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All right, Colossians chapter three, verse fifteen is what we'll be considering fifteen through seventeen.
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But you absolutely know by now that the book of Colossians is a letter written by Paul and Timothy.
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Thank you.
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And Timothy.
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That's it.
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We've done it.
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Um, and Paul was confronting uh the false teaching that claimed Jesus was good and all, but you needed more.
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You needed philosophy, buy my book, you needed tradition, that the Gentiles needed to become uh Jews first before they could become real Christian.
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You need rules and regulations, Jesus isn't enough.
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And Paul pointedly says without hesitation, chapter two, verse 10, you are complete, absolutely complete in Christ.
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Jesus is all you need.
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And chapter 2, he was wrestling with that.
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Chapter 3, he turns uh from the teaching to really more practical Christian living.
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What does the life in Christ look like for the believer?
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He would say, You died with him.
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Therefore, put to death your sinful members.
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Um, put to death those those fleshly desires, and then be raised with Christ.
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Put on the Christ life, take it off like old dirty garments, take off all those evil things and put on Jesus.
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Um, now this is what we're into here in chapter three.
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You're gonna put on Christ.
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Notice verse 12.
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Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another.
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Uh notice verse 14.
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But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
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So that's really what we've been looking at the character of Jesus, love.
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Um now we mentioned last week, and I think it's important, if God tells us to do something, that means it's possible.
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If God tells us to take off the old life, it's possible to take off the old life.
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If God tells us to put on love and kindness and all these different things, it's possible to do that.
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If he calls us to do something, he gives us the ability to do it.
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Um now as we hit verse 15, we kind of get a little more into the how.
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How does that happen?
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Because I can just say put on love, and you go, well, that's nice.
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What do I do with that?
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I think in verse 15, 16, and 17, we're given some ways to actually do that, practically do that.
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We'll try to keep it simple, but we'll try to consider all that that means.
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Let's look at verse 15.
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And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you also were called in one body, and be thankful.
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Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord, and whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
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So, three practical ways that you can actually live uh in Christ.
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We see in verse 15, to let the peace of God rule in your hearts.
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We see in verse 16, to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
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Verse 17, whatever you do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
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Um, now, peace, here there's lots of different forms of peace seen in verse 15.
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Let's just look at this.
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Um, the peace of God.
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We think about the fact that we are at war before we come to Jesus, before we come to God through the cross, we're at war with God.
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We don't look at it that way, but that's what the Bible says.
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We were at war uh with us, and God makes peace through the cross.
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The only way that we can come to Him, it's the only way we can be forgiven.
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That's one kind of peace.
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Notice, though, also, Paul mentions you are called to one body.
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In that we see that there's this possibility of peace with one another.
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Different people from all walks of life, people that have very little in common sometimes, can in Christ come together and there's peace, right?
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In the early church, it was Jew and Gentile, it was slave and free.
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It didn't matter where you came from or what your life was about, you could have peace with one another.
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But then there's also this idea of internal peace.
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I think we see the world dealing with that a lot of times.
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People don't have peace.
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Oh, my mind is a million different directions.
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I just don't have any peace.
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An uneasy heart, a worried heart, a
Load full transcript
fearful heart, a conflicted heart.
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Um, now, as believers, when are we most conflicted?
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I think it's when we're resisting the Holy Spirit.
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This peace.
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I don't know, perhaps you've realized this.
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We throw it away sometimes when we resist what God wants us to do, or we do the things that He doesn't want us to do.
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I think it comes down to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
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God the Spirit.
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Now, we turn here often, you probably know this passage by now, but I want you to turn because I think it's important, and it's so basic that Christian life is John 16.
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Turn to John 16.
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I think it's important that we look at it.
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John 16.
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Jesus is getting towards the end of his earthly ministry there, and he's talking about what's going to happen when he leaves.
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He's telling his disciples there in verse 7.
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16, verse 7.
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He's telling them about the Holy Spirit.
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He calls them uh the the helper.
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Notice here, it says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it's to your advantage that I go away.
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For if I do not go away, the helper, that's the Holy Spirit, will not come to you.
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But if I depart, I will send him to you.
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Now look at verse 8.
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And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
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I think it's important because it's just so basic to the Christian life to realize that this Holy Spirit, God the Spirit, one of the main things that he does, we're told here, is convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
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Convict of sin.
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We've known this since we were little, right?
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There came that certain point where mom said, Don't eat the cookie.
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And we look both ways.
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You see it in little kids, right?
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You look both ways and you grab the cookie, right?
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When we're very young.
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Now, here's what I'm gonna assume on there comes a certain point that the Holy Spirit is convicting.
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That's really what that both ways is usually about, right?
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Looking both ways.
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The Holy Spirit is convicting us of sin.
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We trust that because he says it right here.
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I'm gonna convict the world of sin.
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Now we realize that as we get older.
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When it's not so much about taking the cookie, it's about lying that you took the cookie, right?
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We're a little more sophisticated.
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Do you eat cookie before dinner?
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Is that why you're not hungry?
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No.
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And in an instant, we have the opportunity to lie, right?
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Lying is a sin.
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Now, here's what we trust, and here's what we know by experience.
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As you're ready to say no, it's convenient, right?
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You don't want to offend anybody that you ate before dinner, you know.
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You it's convenient you say, no, I didn't eat cookie.
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The Holy Spirit is convicting our hearts at that point.
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We know what it's like, right?
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Maybe it's not lying over the cookie, it's lying over something else.
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And we have that moment where God says, Don't do that, tell the truth.
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It's not convenient.
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We we lie to cover ourselves.
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We've all done it.
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And the Holy Spirit is convicting us there.
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Now, it doesn't matter if it's the cookie or stealing time at work or or or whatnot.
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It's it's that conviction of the Holy Spirit.
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Now, a little side note.
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I believe, because the Bible is true, that every one of us experiences the conviction of the Holy Spirit and sin.
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When we're about ready to sin, God says, Don't do it.
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Don't do it.
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Here's a side note that conviction can get softer as we resist it.
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The Bible calls it hardening the heart.
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So what happens?
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The Holy Spirit says, No, don't do that.
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That's not for you.
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And we say, Yeah, I think I'm gonna do it.
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And the next time, generally, that conviction gets a little weaker.
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The more we say no to it and say, you know what, I'm gonna do it anyways, I'm gonna do it anyways, I'm gonna do it my way.
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The more we do that, the more we harden our hearts and resist the Holy Spirit, the quieter that voice gets.
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So if you're at the point where certain things don't bother you anymore,
you should be worried.
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Because God's grace in our life is to tell us, no, don't do it.
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You weren't made for sin, you weren't made for that.
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And it's God's grace in the Christian life that convicts us.
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Now, here's what happens though, especially for believers, when we resist God's conviction in our life, and we've all done it, we start to lose peace.
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Have you ever noticed that in your life?
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You're just not easy about things, it's just not right, and and you just don't you you're feeling it, it's on you all the time, especially as a believer, this conviction.
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Um, here we're told back in Colossians to let the peace of God rule in your hearts.
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Now, this is oftentimes a way to know if you're in the right place or the wrong place.
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If it's sin and the peace of God is just your lacking peace in your life, that's a good indication you need to ditch some of those things in your life.
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But God, the Spirit, also, we saw there, convicts the world of righteousness.
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He also shows us the right things to do, and you felt it too, right?
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You felt times where God says, give them a little money, help that person, take some time to give them a call.
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Boy, isn't that a weird one, huh?
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You're like, I feel like I should call this person, and you don't, you find out they're really going through it.
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And it's just a simple thing of God saying, Here's a righteous thing to do, go ahead and do it.
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And convicts us of that.
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We get this peace as we do the things that God wants us to do.
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There's this peace in our hearts.
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Now, um, another side note this is not always the best way to run our life.
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It's important, you know that peace, right?
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When you're in sin, the peace is gone.
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When you're doing anything God wants, the peace is there.
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When you resist God, peace is gone again.
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But here's the other problem.
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Now, listen, our hearts, Jeremiah tells us, are deceitful, wicked above all things.
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We can easily justify some of the worst decisions and say, well, God told me to do it.
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And and yet it's our wicked little heart making these decisions.
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Um, and perhaps our hearts are hardened and we feel good about it.
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It's not a perfect way to know the will of God.
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But it is helpful if you're living in this point of like peace is out the window.
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I haven't known peace in years.
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Evaluate where you're at.
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Uh, it it could be that you're resisting the Holy Spirit, but that's one way to find out what it means to put on Christ and to take off sin and such.
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But but notice verse 16, maybe even a better way.
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Verse 16 let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.
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Now, it says here the word of Christ, and this is probably one of the only spots that it calls it that the word of Christ.
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The word of God is a little more common, but perhaps Paul is really trying to nail this fact that like Jesus is God, he's all you need, he's everything, the word of Christ, and he just kind of uses that word there.
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But we know that this is um the word of God, it's it's God's word, it's the Bible.
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Now, the word Bible just means book, right?
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So there's nothing really all that spiritual about saying the word Bible, it's just the book, it's this collection of God's words through human beings, right?
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Peter says in 2 Peter 1:21, how did it come about?
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Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
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So you got the prophets, you got Moses, you got these folks that wrote down what they were moved in their hearts to write down, God was saying, right?
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2 Timothy 3.16 says it maybe a little more clearly.
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All scripture, and here it is, this is scripture, right?
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All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
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It's God breathed.
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And so that's the way we look at the Bible.
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Now we're not just saying that, there's lots of reasons to believe that this is the word of God, and we should go over that sometime.
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But for today's discussion, just realize this is actually God's word, it's the word of God.
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It's a book written by people, moved by the Spirit of God.
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Truly is truth, right?
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And that's what makes us so valuable, this book.
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It's not just a religious book, it's truth for our life.
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Now you got to read it in context, and you've got to know what it says, you know, historically and all these kinds of things.
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But listen, listen, know what it says.
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Because in that, you find exactly what God
wants.
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There's no question about what God wants.
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Notice what it says, though.
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Let's go back to Colossians here.
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Notice what it says.
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Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, let it dwell, right?
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Dwell is an interesting word because you know we don't use it much, but it has to do with where you live, right?
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If you dwell somewhere, where's your dwelling place?
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Well, it's my house right there.
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There it is, you know, and and it's where you live.
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Now, now, listen, listen.
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In order for something to dwell in your house, you probably gotta let it in.
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If you come home from vacation or work or something like that, and somebody's living in your house, call the police.
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You don't want somebody just living in your house that you have not invited.
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This is true, right?
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You don't want that.
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Um, but if you do want somebody living in your house, you invite them in.
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Usually, you invite them in, you welcome them in.
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That's the illustration here.
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Now, check it out.
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You do have to invite God's word into your life.
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You gotta open the door and let it in.
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Um, you gotta take it in.
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Um, it won't just come there naturally.
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Now, you're here this morning, we're here to start our week off, and God's word, it's a good start.
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But notice what he says there let it dwell in you richly.
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And I think he really didn't have to put the word richly.
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And that word richly has to do more with the rule in someone's life, right?
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When a king could rule richly, they had just free reign over everything.
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And that's kind of the idea here.
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Let God's word just dwell in your hearts in everything, give it free reign in your life richly.
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I think it's important that we notice that that's there, because you can never get too much.
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Now, notice here, he says, dwell in your hearts.
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Now, we talked a couple weeks ago about the bowels of kindness.
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You remember those lovely bowels of kindness that they felt like, you know, the emotions came from not the heart, like we think, but the bowels, you know, the intestines.
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Because, you know, when you're in love, you're just like, I'm sick to death, man.
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I'm in love, you know.
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Uh, it's the emotions.
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Now, here he specifically says, let it dwell in your hearts.
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And I think you should imagine in your head a little bit more like the movie Inside Out, right?
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Not to quote Disney, you know, put Disney in front of us or anything.
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But you know, remember the little control room that the emotions had there inside their host or whatever, and they're like pushing buttons.
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That control room is kind of what the heart is in this.
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Let God's word dwell in your control room of your life, your heart richly.
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Let it have free reign to pull the levers and push the buttons and all these different things.
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God's peace can rule your life, and that's good.
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I think God leads through conviction, but God's word living in your heart richly is what's going to make a difference in whether you look like the old man or the new man in Christ, the new person in Christ.
00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:46.880
You do the things that God specifically says.
00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:49.279
This is what pleases me.
00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:50.799
This is what I like.
00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:51.920
This is truth.
00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:52.960
This is sin.
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Listen to what he's already said, and you cannot go wrong.
00:19:57.039 --> 00:20:01.279
This has to be the guiding factor in your life.
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It's simple.
00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:04.799
Um, let it fill your heart.
00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:05.839
Quick verse here.
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Psalm 119 would be a good psalm to go through.
00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:17.519
It's all about the word, but he says, a passage you know, your word, God, is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:23.519
Um, now let's go back to Colossians and notice let it dwell in you with wisdom.
00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:28.079
Wisdom has to do with using God's word at the right time in the right way in the right place.
00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:31.039
There is a point to that for sure.
00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:36.160
Here's what you can do with it though: teaching, admonishing.
00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:40.160
Now, that's not just my job to teach and admonish.
00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:45.599
Teaching, taking God's word and sharing it with someone else is your job.
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Admonishing, encouraging someone who's maybe going the wrong way.
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Hey, here's what God says.
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Admonishing is something we can all do.
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Um,
notice, then he goes on and says, do it in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:08.000
It's hard to picture that, isn't it?
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I mean, is that how we're supposed to share truth with each other?
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Is sing a song?
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You know, I think there's sin in your life.
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You know what I mean?
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I don't know what do you do.
00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:19.839
But there is something about songs.
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I don't know what it is.
00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:22.960
I'm sure we could think often about that.
00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:24.960
We could look at it a little more in depth.
00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:30.079
There's something that God's made us almost for that worship, right?
00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:34.160
And uh, my kids despise the fact that I've been getting into AI music.
00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:35.440
Some of you really hate that.
00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:37.440
Daniel hates that, by the way.
00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:41.680
He does not like anything AI, especially AI music.
00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:44.319
But I've gotten into it and I've written some really dumb songs.
00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:47.200
I could share them with you if you give me enough time, I will.
00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:55.920
Um, but I've also taken some of the scriptures from our morning reading, and I just sort of pasted them in there and said, make me a song about this.
00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:57.039
And they're not bad.
00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:58.640
I'm gonna tell you, they're not bad.
00:21:58.799 --> 00:21:59.759
But here's the thing.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:05.359
They get stuck in your head, whether it's AI or otherwise, they get stuck in your head.
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What a great way to have God's word stuck in your head and in your heart than listening to actual scripture and song.
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Good worship music is like that.
00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:21.519
Even songs as simple as I learned this at Bible college.
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Jesus loves me.
00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:26.880
Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so, right?
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And you know what's you know, and yes, Jesus loves me.
00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:32.160
Yes, Jesus loves me.
00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:40.319
It's a silly little song, but you know, if you get that stuck in your head, it can really help you through the day.
00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:42.720
I encourage you, get it stuck in your head.
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Yes, Jesus loves it.
00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:49.359
Because half the time we don't feel like he does, but Jesus loves me, right?
00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:58.880
There's so many things you can take, scripture and song and whatever, and and put it in your heart, put it in your head, and let it rule uh your life.
00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:03.279
Now, lastly, here, verse 17.
00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:12.559
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:15.920
Not that many words there.
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Everything you do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:27.920
This points to the idea that we're ambassadors for Christ, we're representatives of Jesus.
00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:34.480
Um, if it doesn't represent Jesus, it's probably not worth doing.
00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:38.960
Now we do a lot of things that don't represent Jesus, and that's okay, we have grace.
00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:46.559
But if it doesn't represent Jesus, it's probably something we ought to check off in our life and get rid of.
00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:48.559
Here's a verse that's a lot like that, though.
00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:51.200
1 Corinthians 10, 31.
00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:53.279
Paul also there, he says this.
00:23:53.440 --> 00:24:01.920
Now listen, therefore, whether you eat or whether you drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:09.279
Now, Colossians or 1 Corinthians 10, right before this, he's talking about Christian liberty.
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You can eat meat sacrificed to idols, but if it causes somebody to stumble, don't do it.
00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:20.160
And that's Paul's Paul's word there in 1 Corinthians 10.
00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:22.000
But then he goes on to say that verse.
00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:29.920
He says, Whatever you do, here's how you know whatever you do, do everything to the glory of God.
00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:33.039
Does it worship God?
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That's really what that idea there is.
00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:37.759
Do everything as worship to God.
00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:43.680
Now, it's real easy in your life to look at things in your life and go, does it glorify God?
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I cannot say that that thing or that attitude, that idea glorifies God.
00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:52.559
It just, there's no way I'm gonna fit it into that mold.
00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:57.200
And and so it's just an easy, uh, easy way to test.
00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:02.079
But in the end, I think it takes us to what we were made for.
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And I wanna I want to land here in Acts chapter one.
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Go to Acts chapter one, if you could.
00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:12.079
Acts chapter one.
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Jesus has lived and loved and taught, and he's died on the cross.
00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:27.359
He rose again, he spent some time after that with his disciples.
00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:33.119
And here in Acts chapter 1, he's about ready to ascend into heaven.
00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:36.880
Um, let's look at verse 4.
00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:47.039
And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he
said, You've heard from me.
00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:53.680
For John truly baptized you with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:58.720
Therefore, when they come together, they ask him, saying, Lord, we at this time restore your kingdom to Israel.
00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:03.680
Then he said to them, It's not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority.
00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:06.079
But verse 8, this is it, verse 8.
00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:20.240
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witness to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and all the ends of the earth.
00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:23.440
So, last words of Jesus here.
00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:31.839
Last words of Jesus, because in verse 9 it says, When he had spoken these things while they watched, he was taken in a cloud and received out of their sight.
00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:34.400
Last words of Jesus.
00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:37.359
He says, This is what life is all about.
00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:41.200
You'll receive the Holy Spirit, wait for him.
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:47.200
The Holy Spirit, just like the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and of righteousness, he also fills us.
00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:51.359
And it's that whole idea of the Holy Spirit having free reign in our life.
00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:53.440
Tell me what you want, I'll do it.
00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:55.119
Now, listen, listen, listen.
00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:00.559
He says, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will be witnesses of me.
00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:14.000
You'll let people see who I am, and and the rest of the book of Acts is the early church representing Jesus in the world, and that's what we were made to do.
00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:28.720
That's what we're created for in Christ is to represent Him from here, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the world, from where we're at to the ends of the earth, and that's what God has for us.
00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:30.960
But this is the way to know it.
00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:37.759
The Holy Spirit in our life, his word that doesn't change, and really this whole thing.
00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:39.680
Am I representing Jesus?
00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:40.960
That's what I want to do.
00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:44.319
So, God, lots to think about.
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:49.200
And we do want to represent you.
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I just admit in my own life, uh, I don't have the power to do that.
00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:59.519
I'll turn around right here, probably, and have trouble.
00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:05.680
And yet, God, you're so patient with us, you're so good to us.
00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:08.319
God, thank you for your Holy Spirit.
00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:12.880
Help us just to be in tune with Him and what He would have us to do.
00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:18.400
God, help us to also just realize those things that aren't of you.
00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:20.799
God, get them out of our life.
00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:28.640
Help them, help us to put them on, help us to put on you in everything we do and in everything we say.
00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:31.680
God, we need your grace for this.
00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:36.960
In Jesus' name we pray.