Flourshing Through Grace and the Spirit
Chris Seidman
Part of Colossians
February 16, 2023

Colossians

Flourishing Through Grace and the Spirit
February 19, 2023
Chris Seidman, Lead Minister, The Branch

Colossians Will Speak to …

  • Our mission as a church.

The mission of The Branch is helping people become, grow, and live as followers of Jesus for the good of all and to the glory of God.


Colossians 1:28-29 (NIV)
He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.


Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him … .

  • The need for depth when it comes to flourishing over the long haul.


Luke 8:13 (NIV)
Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root.


C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man
You cannot go on “seeing through” things forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it.

It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond it is opaque (of substance, can’t be seen through) … .

… a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To “see through” all things is the same as not to see.


Matthew 21:44 (NIV)
“Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”


Colossians 1:1-6 (NIV)
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

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.


Acts 20:24 (NIV)
“… my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”


Colossians 1:7-8 (NIV)
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 1:9-10 (NIV)
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way … .


Colossians 1:10-12 (NIV)
… bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father … .


Four things that are referenced as bringing God pleasure through our lives.

  • Bearing fruit in every good work.

  • Growing in the knowledge of God.

  • Being strengthened with His power so that we can have great endurance and patience.

  • Giving joyful thanks to the Father.


Colossians 1:12-14 (NIV)
… and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people and in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.