The Personality the World Needs to See. by John.

The Personality the World Needs to See!
Colossians 3:15-17.

1. Last week I finished the first point of my message about what the Colossian Christians needed in Christ. The conclusion was that we need the same virtues.
2. Paul listed seven: They were Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love.
3. In passing, I also mentioned the things we are to avoid: There are five of them found in v. 5. They are sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed. These are things we need to get out, and keep out, of our lives.
4. Today, I want us to finish what we started last week, and this part of the message has a new title, "The Personality the World Needs to See!"
5. People have seen most of us at our worst.
(1) It is a thing that makes me sad, but I know my own family has seen me at my worst!
(2) I've shamed myself with people I've worked with.
(3) There have been times that it seemed to me the whole world knew everything bad about me.
(4) Does this sound like something you could say about yourself?
(5) The worst thing about this is that our worldly personality will not lead anyone to Jesus for Salvation!
6. What should a Christian be like?
7. How can we as Christians become the person we ought to be?
8. That's what Paul laid out for the Colossians in these three verses.

I. First, Peace Must Rule Our Lives!
1. When we look at lost people about us, some of them seem to be blissfully peaceful.
(1) They seem to have plenty of money, nice houses, beautiful automobiles, in fact, most of the things that the rest of us would like to have!
(2) They seem to have it easy, while we have to work hard!
(3) But the time comes sooner or later in their lives when they come face to face with God!
a. Hebrews 10:31 says, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
b. It is a wonderful thing to step into the hands of our Loving Father! And that is what God is to every one of us who have trusted and committed our lives to Jesus!
2. Without Him we cannot have any lasting peace!
3. With Jesus, we can be at peace all of our lives!
(1) The writer of Hebrews a few verses later reminded his readers that they stood up under suffering.
(2) They stood up when they were exposed to insult and persecution!
(3) And they stood side by side with others who were being mistreated for their faith!
4. That would seem like a good time to throw away your faith, but again the Hebrews writer said, (Hebrews10: 35) "Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded."
5. In v. 39, he reminded them, "We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved!"
6. It is hard for many of us to believe, but what Christ said in John 14:27 is absolutely true! "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
7. Now you may not have noticed in our text Paul said, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts..."
(1) We don't have to develop peace.
(2) We don't have to work for peace.
(3) We need to trust God, and allow the peace of Christ to fill us! ill. Some place we were, I noticed a sign that that said "Double-rich Chocolate Shake." I knew exactly what that meant, and in the same way, we should allow the peace of Christ to rule us! And to rule in us!

II. Second, We Must Experience the Living Word of God.

1. The Bible is God's written word. Jesus is God's living Word.
2. We may divide them in our thinking, but in reality, the Bible is the Expression of God's Living Word.
3. Jesus is to dwell in us richly, abundantly.
4. In the 23rd Psalm are the words, "my cup overflows." I love that because in my mind that is how the Word of God "dwells in us richly!"
5. As for the written Word of God, there are several things we can do to have it change our lives and to always have it available.
(1) We can hear it preached. (Hebrews 10:25) "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
a. When we hear preaching, we need to depend on God's Holy Spirit to lead us. Some preachers are honestly wrong in their interpretation of the Scripture.
b. Some are just dishonest and are not God's servants at all.
ill. Jeremiah wore a yoke on his neck and prophesied that Judah should surrender to Nebuchanezzar because God's punishment of Judah would be less if they did not resist. Hananiah, the false prophet said that God was going to restore everything Nebuchadnezzar had taken away including King Jehoiachin. He took the yoke Jeremiah had on and broke it saying God would break Nebuchadnezzar the same way.
In Jeremiah 28:16 Jeremiah delivered God's decree to Hananiah. "I am about to remove you from the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord." In the 7th month Hananiah died.
c. Pray for the preachers you listen to! And depend on God's Holy Spirit to give you His message.
(2) Read God's Word for yourself.
a. Read it in prayer! The Psalmist said, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you...Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." (Psalm 119:11 & 105)
b. Read it with others. ill. Some of my earliest memories are my mother reading the story of David and Goliath to me.
c. If you don't read it for yourself, you are depending on another fault-laden person to tell you what is in that Book!
(3) Study God's Word. Find out what it really says.
a. Ask yourself why what you are reading was written.
b. Ask yourself, what their problems were.
c. Ask God, what do you want me to get from this?
d. II Timothy 2:15 says, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."
(4) Memorize God's Word. In 2 Corinthians 3:3, Paul told the Corinthians, "You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Sprit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."
a. You don't have to memorize the whole Bible!
b. Memorize the verses that are important to you.
c. Memorize the verses you think will be important to someone else!
d. Let God lead you in your choices!
(5) Spend time meditating on every aspect of what you have heard, read, and memorized.
a. It is in meditation about God's Word that we begin to apply it to our lives, and that's where change begins to come into our personalities.
b. That's when we will begin to be God's Word written in human hearts by God's Spirit!

III. Another Important Part of Being Filled with God's Word Richly Is in Sharing It with Others.

1. We don't have to be ostentatious, or showy, or show off when we share God's Word.
2. First, we live it, and then when we do speak His Word to people or individuals, they will realize our words are straight from God!
3. In I Corinthians 14:18,19, when Paul said, "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue."
4. The point is that Christians are ordered by Christ to make disciples, and we can't do it unless we share His Word with un-disciple-d people!
5. Our sharing must be authoritative and understandable!
6. When we share, we will also grow in the Lord!

Conclusion:

1. Being a Christian is all about being like Christ, filled with God's Word, and living it out!
2. We can read, hear, study, memorize, and meditate on everything God has said, or may choose to reveal to us.
3. Both are dead now, but I remember well when a deacon said to me, "Hamp and I don't take much preaching you know!"
(1) I feel like too many Christians think they do not need to hear from God at all!
(2) We need to remember what we have received from God, and we need to thank Him for all we have!
4. Then we need to share what we have gained with people around us who need the Lord!
5. I wonder...if Paul were writing to Emmanuel Community Church, would he say, "You show you are a letter from Christ..."
6. Let's pray!

Emmanuel 9/17/2006