#309 Colossians Series# 2, He Has Qualified Us

#309 Colossians Series# 2, He Has Qualified Us
By: Pastor D. Karl Thomas

In a place where religious pluralism and syncretism is encouraged … (Truth being diluted for the sake of unity)… Paul asserts the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ.

Jesus is Lord! Therefore He is fully able qualify us as saints.

Primarily written to confront rising heresies (false teachings) of the day.
Combative in tone and abrupt in style.
Confronts four basic heresies:  1. Gnosticism   2. Legalism  3. Mysticism     4. Asceticism 

Colossians 1:1-2
This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. 2 We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters[a] in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.

Colossians 1:3-5
3 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, 5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

Colossians 1:6
6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace. 

Colossians 1:7-8
7 You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf.[b] 8 He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.

Colossians 1:9
9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Epignosis:—precise and correct knowledge

Colossians 1:10
10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

Colossians 1:11
11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,

Colossians 1:12 “…always thanking the Father. He has enabled (Qualified) you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.”

Qualified Hikanoo:—to make sufficient, render fit,         to equip one with adequate power to perform.  

Acts 26:18-19 Pauls Commission
“…the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”

Colossians 1:13-14
13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

New Covenant:— (Merriam Webster) a promise of redemption by God to people as individuals rather than as a nation and on the basis of God’s grace rather than a person’s adherence to the law Christ is … the mediator of a new covenant

The New Covenant invites broken people into a relationship with a Holy God. An agreement made between two parties (God and God). He defined the terms and He alone fulfilled every obligation. A relationship, made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus — a relationship based on faith and grace rather than on works of the law.

Ephesians 2:4-9
“But God—so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us,

5 Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved ([a]delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).

6 And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us [b]joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

7 He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.

8 For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved ([c]delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;

9 Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.] 

Benefits Of Qualification:
1. Restored To Our Father vs 12 “…always thanking the Father.”
Galatians 3:26  “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

2. Granted An Inheritance vs 12 “share in the inheritance”
1 Peter 1:4 “…and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.”

3. We Made And Declared Holy vs 12 “…the saints in the light.”
Acts 26: “… those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”   I am Saint Thomas!!!

4. Completely Delivered vs 13 “rescued us from the kingdom of darkness”

NOT SUBJECT TO DARKNESS
John 8:36 “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

5. Granted New Citizenship vs 13 “…transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.”
Brought under the rule of Christ and the benefits of His Kingdom.   Citizenship has privileges!!!

6. Removed All My Failures vs 14 “purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.”
Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

Colossians 1:12  “…giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us…”

309 Colossians Series# 2, He Has Qualified Us, PowerPoint Slides

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