COLOSSIANS 1:1-12 I AM COMPLETE IN JESUS2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Colossians 1:1-12 I Am Complete In Jesus

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. All right, Colossians chapter 1, and we're going to be working our way through verses 1 through 12 this evening and diving into this new book as we continue the series, Foundations 1.

for Christian living. So let's read the verses 1 through 12, and then we'll dive into what the Lord has for us tonight. Colossians chapter 1 verse 1 says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth."

As you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. Verse 9, for this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in

Here as we get into the book of Colossians, we're continuing the series that we began at the beginning of the year, talking about foundations for Christian living.

talking about some essential things, some foundations that we lay, that we build our Christian lives upon. And it began really looking at the parable that Jesus told in Luke chapter 6 of the wise and the foolish builder.

Jesus told us there was the wise man who dug down deep and he laid his foundation on the rock and he built his house there upon that foundation. But then there was the foolish builder who just built right on top of the dirt, right on top of the sand. And when the storms of life came, the wise man's house stood and the foolish man's house was destroyed.

And Jesus said the difference between these two, of course, is the foundation. And that foundation, he says, is the one who hears what I say and then puts it into practice.

And so as we have been talking about the foundations for Christian living over the past 10 months, since the beginning of the year, looking at Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and now Colossians, we've been looking at these teachings of the Lord and seeking to specifically make applications so that we would put them into practice and do them and lay our strong foundations that we would build our lives upon these truths.

And so as a little bit of a recap, we went through the book of Galatians focused on the grace of Jesus. And we learned the doctrine of grace, but we also were encouraged to do grace. And the way that you do grace is to draw near to God.

that grace is the undeserved favor and kindness of the Lord towards us. And we get to, no matter how good we've been, no matter how bad we've been, we get to have access to God. And so to do grace, to put that into practice, means that we approach Christ

that we draw near to God, that we seek to receive blessings from God and hear from God, that we don't let our failures keep us away, that we don't put ourselves on time out, that we don't stay away from God for any reason, but that no matter what, we continue to draw near to God. And so we need to do grace as we understand the grace of Jesus. Then in the book of Ephesians, we learned about our identity.

And there are many people around us who seek to apply a different identity to us or to convince us that we are someone besides who God says that we are.

And internally, we have our own conflicts and debates, and we have our own perceptions about who we are and our identity. And what we need to do is to believe God at his word. And so throughout the book of Ephesians, we learned the doctrine of our identity, our position in Christ, who we are in Christ. And then we need to, well, we need to be Christ.

who we really know we are, who we really are. We need to be who God has declared us to be and to be the men and women that God has developed us into and established us in the Lord. And so our identity in Christ was the book of Ephesians. Then we spent some time in the book of Philippians and we talked about the priority of Jesus. And of course, Jesus, we know, and we would all agree, he's first, right? He is the most important person

And yet at the same time, he's not always first in our practice. He's not always first in our minds and in our hearts. And so we looked at ways to put Jesus first and how to put Jesus first and what it looks like when Jesus is first. And so we have learned some great foundations up to this point, doing grace, doing grace

My identity in Jesus, putting Jesus first. Now as we head into the book of Colossians, we're going to be focusing on the emphasis of my completeness in Jesus. As we focus again on Jesus here in the book of Colossians, Paul will really go into great detail about the doctrine of Jesus and how great he is in his position. But it's not just to have a good understanding about the doctrine of Jesus, but to

His emphasis, his point then is that, well, he is all that we need. That I have Jesus and I don't need to look any further. I am complete in Jesus. And that's what I've titled the message for tonight here in Colossians 1, verses 1-12. I am complete in Jesus. Here is Paul is writing to the church at Colossae. He's writing to refute some false teaching that is going on in the midst of the church.

And this false teaching is not super clear. We know about it, what we learn from the book of Colossians here. And so it seems like it's a mixture of a few different things. One component of this heresy was secret knowledge.

Also referred to as Gnosticism. That there was this secret knowledge that you could have special standing with God, that you could have special access to God, that you could, you know, experiencing something far greater with God if you knew this secret knowledge that only some people know. Only a few people know. Only some people get to know. And only if you reach this level do you get to have that knowledge. And so there's this secret knowledge that was being taught

and promoted around the region of Colossae. There was also a component of mysticism. And you'll see that as we work our way through the chapters in the coming weeks, that there was strange beliefs and weird like superstitions and things that they thought they would be able to accomplish by some mystical and mysterious types of practices and activities. And

But then also combined in this heresy, this false teaching, was legalism.

And they would become very rigid and strict about what you could eat and when you could eat it and all of these dietary laws kind of pulling in probably many things from Judaism. And so the doctrine that Paul is refuting here is a mixture of a variety of things with this secret knowledge, with this mysticism, with this legalism. And as I consider those different components of this false teaching,

I find it really appropriate for us to consider these things today. You know, there's many Christians, many people within the church, many thoughts and ideas and concepts being promoted in the Christian realm that fall into all of these categories. There are some secret knowledge types of doctrines that are still going around and mystical types of doctrines and superstitious types of doctrines and legalistic types of doctrines that are still being promoted today.

And there are many today who are chasing after the next thing and they're just, they're unsatisfied, they're unfulfilled as believers and they're trying and so they try this thing

method. They try this technique. They try this doctrine. They try this thing. And so they're in, you know, healing rooms or in there and, you know, chasing after this other teacher or getting involved in this event or this movement. And there's this chasing after the next thing. Some

because of their, you know, lack of foundation, because of their lack of fulfillment, are diving into legalism. And still today, legalism is strong. And there are even, you know, many,

denominations and those that would promote and teach and try to hold people to strong legalism. Some are on a search for higher and deeper knowledge. And there's this idea that if only I, there's like this secret knowledge, if only there was this one thing that I could know and

And then I would reach this spiritual plane and I would be done with all these battles and I would be over, you know, these issues of life and I would have victory and be conquering the things that are going on around me. Many today are looking for an easy, quick fix knowledge. Just, you know, give me a verse to quote that solves all my problems. And there's this search for the easy solutions, right?

Well, as we look at the book of Colossians, we're going to see over and over again the completeness that we have in Jesus. And all of these different searchings and all of these different chasings and all of these different things that we can pursue, we don't need to.

We have everything that we need in Jesus. We have all that we need in him already. We don't have to chase after and pursue all of these different things. And this emphasis comes from Colossians 2, verse 9 and 10, where Paul says, "...for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power."

Talking about Jesus, Paul says, everything is in Jesus. The fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus bodily, and you have Jesus. So you are complete in him. And he's the head over all principality and power. He's over all, he has it all, he has everything. And you have Jesus. So you are complete in him. And we need to understand this. We need to grasp hold of this truth. I am complete in

in Jesus. There is a lot of, not even so much like you wouldn't consider it like Bible doctrine, right, or Bible teaching, but just concepts in the things that we're experienced and exposed to on an ongoing basis. I was listening to the radio this past week, and you might have

Might already be familiar, but Air One, you know, 90.1, it changed. They're not really contemporary Christian music now. It's worship. It's a worship station, which is cool. So we're turning it on again and getting to hear some worship songs. But I heard one thing, and it just like stood out, and I've been thinking about it ever since. It was this next song. It's an exclusive worship song.

You can only hear it here on Air One. So keep listening to Air One because we have this exclusive worship song, right? And not bad. I'm not maligning them. But at the same time, I would challenge that concept in our own hearts.

That there's this idea that if you want this worship experience, you can only get this here, right? Like, it's kind of a strange thing to say, this exclusive worship song, that you can only have this kind of connection to God here. And it wasn't a false doctrine, and I wouldn't call that heresy. But again, it's part of, you know, the marketing and the hype and the concepts that we're faced with every day.

And books are being promoted, right? And oh man, your marriage will be saved. Just all you got to do is read this book. I mean, there's just the concepts. It's just, man, your marriage is going to be amazing. And you're going to have victory in this area of life when you follow this program or read this book. And we can easily get sucked into chasing after this or chasing after that.

Now, I'm not saying that God can't use different resources and different people to minister to us and work out in us, but all of those things are only useful to the degree that

that they draw us near to jesus that they teach us how to walk with jesus and know jesus and love jesus and so we need to be careful and we need to be looking at jesus and be reminded that we are complete in jesus and so god has us here in the book of colossians to lay this foundation to help us build our lives on this reality i have everything that i need in jesus christ

And there's a lot of ways that God wants to grow me and develop me, but they're all going to be rooted in Jesus. They're all going to be based on Jesus. They're all going to be, you know, centered around my relationship with Jesus. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, it's sad to say there are many Christians who actually believe that some person, religious system, or discipline can add something to their spiritual experience.

but they already have everything they will ever need in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This will creep into all of our thoughts, that there is some person, some system, some retreat, some event, some book, some literature, some course, some thing that can add something to our spiritual experience. And anything that gets in between us and Jesus is a distraction.

We already have everything that we will ever need in the person and work of Jesus Christ. I am complete in Jesus.

Well, we're going to work our way through five points here in verses 1 through 12 this morning and kind of going through these things rather quickly, not spending too much time here. We're not laying down strong, you know, huge, deep foundations tonight, but as a kind of an introduction into the book, we're going to spend our time in these verses and starting in verses 1 through 8 for point number one. And so that's what I mean. We're going to kind of go over these things rather lightly, but

Point number one this evening is I am complete by the grace of God. And here we have the introduction to the letter starting in verses one and two. Paul says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so here we have Paul's fairly standard greeting. He introduces himself. This is Paul the Apostle. Timothy is with him. And so his good and faithful friend Timothy is there. He addresses it to the saints. I would just take a moment as we began in Ephesians, you know, to remind us that's you, saint. You, that's your identity. You are a saint. You have right relationship with God because of your faith in Jesus Christ. And so he addresses it to the saints.

And then Paul commends to them or wishes upon them grace and peace. That God would be working with them in a way that is more and better than they deserve. And that God would give them peace. That they would have peace with God and peace from God in the things that they face. Standard greeting, standard introduction for Paul's letters.

Well, then he goes on in verse three and four to say, we give thanks to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints. And so Paul wants the Colossians to know he's praying for them. He's always thanking God for them, he says. And I'm praying for you all the time ever since I heard of your faith.

And here we get a little bit of insight into this relationship that Paul has, and that Paul has never been to this city, or at least not as a believer. He planted many churches, right? Did many missionary journeys, but the church at Colossae was not one that Paul had planted. Paul hadn't been there. He hadn't done missionary work there. He hadn't established the church there. In chapter 2, verse 1, he's going to talk about

the Colossians as well as others who have not seen him in the flesh or seen his face. They haven't seen him face to face. He's never been there, but he's heard about them. Colossae by this time was probably not a huge city. At one time it was, but it was in decline and it was a smaller city, but still a lot happening in it. It was probably a young church, a small church. And Paul says, I've heard about you. I've heard about your faith.

I've heard about your love for all the saints. And ever since then, man, I've been thanking God for you and I've been praying for you. Perhaps a little bit like us as we

devote time on Wednesday evenings to pray for our missionaries, right? And we spend time and perhaps for some of you, you've not met any of them face-to-face or you've met only a few of them face-to-face and yet at the same time, just hearing about them and hearing about the works that are going on as we do the missionary of the month each month, you know, you get a little bit of an insight, you get a little bit of a snapshot of what God is doing and it gives us opportunity to give thanks to God and to pray for them just like Paul did in

for the work at Colossae. Moving on to verse 5 and 6, it says, And so Paul says, I'm praying for you and I thank God for you.

Because of your faith, because of your love, and because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. There's hope for you. You have eternity ahead of you. And so I'm so grateful to God for that. And I thank God for that. And he says, you've heard about this hope. You heard about this hope in the word of the truth of the gospel. And here in these verses, Paul is taking a moment to basically authenticate the gospel message that they had received.

Again, since he had not been there, he didn't establish the church. He wants them to know, I know you've heard the gospel and the gospel that you heard is the correct and accurate and authentic gospel. It's why he goes on in verse six to say, this is the gospel that has come to you and it's the gospel that has gone into all the world. It's the real gospel. It's the truth and

And it's the same gospel message, the one that you heard, the one that you received, that's the same gospel that has gone out into the rest of the world. And so for those who were in Colossae, they could be reassured, they could be encouraged that this is the message that had done such incredible things before.

in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and then on into the outermost parts of the earth. The things that they heard about in the regions of Galatia, the things that they heard about in Ephesus and the things that they heard about in Macedonia where Philippi was and all of these things down in Greece where the Corinthians were, right? They've heard about the gospel message and

And Paul wants them to know, you received, you heard, you believed that same gospel message. It's a fruitful gospel, he says. He says, it's come to you. It's also in all the world, and it's bringing forth fruit in all the world. It's changing lives. It's accomplishing great things for God. It's starting revolutions and revivals. It's connecting people to God. It's bringing forth

fruit, just like it is in your life, just like it did in your life. It's the same message, the same gospel that has gone out into all the world and has made such a huge impact. And so Paul takes this moment here to authenticate the message. Again, because there are these false doctrines that are amongst them and that are being promoted around them, Paul wants them to look back to the message they heard at the

The message that they initially received, that was the true gospel. And Paul says that is the authentic gospel message. Now, how could Paul authenticate this message if he wasn't the one who was there in Colossae to deliver the message? In the book of Galatians, we saw Paul come strongly against the Galatians because they were turning to a different gospel.

But Paul, in that case, made it very clear. I preached the gospel to you. I know you had the real thing. Why are you now turning to this false thing? But Paul had not been to Colossae. So how could he authenticate their message and let them know that was the real gospel? Well, he wasn't there to deliver the message, but Paul did know that.

the messenger who brought the gospel to them. It was a man by the name of Epaphras. And he mentions him in verse seven. He says, as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who has declared to us your love in the spirit. Paul says, look, this is the true gospel that you received. And it's the same gospel that has gone out into all the world and produced fruit. And this gospel message was delivered to you by my good friend,

Paul kind of name drops here to let them know, hey, I'm good friends with Epaphras, the guy who planted the church there at Colossae, the guy who first brought the gospel to this area. He's a faithful minister. He's a fellow servant. I'm real close to this guy. He's a good friend. I know him. I know he brought to you the true gospel, the real message, the message of Jesus Christ.

We don't know a whole lot about Epaphras. He was probably saved during Paul's ministry in Ephesus. He is with Paul in Rome while Paul is writing the book, this letter to the Colossians, and he's a faithful messenger.

He's a minister of the gospel alongside of Paul, and he was instrumental in starting the work there at Colossae. And so here in Paul's introduction and his prayer for them, we learn a lot and he establishes some things, but I want to kind of circle back to the point here. Point number one for this evening is I am complete by the grace of God.

All of this work that has been accomplished in their midst, all of the things that God has done in their lives and the transformation that they received and the bringing forth of fruit that Paul talked about, he says it's happened in verse six at the end. It says, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. All of this has been taking place in the bringing forth of the true and genuine gospel, the authentic gospel message that

Paul says, the work that has been going on and the fruit that has been produced, it's been happening ever since the day you heard and knew the grace of God. The gospel produces life transformation. Paul says in Romans, right? It's the power of God unto salvation.

That gospel is rooted in the grace of God. It's not life transformation with all of your efforts. It's not life transformation, you know, with, well, you learning some secret knowledge or you accomplishing or reaching some level or, you know, it is rooted in the grace of God. And ever since you heard and knew the grace of God, the gospel has been accomplishing its work in you.

Again, this idea completely contradicts the Colossians heresy that was going on and being promoted around them. And so they needed to be refreshed and renewed and be reminded that the original message that they heard, the gospel of grace, that was the true message of God. That we have everything that we need by faith in Jesus Christ. I am complete by the grace of God.

H.A. Ironside, the pastor commentator says, the strongest faith in self-effort or in the church or in religious observances would leave the soul forever lost. But the feeblest faith in the Christ who died and rose again saves eternally. I like the contrast that he puts in there. The strongest faith. And there are people who have really strong beliefs about good works.

about self-effort, about some doctrine or some method or some rituals or some observations. They have really strong beliefs, and yet it can leave them still forever lost. But the feeblest faith, the weakest faith, the faith that's just barely existing, but you have enough faith to trust in Jesus Christ who died and rose again for you.

That feeblest faith is able to save eternally because it's by the grace of God. I am complete by the grace of God. I am able and positioned to receive from God everything that he wants from me because of faith in Jesus Christ and because of his grace towards us. Well, we're going to work our way now verses 9 through 12 for the final points and we'll...

Again, not go into great detail on these, but here Paul goes on to really express his prayer for the Colossians. Point number two this evening is I am completely able to know God and his will. And from Paul's prayer, we learn some of these important truths about our completeness in Christ. In verse nine, he goes on to say, for this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you.

and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. And so Paul is going to spend these verses praying for the Colossians, letting them know how he prays for them. But it also gives us great insight into what we have in Christ for us to be encouraged and be reminded about our completeness in him. And so here we learn, I am completely able to know God and his will.

Paul says, here's my prayer, that you may be filled with the knowledge, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will. Filled, completely, you know, overwhelmed, overflowing, that you may have a full knowledge. Now, Paul is saying, I'm praying for you that you may be filled. And so, first of all, I understand I don't automatically have all of this knowledge, but

The fact that it's by grace doesn't mean that I have it all already, but that it's attainable, that I'm completely capable of knowing the will of God. I am fully capable of obtaining the knowledge of God.

I'm not at the mercy of someone else who has that secret knowledge and has to reveal it to me. I'm not at the mercy of someone else who has to bring forth the knowledge of God and his will to me. No, I am fully capable and complete in Christ to know God and to know his will. As you talk about the will of God, you realize,

Paul could be talking about the general will of God and that, you know, this is the way that he works. This is his character. This is his nature. This is his plan, right? For humanity, for salvation. And you could look at those big picture things, but then I would bring it also down to the personal will of God. You can know what God wants of you, what God desires to do in your life and the direction that he wants you to go, that you can know from God what he desires, right?

You can receive direction and help from God. And what is his will and his plans for your life? He goes on to say with all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Again, notice the all wisdom. Again, there was the people around Colossae that were claiming special wisdom and extra special spiritual understanding and insights, right? And there are those today who would make those similar claims.

But Paul is saying, look, you already have access to all wisdom and all spiritual understanding. You already have access to God and to the knowledge of his will. You already have access to it all. And it's through Jesus. And so I'm praying that you would grasp hold of that. There's an old saying, you know, all the cookies are on the bottom shelf. I put the cookies on the top shelf. So, you know, they're the littler ones that can't reach them. It's only for big people.

And there are those who teach, you know, this is a big people truth. You know, this is a big people, you have to reach a certain level. But God puts all the cookies on the bottom shelf. He says, look, everything you need, all knowledge, all spiritual understanding, all wisdom, it's available to you. You are completely able to know God and His will. You have everything that you need. You really do. By faith in Jesus Christ, by the grace of God.

You have access to him. I am completely able to know God and his will. Pastor David Guzik says to know God and what he requires of us is our first responsibility. Not only do we have access to know God and his will, but it's our first responsibility. It's the most important thing of our lives to know God and to know what he wants of us.

And so it's something that we should all be praying for and endeavoring to receive. Again, not through some special access or some special thing, but through our relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ. Well, moving on to verse 10, we get point number three this evening. And that is, I am able to completely please God. I am able to completely please God. Just let that settle in for a moment. It's a radical thought.

Verse 10, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Paul says, here's my prayer for you, that you may walk worthy of the Lord. Now again, the word may indicates it's not automatic. You have access to everything you need to walk worthy, but it doesn't mean you automatically walk worthy, but you have access to what you need. You have access to the resources in Christ that

You can walk worthy of the Lord. And you might look back at your life. You might look back at your week. You might look back at your day and say, I can't walk worthy. He goes on to say that you would be fully pleasing him. And you might think there is just no way. It just is impossible. I will never be fully pleasing to God. Paul says, I disagree. You're complete in Christ.

You have everything that you need in him. You can walk worthy of the Lord. You can be fully pleasing him and fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. I am complete in Jesus Christ. And it means that I have everything that I need to be able to please God completely, fully, 100%. It doesn't mean that we're going to be perfect. Fully pleasing God is not about perfection. And again, it's not about some system that's

It's about, well, starting back in Galatians, doing grace. Even when I'm not perfect, I still draw near to God. You know what pleases God? When you fail, fall on your face hard, completely just mess up royally, and then believe God enough to draw near to him and walk with him and ask him to work in your life. And you can be fully pleasing to God, not because of your perfection, but because of your pursuit of a relationship with God.

You're able to walk worthy, not because you're perfect, although God will work on your life and there will be that transformation that takes place. But you can walk worthy now, even when you're not there yet, right? Even when you're not in eternity without the issue of sin, you can walk worthy now by the way that you respond to your failures, right?

by the way that you repent of your sins, by the way that you cry out in remorse over your failures, that the way that you respond to those things brings you to a place that you can be walking worthy of the Lord and fully pleasing Him, even in your defeats, not just in your victories. Verse 11 goes on to give us point number four, I am strengthened completely by His power.

I am strengthened completely by his power. Verse 11 says, Again, Paul is just working through his prayer. This is what I'm praying for you. That you would know God and his will. That you would be fully pleasing to him. And that you would have all the strength that you need. Notice he says, All might.

Everything that you need. It's a full might. It's all the strength possible, all the strength necessary. How much might do you have? In the Lord, you have it all. You have all the strength that you need in Christ. He says, according to his glorious power. What's the saying? A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, right? Typically, I'm the weakest link, right? But then I'm not. In Christ,

My strength is only as strong as his glorious power. How strong is his glorious power? It's strong. He has all power, all might. Resurrection from the dead, I have that power. I have that strength because I'm strengthened with his might according to his glorious power. How is that strength best demonstrated? Does anybody have a phone book I could borrow? I just need to rip it in half real quick and demonstrate the strength.

Pastor Tom always tried to teach me how to do that because it's supposed to be just some trick, but it hurts your fingers, so I could never do it. How is this strength demonstrated? He goes on in verse 11 to say, for all patience and long-suffering with joy. We may not be super excited about how this strength is demonstrated, but this strength is demonstrated in long-suffering. You're strong enough to suffer for a long time and have joy. You have the strength that you need.

Now, a lot of Christians don't demonstrate this strength. A lot of times we, as we're facing trials and difficulties and tribulations, we don't demonstrate this strength because, again, it's one of those things. We have access to it, but we're not partaking of it. It's not that we cannot. It's not that we do not have the strength. It's not that we cannot have that strength, but it's that we do not have it because...

We're not looking for our completion in Christ. We are looking to other things to complete us, to resolve our needs, to satisfy us. H.A. Ironside says, I need this dynamic force so to keep the flesh in subjection that I can patiently endure whatsoever God in his wisdom sees fit to let me go through while in this wilderness world. I need this strength to

His glorious power, itty bitty living space, right? No, His glorious power, I need His power in my life to dominate my flesh, to keep my flesh in subjection in this life. There's a lot of temptation. There's a lot of temptation to grumble and complain and gripe in the trials, but also just temptation in general, right? My flesh is strong. My will is strong. I need the power of God at work in me to

So that I can be patient and long-suffering and have joy in this life. I'm strengthened completely by His power. My access to Him gives me all the strength that I need. I don't need to go chasing strength somewhere else. I don't need to go find it somewhere else. It's not hidden under somewhere. It's not someone who has, you know, these five words that they can tell me and then I will have the strength that I need. The strength that I need is found in Jesus Himself.

Well, finally, point number five found in verse 12, I am completely qualified to partake of eternity. In verse 12, Paul says, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. I'm praying for you guys that you would know God, that you would know his will, that you would be fully pleasing to God, that you would have strength. And all the while, I'm just thanking God that he has qualified you. You're pre-qualified. You're pre-qualified.

Right now, qualified by believing in Jesus. You haven't reached the end yet. You haven't entered into eternity yet in that way. And yet at the same time, he's already decided you're qualified. It's qualified you to partake of the inheritance of the saints. Again, saints, that's you. That's me. Even with my failures, even with my faults, I'm qualified to receive the inheritance of those who are perfect. I'm qualified. I'm qualified.

to have the partaking of eternity with the Father and Jesus Christ. I'm completely qualified. I have everything already. There is not some extra step. It's one of the reasons why we would say baptism is not required for salvation. Believing in Jesus Christ, receiving the gospel message, you're complete. You're qualified.

There's not some extra doctrine. There's not some extra things that you have to do that you have to work out. There's not some, you know, it comes back to believing in Jesus, knowing Jesus, walking with Jesus. It completes you in a way that nothing else can. I'm completely qualified to partake of eternity.

And so here Paul begins this letter with, really it's just introductory comments, right? It's just him talking about how he's praying for them and thanking God for them, but it gives us a good introduction to the concepts he's about to dive into and the doctrines he's about to elaborate on. We'll dive into those as we continue on in Colossians in the coming weeks, but here we get a glimpse, and it's enough of

of a glimpse to really be encouraged, to be reminded. And I pray that you are, that you would be able to declare, I am complete in Jesus. I'm not worthy of it. I don't deserve it. I haven't earned it, but it's by the grace of God I'm complete. Because he deals with me according to his grace and mercy, I am complete. And that means I'm completely able to know God and his will. I don't need anything else.

It's available to me. I have access to know God and to know His will. It doesn't mean I have it automatically, but I have the capacity. I'm completely capable of knowing God. I'm completely capable of hearing from God direction and receiving from Him insights and steps He wants me to take. I'm able to completely please God. Me, I can put a smile on God's face, even with my frailties and weaknesses. I'm able, completely,

to please God, to walk with Him in a way that honors Him and brings joy to Him. I'm able to be strengthened completely by His power. I have everything that I need, all the strength that I need to face whatever I face through Jesus Christ. I don't need to run around and chase somewhere else or figure out some other secret calculation or secret doctrine or secret understanding. I have it. I have it in Christ. And so I'm completely qualified to partake of eternity. I'm ready.

I'm going to be presented before him as a pure spotless bride. I'm ready for eternity because of Christ. I'm complete in him. Well, we want to continue to meditate on these concepts a little bit. And so we're going to head back into a time of worship now. And here's what's going to happen for our closing time. We're going to spend some time. I'm going to do a few worship songs. And then in between the songs, we want to take some time and pray. Just like Paul prayed for the Colossians.

we want to spend some time in prayer also for these same concepts, for these same ideas. Now, I would encourage you this way, and maybe it'll sound kind of weird, but the worship, the time of worship, that's for you. Let's take some time to worship. And as I play this first song, just allow the Lord to minister to your heart. Allow yourself to express these things to the Lord and that you would know the Lord and His will.

But then as we head into the time of prayer, let's, well, let's pray for others. And I want to encourage you to be bold and pray. Not everybody has to pray every time, but as there is opportunity, as there is space, be bold and pray as the Lord prompts your heart. Pray for a missionary. Again, like Paul, you maybe have never met them, never seen them, never seen them face to face, but you can pray for them, that they would know God. Maybe it's someone here in this room that

The Lord would have you to pray for, and so you can pray out loud, and we'll all join with you in agreement in prayer for that person. Maybe it's someone on your heart, just like the Colossians were on the heart of the Apostle Paul. So we're going to follow that pattern for a few songs, okay? We're going to worship the Lord. First of all, worshiping Him regarding our ability and our capacity to know Him.

And then we'll pray for someone that they would know God and know his will, just like Paul prayed for the Colossians. And then we'll work our way through Paul's prayer in that way. So let's take some time and just quiet our hearts and worship the Lord together. Again, the time of worship is for us. Let's just connect with God, meet with him. And then as we have the opportunity to pray in between the songs, let's pray for others and lift them up before the Lord together.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.