In our text, we are called to remember. Of course, this means that we are to remember what Christ did when He was on earth. I want to share some things with you that we can remember as we partake of the Lord's Supper.
I. Remember what He did for us at Calvary. The crucifixion and resurrection should always we on our minds and hearts. II. Remember what He has done in our lives. All who are genuinely saved can remember the things that Jesus has done in their lives as answers to prayers, etc. III. Remember what life would be without Him. Think of not having Him to go to in times of trouble, etc. IV, Remember what the world would be without Him. Our unbelieving world forgets what has been done in the name of Jesus for the last two thousand years: schools, hospitals, benevolent ministries, etc. Remember all of this and more as you take of the Lord's Supper.
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Psalm 92 begins with "It is good to give thanks to the Lord." We need to look at some of the reasons why this is true from within the text and outside of the text.
I. Two commonsense reasons to give thanks to the Lord. A. It is the right thing to do. We have been taught from an early age to say "thank you." .B. It is good for us to give thanks to the Lord. II Suggestions from the text. A. Vs. 2a - His lovingkindness B. Vs. 2b - His faithfulness (The verse tells us to "show forth" these two things for which we should be thankful. We need to give the Lord's lovingkindness and faithfulness a shout out by how we live and verbally....) C. Vs. 5 - His works Where do we start and where do we stop thanking the Lord for His / wonderful works in our lives? (Preacher, I imagine you have a lot of stories to tell here.) III. Other areas thanksgiving outside of the text. A. Thankful for His presence. B. Thankful for His power. C. Thankful for His peace. D. Thankful for His provision All of what we shown in the text and outside of the text illustrates for us that it is, indeed, "good to give thanks to the Lord." Paul prayed for the Colossian Christians to have the qualities that we will look at today. As we look at them, you will see the importance of these qualities.
I. Vs. 9 - Be "filled with the knowledge of (God's) will." We must be careful daily to seek to know and do God's will.V II. Vs. 10a - Walk worthy of the Lord. It matters how we live, and we need to live worthy lives, being careful to serve as "lights of the world." III. Vs. 10b - Being fruitful in every good work. We certainly want to bear fruit for Him. We can't if we do not seek His will, or live worthy lives. IV. Vs. 11 - "Be strengthened with all might, according to His gracious power." We cannot be fruitful for Christ in our own strength. We don't have that kind of strength, we always depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. He was given to us for the purpose of strengthened and empowering us to do His work and will. V. Vs. 12 - Giving thanks. In all things we are to be thankful for the fact that He will use us to do His will. Of course it means to be generally thankful.... These the Christian qualities that Paul prayed for the Colossians to have and that we should pray that we will have. .When I read this text, the thought began to form that verse 31 gives us some things that we do not need in our lives, while verse 32 gives us some things that we need in our lives. What a difference it would make in our lives, in our churches, and in our community if we who claim the name of Chris would take these don'ts and dos seriously.
I. Vs. 31 - Donts A. Don't be bitter. This is long standing resentment that refuses to be reconciled. Hebrews 12:15 speaks to this. B. Don't let wrath and anger take over you mind, heart and actions. I call wrath anger on steroids. Another word for it is rage. C. Don't speak evil of other people. William Barclay referred to this as "insulting language." To illustrate how bad this is, the Greek word translated "evil speaking" is "blasphemia." That is blaspheme. It takes the form gossip, and speaking rudely to people - and much more.. D. Don't be malicious. Malice is anger, wrath, bitterness and evil speaking all put together and means to do harm to other people. It can be physical harm, but more often, it is verbal harm. II. Dos A. Do be kind to people. This is the opposite of malice. It means to be concerned about people. It means to treat people as Jesus would. Etc. B. Do be tenderhearted. This means to be compassionate and actually feel for other people. It means to have empathy for other people and care about them. C. Do forgive others. It tells us to forgive others because Christ has forgiven us. Christ gave us forgiveness and grace and we are to do the same with people. I know that I need to work on these don'ts and dos, and I'm confident that you do too. Think of the revival that we would have if we really took these don'ts and dos seriously. |
All of these materials are free of charge. There is no copyright on them and you are free to use them as you see fit. I am happy to be of assitance to you in your preaching/teaching minstry.
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