WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.040 Well, good morning. It's still morning time, just before lunch. I just want to thank you 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:10.240 again for inviting me to share God's Word with you this morning. I'm always very conscious 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:15.060 of the tremendous privilege it is to share from God's Word, to have your attention to 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:21.699 this time, but also the tremendous responsibility it is well to be up here and to be sharing 00:00:21.699 --> 00:00:26.280 from God's Word. I've had the opportunity over the years to travel different parts of 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:31.740 the world. For 15 years we lived in South America, and I had the opportunity way up in the Andes 00:00:31.740 --> 00:00:36.620 mountains, and also way down the jungle, to be standing in front of people and sharing 00:00:36.620 --> 00:00:43.320 from God's Word. I recently had the opportunity also in Tanzania. Before I went, they warned 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:46.920 me that I would be taking part in the service. I tried to struggle for a while to tell them 00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:50.460 that I would be too busy and things like that, but they finally twisted my arm and told me 00:00:50.460 --> 00:00:55.480 that I should take part in the three-hour-long morning service. I wasn't too sure what I 00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:58.079 was going to fit in in that three hours or how long they wanted me to preach for, but 00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:04.700 I went prepared. The day before I was preaching, they took me out to the islands on Lake Victoria 00:01:04.700 --> 00:01:08.819 as part of my job. We have a medical ship out there in Lake Victoria. I was going to visit 00:01:08.819 --> 00:01:15.159 the islands that the ship was to visit. And being the white man, the mzungo as they call 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:20.679 them there, I splashed on all the sun cream. I had a hat on, and we headed off to the islands 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:26.900 for about six hours. And when we came back, I went back to my hotel room, and I looked 00:01:26.900 --> 00:01:31.600 in the mirror, and to my horror, I had slapped. Well, I often get that feeling looking in the 00:01:31.600 --> 00:01:36.560 mirror anyway, to my horror, but even more so, I had slapped on sun cream everywhere apart 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:43.820 from a patch on my face like this. And it was bright red, and it was shiny. And I can tell 00:01:43.820 --> 00:01:48.360 you, not only did I not sleep very well the next day thinking I was going to have to preach 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:52.359 in front of this congregation, but I was also worried, what are they going to think when 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:58.400 they see this preacher with a ginormous red patch glowing in front of them on the Sunday 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:02.200 morning service. And as I stood there waiting to be picked up to take him to church in the 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:09.740 morning, Samuel, my Tanzanian host, he said to me, what happened to your face, Kenny? And 00:02:09.740 --> 00:02:14.240 I said, yeah, Samuel, sun cream didn't work. I forgot to put it on. And he says, now don't 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:17.759 you worry. He says, we're going to a church. They've never seen a white person before. 00:02:17.759 --> 00:02:24.120 They'll think it's completely normal. And so that kind of eased my tension a little bit 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:26.699 that I was going to be able to share something, and they weren't going to be distracted by 00:02:26.699 --> 00:02:31.639 what was already a strange looking face, but even worse, with his bed red patch. But I 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:34.439 was able to share with them from God's word. That's why I want to share with you this morning 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:39.159 too, to encourage you, as we were saying in the beginning, it really is a passage which 00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:44.939 is a tremendous passage of encouragement and also challenge there this morning. We're going 00:02:44.939 --> 00:02:47.879 to read from Colossians chapter 1, and what I want to do is just work our way through 00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:51.800 some of the verses there, starting in verse 1, and we're going to work our way through 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:57.500 to verse 14 this morning. And I want to bring out some things which God has spoken to me 00:02:57.500 --> 00:03:02.960 through this, his word, and my prayer has been, as I've been getting ready for it this morning, 00:03:03.060 --> 00:03:06.460 is that God will really speak to your hearts too through his word. 00:03:06.460 --> 00:03:13.020 So Colossians chapter 1, and verses 1 and 2, we'll start off with the first two verses. It says, 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:21.319 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, to God's holy people 00:03:21.319 --> 00:03:30.000 in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father. 00:03:31.100 --> 00:03:35.560 In Paul's letters to many different churches, this is a typical kind of introduction, but some of the 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:38.599 things that really, I just want to point out a few things to start off with, the way he introduces 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:42.439 himself in his letter, which kind of ties in to the themes he's going to bring in for the rest of 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:49.500 the letter. Look how he describes himself in verse 1. He says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:55.360 That's his role that God has given him to us, because it says, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. How did you 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:02.020 become an apostle? By the will of God. Right from the beginning, Paul is introducing the theme that 00:04:02.020 --> 00:04:08.439 we have a purpose in life, and that God is God's will that guides us in what that purpose is. That's 00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:12.760 what I want to talk about promptly this morning, is about God's will for our lives and how we can know 00:04:12.760 --> 00:04:19.199 that there. Paul knew what his life purpose was, and he knew that God had called them into that. 00:04:19.819 --> 00:04:26.400 In verse 3, it says, we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:34.019 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God's people. 00:04:34.739 --> 00:04:39.399 The faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you 00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:44.979 have already heard and the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, 00:04:44.979 --> 00:04:50.319 the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world, just as been doing amongst you 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:56.360 since the day you heard it and truly understood God's grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear 00:04:56.360 --> 00:05:01.759 fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who has also told us of your love 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:10.360 in the Spirit. Paul is what I would describe as the master pastor. He has this tremendous ability to 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:15.259 encourage people, and what a tremendous start to this letter, I'm sure the people, they picked up this 00:05:15.259 --> 00:05:20.240 letter and started reading, they must have felt so encouraged by the first words they read here. He says 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:26.139 that I am praying for you. I don't know how you feel when people write to you and tell you that 00:05:26.139 --> 00:05:31.120 they are praying for you, but it should be something which really encourages us to know that there are 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:35.819 people behind us who are thinking of us and bringing us before God to pray for us. He's not just praying 00:05:35.819 --> 00:05:42.800 for them because things are maybe going bad. He says, I give God thanks for you because I am encouraged 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:50.079 by what I hear of you. He's heard about their faith in Christ Jesus and how that faith is working in their 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:59.319 lives and how that is being shown by giving God's love to other people. He has this ability, Paul, to 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:05.779 really encourage them in what is a difficult and challenging circumstance. I have a friend, you may 00:06:05.779 --> 00:06:10.680 have met him in the past, Steve Connor. He was in Scotland for many years working for Sports Outreach 00:06:10.680 --> 00:06:17.039 Scotland. He's an ex-American football player. He used to play for the Chicago Bears. He's about, I'll bet we're 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:21.720 careful what I'm saying, he's being recorded. He's six foot two tall and he's a big guy as well. I was 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:28.340 going to say six foot two wide, but I'll get in trouble. He's a big guy. He's a ginormous person, 00:06:28.520 --> 00:06:33.420 personality as well, and a tremendous heart for God. And I had the privilege of having him as my 00:06:33.420 --> 00:06:37.040 friend. He would come and visit us in Bolivia because we were involved in sports ministry there. 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:41.840 And he had this tremendous ability and he has this. And he can give you a kick up the rear end, 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:46.500 but it feels like a pat on the back. That's what Steve Connor could do. He could really show me 00:06:46.500 --> 00:06:51.099 areas of my life where I was not doing things correctly, but I would come out of that meeting 00:06:51.099 --> 00:06:55.259 at a time with him feeling so encouraged. And that's a gift like Paul has here. He has a 00:06:55.259 --> 00:07:00.299 ability to correct people. See this in other Paul's letters too. He would really have to put them in 00:07:00.299 --> 00:07:04.079 their place. He'd have to call their attention to things that were wrong in their lives, but he had this 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:09.859 tremendous ability to pick them up too and to encourage them to carry on, to encourage them, to strengthen 00:07:09.860 --> 00:07:16.220 them, to guide them. And here Paul is a letter. He says, I've heard that you are going on so well. 00:07:16.620 --> 00:07:21.120 And it's almost like he's saying, I don't want you to fall by the wayside or to grow cold. I want you 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:28.759 to see you to grow even more and even further in your walk with the Lord. And that is something I 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:33.500 think is a challenge to all of us in our lives, no matter what role we have in life, well, in the 00:07:33.500 --> 00:07:39.639 church here as well. This ability to challenge people and to help them to grow, but also to do it in a 00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:45.959 loving and encouraging way. And in verse 9, Paul says this. He says, I've heard about you. I've been 00:07:45.959 --> 00:07:50.219 encouraged about you. I'm praying for you, but I want you to grow more. He says, for this reason, 00:07:50.279 --> 00:07:54.899 because I have heard, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. 00:07:54.899 --> 00:08:00.800 We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:08.620 and understanding that the Spirit gives. For this reason, because we have heard how you are going on 00:08:08.620 --> 00:08:13.240 in your life for God, because we have heard of your faith and your love, we have not stopped 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:18.920 praying for you. And that's great. He's not just praying for them and because they're going through 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:22.500 difficult circumstances. He's praying because they're doing well. He wants to see them to grow 00:08:22.500 --> 00:08:29.699 even more. He wants them to keep moving forward in their faith. And he prays that God would fill them 00:08:29.699 --> 00:08:37.639 with the knowledge of his will. That way they would have an understanding, a filling of understanding 00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:45.480 of the purpose that God has for their lives. See, that's something which, when I came to understand 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:50.179 this as I was growing up in my own Christian faith, to understand the importance of knowing what God's 00:08:50.179 --> 00:08:58.700 will is for my life. What he wants and not what I want for my life. That as Christians, we have no 00:08:58.700 --> 00:09:04.180 right to demand control of our own lives. Paul, in another letter he wrote to the church in Corinth, 00:09:04.259 --> 00:09:14.379 he says, you are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. 00:09:15.420 --> 00:09:18.980 Now, that concept of body to the people at that time would be more than just the physical 00:09:18.980 --> 00:09:24.259 flesh and blood. It would be something more than that. The whole concept of body to the Roman and Greek 00:09:24.259 --> 00:09:30.000 cultures was that it encompassed your whole life. That it would encompass your dreams and your plans, 00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:34.939 your desires and your thoughts. Everything that you had was wrapped in this concept of body. They 00:09:34.939 --> 00:09:40.679 weren't two separable things. What you desired and what your body was. Physical body too. So Paul is 00:09:40.679 --> 00:09:45.799 praying. He says, I've heard about you. I've heard about your love, about your faith. I've heard about 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:50.480 how you're growing. I want you to grow even more. I want God to fill you with a knowledge of his will 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:57.259 for your lives. But he also understood that this knowledge did not come through because they were 00:09:57.259 --> 00:10:04.000 smart or clever people. But it had to be revealed to them by God himself. That's why it says here that 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:13.360 it would come to them through all wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. Through all wisdom 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:19.980 and understanding that the Spirit gives. You see, it's vital that we know and understand that in this 00:10:19.980 --> 00:10:30.399 life, our salvation comes from God and from God alone. That our purpose in life is found in God and in God 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:40.759 alone. And a knowledge of this purpose is given to us from God and from him alone. You see, we can do 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:48.419 nothing under our own power to save ourselves from sin and there's nothing we can do under our own power 00:10:48.419 --> 00:10:55.580 to know or understand God's will. We have to come to him and wait for him to reveal it to us. We have to ask 00:10:55.580 --> 00:11:02.139 and desire that he would reveal that will to us. Now the name Andrew Murray is a very popular moment because 00:11:02.139 --> 00:11:09.059 of the tennis. He is not the only Andrew Murray who's been famous over the years. Andrew Murray of, you know, 00:11:09.059 --> 00:11:13.379 your Scottish history and the Battle of Stirling Bridge. There's also Andrew Murray, a very good, 00:11:13.479 --> 00:11:18.479 strong and wonderful, powerful Christian man who wrote wonderful books including Waiting on God. 00:11:18.599 --> 00:11:22.599 Tremendous devotional book. If you ever find that book and use it, it's been a real help to me in my 00:11:22.599 --> 00:11:27.339 life too. There's Andrew Murray, not the tennis player. I would love the tennis player to see things 00:11:27.339 --> 00:11:35.519 like this. But this is another Andrew Murray. He says that wisdom is knowing the specific will of God 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:44.860 according to the measure of grace given to us and to ask in prayer just what God has purposed and made 00:11:44.860 --> 00:11:51.799 possible for each of us. Read that again. That true wisdom is knowing the specific will of God 00:11:51.799 --> 00:11:59.019 according to the measure of grace given to us and to ask in prayer just what God has purposed 00:11:59.019 --> 00:12:05.639 and made possible for each of us. What he's saying is there that to be truly wise is to know what God 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:10.679 wants for your life and the only way you're going to know that is because God through his gaze reveals 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:16.120 that to you and that's why we have to in prayer come before God and ask him to reveal his will 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:20.840 to our lives. It's not because we're clever. It's not because we go and study. It's not because we are 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:24.939 intelligent people that we can go and find out and determine this for ourselves. We have to depend 00:12:24.940 --> 00:12:30.580 upon God to reveal his will to our lives. Paul says I want you to grow in a knowledge of God's will 00:12:30.580 --> 00:12:37.360 but this will comes or a knowledge of this will comes from God revealing it to you. And he explains 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:43.760 then also in verse 10 why he wants us to know or why he wanted these people to know and why we need to 00:12:43.760 --> 00:12:49.220 today need to know what God's will is for our lives. It's in verse 10 that you may live a life 00:12:49.220 --> 00:12:57.800 worthy of the Lord and please him in every way bearing fruit in every good work and growing 00:12:57.800 --> 00:13:05.019 in the knowledge of God. I think it's a tremendous verse that's something that's been a real challenge 00:13:05.019 --> 00:13:10.399 and help to me over many years that he wants them to know God's will. He wants God to reveal that will 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:17.639 to them so that they may live a life worthy of the Lord and one that pleases him in every way 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:27.639 bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. Often we often, I don't know 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:33.259 about yourselves but myself, often I've sought my own path and my own purpose for life. I thought this 00:13:33.259 --> 00:13:37.419 is what my targets are, these are my desires, these are my aims and I'm going to build my life as trying 00:13:37.419 --> 00:13:42.779 to achieve these things. We have to understand that God's will is not something we add to our lives. 00:13:42.779 --> 00:13:51.319 As Elizabeth Elliot, an amazing woman of faith who was one of five ladies who lost her husbands to 00:13:51.319 --> 00:13:57.019 or killed by a tribe in Ecuador many years ago now, she wrote this, 00:13:57.779 --> 00:14:05.500 the will of God is not something you add to your life, it is a course you choose. You either line 00:14:05.500 --> 00:14:13.500 yourselves up with the Son of God or you capitulate to the principles which govern the rest of the world. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:19.779 So each day we have to seek to either know God's will and ask him to apply it to our lives 00:14:19.779 --> 00:14:24.600 or we just give in and follow what the worst of the world says. We start to follow an empty 00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:28.399 and worthless purpose which the world has to offer to us. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:37.439 In Romans chapter 12, Paul talks about God's will again and he talks about the will of God 00:14:37.439 --> 00:14:46.419 being three things. In Romans 12 verse 2, it says God's will is good, it is pleasing and it is perfect. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:55.779 He says in Romans 12 verse 2, God's will is good, it is pleasing and it is perfect. That last word there, 00:14:55.779 --> 00:15:01.759 I find it is a real challenge. Now what it's saying is that God's will is perfect, it cannot be better. 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:06.600 Whatever God plans for our lives cannot be better. So we can't say, well, God, that is your will, 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:14.720 but I think I can create a better one. It says that God's will is good, it is pleasing and that it is 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:19.319 perfect. So if we choose not to seek God's will and live out God's will for our lives, we are choosing 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:26.960 a purpose for our life which is inferior to the one that God has for us. God's will is good, it is 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:35.480 pleasing and it is perfect. And we also find out what God's will is for our lives. He said that Paul 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:39.300 said, I want you to know God's will and live it out because you will live a life which is pleasing to 00:15:39.300 --> 00:15:46.360 God and that is worthy of God and it's also a life which bears fruit. So he's wanting him to live 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:51.740 a life which will be productive, that will produce something in their lives. Now in Christian circles, 00:15:51.860 --> 00:15:55.940 we can fall into the trap of thinking that bearing fruit means we need to be busy all the time. 00:15:56.740 --> 00:16:01.139 The more activities we're involved in, the better, the more pleased that God will be with us. We're 00:16:01.139 --> 00:16:05.600 trying to earn God's favor by being busy, busy, busy all the time. That is what bearing fruit. Now I'm 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:09.399 not saying being involved in church ministry activities is wrong, but that shouldn't be what we 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:14.740 understand about bearing fruit principally. When the Bible talks about bearing fruit, it's not 00:16:14.740 --> 00:16:18.600 talking about the external things that we are involved in. It's more to do with an internal 00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:23.700 transformation that God is doing in our lives. That's why in another letter that Paul wrote, 00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:30.060 he wrote that the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is love. It is joy. It is peace. It 00:16:30.060 --> 00:16:36.460 is forbearance. It is kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So what Paul's saying 00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:40.740 is that he wants God to reveal his will to our lives. He wants us to live a life where God is transforming 00:16:40.740 --> 00:16:47.080 us. He is changing us. He's making us more like his Son, Jesus Christ. As he does that, he will take 00:16:47.080 --> 00:16:52.299 us and use us to be involved in these different activities and ministries as well. But primarily, 00:16:52.460 --> 00:17:00.139 God wants to work in our lives and transform our lives. So living at God's will is living at a life 00:17:00.139 --> 00:17:06.220 where God is changing us and transforming us. But the Christian life is so much more than even that. 00:17:06.460 --> 00:17:09.880 It's a tremendous thing to think that God wants to take our lives. He wants to transform us to make us 00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:16.380 more like Jesus Christ. But it's more than that still. It says here that he wants us to grow 00:17:16.380 --> 00:17:28.040 in the knowledge of God. To grow in the knowledge of God. Jesus Christ himself said in John chapter 17 00:17:28.040 --> 00:17:37.500 verse 3, he says, now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the one true God and Jesus Christ, 00:17:37.500 --> 00:17:44.460 whom you have sent. Eternal life, that they may know you, the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you 00:17:44.460 --> 00:17:48.960 have sent. When I was growing up, I kind of understood that eternal life was this, I say that, 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:54.500 well, when my life here comes to an end, then I'll go to be with God and it stops me from going to be 00:17:54.500 --> 00:17:57.980 in hell. So when I have eternal life, it means I go to be in heaven rather than go to be in hell. 00:17:58.579 --> 00:18:02.700 I hadn't understood and grasped until I was older that eternal life is so much more than that you're 00:18:02.700 --> 00:18:07.559 changing your destination when your life here comes to an end. Eternal life is something which 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:10.480 you're given straight from the moment that you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:16.180 and it's about entering into a relationship with God, getting to know the one true God 00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:23.860 and Jesus Christ who he sent here to the world. So God wants to reveal himself to us. He wants to work 00:18:23.859 --> 00:18:31.500 in us, to transform us and change us, but he wants us to get to know him more and more. And it's not 00:18:31.500 --> 00:18:36.159 some sort of academic or theoretical knowledge of God. It's not about pulling out all the theology 00:18:36.159 --> 00:18:40.059 books and sitting reading from cover to cover and trying to fill our minds through with information 00:18:40.059 --> 00:18:44.279 about God. It's about a personal knowledge. It talks about getting to know God in a personal 00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:48.539 way. Another famous Christian writer, J.I. Packer, said this, 00:18:48.539 --> 00:18:55.539 A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about God. 00:18:56.440 --> 00:19:02.139 A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about God. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:06.779 How do we get to know somebody? Not just about them, but to get to know them personally. 00:19:07.059 --> 00:19:12.960 It's about spending time with them. And as we go through experiences, we live with them, 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:15.659 as we go through the good times and the challenging times and difficult times, 00:19:15.660 --> 00:19:21.000 that's how we get to know who that person really is. And God wants us to get to know him. How do we 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:26.360 get to know God? Through his word. And he speaks to us and his spirit teaches us from his word, 00:19:26.420 --> 00:19:31.600 but also as we walk with him and live with him every day. As what we read in his word becomes 00:19:31.600 --> 00:19:35.320 applied to our lives and we see that God, he tells in his word he's a God of love and we see it 00:19:35.320 --> 00:19:39.640 in our lives he's a God of love. We tell God is a faithful God. We see in our lives that God is a 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:44.300 faithful God, that God provides and God provides in our lives too. That is what God wants to do. 00:19:44.299 --> 00:19:48.000 He wants it. Paul says, I've heard about your love. I've heard about your faith. I don't want 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:53.059 you to stop there. I want you to grow. I want God to reveal his wisdom to you so that you will to 00:19:53.059 --> 00:19:57.759 you so you may live a life which is pleasing to God. Now, a life which is pleasing to God is one 00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:05.680 which bears fruit and also one where you get to know him more and more. But he doesn't stop there. 00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:07.740 In verse 7 and 11, he says, 00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:30.400 You see, just as salvation comes from God alone, just as an understanding or knowledge of his will 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:37.540 comes from God alone, so too does the power and ability to do his will come from him alone. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:42.780 God doesn't just reveal his will to us and then abandon us to get on with it ourselves and say, 00:20:42.860 --> 00:20:48.560 well, I've showed you what I want you to do, now you go ahead and do it. God provides his power in 00:20:48.560 --> 00:20:56.980 our lives to do it. It talks about his glorious might, power in our lives. On a recent trip I had to 00:20:56.980 --> 00:21:03.339 Peru, I had the privilege of traveling with a retired surgeon and professor, extremely intelligent 00:21:03.339 --> 00:21:07.279 man, and I think he must have been frustrated with me about my level of conversation compared to what 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:12.299 he normally has. But he was a gentleman who had tremendous ability as a surgeon, was incredibly 00:21:12.299 --> 00:21:16.700 knowledgeable and understanding about different things. And as we were walking through the streets 00:21:16.700 --> 00:21:23.160 of Lima on our way to one of our meetings, we would avoid spending money on taxes. We were a bit 00:21:23.160 --> 00:21:27.080 cheapskates, we would decide to walk everywhere. And we would talk and discuss things as we were 00:21:27.080 --> 00:21:31.220 going along. And he said to me, Kenny, this incredibly intelligent and gifted Christian 00:21:31.220 --> 00:21:34.960 man, he said to me, do you know what? I would often wake up in the morning thinking they're 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:39.940 going to find me out. And I would say, what on earth is he talking about? And I would say, 00:21:40.060 --> 00:21:43.800 what do you mean? He says, I often wake up in the morning thinking people are going to find 00:21:43.800 --> 00:21:48.000 out I've got no idea what I'm really doing here at all. And this is an incredible man, 00:21:48.100 --> 00:21:52.140 tremendous gifts, tremendous knowledge, tremendous talent. But he felt that he, you know, 00:21:52.140 --> 00:21:57.100 he was, he wasn't sure exactly what he was doing with his life or even in his work. 00:21:57.860 --> 00:22:02.920 And I said to him, do you know what? I think I'm the captain of that club. I don't know if 00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:08.040 you feel like that sometimes. That surely people are going to, why not, they're paying me to do 00:22:08.040 --> 00:22:12.040 something I don't even know what I'm doing. Or I'm about to turn 40 this year. I know my hairstyle 00:22:12.040 --> 00:22:15.380 tells you I'm a little older than that. But I'm about to turn 40 this year. I always thought 00:22:15.380 --> 00:22:18.900 when people get to 40, they would be mature. That they would understand what they're doing in their 00:22:18.900 --> 00:22:21.980 lives. That they'd have everything sorted out. And that they, you know, by the time you got to that 00:22:21.980 --> 00:22:25.019 age, you, unless things are going to change an awful lot in the next couple of months, 00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:28.740 or you wake up on your 40th birthday and all of a sudden you're mature and grown up and you know 00:22:28.740 --> 00:22:33.559 what you're doing, I don't think it's going to happen to me anyway. And I often feel weak and I 00:22:33.559 --> 00:22:37.480 often feel powerless and I often feel, what on earth am I doing and how on earth am I going to do 00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:41.180 this? That's why I, when I drive into my car every morning, I park inside my work and I say, 00:22:41.220 --> 00:22:46.000 Lord, please just give me the power. Give me the strength. Give me the wisdom to do the job that you 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:50.740 have prepared for me today because I can't do it on my own. I need you to work in and through me 00:22:50.740 --> 00:22:56.480 to do this work today. God doesn't just reveal his will to us and then abandon us. He gives us 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:07.400 his glorious might to fulfill that in our lives. And Paul brings things to an end in verses 13 and 14 00:23:07.400 --> 00:23:10.779 by pointing them back to Jesus. He says, 00:23:10.779 --> 00:23:27.759 So we have Paul in the midst of all us encouraging them for what they have, the good they have done, 00:23:28.259 --> 00:23:33.319 for guiding them in these essentials of what is the Christian life. He brings them back to the 00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:39.579 foundation of their faith, to the reason for their hope and to the source of their salvation. He 00:23:39.579 --> 00:23:44.059 brings them back to Jesus Christ. And he shares this contrast, which he does in so many of his 00:23:44.059 --> 00:23:50.480 other letters. He contrasts before and after. He says, you have been rescued from the dominion of 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:58.799 darkness and you have been brought into the kingdom of the sun. He has done this for you. He has rescued 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:02.180 from the dominion of darkness. He has brought you into the kingdom of the sun. That's why he wants 00:24:02.180 --> 00:24:06.299 to transform you. That's why he wants to change you. That's why he wants to work in and through you. 00:24:06.579 --> 00:24:10.220 That's why he wants to show you what his will is for your life so you may live a life which is pleasing 00:24:10.220 --> 00:24:21.639 and glorifies his name. And it says, in whom we have redemption. In whom? In a person that we have 00:24:21.639 --> 00:24:26.799 our redemption. We have salvation, not through a series of lists and rules and regulations that we have to 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:34.200 follow or a box we have to tick. It is through a person. Not through a set of beliefs. Not through a religion. 00:24:34.359 --> 00:24:40.759 Not through a ritual. But through a person, Jesus Christ. And Paul is calling them to remain true to the 00:24:40.759 --> 00:24:48.419 one who saved them. And he's saying that he has to be the Lord of your life. That person is God incarnate. 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:55.779 The man, Jesus Christ. It was through his death, his sacrifice, his victory and his resurrection that they have 00:24:55.779 --> 00:25:03.220 this eternal life today. Some of you here this morning maybe never have turned to Jesus Christ and 00:25:03.220 --> 00:25:07.440 don't even know him personally. Maybe you don't know what your purpose and will is for your life. 00:25:08.660 --> 00:25:15.379 God, your creator, the person who gave you life, has a purpose for your life. And he has the power to 00:25:15.379 --> 00:25:21.420 work in your life so you can live that out for him. And he invites you today to turn to him and accept him 00:25:21.420 --> 00:25:27.460 as your Lord and Savior to receive that eternal life, that relationship with him. Many of you here 00:25:27.460 --> 00:25:33.279 this morning won't be Christians. And my prayer has been that, as it has done to me, it will be 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:39.660 helpful to you to read through this work, to focus on what the essentials in life truly are. To get 00:25:39.660 --> 00:25:46.259 back to the basics. I'm like a politician, don't I? Back to basics. To live a life which is according to 00:25:46.259 --> 00:25:54.940 his will, according to his grace and in his power. There's an old hymn that was written many years ago 00:25:54.940 --> 00:25:59.960 and it talks about how God wants to work in our lives. I want to just finish with this this morning. 00:25:59.960 --> 00:26:09.440 It says, from the center to the circumference, God would saturate every part, feeling, mind, 00:26:09.980 --> 00:26:16.920 and well-renewing, making home in all our hearts. Let us pray. 00:26:19.900 --> 00:26:24.920 Heavenly Father, I thank you this morning for your word. We thank you for your servant, Paul, 00:26:24.980 --> 00:26:28.779 who you inspired to write these words to this church there. Heavenly Father, 00:26:28.779 --> 00:26:34.220 that the people in those days back then are just the same as people we are today, Lord. We need to be 00:26:34.220 --> 00:26:39.660 encouraged. We need to be guided. We need to be helped. We need to be challenged. And I thank you 00:26:39.660 --> 00:26:42.859 that the words that were written all those many years ago, because they were inspired by you and 00:26:42.859 --> 00:26:48.660 your Holy Spirit, they are words which have power and meaning in life. And words which guide us in our 00:26:48.660 --> 00:26:53.579 lives today. I pray, Heavenly Father, for each one of us here this morning, that we would know what it is 00:26:53.579 --> 00:26:58.799 to live a life in the knowledge of your will. That that would be desire of each of our hearts, 00:26:58.839 --> 00:27:03.619 to seek what you want for us. Not what we want for our own lives, but what you want for our lives. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:07.259 And I pray, Heavenly Father, you would reveal that through your Holy Spirit to us, and you would 00:27:07.259 --> 00:27:12.079 give us the power that you promised to live out that life, so that each of us would live lives which 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:18.240 bring glory to your name and your name alone. Lord, I give you thanks. In the name of your Son, 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:19.799 Jesus Christ. Amen.