Some things are built for the test of time. Other things, not so much. And let me share with you one of those. Not so much. The other week after my son's basketball game, took my son Carter to an antique store because we were looking for old school sports cards and Pokemon cards and we didn't find anything crazy, but I was able to pick up for just a couple of dollars, a few packs of 1987 top baseball cards. And why did I pick up those packs? Well, one, they were only a couple of dollars, but 2, 1987 was a great year for baseball rookies. There was Barry Bonds rookie, Mark mcguire Greg Maddox, even Bo Jackson rookie cards that might be available. And so I was like, hey, we might get lucky. And so I grabbed a couple of packs and while I didn't pull any rookie cards, what I did pull and I had forgotten about was that each pack included a stick of unwrapped gum. I forgot that they put gum in the baseball packs. But what amazed me it was that it was unwrapped. Like literally you open the pack, card, card, card, card gum right there, stuck to it. 37 year old gum. So being a good father that I am, I peeled it off, gave it to my son and said, enjoy. I did not do that now. Bubble gum does not age well for 37 years. So it doesn't stand the test of time. But there are other things in this world that do seem to hold up year after year after year. In fact, there are some buildings and roadways from the Roman Empire. You know, it's been said recently that most males think about the Roman Empire way too much. Well, one of the Roman roads that was built, the the Apian way can actually still be traveled upon today. So roads that were built 2000 years ago are still holding up and still take people traveling. It might be a little bumpier than you would prefer, but you can still actually travel on roads built 2000 years ago. Now, why do I share this? Because we're gonna take a look at a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote 2000 years ago. And I truly believe that it stands the test of time that while it was written so long ago, it's still just as applicable to you and I today and just as the Apian way was created so that people could travel from one spot to the next. I believe that Paul's letter to the church in Colosse will allow us to travel down to deepen our faith, to grow in our connection to God, to grow in our connection to each other and ultimately to grow in our faith in Jesus Christ. So if you ever Bibles, go ahead and open up to Colossians chapter one, if you don't own a Bible, we would love to give you one today. Uh So stop by our welcome table on the way out. We'd love to give you a Bible just our gift to you. But the verses will also be up on the screen. Colossians chapter one, verses one and two. Paul, an apostle of Christ, Jesus by the will of God and Timothy, our brother to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse grace to you and peace from God, our father. Now it can be assume that when you read through scripture and you read through these letters that people are writing it, it can be very easy to just skip over the greeting, right? He might not be Lionel Richie. He might not be Adele, but he's basically saying hello, right? That was a bad joke. Just stick with me here. But in his greeting, he doesn't just simply say hello and jump into it. There's actually a lot of weight in what he says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. See, Paul was a pharisee, he was an educated man who knew the law, knew, knew the ways of Greek culture. Jewish culture, Roman culture. He was actually one of the chief persecutors of the early church. He's on the road to Damascus and Acts chapter nine has an encounter with Jesus gets saved. And now instead of the chief persecutor of the church, he becomes the mouthpiece of the church and starts preaching the gospel everywhere he goes and he starts planning these churches. And one of the churches he plans is Ephesus. You can actually visit Ephesus. You can see the arena or stadium where there was an actual riot there when the church began. And so you can walk the steps of Ephesus major trading hub. Well, in Ephesus, there are some people that became belief and leaders there. And so young Timothy becomes a leader there as a pastor. Eventually he writes letters 1st and 2nd Timothy while he's leading there. And then there's another guy named Epas Epaphras who is then discipled by Paul, goes off and travels to this little town called Colossi about 100 miles inland. They're known with sister cities of Laodicea and Haris there. And it was a former trade city. I mean, it still was a trade city and between east and west there in modern day Turkey, but it wasn't as big in Paul's day as it used to be. But because it was a trade city, there is a lot of exchange of goods, but then also a lot of exchange of ideas. And so he's writing to this church he hears from, he's in prison. Paul is in prison for preaching the gospel. A pastor comes to visit Timothy comes to visit. And so he's gonna send this letter back to this church that he had never planted and people that they had never met. But he heard about their testimony, he heard about their faith as well as their challenges and says, I'm gonna write them a letter. And so we have this letter to address some issues going on during the day. Now, he wrote this probably around 60 ad give or take a year and he's gonna address some issues that are still applicable to us today. But what's interesting to me is he starts out by stating his identity, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ. Then he says to the saints, others translate to the holy ones. Now, that's interesting to me because in our modern culture today, we oftentimes connect sainthood with somebody higher up. Many that come to this church have some type of Catholic background where you've seen that people experience or achieve like this, this level of sainthood. Now, there's, I wanna be very respectful of the tradition of that, but you have to understand the process of becoming a saint is kind of tough first, you have to die. So that's, that's not a plus. Um if you don't even get the title during your life and then there's a local following that kind of stirs up and some stories that stir up and then they, you get investigated and then it goes through kind of up the chain and then they want to study. And ultimately, if miracles are done and some other things that go through, and if you, if you are good enough, if there's enough weight and to your resume, so to speak, that eventually you can achieve that level of being a saint with all due respect to church tradition and, and, and respecting those who have led the way in faith. When you read scripture, the only qualification to be a saint is Jesus. That when you believe in the name of Jesus, it says that he gives you a new identity, that you are a new creation that as a son or daughter of God, he changes you. And here's why this is important is that saint is an identity. Sin is an activity. See, in church world, we, we are guilty of flipping those two. We think that our worst sin defines us. And if it doesn't define us, it sure defines the people that we so freely judge and you experience shame and guilt and you're defined by your worst moments. But God's love is deeper than your worst day. But here's the thing you also need Jesus on your best day. And what happens is when we make sin or identity, we then make saint an activity. So being a Christian is following a list of do s and don't, I'm a Christian because I do this, this, this, this and this and we think because we followed the rules. Therefore, I'm a saint when what Paul is saying to people he's never met. He says, I'm writing to you saints chosen people of God, sons and daughters of God. Because here's the reality, the human heart is very wicked. And we are in our innate state depraved. We just are. And while depravity is truth, I think too many people's Bible start in Genesis three, not Genesis one, meaning that you were created in the image of God. And so to receive this new identity as a saint, as a son, as a daughter of God means that you are loved, you are saved and you are forgiven. And so Paul writes to the saints. Now, what's interesting here, he says to the saints in Christ at Colosse, I think he distinguishes the two because what he's doing is he's separating citizenship and residents. He uses the phrasing in Christ or in Him or in the Lord over 100 and 60 times in his letters. But when he's doing so, he's talking about someone's new identity as a saint in Christ that really they are new in him. That's your citizenship. Now, why is that important? Because your citizenship is not your residence. And the reason that's valuable is because there's some of you sitting in this room that do not like your residence right now. You don't like the season of life that you're in. You don't like the actual location that you're in. Paul himself is writing from prison. His residence is prison, but that doesn't change his identity, his citizenship as a Son of God, as a saint of God, forgiven by God. Instead, he views himself as an ambassador on behalf of God in a world that is opposed to Christianity. And when you can distinguish that, you understand that while your residence might change and while your residence might be filled with storms and suffering and struggles and issues, whatever this world throws at, you cannot touch your new identity in Christ. And he has a whole another letter to the church in Philippi where he says, and when you understand that citizenship is in Christ, you can have joy. And so he's writing here and I love this quote by Michael Defazio. He says, you know, everything Paul touches, turns to gospel. I've heard that phrase everything. So and so touches turns to gold, everything Paul touches turns to the gospel, even in his greeting. He says grace to you and peace from God. Our father see it's peace is what we're after. And grace is how we get there. And not only is that he's also referencing grace, the search, the need that the Greek people were searching for and then peace shalom, the primary pursuit of the Jewish audience. And so he's addressing everybody all in these two little verses. Now, the church in Colosse were doing some things well, but they had some challenges as well. And so there were four main oppositions that they were facing that are very similar to what we're facing today. The first ideology that was opposed to early Christianity in this location was seen as syncretism and syncretism is really this idea of mixing and matching anything you want. I tend to think of expressions of this in f all illustrations usually are related to kids uh toys or sports. If you haven't caught on or food, we'll add 1/4 1 in there. That's just my life. OK. So when I think about syncretism, picture building Legos, if you've done so as a kid or maybe as an adult, no shame in that. What happens after you build the set? It's nice for a little bit. Then what, what happens to it though? You take it apart and where does it go in a bin? Everyone's got a bin somewhere that becomes the collection of every set that you've ever built. And it all gets mixed together. And then what happens is when kids then play or adults again, um play, they pull out whatever pieces they want to build what they want, how they want. Syncretism is what when people take faith in religion and do the same thing, right? What the opposition to the early church of Colosse was doing was they weren't trying to deny the existence of Jesus. They were just trying to diminish his authority in today's culture. What we see is why like Jesus and I like this, this or this and you throw in some other religion or belief or worldly passion or desire or they say I like Jesus as a person, but then they subtract and say, I don't like this teaching or I don't like this Bible verse. Thomas Jefferson famously was known for actually cutting out the verses in the Bible that he didn't like. But when you add to the gospel or you subtract from the gospel, what you get at the end is not the gospel. And so you have syncretism where everyone tried to mix everything together. Another opposition was mysticism. It's like that new age or uh energy. I think all you have to do here is just go up to Sedona for a few days, right? And you will hear things about Vortex and this and that. And so you're actually gonna see in the letter where he's addressing some of these mysterious forces. Look guys, it's, it's Jesus third opposition was seen as legalism because there were Jewish believers. Her said, hold on a second here, Paul, we followed all these rules our whole life. Now you're saying you just gotta believe in Jesus. He's like, yes, OK. Well, we're gonna believe in Jesus and then still follow all these rules. And so he's actually gonna address that as well. I like guys it's not about this or that it's Jesus. And then the last opposition is a group of people known as gnostics or narcissism. These are people who believed in the power of knowledge. So you had to have some special revelation to be safe. But what they would do then is they would separate knowledge, the mind and the body. And what you can do is one of two camps is that if the mind and the body are separate, then you can actually do whatever you want over here because it's not connected. So in modern day, it would be well, I can sleep with who I want live, how I want, party, how I want. As long as I come back to church and just sing, he's worthy for 10 minutes. She is not connected or you have somebody on the other side and say because the body is evil, then asceticism is where you just purposely deprive yourself and say everything of the world is evil and bad. And so you just try to go without all the time from all things and that's not healthy either. So what you're gonna see in this letter is a lot of reference to knowledge, truth and then the physical death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. In fact, I invite you to come back next Sunday. Yes, we're celebrating baptism. But also it's one of the strongest Christology passages in the entire Bible that talk about the spiritual and physical resurrection of Jesus and why that's important to sum up the Colossians. The people in that culture was a culture obsessed with the pursuit of more. Does that sound like any culture we know? Right. Oh, yeah. I like Jesus. You know, Jesus makes a great bumper sticker but I don't like this teaching or I don't like that teaching or I like Jesus, but I also like this and I also like that, you know, Jesus is kinda like a build a bear, you know, just take what you want. I just tell you that doesn't work. In fact, the theme of Colossians comes from Colossians 118, which is simply the tagline for the series Christ over everything. The theological term is preeminence also seen as supremacy or sufficiency. In other words, if Jesus is not Lord of all in your life, then he's really not Lord at all in your life, you don't get to pick and choose which, which truth you trust and believe in him for that. Really, this idea of being pre eminent is, is only versus first. You know, my wife and I have been married for 17 years. And can you imagine if on my wedding day in the ci I look her in the eye and I just say, honey, I want you to know that all my first and best dates are going to you. Yeah, I'm gonna go out with a bunch of other people and lots of other dates but like the best ones are gonna be for you. You're staring at me. It didn't happen. It's not the bachelor over here or anything. Ok. Think about that. Listen, this is how people treat God. Right. Oh God, I'll give you my first. I give you an hour now. The other 167 I'm gonna do what I want. But my best is to you. No, when you stand up on your wedding day, your commitment to your spouse is only you are only I only like I'm committing all of who I am to you. And that's what God wants in your life. He doesn't want to simply be first. He wants to be only. And what Paul is gonna say in these next four chapters that then we're gonna say over these next eight weeks is that Jesus Christ reigns supreme over everything and that we have to put our trust and faith in Him. But if we do, it'll change everything. So let's just give a little bit of structure to what the letter looks like and then we're gonna jump into it. So all of this has been an introduction, but it's really an introduction to the series. And so here's how the chapters break down. So chapter one in Colossians is Christ declared you're gonna see it here. He says this is who Jesus is. Then in chapter two, you're going to see Christ defended. So let's talk about being rooted and built up in him, not let anyone take you, you captive. It's gonna talk about some of those oppositions that I just mentioned. And then he turns and gets very practical. And in chapters three and four, he's gonna talk about Christ. Demonstrated that if you truly believe Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior here, how it's go here is how it's gonna impact your relationships. Here's how it's gonna impact your workplace, your marriage, your parenting, you're gonna have to put off some things of the world. You're gonna have to put on the things of Christ and here's what this looks like. And so he's right near this church. He's heard some good things. In fact, verse three to verse eight of chapter one, he says, hey, I've heard of the faith in Christ, Jesus and the love you have for one another that spring from the hope you have in Christ and all these things you've heard from a Papyrus, a fellow servant. You've heard the word of the gospel. Now it's bearing fruit in your life as it is around the world, as you've embraced this grace and truth. And so then he go and he's gonna say, I'm praying for you. Let me tell you when Paul prays for someone, we should take note. I think this is one of the most powerful and practical prayers in scripture. And it's one that throughout the years, I've prayed not only for myself, but also for my marriage, for my kids, for friends, for family. And so that's why this morning's message as we jump into Colossians, one is simply entitled How to Pray for yourself and for others that he's gonna model an example, not the only way to pray, but an example, prayer that I think we can start praying specifically right now because 2000 years later, it still holds up and it still stands true and it can really change and transform your life. So if you're taking notes, you can write this down that when you pray, pray for Godly wisdom and a Godly walk, pray for Godly wisdom and a Godly walk, this prayer is found in closs one starting in verse nine. So we're gonna read this here together verse 9 to 14. And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. So to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of life. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So he's praying for these people and he's praying for Godly wisdom and a godly walk. Let's break this down for a little bit. Why is it so important to pray for spiritual wisdom? Well, he understands what they're up against this mysticism, syncretism, legalism, narcissism where people are just being bombarded with messages in a similar fashion. We are being bombarded every single day with news and stories and how to live our lives. And so what we need is not just more and more information but true spiritual wisdom that only comes from God. And what helps us is to understand that God's will is connected to God's word. So what are you bringing into your life? Are you truly seeking wisdom that can only come from God? Almost 20 years of being in ministry. I've had conversations with a variety of people. And one of the most common questions I get is how do I know the will of God? Now, there are some nuances and challenges, right? Very rarely. Do you get this like direct blinking light message from God? Right? Like you can't just be praying through something you're driving all of a sudden the clouds part, you know, I mean, it, it, it would be great if we had the Noah experience, you know, this picture in a voice being like Liam Neeson or Morgan Freeman, you know, Noah build on our like I'd love that clarity and, and the reality is we don't necessarily get that. But can I share with you a starting point? God's will, will never contradict God's word. And so if we seek God and we, and we really dive into His word in our lives and we seek Him in prayer, right? If you seek answers, you don't necessarily get God. But if you seek God, eventually you get those answers. And so when you seek God's will and, and who he is and what He's done, and your prayer life starts to change and get connected. Then you, you seek Him through singing song and in prayer and having conversations with other Godly people and community and mentors and friends because you don't want advice from people that are not connected to God. Because if there's a disagreement between God's word and my desires, who's in the wrong there, that's gonna be me. So the the starting place, the spiritual wisdom is God's ways and the best way to know God's ways is in God's word. So someone will say John, how do you know the will of God? I'll say, well, have you read the Bible? No, OK. Have you been praying through it? No. Have you been seeking God and the Holy Spirit? No. Have you talk to family, friends and community who know you, who know the word? No. What have you done to seek the will of God? Well, I've asked you does that work in health, right? If someone comes up and says I want to be, I want to be healthy. Ok. Have you changed your diet? No. Have you worked out? No. Have you done any physical activity? No, but I've scrolled through a lot of different workouts that are available, right? I'm not saying it's gonna be an easy process, but the starting point to understanding the will of God is knowing the word of God and seeking him wholeheartedly because this will stay in the test of time. First Peter one talks about at the end of chapter one, how the grass and the flowers in the field will fade, but the word of Christ will stand forever. Another way to think about wisdom is that wisdom swaps a self centered fantasy for a God centered reality. You know, you're leaning towards the wisdom of God when it's not just what's best for me, but what's more most glorifying for Him, right? What's gonna take some faith? What's gonna take some obedience and some movement because wisdom is not just knowing what to do. Really wisdom is knowing what to do and then doing it. And that's why when you pray, you don't simply pray for Godly wisdom, but then you also pray for a Godly walk. And so he says in there that pray for understanding God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord in other words, you've been given this new identity as a saint, you've been given new citizenship as a son and daughter of God. Now, may you live accordingly? So what does a Godly walk look like? And he lists out four components of a Godly walk? And this is why it's so powerful and so practical to pray for this in your own life, but then also into the lives of your kids and the lives of your loved ones. So what does a walk, a Godly walk look like? First thing that involves is bearing fruit. Now, if you're not familiar with Christianity, I understand that the concept of bearing fruit seems really weird, right? How was church today? I don't know. The pastor was talking about like I was supposed to carry a fruit basket or something. I don't know, supposed to eat fruits and veggies more. I don't know. Uh but really this teaching is found throughout the New Testament, probably not most notably in John 15 where Jesus says I am the vine and you are the branches. And that when you are connected to Jesus, the natural outpouring is fruit. And what are the fruit of God will you? That's described in Galatians chapter five, things like joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self control. And so it's hard to tell when someone is connected to Jesus because that's an internal believing, grace, filled process. But when you pray for bearing fruit, what you're seeing is you wanna pray for some, the outpouring of the spirit of God that then you see evidence in someone's life. Are you becoming more joyful, loving, patient, kind, peaceful, faithful, self control? You can pray for fruit. Because what you're praying for is connection and outpouring from Jesus. The first thing you're praying for in a Godly walk is are you bearing fruit? Are you becoming more like Jesus? But then the second component of a Godly walk is growing and increasing knowledge of God, we have an eternal God, which means it'll take an eternity to get to know Him. It's fun when you have long standing relationships, right? Whether you've been married for a long time or you have childhood friends or long time coworkers, you know, you know each other, don't you? Inside jokes, quirks pet peeves, funny memories, fond memories, experiences, successes, failures. When you grow in the knowledge of God. What you're saying is that you get to know Him on a personal basis. There are a few people in my life and some missionaries and, and older pastors, people that have been in ministry for such a long time and when they talk and when they pray, like, have you ever, have you ever been around somebody who prays when you pray when they're done? You feel like I have never, I don't know if I've ever prayed in my life because I don't know. I like what they did is different than what I do. Do you know what I'm talking about? Like when they pray, when they talk like, wow, that person really knows God as you grow in your relationship. You don't just grow in your just facts about God. You grow in intimacy and knowledge of God. And that's something that can be experienced and prayed for now bearing fruit and, and increasing the knowledge of God are hard to do because we're human. So that's why I think it's important that He prays for the third thing, which is strength to be strengthened, that you can't increase the knowledge of God and bear fruit without the power of God living inside you. So we praise for strength. What's interesting to think about is the default mode of all these four components. If you're praying for fruit means by default, you're probably not producing. If you're praying for increasing knowledge of God, it means on your own, you're probably gonna drift. If you're praying for strength, that demonstrates that in our own, we're left weak. But he says in there that he's praying specifically according to his glorious might and through the same power that defeated death and darkness, he gives to you for both endurance and for joy. He's gonna give you grit and resilience and joy along the way. And he's evidenced this by the fact that he's writing this letter from prison. He says you're going to need it. Christianity is, is not just us praying a prayer, singing some hallelujahs. And then eventually we get to go up on a cloud and play a harp like it, doesn't it? There's, it's much more difficult than that, but it's much more meaningful than that too. When Christ is over everything, the last component here is that he prays for increasing gratitude, giving thanks. When you think about what you want for your kids, don't you want them to grow in the fruit in their life? To be loving, patient, peaceful, kind, joyful people, don't you want them growing in the knowledge of God with the resilience and the strength that the world can't take from them with a sense of gratitude that they walk through life with humility, knowing that all that God has given them, know that all that God has given you. And in case you forgot what we are called to be grateful for it says giving thanks to the father who has qualified you to share an inheritance of the saints of light. He calls you saints again. But when you think about qualification, think about when you purchase a house and you have to get a loan, how does a bank determine what you qualify for? It's based on your income. And if you can't afford enough, maybe you can cosign with someone who has more money available to them, right? When you talk about purchasing an eternal home in heaven, think about the purchasing power of Jesus. He qualified you for an inheritance. And the saints of light says he delivered you from the domain of darkness. The Greek word domain means authority. He delivered you from the authority of darkness. That darkness will not overcome your heart and your spirit, your life. Though you might walk through the valley of the shadow of death, shadows cannot touch you because you have a God who brings light, you have a God who saves, who strengthens says because through Jesus, in Him, our citizenship, our identity, we have redemption in the forgiveness of sins. So that whatever challenge you're facing right now, whatever might be hurting you physically, emotionally, financially with battles with addiction or anxiety or issues or people as you understand this, that your residents might be in trouble, but your citizenship is secure and who Christ is that he reigns over all things that we can pray for Godly wisdom and a Godly walk that you can know Him personally and pray for, to bear fruit, to increase the knowledge of Him, to be strengthened with the same power that defeated death. And then to be grateful for that deliverance, will you pray with me? Their only father? Thank you for calling us saints as sons and daughters as a new creation. That our identity is forgiven and freed in you, that whatever we're facing gone. May we not add anything to the gospel? And may we not take anything away? We pray for wisdom that only comes from you. Give us direction in our lives. Got me. We'll be filled with the knowledge of your will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that we can walk in a manner worthy of you. May we bear fruit in every good work increasing in knowledge of you being strengthened with all power according to your glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. God, we give you thanks for qualifying us to share in the inheritance of the saints and light for delivering us from the authority of darkness, transferring us into your kingdom of your beloved Son Jesus, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. May we remember this today and be changed by Him? It's in your sense that we pray amen.