Colossians: Realistic Expectations... or... How Not to Be Shocked

Rejoicing and suffering seem to not fit together: but Paul experienced both, as he emphatically expressed to the Colossians, as he took on the inevitable but glorious persecution all Christians must face.

John 15:18-25
Colossians 1:24-29,1:19-20,2:9-10
2 Timothy 3:12,2:8-10
Matthew 10:21-22,5:11-12
Acts 9:4-5
2 Corinthians 4:8-11,1:3-7
Philippians 3:10
1 Peter 4:12-14
Romans 8:16-18,12:21
1 Peter 3:13-14
Mark 8:36

As, therefore, Christ has suffered once in his own person, so he suffers daily in His members, and in this way there are filled up those sufferings which the Father hath appointed for his body by his decree. John Calvin John Calvin's Commentaries On St. Paul's Epistles To The Philippians

The oftener we are mowed down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed. Tertullian Apology 50.13

God hath called you to Christ's side, and the wind is now in Christ's face in this land; and seeing ye are with him, ye cannot expect the lee-side or the sunny side of the brae. Samuel Rutherford The Letters of Samuel Rutherford 1600-1661

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Jim Elliot The Journals of Jim Elliot

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Why is it assumed Christians will suffer persecution?
• What is Union with Christ and how does that fit into this topic?
• Why is it important to have realistic expectations about this suffering?
• How does rejoicing fit with suffering in this text?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Colossians: Real Power, Real Help, Real Change

In someways it is simple: Know God's will and then do it... but once I know it I need power to do it. Paul knows; listen to his answer in this companion prayer to our study in Colossians.

Colossians 1:9-11
Ephesians 1:15-21,2:4-6,6:10
Romans 1:16
1 Corinthians 1:18
Philippians 4:13
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• What is the outline of Paul's prayer so far in our study?
• What does he pray for?
• What does each of the requests mean?
• What does he pray about power in the life of the believer?
• Whose prayer is it, and how was it displayed in history?
• How do we get this power?
• Why do we have to make sure we really want it?
• Do we believe all of this to be true for us individually?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Preparing for a New Year

As we look upon a new year we will no doubt face both joy and challenges, peace and trials. How can we prepare to face it with faith in God and in a way that honors Him? David gives us a good example of how to overcome difficulty by strengthening oneself in the Lord.

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1 Samuel 30,27:8-12
Deuteronomy 25:17-19
Psalm 18:1-3

"Then David strengthened himself in the Lord his God". Alexander Maclaren has rightly underscored this point. There was ever a danger in Israel of holding to the official covenant faith without having a vital personal faith. It could be all too easy to speak of the "Shepherd of Israel" (Psalm 80:1) but not be able to say "The Lord is my shepherd" (Psalm 23:1), just as church folks might affirm Jesus is the Son of God but would not dream of calling Him "the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). As Maclaren has said, David could no longer say, "My house", "my city", or "my possessions", but he could say, "My God". That is where the strengthening must begin. Dale Ralph Davis 1 Samuel

The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of Himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. (1 Corinthians 8:4,6; Deuteronomy 6:4; Jeremiah 10:10; Isaiah 48:12; Exodus 3:14; John 4:24; 1 Timothy 1:17; Deuteronomy 4:15-16; Malachi 3:6; 1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:23; Psalm 90:2; Genesis 17:1; Isaiah 6:3; Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 46:10; Proverbs 16:4; Romans 11:36; Exodus 34:6-7; Hebrews 11:6; Nehemiah 9:32-33; Psalm 5:5-6; Exodus 34:7; Nahum 1:2-3) 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• How did God get David out of his spiritual decline and sinful self-reliance?
• Why was it important for David to turn to God at the worst moment?
• What might he have done otherwise, and what would have been the consequences?
• How did David strengthen himself in the Lord His God?
• What was the application of this passage to us as we look to this new year?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Life of David: Strengthening Oneself in the Lord

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Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA