"Building a Church Through Outreach"
Deep Roots
ELCOG 2/25/07
Text: Colossians 2:6-10
Tonight I want to encourage you with another great word from God. We see Paul writing a letter of instruction to the new Christians at Colossi. He gives us some simple steps that I want to present to you tonight.
1. Continue to live in obedience. We must always remember that obedience is very important in our Christian walk.
Job 36:11
11If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
Job 36:12
12But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.
1 Sam. 15:22
22And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
Learn to be obedient! It is a key that will unlock the will of God in your life
2. Let Your Roots Grow Deep. In order for a plant to grow it must have nourishment from the roots and during the dry seasons the root has to grow deeper for a touch if water. Remember:
John 15:1
1"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
John 15:2
2Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He £takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:3
3You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
John 15:4
4Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
John 15:5
5"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
John 15:6
6If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
John 15:7
7If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you£ will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
John 15:8
8By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
(From our text)
Notice what occurs as your root grows deeper.
1. You grow in Faith
2. Grow Strong
3. Grow in the truth.
As you allow your relationship to develop and your root grows deeper you can expect your faith to become stronger. As your faith grows stronger you can expect to see more of God’s glory because faith moves God. You have to believe in God and in his power in order to receive his power. You have to believe He can before He will! Allow your root to grow deeper and experience a renewed faith and then allow faith to move your life into a newer dimension.
As your faith grows then your strength grows. "The joy of the Lord is your strength" As you believe more in Jesus you will become stronger in your stand for him! Your faith will help you remain strong in times of battle and strong in times of storm. Let your root grow deeper so that your strength can become a source of your confidence.
After you have great faith, and new strength to fight, then you will notice an increase in your truth. Understand this…. Truth always grows as you act in faith and stand for righteousness. The truth will set you free.
Be encouraged…. Your faith in him and your strength in him will set you free by the truth in him!
**Back to our text:
3. Notice Paul says to guard yourself… from false teachers and false prophets. Don’t be led away from the truth. Allow your root to grow deep into the nourishing soil of God’s love and grow in faith and in strength and in truth and simply stand!
Verse 9-10
4. Christ is the fullness of God and he makes us complete. We are not a complete puzzle until we have a union with Christ. We are always missing something when we live without having a relationship with Christ. In order for us to live complete we must have an active relationship with Jesus Christ. It must be more than a causal meeting it needs to be an intimate relationship. Grow your root and become attached to Jesus and become complete in Him. He is the Lord over all things and all people. We might-as-well serve him now, because one day we will recognize him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is lord. Do it now and become complete in him!
Let begin to close with this: Verse 11-12. When you came to Christ you were willing to give up part of yourself so that you could have him. You died to the way of self and the way of this world so that you would be able to be alive in him and Alive in your faith.
You were raised to this new life simply because you trusted in Jesus with all of your heart. Had you not trusted Jesus in the beginning you would not be here now, but you saw something in Jesus that you needed – that you wanted so you trusted him with your life and now 10, 15, 20, 30 years later you face a wall of doubt. Now is the time to let your roots grow deeper. Now is the time to refresh your faith. Hey, you had no problem in the beginning of your walk, so why now? You should grow closer to him the longer you serve him…..maybe your roots are not growing.
You should be more in love with him now than ever, because he has brought you through so many tuff times. He still the same…..you need to remember that.
He never changes, so all you have to do is to reach out to him like the way you did in the beginning of your courtship. Grow deeper. Allow your roots to grow deeper.
Heb. 13:8
8Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.