Gospel

Who Is Paul? – Evangelist

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In looking at Colossians we have seen how Paul presents the centrality of Christ. The only issue is that here Paul is writing to a group of believers that all they know is that he led their pastor to faith and that he is now a Roman prisoner. The false teachers in Colossae tried to use this one fact to discredit Paul and lead the Colossian believers astray. So what Paul does next is to take a break from building up who Christ is and to explain his situation, who he is, and what his ministry is. The first aspect of who he is that he mentions is his ministry to share the Gospel; he is an evangelist. We see this in Colossians 1:21-23, “Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him—if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.” Again while Paul did not personally evangelize to those in Colossae, he points out that a large part of his ministry is through the spreading of the Gospel, as he states “I, Paul, have become a servant of it.” In explaining evangelism as being a major part of his ministry, he essentially shares the Gospel with the Colossian church right there by explaining their spiritual state past, present, and future.

Past

Paul starts out by pointing out a person’s spiritual state before they come to faith in Christ. He states that we were alienated and hostile, our actions were evil. You see before we come to faith in Christ we all have an issue with pride. We view ourselves as being the most important and all our actions tend to revolve around what will best suit us. If others benefit from our actions it is because we were to also benefit from it. Essentially before Christ we are trying to be our own god, the unbeliever will do whatever they can to make themselves look good, or to better their situations. This is even seen in works based religions; no matter who they claim to worship they are basically worshiping themselves, because according to their religion they are the ones to bring about their own entrance into their concept of heaven. What I am getting at here is that you can’t live in such a way that views yourself as god and not be on hostile terms with God. This is why humility is a major part in a believer’s life, they recognize who God is and repent of the previous behavior and thoughts.

Present

The past spiritual state leads right into the present spiritual state of the believer, that being we are reconciled to God. The thing is it is not anything that the believer does that reconciles them with God, but it was God who took the initiative. This was done through the work of Christ on the cross, this was all done while we were still considered to be enemies with God. To refute the false teachers that denied Christ having a human body, Paul stresses that reconciliation came by “His physical body through His death.” Paul then mentions the purpose of the reconciliation is to make the believer holy, faultless, and blameless before God. You see it is not how we look to ourselves or others, but it is all about how God sees us, which once we accept His grace and salvation we have a perfect standing in Christ.

Future

Finally Paul points out the believer’s future spiritual condition, in that of our glorification. Paul refers to this as the “hope of the gospel.” Before Christ the Colossians were without hope, but once they came to faith in Christ they were given the promise of eternity in the presence of God. The imagery Paul uses here was to illustrate that if one’s faith is built on the solid foundation of Christ, then nothing will cause you to move away from that faith. We are not saved by continuing in our faith, but we continue in our faith because we are saved.

It Revolves Around Christ – Beloved

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To wrap up this week we have seen how Christ is the creator as well as head of the church in regards to His centrality. Today we will look at how Christ is beloved by God. In Colossians 1:19-20 we see, “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross— whether things on earth or things in heaven.”

Define the Terms

When Paul wrote to the Colossian church the word he used for “all fullness” was one that the gnostic false teachers were familiar with. It was a technical term which meant “the sum total of all the divine power and attributes.” Then by dwell Paul was not just simply meaning to reside such as I dwell in a fifth wheel camper at a campground, but more along the lines of to be at home permanently. Essientially Paul was stating that Christ had the power and attributes of God and that they were an essential part of his being. This was powerful as the gnostics believed that matter was evil and thus God could not interact with it, but Paul is stating just the opposite. It is not just that Christ had the power and attributes of God but that God the Father was pleased for Christ to have the fullness of God within Him.

What He Did

The next thing Paul points out is that God was pleased with Christ through Christ’s actions, “and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross— whether things on earth or things in heaven.” God was not only pleased for Christ to posses His nature and power, but also because of Christ fulfilling His purpose. Christ came to pay the ultimate price for humanity’s sin. The only sinless person dying on the cross as punishment for the sins of the world. When sin entered the world it caused separation, separation from God, separation from man, and it basically tears everything apart. What Christ did was to remove that separation; He restored the relationship between man and God, this is what Paul means by “making peace through the blood of the cross.” You see as we become new creations through our faith in Christ these divisions that were caused by sin start to get repaired. We find it easier to love our neighbor and to pray for our enemies. We find ourselves to be more forgiving at times; although these changes never come easy or all at once. It is as we truly become followers of Christ that we start to first hand experience this making of peace and reconciliation that only Christ can offer.

Table Talk – Episode 53 – Encouragement

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July 08, 2016: This week we heard from Pastor Sam a testimony from when he was on vacation and how God used him to encourage others in their time of need.

Table Talk is a weekly gathering of men in the Pinellas Park area from different denominations and backgrounds. We meet every Friday morning from around 6:30-8:00 at the Egg Platter restaurant. It is located at 6767 US Highway 19 North in Pinellas Park. If you happen to be in the area feel free to come out and join us for a time of fellowship and Bible study.

Prayer of Brotherhood – Salvation

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So we have been looking at Paul’s prayer regarding the Colossian church as found in Colossians 1:9-14 and last time we ended with how as believers they should be giving thanks to God when strengthened for endurance and patience. Paul also goes on to mention other reasons that as a believer we should be giving thanks. If you look at Colossians 1:13-14, “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.” Paul points out four things that as believers we should be thankful for besides being enabled to share in the inheritance that we will receive as believers, we were rescued, transferred, redeemed, and forgiven.

Rescued

The first thing Paul mentions is that God rescued us from the domain of darkness, meaning we were once held captive or as prisoners to sin and God came down and freed us. If we were in physical bondage and captivity we would surely be grateful to the person who came and rescued us from our situation, well spiritually that is exactly what God did. We were at one time in a position, spiritually, where sin and darkness were in control of our lives. Before we came to Christ sin was what ruled in our lives, if we happened to do anything “good” it was because it benefited our sinful desires. However, Christ came down and removed the power sin had over us to where no longer are we controlled by our sinful desires.

Transferred

The next thing Paul mentions is that after we were rescued we were transferred to Christ’s Kingdom. You see he did not just free us from sin and leave us to wander around. We were transplanted from one kingdom to another, we went from slaves under sin to citizens in the Kingdom of God. We were rescued from our sinful desires and placed under the Lordship of one who requires us to do good. When Christ removed the power sin had over us we were given the Holy Spirit who urges us to follow God’s will.

Redeemed

It is not just that we were rescued from Satan’s power and became citizens of God’s kingdom but Christ has also redeemed us. What this means is that we were bought for a price, the word used here was that of paying a ransom. When sin entered into the world with Adam, we were taken captive; and when Christ died on the cross the ransom was paid to where God was able to bring us back into His kingdom. We were bought at a price to which we are no longer for sale. When we were redeemed by Christ the sale was final.

Forgiven

Finally we should be thankful because our sins are forgiven, which goes hand in hand with redemption. Look at in the way of when people would go into slavery due to large debts, because of sin we had an unpayable debt and thus became slaves to sin. Christ came and redeemed us, bought us from the slavery to sin, and then forgave us, payed off or canceled our debt. You see we should be thankful to God because of our salvation, as not only does God make it possible for us, but He is the one who saves us. We cannot do it on our own, only God had the power to bring us salvation.

Prayer of Brotherhood – Endurance and Patience

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This week we are looking at Paul’s prayer for the Colossian church and that they work to grow spiritually. Last time we saw the first aspect of spiritual growth being related to seeking God and knowledge of His will. Today we will look at how when growing spiritually we need to focus on endurance and patience. In Colossians 1:11-12 we see, “May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.”

Endurance and Patience

Paul prays that the Colossian church will be strengthened by God so they can exhibit endurance and patience. The purpose behind this is when you start to live out your faith you are bound to encounter trials and persecution, Paul understood this and prayed that God would give the Colossian church the strength to stand in such time. It is far too easy when times get tough because of our faith to take a step back and tone down our beliefs, but that actually hinders us. Growing spiritually is much like growing physically, when we grow physically we often encounter growing pains as we mature, growing spiritually is much the same we have to encounter the trials and tribulations in order to grow.

The need for endurance and patience is not just because of our own spiritual growth but also as we are shaped into the men God wants us to be. The trials and hardships are not just growing pains but also serve as a means to make you useful in doing God’s will. If you have ever seen the method that Native Americans used to use when making arrowheads they would take basically two stones and use one to chip away bits and pieces of the softer stone until an arrowhead was formed. The trials and hardships that we face where we are needing to have endurance and patience do much the same. They shape us and form us into until we are a tool useful for God’s purpose, then like sharpening a knife it is a process that keeps us useful. The thing to remember is that all believers face this, we are never told we will have an easy life as a Christian, that is why Paul prays for believers to be strengthened for endurance and patience, as trials and hardships are almost guaranteed to the believer.

Give Thanks

As we are strengthened to be able to exhibit patience and endurance giving thanks to God should naturally flow out from that.  When you think about it when we were children we all wanted to grow, we would get excited about a mere fraction of an inch of growth; and we will celebrate each year as we get a year older. It is only natural that we should exhibit the same we have regarding physical growth when we see the evidence of our own spiritual growth. You see we are not giving thanks because we are facing the trials and hardships themselves, but rather we are giving thanks because it means we are growing in our faith.

Giving thanks is not just because of the evidence of our growth but also because we are saved. We give t hanks because we will take part in the inheritance that fellow believers will share in. The reason we are to give thanks to God is because He is the one that makes us able to share in the inheritance, it is not by anything we have done or could ever do; but it is all because of God’s mercy and grace. Next time we will look further into other reasons we should be giving thanks to God as Paul points out to the Colossian church.

Prayer of Brotherhood – God’s Will

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A couple of weeks ago we started to look at the book of Colossians and have been going through it verse by verse. We took a look at the city of Colossae as well as the church located there. Then last week we looked at how Paul reacted to learning about this church that started as part of the fruit of his ministry in Ephesus. This week we start to look at his specific prayer for the church in Colossae. This prayer is one that specifically geared towards wanting to see the Colossian church grow spiritually. This prayer in fact is a prayer that we as believers should have regarding each other, as brothers in Christ we should have a desire to see each other grow spiritually. So what is this prayer? In Colossians 1:9-14 we see, “For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.” Today we are going to look at the first two verses of this section, “For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.”

Knowledge of His Will

The first thing that Paul prays for regarding the Colossian church is that they will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. Remember this was a church that was facing false teachers that claimed there was a hidden knowledge that one needed to find, Paul is stating that God is willing to impart knowledge of His will on the believers. God’s will is not an Easter egg that is hidden in which you need to go searching for, no it is clearly revealed to us in His Word; all we need to do is seek to draw near to God, place our focus on Him and His will is revealed to us.

Walk Worthy of the Lord

It is not just enough to know God’s will it also needs to be applied. When Paul states that he prays that the Colossian church will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, he is essentially saying he prays that it becomes a controlling influence in their lives. As we focus more on God and His will we should naturally find ourselves wanting to “walk worthy of the Lord.” This means we will continue to grow in our knowledge of God, as we can never know everything there is to know, and do good works, as they are an outpouring of our faith. You see the first step of spiritual growth is learning more about God and His will as well as being obedient as we find ourselves wanting to do God’s will as we further seek to learn more about God and His will.

A Friend of a Friend – What Must Be Done

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In looking at Colossians 1:3-8 we have seen that Paul has heard about this young church that came out of the fruit of his ministry in Ephesus, and reminds them of the source of their hope. Today we will see what Paul points out as what should be done with that hope. In Colossians 1:6-8 we see, “It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth. You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf, and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.” Paul now goes and starts telling the Colossian church the purpose of the Gospel.

Bearing Fruit

He starts out with telling them that the Gospel is bearing fruit and growing all over the world. Essentially Paul is stating that the Gospel is to continue to be spread, they heard the Gospel from someone and in turn they should be sharing the Gospel with others. Paul does this by telling the Colossians that it was not just them that found their hope through the Gospel but that the Gospel is for all people in all places. He was essentially stating that it was not just them that will find salvation in the message of the Gospel, but that they should be willing to spread it so that it would continue to bear its fruit.

Seed Planted

This point was driven home by Paul indicating that the seed that bore the spiritual fruit found in the Colossian church was planted by Epaphras. This was not one of the apostles, a missionary, or even some full time minister; this was just a fellow Colossian that heard the message and came to faith while he was probably visiting Ephasus. God used an ordinary man for His extraordinary purpose. As mentioned in the Great Commission we may not all be evangelists, but as Christians we are all to go and spread the Gospel around the world.

What’s The Fruit

So what is the fruit that is growing all over the world that Paul is talking about. It is those that have given their life to Christ. As mentioned they recognized God’s grace in the Gospel and gave their hearts over to it. On exposure to the Gospel message they had a stirring in their hearts as a result of the Holy Spirit drawing them to God that let them see this great gift that is offered to them, which they did not deserve. That is exactly what grace is, receiving something which you do not deserve; on the other side of the same coin is mercy, which is not receiving something you do deserve. You see through mercy we do not receive the punishment of death that we deserve due to sin and through God’s grace we receive life; not because of anything we did but because of Christ and what He did for us in His love. This is what Paul is doing right off the bat, he is reminding the Colossian church of the Gospel message, the message that led them to faith. He is reminding them of God’s grace and mercy as this needs to be first and foremost in their minds, especially when he starts to counter the false teachings that the church is dealing with.

Table Talk – Episode 50 – A New Name

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We have reached our 50th episode of Table Talk.

June 10, 2016: This week we talked about nicknames and how God promises us a new name and what that means.

Table Talk is a weekly gathering of men in the Pinellas Park area from different denominations and backgrounds. We meet every Friday morning from around 6:30-8:00 at the Egg Platter restaurant. It is located at 6767 US Highway 19 North in Pinellas Park. If you happen to be in the area feel free to come out and join us for a time of fellowship and Bible study.

A Friend of a Friend – What You Heard

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So we started looking at Colossians and this week we are looking at Colossians 1:3-8. Last time we looked at how Paul is thankful to God because of what he has heard regarding this young church. Today we will look at  what Paul states they have heard that is the basis for their faith. Colossians 1:5, “You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you.” Paul had just gotten finished telling them that he had heard of their faith and love which resulted from their hope. He now goes to tell them where they got their hope from and the reason it is reliable.

The Promise To Come

Paul is reminding them that their hope, this assurance of a promise to come, is contained within the message they have already received. It is not found in some secret revelation, or through some mystic experience. It is also not obtained through some strict adherence to a set of rules. Paul boldly states that to understand the hope that is reserved for them in heaven all they need to do is to look at the message they received through faith. The Colossian church has all these people coming in trying to say that receiving the Gospel is a good start but to truly be a Christian they need to follow a certain set of rules, or obtain some secret knowledge that hasn’t been revealed to them. Right here at the start Paul reminds them that the Gospel is all they need, it is the source of their hope.

The Truth Is The Truth

There is a reason that Paul refers to the Gospel as the message of truth, that is because no matter what the popular opinion is the truth will always be the truth. Paul was telling the Colossian church that no matter how popular the false teachings are, how appealing they may be, or how easy it would be to just go with the flow, the Gospel is the truth and only message that leads to salvation. In our own lives when we encounter various teachings we should always test them against Scripture to see whether they are false teachings or sound teaching. Paul is stating that no matter who is teaching or what the message is it should line up with the Gospel, anything else will draw you away from Christ.

So Paul is telling the Colossian church that they came to a saving faith in Christ through the message of the Gospel that they had received. This message was the truth and there is no hidden knowledge or mystical experience that is further required to obtain salvation, nor is there any special set of rules that they must perfectly follow. We need to remember the same thing, our faith is not about anything other than our relationship with Christ. If we are told that in order to be saved we need to do anything that takes our focus off of Christ we should steer clear of it; as our faith should have us constantly seeking Him, not some hidden knowledge or special experience, and not some set of rules.

A Friend of a Friend – What We Have Heard

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In looking at the book of Colossians, after Paul gives his customary greeting he goes into praising God about what he has learned regarding this young church. He starts off in Colossians 1:3-8 with saying, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth. You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf, and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.” You see as I mentioned last week this church was not one that Paul had directly founded, his relationship would be similar to developing a close friendship after being introduced through a mutual friendship.

Fruit of Discipleship

The first thing to take notice of is Paul states that he is thankful to God when he is praying for the Colossian church. Why is that you may ask? Well it shows Paul understands what it means to be a true disciple, to truly be growing in one’s faith. Paul may not have started the church in Colossae but it was started most likely due to his ministry. Paul understood that while not every believer may be an evangelist, it is the duty of all believers to spread the Gospel. So hearing about how some who came to faith after hearing the Gospel through him have led others to faith, which eventually led to the founding of other churches in other cities and villages, Paul cannot help but to be thankful that they get it. Paul is thankful not only because of the church and it being founded, but that the believers realize it is not just the job of the pastor, elders, or even a missionary to spread the Gospel; but that it is the job of all believers. Paul is thankful that seeing his three years in Ephesus did not just result in one church being founded but many churches through the region being founded through the fruit of discipleship.

Why We Heard

Paul goes on to tell the church what he has been told about them, “for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.” In 1 Corinthians 13:13 Paul mentions three characteristics of a Christian that will never disappear, those three characteristics he has heard of being found in the Colossian church, faith, hope, and love. The first thing Paul mentions that he heard about them was their faith in Christ. This was the common ground that they held and is one that all believers share, we may have different views regarding doctrine, but we all agree on the major issues. Paul isn’t saying that they just heard about Christ or have incorporated aspects of the Christian faith into their belief system, but that they have whole heartedly left their old ways behind and are placing their sole focus on God.

The next thing Paul expresses thankfulness regarding the Colossian church is their love, which is a progression from their faith. You see one of the evidences of our faith is our love for others, which it is through this love that we are compelled to do good works. This is counter to what false teachers were telling the Colossian church, they were claiming that obedience to rules, obtaining a secret knowledge, or having special experiences were the evidence. The love the Colossian church was not just shown to those that they agreed with, it was to all the saints. This meant that even if their beliefs were slightly different on minor issues, those that do not affect one’s salvation, they still showed them love as fellow believers in Christ. There are too many examples of Christian brothers fighting over small issues rather than being in fellowship due to their common beliefs.

Paul then goes on to state his thankfulness due to their hope. Today we have cheapened the definition of many words such as love and faith; but what the Bible refers to as hope and how we view hope today are completely different. We see hope as often wishful thinking, “I hope I get a new car,” or “I hope I can make my rent this month.” Hope in the Bible is something more concrete than that, it is a looking forward to the assured promises that will be fulfilled. The Colossian church loved their fellow believer because of their hope in the life to come. They realized that even if they have different opinions on certain things they will all be together in heaven with God and that is all that matters.