tychicus comes to encourage your heart. He says, could you be an encourager? Could you be an encourager to others?" [29:26]
### Quotes for Members
1. "But when we eat later on together, the lunch table won't lay itself and the food doesn't just appear out of the blue. Someone's had to do it. And that service and keeping going with those sorts of things, they're important in the life of the church. So one thing we can learn from Epaphis is we may not be ministers in the way that he seems to have been, but we can put in, in the effort that he put in, where we can, in the roles that God has given us. And we should be grateful to God for those who play their part and serve well in our church life, wouldn't we?" [28:22]
2. "There's the challenge of our responsibilities, the nature of kingdom life, hard work and service, the blessing, encouragement and comfort of belonging to the church. Then there's the challenge of our responsibilities. The challenge to prayer, to wrestle in prayer, to put in consistent effort, to hold on, to not let go of God, not ease up. A bit like Jacob wrestling with God, if you remember that story. Interceding for other people like Abraham did and Moses did and Paul does and Jesus did. We can read their prayers in the scripture, prayers for others. And if we're honest, we don't pray like that. We don't wrestle in prayer. We don't keep praying consistently for others, do we? We don't do it individually, perhaps. We don't do it as a church, as we should. That's a challenge we need to take up." [31:55]
3. "Paul is sending Tychicus and Anesimus to pass on the news so that the folk in Colossae know what's going on, as we've said, presumably, in Rome. Knowing what's happening with other people is an important part of relationship. That's why we hear about it, even if we don't hear the detail. The detail is not so important for us, but the fact that there is news... Paul is sending Tychicus to pass on a conflict. That there is this interaction. That is important to us. Keeping out connections with other people is not that easy. I'm not very good at it. I'm better with people who are here and now, and people who are further away. Well, it's great when you get to be with them. I'm good at that. When I pick up with old friends. Not that I've got many, but when I pick up with old friends, it's just like we've not been apart." [23:05]
4. "Paul has others with him. And many of those are mentioned in these verses. Paul worked with others. That's important to see. Onesimus in verse 9. Well, he's the runaway slave. That Paul writes to Philemon about. There's that letter to Philemon that encourages Philemon to treat Onesimus well when he returns. The thinking is that Paul is in Rome when he writes the letter to the Colossians. That Onesimus has somehow got to Rome. But he's being sent back to his master. Perhaps he wasn't a believer when he left Philemon. When he ran away. Perhaps he's become a believer. And now he's put his new Christian faith into practice by going back to his master. That's a challenge, isn't it?" [07:19]
5. "And that's the church we want to be, a church where we are aiming not just to come along, not just to learn the facts, not just to learn the truth, but we want to be changed, to be more and more like Jesus. To do that, we have to pray for one another, but we also have to respond to what we hear in God's words. We're to do that together, with all the responsibilities and all the blessings of Christian fellowship. So, do you belong to Pauline? You do? That's great. In Christ, you are part of the church. Let's pray that the Lord will continue to do his work in each one of us, so that we are mature and fully assured in our faith, to his glory and to the blessing of one another." [34:04]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "You might need encouragement, quite often. But turn the question around the other way. Can you give encouragement? As Paul encourages the Colossians. He gives encouragement to the Colossians through Tychicus, it says in verse 8. Tychicus comes to encourage your heart. He says, could you be an encourager? Could you be an encourager to others?" [29:26]
2. "Could you be a comfort to others? Everybody needs comfort. Paul himself says that he needs comfort. These Jews, among my fellow workers, verse 11, have proved their comfort for me. Paul needs comfort. The great apostle. Yes, he does. And if Paul does, then we'll all need comfort, surely, won't we? But we can give comfort as well as receive it. And a good way to get comfort, a good way to get government encouragement, is to give it. As Jesus said, it's more blessed to give than to receive. So, let's look to give encouragement and comfort as well as receive it when we need it." [30:03]
3. "Do you sometimes worry that as a Christian, things haven't changed too much over all these years? Do you still sometimes think that there are aspects of your personality, your behaviour, your temperament that are still not Christ-like? I'm still me, not like Jesus. Well, I think the message from Epaphras is, don't give up, grow up. That's the challenge, that we grow up more mature. We don't, oh, it's not worked, I can't do it, I'm useless." [33:27]
4. "The church isn't a place. It's not a building. It's people who come together. Between Colossae and Laodicea, well, they're about 12 miles apart apparently. And Colossae and Hierapolis are about 15 miles apart. So these are churches that are closely geographically linked. And they're linked. And they're linked together, it seems, in fellowship as well." [04:36]
5. "Paul has received comfort. And he writes to encourage the Colossian Christians. You might need encouragement, quite often. But turn the question around the other way. Can you give encouragement? As Paul encourages the Colossians. He gives encouragement to the Colossians through Tychicus, it says in verse 8. Tychicus comes to encourage your heart. He says, could you be an encourager? Could you be an encourager to others?" [29:26]
### Quotes for Members
1. "But when we eat later on together, the lunch table won't lay itself and the food doesn't just appear out of the blue. Someone's had to do it. And that service and keeping going with those sorts of things, they're important in the life of the church. So one thing we can learn from Epaphis is we may not be ministers in the way that he seems to have been, but we can put in, in the effort that he put in, where we can, in the roles that God has given us. And we should be grateful to God for those who play their part and serve well in our church life, wouldn't we?" [28:22]
2. "There's the challenge of our responsibilities, the nature of kingdom life, hard work and service, the blessing, encouragement and comfort of belonging to the church. Then there's the challenge of our responsibilities. The challenge to prayer, to wrestle in prayer, to put in consistent effort, to hold on, to not let go of God, not ease up. A bit like Jacob wrestling with God, if you remember that story. Interceding for other people like Abraham did and Moses did and Paul does and Jesus did. We can read their prayers in the scripture, prayers for others. And if we're honest, we don't pray like that. We don't wrestle in prayer. We don't keep praying consistently for others, do we? We don't do it individually, perhaps. We don't do it as a church, as we should. That's a challenge we need to take up." [31:55]
3. "Paul is sending Tychicus and Anesimus to pass on the news so that the folk in Colossae know what's going on, as we've said, presumably, in Rome. Knowing what's happening with other people is an important part of relationship. That's why we hear about it, even if we don't hear the detail. The detail is not so important for us, but the fact that there is news... Paul is sending Tychicus to pass on a conflict. That there is this interaction. That is important to us. Keeping out connections with other people is not that easy. I'm not very good at it. I'm better with people who are here and now, and people who are further away. Well, it's great when you get to be with them. I'm good at that. When I pick up with old friends. Not that I've got many, but when I pick up with old friends, it's just like we've not been apart." [23:05]
4. "Paul has others with him. And many of those are mentioned in these verses. Paul worked with others. That's important to see. Onesimus in verse 9. Well, he's the runaway slave. That Paul writes to Philemon about. There's that letter to Philemon that encourages Philemon to treat Onesimus well when he returns. The thinking is that Paul is in Rome when he writes the letter to the Colossians. That Onesimus has somehow got to Rome. But he's being sent back to his master. Perhaps he wasn't a believer when he left Philemon. When he ran away. Perhaps he's become a believer. And now he's put his new Christian faith into practice by going back to his master. That's a challenge, isn't it?" [07:19]
5. "And that's the church we want to be, a church where we are aiming not just to come along, not just to learn the facts, not just to learn the truth, but we want to be changed, to be more and more like Jesus. To do that, we have to pray for one another, but we also have to respond to what we hear in God's words. We're to do that together, with all the responsibilities and all the blessings of Christian fellowship. So, do you belong to Pauline? You do? That's great. In Christ, you are part of the church. Let's pray that the Lord will continue to do his work in each one of us, so that we are mature and fully assured in our faith, to his glory and to the blessing of one another." [34:04]
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