Preached by Apostle Aje Pelser at Harvester Reformational Church

Scripture:

Col 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Col 1:2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

Col 1:3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Col 1:4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints;

Col 1:5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,

Col 1:6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;

Col 1:7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,

Col 1:8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

Col 1:9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Col 1:10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Col 1:11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;

Col 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Col 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

Col 1:14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Here are some qualifications to partake in the inheritance of the saints.

1. Receive apostolic grace.

The fact that the believers in Colosse received the apostles Paul, Timothy and Epaphras, open their hearts to the knowledge of Christ and released faith, hope and love in their church life as well as in their community. SO much so that it was spoken of further afield. Paul addressed the heresies facing the church that put Jesus Christ in the background and reconfigured their belief with Christ in the forefront. Interesting that their foundations of faith hope and love set in order by apostolic grace with Jesus as the cornerstone kept them through the heresies that sought to dismantle the church.

2. Declare your love.

Their love for the saints in turn gave them part of the inheritance of the saints. That is a key for all believers today. You make an investment in another believer and in a worthy Gospel cause, in your local church through tithes and offerings, and that gives you access to a larger pool of support when you need it in your life.

3. Show your faith

It is not enough to just talk about your faith, put it into action to show people what you believe. When I started praying about reaching France, I started taking French lessons again. It shows God you mean business and that it is not just a whimsical idea.

4. Understand your hope.

Our hope works differently to the worldly concept of hope. We have faith as the substance of our hope in the midst of all the storms and circumstances that seem to contradict that faith we are acting on. But when we actually endure and overcome, our hope is not disappointed because we are so assured of God’s love poured out in our hearts by the precious Holy Spirit. I often hear God tell me: “I love you.” It is an assuring voice within that is given through the agency of His Holy Spirit. That still small voice within. When I ask people in churches if they hear that voice too, most of them who have a walk of faith with God put up their hands and you realize God is a Father to all. It remains that we reply: “I love you too Father God.”

5. Bring forth fruit

Pruning is a severe process for fruit in the citrus area of the cape. They actually cut off a large part