Dwelling Place

Guest (Male): Today, on The Dwelling Place.

Al Pittman: I I liken it to a flat tire on your car. When your your tires aren't filled, you can't get very far. Amen. And sometimes Christians spiritually, metaphorically speaking, are riding around on all tires that are flat on the rims and wondering in their lives, what's that scraping noise? Need to get out and put some air in the tires or change the tires or whatever. Amen. God wants us to be filled to completeness. And really, in reality, if we are not filled with the knowledge of God, your faith will be flat.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to The Dwelling Place, a radio ministry from Pastor Al Pittman of Al Pittman Ministries. The purpose of this radio program is to encourage you, strengthen your walk with the Lord, and grow. To support this program financially or learn more about the ministry, visit us online at alpittmanministries.com. That's alpittmanministries.com. Thank you for partnering with us. Now, here's Pastor Al.

Al Pittman: If you have a Bible, please open to the book of Colossians. We're going to start a new study uh this morning uh in the book of Colossians in the New Testament. And um I've entitled this message the high life. Say, oh boy. Yeah, I'm not talking about the uh legalization of marijuana. Amen. And I'm not talking about Miller beer. Amen. The thing about marijuana and Miller Miller beer, you got to pay for it. But I'm talking about the abundant life that has been given to us with everlasting benefits, not from Miller, but from the master.

Amen. From the master, from God, that has given us everlasting life, abundant life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I want to talk to you today about the high life. We're going to be looking at verses 1 to 12 in Colossians chapter 1. And when I talk about the high life, I'm not saying that as a believer that God has called us to a trouble-free life. Amen. But rather, we are called to live under another yoke. Another yoke other than that of the world. We're not supposed to live under the heaviness of this world. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Amen. And I don't say these words these uh to condemn anyone. And I I've often have find my found myself in this position, but far too often believers have settled for a mediocre faith, professing the high life, and yet living in low places. God is calling us to the high life, to the abundant life that is in Christ. Jesus said the thief has come to kill, steal, and to destroy. But I've come that you might have life and that you might have life abundantly. Amen. So, Paul here in our text, in our message today, addresses the motivation for the high life, and then the manifestation secondly of that high life.

And we're going to look at that today. And it's my prayer that we would be inspired to go deeper so we can live higher in Jesus Christ. Amen. Did not Paul say that I forget what's behind and I press on in my upward call in Christ Jesus. He gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by. Amen. So, first the motivation for the high life, verses 1 to 8, read along with me here in Colossians chapter 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace uh is a standard Jewish greeting, but it also reminds us of the fact that we can't have peace apart from God's grace. Grace and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 3, we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of of the truth of the gospel which has come to you as has also in all the world and is bringing forth fruit as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.

As you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant and is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. It's kind of interesting that Epaphras, many believe, was the founder of the church of Colossae. And um uh Paul refers to him here simply as my fellow servant and faithful minister. You know, that's really a title we should all aspire to. He said, oh no, you're the minister Pastor Al. No, we are all in the ministry. God has called all of us to the ministry of reconciliation.

So, we're all ministers in the Lord. And our title Everybody wants to get their name on a board or something or or you know uh get on a platform or whatever. But our title that what we should actually thrive for is to be simply a fellow servant, a minister under under Jesus Christ, a minister of Jesus Christ for the benefit of others as Paul says here of of uh Epaphras for your on your behalf. And so, Lord, let us be servants and let us be ministers for the edification of the church and for the glorification of our God.

Amen. Oh, what a what a neat title and reputation to have. But why would Paul find it necessary to remind them of the proper motivation for the high life, the proper motivation for the abundant life in Christ? Well, I I know as I'm studying this, looking at the history of Colossae, that in Colossae, as it is in our society today, historians tell us that that in Colossae, this town that is in actually modern-day Turkey um was known for its religious spiritism. And there were mystery cults and Hellenistic Greek mysticism abound. Hellenistic or Greek mysticism was there, and even mystical elements of Judaism.

Now, it is possible that out of concern for Excuse me. Their spiritual well-being that Paul wanted to remind them, listen, with all this spiritism going on and mysticism, remember that Jesus Christ needs to be your focus. He needs to be your motivation, not all these these false lies that are being promoted through spiritual mysticism. You know, mysticism has even crept crept into the church today. Uh there's a lot of mysticism that people think is Christianity and it's God, it's Bible, but it's mysticism. For instance, you hear them late late at night sometimes on television. Uh so many of these preachers who are are are asking you to send in your seed money so they can send you a little vial of of water from the Jordan.

And always know it's it's false advertising because if you've ever seen the Jordan, and I've seen the Jordan in Israel, it is muddy. And when they're offering you clear water, you know they're lying. Amen. Or sinful my prayer cloth or sinful this special oil that I I conjured up, you know. And if you send your seed money in, I'll I'll reveal to you the secrets or God will will reveal to you the secrets of God or I've got these special secrets and if you just send in your seed, you can have this secret too. That's a lie from the pit of hell.

Because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul says there's no secrets in God. All things are yours. Whether they are Paul or Apollos, all things are yours, and you are in Christ, and Christ is in God. Everything belongs to you. Amen. I love that. Amen. You don't have to send no seed money in to find out a secret. God has revealed everything in the face of Jesus Christ. And yet we see Christians running around professing these things. And what they don't realize because they're ignorant of the word is they are in fact practicing spiritual mysticism in the house of God.

We should repent of that. Paul, I believe, was motivated to write to them because they were in an atmosphere of gnosticism, the belief that their acquisition of knowledge that they could have salvation. So, trying to find all these secrets and mystical things. And Paul said, wait a minute. That's not the focus. The focus is Jesus. He must be your motivation alone. And so he commends them for their faith in Christ and their love, not for some, but for all the saints in verse 4. And then both of these, faith and love, Paul says was born out of their hope in Christ.

Look at verse 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Hope founded upon the gospel. Our hope in Christ must be the motivation behind our faith and our love. Not taking advantage of people, not seeking relationships with people so that they can benefit you. But Christ ought to be our motivation for our faith and our love. Why? Because of the hope. And here is the motivation. Paul is saying the motivation for the abundant life, the motivation for the high life is our hope that is in Jesus Christ.

We behave a certain way, we do certain things because of our hope that is in Jesus Christ, not because of some personal benefit that I would gain, but because of my hope in Jesus. And he says that hope is an everlasting hope and that is laid up in heaven for us. 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away.

Amen. You know, we have no hope if Jesus is still in the tomb, but he's resurrected. And therefore, we have a living hope. And then he says this hope is reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last times. Amen. I love that last line there because it reminds us of the fact that my salvation is kept by the power of God, that we are kept by the power of God. So, how can you ever be lost if you're kept by the power of God?

Amen. You're kept not because of your performance, but by the power of God. Amen. This hope is not of this world. The world has hope, but it's a fleeting hope. The hope Jesus that Paul is writing about here that's in Christ is not of this world, but it is founded upon the truth of the gospel according to grace, the truth of the gospel. If you don't have hope today, you can have hope in Christ. It's founded that hope is found not founded upon your upon your performance. Oh, I'm going to go to church and get myself together.

You can't get yourself together. Amen. I'm just here to tell you. I can't get myself together. Jesus Christ according to the grace of God, there's hope in the gospel of Christ. Only God can straighten your mess out. Amen. And so it's hope in him. Amen. According to grace according to grace Paul says in verse 5, we have this word of uh this truth of the gospel. It is according to grace. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9, many of you know it for by grace you have been saved. By by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man or woman should boast and say, look what I did.

No. Jesus did it all for us. It's a truth. And again, Paul is commending them here and directing them to stay focused on the high life, stay focused on the abundant life because of the truth that they had the hope they have in the gospel and the truth uh of the gospel. Be And it's the truth that they knew. They knew. Now, it's important for us to understand that verse 6, the latter part, he says in the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. The day you heard You got to hear the gospel and you knew you came to know the grace of God in truth.

That word knew speaks of intimate, real, life-changing knowledge, not just information. There's a lot of people who know about Jesus, but they don't know Jesus. A lot of people know church, but they don't know Jesus. Some people come to church for culture, but they don't come to church for Christ. There's a difference. Have you truly been born again? If you truly know him, your life ought to be changed to the knowledge of the gospel. And if you're not changed, then you're not born again. It's as simple as that. It's more than just having information, but there must be transformation.

And Paul says, you knew you came to be transformed by this truth. Paul mentions here one of the evidences of this glorious hope and knowledge. One of the evidences of the fact that we've been transformed in it is fruitfulness as we see here in verse 6 as he says, this gospel that has gone out in the world is bringing forth fruit. Bringing forth fruit, fruitfulness. Jesus said, you will know them by their works. No. You will know them by the size of the church. You will know them by how they dress. No. You will know them by their fruit.

Amen. And what fruit is he talking about here possibly? Paul is referring here to the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians chapter 5. Galatians 5 verses 22 and 23 says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, kindness, you know. Against such there is no law. In other words, the fruit of the Spirit is not according to some rules and regulations. It is something that is born out of the heart, something that is of the Holy Spirit, but it is the fruit of the Spirit. Now, let's all be honest. Some of us got some fruit that's more ripe than others.

Amen. That's all right. We're in the process of sanctification. God is still working on us. We're still being sanctified. We haven't arrived yet. Amen. Even Paul the apostle said, I have not arrived. So, I got some fruit God still needs to work on. Amen. But we should be bearing the fruit of the Spirit. And Paul uh uh actually bears witness to the fact that they are truly fruitful in the Lord. He bears witness to the fruitfulness fruitfulness. You say, well where does he do that? Well, verse 8 he says, who that is Epaphras has given us a report.

And he declared to us your love in the Spirit. I love that. Paul says we can attest to the fact that you you're Epaphras came back and said, you got these people they they love the Lord. And the testimony to the the their love in the Spirit. The love of God is in the church is universal, man. I I've been in places where, you know, the Israel, the other places and and I tell you just when you meet believers, there's a coin in the air. Is there not? There's a love that happens when you're in the assembly of God's people where Jesus Christ is the motivation, not building somebody's kingdom or some other deal.

But when they just love the Lord, man, there's an instant coin in the air. And sometimes we don't even know each other's languages and they're praying, you know. And uh you know, I've been in in to Africa and I've I've been in services where they were speaking, you know, and in a language I didn't understand or whatever. But man, it was uh I got sensed the love and the spirit of God in that place. What is that? That's the Holy Spirit. It's love in the Spirit. Now, it's not love according to the world because the world talks about love.

And love that you see in the world can be miss miss is misguided many times because a lot of times it's it is conditional love. You know, I mean people say, you know, well we just we just love we just love people, you know. And so if you really love them, if they're living a lifestyle or whatever, that you should never say anything. You should just love them. Now, yeah, we should love people, but the reality is that true love speaks the truth. And the Bible says, speak the truth in love. Amen. And so, you know, if you you come to Pastor Al and you want to ask me something, I'm going to tell you the truth.

And I you know, if your feelings get hurt, you say, well Pastor Al is a bigot. Pastor Al is you know, he's this, he's that. You know what? No, I just love you. I'm just going to tell you the truth. If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't have nothing to say to you. Amen. But love speaks the truth. And so, you know, when we talk about God's love or the love in the Spirit, we're not talking about this gooey kind of you know, whatever, you know. It's no, it's love. Listen, according to the word and the will of God.

That's true love because God is love. Amen. The Bible says, God is love, and God will tell you the truth so that you can be healed, so that you can be delivered. Where Christ is the motivation love in the Spirit abounds. Where we are the motivation, where self is the motivation, you won't find the love of God. But where Jesus is our motivation, our focus, the love in the Spirit will abound. Now, in verse 9, Paul says, for this reason What reason? Because you have this hope in Christ. Paul prays a four-fold prayer. A four-fold He prays for I should say a four-fold manifestation of the high life or the abundant life within the church in Colossae.

And so, in verse 9, you read with me verses 9 to 12. He says, for this reason we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding and that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good uh every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for all patience and longsuffering and joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Amen. God has called us to the kingdom, his kingdom of light, and called us out of darkness. Amen. He said, for this reason and Paul prays for them. And in this prayer I I see or you know uh a manifestation of the high life. There are four things uh three things that we we note here uh that Paul prays for. First, he prays that they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will. Be filled with the knowledge of God's will, verse 9, that you would be filled with the knowledge of God's will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

Now, that word knowledge is an interesting word because the knowledge is not just information, not just getting a degree, you know, or or M.Div, a Master of Divinity or something like that. But the knowledge being filled with the knowledge of God implies intimate, life-changing knowledge that only the Holy Spirit can give. In other words, you've got to be in relationship to have this knowledge with God. And the Holy Spirit gives us this knowledge. And then he says, be that you would be filled. The word filled suggests a filling out to completeness. I I liken it to a flat tire on your car.

When your your tires aren't filled, you can't get very far. Amen. And sometimes Christians spiritually, metaphorically speaking, are riding around on all tires that are flat on the rims and wondering in their lives, what's that scraping noise? Need to get out and put some air in the tires or change the tires or whatever. Amen. God wants us to be filled to completeness. And really, in reality, if we are not filled with the knowledge of God, your faith will be flat. Like a flat tire. If we're not being filled with the knowledge of God's will that word flat I you know, I like to play with acrostics and that word flat could stand for faithless, lazy, apathetic testimony.

Amen. A lot of Christians are faithless and quite honestly spiritually lazy. They want to be spoon-fed. They want to come to come to church and you tell me how to do everything. And if you don't tell me how to do, you know, address when I'm going through, then I'm out of here. I walk out early or whatever. Or I'm still mad. Look, God says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. He don't want to be spoon-fed. He wants you to know how to feed yourself. Amen. So, God You know, if if you if you're flat, then maybe it's because you're you're not feeding yourself with the knowledge of God's word, with knowing the will of God and well how to Pastor, okay, you you you busted me, man.

How can I be filled? Well, the Bible tells us it's by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12 verse 2 and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and perfect what and acceptable and perfect what will of God. And how do I do that? How I renew my mind? It's through the word of God, by being in his word, being a disciple of the word of God. Now, notice the knowledge of his word, the knowledge of his will, it impacts every area of our lives.

And we just prayed for teachers and those who are whether you're custodians or administrators or homeschooling or whatever, we prayed for you. And when you walk according to the knowledge of God's will, God's word whether you're in the educational system or you're uh engineer or whatever you're doing, when you give yourself to the word of God, do you know that it enhances you in all wisdom and understanding, the knowledge of his will in your life? It'll make you a better teacher. It'll make you a better custodian. Hey, I mean I was a guy who was awarded janitor of the year award when I was going to Bible college.

People laugh at me when I tell them that. I say, yeah, I got janitor of the year. It was presented to me by a a Tuskegee airman. This is history. Amen. The first four-star black general in the Air Force, General Chappie James. Amen. I got the picture at home. I got my afro on. I got the wide lapels. Amen. I got my safari suit on and my platform shoes. And Chappie James was a big man. I looked like a little twig standing next to him. And the reason I got that award because I walked in the wisdom and understanding of God.

Guest (Male): Learn more about Pastor Al and his ministry by visiting alpittmanministries.com. Also, consider supporting us financially. You can send a check to Al Pittman Ministries at P.O. Box 50584, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80949 or visit us online. Thank you for your prayers and your support. Your generosity keeps this radio ministry going. Lastly, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing info@alpittmanministries.com. That's info@alpittmanministries.com. We look forward to hearing from you. Again, thank you for joining us and we'll see you next time on The Dwelling Place. God bless.