Colossians 1: Part 3 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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All this week, John North says what the Bible teaches us guards us against false “truths”. The apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church in Colossae, highlighting the true message that came to them through Jesus.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people – 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 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. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Colossians 1:3-8

Transcript

Good morning.

Today we want to start the day as we do each day at this time of morning with a little bit of insight from God’s Word, the Bible. What a difference it makes to our day to start each day with an open heart to God.

Not resisting him, not pushing him away, but saying, God, I need your help in my life. I need your insight. I need your guidance, and I want to grow in my relationship with you. We talked yesterday about the foundation, the way into a living personal relationship with God, and that is through trusting what Jesus Christ has done for us when he died on the cross to make a way for us to be forgiven and start this relationship with God.

But you know, if you had that relationship with God, you would expect that it would impact your life, wouldn’t you? And I don’t just mean that you would be a religious person and start talking in a different way and going to church and things like that. I love going to church and that should be a part of our lives as Christians because we’re part of the Christian family now and we want to get together.

The heart of Christianity is the change of my life by God’s work in it.

The passage we’re looking at this week in Colossians chapter 1, Paul’s writing to the Christians in Colossi. He calls them saints, and he says, we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus.

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So something’s happened that’s making Paul hear about what’s happened in their lives because there’s been a change. We heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the other Christians around you. What an incredible thing to say that your lives have changed and we’re hearing about it because of the love you’re showing to the people in your life.

Wouldn’t it be great if people noticed that something was different about you because you’re not just self-centered anymore, you’re not just focused on yourself when things go wrong, you’re not just saying, oh poor me, poor me, all this is happening to me, but rather you’re outward looking, you’re involved in other people’s lives, you’re helping them, you’re serving them, you’re loving them. What a difference that would make.

The love which you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you. That’s just the message of what Jesus did for you on the cross, and that message has come to you just as in all the world – also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing.

I want to tell you this is true today throughout China, throughout Africa, South America, so many places we are constantly hearing of what God is doing in transforming people’s lives through the gospel, and it’s true here in Australia as well as people turn to Jesus and find Him changing them from the inside out.

In all the world it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth as you learned it from Epaphra, a beloved fellow bond servant who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf and informed us of your love in the Spirit.

Well, what difference is God making in your life? Has your life really changed? Have you really come into a living relationship with Jesus Christ that transforms your inner life and then winds up transforming your outer life too, so that everyone knows something has happened in so and so’s life because look how loving they are, how outward focused they are, look how they reflect God.

I’m John North.

To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.

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