Sermon Cloud

Five Things a Christian Should not Pray for

James Bryan Smith

Colossians 1:12-14

•         … giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ( Col 1:12-14)

The Story of Chloe

•         An orphaned female born in China

•         No real chance for a “good” life

•         Lori and Tim Gillach

•         $20,000 dollars

•         10 hour flight, 3 hour flight, 5 hour bus ride

•         A new home, a new family, a new future

1.  God has made you a partaker of the inheritance of the saints

•         What does this mean for you?

•         You have been given access to the provision of God

•         Your “inheritance”?  The Kingdom of God = “all things”  (Seek first … and …)

•         “Qualified” (hikanosanti) authorized without merit

2.  God has delivered you from the power of this dark world

•         We live in a dark world—no moral compass

•         If I am my own “god” I will have to find a way to manage it, and sin will be the natural course

•         Deception, shame, guilt

•         Key:  only God has the power to do this—it is not in ME

3.  God has translated you into the kingdom of His dear Son

•         God has placed us in his Kingdom = the WITH-GOD life

•         Translated (metestesen) means becoming a citizen of a new country

•         New laws, new rights, new privileges

Truth in the Light

In the Kingdom we experience

•         Faith—confidence in God

•         Hope—faith for a good future

•         Love—to will the good of something

•         Joy—a pervasive sense of well-being

•         Peace—it is well with my soul

•         Power—incommensurate with my abilities

4.  God has redeemed you through Christ

•         To redeem is to bring freedom and release to a prisoner or slave through a monetary payment (apolytron)

•         The Emancipation Proclamation

5.  God has forgiven us your sins through His blood

•         “has forgiven” (aphesis) means he has removed sin, has sent it away, has taken it away

•         Jesus paid the price for all of your sins for all time

•         God is not dealing with you on the basis of your sins

•         In Christ all of your sins have been forgiven . . .past, present, and future

Aorist Tense

•         All of the verbs (has made … has delivered … has translated … has redeemed … has forgiven) are in the Aorist tense in Greek

•         So, we do not ask for these things because THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN DONE!!!!

A Covenant God
Not a Contract God

•         Contract:  An IF-THEN relationship

•         Covenant:  An unconditional, “no matter what” relationship

•         It is based on God and what he has done, and not us and what we do

•         It is a GIFT

It is all about IDENTITY

•         “Know who you are, and know what sin does, and know that the guilt of sin has been taken away, and the power of sin has been broken—know this and you will find true freedom”

Don’t Pray for them—Be THANKFUL that you have them!

•         “Paul has given thanks for five wonderful truths. If we are trusting in Christ, God has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. God has redeemed us through Christ and has forgiven us our sins through His blood. Yet there are a great many Christian people today who pray for all five of these things. My believing friend, they are yours. Why don’t you thank Him for them?” (J. Vernon McGee on Colossians 1:11b-14)