In What Direction Are You Heading?

Overview of Colossians 1:9-14

These are the things the Apostle Paul believed should be important in the lives of Christians:

Objective #1:  To be filled with a knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom & understanding

Objective #2:  To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.

                #1- A life characterized by good fruit

                #2- A life characterized by a deep knowledge of God

                #3- A life characterized by God’s power

• For endurance (difficult circumstances)
• For patience (difficult people)

                #4- A life permeated with thanksgiving

• Because we’ve been qualified to share in the inheritance in the saints
• Because we’ve been delivered from the domain of darkness
• Because we’ve be provided with redemption and forgiveness of sins.

Objective 1:  To be filled with a knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom & understanding.

It’s the kind of knowledge we see in Philippians 3:10 when Paul says, “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share in his suffering, becoming like him in his death.”

There is no way we can grow in our knowledge of God and his will for without saturating ourselves with the Word of God, for that is where God and his will are revealed.

Objective #2:  To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.

This should be our fervent prayer at the start of every day.

In verses 10 -14, Paul describes the kind of life that is pleasing to God.

#1 – Walking worthy of the Lord means having a life characterized by good fruit (v.10)

The fruit of the Spirit is the yardstick that we should be using to measure our lives.

#2- Walking worthy of the Lord means having a life characterized by increasing in the knowledge of             God. (v.10)

If you seldom read the Word of God during a given week, you are not walking in a manner worthy of God.

#3- Walking worthy of the Lord means having a life characterized by God’s power.

We walk worthy of the Lord, we glorify him, when we depend on his might, rather than our own strength and abilities.

We need to be strengthened with God’s power for two specific reasons:

1. For all endurance as we face difficult circumstances.

2. For all patience as we deal with difficult people.

The question we should be regularly asking ourselves is, “Does my life show evidence of being strengthened by God’s power?”

#4- Walking worthy of the Lord means having a life permeated with thanksgiving.

Paul’s gives us three reasons why we should always be overflowing with thankfulness:

Reason #1:  God has qualified believers to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

You, in and of yourself, are in no way fit to be part of God’s family.  God made you fit by forgiving your sins and by crediting you with the perfect righteousness of Christ.  God qualified you!

Reason #2:  God has delivered believers from the domain of darkness and transferred them into the kingdom of his dear Son. 

“Delivered” means rescued or liberated.  We were in the domain of darkness, helpless to change our plight.  We needed rescue and that is why God sent his Son to die for us.

Reason #3:  God has provided us with redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

Redemption means by released because of the payment of a price.  Sin had to be punished or paid for, and Jesus did that by his death and shed blood.

In this new year, if you are to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, it is imperative that you be a person who is steadfastly thankful.

The three reasons we have just looked at are unspeakably great things that God has done for you in Christ.  Preach these things often to your heart.  It will make you a joyfully thankful person, no matter what is going on in your life.

As we begin another new year, will you drift through it without much thought or will you live it intentionally, by God’s grace for his glory?

Will these two, great objectives that we have looked at this morning characterize your life throughout this new year?