Part 1 and Part 2
Welcome to Rooted! We have a special night planned and I am really excited to see God working in this room. He is changing hearts, He is changing lives, and He is changing you and me. Tonight we are going to glorify God and I hope to edify the body Christ. We are going to have communion tonight in remembrance of what Jesus did upon that cross. We are also going to give an opportunity for you to share with this body of believers your thankfulness for what Christ is doing in your lives. We have also a short video clip from Saving Private Ryan, all kinds of fun stuff to talk about and see tonight. I am overflowing with gratitude tonight and you will see why!
We have been learning what it means to walk in Jesus Christ the Lord. We have answered two questions in the last couple of weeks, the first is why, why do I want to walk in Him? I know you have this answer in your head, because He is Lord. He has given us life and has transferred us to His Son’s Kingdom. He died upon that cross to give us life. That is why we want to walk in Him.
And last week we talked about how. How do I walk in Him? First, at a given point in time I must become rooted in Him. It is when He becomes the Lord of our lives. We put our faith and trust in Him it is when we believe in His death and resurrection upon the cross. It is when we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that He is Lord.
Then we are built up in Him. This is a continuous process not a one-time event. We have our foundation established by being rooted in Jesus and then we are ready to be built up. We get built up in a two-fold process; first we need to understand what God wants from us. We go to scripture for all spiritual matters to know what He wants from us, then the second half of the process is that we must apply it to our lives. A head full of knowledge about God is useless unless we apply it.
We get rooted then built up in Him we then become established in our faith. It is the promise of God that He establishes us for all of eternity.
Do you know why we are here tonight? For one reason to give Him glory. He deserves all glory. I hope tonight we get to glorify Him and praise His name in all we do.
Please open your Bibles to Colossians 2:6-7 and lets take one last look out our passage. Tonight we are going to be focusing on the last 3 words of this passage. It is a result of everything that we have learned in the last two weeks. Let’s read.
Col. 2:6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
Col. 2:7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
Overflowing with thankfulness. That is the outcome of all that we have learned. It is our hearts filled with love for our Lord, our hearts are full appreciation for what He has done for each one of us. We should be walking in Him, overflowing with gratitude. If you are walking in him this is the attitude you will have. If you are not excited and overflowing with gratitude then you might want to check if you are really walking with Him. Now of course its not that we are bouncing off the walls every moment but when we think about Christ and what He has done I hope that overflowing thankfulness wells up in your heart. If it does not then you better check whether you are truly rooted in Him.
Tonight you are going to be given the opportunity to share what you are grateful for, what is overflowing in your heart? How has Christ changed your life and what are you thankful for? But before we get to that I want us to see a human example of what God has done for us.
I want to take a look at this video clip from Saving Private Ryan. And see what it looks like when man lays his life down for another man. In the movie Private Ryan was one of 4 brothers who went off to fight in WWII. His other 3 brothers ended up dying and the US government sent men out to look for him to bring him home back to his mother so the entire family was not lost. The ultimate cost was paid to save him. Please watch.
John 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:14 “You are My friends if you do what I command you.
John 15:15 “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
John 15:17 “This I command you, that you love one another.
There is no greater love than someone who lays his life down for a friend.
The video clip we just watched showed us the ultimate human sacrifice or as the bible says the ultimate picture of love, one man giving his life for another.
Can you believe the creator of all things has come down to this dark earth and laid down His life for you and me? He is the one person who lived a perfect life, He is the one person who was completely sinless, and He is the one person who did not deserve to die but He did. He was willing to die in our place. He was willing to pay our debt.
Are you walking in Him overflowing with gratitude?
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. When Jesus imputed His righteousness into us it is the day that we were rooted in Him. It was the day we were saved.
The Creator of the universe, Jesus Christ the Lord, who we have become rooted in, and now being built up in Him and established us in our faith, as we have been instructed should cause an out bursting of overflowing gratitude and thankfulness. This is what God has taught us through Paul’s teaching.
Are you overflowing with gratitude in your soul? Should we Walk in HIM or what? I kick myself and think about all the times I walk away from Him and instead of walking in Him I ignore Him or worse yet I turn my back on Him. Oh wretched man that I am who can save me from myself! Thank heavens Jesus can and does and will.
I think about that video clip and really how insufficient it really is, our God is a million times greater than what those men did for Private Ryan. Our God gave us life and He has saved us from an eternity of suffering. If you noticed in the video the Captain told him to earn it. Earn this gift of life we have given you. Our God tells us you can’t earn but I am going to give the gift of salvation to you anyways. I am going to take all the punishment you deserve, I am going to take your place on that cross and die for your debt. Is it not amazing?!!!
Walk in Him overflowing with gratitude. I pray that each one of you have done this:
Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, that you will be saved;
Rom. 10:10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
If you say you have then….walk in Him, be rooted in Him, be built up in Him, be established in your faith in Him.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Are You Rooted? - Part 2
Part 1 and Part 3
This ministry is for one person and one person alone. It is for Jesus Christ. We are here so we can glorify Him. We are going to glorify Him through our lives and that can look so different for each one of us. Some of us have the gift of playing an instrument or singing with your voices. As much as I want to have that gift God did not give it to me. Others have the ability to preach and teach, or you may have the gift of servitude, or maybe your gift is compassion for the elderly. I don’t know what your gift is but what I do know is all of you have a gift. We want to help you with your gift and encourage you to use. See we want to build up a body of believers who make an impact in this world. Everything we do inside these four walls is to equip you when you leave to be the church to the world. To be a light unto the world, to reflect Jesus to everyone who comes in contact with you to love those people who are lost. We want to be a community of believers who change this world so those who are not giving glory to God turn their lives over to Him and give Him glory. We want to build up His Church. We want to walk in Him.
Tonight we are going to look at how we walk in Him. Last week we answered the question why we should walk in Him. Do you remember why? Because He is Lord!!
He is the God of the universe, He is Creator God of all things and all things were created by Him and for Him.
We also know as believers in Christ he has transferred us from the domain of darkness to His Son’s kingdom. At one moment in time we were perishing forever and the very next moment we are transferred by God into His Sons kingdom.
How were we transferred? How does this happen do you remember Romans 10:9-10
Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
Romans 10:10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
It is by making Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives. When we confess Jesus as Lord and believe that He died for your sins and was raised from the dead you will be saved. He has conquered death. God has given us the greatest gift. He has laid down His life to save our lives. He has paid our debt upon that cross.
This is the ultimate reason why we want to walk in Him as we learned.
So our question we want to answer tonight is how do I walk in Him. What does it mean when Paul tells the Colossian people to walk in Christ Jesus the Lord.
How do I walk in Christ and what does that look like?
Well to answer that question we better take a look into our bibles for that answer. This is where we find all answers to any spiritual questions you may have.
Please open your Bibles to Colossians 2:6-7
Col. 2:6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
Col. 2:7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
This is such a fantastic passage to study. We are answering the question how should I walk in Him and Paul gives us 4 ways how and tonight we are going to cover the first three and the 4th is really a result of what He has done for us.
Here we see Paul writes having been firmly rooted, now being built up and established in your faith. What is really interesting is that each of these things we are to do has a perfect tense of the participle. The verb of each of these things goes from past, to present to future.
Having been Rooted this means at some point in time the eternal planting of salvation has taken place and we are to grow deep roots into Christ. Christ has become the source of our spiritual nourishment; we grow because our roots are planted deeply in Christ.
Now being built up in Christ, is the process of being more and more like Jesus Christ by continuous action in our present lives. We will keep growing and be built up in Christ. It is the things that we are doing now to build our lives upon Him.
Lastly, the results of being rooted and built up in Him cause believers to be established in their faith. It is an act of God working in our lives that establishes us in our faith for all of eternity. Once we have this faith God continues to establish it for us for all eternity. We have past, present and future events as we walk in Him.
Like a tree with deep roots in a rich soil believers have been firmly rooted in Christ. That eternal planting took place on the day of salvation. It is when Christ became the source of our spiritual nourishment and growth. It is the day we say Jesus Christ is Lord. It is the day we received Him and we bow our knees to His Lordship. It is the day we confessed with our mouth and believed in our hearts that He is who He says He is. It really is the day we were planted as believers and we grow deep in Him. For us to walk in Him we have to be saved. It all starts when we plant our roots in Christ. This is a one-time event in our lives. We get rooted once and we grow in Him. Once you are rooted in Him you can never be uprooted. Once we are saved we are always saved. You cannot lose your salvation you cannot be uprooted.
It reminds me of John Chapter 10
John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
John 10:28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
John 10:29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
But what happens if our roots are not deep in Christ but are really rooted in this world?
Let’s use the illustration of a tree. A big tree with lots of foliage and lets say this tree represents our life. And this tree has tons of branches representing all the good things in it. I have a great job, I have an awesome wife and kids, I just got a raise at work, we just got back from a Tahiti vacation, we just got a new 4000 square foot house over looking the ocean, you get the idea life seems swell. Yeah I go to church on Christmas and Easter. Yeah I walked down at a Harvest Crusade and said the sinner’s prayer but honestly everything else besides God is important in my life. The tree looks really good on the outside but it has no roots in Christ. Then one physical at the DR office and the next thing you know you are diagnosed with a brain tumor and it is all going to end very soon for you. All that has been important to you are the things of this world and the pleasures of the here and now. Want to know what your life is going to look like? [Slide 1] It has been uprooted. Not being rooted in Christ is going to leave you in a disastrous situation. Everything looks really good on the outside but you have no roots in what is important, Jesus Christ. The results have eternal consequences if you are not rooted in Christ.
What is the results if your roots are deep in Christ and you are walking with Christ as your Lord? Has anyone ever seen one of these? [Slide 2] It is a stump grinder.
I remember when my next-door neighbor had 4 fairly large trees all planted next to one another and he decided it was time to get rid of them. He chopped them down and cut up the branches but he was left with 4 stumps hence why he needed the stump grinder. Now let me tell you this is a piece of manly equipment. It has a motor, it makes a lot of noise, its got a throttle, and it takes a lot of effort to control it without killing yourself.
Anyways my neighbor let me try it out and we ground these stumps down to nothing. It was crazy it was like riding a motorcycle out of control. There were wood chips flying everywhere. His backyard was covered in wood chips. All that was left were 4 big holes where the stumps used to be.
I helped him clean up. We raked all the chips covered the holes and we laid brand new sod down on the ground. His backyard looked beautiful and these 4 trees were no more. But you know what happened about 3 weeks later? Lo and behold there were what seemed like a hundred new trees growing up through his brand new lawn. So we pealed back the lawn and started digging. You know what we found? Big giant roots and they were growing! We dug as many as we could and the pile of roots was huge. We laid the lawn back again and you know what happened in about 6 weeks? MORE TREES!!
These roots were deep! They just kept coming back. It is the same when we put our roots deep in Jesus Christ. No matter the situation if our roots are deep in Him life can throw us any curveball and things may look hopeless but that is not the case. We are rooted in Him and He will always sustain us in every situation that we face. We establish our roots deep in Him and our faith will be established to the end. It is His promise.
If we want to walk in Him we must first make Him Lord of our lives, we must be rooted in Him. You are getting the right nourishment your foundation is solid. You are ready to be built up.
Paul says so you have been rooted in Him now I want you to be built up in Him. We are to grow in Christ. Our roots are in the right spot now we need to be built up in Him. This is not a one-time event but this is our continued growth in Christ. Our continued walk in Him, to live for Him daily. How do I figure out what He wants, where do I go to get this information on how my Lord wants me to walk in him? How am I supposed to be built up? What should my life look like?
Have you ever really wanted to learn something that you have never done before? I think about Photography and the skills you need to take really great photos. Have you ever tried to use a camera with all manual controls? I know most today have auto settings but sometimes auto settings are not going to get the desired picture you want.
I remember wanting to learn how to take these great nighttime photos but every time I tried to take them they would come out blurry, to dark or just plain old ugly. I made a decision I wanted to learn how to take great nighttime photos, but I knew nothing about it. I knew I needed a new camera with manual controls so I went out and bought one and thought that was going to do it. I did my research and found a really nice camera but I still didn’t understand how to take great nighttime photos. They were still coming out blurry and dark. What was I missing? I was missing a manual on how to take nighttime photos. I needed to understand what it took to take great photos. There was a lot to understand about taking them. I found out I was still missing some essential equipment to take them. I needed a tripod to hold the camera still. You can’t take good photos without one. I had to understand shutter speeds, aperture size, ISO sensitivity. I had to understand how all these combinations worked to take good pictures. The book I used explained all these technical terms that I had no understanding of before. I could have kept guessing on how to use the camera but the results were going to come out the same, just bad. I had to go to the manual to figure it out.
It is the same with being built up in Christ. We don’t become a Christian then just know how to walk in Him. How are we built up in Him? We need to understand our manual. We need to study and read our bibles and apply those principals we learn into action. It is a two fold processes in being built up. First I have to understand what is required from me and second I need to apply those things to my life. It is how we are built up. Our Christian walk in Christ is a combination of many things in our life, it consist of worshiping God, growing in holiness, prayer, fellowship, obedience, understanding who Jesus is, all these things are like understanding how to take nighttime photos you just don’t get a camera and start shooting beautiful photos but you have to study, you have to practice taking pictures you have to know all the components of taking the pictures. And when we walk in Christ it is the same thing, there are many things that God wants from us and we learn these over time.
Have you ever seen a stalagmite? [Slide 3] Here is a picture of a massive stalagmite in the Carlsbad Caverns. Do you know how a stalagmite grows? It is just a little water dripping down to the ground that contains calcium carbonate and starts to build it up from the ground up. A drip of water built this massive stalagmite. It didn’t build itself over night but took just a little water over a long time to build it up. It is the same with our walk with Christ, you don’t become super Christian over night, you don’t become perfect the next day you become a Christian but over time as you dig into God’s word, and you pray, and you live a life of obedience you will be built up in Him just like this stalagmite was built with water over the years. It is on ongoing process that will continue till the day you die or the day Christ comes back for His own.
Those small decisions we make everyday help us be built up in Him. Am I going to watch that next episode of Lost or am I going to sit down and pray and read my bible. I am I going to use the gifts God has given me or am I going to play another video game? Am I going to spend my money all on me or am I going to give some to those in need? Am I going to watch something on the Internet that does not honor God or am I going to honor Him by turning my eyes from those things? Am I going to walk in Him or am I going to walk in me. Every time we live for Him or Walk in Him I am being built up in Christ.
Being firmly rooted in Christ and growing in Him results in believers being established in their faith.
Here we see that we are established in our faith this is the result of us rooted in Him and being built up in Him. Our faith becomes strengthened and we will not waver in our faith. We will not be tossed to and fro by every wave of doubt because we are established in Christ.
Our faith is strengthened when we are walking in Christ. You know when I lose faith or you know when those doubts creep into our minds? I know when I am at my weakest is when I am in sin. It is when I feel the furthest from Him and my faith can become very week.
It’s such a simple concept but why is it so hard for us to walk in Christ everyday being built up in Him strengthened in our faith.
This ministry is for one person and one person alone. It is for Jesus Christ. We are here so we can glorify Him. We are going to glorify Him through our lives and that can look so different for each one of us. Some of us have the gift of playing an instrument or singing with your voices. As much as I want to have that gift God did not give it to me. Others have the ability to preach and teach, or you may have the gift of servitude, or maybe your gift is compassion for the elderly. I don’t know what your gift is but what I do know is all of you have a gift. We want to help you with your gift and encourage you to use. See we want to build up a body of believers who make an impact in this world. Everything we do inside these four walls is to equip you when you leave to be the church to the world. To be a light unto the world, to reflect Jesus to everyone who comes in contact with you to love those people who are lost. We want to be a community of believers who change this world so those who are not giving glory to God turn their lives over to Him and give Him glory. We want to build up His Church. We want to walk in Him.
Tonight we are going to look at how we walk in Him. Last week we answered the question why we should walk in Him. Do you remember why? Because He is Lord!!
He is the God of the universe, He is Creator God of all things and all things were created by Him and for Him.
We also know as believers in Christ he has transferred us from the domain of darkness to His Son’s kingdom. At one moment in time we were perishing forever and the very next moment we are transferred by God into His Sons kingdom.
How were we transferred? How does this happen do you remember Romans 10:9-10
Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
Romans 10:10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
It is by making Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives. When we confess Jesus as Lord and believe that He died for your sins and was raised from the dead you will be saved. He has conquered death. God has given us the greatest gift. He has laid down His life to save our lives. He has paid our debt upon that cross.
This is the ultimate reason why we want to walk in Him as we learned.
So our question we want to answer tonight is how do I walk in Him. What does it mean when Paul tells the Colossian people to walk in Christ Jesus the Lord.
How do I walk in Christ and what does that look like?
Well to answer that question we better take a look into our bibles for that answer. This is where we find all answers to any spiritual questions you may have.
Please open your Bibles to Colossians 2:6-7
Col. 2:6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
Col. 2:7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
This is such a fantastic passage to study. We are answering the question how should I walk in Him and Paul gives us 4 ways how and tonight we are going to cover the first three and the 4th is really a result of what He has done for us.
Here we see Paul writes having been firmly rooted, now being built up and established in your faith. What is really interesting is that each of these things we are to do has a perfect tense of the participle. The verb of each of these things goes from past, to present to future.
Having been Rooted this means at some point in time the eternal planting of salvation has taken place and we are to grow deep roots into Christ. Christ has become the source of our spiritual nourishment; we grow because our roots are planted deeply in Christ.
Now being built up in Christ, is the process of being more and more like Jesus Christ by continuous action in our present lives. We will keep growing and be built up in Christ. It is the things that we are doing now to build our lives upon Him.
Lastly, the results of being rooted and built up in Him cause believers to be established in their faith. It is an act of God working in our lives that establishes us in our faith for all of eternity. Once we have this faith God continues to establish it for us for all eternity. We have past, present and future events as we walk in Him.
Like a tree with deep roots in a rich soil believers have been firmly rooted in Christ. That eternal planting took place on the day of salvation. It is when Christ became the source of our spiritual nourishment and growth. It is the day we say Jesus Christ is Lord. It is the day we received Him and we bow our knees to His Lordship. It is the day we confessed with our mouth and believed in our hearts that He is who He says He is. It really is the day we were planted as believers and we grow deep in Him. For us to walk in Him we have to be saved. It all starts when we plant our roots in Christ. This is a one-time event in our lives. We get rooted once and we grow in Him. Once you are rooted in Him you can never be uprooted. Once we are saved we are always saved. You cannot lose your salvation you cannot be uprooted.
It reminds me of John Chapter 10
John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
John 10:28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
John 10:29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
But what happens if our roots are not deep in Christ but are really rooted in this world?
Let’s use the illustration of a tree. A big tree with lots of foliage and lets say this tree represents our life. And this tree has tons of branches representing all the good things in it. I have a great job, I have an awesome wife and kids, I just got a raise at work, we just got back from a Tahiti vacation, we just got a new 4000 square foot house over looking the ocean, you get the idea life seems swell. Yeah I go to church on Christmas and Easter. Yeah I walked down at a Harvest Crusade and said the sinner’s prayer but honestly everything else besides God is important in my life. The tree looks really good on the outside but it has no roots in Christ. Then one physical at the DR office and the next thing you know you are diagnosed with a brain tumor and it is all going to end very soon for you. All that has been important to you are the things of this world and the pleasures of the here and now. Want to know what your life is going to look like? [Slide 1] It has been uprooted. Not being rooted in Christ is going to leave you in a disastrous situation. Everything looks really good on the outside but you have no roots in what is important, Jesus Christ. The results have eternal consequences if you are not rooted in Christ.
What is the results if your roots are deep in Christ and you are walking with Christ as your Lord? Has anyone ever seen one of these? [Slide 2] It is a stump grinder.
I remember when my next-door neighbor had 4 fairly large trees all planted next to one another and he decided it was time to get rid of them. He chopped them down and cut up the branches but he was left with 4 stumps hence why he needed the stump grinder. Now let me tell you this is a piece of manly equipment. It has a motor, it makes a lot of noise, its got a throttle, and it takes a lot of effort to control it without killing yourself.
Anyways my neighbor let me try it out and we ground these stumps down to nothing. It was crazy it was like riding a motorcycle out of control. There were wood chips flying everywhere. His backyard was covered in wood chips. All that was left were 4 big holes where the stumps used to be.
I helped him clean up. We raked all the chips covered the holes and we laid brand new sod down on the ground. His backyard looked beautiful and these 4 trees were no more. But you know what happened about 3 weeks later? Lo and behold there were what seemed like a hundred new trees growing up through his brand new lawn. So we pealed back the lawn and started digging. You know what we found? Big giant roots and they were growing! We dug as many as we could and the pile of roots was huge. We laid the lawn back again and you know what happened in about 6 weeks? MORE TREES!!
These roots were deep! They just kept coming back. It is the same when we put our roots deep in Jesus Christ. No matter the situation if our roots are deep in Him life can throw us any curveball and things may look hopeless but that is not the case. We are rooted in Him and He will always sustain us in every situation that we face. We establish our roots deep in Him and our faith will be established to the end. It is His promise.
If we want to walk in Him we must first make Him Lord of our lives, we must be rooted in Him. You are getting the right nourishment your foundation is solid. You are ready to be built up.
Paul says so you have been rooted in Him now I want you to be built up in Him. We are to grow in Christ. Our roots are in the right spot now we need to be built up in Him. This is not a one-time event but this is our continued growth in Christ. Our continued walk in Him, to live for Him daily. How do I figure out what He wants, where do I go to get this information on how my Lord wants me to walk in him? How am I supposed to be built up? What should my life look like?
Have you ever really wanted to learn something that you have never done before? I think about Photography and the skills you need to take really great photos. Have you ever tried to use a camera with all manual controls? I know most today have auto settings but sometimes auto settings are not going to get the desired picture you want.
I remember wanting to learn how to take these great nighttime photos but every time I tried to take them they would come out blurry, to dark or just plain old ugly. I made a decision I wanted to learn how to take great nighttime photos, but I knew nothing about it. I knew I needed a new camera with manual controls so I went out and bought one and thought that was going to do it. I did my research and found a really nice camera but I still didn’t understand how to take great nighttime photos. They were still coming out blurry and dark. What was I missing? I was missing a manual on how to take nighttime photos. I needed to understand what it took to take great photos. There was a lot to understand about taking them. I found out I was still missing some essential equipment to take them. I needed a tripod to hold the camera still. You can’t take good photos without one. I had to understand shutter speeds, aperture size, ISO sensitivity. I had to understand how all these combinations worked to take good pictures. The book I used explained all these technical terms that I had no understanding of before. I could have kept guessing on how to use the camera but the results were going to come out the same, just bad. I had to go to the manual to figure it out.
It is the same with being built up in Christ. We don’t become a Christian then just know how to walk in Him. How are we built up in Him? We need to understand our manual. We need to study and read our bibles and apply those principals we learn into action. It is a two fold processes in being built up. First I have to understand what is required from me and second I need to apply those things to my life. It is how we are built up. Our Christian walk in Christ is a combination of many things in our life, it consist of worshiping God, growing in holiness, prayer, fellowship, obedience, understanding who Jesus is, all these things are like understanding how to take nighttime photos you just don’t get a camera and start shooting beautiful photos but you have to study, you have to practice taking pictures you have to know all the components of taking the pictures. And when we walk in Christ it is the same thing, there are many things that God wants from us and we learn these over time.
Have you ever seen a stalagmite? [Slide 3] Here is a picture of a massive stalagmite in the Carlsbad Caverns. Do you know how a stalagmite grows? It is just a little water dripping down to the ground that contains calcium carbonate and starts to build it up from the ground up. A drip of water built this massive stalagmite. It didn’t build itself over night but took just a little water over a long time to build it up. It is the same with our walk with Christ, you don’t become super Christian over night, you don’t become perfect the next day you become a Christian but over time as you dig into God’s word, and you pray, and you live a life of obedience you will be built up in Him just like this stalagmite was built with water over the years. It is on ongoing process that will continue till the day you die or the day Christ comes back for His own.
Those small decisions we make everyday help us be built up in Him. Am I going to watch that next episode of Lost or am I going to sit down and pray and read my bible. I am I going to use the gifts God has given me or am I going to play another video game? Am I going to spend my money all on me or am I going to give some to those in need? Am I going to watch something on the Internet that does not honor God or am I going to honor Him by turning my eyes from those things? Am I going to walk in Him or am I going to walk in me. Every time we live for Him or Walk in Him I am being built up in Christ.
Being firmly rooted in Christ and growing in Him results in believers being established in their faith.
Here we see that we are established in our faith this is the result of us rooted in Him and being built up in Him. Our faith becomes strengthened and we will not waver in our faith. We will not be tossed to and fro by every wave of doubt because we are established in Christ.
Our faith is strengthened when we are walking in Christ. You know when I lose faith or you know when those doubts creep into our minds? I know when I am at my weakest is when I am in sin. It is when I feel the furthest from Him and my faith can become very week.
It’s such a simple concept but why is it so hard for us to walk in Christ everyday being built up in Him strengthened in our faith.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Are You Rooted? - Part 1
Part 2 and Part 3
We want to understand what does it mean to be rooted, who are we rooted in, what happens if I am not rooted.
But today we are going to see what God says about how we are to walk in Him. About being rooted in Him, Christ Jesus. We want to be rooted in Christ and nothing else. We want our roots deep in Him, because He is Lord. If you have your Bibles please turn to the book of Colossians the 2nd Chapter and we are going to look at 2 verses today. Colossians 2:6-7. Lets read.
Col. 2:6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
Col. 2:7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
Over the past several months I have probably read this passage over 100 times and as I have studied it and meditated on it and wrapped my self in God’s word it just gets deeper and deeper. I really feel like we could spend several weeks on this passage but don’t worry it is only going to be two weeks specifically on this passage. But let us discover God’s incredible truth in these two verses, it is awe-inspiring.
Before we dig into the scripture, I want to give a little context of what is going on during this time Paul writes this letter to the Colossians and what is his purpose for it. In Paul’s day you would be hard pressed to find an atheist who believed there were no god but almost all people had some sort of religious deity that they worshiped. It is not unlike today that the number of true atheist in our world is pretty small but most people claim they are spiritual and there is a god or gods. And this is exactly what Paul was addressing with the Church in Colossians. There were people in the Church who were teaching false doctrine about Jesus Christ, who He was and what He has done for us. They were mixing other religious ideas with the Gospel and essentially corrupting the Gospel of Christ.
So Paul wants to do two things in this letter and that is first to warn the believers of these false teachers. Second he wants to encourage the proper spiritual growth of the believers in Colossae or as Paul puts it he wants us deeply rooted in Christ and built up in Him and established in Him.
I want you to think about this question tonight.
Why does Paul tell the Colossians people to walk in Christ Jesus the Lord? And if Paul has told them to walk in Him why should we want to walk in Him? Why do we want to walk in Christ Jesus? Why should you want to walk in Christ? This letter was written a long time ago to people living in Colossae but as we know God’s truth is absolutely eternal. The Bible tells us the heavens and the earth will pass away but God’s word will last forever! This message is as applicable today as it was back then.
Let’s dig in and see what God’s eternal word is telling us tonight.
Paul tells us in the first verse therefore you have received Christ Jesus THE LORD, so walk in Him.
Why should the Colossians want to walk in Him? What makes walking in Christ so important? Why do we want to walk in Him? It is the same reason why all people should walk in Him.
You guys want to know the know the answer to that question? I will spill the beans up front. Here is the answer to that question. Lord, because He is the LORD. Did you hear that again? HE IS THE LORD! Oh the depths of that truth! That is why Paul encourages us to walk in Him. HE IS LORD.
Lets go back to our text and tell me what is the very first word in chapter 2 verse 6 it says therefore or it can be translated since. Since you have received Jesus Christ the Lord we need to walk in Him. That word therefore transitions all Paul has already told the Colossians the reason why we should walk in Him. For us to fully comprehend why Paul commands us to walk in Him we better go find out why? Lets see the reason Paul commands us to walk in Christ after receiving Him, to be rooted in Him.
Lets go back one chapter in Colossians and let’s hit a few highlights and see what Paul tells us about Christ.
Col. 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
Col. 1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
We want to walk in Him because He has rescued us from the domain of darkness. Do you hear that, if you have received Christ Jesus He has rescued us from what? The domain of darkness, not only that but he has transferred us into His Son’s Kingdom.
At one moment of time we were here, in the domain of darkness and the next moment of time we are here in the Son’s Kingdom.
I remember that day. I remember the day I finally was rescued out of the domain of darkness and God carried me into the Son’s kingdom. It is the single greatest event that took place in my life. Someday I will share all the details how I came to a saving knowledge of Christ but let me tell you I was neck deep in the domain of darkness. I was a sinner who had broken every single one of God’s commandments. I was a liar, I was a thief, I was a fornicator, I was a disobedient son, I didn’t honor God, I used His name as a cuss word, I had many idols in my life. I had sinned against a perfect and Holy God. The domain of darkness was controlling me and I had absolutely no hope in my life, and you know what I was terrified to die. I believed I was either going to die and never exist again or I knew enough about the bible that I would suffer in Hell for all of eternity. Now knowing the Bible if I had died back then I would have spent an eternity in Hell.
But about 12 years ago I don’t remember the exact day but I remember the event like it was yesterday. God finally broke the domain of darkness in my life and carried me into His Son’s Kingdom. What He did that day was allow me to see myself a sinner against a Holy and perfect God. He allowed me to see who I really was and that is a sinner who needed saving. It is the day I bowed my knee to Him and He became Lord and in a very instant I was rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred me to the Son’s Kingdom. In simple terms it was the day I was rescued from Hell. If you have received Christ as Lord then you know exactly what I am talking about.
Why does Paul encourage the Colossians to walk in Christ? Why should we walk in Christ, because He has saved us from spending an eternity in Hell to spending an eternity with Christ in heaven? Christ has moved us from the domain of darkness into His Son’s Kingdom where He will reign forever and ever. Do you see why we should walk in Him believers? He is LORD.
Lets take a look at Verse 16 and see why we else we should walk in Him.
Col. 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Jesus Christ has created all things, all things we can see and even those things we cannot see.
How many of you have seen Louie Giglio’s video on How Great is our God? If you have never seen it go to YouTube and check it out. It is an amazing video on how big our God is. It is so hard to wrap our mind around God but just for one example the universe we live in is a 146 million light years across and we are one of billions of Galaxies. Try to wrap your head around that one. He is a Big God. And he has created all the things we see.
I also think about all the things God created that we don’t see but they are there. Think about our consciousness that we know we exist, or how about love. I can’t see it, I can’t touch it, but I can feel it inside of me. That thing I feel when I look at one of my boys sleeping, or thinking about my wife and all that she means to me. Where did that feeling come from? If there is no God how did it come into existence? How did the idea of 2+2= 4 come from?
Here is the great problem for anyone who does not believe God created all things. Can anyone explain how this equation makes sense?
Nothing+Nothing=Everything?
NO there is a creator of all things and He has existed eternally and all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Here is God’s ultimate crown jewel to creation. It is you. He has given you life. He has planned you out before the foundations of the earth. He has given you the air you breath, the water you drink, the food you eat. When you sit down and ponder that this God of this enormous universe has created YOU. He has created you for a purpose and that is to receive Him and walk in Him, this glorifies Him. When we walk in Him we glorify Him. What an honor we have to honor the being who has created us.
Why does Paul encourage the Colossians to walk in Christ? Why should we walk in Christ, because He is the creator of all things? He has given you everything including life. He breathed life into you. Jesus Christ is creator God of all things. He is LORD.
The first chapter of Colossians tells us everything we need to know about Christ and that He is Lord and that is why we should walk in Him.
Do you know what word for Lord is in the original Greek language? It is the word Kurious. This is the word Paul uses since you have received Christ Jesus the Kurious. It is an interesting word that means Jesus Christ is the Master.
Sometimes we forget that Christ is really Lord. Sometimes we just think of Him as Savior, which He is but He cannot be your Savior if He is not the Lord of your life as well. They go hand in and are inseparable. It is a package deal when He becomes your Savior He has to also be the Lord of your life. And If He is the Lord of your life then He is your Savior too.
Paul does not tell the Colossians just except Jesus as Savior and do whatever you want. Paul tells them and us Since you have received Him walk in Him. The verb walk in Him in the Greek is peripateo and this is not a suggestion but it is a command Paul is giving us. Its not on option or a you should do this but it is I Paul since you have received Christ the Lord command you to Walk in Him.
Again why do we walk in Him, why do we live for Him why do we want to obey Him? Because He is Kurious, He is our Master.
He has given us life, He has created us He has saved us from the dominion of darkness, He is Master. We owe all to Him, I owe my life and my salvation to Him. Do you see how He is Master? It is hard for us to think of God as Master and that He commands us to walk in Him but this is what He wants from us.
We have a hard time because when we think of Master we think of a Master being over someone with an iron hand. Even calling Him Master could be hard for us because here in America we think about being free that no one is over me. I should be able to do what I want when I want it. But that is not the life God has called us to live.
But we need to understand He is the perfect Master.
It is hard to fathom a perfect master. Here on earth there are no perfect Masters. I think about those who are over me here. I look at my boss and he provides for me in many ways for my family and I but he is far from perfect. Or even what about my earthly father who I adore and love and respect. Has he been a perfect father to me? Has he been a perfect master to me? Of course not and maybe your father was never there for you, maybe he never loved you, maybe your father abandoned you, maybe your father was a lousy father and that is all you have known. But I stand her today to proclaim to you that our Father in Heaven is perfect. He is the perfect Master, the perfect Savior and the perfect LORD. He is everything perfect.
He loved us so much that He was willing to send His Son to die for you and me. He has given us life, He has created all things He has saved us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into His Son’s Kingdom. Therefore Christian ….Walk in Him.
There is one last word I want to look at in verse 6. It is the word received. It says since we have received Jesus walk in Him. This is just an amazing word in the original language it is paralambano. Here is what this word does not mean.
Jesus you sound like a pretty good guy. I like that you can save me from the domain of darkness. I am pretty hip on the idea that you created me. I guess I will let you into my life. Now that we have that settled you sit over here and I am going to do my thing. I am going to live my life the way I want, I got Jesus and my fire insurance.
But the word paralambano means I receive Jesus in an intimate relationship I am joining myself to Him because of who He is. It is to have a relationship with Him because He is Lord and I acknowledge Him to be such as he professes to be. I want to walk in Him in this deep committed relationship. He is my everything and I will do all that He asks of me. Why because He had done everything already, He has provided me with life, with salvation, He is the perfect LORD and He was willing to die to save all those who receive Him.
My question to you this evening is…are you walking in Him, are you in a deep relationship with Him? Have you received Him as Lord?
Christian If you are not walking with Him today WHY NOT? Has He not done enough for you? I encourage you to Walk In Him Today.
We want to understand what does it mean to be rooted, who are we rooted in, what happens if I am not rooted.
But today we are going to see what God says about how we are to walk in Him. About being rooted in Him, Christ Jesus. We want to be rooted in Christ and nothing else. We want our roots deep in Him, because He is Lord. If you have your Bibles please turn to the book of Colossians the 2nd Chapter and we are going to look at 2 verses today. Colossians 2:6-7. Lets read.
Col. 2:6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
Col. 2:7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
Over the past several months I have probably read this passage over 100 times and as I have studied it and meditated on it and wrapped my self in God’s word it just gets deeper and deeper. I really feel like we could spend several weeks on this passage but don’t worry it is only going to be two weeks specifically on this passage. But let us discover God’s incredible truth in these two verses, it is awe-inspiring.
Before we dig into the scripture, I want to give a little context of what is going on during this time Paul writes this letter to the Colossians and what is his purpose for it. In Paul’s day you would be hard pressed to find an atheist who believed there were no god but almost all people had some sort of religious deity that they worshiped. It is not unlike today that the number of true atheist in our world is pretty small but most people claim they are spiritual and there is a god or gods. And this is exactly what Paul was addressing with the Church in Colossians. There were people in the Church who were teaching false doctrine about Jesus Christ, who He was and what He has done for us. They were mixing other religious ideas with the Gospel and essentially corrupting the Gospel of Christ.
So Paul wants to do two things in this letter and that is first to warn the believers of these false teachers. Second he wants to encourage the proper spiritual growth of the believers in Colossae or as Paul puts it he wants us deeply rooted in Christ and built up in Him and established in Him.
I want you to think about this question tonight.
Why does Paul tell the Colossians people to walk in Christ Jesus the Lord? And if Paul has told them to walk in Him why should we want to walk in Him? Why do we want to walk in Christ Jesus? Why should you want to walk in Christ? This letter was written a long time ago to people living in Colossae but as we know God’s truth is absolutely eternal. The Bible tells us the heavens and the earth will pass away but God’s word will last forever! This message is as applicable today as it was back then.
Let’s dig in and see what God’s eternal word is telling us tonight.
Paul tells us in the first verse therefore you have received Christ Jesus THE LORD, so walk in Him.
Why should the Colossians want to walk in Him? What makes walking in Christ so important? Why do we want to walk in Him? It is the same reason why all people should walk in Him.
You guys want to know the know the answer to that question? I will spill the beans up front. Here is the answer to that question. Lord, because He is the LORD. Did you hear that again? HE IS THE LORD! Oh the depths of that truth! That is why Paul encourages us to walk in Him. HE IS LORD.
Lets go back to our text and tell me what is the very first word in chapter 2 verse 6 it says therefore or it can be translated since. Since you have received Jesus Christ the Lord we need to walk in Him. That word therefore transitions all Paul has already told the Colossians the reason why we should walk in Him. For us to fully comprehend why Paul commands us to walk in Him we better go find out why? Lets see the reason Paul commands us to walk in Christ after receiving Him, to be rooted in Him.
Lets go back one chapter in Colossians and let’s hit a few highlights and see what Paul tells us about Christ.
Col. 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
Col. 1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
We want to walk in Him because He has rescued us from the domain of darkness. Do you hear that, if you have received Christ Jesus He has rescued us from what? The domain of darkness, not only that but he has transferred us into His Son’s Kingdom.
At one moment of time we were here, in the domain of darkness and the next moment of time we are here in the Son’s Kingdom.
I remember that day. I remember the day I finally was rescued out of the domain of darkness and God carried me into the Son’s kingdom. It is the single greatest event that took place in my life. Someday I will share all the details how I came to a saving knowledge of Christ but let me tell you I was neck deep in the domain of darkness. I was a sinner who had broken every single one of God’s commandments. I was a liar, I was a thief, I was a fornicator, I was a disobedient son, I didn’t honor God, I used His name as a cuss word, I had many idols in my life. I had sinned against a perfect and Holy God. The domain of darkness was controlling me and I had absolutely no hope in my life, and you know what I was terrified to die. I believed I was either going to die and never exist again or I knew enough about the bible that I would suffer in Hell for all of eternity. Now knowing the Bible if I had died back then I would have spent an eternity in Hell.
But about 12 years ago I don’t remember the exact day but I remember the event like it was yesterday. God finally broke the domain of darkness in my life and carried me into His Son’s Kingdom. What He did that day was allow me to see myself a sinner against a Holy and perfect God. He allowed me to see who I really was and that is a sinner who needed saving. It is the day I bowed my knee to Him and He became Lord and in a very instant I was rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred me to the Son’s Kingdom. In simple terms it was the day I was rescued from Hell. If you have received Christ as Lord then you know exactly what I am talking about.
Why does Paul encourage the Colossians to walk in Christ? Why should we walk in Christ, because He has saved us from spending an eternity in Hell to spending an eternity with Christ in heaven? Christ has moved us from the domain of darkness into His Son’s Kingdom where He will reign forever and ever. Do you see why we should walk in Him believers? He is LORD.
Lets take a look at Verse 16 and see why we else we should walk in Him.
Col. 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Jesus Christ has created all things, all things we can see and even those things we cannot see.
How many of you have seen Louie Giglio’s video on How Great is our God? If you have never seen it go to YouTube and check it out. It is an amazing video on how big our God is. It is so hard to wrap our mind around God but just for one example the universe we live in is a 146 million light years across and we are one of billions of Galaxies. Try to wrap your head around that one. He is a Big God. And he has created all the things we see.
I also think about all the things God created that we don’t see but they are there. Think about our consciousness that we know we exist, or how about love. I can’t see it, I can’t touch it, but I can feel it inside of me. That thing I feel when I look at one of my boys sleeping, or thinking about my wife and all that she means to me. Where did that feeling come from? If there is no God how did it come into existence? How did the idea of 2+2= 4 come from?
Here is the great problem for anyone who does not believe God created all things. Can anyone explain how this equation makes sense?
Nothing+Nothing=Everything?
NO there is a creator of all things and He has existed eternally and all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Here is God’s ultimate crown jewel to creation. It is you. He has given you life. He has planned you out before the foundations of the earth. He has given you the air you breath, the water you drink, the food you eat. When you sit down and ponder that this God of this enormous universe has created YOU. He has created you for a purpose and that is to receive Him and walk in Him, this glorifies Him. When we walk in Him we glorify Him. What an honor we have to honor the being who has created us.
Why does Paul encourage the Colossians to walk in Christ? Why should we walk in Christ, because He is the creator of all things? He has given you everything including life. He breathed life into you. Jesus Christ is creator God of all things. He is LORD.
The first chapter of Colossians tells us everything we need to know about Christ and that He is Lord and that is why we should walk in Him.
Do you know what word for Lord is in the original Greek language? It is the word Kurious. This is the word Paul uses since you have received Christ Jesus the Kurious. It is an interesting word that means Jesus Christ is the Master.
Sometimes we forget that Christ is really Lord. Sometimes we just think of Him as Savior, which He is but He cannot be your Savior if He is not the Lord of your life as well. They go hand in and are inseparable. It is a package deal when He becomes your Savior He has to also be the Lord of your life. And If He is the Lord of your life then He is your Savior too.
Paul does not tell the Colossians just except Jesus as Savior and do whatever you want. Paul tells them and us Since you have received Him walk in Him. The verb walk in Him in the Greek is peripateo and this is not a suggestion but it is a command Paul is giving us. Its not on option or a you should do this but it is I Paul since you have received Christ the Lord command you to Walk in Him.
Again why do we walk in Him, why do we live for Him why do we want to obey Him? Because He is Kurious, He is our Master.
He has given us life, He has created us He has saved us from the dominion of darkness, He is Master. We owe all to Him, I owe my life and my salvation to Him. Do you see how He is Master? It is hard for us to think of God as Master and that He commands us to walk in Him but this is what He wants from us.
We have a hard time because when we think of Master we think of a Master being over someone with an iron hand. Even calling Him Master could be hard for us because here in America we think about being free that no one is over me. I should be able to do what I want when I want it. But that is not the life God has called us to live.
But we need to understand He is the perfect Master.
It is hard to fathom a perfect master. Here on earth there are no perfect Masters. I think about those who are over me here. I look at my boss and he provides for me in many ways for my family and I but he is far from perfect. Or even what about my earthly father who I adore and love and respect. Has he been a perfect father to me? Has he been a perfect master to me? Of course not and maybe your father was never there for you, maybe he never loved you, maybe your father abandoned you, maybe your father was a lousy father and that is all you have known. But I stand her today to proclaim to you that our Father in Heaven is perfect. He is the perfect Master, the perfect Savior and the perfect LORD. He is everything perfect.
He loved us so much that He was willing to send His Son to die for you and me. He has given us life, He has created all things He has saved us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into His Son’s Kingdom. Therefore Christian ….Walk in Him.
There is one last word I want to look at in verse 6. It is the word received. It says since we have received Jesus walk in Him. This is just an amazing word in the original language it is paralambano. Here is what this word does not mean.
Jesus you sound like a pretty good guy. I like that you can save me from the domain of darkness. I am pretty hip on the idea that you created me. I guess I will let you into my life. Now that we have that settled you sit over here and I am going to do my thing. I am going to live my life the way I want, I got Jesus and my fire insurance.
But the word paralambano means I receive Jesus in an intimate relationship I am joining myself to Him because of who He is. It is to have a relationship with Him because He is Lord and I acknowledge Him to be such as he professes to be. I want to walk in Him in this deep committed relationship. He is my everything and I will do all that He asks of me. Why because He had done everything already, He has provided me with life, with salvation, He is the perfect LORD and He was willing to die to save all those who receive Him.
My question to you this evening is…are you walking in Him, are you in a deep relationship with Him? Have you received Him as Lord?
Christian If you are not walking with Him today WHY NOT? Has He not done enough for you? I encourage you to Walk In Him Today.
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