Rev. David Holwick G
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
March 3, 2002
Colossians 1:1-8
THE GOSPEL IS GROWING
I. IS RELIGION GOOD FOR YOU?
A. Much conflict between religions.
1) Fighting between Jews and Moslems.
2) Fighting between Hindus and Moslems.
3) Fighting between us and Moslems.
a) (do Moslems have problems with all of us?)
b) Many feel that ALL religious people are a threat.
A recent book called THE MIND OF GOD, advocates
"eliminating religion as a factor in public life"
because it "legitimizes violence." #21928
B. It depends on what your religion is like.
1) There are always warped versions.
a) Molesting priests, murderous pastors...
2) Genuine faith should be something special.
a) And it should have special results.
II. A PRACTICAL LETTER.
A. Colossians written to a city in Turkey.
1) High theology and practical advice.
2) Their church was facing competition from other forms of
spirituality.
3) The best response is a vibrant Christianity.
B. From Paul, apostle by God's will.
1) Apostle means "sent one" - God's spokesman, ambassador.
2) As far as your neighbors are concerned, YOU are Christ's
ambassador, whether you like it or not.
C. To the holy and faithful brothers.
1) In the Old Testament, holiness is attributed not only to
persons, but also to places and things.
a) This suggests that the root idea in "holy" is not
excellence of character but dedication
b) It is the state of being set apart for the work and
worship of God.
2) "Brothers" is a term Paul uses in every letter.
a) It calls attention to the intimacy of the fellowship
of the Christian community.
III. THEY ARE AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANS.
A. They have faith. 1:4
1) Faith has many dimensions in the Bible.
2) Here, they heard about Jesus and believed the message.
3) They committed themselves to it.
B. They show it by the way they love.
1) Jesus said this is how people will know we are Christians.
2) It is why people still become Christians.
C. It is rooted in hope.
1) Much depression lately. Endless war?
2) Christians have something to look forward to.
3) Our hope is stored up for us - the best is yet to come.
IV. THEY HAVE HEARD AN AUTHENTIC GOSPEL.
A. It is true. 1:5,6
1) It does matter what you believe.
2) We believe not because it seems to work, but because
Jesus really is Lord. We accept reality.
B. It is bearing fruit. 1:6
1) True Christianity makes a difference.
In no area has this been more true than in Christianity's
championing of the weak, the poor, the sick, and the
defenseless.
Authors Dave Shiflett and Vincent Carroll remind us how
revolutionary the Christian doctrine of mercy has been.
They quote historian John McManners, who noted that the
classical world into which Christianity was born,
"regarded mercy and pity as pathological emotions --
defects of character to be avoided by all
rational men."
But Christians had a different view.
They knew that God's grace and mercy were unearned and so
they were unable to withhold mercy from others.
They also knew that their Savior had instructed them to see
his face in the face of the poor and desperate.
Jesus' words still ring through history: "As you have done
these things to the least of my brethren, you have done
them unto me." (Matthew 25:40)
#21928
2) Christians support many compassionate ministries in Roxbury.
a) One example - yesterday a man called the church.
He visited here once, during a VBS program.
His brother had just been killed by truck in Virginia
and he couldn't afford the gas to get there.
So he called this church.
His family had turned him down.
The church was his best shot.
C. It is growing. 1:6
1) China and voluminous persecution files.
Li Shi-xiong was born in 1953 and grew up in a labor camp
in Red China.
His father had been a counter-revolutionary.
Li was beat up every day.
His mother was forced to apologize to the bullies.
A deep bitterness and a violent temper gripped him by the
time he was released from the camp after 20 years.
He had almost no formal education and no money.
In 1989 Li was a committed anti-Communist and supported
the demonstrations in Tiananmen square.
The police knocked on his door and told him he could
expect to be arrested any time.
The government forced Li into bankruptcy while he made
the arrangements to move to America.
Once he got to America he made it his mission to help
others get out.
He began to notice that many of these Chinese were
Christians and had terrible stories of persecution.
Li was reminded of an old farmer at the labor camp who
had been jailed with his father.
The old farmer had told him about God and had loved him
better than his parents had.
Li knew of Christians in China but had not really known
how much they had suffered.
He started to collect their stories and supporting
evidence.
This year the archive was turned over to the United States
government.
It contains 22,000 testimonies of persecution against
Christians and the stack is 10 feet high.
Many of the testimonies contain photos of their wounds
from torture.
While he worked with these Christians, they shared their
faith with him.
A Christian aunt from Taiwan wrote to him about Christ and
how she was praying every day for him.
Eventually the atheist counter-revolutionary asked Jesus
to be his personal Savior.
#22682
D. It has been received from a faithful Christian.
1) He share gospel with them, continues to be involved.
2) Who will hear it from you?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#21928 "The Quality Of Mercy: How Christianity Taught The World To
Care," BreakPoint Commentary by Charles Colson; December 3,
2001.
#22682 "New China, Same Old Tricks," by Tony Carnes, Christianity Today
Magazine; March 11, 2002, pages 38-45.
These and 20,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://illust.holwick.com
=========================================================================
HOLWICK'S COLLECTION Number: 21885
SOURCE: Internet: Rev. Brett Blair's Illustrations By Email,
www.sermonillustrations.com
TITLE: The Global Effect Of A Galilean Peasant
AUTHOR: Larry R. Kalajainen
DATE: 11/25/01
ILLUSTRATION:
Nearly 2,000 years ago an obscure Galilean peasant gained
some local notoriety as a wandering preacher and healer.
He was executed by the Romans
Yet today there is not a single nation in the world where
this obscure peasant was not worshipped and acclaimed
as a king, a king whose kingdom shall never end.
Where in this world can one go and not discover somewhere a
group of people who confess Jesus as Lord and King?
In countries rich and poor, large and small, free or
suppressed, the church is present and growing.
In the highlands of the interior of the East Malaysian
state of Sarawak on the heavily-forested island of
Borneo, there is a small village called Barrio.
It is only accessible by small planes capable of landing on
the tiny mountain-ringed runway, or by a long journey by
canoes up jungle rivers and trekking on foot.
And yet, every person in that village confesses the
Lordship of Jesus Christ.
In southern Congo, where political turmoil and corrupt
government has many people on the brink of starvation,
there are small groups of Christians who gather in
rural mud-brick churches.
Sometimes there is no roof, yet they are there each Sunday,
to sing the praises of a king whose name is Jesus.
Through the long years of repression in the Soviet Union
and its satellites, we now discover the church was not
only alive but growing.
It is now stronger than it ever was in those lands.
Many people in those lands refused to confess Mao Tse-Tung
or Stalin or Brezhnev as king, preferring to confess
Jesus as king instead, sometimes at great personal cost.
____________________
Larry R. Kalajainen, Extraordinary Faith For Ordinary Time, CSS
Publishing Company.
