Third try is the charm!

Okay, this isn't really a life update or anything. This is just something I did and thought I would share. I taught middle school this weekend and this is the 'outline' that I used. Granted, I didn't really follow it all the time, but it is the same general idea. It is also the third attempt at writing out my talk.

Later
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Hey Everyone welcome to impact. We are glad you are very glad that each of you are here. If you weren't here last week we started a new series called Acts of the apostles where we are looking through the life of Paul on his missionary journey according to the book of Acts. Specifically we are looking at what Paul and the early Christians had to face as new believer in Christ and the different kinds of persecution they dealt with. We are doing this by looking at the different books of the bible that Paul wrote while he was imprisoned in Rome and the different persecution that the this letters wrote about.

Last week Rick talked about the book of Philippians. Who can tell me what Rick's talk was about? He had two words that he used? The people at philippi had two options that they would be able to choose from - they could be considered a legal roman citizen, have all kinds of wonderful things (like the 4 wheeler), not pay any taxes and live a wonderful life here on earth. The only condition is that they would have to say that Nero is lord and savior - kurios and sotair. Option two is that they claim Jesus as their Lord and savior, they deny Nero and  lose all the rights that they had as a Roman citizen. On top of that, they would be killed for believing in Jesus. They had to decide who they would call kurios and sotair - their lord and savior. Nero and have a wonderful life here on earth, or Jesus and have eternal life with him forever in heaven? That was the choices.

This week we are going to look at another one of Paul's letters to the early church. This letter is written to the city of Colossae - the book of Colossians. Even though the book of philippians and the book of colossians were writen roughly the same time, they are completely different kinds of books. They were completely different kinds of cities. Philippi was on a main trade route leading to Rome. Colossae was almost a no name city. When Paul came through the area he didn't even stop in this city because it was small and out of the way. This is a small town!

Now you may be asking - of Colossae is a small town away from Rome, what kind of persecution did they face? What was the early church in Colossae dealing with that the Apostle Paul would write them a letter to encourage or correct them. No one was being killed for believing in Jesus, they weren't having their rights taken away, but they did face a very real situation. They were facing a persecution of a very different kind, but a much more deadly kinds. A spiritual persecution where what they believe was under attack.

False teachers of some kinds were making their way into Colossae and into the churches. They were teaching lies and things other than what the bible taught. This teaching founds its way into the church and the believers began to question what is really true.

Some of the false teaching was about Jesus and others might have been about what it means to be saved. They taught something like - if you want to be holy then you can't have hamburgers. Or, if you want to be holy, there is a whole bunch of rules that we made up for you to follow. If you want to be saved then you have to follow all our teachings. Jesus wasn't really god, and sin really isn't bad. And they would teach things like this, and confuse people about what the bible really teaches and about who God really is.

Looking at all that they face, the people at Colossians really had two questions that they had to answer: Who is Jesus? and, How am I saved? They had so many other things that they faced, but the two most important ones were these two questions: Who is Jesus? and, How am I saved?

Paul heard that the people at Colossae had these questions and that is why he wrote this letter to them. He writes and answers these questions about Jesus and salvation. And thankfully for us, we have the bible and the letter's that Paul wrote. So, turn with me to the book of Colossians, chapter one.

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,²⁰ and through him to 9 reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

This is Paul's response to the persecution and false teaching that the new believers faced. There is a lot here, but remember, we are only after two things. Who is Jesus and how am I saved? Both of the answers are in this little section of the bible. But before I tell you what they are, I want to see if you can find the answers yourself. I think it is important for you to be able to read the bible yourself and find God's answer to these kinds of questions. So spend 5 minutes and and see if you can find the answer to these questions. Who is Jesus and How am I saved?

Alright. what did you find? Let's start with who is Jesus according to these verses?

• Imagine of the invisible God
• Creator of all things
• Ruler of all things
• Holds all things together
• LORD.

You blend all of these answers together and take the big idea that Paul is trying to get at. Jesus is Lord! He is Lord over all things. The last word in verse 18 "supremacy" Other bibles might say "preeminence" or first in all things. All that means is that he is Lord over everything and everything submits to Him.

Just like Rick talked about last week. When we die, whether we followed Jesus or not we will allow bow our knee to him and call him Lord.

What about the second question: How am I saved?

• Reconcile all things to himself
• Shed blood on the cross
• Jesus is Savior.

Paul explains exactly how a person is saved in these verse. Jesus died on the cross and shed his blood for us so that we could have peace with God. What this is basically saying is that Jesus is Savior! Jesus is the one that saves us. no one or nothing else. So the answer to the question, How am I saved is through Jesus Christ our savior.

What are the two answers again... Jesus is Lord and we are saved through the shed blood of Jesus our Savior. Don't these sounds familiar? What did we learn about in Philippians again - That Jesus is our Lord and Savior? The same thing is true in Colossians: Jesus is Lord and Savior! This is just an educated guess, but I bet if we read through the whole bible we are going to find that Jesus is both Lord and Savior.

But this is something important to note: both the church at Philippi and the church at Colossae were being challenged in their faith about who is their Lord and Savior. And as we keep reading about the story of Paul and the early church we'll see that is always the case. Christians are always being persecuted for what they believe about Jesus as Lord and Savior. It might be physical or spiritual, but there is always something.

Now I want to challenge you. I want to ask you these questions, the questions that the Church at Colossae were asking. Who is Jesus? How are you saved? Is Jesus your Lord and your Savior? Are you going to live your rich roman life here on earth or are you going to claim Jesus as Lord and have eternal life?

These are the question we need to ask ourselves, even I need to ask myself these questions. If I am not calling Jesus Lord, who am I? and if I am not trusting Jesus to be my Savior, who is? These are the two questions we started with, and they will be the two questions that we'll end with. Who is Jesus to you? and how are you saved?

Let's pray!