Live Free with Josh Howerton - Transformed From The Inside Out | Ep. 67 | Tuesday May 9, 2023

Episode Date: May 9, 2023

The book of Colossians is all about how to live a new life in Jesus! In this episode, Pastor Mike introduces the book of Colossians. He also equips listeners with a practical way to read Scripture and a challenge to get in the Word. Grab a Bible and follow along for this exciting new series of episodes! For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.com. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up, everybody? Thanks for joining us for the Daily Drive podcast. Maybe this is your very first one.

Welcome. Excited that you're jumping in with us. Hey, we just finished walking through a letter in the back of the New Testament section of the Bible. That's this guy named Paul. He wrote to a bunch of brand new Jesus followers in the city called Philippi. And that's why the book is known as Philippians. And so much great stuff in there. If you missed any of those episodes, I'd really invite you to go back and maybe you can catch up.

it's one of my all-time favorite books in the entire Bible. So I thought, since we're kind of on a roll, we just keep going on to the next letter. It's known as Colossians. And if you would like an excellent overview, you can check out the Bible project. They break it down. It's such a fun and concise way. A lot of history, a lot of geographical stuff, complete with animation, which I need animation in my life. And you can find that online, and you can find it as an app.

And I found it to be really, really helpful as I start the study a letter. Once again, this letter is written by the same guy named Paul, who was this formerly misdirected, dangerously religious dude that God chose, and his encounter with Jesus radically changed him. And he empowered him to spread the good news of the love of Jesus all over the world. So Paul, in teams of like men and women, planet churches all over the Mediterranean region, and then he would write and encourage these instructional letters to all these Jesus, followers in some pretty major cities of the day. I mean, he wrote to cities, people in cities like

Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, which we talked about last time. And this little city called Colossi was the least important, least impressive, least strategic city that Paul ever wrote to. But it was certainly not the least impressive church that he wrote to. Paul had never actually been to the city or to this church. It was most likely founded by a guy on his team named Epaphras. but Paul had heard tons of great things about this church. And he just wanted to encourage them to stay grounded in Christ, to let them know that the foundation they were building their lives upon, it was good, man.

It was right. It was solid. It was true. And that Jesus was enough for them. So what we will do is just take it a little bit at a time. Again, this is just about five minutes each time we're together. And I'm just praying that this amazing letter will inspire you and encourage you and challenge you and comfort you.

you and equip you to live this brand new life that Jesus invites every single one of us into. And this new life is the theme of the book of Colossians. I mean, if the books of the Bible were like a season, this one would be labeled spring. It's just all about new life. You know, one of the terms being thrown around during the whole pandemic was, what's going to be our new normal? I mean, just like after 9-11 happened, some things will never ever be the same in our lives. And once again, it's Paul who writes these new Jesus followers and to us saying,

when you choose to follow Jesus, some things will never be the same. You'll be experiencing a, well, let's just call it a new normal. Because the way you think, the way you love, the way you talk, the way you see the world, the way you see other people, the way you extend mercy and grace will start to take on the very nature of Jesus. And you will actually become his hands and feet in this world. And experiencing his presence and this newfound freedom and joy, that's going to be your new normal. It is such an amazing hope-filled letter,

one that will point us all more toward being than it does doing because all the good things we do in our life should flow out of who we are becoming. So this is all about living this new normal, this new life in Jesus being transformed from the inside out. And I just know, I know if you'll hang with us through this and maybe just read it on your own during the week, even memorize some of these passages like stick it in your heart.

I think this little study might just help you navigate what could be your new normal to. Well, the book of Colossians is only four chapters, 95 verses long, taking about 15 minutes to read the whole thing. And each day we'll just spend about five minutes here unpacking a few verses. And this might help you as you do your personal Bible study. I kind of use what I call the three R's whenever I do it. And all I'm doing with this podcast is sharing with you what I've been doing on my own. But the three R's are relax, relax, and I read scripture.

First of all, I try to relax in the loving, wise, truthful, faithful, faithful character of the Father who is telling me these things. Then I try to reflect, reflect on what he might be trying to say to me personally. And then I try to respond. So, okay, God, so what I just read, what do you want me to do with this? Like, how can I apply this today? when I close my Bible, when I shut down my app, how do you want me to apply this? So you might keep those things in mind as we do this little study together.

So you're ready to jump in? All right. So I'm running out of time today. So let's just read like the first 13 verses. So you'll catch a little bit of the affectionate tone of this letter. And then we're going to go back and take a deeper dive each day. I'm going to be reading from the New Living Translation, which I use a lot for my own personal time in God's Word and my own teaching and preaching. I use that.

But it says this. This letter is from Paul. Again, the same guy who wrote the last letter. We studied Philippians. And again, he's writing this letter from prison. He says, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. And from our brother Timothy, one of these young guys on his church planting team, we are writing to God's holy people in the city of Colossay,

who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace. We always pray for you. And we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God's people, which come from your confident hope of what God is reserved for you in heaven. You have this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the good news. The same good news that came to you is going out all over the world.

It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard it and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace. You learned about the good news from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf. He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you. So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit.

All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. We also pray that you'll be strengthened with all his glorious power, so you will have all the endurance and patience that you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people who live in the light, for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us in the kingdom of his dear son

who has purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. I'm telling you, gang, this book is amazing. And God's Word is living and active and it's fresh, and it certainly doesn't need a guy like me to give commentary on it because it penetrates the heart on its own. But what we're going to do, we're going to start breaking it down, starting tomorrow. And I can't wait for you to do that with you.

but for today, I just ask you, go back and reread it, and just let those words that I just read resonate in your heart. You know what? I pray daily for every one of you to tune in. And today is no exception. And I'm grateful for you. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today.

For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast, helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe. Church slash Daily Drive.