Christian Life Center Sermons
Web Site: Christian Life Center
Total Sermons: 67
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Biblical Growh Enhancement
As we drink the “sincere milk of God’s Word” (v. 2) we enhance the growth process that takes place in our lives. We grow in our understanding and realization of God’s purpose for our lives and experience a fulfillment that comes from “participating” (II Peter 1:4) in the very life of Christ.
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Jesus > Asceticism
Colossians 2:18-23 Asceticism – The doctrine that a person can attain a high spiritual and moral state by practicing self-denial, self-mortification, and the like. In the mind of some restricting pleasure is a sign of godliness. Still others will say that how “holy” you are is determined by whether or not you engage in certain activities. Paul will put the axe to the root of all these issues in this passage pointing to pride as the issue and the outcome of this kind of living. Paul contrasts two sources and their outcomes in Colossians 2:18-23
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Jesus > Moralism
Article can be found here: ~~~> http://bit.ly/15fZcl Colossians 2:11-17 If the prosperity “gospel” is the most prevalent false teaching in our churches today then Moralism (or more fully: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, which doesn’t make a very good sermon title) is the pervading misconception about our relationship to and with God. The religious temperature of our culture as described by Christian Smith and his team of researchers from UNC is, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism consisting of beliefs like these: 1. "A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth." 2. "God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions." 3. "The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself." 4. "God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem." 5. "Good people go to heaven when they die." Colossians and the rest of Scripture totally invalidate these and other misconceptions about who God is and how he relates to us! In Colossians 2:11-17 Paul offers us three proofs that Jesus > Moralism.
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Jesus > False Teachers pt. 2
Colossians 2:1-10 Jesus promises us that the Gospel will always have enemies. Some of them will be blatantly obvious, for example those who persecute and kill our brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world. Whether those attackers be government sanctioned or religious zealots in the 1st Century or the 21st it is easy to see how they would be considered and enemy of the Gospel. Others however are more subtle. In the Apostle Paul’s day it was the Gnostics claiming that flesh is bad and the spirit is good therefore Jesus couldn’t be both Man and God at the same time. If he wasn’t both man and God simultaneously He couldn’t have lived the sinless life and been able to offer himself in our place for our sin. In our day we wrestle with the Prosperity Gospel (aka Health and Wealth Gospel, Word of Faith Movement, or the Faith Healing movement) and its preachers. Today I hope make that point that “you complete in (Jesus), who is the head of all principality and power” (vs. 10) and not in the status symbols of our day!
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Jesus > False Teachers pt. 1
Jesus promises us that the Gospel will always have enemies. Some of them will be blatantly obvious, for example those who persecute and kill our brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world. Whether those attackers be government sanctioned or religious zealots in the 1st Century or the 21st it is easy to see how they would be considered and enemy of the Gospel. Others however are more subtle. Today we wrestle with the Prosperity Gospel (aka Health and Wealth Gospel, Word of Faith Movement, or the Faith Healing movement) and its preachers. Today I hope make that point that “you complete in (Jesus), who is the head of all principality and power” (vs. 10) and not in the status symbols of our day!
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The Enduring Word
This love relationship is brought about by several factors that Peter emphasizes here. The first and foremost influence in our lives is the “living” and “enduring” Word of God. We need to pay attention to what takes place in our lives “since” (v. 22) we have been purified by “obeying the Truth (Gospel)”.
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Reverence... A Lifestyle
He calls upon us to live in reverence because “we know” that we are redeemed and “we know” that we were purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The highest motivation for holiness and reverence for God is the love that Jesus Christ has for us. We are called to live in reverence for God because of the “grace that was brought to us” (v. 13) the “Holy One who called us” (v. 15), the “One who judges us impartially” (v. 17) and the “One who redeemed us with His own precious blood” (v. 19). As we consider this incredible truth we are humbled before God and our response is reverence for Him.
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The Lifestyle of the Saved
In the light of the salvation we are experiencing, there is (or should be) a corresponding lifestyle of holiness, reverence, and love that results. For the believer the lifestyle is not only different (holy) from his/her past way of live but it also different (holy) from the lifestyle of the unbeliever. Peter presents the reader with several spiritual incentives to encourage and to maintain a different (holy) lifestyle in a polluted world.
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An Encouraging Word Part 3: The Present Joy
Without using any future verbs, Peter draws a sharp contrast between the present and the future. We, as believers, may be suffering now, but we will soon rejoice. We are engaged in life’s warfare now (“guarded by the power of God”) but we will soon be victorious. Our faith is being tested now, but soon it will prove itself purer and more precious than gold.
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