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They turn in your Bibles to Colossians 
chapter one. Colossians chapter one last week 
on our Sunday evening service for the Lord's Supper, we considered 
from alienation to reconciliation in verses 21 and 22. Well, this 
evening we're going to consider Paul's prayer for the Colossians 
in the first part of chapter one with special attention given 
to the thankfulness expressed by the apostle for the people 
of God in Colossae. just one among many thanksgivings 
in the lives of God's people. We are to be a thankful people 
and that thankfulness is expressed at the throne of grace. So, I 
believe that Paul sets forth a good example here of a man 
who is thankful and expressing that to the Lord God Most High 
in his prayer closet on behalf of the people in Colossae. Specifically, 
we'll be looking at verses 10 to 14 this evening, but I will 
begin reading in verse 1 and read to verse 18. 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. 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 the truth of the 
gospel, which has come to you, as it 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 learn from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a 
faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared 
to us your love in the Spirit. 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 will in all wisdom and 
spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, 
fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing 
in the knowledge of God. Strengthened with all might, 
according to his glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering 
with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to 
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and the light. 
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed 
us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have 
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is 
the image of the invisible God. the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created 
that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, 
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. 
All things were created through him and for him. And he is before 
all things, and in him all things consist. And he is the head of 
the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn 
from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. 
Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for this, your written word, and we pray for the Spirit 
to guide our thoughts now. We pray that you would promote 
in us a grateful heart, a thankful heart. We know that you are worthy 
to be praised, worthy to be glorified, worthy to be honored in all things, 
and it is fitting for your people to be thankful. We just ask now 
that you would guide us in this, and we pray through Christ our 
Lord. Amen. Well, if you look back for just 
a moment at Romans chapter 1, in Romans chapter 1, Paul tells 
us something that is peculiar to the ungodly. He tells us something 
that describes or characterizes the people who are dead in their 
trespasses and sins. He says in chapter 1 of the book 
of Romans, verse 21, he says, because although they knew God, 
they did not glorify him as God. nor were thankful, but became 
futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 
Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of 
the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, 
and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. So man's 
problem is that he doesn't honor God, he doesn't glorify God as 
God, nor is he thankful. This is a mark of the unconverted 
with reference to our Lord God. Now, conversely, when the Lord 
calls us out of darkness into marvelous light, it is so that 
we will proclaim his praises, so that we will declare his excellencies, 
so that we will be a thankful people. And to that end, let 
us look here at the apostles prayer going back for just a 
moment or going back rather to Colossians chapter one at verse 
nine. Paul tells us the occasion of 
his prayer. 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 will in all wisdom and 
spiritual understanding. The Apostle Paul rented a lecture 
hall called the School of Tyrannus, and he preached in Asia Minor 
for a long time in that particular venue. Many believe that a papyrus 
was one who came and was converted under the preaching of the Apostle 
Paul. A papyrus then goes back to the Lycus Valley and one of 
the churches that he founds, or he plants, is this church 
in Colossae. Paul himself had never been there, 
but he had met a papyrus, and a papyrus had brought back word 
to him, as he says there in verse 7, as you also learn from a papyrus, 
our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ 
on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. 
So when Epaphras reports this to the Apostle, the Apostle adds 
them to his prayer list. The Apostle adds them to his 
list of churches and persons that he prays for. For this reason 
we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for 
you. He speaks of when it commenced. 
He speaks of its frequency. He says we do not cease to pray 
for you. And then he reveals to them the 
content of his prayer. You want to know how the Apostle 
Paul prayed? Here it is. You want to know 
how the Apostle Paul prayed? Look at the book of Philippians. 
You want to know how the Apostle Paul prayed? Look at the book 
of Ephesians. The Apostle didn't parade this 
as a means by which people would say, what a great prayer, but 
rather he revealed to the people of God how he prayed on their 
behalf. with the particular end that 
they would understand those things that are important, and they 
would seek by the grace of God to imbibe those things. So Paul 
lets us in on his prayer time. Note the specific petition that's 
found in verse 9 at the end. And to ask that, here you go, 
that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all 
wisdom and spiritual understanding. That's the particular petition. 
That's what Paul wants for the people of Colossae. We ask that 
you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and 
spiritual understanding. Now notice as well the purpose 
for this petition. The purpose for this petition, 
the beginning of verse 10. Notice in verse 10 that he says, 
I want you to be filled with the knowledge of his will in 
all wisdom and spiritual understanding that verse 10, you may walk worthy 
of the Lord, fully pleasing him. That's the purpose for the petition. I want you to walk worthy of 
the Lord, fully pleasing him. That's a good petition. That's 
something we ought to pray for. That's something we ought to 
have in view when we think of our brothers and sisters and 
when we bring them to the throne of grace. We ought to pray that 
they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all 
wisdom and spiritual understanding so that they may indeed walk 
worthy of the Lord fully pleasing Him. Now, he fleshes this out. We're just honing in. Just want 
you to see the structure. Want you to see how the apostle 
is coming to prayer. I doubt he had, you know, sort 
of this outline and he went to the prayer closet and he opened 
it up and he said point one and point two and point three. He's 
trying to package it that way so that you can appreciate what 
he is doing here. And so you'll understand the 
thrust and the emphasis that he brings about. So what he does 
in the remaining verses up to verse 14, up to and including 
verse 14, is he fleshes it out. If the structure or the skeleton 
or the petition is this, or the purpose for the petition is that 
you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. We might 
ask the question, what does that look like? Right? If I say to 
you, I want you to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. Do you always know exactly what 
is involved in that statement? I mean, I hope you have some 
general ideas. I hope that you have some general 
inklings. I shouldn't commit murder. I 
shouldn't commit adultery. I should love my fellow man. 
I should seek to glorify Christ in my doings and my dealings. 
But here's what Paul does. He gives the purpose, verse 10, 
that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him. And 
then he gives us four particulars, four characteristics of what 
this walk looks like. What does it look like to walk 
worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him? Everybody with me? Everybody 
here? Everybody following? Now let's 
look at these four characteristics of a worthy walk that are part 
of Paul's prayer on behalf of the saints in Colossae. The first 
is that they would be fruitful in good works. Notice, fully 
pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work. being fruitful 
in every good work. Paul wants the people of God 
in conformity to the Lord, seeking to please the Lord, to be a fruitful 
people. The Bible tells us that we're 
saved by grace through faith in Christ, that that is not of 
us, but rather it is the gift of God. And then it goes on to 
tell us in Ephesians 2.10 that we are God's workmanship created 
in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand 
that we should walk in them. The very epistle of James deals 
with people who profess saving faith in Christ. James highlights 
sovereign grace. James is not teaching another 
approach or a different approach on to God and acceptance with 
James acknowledges Sovereign Grace in James 1 18 of his will. He brought us forth by the word 
of truth. He highlights the fact that these 
people profess faith in James 2 1. Then James says, if you 
say you have a justifying faith, that justifying faith will issue 
forth in good works. Our confession makes that very 
clear. We're justified by faith alone, 
but by a faith that doesn't remain alone. It issues forth in sanctification. This is what the apostle wants 
for his people, or for these people that listen to them. This 
is contrary to what they were by nature. Notice in Colossians 
121, and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked 
words. You see, a people that were engaged 
in wicked works, who have been translated into the kingdom of 
the Son of His love, are now prayed for that they would be 
fruitful in good works, that they would be lively, that there 
would be an evident faith among them, that they would demonstrate 
that that faith they have in the Lord Jesus Christ is, in 
fact, the real deal. Now notice, secondly, fruitfulness 
and good works is the first. The second is growth and the 
knowledge of God. Theology. I've noticed recently, 
it's surfaced again on the blogs, this whole idea of practice and 
doctrine. You know, throughout the history 
of the church and probably in your own life, you'll meet people 
that seem to be only engaged in doctrine. Give me doctrine. Let me read theology, to the 
neglect of everything else around me. Let me just read theology. 
And then you have the people say, no, doctrine's not so important, 
but good works rather. That's what we should be doing. 
We should be practical. Very often people do this with me. 
I might talk about doctrine, and then they hit me with how 
important it is to be doing practical. And I'm thinking, do I wear a 
sign on my head that says I try and neglect the practical? You 
know, it's a given. You can't have both. It's like 
the soup or the salad at the restaurant. You can't have both, 
right? You're either really doctrinal 
and your mind is in the clouds and you think about superlapsarian 
and superlapsarianism and you ponder the implications of every 
jot and tittle of a doctrinal treatise. And John Gill is your 
go-to brother and you like to spend time reading his cause 
of God and truth. You never read Doctrine, you 
never read John Gill, and you're out ameliorating all the bad 
things in this world. You're the champion of the downtrodden 
and poor. You are the practical Christian. 
Paul tells us at this restaurant, you may have both. And not only may you, but he 
prays that you will. that you will be fruitful in 
good works, increasing in the knowledge of God. It's not a, 
I want this. That's what satisfies me. I want 
to go out and right the wrongs of the world. I don't want that. 
I just want doctrine. I just want to read Robert Raymond. 
I don't want anybody ever to mess with me. No. You need to 
read Robert Raymond, or John Gill, or Louis Burkoff. especially 
the Apostle Paul and Isaiah the prophet, Moses. You need to read 
those men so that you're fueled and enabled to go out and do 
good works. You see, it's not a matter of 
either or. Do you want the soup or the salad? The Christian must 
say, I want both. I want practical. I want to seek 
to honor my God. I want to seek to live as a shining 
light in a crooked and perverse generation. But in addition, 
I must hold forth the word of truth. I must understand the 
word of truth. I must understand the gospel. 
I must realize that the sign currently on the church downtown 
is wrong. What's it say? Live well. Cars aren't the only thing that 
are recalled. What's the implication of that? 
Self-righteous, works-based acceptance with God. Live well because you 
might be recalled. What do you have to plead before 
God? Your well-living. It would be more appropriate, 
though probably equally cheesy, to say, believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, because cars aren't the only thing that I recall. You 
see, it's inescapable. You can't choose. I want to be 
doctrinal. I want to be practical. You must 
be both. Right? It is interesting. When somebody does practical 
things, we want to hit them with their need to read John Gill. 
Somebody says, I've been reading John Gill. We want to hit them 
with their need to go serve soup or do something practical. Can't 
we give, in the judgment of charity, the thought that somebody who 
reads John Gill does do decent things once in a while? And conversely, 
somebody who does decent things once in a while does read theology? 
I mean, does that animal exist? I certainly hope so, because 
Paul at the throne of grace is praying that the people in Colossae 
would walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. And what 
that means when it is dissected, when we put it under the microscope 
of a worthy walk, fully pleasing to God, it involves fruit bearing, 
it involves practical Christianity, it involves good works, it involves 
doing those things that our Lord calls us to in light of Matthew 
chapter 5, that we may be the salt of the earth and the light 
of the world. But it also involves theology, understanding truth, 
and not a stagnant position, being fruitful in every good 
work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Paul assumes that his 
audience has a certain degree of knowledge. But you're not 
supposed to stay there. You're not supposed to stagnate. You're not supposed to just grow 
moss. in your Christian life. You to 
say what the spirit of the psalmist greater the works of the Lord. 
They are studied by all who find pleasure in that study the increase 
in the knowledge of God, realize that theology does matter, and 
that it is all important, and that what we know about God and 
what we understand about God ought to flesh itself out in 
this world around us. When we understand something 
of the fatherhood of God and His glory in that capacity, hopefully 
it works its way into Our fatherhood of our children will read passages 
like Hebrews chapter 12. And while the primary emphasis 
is upon God chasing his children for their good, we'll glean the 
lesson. I need to chase in my children 
for their good. When we read that Jesus is the 
head of the church and I am the head of my wife, hopefully it 
will imbibe or it will inculcate in me a desire to be like Christ. You see, you must fuel Your soul 
with the knowledge of God most high, so that you'll be fruitful 
in every good work. You can't have one without the 
other. That's what Paul prays. So fruitfulness 
and good works. Growth in the knowledge of God. 
Thirdly, strength for endurance. Strengthened with all might, 
verse 11, according to His glorious power for all patience and long-suffering 
with joy. It's a great statement that Paul 
realizes that in this world you will have tribulation. Paul understands 
that in this world there is opposition to the people of God. Paul understands 
this, so in his prayer for these people, one of the things that 
characterizes this walking worthy of the Lord is this strengthening 
with all might according to his glorious power. Not according 
to your glorious power, not according to your ingenuity, not according 
to your accomplishment, not according to your being able to grin and 
bear it or to knuckle under, but it's according to the power 
of God. Paul goes to the source when he needs help. Paul goes 
to the source of all strength and power when he wants to fetch 
some on behalf of the people of God Most High. Now notice, 
he says, strengthen with all might according to His power, 
a glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy. Aren't 
patience and longsuffering the same thing? Aren't patience and 
long-suffering two ways of saying the same thing? If there is a 
distinction or a nuance here, we might say that patience is 
resolute endurance under difficult circumstances. So it defines 
our Godward response. We're patient under the rod of 
God. We're patient under those difficult 
circumstances. In other words, when we face 
trials that have come from the Lord, we don't buck under His 
authority. We don't complain. We submit 
and we seek to learn, by God's grace, the lessons that He would 
have for us. Again, Hebrews 12. No discipline 
for the moment seems good. When you're spanking your child, 
they're not saying, Thank you, Mommy. Thank you, Daddy. This 
is awesome. Unless they're really weird. I haven't met one yet. Not that 
I've spanked a lot of kids. Only five. But I don't ever remember 
any of them saying, thank you, Daddy. May I have another? Thank 
you, Daddy. This is so pleasant. No discipline 
for the moment seems good. But what does it do? It yields 
the peaceable fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained 
by it. We need patience. Sometimes difficulties 
befall the saints of Christ. Paul does not neglect that. Paul's 
not living in a fantasy world. Paul is not a utopian saying, 
just pretend that it doesn't exist. No, I understand the difficulties. I understand the trials of the 
Christian life. Paul, above all of us, could 
relate. And Paul says, when I'm at the 
throne of God, I want you to be strengthened with all might, 
according to his glorious power, for all patience, so that you 
don't buck under his authority, so that you don't complain, so 
that you don't scream, so that you don't yell, so that you don't 
apostatize, so that you aren't a fair weather fan that says, 
as long as God is blessing me, I'm going to be in his camp. 
But the moment the blessings stop, I'm done. The moment my 
team starts to lose, I'm on to the next team. No, Paul says, 
I want you to be patient and dare up under those trials. The 
longsuffering is patient endurance that does not retaliate against 
others. Patience toward God, longsuffering 
toward one another. Do we have that ability or do 
we have that characteristic? Is that native to us to suffer 
long with others? Not generally. I doubt it was 
native to these people in Colossae. That's why Paul at the throne 
of grace is praying this way. I want you to walk in a manner 
worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. That means being fruitful 
in all good works. That means increasing in the 
knowledge of God. That means being patient under trying times. 
And it means being long-suffering to one another. Bear with one 
another. Forebear with one another. Suffer 
long with one another. Does that typify us? Does that 
describe us? Are we the retaliatory ones? 
Are we the ones that have to, you know, exact a pound of flesh 
with every little thing? Paul says that's not typical, 
or that's not what characterizes a church. A church ought to be 
a place where people are suffering along with one another. Christian 
homes ought to be a place where people are suffering along with 
one another. That doesn't mean suffering, 
oh, it's terrible to live with you. Don't ever go to your wife 
and say, do you know how long-suffering I've been with you? That's not 
the point. This is what Paul prays. And 
I think the with joy is attached here. He doesn't say, I just 
want you to be patient and long-suffering. We might be able to master that. 
Okay, the stoic, Spartan approach to life. I want you to be long-suffering. 
I want you to be patient under God, and I want you to be long-suffering 
toward one another with joy. You see that? With joy! Don't just knuckle 
under, but bear under it Christianly. Bear under it the way the Savior 
did. Bear under it the way the Apostle 
did. Do it joyfully. Again, that whole 
idea, no discipline for the present. You're not going to be smiling 
and singing Dixie in the midst of the greatest turmoils and 
difficulties and trials. But joy ought to characterize 
the pattern of patient, long-suffering in the life of the Christian. 
So, fruitfulness, growth in the knowledge of God, strength for 
endurance, and then fourthly, thankfulness to God. Thankfulness 
to God. I want you to walk worthy of 
the Lord, fully pleasing Him. This is what it looks like, being 
fruitful in every good work. increasing in the knowledge of 
God's strength and with all my giving thanks to the father. 
Giving thanks to the father. You know, turn for just a moment 
to a similar epistle, the book of Ephesians, the book of Ephesians. Today, we're discussing the development 
of the beginnings of the Pentecostal movement, Pentecostal movement 
began in the early 1900s, probably the 19 single digits in Los Angeles. Now you say, well, Pentecost 
was back in the New Testament. Yeah, but the Pentecostal movement, 
early 1900s, the Azusa Street revivals there in Los Angeles. 
So whenever you want to blame something, blame it on the West 
Coast. So everything comes from LA. Perhaps something we can probably 
trace back to that, or at least give a glance to, is this idea 
that somehow affects the churches today, that to be filled with 
the Spirit means you speak in tongues. Now, for many of you 
that have only been in a Reformed environment, that may sound a 
bit odd to you, but that is a common teaching out there. that being 
filled with the Spirit means that you can speak in tongues, 
or being filled with the Spirit means that you can prophesy, 
or being filled with the Spirit means that you can do great things. 
It's always amazed me. Being filled with the Spirit 
doesn't mean that you're a regular, everyday, normal guy who schleps 
to and fro to work, who seeks to be faithful, who seeks to 
honor God, Oh no, no, no, you've got to really do these great 
things in order to give evidence that you're filled with the Spirit. 
Not according to Paul. Not in Ephesians chapter 5, where 
Paul says, do not be drunk with wine. Verse 18, in which is dissipation, 
but notice verse 18, but be filled with the Spirit. Now, he's writing 
to people that already have the Spirit, according to Ephesians 
chapter 1. The Spirit is the seal and the 
guarantee of our final inheritance. There is that sense, though, 
as Spirit-filled people, or as people possessed by the Spirit, 
we pray for more of His influence, more of His presence, more of 
His power. We want the Spirit to guide us 
and direct us and to lead us and to aid us in our study of 
Scripture and in our approach to life. So he makes this statement, 
be filled with the spirit. Now he's going to flesh this 
out. What does it look like to be filled with the spirit? It 
says speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual 
songs. They speak in tongues. It doesn't 
say prophesy. It doesn't say go to Azusa Street. 
It doesn't say start the Pentecostal movement. It doesn't say float 
across the stage. He says speak. In a certain way, 
your brothers and sisters. Notice what else singing and 
making melody in your heart to the Lord. It looks like to be 
filled with the spirit. You see, this is every Christian. This isn't just the tongue speakers 
of the prophets. This isn't just the gurus of 
the movement. This is all of us. Be filled 
with the Spirit. It will affect the way you speak 
to one another. It will affect the way you sing and make melody 
in your heart to the Lord. Notice verse 20. Giving thanks 
always for all things to God the Father in the name of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. A mark of the Spirit of God in 
the life of the Christian. Thankfulness. Thanksgiving. Not just once a year because 
there's a big turkey and gravy. One man is well observed turkey. 
The only reason people eat turkey is it's a vehicle for gravy. 
Who wants to eat turkey? You smother it with gravy. It's 
simply an excuse to eat gravy. Same thing with the pumpkin. 
Who's going to eat a pumpkin if it isn't riddled and laced 
with sugar and covered with whipped cream? Who would eat a pumpkin? You know, we've accepted this 
mindset that Thanksgiving means turkey. Thanksgiving means pumpkin 
pie. Thanksgiving means celebration 
as a family. I'm not saying we shouldn't do 
those things. I am suggesting that a spirit-filled Christian 
doesn't have to be coerced once a year to give thanks to God. 
It is the outflow of his or her life. He has the spirit and he 
returns praise and thanksgiving to God. So you see, the command 
be filled with the spirit. It's filled out or fleshed out 
by several part of simple same thing that Paul is doing in Colossians 
1. Here's the purpose for the petition. 
Here's the part of simple, which flesh this out and indicate what 
it means. Notice the fourth thing, submitting 
to one another in the fear of God. A mark of the Holy Spirit 
is that we submit to one another in the fear of God. We're not 
insisting upon our rights, we're not demanding that everybody 
bows to us, but rather a mark of the Holy Spirit is that we 
submit to one another in the fear of God. So Paul says in 
Colossians 1.12, giving thanks to the Father. Again, he doesn't 
stop there. It's a masterful prayer, really. 
If you wanted to study the structure of a prayer, this is a great 
one to study. Why do we give thanks to the Father? Because 
you guys are great. Because you men and women in 
Colossae are splendid. Because you people have achieved 
things that no one ever thought humanly possible for a motley 
crew like you. No, we give thanks to God. You, 
Church and Colossae, are the vehicle to bring us to God, to 
thank Him. You are the means by which we 
get to bask in the glory and the majesty of God Most High. 
We thank Him because He has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance 
of the saints in the light. Verse 12, giving thanks to the 
Father who has qualified us. It wasn't our works. It wasn't our well-living. It 
wasn't our being the best we can be. It is God who qualifies 
us. It is God who brings us into 
this inheritance. It is God who gives us the exceeding 
riches of His glory. It's God who is thanked. It's 
God who is praised. And it's God who is thanked and 
praised for His activity in your lives. Not only do we thank him 
because he's qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance 
of the saints and the light, but we praise him and we thank 
him because he delivered us from the power of darkness. You see, 
Calvinism, if I may use that moniker, fuels the heart for 
praise and worship. You see, Arminianism or Pelagianism, 
in the final analysis, you have to thank these people for what 
they've done. You have to thank these people 
that they've qualified themselves. You have to thank these people 
that they themselves have delivered themselves from the power of 
darkness. They made up their minds. They walked an aisle. 
They signed a card. They raised their hand when every 
eye was closed, every head was bowed. Ultimately, they were 
the ones that get the glory and the praise. But not so. Paul says we praise God. We thank God. The fact that you 
have been delivered from the power of darkness is evident 
manifold grace in your lives, and we give all glory to God. Thirdly, God has transferred 
us to the kingdom of the Son of His love. Really a beautiful 
flow here. It's going to get into theology 
in verse 15. This still technically goes with 
his thankfulness, but the transition is already being made from the 
prayer closet to the theology lesson. from the prayer closet 
to the white board, if you will. He's going to teach them doctrine. 
He's going to instruct them concerning Christ. Christ is creator. Christ 
is governor. Christ is reconciler. He's going 
to get into all of that. And this time in his prayer transitions 
into it. Here's what I thank God for. 
Here's what I praise God for. When I think of those Colossians 
in the Lycus Valley, I don't think what a wonderful lot they 
are and what a wonderful thing they've done. But it draws me 
to God. It causes me to flow Godward. It causes me to consider that 
they were dead in their trespasses and sins, and the Lord God saved 
them. It causes me to reflect that 
when I preached in that school of Tyrannus, and that man Epaphras 
came, perhaps just to satisfy his curiosity, and God reached 
out and saved him, and sent him back to the Lycus Valley, where 
he in turn planted churches, Paul can only stand amazed at 
the glory and the grace of God. It's about the Lord, brethren. 
That's what thankfulness is. God has transferred us to the 
kingdom of the son of his love. Thirdly, plainly that kingdom, 
he says, which has Christ for its head and founder, which is 
partially developed on earth and shall be finally perfected 
in heaven. The imagery, one other man says, 
of verses 12 and 13, suggests that believers have been rescued 
from the gloomy domain and tyrannical rule of Satan by being transplanted 
as free colonists into the kingdom and peaceable sovereignty of 
Christ, to become citizens in the realm of light. This is what 
makes Paul happy. This is what makes Paul thankful. God qualified, God delivered, 
God transferred, and God, fourthly, has redeemed us from the bondage 
of sin. Isn't that the beauty of verse 
14? In whom we have redemption, through 
His blood, the forgiveness of sins. When you see redemption, 
think of bondage. You think of propitiation, think 
of wrath. Propitiation is that doctrine 
wherein Christ takes the wrath of God for his people. Redemption 
presupposes bondage. Redemption presupposes slavery. And what Paul says is the means 
by which we come out of bondage is we have redemption through 
his blood, the forgiveness of sin. I alluded to John 8 this 
morning. Whoever commits sin is a slave 
of sin. If the sun shall set you free, 
you shall be free indeed. That's what Paul prays for the 
people of God in Colossae. that you may walk worthy of the 
Lord, fully pleasing Him. This looks like fruitfulness. 
This looks like growth in the knowledge of God. This looks 
like strengthening for endurance and for patience and long suffering. 
And it looks like thankfulness. Thankfulness. If it is true or 
typical of the non-Christian that they don't honor God as 
God, nor are their hearts thankful, then what should be typical of 
the Christian? We honor God as God, and our hearts are thankful. Back to Ephesians for just a 
moment. Did you notice what Paul says we ought to thank God for? 
Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the 
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I submit we need the spirit for 
that. It's easy to thank God for the 
good things, isn't it? Romans 8, 28 speaks that God 
works all things for the good of those who love him, to the 
called according to his purpose. Notice it doesn't say he works 
all good things. That's a spin I think you and 
I put on that text. God causes everything to work 
for good. Therefore, the Christian ought 
to thank God for everything. You see why we need the Spirit? 
You see why we need to be filled with the Spirit? Because this 
doesn't come naturally. You're not going to thank God for a 
tragedy or a trial or a difficulty apart from the spirit. And again, 
there's a sinful way to do that. Thanks, God, I lost an arm and 
a rack. No, you don't do it like that. To realize that in the 
midst of every trial and every difficulty and every circumstance 
that's hard, God has his purposes. You may not know them at the 
time. You may not understand it right now, but you can with 
the hymn writer say whatever my God ordains is right. You 
can sing Hymn 21, William Cooper's God Moves in a Mysterious Way, 
His Wonders to Perform. You can sing it in faith. You 
can sing it knowing that God does indeed work these things 
for my good. Giving thanks always for all 
things to God the Father. Thanksgiving shouldn't be one 
day a year. It should be every single day 
for the Christian. And if you and I are not thankful, 
we need to repent. In the midst of our trials, in 
the midst of our circumstances, in the midst of our difficulties, 
we need to get alone with God and thank Him. Thank Him. Praise Him. I read something 
recently, and I think I put it in the category of cheesy, but 
it was still powerful. What if you woke up this morning 
and you didn't have the things you didn't thank God for yesterday? That puts a new perspective on 
things. You woke up in the morning. I went through the day yesterday, 
I didn't thank God for my wife. She's not there. Again, it's 
kind of a bizarre thought. I didn't thank God for my children? Where's my kids? I didn't thank God for food? 
I didn't thank God for water? I didn't thank God for so great 
a salvation? Again, it breaks down. God doesn't 
take our salvation from us. Do you get the point? Are we 
a thankful people? In the midst of difficulty, in 
the midst of trials, some of the best tonic for the soul is 
to withdraw for a time and consider the blessings in the midst of 
it. I am not preaching this as a 
guru. You all know me better than that. 
I'm not here saying, this is the path to thankfulness, brethren. We need the spirit. We need prayer. We need conformity to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. We need as elders to pray for 
this church in this manner. You, as the people of God, need 
to pray these prayers in this particular manner, not just reciting 
the words, but grabbing the concepts, grabbing this idea of fruitfulness. 
Grabbing this idea of increasing in knowledge and being strengthened 
with might, and also being thankful, giving thanks to God the Father 
who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints 
and the like. A brother recently reminded me, 
what more is there than hearing on that day, well done, good 
and faithful servant. Is there anything else? Really, 
the grand scheme of things. Is there anything more important 
than hearing the father say to you, well done, good and faithful 
servant? No, no. I mean, I kind of like to hear 
nice things from my kids. That's good. You know, I like 
to have friendly conversations and all that. But, you know, 
in the grand scheme of things, what is most important? The fact 
that God has qualified us for this inheritance, the fact that 
God has drawn us out of out of darkness in the marvelous light. 
The fact that he has conveyed us from the kingdom of darkness 
into the kingdom of the son of his love. The fact that we have 
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Those 
are the things brethren we ought to consider. We ought to meditate 
on and we ought to praise God for thankfulness. Should it be 
a tack on. It should be the disposition. 
It should be a characteristic in the Christian's life. If you 
are not a Christian, believe on the Lord Jesus. That is where 
you learn thankfulness, because by nature you don't honor God 
as God, nor is your heart thankful. The place to learn is with Jesus, 
to come to the cross, to come to the Savior, to receive that 
redemption through his blood, to receive that imputed righteousness, 
and to come out on the other side praising, worshiping, and 
thanking. That's why the Heidelberg Catechism 
moves in those three areas. Guilt, grace, gratitude. There's a logical progression. 
Guilt, where we are by nature, grace, where God brings us to, 
and gratitude, the response of the one who has been transferred. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for your Word, and God, do create in us a thankful 
spirit and a genuine desire to praise and to worship and to 
honor you. Help us to understand the scripture, help us to understand 
the gospel, and may this be fuel for thankfulness on the part 
of your people. And do fill us with your Holy Spirit, God, so 
that we're thankful always, in all things, realizing that a 
good God is orchestrating everything for His own glory and for the 
well-being of His people. Go with us now, Father. Watch 
over us in this coming week, we pray, and we ask in the name 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.