Colossians 1:1-14 NIV – “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse:
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 the love you have for all the saints – the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world the gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard and understood God’s grace in all its truth 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.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way 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 joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints 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.
4 Distinctive Traits of the Path of Growth
- A Distinctive Faith
Colossians 1:3 NIV – “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 the love you have for all the saints…”
I John 2:15-17 NIV – “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
4 Distinctive Traits of the Path of Growth
- A Distinctive Faith
- A Distinctive Lifestyle
2 Corinthians 5:1 (NIV) – “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
Ephesians 4:22-24 MSG – “Take on an entirely new way of life – a God-fashioned life, a life renewed form the inside and working itself into you conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.”
4 Distinctive Traits of the Path of Growth
- A Distinctive Faith
- A Distinctive Lifestyle
- A Distinctive Love
Colossians 1:4 NIV – “…we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the saints.”
4 Key Expressions of this Love
- Be Useful – Do not use
- Volunteer
- Strive for Humility
- Be Observant
4 Distinctive Traits of the Path of Growth
- A Distinctive Faith
- A Distinctive Lifestyle
- A Distinctive Love
- A Distinctive Hope
Colossians 1:5 NIV – “…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you.”
Hebrews 13:5-6 NIV – “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘ Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.’ So, we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’
Romans 8:38-39 MSG – “None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing – nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or love, thinkable or unthinkable – absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.”
