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[0:00] Welcome to Ontario Community Church, where we're dedicated to encouraging, equipping, and engaging lives for Christ. Located in Ontario, Oregon, Pastor Patrick Daly preaches insightful sermons from the Word of God, offering practical applications for modern living.

[0:17] We're delighted to share this sermon with you. Well, good morning, everyone. It is great to be here with all of you as we are gonna go ahead and get started with continuing our biblical exposition of Colossians.

[0:33] I hope that all of you have been warmly greeted here at Ontario Community Church. We are absolutely a very loving and very friendly church, and I just hope and trust you've been warmly greeted.

[0:46] So we've been going through this verse by verse, line by line exposition of Colossians. We've been finding truth and connections with the Word of God and applications for our everyday lives.

[1:01] You know, believing in Jesus Christ is the greatest decision that you can make for your life here on earth and your life after this.

[1:11] Salvation is the beginning of your new life in Christ. And last week, we talked about how the apostle Paul challenged the church at Colossi to put to death the former life, the worldly life, the sinful life, and to set their minds on the higher things, the things above and what a challenge that is, even for us today.

[1:37] As we leave the former things of this former life, it makes us wonder, what does it mean to put on the new life? What does this spiritual transformation look like for us?

[1:51] If Christ is all that we need and is in all of us believers, what does that look like for us? If I am saved and I become this new creation, am I to go out and do everything in the name of Christ?

[2:06] Well, today we will discover these answers as we go along. But before we go any further, let us pray to God and let us ask Him to lead us and to guide us before we continue.

[2:20] Let's pray together. Will you pray with me? Let's bow our heads and pray. Dear Jesus, we come before you today as we currently are.

[2:30] We pray that truth is spoken here. Just as we learned this last week, we learned what it means to leave the former life and we pray that we will learn what it means, well, what it means to have new life in you.

[2:47] We ask that you open our minds to learn, our hearts to love and our lives to live for you. May we grow in this faith, leaving the former life, embracing the new life and boldly living out this faith in you.

[3:03] We ask all of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the supplier of peace and the ruler of our hearts. We all say together, amen.

[3:14] It has been said that the grace of God plus the faith of the believer equals salvation. Grace is supplied. It is freely given by God and the only thing that we must do is to believe in Him.

[3:28] Believe in the Lord and be saved. Salvation then is the beginning of our new lives in Christ. It is the foundation of our lives. It is set by Him.

[3:40] We are made new in Christ and we are transferred from the domain of darkness into the domain of light. We have to remember that God is the potter and we are the clay.

[3:54] God does not stop molding us though until the very end. In the same way that we build a physical house, do we just lay the foundation there and call it a day?

[4:05] Do we just build that foundation and say, okay, that's it. We got a house there. Or is there much work that must be done? Because when we lay a foundation just in a physical house, there is wood, there is all of the things, the plumbing, all of the pieces that have to go together that is built upon the foundation of a physical house.

[4:28] And in the same way, if Christ being the foundation for our lives, well, what about the rest of the house? We build our lives on the foundation that exists in Christ.

[4:40] There is much work to be done once the foundation is laid. As it is with building the physical house, so too again. Is it the spiritual foundation building upon what Christ has laid?

[4:54] We must build our house upon the rock of Jesus Christ. Salvation then is a decision that we make to believe or to not believe. From this, there exists a continual decision to live or to not live for Christ.

[5:10] And ask yourself the question, have you left your former life? Or are you still doing the things of your former life? Have you believed in the Lord and have you been saved, but you're still in that former habits, the former way you used to live?

[5:29] In believing in Christ, let us leave the former, the sinful and the sin filled life and enter into a spirit filled, a Christ centered and a God led life.

[5:43] The apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians saying, to leave the former life, leave the former life and put on as God's chosen ones, many good and godly attributes.

[5:55] This is a call for us as believers to live out the faith, to be a doer of the word. These qualities that the apostle Paul was mentioning, that's not only applicable to the church at Colossae, they are directly applicable to the church today.

[6:11] And I wanna go ahead and show you the first two sets of verses, we'll go ahead and put that on the screen. This is found in Colossians chapter three, verses 12 through 14.

[6:23] Feel free to follow along in your Bible, your mobile device, or you can simply follow along on the screen. It says here, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and impatience.

[6:46] Impatience, right? Bearing with one another, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive, right?

[7:00] And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect what? Harmony. So verse 12, it starts off by mentioning the call for us to put on the new self.

[7:16] In becoming a Christian, we are now part of God's chosen ones. Believers become God's chosen people, and we are called to live a more holy life.

[7:26] It is following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. First Peter chapter one, verses 14 through 16, it also mentions the call for us to live a holy life as a new creation.

[7:41] It says, obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in all of your conduct.

[7:56] Since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. And regarding the word beloved, when we become a Christian, as mentioning here in Colossians, right?

[8:08] Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. Do you realize that when we become a Christian, we enter into the beloved? There's gonna be a slide on here.

[8:19] It's Ephesians chapter one, verse six here, and it goes on to say, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he, God the Father, has blessed us believers into the what?

[8:34] Into the beloved one, right? One sometimes shows up in some translations. In your ESV, it'll just say the beloved. The beloved is the beloved son, which is mentioned in Matthew chapter 17, verse five, and in numerous other passages.

[8:50] Let's put that next one. He, Peter, he was speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, what?

[9:00] This is my what? Beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. So when you become a Christian, you are entering into the beloved one.

[9:13] We are chosen and to be on a path of holiness, becoming more like the Lord, becoming more like Christ. Let us be called to live a life that is holy and beloved.

[9:24] Let us allow for God to work in and through us along the way. These two qualities, they're not the only ones though. I like to show you guys a chart, and you'll find this on your notes, and you'll find this on the screen here.

[9:40] You know, it's always incredible. When you find a pattern or a connection within scripture, and in preparing for this sermon, I found this beautiful connection between Colossians chapter three, verses 12 through 14, and 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verses four through seven.

[10:02] How many of us know the 1 Corinthians one? Love is patient, love is kind. How many of us know that one? You hear that passage very often in marriages, right?

[10:14] So this chart was made to match as much as possible by considering the original language, the concept and the main idea presented in these passages.

[10:24] In putting on the new self, becoming more holy, and living the beloved life, we are to show compassionate hearts and kindness, right? Show compassion and mercy to others.

[10:37] We are to exhibit kindness, a spirit of gentleness. This is much like how it is said that love is kind. Then we have humility, right?

[10:49] Exhibiting humility. Let us love God, let us love others, and we also need to love ourselves as well. Humility is caring for more than just yourself.

[11:01] The Bible says in James chapter four, verse six and first Peter five, five, that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Part of humility is not being puffed up with worldly things.

[11:15] There are many people who boast up in worldly affairs and worldly matters, but if we are to boast, as the scripture says, we should boast in the Lord, as it says, and you'll find that in your notes, so many times in scripture.

[11:31] You will find that, look, there is a call here for us to lay aside envy, just like how the apostle Paul mentioned putting to death covetness.

[11:41] So then we have also here meekness. In the Greek, meekness means having gentle strength and self-control. Now, very often when we hear the word meekness, we think of someone who is weak, but it is the ability to control your strength.

[11:58] This can manifest in respect for others by not being arrogant or rude. And it's the question of how do you respond to other people?

[12:08] How do you act and behave towards others? Consider how you respond to your brothers and sisters in Christ and to your neighbor. Even Christ mentions that it is the meek who will inherit the earth, as mentioned in Matthew 5, verse 5.

[12:26] Then we go on into patience, right? It's a call for us to endure all things, wait upon the Lord and remain calm under pressure. How many of us remain calm under pressure, right?

[12:38] And how many of us, when we want patience, we always say the prayer, God, I need patience right now. I think you gotta rethink your prayer there when that's happening, right?

[12:49] When we consider patience, it is waiting for God's timing, right, the kairos, God's divine appointed time for our lives.

[12:59] And just be mindful when you pray that prayer as well. If you're gonna ask for patience, don't ask for it right now. But going on, patience is something that can be difficult today, though.

[13:11] Especially in the culture that we live in. You know, we have these really fancy things. I mean, I don't know who still has a flip phone, no judgment here. But it's still instant though, right?

[13:22] You open your phone, you call someone, and very quickly there's someone answers, unless they're ignoring you that's on you. But in this, you go to Amazon and you get what?

[13:35] Two day delivery in some areas, you get two hour delivery. The other day I was watching a YouTube video that was showing drone packages being delivered to your doorstep.

[13:46] And look, quite honestly, you know, you could just drive to the store. I don't, there comes a point when, I don't mean to be too critical of Amazon, but there comes a point where I'm like, you really needed that badly within two hours, you need to call upon a drone to drop off your package.

[14:04] You ever heard of going to the grocery store? I don't know, but maybe some people can't drive. Maybe that's what it is. In all of that, we live in this culture where there's instant gratification, entertainment, hours upon thousands and thousands of hours of audiobooks and videos on demand.

[14:21] You can go to YouTube and you can find some really good things to watch, but what does that teach us about patience though? How many of us have ever, maybe you've bought a handcrafted item, something that is, think of a, someone who works with wood.

[14:40] That takes a long time to fine tune it, right? To make sure that the wood is carved in such a way. Or if you look at old statues throughout history, right? If it's made out of a granite, how long that takes?

[14:54] You can't have that done in two hours, at least to my knowledge. But the idea is, again, the culture in which we live in, it's an instant gratification culture.

[15:06] We then go on to forgiving each other. This echoes Ephesians chapter four verse 32, which says we are to forgive one another as God forgives us.

[15:18] Forgiveness does not mean provoking one another, right? It doesn't mean provoking someone because of the past things that you did. It's not being resentful or keeping a record of wrongs.

[15:30] It is obvious, look, I understand, it's challenging to forgive someone. Whatever they did, big or small is wrong. I get it. But we are called by the Lord to forgive each other.

[15:44] Again, it can be challenging, but we must move forward. Then we have this next one, bearing with one another. Just like how it says in 1 Corinthians, the parallel passage that love bears all things and endures all things.

[15:58] Believers, the church, the body of Christ, we are to support, we are to help one another. Hold one another up, just like when I brought up this imagery before, the idea of Kinsugi art, right?

[16:12] That God takes that which is broken and brings it back together. Well, we also help one another out. If there is good, a celebration that is happening in your life, what better way than to share with your church community?

[16:28] If you're going through a crisis, a trial or a tribulation, if there's sickness that's happening in your life, when you're bearing one another up, you are supporting one another.

[16:40] You are being there for one another. You're exhibiting the love of Christ for each other. That is something that is very powerful, right? Just as God takes what is broken and bends us and upholds us, we are called to bear one another.

[16:53] We help one another through life's highs and lows, just like how we're celebrating Mateo today, right? It's a wonderful time for us as the body of Christ to celebrate the birth of a child.

[17:07] Or when someone, again, is sick, we can support one another. Do you realize that God loves you? Do you realize that you should not live this life alone?

[17:21] That God calls you to have a relationship with him? And in the same way, God calls for us to love one another just as Christ has loved us.

[17:33] We are not alone in this life. God is here for us, and in turn, the body of Christ, we should be there for one another. This is the beauty of the church.

[17:45] Then of course, you have love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony, and love never ending, right? Love believes all things and hope all things. In 1 Corinthians, it's stating that love is the most important thing.

[17:59] Without love, we are nothing. Love remains forever, and it never fails. And it even goes as far as to say that love lasts more than spiritual gifts and is deemed superior in the eyes of God.

[18:11] That's a very difficult one. But knowing that love will endure that long, that's a very encouraging thing. That love perseveres through all circumstances. When we're considering Colossians, it is the call to put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

[18:28] The difference here is that it's the difference between love being a description and love being a call to live out love with other people. Can I get any men on that?

[18:40] If we know that love upholds and it never fails, why would we not want to exhibit love? Why would we not want to love one another as God has loved us? Why would we not want to exhibit the love of Christ to our neighbor?

[18:54] Think about that. Let me ask that again. If we know that love upholds and it never fails, why would we not want to love? Why would we exhibit hatred or rudeness or arrogance?

[19:07] Why wouldn't we want to share in the love of Christ with others? That's very thought-provoking, right? Aren't we called to love God?

[19:18] Aren't we called to love others, our neighbors, and even ourselves? The love of God, as I've mentioned, the Kinsugi bowl, God taking what is broken and bringing it back together, we become through belief one with God connected and restored.

[19:37] We go from darkness to light and we are held together by the love of God. This binding and upholding love never fails and brings us into perfect harmony with the beloved one.

[19:49] John chapter 17, it's that next slide here. Chapter 17, verses 22 through 23.

[20:00] This is when Christ is saying, the glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.

[20:10] I am them and you and me that they become perfectly one. So that what? The world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me.

[20:23] So it's a lot of this is happening, but the main idea here is that the love that comes from God, the love that comes from Christ, it should dwell within us and that love should radiate out to other people.

[20:41] Do you experience this kind of love? Do you want to experience this kind of love and restoration? Let this be a call to come to him and to believe in Christ and to be saved by God's grace through faith in him.

[20:58] From this belief and this faith in Christ, we are called to leave once again the former life and to put on the new life. And just from reading these descriptions here, I don't wanna live in the former life.

[21:12] I want to live in the new life that God is going to transform my mind and my heart the very way that I think, the very way that I act. Don't you want to take upon these attributes?

[21:26] Something to think about. We now go into verse 15, one body in peace from Christ to be thankful and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called one body and be thankful.

[21:42] This peace is the peace that surpasses all understanding. It brings us together in the body of Christ, the unity of the spirit.

[21:52] And in such a noisy world, just like I was mentioning those Amazon drones and everything, there's also a noisy world of culture. I've called it the cultural fog that exists in this world.

[22:05] I would love for Christ's peace to be in my heart and I would like to be connected to something better. Don't you get tired of the crazy noise of culture, the fog and the confusion that the world has to offer?

[22:20] Don't you want peace in your life? Because God provides peace that surpasses all understanding. The apostle Paul is saying here, let that peace of Christ rule in our hearts, rule within us to which indeed you were called into one body.

[22:37] You weren't called to be separated. You were called to come together. There's just comfort in knowing that as a believer, you have Christ within you and your brothers and sisters have Christ living within you.

[22:55] Don't you think that the world needs peace and clarity in such a time as this? There is also this peace that is the bond.

[23:06] It is the unity of the Holy Spirit. We now go to verse 16, which says here, 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.

[23:27] The apostle Paul writes that as we are putting on the new self and as we're being called to live this new life, receiving the peace that surpasses all understanding, we must let the word of Christ dwell within us richly.

[23:42] Paul is calling for the Colossian church to have this word dwell richly in them. This too is after salvation. To have the word of Christ dwell within means having the teachings of Jesus Christ live or inhabit within the context of the Colossian church.

[24:03] And since Jesus Christ is the word and the word is living inactive, we can see this wonderful connection that the word of Christ not only speaks of the teaching and the parables and the wisdom from Jesus Christ, but also the word of God.

[24:21] Let the word of God dwell within you. The scripture has many verses that show the evidence of the triune God and that God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

[24:34] I find it remarkable to know that the triune God dwells within me and it should dwell within you. The dwelling of the word of Christ, we are to let it teach us and to admonish us, right?

[24:50] That word admonish is to warn us. The apostle Paul wants the Colossians to continue in their trajectory of being a church that again is faithful to God and his word.

[25:02] It is a call to let the word help them grow, but also to be cautious of things that distract, things that dilute or rob them or opportunities to do good in the name of Christ.

[25:17] The description that we find here in verse 16, it speaks of a church setting where the teaching of God's word happens and warnings happen.

[25:27] That's always a hard one when we hear that, right? Right, okay, I wanna come to learn the word of God. What about the warning? Can we skip that part?

[25:38] Well, there's an importance for knowing warnings in the early church much like we need to know the warning of today, right? Churches today, there needs to be the teaching of God's word, the preaching of God's word and the warning of infiltration or of evil.

[25:56] Just as there were warnings in the Colossian church, there are certainly warnings for Christians today. In regards to warnings here, we have to think of things that are happening in our culture that can distract us, that can distort the truth of the gospel, things that can dilute you or deceive you because the truth of the word of God is simple.

[26:21] How easy is it for us to get distracted by things? It can be anything from technology. It can be social movements, right? That can become a distraction from your relationship with the Lord.

[26:34] And so that's something we must all think about. It's not a call for us to be afraid, but it's for us to be aware so that we know how to respond appropriately.

[26:47] The verse also mentions singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, it's a great description of praise and worship in the church, right? We as the church are to be together as the body of Christ to hear, teaching, and preaching of God's word, to know how to respond to warnings, things that are happening, trends that are happening in our culture or in the Christian world, what are things we need to be mindful of?

[27:16] But also a time to praise and worship the living God. We are to give thanks to our God, right? Let us be thankful to God for our salvation, for life and the moments that we share with our friends and with our family, the church and to the Lord.

[27:33] God is the God of salvation. He is the God of restoration, of healing, of love, and of holiness. We must thank Him every day for being the truth, for being the light and the life.

[27:50] And we now go to verse 17 here, which says everything in the name of Christ. And I love this verse. Whatever you do in word or indeed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

[28:11] And in all of this, the apostle Paul is calling the Colossians and it's a call for us today to put off the former life, the former ways, and to put on the new life and the qualities, letting the word of Christ dwell within us to become more like Christ.

[28:31] And as I said it in the beginning of this sermon here, believing in the Lord is the most critical. It is the most important decision that you can make in this life that not only affects the here and the now, but it affects the next life, the eternal.

[28:46] There is a call to grow in the word of God and to exhibit these qualities, right? To live out the new self. This is transformation into becoming the man or the woman that God wants you to become.

[29:03] This final verse, it calls you to go out into the world and in everything that you do, you do in the name of Jesus Christ.

[29:15] It is the call to do good in the name of Christ, not to do evil in Christ's name, but to do good, to love one another, right? In your jobs and in your school or when you interact with people in the community, you exhibit the love of Christ, you exhibit these attributes to others.

[29:36] Let it be a call. Let our lives be a testimony to God that he gave us eternal life and this life is in his son, Jesus Christ.

[29:48] Salvation is not the end of your life. It is the beginning and as you learn and grow, live this new life in Christ.

[29:59] Let us be called to go out into the world and make a difference doing everything in the name of Jesus Christ for the glory of God.

[30:10] And as it says here, to give thanks to him. Isn't that a beautiful verse here? And I want you to think, this world needs compassion in an uncompassionate world.

[30:26] This world needs humility, people who care for one another. This world needs meekness, gentle strength in a world full of anger and hostility and arrogance and rudeness.

[30:41] This world needs patience in a world that knows nothing but instant gratification. This world needs forgiveness, especially in a world and a culture that doesn't forgive or doesn't forget.

[30:57] People need to know that they are not alone in this life. From the teenager to the single mother to the elderly man or whatever, people need, they desire something more in this life.

[31:11] They crave life, a sense of belonging and purpose. And above all, this world needs love because love binds things together and it brings harmony.

[31:23] And all of these things are available for those who believe in Christ. Not only is this a call for us as Christians to go out into the world, but it's a call for us to share in our faith with others.

[31:38] That is why we are to live out this new life and to share our faith with others. If you do not believe in the Lord, let this be a call for you to believe and be saved.

[31:49] If you are a believer, let this be a call for you to begin or to continue your journey of spiritual transformation, restoration, renewal and healing.

[32:00] If you are being changed and you're living out this new life, continue to be a salt of the earth and ambassador for Christ. Can you imagine your life being transformed?

[32:13] Can you imagine the impact we as a church, can you imagine the impact that we can have on the community? The good that we can do in the name of Christ?

[32:26] Why aren't we called to do? We are called to do. We're called to do good in the name of Christ. We're called to act upon this faith. So why wouldn't we want to do this?

[32:38] Let this be a call for you to believe in the Lord, to know Him, to grow in faith, set aside your former life, take on the new self and do good in the name of Christ.

[32:52] Let us pray. And gracious Father, we thank you for loving us. We thank you for your word and we thank you for sending your Son to make salvation available for all who believe.

[33:06] We pray that as truth is spoken here, there will be a response to your call, believing in you, growing in you, putting on this new self, letting go of the former life and doing good in your name.

[33:21] We pray for transformation in our lives. We pray that we can be beacons of hope, shining the light, love and truth of Christ, to the community, to the neighbor, those who don't know you, those who need encouragement, maybe the ones who need to come back to you.

[33:39] May we sing this song with thankfulness in our hearts towards you and may we boldly live this new life in you. It is in Jesus' name that we pray and we all say together, amen.

[33:54] Thank you for tuning in to the Ontario Community Church Sermon Podcast. For more about our church and how you can get involved or support our mission, please visit ontariocommunitychurch.org.

[34:05] May God's blessings be with you.