Church Fam

Mark 3:31-35 Colossians 1:1-14

Prayer for the Church

CIT: Thanksgiving and Prayer for Colossians

CIS: Intro Collossians, Encourage the Church

SO: The hearer will become great Churh Fam

Follow along at d1.church/notes.

Intro: Church Fam is a series desinged to encourage us as the church to do life together. Along this series we will learn of Paul’s instructions to a new congregation in relation to what it means to be Christian. We will cover the entire book of Colossians and view what Paul views as necessary things for a congregation. 

We will not just learn about what it means to be a Church Family but we will have opportunities to Take next steps of Salvation and Baptism. We will also have an opportunity to become members of d1 and we will gather together for one combined service on August 18th and then have the chance to join home groups as well. 2 pot lucks thrown in there make it perfect.

Jesus has a marked instance in the Gospel where he makes a difference between his earthly family and his church family. In Mark Chapter 3 Jesus is in a house performing miracles and priest and even his family are not understanding his calling. He is healing people and ministering. Verse 31 starts this way:

Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you. “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”Mark 3:31-35

Jesus defines our Church fam as Whoever does the Will of God.

Jesus also promises that Anyone who has to leave father, mother, or house for his sake, will receive a reward in heaven. (Matthew 19:29)

I am not advocating for Church family to be above your earthly family but the notion of Biological Family is everything similar to what we have been taught may change when we move closer to God. God will give us a Churh Family that we are to interact with as well. 

Church Family is the Body of Christ you are a part of. It is an adopted family God has placed you in. These people are here to guide you along in your faith and be co-laborers in Christ. 

Today we will learn how new converts should look at the Church Fam.

1. Paul to Colossae (Colossians 1:1-8)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

ILL: In our Bible we have a few letters that we call Prison Epistles. This means that the Apostle Paul wrote them from Prison. Paul was imprisoned in Rome and generally facing a series of trials and prisons that would eventually lead to his death. Paul was an evangelist and traveled through Turkey a couple of times. Colossae is in Turkey’s southern region and a located a little bit off of the main trade route. Colossae was know for its textiles (rugs and such) and was a very diverse society. Paul does not show a record of going to Colossae at any time, but is informed from a more local convert who preaches named Epaphrus. Paul mentions Epaphrus in two letters and he is from the region and appears to be spreading the gospel in Turkey. Epaphrus has pioneered this church and has moved on allowing them to grow. The Gospel is being preached and bearing fruit in Colossae and every where.

EXP: Often Paul writes letters to Churches that he receives bad news or bad pracices from. We are so thankful for bad churches because we get to learn from Paul’s instructions to them. Colossae seems to not be directed at a particular problem, but Paul greets them and gives them some common knowledge and guides for churches.

ILL: Paul establises 2 things for the Colossians. One he mentions their faith growing in the Hope of Glory according to their salvation. His desire is for the Gospel to bear much fruit as it in everywhere else and is doing already in Colossae according to reports. In short, Paul knows the power of the Gospel is in Faith, Hope and Love. 

APP: Paul anticipates and knows that the Holy Spirit will cause them to change mentally, physically and knows that new Christians need guidence.

T.S.: Paul in turn Prays for them.

2. Prayer for the Church (Colossians 1:9-14)

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father,who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

EXP: Paul and Timothy have devoted themselves from Prison to pray Churches in the Region including Colossae and Laodecia. 

ILL: Prayer for Churches:

1. God fill you with Knowledge of his will (Scriptures)
2. Provide wisdom and understanding through the Spirit (Spirit reveal the word)
3. Live a life worthy of the Lord (Apply it to your life)
4. Please God in every way (Strive to please God in every area of your life)
5. Bear Fruit in every good work (Do not let your labor be in vain, Kingdom Minded)
6. Growing in the Knowledge of God (Growth Plan)
7. Strenghthened with all power according to his glorious might (God will give you the abiltiy to rise to chalenge)
8. Have great endurance and Patience (Keep pressing on)
9. Praise God for victory in Him (Never forget what God has done for you)

ILL: When we were driving on our last vacation we traveled over 4000 miles. At one point of the drive we were in a state we did not know and we had stopped and turned the car off, checked out phones and I had cleared all the open screens including my maps. We got back on the road headed toward our next destination and I began to reset up our maps and wouldnt you know it but our internet was not strong enough to connect GPS. So for a minute I realized that I was in a state I had never been before driving on a road I had never traveled and I generally did not know where I was going. I was headed in the right direction, (i hoped) I had all the gas I needed in the car, I want hungry but honestly if there was a road change up ahead I needed to take I would have missed it. I had an idea and a plan, but I was lacking the necessary navigation. Paul writes this letter to the Church because he knows it is common for new Christians who are empowered by God and have a Heart for the ultimate hope of eternal life to get lost in a state they do not know, because they lack proper navigation. So Paul writes Colossians.

Put list back up.^^^^

ILL: Prayer for Churches:

1. God fill you with Knowledge of his will (Scriptures)
2. Provide wisdom and understanding through the Spirit (Spirit reveal the word)
3. Live a life worthy of the Lord (Apply it to your life)
4. Please God in every way (Strive to please God in every area of your life)
5. Bear Fruit in every good work (Do not let your labor be in vain, Kingdom Minded)
6. Growing in the Knowledge of God (Growth Plan)
7. Strenghthened with all power according to his glorious might (God will give you the abiltiy to rise to chalenge)
8. Have great endurance and Patience (Keep pressing on)
9. Praise God for victory in Him (Never forget what God has done for you)

APP: This prayer is just as much for Deming First as it is for the Churches in Turkey. 

T. S.: What was happening in the Churches of that day was that after the founding apostle or evangelist left other strong leaders would come in and some of them had some bad teachings. They began to teach the church that they had to dress act or be a certain way if they wanted to be Christian. Paul needed to set a strong foundation of teaching in order to circumvent the issue.

I want to pray for three groups today:

1. Some in this room are fairly new to Protestant Christianity. You have been handed down others views of God and you are convinced that is not who God is, but if your were honest, you need some information about God.
2. I pray that God will use this series to settle some questions about how to live a life worthy of the Lord.
3. Some of you need to know the Power of the Gospel
4. I pray for you that Faith, Hope and Love will be your guide.
5. Some of you today realize that you cannot do this alone. That you need God, and a community to surround you.
6. I pray today for salvation.