https://youtu.be/XIyVjldCdeQ

Small Group Questions

Give some examples of good fruit that you have because of your faith?

Do you have a Christian mentor? Are you mentoring another Christian?

Give an example of when you yielded to someone else that was to your benefit.

What are you praying for and why? Does that need to change after listening to this sermon?

Describe a time where you used God's strength to get through a trial.

Now that’s a prayer! (Colossians 1:9-14) *Verses in New Living Translation (NLT)*

- Recently we finished the Book of Acts, and it ended with Paul imprisoned in Rome.

- We are now going through Colossians. A “prison letter” written by Paul during that time.

- This letter is written to the Church in Colosse, a young and faithful church of mostly Gentiles.

- Paul is really trying to encourage them to stay rooted in the true gospel, and he begins this letter with a powerful prayer:

Part #1

- Colossians 1:9-10, So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

- This is the “good fruit” your life in Christ should produce:

- Galatians 5:22-23, But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

- I think for the new-ish believer, one of the biggest challenges is transitioning to living a life that pleases God, because you know it on paper, but what does it look like to put it in to action?

- Example: I was a new firefighter with no experience, started copying the bad example around me, until a guy from another shift/station corrected me. I was so thankful!

- There are rules, and guidelines, and procedures on paper, but putting that into practice takes and example to follow. (What does “being patient” look like? What is “long suffering”?)

- Like in the movie A Few Good Men, “If it’s not in the book, how did you know where the chow hall was?” “I just followed the crowd at chow time, Sir.”

- You can be easily affected by the Christian culture around you, whether legalistic and judgmental, or compromising and accepting of sin.

- James 3:15-18, For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. 17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.

- This is an excellent example of what it should look like and what it shouldn’t look like. When you see the believer’s around you setting THIS example, you will know you are in the right place.

- John 15:4, (Jesus said), Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vi...