Faith, Hope, and Love: A New Year’s Renewal

"Paul wrote to the book, wrote the book of Colossians to the church at Colossae to encourage these believers in their faith because he had heard great things about them. So if you would turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter one, we're going to start in verse number three. Verse number three says this. It says," [00:03:33] (20 seconds)


"The same hope that we have when we trust and have faith in Jesus Christ because he died on the cross for us. He gave his life for us. He lived a perfect and sinless life. He suffered and he died. He was buried and he rose. That's the kind of hope that springs up from these people. And now Paul was assuring his brothers in this church of Colossae that they too have this same hope through Jesus." [00:06:33] (25 seconds)


"He goes on to share with them that the message of Jesus is spreading and it's spreading not only there, but it's spreading everywhere that it's being shared and it's bearing forth fruit and not just fruit there, but not just fruit, not just fruit in Israel or Jerusalem, but it's spreading wherever that it's being shared. And this body of believers, they're growing in their faith, they're sharing the gospel with others and they understand that it's by God's grace that all of these things are possible. God's grace is truly powerful and truly something that no one deserves." [00:06:58] (34 seconds)


"This is where Christianity begins, having faith, having faith in Christ. And even though this is a first century church, most likely there's not a whole lot of believers in this church that had firsthand witnessed the ministry of Christ or that had seen the resurrected Christ. So they, like us, have to have faith without sight. And you cannot have, and Paul says, you cannot have love for the saints. You can't have any of these other things. If you don't first start by having faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is where everything begins." [00:11:25] (35 seconds)


"Hope is about the future. It's strength for today that is rooted in the assurance that we have for tomorrow, which is what this church was all about. You see, this church was a group of individuals who had hope. They had hope. And thank God that our hope is not based on men or possessions or circumstances, but rather our hope is based on the very foundation. The foundation of the rock of ages who says to us, I've got this. You're in my hands. He puts this in the hearts of his people." [00:16:19] (34 seconds)


"The church of Colossae was known as a people who loved the lost, who loved the broken, who loved everyone. You see, it wasn't selective. Paul was saying here that salvation causes us to love our fellow believers. And this church showed so much love for each other that Paul was convinced of their salvation because of the way that they loved one another. And here this verse, John 13, 34 and 35 says, a new command I give to you, love one another as I have loved you. You must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." [00:17:49] (39 seconds)


"The message of hope in Christ is that what he has done for us and not what we have done for him. And when Paul talks about the message, he gives three facts about the message that are essential to our message. First, the gospel is truth. The gospel is truth. The time of Paul, the time of Paul that he was writing, this letter, there were false teachers that were infiltrating the church. And these false teachers were trying to steer people away from the church and try to lead them to the idea that Christ isn't supreme, that Christ isn't enough." [00:20:45] (36 seconds)


"The gospel was not only the truth, but the gospel was also powerful. Paul confirms this to the Colossian church in verses 5 and 6 that the gospel had come to these people and that because they were sharing the gospel, it was going all over the world. And isn't that true? Isn't this what the power of the gospel really is? It wasn't that it went everywhere, but it was that everywhere that it went, the message changed lives." [00:22:34] (27 seconds)


"But we see that the church is not focused on these types of ministries, but rather, this church, the church of Colossae, was faced on the priorities of the ministry. And we should strive to make the two priorities that this church had the same priorities that we have here at Highland Heights. And the first one was that it's supposed to be a place of learning. The first priority of this church is that it was to be a place of learning." [00:28:22] (26 seconds)