Over the past year people have become more and more aware of just how unstable the things of this world are. Of course this growing awareness has led to a growing sense of worry and anxiety. Things we once trusted to keep us safe no longer seem as reliable as they once did. In Colossians 3 Paul calls us to stop trusting in the fleeting things of this world and to set our minds on things above. One of the things Paul wants us to set our minds upon is the reality that we have died and our life is now hidden with Christ in God. The reason Paul wants us to think about that is because it means that we are safe. For all those whose life is hidden with Christ in God there is no longer anything in the universe that can ultimately harm us. In this sermon we will consider how our lives might be different if we would set our minds more fully on the things above.

In Colossians there were some teachers who thought that they had discovered the secret to experiencing the presence of God. Because of this they became puffed up and looked down on those who did not share their experience. In this sermon we will talk about the danger of allowing our knowledge of the Bible or our experience of God to lead us to feel superior to others. We will also look at the true path into the presence of God and talk about how it crushes our pride and keeps us humble.

One of Satan’s weapons of choice is shame. The Bible calls him the accuser and he loves to hold our sins over our head and remind us that we are not enough. He whispers that if anyone knew the things we had done there is no way they could ever truly love us. But in Colossians 2:13-15 Paul tells us how our God has disarmed the accuser by cancelling the massive debt that we owed at the cross. In this message we will discover the connection between the forgiveness of our past sins and freedom from slavery to sin in the present.

The book of Colossians lays claim to a glorious picture of Jesus that is meant to spur people on to daily worship and adoration. However, sometimes we are quick to look to our own daily disciplines and human traditions to give us confidence before God. But Paul takes the Colossian church back to the moment they first believed in the person and work of Jesus and commands them to trust in that same person and work day in and day out. Listen and hear how the gospel is such great news that we never have to move beyond it.

You and I will become like whatever we give our attention to. Knowing this Paul tells the Colossians that he toiled and struggled in order to proclaim Christ to them so that they might behold him and become more like him. This raises the question, “What are you giving your attention to?” Knowing what is at stake are you and I willing to toil and struggle for our own soul in order to make sure that we are giving our attention to beholding the one who is truly worthy.

I think most of us wish we were more bold in talking about our faith with others. However, many times we find ourselves holding back because we are not sure how talking about Jesus will be received by those around us. But what if suffering or even the fear of suffering didn’t hold us back from sharing the Gospel? How would that change our lives? In this passage Paul comes to shift our view of suffering from an obstacle to be avoided into a means of proclaiming the Gospel to be rejoiced in. It sounds crazy, right?

In this passage Paul reminds us that the most broken relationship we have ever experienced was with the most important person we have ever known and it was 100% our fault. Nevertheless, Paul tells us that we have a savior who has reconciled that broken relationship in his body through his death! Let that sink in, the most broken thing in all of the universe has already been fixed! You could summarize all of this by saying that you and I have been more wrong than we have ever realized and yet we remain more loved than we could ever imagine. In this sermon we will talk about what it means to be wrong and loved and why that truth can sometimes be difficult to swallow.

Just like the Colossians we live in a world that is constantly trying to dethrone Jesus in our lives by deceiving us into prioritizing other things. Into this world Paul broke out into a hymn proclaiming the preeminence of Jesus in all things. Jesus is preeminent in everything good and beautiful because he is the one who made it. But he is also preeminent in all of the broken because he alone is able to fix it through the blood of his cross. In this message we will consider what it would look like to give Jesus the preeminence in everything in our lives both the beautiful and the broken.

How often do you think about pleasing God? Many people rarely think about pleasing God at all, while those who do think about pleasing God usually find themselves feeling pretty discouraged at how far short they fall. In Colossians 1:9-14 Paul reminds us of the importance of pleasing God, while still finding a way to encourage those who are despairing over their sin. If you have ever wondered how to honestly seek to please a holy God without being crushed by your failure then this sermon is for you.

Sometimes people are hard to love, especially people that we have tried to love only to be let down by. In this sermon we will consider the way Paul continued to love people even after they had hurt him. We will also talk about the Colossians love for “all” of the saints and what makes that kind of love possible.