09/01=8/24

Christ is All

Richard White, Pastor

"Before and After" - Colossians 1:15-20

1. What were you like before knowing Jesus? What about after, what is different about you because of him? 
2. Paul says that before we came to Christ we were alienated, hostile in mind, and doing evil deeds, (vs 21). Do you believe this? Take one of these three things (or more if you have time) and talk about the reality of it in you, how you sensed it in you or lived it out. 
3. Now do the same with the “after,” what you are now in Jesus: Holy, blameless, above reproach, (vs 22). What do these mean and how do you sense these to be true about you, or do you?  Why are these so difficult to believe about ourselves?
4. What had to happen in order to reconcile you to God? (1:20,22).  What was your part in all this? Now that you are reconciled to God by Jesus, what does God think of you? (vs 22b). So again, why do we struggle to believe who we really are in Jesus?  Take a risk to receive, rest and rejoice in who God says you are!
5. What are some of your hopes for the immediate future (the “I hope this happens.”). These hopes are full of uncertainty and thus are different from biblical hope which is stamped with a certainty because of Jesus.  What is the sure and certain hope of the gospel that Paul encourages us not to shift away from?  What about Jesus in this passage makes our hope certain?  How does the sure and certain hope of the gospel color and shape your daily life?
6. It’s been said that to be so heavenly minded (Jesus and hope of the gospel) makes us of no earthly good. But why is it truer that unless we are heavenly/hope of the gospel minded, we are of no real earthly good?  How does being fixed on the hope of the gospel transform the way we look at life, handle opportunities and setbacks, money and time?