June 1, 2014

The Glory of Christ: Careful Praying, Prayerful Caring - Part 2

Speaker: Steve Bice Series: Colossians: The Glory of Christ Topic: Colossians Scripture: Colossians 1:11–1:14

While the first half of Paul’s prayer is so very encouraging and challenging, if left to itself, it can leave us with a pit in our stomach. Why? Because we can tend to look at the words “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” and forget to look at the source of all of that. We look to ourselves rather than God, in our hard work we tend towards self-sufficiency, we fail and we feel weak. Perhaps we feel that we may have “started strong” but have lost the strength and resolve and zeal to continue or we fear that we in all likelihood will lose the zeal that we currently have.

But, Paul has been clear that the source of our “walking in a manner worthy of the Lord” that is fully pleasing to him doesn’t lie in us but in the reality of almighty GOD filling us with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding through the word of God and in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world. But Paul doesn’t stop there - he continues his intercession for the Colossians and prays that God would not only fill them with knowledge of himself but strengthen them for that life being lived in a manner worthy of the Lord and fully pleasing to him.

In Paul’s careful prayer we continue to witness his prayerful care for the Colossians. This message considers this theologically informed prayer for the saints by considering the Productive Power available to the saints, the Promised Inheritance for the saints, and the Present Reality of the saints.

other sermons in this series