Study Through Colossians (2020)
Living a Christ Centered Life
2021-04-25
Colossians 4:7-18 – Update From The Field
[Colossians 4:7-18 ESV] Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions–if he comes to you, welcome him), and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Call to Worship – 574 – For Renewal of the Church
Renew your church, Lord,
your people in this land.
Save us from cheap words
and self-deception in your service.
In the power of your Spirit
transform us,
and shape us
by your cross. Amen.
your people in this land.
Save us from cheap words
and self-deception in your service.
In the power of your Spirit
transform us,
and shape us
by your cross. Amen.
Music
Living Hope by Phil Wickham
364 – Because He Lives
2143 – O Lord, Your Tenderness
668 – Let Us Now Depart in Thy Peace
364 – Because He Lives
2143 – O Lord, Your Tenderness
668 – Let Us Now Depart in Thy Peace
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2021-04-18
Colossians 4:2-6 – Outline For Impact
[Colossians 4:2-6 ESV] Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison– that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
[Act 17:22-31 ESV] So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Call To Worship – #323 The Ascension
Everlasting God,
your eternal Christ once dwelt on earth,
confined by time and space.
Give us faith to discern
in every time and place
the presence among us
of him who is head over all things and fills all,
even Jesus Christ our ascended Lord. Amen.
your eternal Christ once dwelt on earth,
confined by time and space.
Give us faith to discern
in every time and place
the presence among us
of him who is head over all things and fills all,
even Jesus Christ our ascended Lord. Amen.
Music
157 – Jesus Shall Reign
147 – All Things Bright and Beautiful
496 – Sweet Hour of Prayer
664 – Sent forth by God’s Blessing
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2021-04-11
Colossians 3:18-4:1 – “Don’t Shoot The Messenger”
[Colossians 3:18 – 4:1 ESV] Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
[Ephesians 5:25-30 ESV] Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.
Call to Worship – UMH #335 – An Invitation to the Holy Spirit
O God, the Holy Spirit,
come to us, and among us;
come as the wind, and cleanse us;
come as the fire, and burn;
come as the dew, and refresh;
convict, convert, and consecrate
many hearts and lives
to our great good and to thy greater glory;
and this we ask for Jesus Christ’s sake.
Amen.
come to us, and among us;
come as the wind, and cleanse us;
come as the fire, and burn;
come as the dew, and refresh;
convict, convert, and consecrate
many hearts and lives
to our great good and to thy greater glory;
and this we ask for Jesus Christ’s sake.
Amen.
Music
TFWS #2164 – Sanctuary – 2 times
UMH #155 – All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
UMH #133 – Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
TFWS #2070 – He Is Exalted
TFWS #2173 – Shine, Jesus, Shine
UMH #155 – All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
UMH #133 – Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
TFWS #2070 – He Is Exalted
TFWS #2173 – Shine, Jesus, Shine
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2020-11-22 Hallmarks of a Christ Centered Life: Are We Living Them?
[Col 3:12-18 ESV] Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Call to Worship – UMH 881 Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
Music
UMH 694 v1-3
UMH 92 v1,2,5,6
UMH 131
UMH 102
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2020-11-15 What Needs to be Put to Death in Our Life
[Col 3:1-11 ESV] If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Call to Worship – UMC Hymnal 888
AFFIRMATION FROM 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-6
AND COLOSSIANS 1:15-20
Leader:
This is the good news which we have received,
in which we stand, and by which we are saved:
People:
Christ died for our sins, was buried,
was raised on the third day, and appeared first to the women,
then to Peter and the Twelve.
and then to many faithful witnesses.
We believe Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One of God,
the firstborn of all creation, the firstborn from the dead,
in whom all things hold together,
in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell
by the power of the Spirit.
Christ is the head of the body, the church,
and by the blood of the cross reconciles all things to God.
Amen.
Music
UMC Hymnal: 364: Because He Lives
UMC Hymnal: 368: My Hope is Built on Nothing Less
UMC Hymnal: 367: He Touched Me
UMC Hymnal: 662: Stand Up and Bless the Lord, verses 1, 4 and 5
UMC Hymnal: 367: He Touched Me
UMC Hymnal: 662: Stand Up and Bless the Lord, verses 1, 4 and 5
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2020-11-08 The Battle Without and the Battle Within
[Colossians 2:16-23 ESV] Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations– “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)–according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Call to Worship
Leader:
There is one God
and there is one mediator, Christ Jesus,
who came as a ransom for all,
to whom we testify.
All:
This saying is sure
and worthy of full acceptance:
That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners,
and was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated in the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed in throughout the world,
taken up in glory.
Great indeed is the mystery of the gospel.
Amen,
Music
UMC Hymnal: 57, O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing. vs. 1 through 4
UMC Hymnal: 79, Holy God, We Praise Thy Name, vs. 1, 6 and 7
UMC Hymnal: 77, How Great Thou Art
UMC Hymnal: 451, Be Thou My Vision
UMC Hymnal: 79, Holy God, We Praise Thy Name, vs. 1, 6 and 7
UMC Hymnal: 77, How Great Thou Art
UMC Hymnal: 451, Be Thou My Vision
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2020-11-01 Authority to Cancel the Debt
[Col 2:9-15 ESV] For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Call to Worship – UMH #885
Leader:
Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is the one true church, apostolic and universal,
whose holy faith let us now declare:
All:
We believe in God the Father,
infinite in wisdom, power, and love,
whose mercy is over all his works,
and whose will is ever directed to his children’s good.
We believe in Jesus Christ,
Son of God and Son of man,
the gift of the Father’s unfailing grace,
the ground of our hope,
and the promise of our deliverance from sin and death.
We believe in the Holy Spirit
as the divine presence in our lives,
whereby we are kept in perpetual remembrance
of the truth of Christ,
and find strength and help in time of need.
We believe that this faith should manifest itself
in the service of love
as set forth in the example of our blessed Lord,
to the end
that the kingdom of God may come upon the earth.
Amen.
Music
UMH #158
UMH #711 vs 1, 2, 3, 5
UMH #712
UMH #569 vs 1, 4
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2020-10-25 Have You Received Him?
[Col 2:1-8 ESV] For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Call To Worship – UMH 878 “Prayer Of Thanksgiving”
We praise and thank you, O God,
for you are without beginning and without end.
Through Christ, you created the whole world;
through Christ, you preserve it.
You made the day for the works of light,
and the night for the refreshment of our minds and our bodies.
Keep us now in Christ; grant us a peaceful evening,
a night free from sin; and bring us at last to eternal life.
Through Christ and in the Holy Spirit,
we offer you all glory, honor, and worship,
now and for ever.
Amen.
Music
UMH #152 I Sing Thee Almighty Power of God
UMH #528 Nearer, My God, to Thee
UMH #369 Blessed Assurance
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2020-10-18 Stand Firm On The Revealed Mystery
[Col 1:24-29 ESV] Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Call to Worship – Col. 1:15-21
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth, or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Music
Faith We Sing #2020 – Praise the Lord with the Sound of Trumpets
Faith We Sing #2074 – Shout to the Lord
Faith We Sing #2040 – Awesome God
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