INTRODUCTION TO COLOSSIANS Growth Begins with The Gospel

Colossians 1: And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 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.

Sanctification is the process by which we are conformed into the likeness and image of Jesus (Romans 8:28-29). Growth is not the basis for your acceptance. Ephesians 2:8-9 Growth is the product of your acceptance. Ephesians 2:10

John 15:8-9 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

John 15: If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half- hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” - C.S. Lewis

These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited. - C.S. Lewis

Colossians 1:11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy… Power to grow does not come from: Philosophy – Colossians 2:4-8 Religion – Colossians 2:16-19 Discipline – Colossians 2:20-23

Colossians 1: May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

INTRODUCTION TO COLOSSIANS Gospel Sanctification