1. "People pray about what they care about. That may seem so obvious as to go without saying, but I think we can understand a lot about what people value, what's filling up their minds, what's their concern, if we look at what they pray, what they ask of God."

2. "Christianity is not just an ethical system. It's not a way of life. It's not a state of mind. Paul is reminding the Colossian Christians that first and foremost, the Christian message is a message. It's truth that we believe with our minds."

3. "There's no shortcut. If you want to grow as a Christian, you need to grow in your knowledge of God's Word. That's why Paul spends his time praying that for the Colossian Christians."

4. "It's a tragedy when somebody starves to death. But it's a horrific tragedy when you read about someone starving to death in a house full of food. So friend, you don't want to be someone that has sat at a banquet of God's word and yet come away starved."

5. "When you think about trying to grow in knowledge and you think about trying to live a life of good works, of faithfulness, of personal holiness, I encourage you never to think of those things independently. Think of them as like the roots and the fruit of a tree."

6. "The stuff in the roots comes out in the fruits. Paul wants these Christians to cultivate roots of their life that are sunk down deep into Bible knowledge, understanding of God's Word, understanding that good roots will result in good fruit."

7. "I think you'll have a hard time understanding the Christian life in this world if you don't get your head around how we're living a life as Christians of joyful endurance."

8. "We don't have all the promises of God fully yet, but I think Scripture intends for us to be sort of like a castle in a hurricane. Inside there's light and joy and contentment in what God's promised. And outside the winds are howling and blowing."

9. "For a lot of people, having an attitude of thankfulness is kind of like writing a thank you card and putting a stamp on it and dropping it in the mail without a name or an address on it. I'm not even sure what that means."

10. "Paul's reminding us that, no, no, it was actually a rescue, not an escape. That Christ came when we weren't even probably looking to be rescued. And died for our sins. And that in Him we have, like we've got it, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Observation Questions

1. In Colossians 1:9, what specific things does Paul say he is praying the Colossians would be filled with?

2. According to Colossians 1:10, what is the purpose or result of being filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding?

3. In Colossians 1:11, what does Paul say the Colossians should be strengthened with, and what is this strength meant to produce in them?

4. What two actions has God the Father done for believers according to Colossians 1:12-13?

5. In Colossians 1:13, what two realms or kingdoms does Paul contrast when describing what God has done for believers?

6. According to Colossians 1:14, what do believers have "in" Christ, and how does Paul define or explain this redemption?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why do you think Paul connects knowledge of God's will with "spiritual wisdom and understanding" rather than with knowing specific decisions to make (like what job to take or who to marry)? What does this suggest about what "God's will" means in this passage?

2. How does the sermon explain the relationship between growing in knowledge of God and bearing fruit in good works? Why are these not separate or competing pursuits for the Christian?

3. Paul prays that the Colossians would have "endurance and patience with joy" (v. 11). How can endurance—which often sounds grim—be paired with joy? What makes Christian endurance different from mere stoicism?

4. What is the significance of Paul saying God "has qualified" believers (v. 12) and "has delivered" and "transferred" them (v. 13)? What do these past-tense verbs tell us about the Christian's present standing before God?

5. The sermon emphasizes that Christian thankfulness is "specific and direct and verbal" rather than a vague sense of gratitude. How do verses 12-14 shape what Christians should be thankful for, and why does this matter?

Application Questions

1. The sermon noted that people pray about what they care about. If you were to review your prayers from the past week, what would they reveal about your priorities? What is one way you could begin praying more intentionally for spiritual growth—your own or someone else's?

2. Pastor Andy shared how a mentor challenged him to read books that are "just about God" rather than only practical "how-to" resources. What is one concrete step you could take this week to grow in your knowledge of who God is and what He is like?

3. The sermon used the image of a tree: "the stuff in the roots comes out in the fruits." Where in your life do you see the fruit of your knowledge of God? Where might shallow roots be producing weak or missing fruit, and what could you do to deepen those roots?

4. Paul prays for endurance and patience with joy. What current circumstance in your life is testing your endurance? How might remembering the hope of the gospel—redemption and forgiveness in Christ—change the way you face that challenge this week?

5. Verses 12-14 list specific reasons for giving thanks: being qualified for an inheritance, delivered from darkness, transferred into Christ's kingdom, and receiving redemption and forgiveness. How could you make these truths a regular part of your prayers or conversations this week, rather than only thanking God for physical or circumstantial blessings?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Psalm 1:1–6 — This psalm uses the same image of a fruitful tree planted by streams of water to describe the righteous person who delights in God's Word, reinforcing the sermon's point about roots and fruit.

2. Galatians 5:16–26 — Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit in contrast to the works of the flesh, expanding on what it means for Christians to bear fruit through the Spirit's work.

3. Ephesians 1:15–23 — Paul's prayer for the Ephesians closely parallels his prayer for the Colossians, asking for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of God's power and the hope of their calling.

4. Romans 6:15–23 — Paul explains the transfer from slavery to sin to slavery to righteousness, deepening our understanding of being delivered from darkness and transferred to Christ's kingdom.

5. Philippians 4:4–9 — Paul connects rejoicing, prayer, thanksgiving, and the peace of God, illustrating how knowledge of God and thankfulness produce endurance and joy in the Christian life.

Sermon Main Topics

I. People Pray About What They Care About

II. Growing in Knowledge (Colossians 1:9-10)

III. Bearing Fruit (Colossians 1:10)

IV. Being Strengthened (Colossians 1:11)

V. Giving Thanks (Colossians 1:12-14)

VI. What Do You Value in Your Prayers?

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Detailed Sermon Outline

• 74% pray for physical needs; 42% for sins; 21% to win lottery; 13% for sports teams; 7% for parking spots or not getting caught speeding

• Pastor Bobby Hill, with only a high school education, modeled this by pouring himself into Scripture and became a deeply thoughtful pastor

People pray about what they care about.

People pray about what they care about. That may seem so obvious as to go without saying, but I think we can understand a lot about what people value, what's filling up their minds, what's their concern. If we look at what they pray, what they ask of God. Some years ago, a research firm, Lifeway Resources, did a survey and they asked people about what it is that they pray. And among the people who said that they prayed at least once every month, they tallied up what are the things you pray about the most.

People listed more than one thing and they ranked them. And it gives an insight into the average American, not particularly Christian, but just someone who says they pray to God once a month. What is it that they spend their time praying about? Here's some of the things they found. The first one's not surprising.

They found that 74% of people pray about their own physical needs. And their difficulties. 42% of people said that they pray for their own sins. That's good so far, but then it gets kind of weird. 21% said that they pray to win the lottery.

13% pray for their favorite sports team to win.

Seven percent prayed for a parking spot to open up. I'm pretty sure that if they'd done this in DC, that one would have ranked a lot higher.

But seven percent prayed not to get caught when they're speeding.

Well, people pray about what they care about.

And I'd like us to open this morning in praying, but not about any of those things. It's fine to pray about our own physical needs. It's fine to pray about other things. But I want us to spend this morning thinking about what are the best things that we could pray about. So let me open us in prayer this morning.

Let's pray. Father, we pray that as we gather around your word this morning, that you will help us to pray about things that are needful and important in our lives, but that we'll pray about those things that are best. Help us to understand that from your word this morning. We pray that you'll do that for your own glory's sake and for our joy and our help. And so we ask for these things In Jesus' name, amen.

People pray about what they care about. I had a good lesson in that when I was a young 20-something. Some of you may know that before I was one of your pastors, I worked in politics for quite a while on Capitol Hill, and I worked for a congressional committee, and we had a chief of staff who was actually an older, godly man. And I remember early on, when I was just getting to know people on the staff, I I was in this guy Steven's office and we were discussing some piece of legislation and frankly, to my shame, as I was kind of walking out of his office, I said kind of flippantly, well, I don't remember exactly what I said, but something like, well, we can pray that the bill passes. And Steven looked up and stopped me and he said, Andy, I hope you don't spend too much of your time praying about stuff like that.

And then he looked back down at his desk and it was kind of a, it was a good reminder for me as a Christian. Now, I think it's fine for us to pray about all sorts of things. I don't think there's anything in our life that we can't take to God. But particularly for me, in a place where people thought of politics as being the most important thing, it was just a good reminder that it's fine to pray about political things. But it'd be a bad sign if that was all I prayed about or even maybe what I prayed about the most.

Well this morning we're gonna turn to Paul's letter to the Colossians and in that Paul is gonna turn from what he's been saying to them in verses 1 to 8 and Paul writes down a prayer that he had given for the Colossian Christians. Now you may remember the Colossians were some Christians that Paul had probably never met as best we he can tell. He'd heard about their faith through a friend of his named Epaphras. And he had written to them in verses 1 to 8 to encourage them because he knew that these Christians were showing evidence of being real Christians. But he also knew that they were being pressured by false teaching to look for something new, some new power, some new wisdom, some new teaching.

That would help them to move on as Christians. So he wrote in verses 1 to 8 reminding them that they should hold on to the gospel, that they should listen to the teacher Epaphras who had told the gospel to them the first time. And then after doing that, he turns in our passage this morning and he writes down something that he prayed for them. And I think he does this for more than one reason. I don't think this is simply Paul teaching them how to pray.

I think Paul actually prayed this prayer for them. But I think he's also trying to teach the Colossians and through them, I think teaching us this morning, about what we should prioritize in our prayers. What's most valuable? What's most important?

Because I think Paul understood that spiritual health was the best protection against the disease of false teaching. And so Paul prayed for the Colossians starting in verse 9 of chapter 1. You'll be helped if you turn and follow along with me. There's Bibles around in the pew racks in front of you or in the seats in front of you over here. And you'll find printed there on page 983.

The beginning of Paul's letter to the Colossians. And we'll start reading there in verse 9.

Paul says, and so from the day we heard, we've not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

I think as we look at this short prayer, we can see four main things that Paul prayed for the Colossians, and I think they're four indicators of what he understood to be important for them. That they needed for spiritual health and as evidence of spiritual life. So my prayer for us today is that as we look at these, we'll be helped both to pray for and to pursue these things, both in ourselves and for the people that we care about. I think the four things that Paul mainly prays about are these, and these will be the outline for our sermon, the four points we're gonna talk about as we go through the passage. First, he prays that they would be growing in knowledge.

Second, that they would be bearing fruit. Third, that they would be being strengthened. And fourth, that they would be giving thanks. Growing in knowledge, number one, bearing fruit, number two, being strengthened, number three, and giving thanks, number four. So let's look at each one of those in turn as we just walk our way down through the passage.

First, there in verse nine, Paul says that he wants the Colossian Christians to be growing in knowledge. He says that it's his prayer that they would be filled with knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, and a little later that they would be increasing in the knowledge of God. Now one of the first things we need to understand when we read this, and I think Paul's teaching them very clearly is, he's saying that Christianity has content. It has intellectual content. Christianity is not just an ethical system.

It's not a way of life. It's not a state of mind. Paul is reminding the Colossian Christians that first and foremost, the Christian message is a message. It's truth that we believe with our minds. And he wants the Colossian Christians to be filled up with that knowledge about the Christian message.

He wants them to grow in their understanding. He wants them to grow in their understanding of God's will. Because he understands that will strengthen them against the false teaching they're hearing. Paul wants them particularly, you notice here in verse 9, he wants them to grow and be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Now, this is also an important thing to think about because I think Christians, when we talk about the idea of God's will, Many Christians very naturally think about knowing what God wants them to do at a particular point in time. What job should I take? Who should I marry? What's God's will for the apartment that I should rent? Well, I think God's actually sovereign over all those things and I think God cares about everything.

But I don't think that's what Paul's talking about here. He's not talking about praying that they'd have this special insight into the secret knowledge of God and his purposes purposes at every discrete point in their life. I think that becomes clear as we keep reading. Now, I think he wants them to understand God's purposes, particularly his purpose in grace. What was God up to in saving them?

What was God up to in the gospel?

The other thing that I think we need to understand at the very outset, when he prays for them to be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and understanding, and that they would be increasing in the knowledge of God, we need to understand as Christians that knowing things about God, understanding things about the Bible, about his word, is just a fundamental part of how we grow as a Christian. There's not a shortcut around that. I know there are a lot of people that would say, I don't really like reading.

Well, as a pastor I used to have, we would always say, you say, well, God gave us a book. That's the way God chose to reveal himself to us. That doesn't mean that you have to love reading. It doesn't even mean that you have to be literate. You don't have to be able to read to be a Christian.

But it does mean that if you're gonna grow as a Christian, you need to be growing in your understanding of God's Word. You need to do what every one of you that's listening to me has done this morning. You need to show up places like at this church or at another faithful gospel preaching church, where you'll hear God's word read out loud, where we'll sing songs that are based on truth from Scripture, where you'll hear a sermon like this. You can decide later how good this sermon is, if you want to spend your time on that. But the fact is, I'm teaching you from the Bible right now.

And however good or bad my teaching may be, I think it's gonna be true. And it's gonna be food that you need to be taking in. It also means that as Christians, we need to be growing in our understanding of God himself. I got this lesson very directly from a good pastor when I was about 19 years old. I had joined a little church in a rural part of Texas, and I was helping out with the youth group.

And I remember I had given a number of talks to the youth group, and the pastor, Bobby, had set in on a couple of them. And he one day caught me at church, and he wanted to talk to me. He told me to come into his office. So I came in, and he said, Andy, I've listened to the talks you've given to the youth group. I really appreciate that.

They're definitely faithful to the Bible. But he said, I know you read a lot, but do you ever read books that are just about God? I've noticed everything you do is like how to have a better devotional time, or every talk you give is about how to get along with your parents, or how to serve other people. But do you ever spend time just thinking about what God is like in his own character? Do you ever read stuff about just who God is, what he likes, and I honestly told him, well, no, probably not.

And he handed me a copy of a book called Knowing God by J.I. Packer. I think it may have been the first really great Christian book anybody ever gave me. And I'm hugely thankful for that because this guy set me on a trajectory to begin reading stuff that wasn't just how I could do stuff is better as a Christian, but how I could actually understand what God is like. And I began to understand from the Bible better who God is, why he's done what he's done in history.

And he kept feeding me good books and introduced me to all sorts of good things. The one thing that sometimes surprises people about that story is that Bobby Hill, my pastor, had a high school education. He wasn't some sort of theologian. He was, in a sense, he was a Christian and a pastor, but he also worked part-time reading meters for the Light Company. But when Bobby was converted late in life, probably in his late, I guess, 30s, it was kind of too late for him to go to college, it was too late for him to go to seminary, but he just started listening to good sermons.

And he told me one time, he said, When I was converted, I probably hadn't read a book in 20 years. But I knew that God's word was what I needed if I wanted to grow as a Christian. So he just poured himself into studying the Bible and listening to sermons as he went around reading light meters. And by the time I knew him, when I was a college student, I think he was one of the most well thought out pastors I ever had the privilege of sitting under. So there's no shortcut.

If you want to grow as a Christian, you need to grow in your knowledge of God's Word. That's why Paul spends his time praying that for the Colossian Christians. But he also makes it clear, if you keep reading in verse 10, that he's not talking about knowledge just for the sake of knowing stuff. Sometimes people will sometimes kind of criticize the idea of reading too much theology about God. And they say, well, I just want to live a faithful Christian life.

Well, Paul seems to be saying, if you want to live a faithful Christian life, you need to understand the God that you intend to be following. So he goes on in verse 10, he says, the reason for all this knowledge and wisdom and understanding and increase in the knowledge of God is this, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him.

Because knowledge of God, theology, just studying God, knowledge of God rightly understood is always an applied science. Theology, if it's rightly understood, is always an applied science. Meaning it has a purpose. It's not just to fill up our heads. But it's so we'll live differently, so that we'll walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, so that we'll live a life that's pleasing to Him.

Now, I think we can study God and just marvel at who He is and delight in His power and His sovereignty. It doesn't mean we need to read the Bible and just look for stuff to do. Just reading Scripture and understanding more what God is like That's a useful thing, but it's still gonna spill over in the way we live if we understand it rightly. An old British preacher, Charles Spurgeon, said this one time. I love this quote.

It's actually from the introduction to the book that's printed in the introduction of the book Knowing God that I mentioned to you earlier. Spurgeon says this, It's been said that the proper study of mankind is man. I believe it's equally true that the proper study of God's elect is God. The proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy which can ever engage the attention of a child of God is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God.

Whom He calls His Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the divinity. It is a subject so vast that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity, so deep that our pride is drowned in its infinity.

What we believe about God if we really believe it, will end up affecting the way we live. Growing in knowledge of God is not like homework. The Bible presents it more as food. When we understand God's Word and through it understand more about what God is like, the Bible said, that's like food that feeds our souls. So that we'll thrive.

Jesus said this himself in Matthew chapter 4, looking back at something that Moses had said in Deuteronomy. Jesus says this, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Knowledge of God is like food for your soul. And I stress this so much, I know that there's many people in our church that love to read books off the bookshelf, they love to study God's word, you patiently come and sit and listen to sermons that are sometimes long, but I also know enough to know that you can do those things, and there may be some of you here that do that, but you're not really paying attention, you're not really listening. You're just showing up because you know that's a good thing for Christians to do. Well friend, I'd encourage you, in this church or in any church you're in where the Bible is truly preached, listen and pay attention and intend to put what you learn to work. You know, it's a tragedy when somebody starves to death.

But it's a horrific tragedy when you read about someone starving to death in a house full of food. So friend, you don't want to be someone that has sat at a banquet of God's word and yet come away starved. So give attention to what's said when you're with God's people. Read God's word yourself. Read books that teach about God's word.

Talk to other faithful Christians and talk about things from scripture. Work to fill up your mind with things that are true. There's no shortcut to godliness. Godliness comes through the things that we understand about God.

And Paul also understands that that knowledge has a purpose. And so he prays for the second thing, which is point number two in our sermon. He prays that the Colossians will be bearing fruit. He says that there in verse 10. He prays that they'll be bearing fruit in every good work.

Paul doesn't seem to be concerned that if the Colossians give a ton of their time to studying and learning God's word and growing in knowledge, that that's all they're gonna do. He actually very naturally transitions to the prayer and I think the hopeful expectation that if they do that, the thing that will follow is that they'll be bearing fruit in every good work. Because knowledge produces fruit. He seems to think that the fruit they bear is really just like two sides of a coin. It's the visible representation of what they internally believe and know about God.

And it has kind of two components, sort of an internal component and an external component.

Paul prays that they'd be bearing fruit in every good work. When we look at the rest of Scripture, the image of fruit is used all throughout the Bible to describe the good work of God's Spirit inside one of God's people. Elsewhere in Galatians, Paul writes about some of the good fruit that comes from God's Spirit at work in Christians. He lists things like love, joy, peace, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.

He also talks about things that are external, things that come out in the way we live a holy life. And I see those things in the lives of people in this church. I see the way people's knowledge of God produces changed internal affections. Which them shows themselves in very visible ways. And working to care for children, like Mark announced earlier about children's ministry training, sharing the gospel, giving rides to older members, caring for poorer neighbors.

And I think that's kind of what Paul has in mind because you notice he just says bearing fruit in every good work. The knowledge of God in a Christian overflows in every direction. So I don't think Paul has something specific in mind when he talks about fruit. I think he just means anything good that comes out of your life because of what God's done in your life. So in one sense, just knock yourselves out.

Like if there's something good to do, then do it. And do it because of what you understand about God's grace to you in the gospel.

Well, I think he also uses this image of fruit because he wants to help us better understand the linkage between this knowledge that we have and the way it bears out in the way we live our life. And again, the image of a person being like a tree that bears fruit runs all through Scripture. Back in Psalm 1, the psalmist writes this, he says a righteous person is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season. Its leaf does not wither.

So friend, when you think about trying to grow in knowledge and you think about trying to live a life of good works, of faithfulness, of personal holiness, I encourage you never to think of those things independently. Think of them as like the roots and the fruit of a tree. Scripture encourages us to see our lives in need of sinking the roots of our life deep into the truth of God, the knowledge of his word, what we get from studying his word, from being empowered by his spirit. We'll talk about that in a minute. But then to understand that the roots, what they take in, is gonna come out in the fruit.

I thought, Paul is admirably simple in this, so I thought I'd give you a nice little rhyme that's admirably simple that you can take away from this sermon. So I think what Paul's pressing is that the stuff in the roots comes out in the fruits. So, yes, not hard. You can try it yourself at home later. The stuff in the roots comes out in the fruits.

Paul wants these Christians to cultivate roots of their life that are sunk down deep into Bible knowledge, understanding of God's Word, understanding that good roots will result in good fruit.

Well, Paul wants them to do this because he understands that knowledge and the works we do as Christians aren't separated. That's why he prays for those things. But then he keeps praying because he understands that even with the best of intentions we need something more than just our effort to learn the Bible to bear this kind of good fruit. So he keeps on praying for them. In verse 11, he prays that they would be found being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might.

Now, remember, Paul's writing this to a group of Christians who were being tempted to think that they needed something else, some new teaching, some false teaching in order to sort of go to the next level with God. But Paul says what they really need is to be strengthened by God's power. He's thinking more about their standing firm in the gospel to resist false teaching, that that's the power that they need. And I think this is also kind of hard for Christians to understand because I think I think the way we think about being filled with God's power often looks a lot more like, frankly, like the Captain Marvel superhero movie. If any of you have seen that movie.

In it, this Air Force officer gets blasted by energy from some alien energy source and she absorbs it. And then she kind of glows while she's doing her superhero stuff and there's this glow around her and then she has the power to do all this incredible stuff. Well, I know that's silly. It's actually a pretty interesting movie, but as Christians, I think we can sometimes think that being filled with God's power is kind of like that. There's some sort of power source in us that enables us to do these extraordinary things.

And God sometimes does extraordinary things. But I don't think that's what Paul's particularly thinking about here. I think he's talking about being filled with God's power specifically so they can stand confident in the truth against false teaching. I think we understand that better if we just keep reading later there in verse 11 where he talks about the nature of that power. What's it gonna do?

He says, well, he wants them to be filled with that power for endurance and patience. With joy.

Paul wants him to be filled with power so that they can endure and do that patiently. But then he says that strange thing. He says that they should endure and have patience with joy. I think for most of us, we wouldn't think those things go together very well either. Endurance seems very grim.

And joy seems very happy.

But you know, I think you'll have a hard time understanding the Christian life in this world if you don't get your head around how we're living a life as Christians of joyful endurance.

We don't have all the promises of God fully yet, but I think Scripture intends for us to be sort of like a castle in a hurricane. Inside there's light and joy and contentment in what God's promised. And outside the winds are howling and blowing. I think one of the ways God's strength and His glory in the gospel is displayed is when Christians endure and keep on hoping in the gospel. Even when your circumstances would make some of your friends give up.

He wants us to stay confident in the hope that we have in the gospel. Now, if you're here and you're not a Christian, one, thank you for continuing to listen this long to a sermon about the gospel. But I don't think you're gonna really understand what I'm talking about if I don't explain why a Christian would endure. 'Cause Christianity is not just about stoicism. Paul's not just encouraging them just to be strong.

No, he's encouraging them to have this endurance in anticipation of what God's held out to them in the gospel. And by that we just mean the message the Bible teaches about Jesus. And the message is simply this, that there is a God, that that God actually exists, that he created everything that is, and because he's the creator, he has a right as creator to be obeyed and honored. And we understand that as human beings, we've not done that. We haven't obeyed God.

We've even tried to live our life as if we're sort of the ultimate point of reference, as if we're God. The Bible says that that is what scripture calls sin. Disobedience to God. And because of that, because God's good, he'll actually punish sin, not because he's mean, but because he's actually a just judge that always does what's right, which is thus far not good news for sinners. But the good news of the gospel is that this God, out of his love for his people, he sent his son into the world to live the perfect life that none of us have lived, and to die as a substitute in order to bear the punishment that all of us deserve because of our disobedience.

And that his sacrifice of himself was sufficient so that God raised Jesus from the dead after three days in the grave to show that what he had done had actually accomplished what he'd set out to do: bearing the sins of God's people. So that God now commands everybody everywhere to repent of our sins, and to trust in Christ. And when we do that, the promise that's held out for us is reconciliation with God and eternal blessedness with Him in heaven. That is why Christians are enduring. Christians are enduring in hope.

Endurance, when it's done in anticipation, only heightens the enjoyment when the promises are finally fulfilled.

Well, Paul prays all these things for the Colossians, but then he turns in his prayer and it's like he wants to help them see, okay, what's going to be the result of all this? If they're growing in knowledge and they're bearing fruit and they're being strengthened in their souls, by what they're learning about God and what they're experiencing with Him, what are they gonna do? Well, he says that in verse 12, giving thanks to the Father.

The ultimate response of a Christian to all of this should be, I think, thankfulness to God.

Now again, if you're here and you're not a Christian, You need to understand that Christians probably mean something different than what you're thinking when we talk about thankfulness. I know that just people in general will talk about the fact that we should be thankful, that we should have gratitude. I've read some articles just this last Thanksgiving from a person who didn't claim to be a Christian at all, but she talked about how how good it was for us to have a general sense of thankfulness. It was never clear exactly where she thought this thanks should be directed, to fate or to luck or to random chance. Certainly, we can be thankful to individual human beings.

Like it's nice if someone holds the door open for us, it's nice to say thank you. But in a bigger sense in your life, when you think about the good things that you may have in your life and you want to cultivate an attitude of thankfulness or gratitude, where do you direct that? I think for a lot of people, having an attitude of thankfulness is kind of like writing a thank you card and putting a stamp on it and dropping it in the mail without a name or an address on it. I'm not even sure what that means. For Christians, we mean something different.

When we talk about thankfulness, we don't just mean sort of a vague sense of gratitude to the universe. Christian thankfulness is specific and direct and verbal. It's directed to God. And Paul concludes this section of the letter to the Colossians by giving two things that he wants them to focus their thankfulness in on. They're wonderful to meditate on.

They're the things that we'll look at for the last few minutes of our time together this morning. He mentions in verse 12 first that these Colossians should have an attitude of thankfulness because they have been qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Now, I fear sometimes that the word qualified has probably lost a lot of its meaning for us. If you're like me, you get stuff in the mail every single day that says, you are pre-qualified for this credit card or you're qualified for this vacation package. That kind of qualification doesn't mean much. I think you probably figure that out. But this qualification that Paul's writing about, this qualification means everything.

He's saying that the Colossian Christians and every other Christian who's trusted in Christ and repented of their sins is qualified to share in the inheritance of all Christians in heaven. You know, being qualified, what that means is that we don't have to apply, we don't have to try out, we don't have to earn it, we don't have to compete to get it. Paul's reminding the Colossian Christians that in Christ, they are already qualified for the promises that God holds out for his saints in heaven. You notice he says that real explicitly when he says that he has qualified us for this inheritance. And then kind of like someone taking a gym and turning it one tick just to see another facet.

It's like one facet isn't enough. Paul holds up another implication of what God has done for us in the gospel. He says that in verse 13. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. Again, Christian, do you see that Paul's saying that we have a present benefit in the gospel, that we have been delivered.

He's telling Christians that the title of our souls has been transferred from the worst of owners, from sin and Satan, to the best of owners, to Christ, who laid himself down for our sins. Paul leaves no room for misunderstanding, too. He keeps going in the letter. You know, it's almost as if he said all these things and then he says, Look, let me spell this out really clear for you.

What is it that you should be giving thanks for? Well, in Christ we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Paul's reminding the Colossians that we who actually deserved hell have been redeemed. We've been rescued. I think sometimes we like to think about our transfer from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's son as an escape. Like we burrowed out of our prison cell and escaped to God's kingdom. Paul's reminding us that, no, no, it was actually a rescue, not an escape.

That Christ came when we weren't even probably looking to be rescued. And died for our sins. And that in Him we have, like we've got it, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Well, I think that's something worth thanking God for, for the rest of our days as Christians.

But that brings us back to the question that we kind of started out our time with. People pray about what they care about.

Paul prays this section of Scripture for the Colossian Christians, but he also writes it down so they'll read about it and they'll know about it so that they'll learn to value the things that they should value. Paul is praying for them because they need God's help, but he's also teaching them about the priorities that they should have in their own life. So what about you? What do you value in your prayers? I want to be really clear as your pastor, there's nothing that we can't take to God in prayer.

God is an amazingly patient God He's loved us in Christ. He'll endure even with our prayers that are sometimes weird or selfish or misplaced.

But if your prayers are only taken up with your own health or your own problems or your job or the things that you really want, is that really all that you should be praying for?

Paul prayed these things for the Colossians because he wanted them to understand what was really valuable. Growing in the knowledge of God, bearing fruit that's pleasing to Him, being strengthened for endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks for the redemption and the forgiveness that we have in Christ.

Do you have any Better things to pray for than these?

Let's pray.

Father, we thank youk that in youn Son we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Father, we thank youk that You have done for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. And Lord, we pray that you would help us to continue to thank you and praise you for that. Lord, we thank you that you've shown yourself so good to us, both in doing for us what we couldn't do and reminding us of it for our own soul's encouragement. And Father, we pray that you would continue to encourage us and that you would do that through your word.

And we pray that in Jesus name, amen.