Moments in the life of a Pastor

Walking with God

Author Archives: Giles


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4. Taking Time to Give Thanks – Part 4

Colossians 1:1-8

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,and Timothy our brother, 2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 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 6 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. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on ou]behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.”

The vertical dimension of faith then leads to the horizontal element of love. 

LOVE

Because of what Jesus had done in their lives, they were able to love “all” God’s people. This love is agape, which has sacrifice as its key character and is displayed in actions. Love is a transforming act because it is really faith in motion as Galatians 5:6 says, “…the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Live in love, ….and love to live! 1 Corinthians 13 concerning the love we should portray. Love is patient; …. love is kind; ….love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; …. it is not irritable or resentful; ….. it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, ….but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, ….believes all things, …..hopes all things, …..endures all things. …… Love never ends. Do we put this love into practice? Do we allow this love to permeate our very being? Do we really consider it a thriving aspect of living. Well God does and the time we stop loving is the time we stop living. Jesus loved Judas so what’s your excuse?

HOPE

Our shared faith and mutual love result in our common “hope that is stored up for you in heaven.” Faith and love spring from hope because hope is the root, faith is the plant and love is the fruit. Because God has “laid up” hope for us in heaven, we can have full confidence in our faith and express our love without holding back. We don’t have to vaguely wish for something better to come when we have complete confidence in the reality of heaven. Why have faith in Christ if there is no hope for a glorious future? Why love others if it doesn’t matter in the end? Hope makes all the difference because we have a confident expectation that everything God says in His Word is true today, or will come true in the future. Hope is stored up for us like a treasure and one of the blessings of hope is it allows us to sacrifice the present on the altar of the future. Colossians introduces us to God’s trilogy of virtue—faith, love, and hope. Faith is the soul looking upward to God; love looks outward to others; hope looks forward to the future. Faith rests on the past work of Christ; love works in the present; and hope anticipates the future.


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3. Taking Time to Give Thanks – Part 3

Colossians 1:1-8

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,and Timothy our brother, 2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 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 6 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. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on ou]behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.”

FAITH

Faith is mentioned first because it is the starting place for everything else in the Christian life. Faith is our vertical connection and faith in Christ is the first mark of a mature fellowship. They weren’t commended because they had everything in common but because they had put their trust and confidence “in Christ Jesus.” It’s amazing to me that the testimony of their faith reached all the way to Paul in a Roman prison. I wonder how far our faith reaches? The author of Hebrews tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Therefore, the church that gathers together without believing God is going to work will not experience renewal, revival, or blessing. Faith opens the door of the soul to receive the Savior; faith admits him, but it also submits to him. Faith isn’t just the start it’s the sustainer yet so often instead of walking by faith we are found waiting in fear. We must stop worrying and waiting and start walking. Did you know that a dense fog covering a cubic mile is composed of less than 1 gallon of water? Because the water is divided into billions of droplets a small amount of water can create so much gloom, it can even cripple an entire city even kill us. Worry and anxiety are like that, just a small amount can settle on you like a dense fog of gloom, keeping you from living life. Fear deteriorates the quality of our lives and can even destroy us physically. Faith breathes life and joy into our bodies and in this we find complete wholeness. Jesus tried to change our focus from fear to faithfulness when he said in Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air: ….they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ….Who of you by worrying …. can add a single hour to your life?” Faith means to trust. Who do you trust? Whose hands do you really put your life in? Who do you turn to Is Jesus the Focus of your Faith?