The Supremacy Of Christ

The Supremacy of Christ

Colossians 1:9-14

Good morning, glad to have you join us for our online service. I pray that it would be a time of refreshing and a time of learning as we study God’s Word together.

Please turn to the book of Colossians (between Philippians and Thessalonians) and as you are turning there, would you bow your head for a word of prayer.

Prayer

How we speak and interpret the English language has an effect on the way that we communicate and understand it.

Our culture is a factor. (upbringing)

Our geographic location (where we live) is a factor on how we communicate to each other and the words that we use to do that.

You want to see a league of nations just have a person that has grown up on the street of Brooklyn N.Y. try to communicate with a person who has grown up in London England and see how well they communicate.

Let’s not take it across the pond, let’s just go from my birthplace Milwaukee Wisconsin where if you wanted a drink of water in a public place you went to a bubbler to get a drink. I came to Pennsylvania in 1986 and asked for a bubbler and they had no idea what that was and found out later that they call it a water fountain.

We can think of many words that have different meanings to different people and some if you are not careful can be offensive to some because they have different meanings.

Some talk fast and some slow, some use slang words and some proper, some words have multiple meanings in the USA and not everyone knows that.

Communication can be a problem if people are not on the right page with understanding- don’t believe me… parents, some of us feel like we needed to take English as a second language to talk to our kids.

Then we have the barrier of believers in Jesus trying to communicate the word of God to unbelievers to persuade them into having a relationship with the Lord.

We as Christians are tasked with talking to unbelievers about the goodness of God and the need for them to be in a relationship with a God they cannot see and don’t know much about.

We use words like…are you washed in the blood of Jesus? Are you born again? Have you been sanctified? Are you walking with Jesus? Have you been cleansed from your sins?

We as believers have a hard time understanding that a person cannot pick up the bible and understand it and unbelievers without the Holy Spirit cannot understand how you can understand the bible and pick it up and tell them what it means. The two world’s can only come together when the Spirit of God gives us understanding and a desire to seek after the things of God.

The Holy Spirit of God that dwells in a believer and an unbeliever without the Holy Spirit who is trying to understand God’s word on their own.

I suggest to you this morning before you try to get them to talk like a believer that you show them that God loves them and show them what He has done for them and let the Spirit of God bridge the gap in their relationship.

Song Sign Lyrics/ 5 Man Electric band 1970/ I have used this example before

And the sign said

"Long-haired freaky people

Need not apply"

So I tucked my hair up under my hat

And I went in to ask him why

He said, "You look like a fine upstandin' young man

I think you'll do"

So I took off my hat and said, "Imagine that

Huh, me workin' for you"

Whoa

Sign, sign

Everywhere a sign

Blockin' out the scenery

Breakin' my mind

Do this, don't do that

Can't you read the sign?

Can you picture your pastor active in sports, long hair and talking Milwaukee slang? Why not?

Neither is a requirement to be forgiven of our sins.

Because we stereotype people the way we want to see them and how we think they should be and how they should act.

As a pastor who has been given grace and responded to God’s goodness and mercy. I have always tried to show God’s love and make my preaching and teaching applicable- meaning not just giving someone knowledge but how they can apply it to their lives because that is how I learned of the Lord.

So let’s go to the text and see what the Lord has for us- In the writings of Apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus, the church of Colosse, and the church at Thessalonica he begins with praise of their faith, their labor for the cause of Christ, their endurance of hope in Jesus- all these books start out that way- then each one gives instruction on how they can spread the gospel or good news onto others they come in contact with-