Colossians 2:18-23

The body is only temporary.
The focus is on the wrong thing
They are counter-productive.
They do not address the heart.

Colossians 3:1-17

HOLD ON TO HEAVEN in your STRUGGLE WITH SIN.

SEEK THINGS ABOVE: view life from God’s perspective and chase after what He desires.

SET YOUR MIND ON THINGS ABOVE: keep your thoughts and affections directed on Jesus.

Put to death PASSIONS OF THE BODY.

Put away WICKEDNESS OF THE MOUTH.

HOLD ON TO HEAVEN in your STRUGGLE WITH SIN.

Colossians 1:24-2:23
Paul was called to share the Gospel.
Paul was compelled to share the Gospel.
Paul was committed to sharing the Gospel.

Question: How great is your commitment to sharing the gospel?

Hold on to the Truth in the face of opposition.

Colossians 2:6 “as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.”

Colossians 2:16 …holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Colossians 1:15-27

pathema means “that which befalls someone; affliction.”

You Have to Hold On to Your Hope.

Don’t run from Jesus.

2 Peter 5:10

Don’t hide from people who love you…especially those who are followers of Christ.

Galatians 6:2

Colossians 1:1-23 (reference)

Biblical hope is the absolute assurance that God will do good to us now and for us in the future. It is the eager expectation of something sure.

Hope is THE CAUSE of faith and love within us.

“The problem is that professing Christians are spending ten minutes reading Scripture and then half their day making money and the other half loving and repairing what they spend it on.” ~John Piper

Colossians 1:5-6 “Of THIS you have heard before in the word of the truth, THE GOSPEL, which has come to you…”

Faith and love are THE EVIDENCE of hope within us.

THIS (the gospel) is where hope begins.