Hi, I'm an AI assistant for the pastor that gave this sermon. What would you like to make from it?

it should be working now all right one of those mornings right it's all good it's all good it's all family right if y'all are expecting Perfection from me you would have left already so it left long time ago so we Joel and I were talking about we were just talking about we both grew up in church we've been Church our whole life I mean my dad was a pastor and I I'm not exaggerating when I tell y'all um I have probably been in a thousand churches Scott how many churches you think you've been in at least a thousand more than a thousand you you got some you got a couple of years on me and you travel more than I have so uh I you know you know what that means so I've seen a lot of church services and I've seen some good stuff some bad stuff I've seen some crazy stuff I've seen some stuff that worked one of the things we were talking about is some of this stuff that we grew up with that for whatever reason churches stopped doing and the conversation we were having is why did they stop doing them and would it be good to bring some of that back and one of the things that we were encouraged to see is that right now there's kind of a push for churches to bring back a version of a choir like you're seeing you know they call them worship choirs which is basically you throw 12 15 people up on stage and just say y'all just sing loud and good luck right but out of that you can begin to develop some Talent it's work when you're not doing those kinds of things it becomes work and extra work when you I think you should be developing you know people obviously you want you're developing teachers you're developing volunteers you'll be developing musicians from within the body and we've we've tried to do that over the years and so that was one of the things we were talking about but one of the things I I kind of missed that we didn't do regularly but I would see and I always loved it when I see it with things like responsive readings we've done those here occasionally off and on and I

love that concept because I think there's a corporate voice to that that kind of removes the music and y'all know I'm a music fan so I'm not bashing music but it's just a little bit different element of worship and so and I know the trend has been to ditch all the old traditional boring stuff you know because to make sure it's cool again as if it was ever cool or if it ever should be cool um but I don't think the motivation from removing some of those stuff I don't I don't think we thought through some of that and one of the Traditions that was removed over time was a lot of the things that are that outside of music was repetition in corporate worship um and and I think repetition is necessary for discipleship we've been talking about that briefly this morning about how yeah you keep hearing the same things over and over again but there's a reason for that you need to keep hearing the same things over and over again because if you don't just give yourself a brief time it's why laying out of church for too long all of a sudden it becomes easier to not get back and then you can't figure out why things aren't going well for you spiritually so it's gotten worse over the last decade the information age has changed things it's conditioned us where you know new is good fresh is good you've got to have new content fresh content new ideas and and so you keep pushing the envelope you see this in media you keep pushing things to the extreme to find something new and to see what the lines are and so um and and you know you kind of get a feeling of somebody saying well why we why would we just rehearse what we've already said or read or done and so I think in corporate worship particularly worship repetition empowers us to be changed not only as individuals but also as a people as a body we're already doing this in music and the truth is that we sing together shape our hearts as a church but I want us to discover some other ways to do this and this is not new what I'm about to

do is not new in fact it's super super old it's just kind of new for us so for the next year we're going to say the Apostles Creed together every Sunday um why the Apostles Creed well for one it's Pro it's one of the oldest if not the oldest church Creeds there are so this ancient Creed it captures the essence the heart the foundation of what the people of God have believed now and have always believed I think doing this weekly will allow us to Proclaim as one people with one voice to confess Faith about what we believe which will help Define us a Unity within our own body I think it'll connect us to the Faith of Our Fathers connect us to the history of the church as we say it together we will internalize it it'll help us understand even our own beliefs in these concise Creeds do those and in just a moment we're going to stand and do that but before we do that what one of the ways we're going to do this is every week whoever's leading this Creed is going to get up and give a one or two minutes they go over two minutes I'm gonna fire them um one or two minute just quick explanation of just a section like I believe in God what does that mean how does that encourage Us in this Creed then we'll say the Creed together so I'm going to jump ahead in this Creed because every time I've read this Creed or read this Creed in a group I always get a question about a certain word in the Creed so I want to kind of head that off for you and I will probably in about three months explain it again in case somebody wasn't here and they didn't hear it in the Creed in fact jump ahead one slide actually maybe two slides go to the last slide do y'all see the trigger word there for some people Catholic all right so that does not mean the Roman Catholic Church that means that that word the Catholic word there little C is actually a Greek it was taken from a Greek word that means Universal so in the Apostles Creed this word is used to express the idea that the church is not limited to a

location to a time to a group of people to a geography but rather it encompasses Believers throughout history across the world it emphasizes the universal and the inclusive nature of the church which transcends all things cultural ethnic National all those things when that's the universal church the church of all believers of all the ages that's what Catholic means there so if you grew up in Catholicism it may take you a few weeks to get over the word work past it and but we're not I'm not changing it because I think it's better to learn what it means than just to change it to something else and I I mean you could change it to Universal but I think it loses some of the heart when you do that so we're not changing that word which is why I think it's together so let's all stand together go back to slide one and let's say this together I believe in God the Father Almighty creator of Heaven and Earth time out corporate worship when we do it corporately commas matter all right so we're going to start over watch the commas let's go I believe in God the Father Almighty creator of Heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ his only begotten son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried he descended to the Dead the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from which he will come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the Holy Ghost I believe in the Holy Catholic Church the communion of the Saints forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the everlasting life amen and the life Everlasting get it right Scott amen amen you can be seated so this morning I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm on a I'm not really warning you because I I'm I'm just kind of letting you know today's sermons really not going to be much of a sermon it's more of an this is an intro we're going to start the book of Colossians today and this is an intro

to Colossians so I'm going to mention a lot of things in the book and we are going to look at a couple of verses uh in the early at the the very early part of the greeting but I want to introduce to you the theme of Colossians this morning so it's not going to be your typical sermon some of you might consider a little academic somebody might consider it boring some of y'all will probably love it because you love that kind of stuff and and so but bear with me it's going to take me a couple of minutes to get to the let's read together in the text okay so um let me ask you guys a question are you all familiar with the concept of presuppositions raise your hands if you're familiar with the concept presupposition all right even if you don't know you are a bet you are in fact I know you are even if you're not familiar with that word presuppositions basically means that you're using your personal background your knowledge your personal experiences and your cultural context the co the context in which you were raised to filter what you hear read see Etc we all use these in our daily lives it's part of who we are as humans one example is how how we have different understandings of different things and cultures here's a good example in America the okay sign just means okay but don't use that in Italy it means something else and it'll probably get you punched in the face all right um that's up you would make the Assumption if you were in Italy and you saw somebody do that it'd be like oh everything's good you would have no idea what they were saying to you we have a different symbol for that in America and um yeah you can see it on Tick Tock a lot and some traffic disputes and um so uh and so we use these things when we read the Bible though we also bring to our reading of the Bible presuppositions you do this kind of to understand the text to fill in some gaps to some to helps with some implied meanings to make sure they're you know to see what they're clearly stated and

this process involves bringing assumptions and beliefs and understandings to the text which may or may not be part of the text which it can affect how we interpret the text how we comprehend what we read some of those kinds of things and there are some who say we should try to remove all presuppositions but that's impossible that's actually not even a good thing to do I don't think um it's impossible to not carry presuppositions with us it's part of Who We Are it's how we understand the world and so it's important to be aware of our own cultural presuppositions when we're reading the Bible when interpreting the Bible because they can influence our understanding and interpretation of what we read but it's better I think to replace unbiblical presuppositions with Biblical ones when we approach the text and there's some that we can't overcome their challenges for us and we have to work on those but some of them are easy I'll give you an example when I read the Bible there's presuppositions that the Bible gives us about how we should read it when I read the Bible I begin with the belief that what I'm reading is true that's a presupposition it's inerrant it's infallible and it's God's word to us about who he is and if that's how I approach that text it's going to affect my understanding of the text those would be presuppositions and if I'm reading the Bible and I don't believe it's true if I don't believe Miracles actually happen if I don't believe God exists that's also going to affect what I'm reading you'll understand kind of what I mean by that if I assume that the scripture is God breathes God inspired and profitable for reproof correction and instruction and righteousness that's a presupposition that I got from scripture but if I believe that it's only purpose is for reproof correction and instruction and righteousness I've missed a major purpose of the Bible and all I've done is turn it into a religious Rule Book You'll kind of see the what I'm what I'm going for

here so instead of attempting The Impossible and trying to remove presuppositions I think it's better to read the Bible and discover what the Bible says about itself and develop a proper understanding that will help us interpret the Bible and apply the Bible the way God intended so I'm just going to talk just briefly through a couple of these things on how we want to approach the text for one the Bible is definitely inspired says that about itself that's its claim inspired by God it contains the word of God so the presupposition there is that the Bible is not just a human creation but it has Divine Authority and guidance in its writings divinely inspired it's inerrant and infallible which is the belief that the Bible is written without error fault in its original manuscripts so this presupposition suggests that the Bible is completely reliable and accurate in its teachings also a presupposition will be that the Bible is our Authority and this is a big one the Bible is considered the ultimate Authority for Christian Life and practice and the implications of that are that if it's the authority it should be followed and applied to us which means if I disagree with something I read in scripture I adjust my belief to what the Bible says I don't try to adjust the Bibles to make the Bible say something I need it to say all right that's a big one also there's Unity within the scripture think about this you've got 66 books written by various authors over centuries and the Bible is to consider to have a unified message and purpose which is miraculous even critical Scholars of the Bible will say the fact that there is an overarching theme to this thing scattered out over these authors in these times is a miracle so the presupposition here is that the Bible should be interpreted based on its themes and teachings also historical and cultural context we were talking about some of these this morning with some people the Bible was written to a specific audience during a specific

time for a specific purpose and understanding that historical and cultural context around that audience help us interpret its meaning and then also I read from a covenantal framework there are some people that read it from a dispensational framework I am a covenantalist in fact if you're if you'd like to call yourself reformed you should really really learn what that means in depth this refers to God's relationship with how he has interacted with his people we talked this a lot in the early parts of Genesis how God's has worked in humanity and the promises made by God to his people so God's done this through covenants if we read this in that way it affects our interpretation and then the big one this is one of my favorite ones is that what's called the analogy of Faith some of y'all might have heard that called scripture interpret scripture the principle here is that scripture is its own best interpreter the the the meaning of one part of the Bible is best understood in light of the overall teachings of the Bible so scripture interprets scripture it never contradicts itself um and this also would mean that things like proof texting and biblicism are not good they're bad practices so don't do those things so some of y'all might be asking why in the world I'm bringing all this up in the intro to the book of Colossians I do have a reason for it I'm not just rambling well for one thing that's important stuff right might as well bring it up and repeat it as often as we can because we need to learn how to interpret the Bible properly and that's where we start all right but as we head into Colossians we're going to have to really use some of the list we just made we're going to have to work around some of the cultural understandings and gain some insight into the culture of colossae why because Colossians has an interesting and unique aspect to it there are times when it reads a bit like hearing one side of a phone conversation you can figure out a lot by what you hear

but you might have missed out on some of the details y'all understand what I'm saying so you can read more in there than is intended to be there or you cannot read enough into it and so we're going to focus on what we can discern and interpret and apply without making it say something it doesn't say particularly when we get over to chapter two and the passages that deal with legalism and um and Christian Liberty so this little letter though had a significant impact on Christian Theology and practice despite its the small size of this little town in this little Church Christian theologians and lay people have turned to this book for teachings on Christ his role in creation his preeminence over the church warnings against legalism and how that shaped their understanding of christology and the things surrounding Christian Liberty Unity within this body all that's covered in this book this it also contains some broad ethical principles that provide guidance for believers is we want to live out our commitment to Jesus but I I don't want this to be a sermon about information because that was not Paul's point in writing Colossians he had a clear point and we're going to the clear theme if you can't figure it out right by now it's it's on the thing back there um could anybody guess the theme of just based on the slide uh so so Paul is giving this church some incredible instruction that's necessary in the way they think and believe and it's gonna I think it'll speak to us in our present day so go ahead and turn Colossians 1. and we're going to look at a bit of the background information to help us with some of the contacts JB Lightfoot said the church in colossae was the least important Church in which any Epistle of Saint Paul was written I thought man that's a I don't know how to take that is that an insult or whatever but I mean that's a weird thing to say right but he did have a reason for it this town colossae was a lot like Radiator Springs in the movie Cars at one

point in its history it was an important town because it sat at the crossroads of two of the main trade routes in that particular region however Somebody went and moved the highway and when they did now everybody went to laodicea 11 miles away and they left colossae off up on the hill without her without a main road and things are you know it's just kind of there doing its thing it was kind of a forgotten about little area um not only that not long within just maybe a year two at the most from the time this letter was written a major earthquake happened that destroyed the city and as far as we know it was never rebuilt however one of the most important points to note about this city and this will really really matter when we get into the text is that because of its history long history is a travel Hub it had an extremely diverse group of people that lived in and around it and the diversity of the population and its exposure to so much outside thinking meant that colossae was a place that had numerous religions and philosophical viewpoints and they were all kind of mixed together and then on top of that you throw in some some Jewish people who had who had fled and you've got a kind of a strange mix of things going on and this tells us a lot about who Paul was writing to and why he makes certain statements because remember the audience matters the diversity helps explain some of the strange and and kind of varied practices that seem disconnected that Paul is going to talk about and the theme of this letter about trying to correct some bad theology but unlike Paul's other letters he actually never personally visited colossae he never personally vetted this church he didn't establish this church it's most likely that epaphras who's actually mentioned in the in the in the second verse of this book um was the founder of this church because he traveled with Paul he learned from Paul and he actually ministered to Paul while Paul was in prison at one point and then epaphras

is mentioned again at the end of the book in 412 as one who heard from the Lord what Paul believed he was epaphras was actually from this little town and and so we're making the assumption that he mentioned this guy twice called him a servant because the people would have known epaphras and that would have been the connection between them and Paul we know epaphras and Paul hung out we know epaphras uh was from colossae so you have to you yeah I don't think it's illogical to assume that epaphras was one of the key founders of this church um he had journeyed to where Paul was in prison for the sake of the Gospel he shared in Paul's imprisonment he was in prison with Paul and because Paul refers to him as his fellow fellow prisoner in Philemon however we also know from the end of Colossians That epaphras was supposed to take the letter to the church in colossae but couldn't so Paul sent titicicus instead to present the letter and and because uh we're assuming epaphras must have still been in prison with Paul at the time so it's clear this church knew epaphras and it's likely he was the one that sought Paul's help in dealing with the deviation from the truth of the Gospel that Paul's addressing in the book of Colossians this is why Paul writes to a community that he had nurtured through what he calls his son epaphras so think about it like this if if uh epaphras was like the father of the Church of Colossians Paul would be like the grandfather right and so but one thing is clear the purpose of this letter is to provide resources that the Colossians need to fend off some type of false teaching that was attempting to infiltrate this young Church as I already mentioned we're listening to one side of a conversation we don't have a ton of specifics I mean we've got some specifics but not like we do in like a book like Galatians or First Corinthians however this brings us a unique opportunity because it's going to give us a little bit of leeway on our interpretation

particularly on application because we're going to be able to see how what Paul talks about in Colossians connects with a lot of modern false movements that are within Christianity today as well and you all know me I don't mind naming names and when we get to that point I'm just going to name names and I really hope I don't hit out on your favorite uh uh TV preacher but if I do hopefully you'll stop listening to that dude so um and uh anyway all right where were we um all right so in the book Paul does one particular thing right and it's profound all right Paul wrote this book while he's in prison in Rome this was the Paul was in wrong Paul was in prison a lot but we know of three particular times so he's in Rome it's around 60 A.D um just a few years before his death and the the letter is intended to head off his false teaching there's one overriding theme one clear subject of the book as Paul addresses this young church he attempts to help them Focus and to do that he does something we can all learn he goes on the offense he doesn't try to defend himself or the gospel he goes on the offense he exalts Christ he doesn't argue over details he just points to the truth of who Christ is and that's is what we're going to focus on as we go through this that's why I titled this series Christ above all living in light of his Supremacy because what Paul basically does in this book is tells the church that Christ and Christ exalted and Christ preached and Christ glorified and Christ magnified is the reason we call ourselves Christians it's the reason we're set apart and if you want to avoid false teaching if you want to live in light of the Gospel look to Christ this book is all christology it's why I made Christ so big on the slide you have to filter everything you read in Colossians through the theme that this is all about Jesus I don't care what the sentence is it's about Jesus many many many times Christ the the name of Christ is mentioned in such a short book so you

want to know what your presupposition is as you read through Colossians over the next several weeks and months Christ Paul makes it clear it's no secret Paul tells the church that Christ stands in a unique relationship with a God the father and he and he only is the one that brings creation back under God's sovereignty and because of that he's the only one that can provide the resources that the believer needs to flourish in a world that's dominated by hostile powers that's what Paul is telling this this little church in colossae look I don't know about y'all that's something I need to constantly be reminded of in the world we're living in right now that's why I really I had been back and forth on what which book to go to and that's really why I settled on this book if Christ is who Paul claims he is and I believe he is that only Christ can provide the fullness of life and joy that are the false teachers that are mentioned in this book claim happen through legalism and religious really just dead religious practice so throughout the letter there's a theme of the sufficiency of Christ I'm just going to mention just a few of these okay and verse 4 of chapter one there the Colossians fate this in Christ verse 2 uh I mean sorry verse 4 of chapter two same thing faith is in Christ Apophis is described as a faithful minister of Christ in Colossians 1 7 and 4 12. the kingdom of the rescue from Darkness belongs to the son Christ who he loves Colossians 1 13. Christ's role in reconciling the Colossians to God and empowering of Paul's Ministry by Christ or emphasized in five or six verses in Colossians 1 27 2 2 and 4 3 the mystery of Christ revealed to the Saints is Christ in you the hope of glory or simply Christ Colossians 2 3 Christ is portrayed as the source of all wisdom and knowledge the tradition received by the Colossians is summed up as Christ Jesus as Lord their entire tradition is Christ Jesus is Lord the believer's identification with Christ and resurrection and

glory and hidden in Christ and appearing with him so we have some eschatology End Time stuff Happening Here in chapter three all is tied to Christ Christ's peace is to rule in the believer's heart again in chapter three his message is to dwell with them again in chapter three everything the believer does should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ the household relationships are governed by Christ the ministry of Paul's Associates is tied to Christ and I know it took a long time to get there we're actually going to read now in Colossians 1 1. we're going to read one through eight but really for the rest of our brief time and it will be brief um I'm going to focus on uh verses one and two so let's read in one one 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 thank we always thank God and the father our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you since we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love 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 world of the 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 the grace of God and Truth just as you learned it from epaphras our beloved fellow servant he is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the spirit so Paul begins this salutation this this greeting by identifying himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and I know a lot of times we blow through these greetings as if you know he's just like hey guys just I wanted to say hey before I start you know beating y'all up too bad um but some of the language Paul uses here is super important there's a there's a there's a there's a you there's an important aspect to the way Paul

phrases these things he's he's speaking with authority he talks about himself as apostle but he also makes it clear that he's not simply a commissioned or empowered representative of Jesus he has I'm sorry I he he has no personal stake in this this is not Paul's personal words he is coming to this church as a representative of Jesus Christ his title came not through any outside sources but through the will of God and in fact in in verse 7 you see the humility and Paul reaction he calls himself a fellow servant so he writes with his gracious approach to the people that may that that he doesn't know at all and probably don't know him at all other than reputation but they have they're going to have a high regard for who he is so his authority is unique because it's derived directly from Christ but Paul is not setting himself up as a guy in some kind of high office who's hitting here just to give you divine directives that he is an ambassador a minister a servant of Christ and that's how he's speaking to these people I I love what uh one guy I read this week said um God assigned Paul a task not status and I think there's a lot of leaders who need to understand that concept most leaders all right it's interesting that he also mentions Timothy in this the early part of this book as far as we know Timothy had no connection to the church in colossae it's most likely his name is mentioned because he would have been the one who pinned the letter composed the letter that Paul dictated to Timothy which was not uncommon for people especially guys like Paul who had um bad eyesight to use a secretary to dictate these letters Romans is a clear example of this Romans just pretty much states it that you know I wrote this letter with my you know like I wrote the letter Paul it's Paul's letter but I wrote it right that's in the early part of Romans so one reason to think uh in verse 4 and chapter 4 verse 18. Paul says he writes this the the the the the end the the greeting at the end

he writes that he says with my own hand there's three other times where two other times where Paul uses that same language um which implies that the rest of the letter was physically written by somebody else and if you were reading the letter you were to see the change in penmanship now you have a guy who probably wrote big because we know that because he he had bad eyesight and he already mentioned in Corinthians that he was writing it extra big um I don't know if he's writing it for himself or writing it for them you know like all caps kind of thing I don't know if any if any church ever deserves some all caps it was a church in Corinth but um it's worth noting that adding Timothy's name though and I and this is this is as I thought about this this week all right so he has he mentions several people in this book he mentions tychicus he mentions epaphras and he mentions Timothy now we know Timothy's history because we have writings by Timothy and we have a lot of history from Timothy in the book of Acts um we know the trust that that this church would have had an epaphras so when Paul names these people think about it like this it's worth noting that Paul adding Timothy's name adding a path for his name adding titrik is his name these guys that Paul's basically saying what I'm writing to you is not my opinion I'm not a lone wolf Theologian out there doing things on my own this is not some Maverick out there he's working within a team of ministers and this letter reflects the consensus of those who were with him because they would have all read the letter and don't think for a second if they ran across something in there they're like Paul what in the where did this come from they wouldn't have called him out on it I think that's something important to note so and so then Paul does something else really really unique it's the only time he does this in any of his writings he greets this church and he calls them holy and faithful brothers and sisters now he's called

other people holy before and that doesn't mean you we'll do that next week what I want what I want to understand is the language of calling them faithful the word he uses there this is the only time Paul refers to a group of people by this word it means they were faithful to the gospel message it means that that um whatever was happening here it had not taken over like what had happened in Galatians we're in Galatians it said I I'm I'm I'm really really angry that you guys have chased another gospel as if there is another gospel that's not what Paul is saying he was like I understand you guys are dealing with some stuff but as far as I can say I see you as faithful to the gospel so we have to assume that whatever this false Doctrine was they had not yet succumbed to it so they were instead in the midst of a battle for truth and Paul has helped guiding them in that battle and which means as Paul excuse me as Paul sets up his argument at the beginning not just holy and faithful but holy and faithful in Christ while living in Colossus it says in Christ at colossae and the order here matters especially in that day and age as Christianity is working its way it's it's in its infancy and and understanding of what it meant to be identified with Christ a lot of these these people are still learning this think about how new this is foreign they've got history of of polygamy and all kinds of crazy religions that they're having to filter through so when Paul addresses the Colossians as holy and faithful in Christ he's emphasizing something unique about their identity being in Christ goes beyond geography it encompasses their entire lives it means Christ is the center of their existence it it means that they're guiding and shaping every aspect of who they are is tied to Christ and being in Christ implies exclusivity it means that they're exclusively joined to him no other gods no other goddesses there's no room for divided loyalties there's no room for competing allegiances and

because of that will come to discover that their identity their Joy their fulfillment is not found in religious practice it's not found in their job it's not found in their marriage it's not found in their kids their fulfillment is found in Christ and if your fulfillments found in anything else then what you've done is turn that into an idol right y'all sound like you're really looking forward to that sermon all right so Paul is telling this church that every spiritual need they have is found in Christ and he's going to talk about the freedom that comes from that and we're going to look at the freedom that comes from that what that means it also meant that being in Christ has practical implications for Behavior I mean you can't get around that if the conduct is determined by Christ teaching Christ example and those kinds of things they're going to deal with immoral practices and all that stuff and he's going to talk about the bond of Christ being unbreakable nothing can separate Believers from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus amen I can't wait to get there so so that means that that not even death Angels demons any powers can sever the relationship that these people have with Christ and also being in Christ means being a part of a new family this would have been a huge concept then and even now Believers are joined together by a mutual faith in Christ creating a spiritual kinship that transcends social and cultural and ethnic backgrounds and differences so my desire for us as a church as we work through this book over the next probably three months and at least is that um we would come away with a renewed focus on what it means to live in Christ that we would see Christ exalted to embrace the found profound truth that in Christ with an unwavering faith we would approach this with a commitment and then to allow Christ to Define our identity our Behavior to unite us as a family and and being in Christ is not just a theological concept it's why I put living in

light of his Supremacy because I think if we can really grasp this it will change us it will make us more like Christ it'll change the way we live not only that it'll transform us and Empower us to live victoriously so that we're not under bondage we're not have divided loyalties and that we can go into this life with the joy that's found in honoring our savior so that's a big task Steve over the next right now I got 11 sermons but you know me it could be 15 when it's all said and done I I reserve the right to change my mind uh and so um we'll see how it goes but I am really really excited about getting into the meat of this book and and celebrating Jesus Christ amen well we're gonna we're gonna partake in communion now and um we're going to go back I know we did a little different last week we're going to go back to a the old way of doing it um but as I I've read through I don't know how many times I've read through Colossians in the last couple of months but thinking about the exaltation of Jesus Christ in the book I couldn't help but think through even yesterday as I was thinking about this moment in communion to consider just how important it is for us even in A Moment Like This something we do every week to not take it for granted right and I know when I was a kid growing up we did it every six months on Sunday night and uh I didn't even know what it meant at the time I mean I knew those deacons took a long time to fold that sheet that's all I knew and uh that was over the communion table in the front and um but now as I've grown and aged and hopefully spiritually matured on top of physically matured uh just these this moment of remembering who Christ is in my life why that matters why it's important what he did for us is all represented in this simple act of worship and that should encourage us it should spur us to love and good works all the things that happened this is a moment that that God gave the church for us it's a moment of worship because we are

honoring Christ and exalting Christ but he gave this to us for our encouragement and I want you to think about that consider that this morning and if you're with us and you're baptized believer we encourage you to partake I'm going to go to the keyboard and Sandy and I are going to sing a song and and then um we're gonna uh come back and partake in communion together so during this song I'll just take a moment of worship meditation and prayer and then come grab your elements whenever whenever you feel ready

The sermon on Romans 12 provides a deep dive into the context and content of the book of Colossians in the Bible.

1. The sermon begins by discussing the unique opportunity that the book of Colossians presents, as it allows for a certain level of interpretation and application. The speaker mentions that the book can help us understand modern false movements within Christianity today. The speaker also emphasizes that the book was written by Paul while he was in prison in Rome, and its main purpose was to address false teachings infiltrating the young church. Paul's approach was not defensive but offensive, focusing on exalting Christ rather than arguing over details ([23:48] - [25:38]).

2. The speaker then discusses the importance of understanding the cultural context of the book of Colossians. He emphasizes the principle of the "analogy of Faith," which suggests that scripture is its own best interpreter. The speaker also mentions that the book of Colossians can sometimes feel like hearing one side of a phone conversation, which can lead to potential misinterpretations. Despite this, the book has had a significant impact on Christian theology and practice, providing teachings on Christ, his role in creation, his preeminence over the church, and warnings against legalism ([15:58] - [17:40]).

3. The speaker then talks about the transformative power of understanding and living in light of Christ's supremacy. He suggests that truly grasping this concept can change us, make us more like Christ, and empower us to live victoriously. The speaker also mentions the importance of not taking communion for granted and remembering who Christ is in our lives ([40:13] - [42:58]).

4. Lastly, the speaker discusses the background information of the city of Colossae, where the church was located. He mentions that the city was once an important trade hub but was later forgotten after a major earthquake. The city had a diverse population with numerous religions and philosophical viewpoints, which provides context for understanding who Paul was writing to and why he made certain statements in the book of Colossians ([18:17] - [20:51]).

The sermon is based on the book of Colossians in the Bible, which was written by the Apostle Paul. The sermon discusses the context in which the book was written, the cultural and religious diversity of the city of Colossae, and the teachings and principles outlined in the book. The sermon also emphasizes the importance of understanding and interpreting the Bible correctly, and the role of Christ in creation and his preeminence over the church. The sermon does not specifically mention who built the city of Colossae. However, it does mention that the city was an important trade hub in its history, suggesting that it was built by the people who lived there at the time ([18:53]).

The sermon you're referring to doesn't directly address the topic of war in Israel. However, it does touch on several themes that could be relevant to understanding and responding to such a situation from a Christian perspective.

Firstly, the sermon emphasizes the importance of living in light of Christ's supremacy, which can transform and empower us to live victoriously ([40:13]). This could be applied to the situation in Israel by encouraging Christians to respond with love, peace, and forgiveness, even in the face of conflict and violence.

Secondly, the sermon discusses the importance of interpreting and applying the Bible correctly ([13:01]). This could be relevant to understanding the historical and theological context of the conflict in Israel, as well as discerning a Christian response.

Thirdly, the sermon highlights the importance of repetition in corporate worship and discipleship ([02:53]). This could be applied to the situation in Israel by encouraging Christians to continually pray for peace and reconciliation.

Finally, the sermon discusses the principle of scripture interpreting scripture ([15:58]). This could be relevant to understanding the biblical prophecies and promises related to Israel, as well as discerning a Christian perspective on the conflict.

I hope this helps, and I would be happy to discuss these points further or explore other aspects of the sermon that could be relevant to the situation in Israel.