" A Noticable Difference In The Church"

Jesus Is Enough - Part Six

“Therefore, There Should Be ND In The Church”

Jesus, is enough. Jesus is enough..... Jesus is enough......

That’s the message, Paul is trying to get across to the Christians in Colosse. It is not Jesus plus some thing else - is just Jesus. He is enough. He is all that we need. Nothing else matters - but Jesus......

This week 6 in our study of the book of Colossians and - man it has been an awesome study (so far) - God’s word truly and completely rocks! The Hebrew writer was right, it is “living and active sharper than any doubled edged sword...”

How bout’ a little review (you know I love review - where have we been the last 5 weeks).

In week one we talked about how Jesus’ Grace is Enough.... We said

His grace is enough to: Free us from our sins

Rescue us from danger

Brush away our tears

Reconcile us to God

Cloth us with Christ

Remove our guilt

Fill us with hope

Take us to heaven

In week two; we said that Jesus’ Lordship is enough and because he is k of k - and l of l - we said, that He‘s Got it covered.. God’s word taught us in week 2 - that;

Jesus is Savior >>> He’s got our salvation covered

Jesus is Creator >>> He ‘s got our life covered

Jesus is the Church >>> He’s got Central covered

Jesus is God >>> He’s got everything covered...

In week 3; we talked about how Jesus’ Word is enough - Listen, we don’t need anyone to give us any ‘other’ stuff about God, we got it all right in here....The bible is the FULL and FINAL revelation of God. And we also said that we need to be growing in the word, because it will help us unmask the serpent and not be fooled by false prophets, who come to us as angels of light and wolves in sheeps clothing.

During the first 3 weeks of our study - Paul was saying, “here is what you need to know - Jesus is enough” - then last week we began the study of the second half of this letter where Paul is saying - “okay here is what you need to do - with what I told you..”

And in week 4; We said that since "Jesus Is Enough, We Need To Let Go Of The World....” We talked about the four things we need to do in order to let go of the world. First we said that we need to set our minds and hearts on things above..we need to, “let heaven fill our thoughts...... And then I gave you 2 pictures to help re-enforce the next 2 steps, Picture #1 was - Phinehas - who vividly showed us, that we need to put to death - greed & sexual immorality, “Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust and shameful desires...” Picture #2 was Lazarus who taught us that -- we need to remove the grave clothes of old way of life - God’s word says to the Christian, “NOW is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy speech and lies....” And the final step was we need to renew ourselves - HOW? -- by hanging out with God. In week 4 we talked about taking things off...

And last week we talked about putting things on - You see, once we have taken off the old we need to put on the ‘new’ - after we have taken off the clothing of this world we need to put on the clothing of Christ - Christians are to be properly dressed they are to put on; compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love.

Yes, in the Christian life - it is all about taking off the old and putting on the ‘new.’

Listen, it is significant that as Paul wrote this letter he began by telling the Colossians and us - that Jesus is enough.... Because that makes it so much easier for us to let go of the world, doesn’t it? And if you have not really let go of the world yet - then you have not come to the point tin your life where Jesus is enough for you.

And it was also no accident, that Paul then tells us, how to let go of the world - by telling us to put to death and get rid of the things of the old life.... And it only makes sense that after telling us to take of the old, that He would exhort us to put on the new.....

And understand when we take off the old - (when we remove the nasty - the smelly clothes of the old life -- anger, rage, lies, immorality) and we put on the new (compassion, gentleness, humility, forgiveness...) - there WILL be - there WILL be a difference, What kind of difference a ‘noticeable difference’ in our lives.... (I mean we will stick out like John Rocker on the New York subway).