“Just as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instruct-ed, and overflowing with gratitude.” Colossians 2:6-7
Built to Bless #1 Intro
In 2000 we (Perry & Janet) designed and built a home that was to be used not just for us, but our family, friends, ministry and neighbors. We built our home to be a blessing to many others. But in 2008 we discovered several small cracks in the outside bricks as well as in the foundation due to ‘soil instability’. After a well spent $12K, Terratec was able to drill down to solid bedrock with 10 ‘Helix piers’ to support our foundation and repair the cracks with a lifetime guarantee. Once again our house is daily being used for its original purpose of being BUILT to BLESS others. How does spiritual instability cause cracks in the foundation of a man’s life (Marriage/Family/Priorities)?
Theme
When God wrote His love letter to this young church at Colossae through the Apostle Paul in 62AD, He anticipated many cracks (Col 2:11- 3:9) in their foundations and relationships (3:18-4:6) because of spiritual instability (sin, anger, hypocrisy, stinkin’ thinking, idols, etc). So, during his 1st imprisonment (Acts 21:17-28:31) Paul (New Testament President of Terratec) writes to drive a number of helix piers deep into the bedrock of Christ in order to rebuild their foundations so that God’s men might once again be powerful blessings to their community and culture. Though he had not yet met these folks (Col 1:4; 2:1), Paul had heard all about them through Epahras and Philemon (Col 1:7, 4:12-13) who had come to Christ at the church Paul started in Ephesus 150 miles to the east (Acts 20:17-38). The cosmopolitan city of Colossae sat on a major trade route and they, like us, had fallen prey to false world views, politically correct philosophies, errant beliefs and harmful heresies which kept them self focused rather than other oriented (Phil 2:1-8; Mark 10:43-45; I John 3:16-18). Our focus this year will be to invite God to daily inspect our spiritual foundation so that He might deal with our instability and repair the cracks in order to be a blessing to our wives (3:18-19), families (3:20-21), businesses (3:22-4:6), churches (3:5-17) and friends (4:7-18). Our Father longs to make us blessers (eu/good + logo/word) instead of bruisers; builders rather than breakers, starting at home, extending to our church homes that we might impact our culture for His glory.
Under Construction
Where do you see our theme of ‘Built 2 Bless’ in the following verses? In other words, how did God build them to be a blessing to others?
Colossians 1:2-8; 23; 27-29; 2:6-7; 3:16-17
I John 3:16-18
Philippians 2:1-5
Mark 10:43-45
II Corinthians 1:2-7
Acts 20:32-35
I Thessalonians 5:4-11
Romans 15:1-3
Genesis 12:1-2
Ephesians 2:4-10
John O'Leary
"What more can I do?"
Assignment
Memorize Col 2:6-7.
“Just as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk (peri/next+pateo/path) in Him having been firmly rooted (rhizo/radish) and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”
Tag Team
What is your initial response to this year’s theme?
How specifically will you use your foundation in Christ’s grace/love as platform to bless others?
What foundation cracks does God need to Terratec?