Colossians 2:4-15

⁴ I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. ⁵ For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. ⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. ⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. ⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹ In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by^[c] Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

So far in our Colossians series Paul has taught us about praise, prayer, the preeminence of Christ, God’s purpose and plan for our lives and now he talks about proactively pursing our relationship with Jesus. As we live out our purpose, we quickly realize that Christian growth is a process. We become Christians in an instant when we receive Christ Jesus the Lord, but it takes a lifetime to live out our faith. Our focus should not just be on knowing, our emphasis must also be on growing. The Bible links information with transformation ­ we’re to become what we’ve begun. Truth must be perceived and then personalized because biblical belief always leads to action. As Paul talks about a deeper dependence he says that we must continue to follow Jesus, Paul forces us to examine the question “How is my walk with Jesus?”

YOUR WALK:

1. IN CHRIST vs 5-7

Walk starts with Christ at the cross Vs 13 Categorized by genuine repentance 

Our Walk Should Be Consistent With Our Conversion

But it doesn’t end with the start Paul says you must continue to follow him, our Walk is Sustained by Christ. The Christian life must be lived out. It’s to go from our head, to our heart, to our hands. When Just as we received Jesus by faith, so too we must walk by faith in His power, its the only way to make spiritual progress. The verb indicates ongoing action, we are to continue, the past event of receiving Christ should be a present reality in our lives. Our worship should affect our walk and our practice must conform to our principles. But before we can talk about pursuing Jesus we have to determine who is Preeminence, Paul confronts us again with who is in control, Paul says when we accept Jesus as LORD. The title, “Christ Jesus as your Lord” is unique, occurring only here in Paul’s letters. As Christ, He is identified as the Messiah, or “anointed one,”. Jesus was his human name given at His birth and means Savior. Lord indicates that He is supreme and sovereign, He has no rivals and we must bow before His preeminence. Our conduct must be consistent with His lordship. Have you accepted Jesus as Lord?