Live Out God's Best for Your Life (Part 2)

Jul 13, 2024

Live Out God's Best for Your Life (Part 2)

Introduction

  • Greeting and acknowledgment of online viewers.
  • Continued series on the book of Colossians.
  • Recap: Colossians 1 & 2 focus on Right Believing and what Christ has done for us.
  • Today’s focus: The Practice of the Believer.
  • Main topic: Live Out God's Best for Your Life.

Key Principles Recap

  1. Think Upward: Set your mind on things above.
  2. Know Your True Identity: Put off the old life, put on the new life.
  3. 200% Christian: 100% God's part (grace, forgiveness), 100% our part (discipline, actions).

Today's Outline

  1. Choose God’s Word
  2. Choose God’s Ways
  3. Choose God’s Weapon

1. Choose God’s Word

  • Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you…”
    • Command: Not a suggestion; continually allow God’s word to overflow in your life.
    • Make God's word central and at home in your life.
    • Use of God’s Word: Wisdom, teaching, and admonishing others.
    • Life Choices: Guided by God's word (e.g., marriage, career).
    • The Role of Music: Helps memorize scriptures; caution with the content of modern music.
  • Joshua 1:8: Meditation on God's law leads to prosperity and success.
  • Psalm 19:9-11: Guidance and purity through treasuring God’s word.
  • Practical Examples and Testimony: Memorizing scriptures and its impact.

2. Choose God’s Ways

  • Proverbs Warning: “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
  • God’s Design: Humility to follow God’s instructions.
  • Commitment in Relationships: Family and workplace first.

a. Family Relationships

  • Wives: Submit to husbands as unto the Lord (Col. 3:18, 1 Peter 3:1-2).
    • Testimony by speaker’s wife about submission and its impact.
  • Husbands: Love wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25).
    • Example of unconditional, sacrificial love.
  • Children: Obey and honor parents (Col. 3:20, Eph. 6:1-3).
    • Obedience when young, honor when older.
  • Fathers: Do not exasperate children; raise them in the Lord (Eph. 6:4).
    • Avoid hypocrisy, unreasonable behavior, and over-controlling.

b. Workplace Relationships

  • Employees: Work sincerely and heartily as for the Lord (Col. 3:22-24).
    • God is the ultimate rewarder.
  • Employers: Treat employees with justice and fairness (Col. 4:1).
    • Transformative impact of Christian principles in the workplace.

3. Choose God’s Weapon

  • Prayer: Devotion to prayer with thanksgiving (Col. 4:2-4).
    • Prayer for evangelistic opportunities and clarity in sharing the gospel.
    • Conducting oneself with wisdom and grace towards outsiders (Col. 4:5-6).
  • Importance of Prayer: Quotation by Billy Graham and Oswald Chambers on prayer as a powerful weapon.
    • Aligning oneself to know God through prayer.

Conclusion

  • Commitment to God's Word, Ways, and Weapon: Encouraging commitment to attend prayer and fasting sessions.
  • Prayer for Commitment: Prayer for those committing to choose God's word, ways, and weapon.