Skip to content Tear It Up: Building a Strong Foundation in Colossians Mar 4 · 38 min ...more
Tear It Up: Building a Strong Foundation in Colossians
March 4, 2025 · 38 min
John Mark delves into the Book of Colossians, stressing that right thinking leads to right living, underscoring the need for spiritual knowledge and growth.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton March 4, 2025 · 38 min · "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton
John Mark delves into the Book of Colossians, stressing that right thinking leads to right living, underscoring the need for spiritual knowledge and growth. ...more Show the full description Show less John Mark delves into the Book of Colossians, stressing that right thinking leads to right living, underscoring the need for spiritual knowledge and growth.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
101K followers
Tearing It Up: Living a Life Worthy of the Lord 0:02 Welcome to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Keaton. Join us as John Mark shares his insights with other men in his ministry rooted in the timeless truths of the gospel. Today's message will encourage you to0:14 inspire, inform, and invest in the lives of others. This is men's breakfast with your host John Mark Caton.0:23 If you were here last week, you heard Justin kind of give an overview of, the city and the place and the church, a little bit about that. If you missed that, I encourage you to go back. But we started a0:35 series last week, entitled Tear It Up. And man, as men, that's what we wanna do. We wanna be about tearing it up. We want to tear it up in our families, in our in our faith, in our walk, in our0:47 communities, at the office. And so that's why we're going to study the book of Colossians over the next couple of weeks, take us into the summer. And really as you look at this book, we're gonna see Paul wrote it. We're0:58 gonna see here in a few, a few weeks that Timothy actually helped, his protege, helped write the book to Colossi just a little bit. Timothy had a few things to say. He had received a good report about this1:10 church in Colossi and, but there were some things that concern him. And really as you think about the overview, if I were to say, hey, what what would be a couple of phrases and couple of ideas as we look at the1:22 the book of Colossians. 1 would be that Paul addresses it's kind of an ethics of living for men. How we should live out our faith, at the office, in our relationships,1:34 in our marriages, with our kids, with our friends, and even in our church. And he kind of says this. He says, listen. If you believe the right things, you're going to do the right things.1:47 But if you believe the wrong things, you're gonna do the wrong things. In other words, right thinking leads to right living and wrong thinking leads to wrong living. And so really he1:58 dials in for these, these Colossian believers, this church in Colossi, and he says, listen, we've got to think rightly about a couple of things. 1, he says, we gotta think rightly about, our God.2:10 Number 2, you're gonna see a heavy emphasis in the book of Colossians on the deity of Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus? Why? Because there are many people in that day that begin to talk about, as he2:22 spread out further and further away from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and most parts of the earth, there would be people that would accept the idea that Jesus came to this earth, that he was the son of God, that he had2:33 died on the cross for our sins. But then they then the philosophers begin to take over. And they begin to say what Jesus was, he wasn't fully God. He was just a really good guy. Alright? He's a really good2:45 guy that God looked down on him and said, you know what? You're so good. I'm gonna I'm gonna bless you a little bit and I'm gonna make you a little more special. And we're gonna read in the book of Colossians that that2:54 Paul makes some statements that really help us not just help them not just then, but help us now. There are a lot of people, they wanna accept Jesus. Boy, he's a really good teacher. He's a really good guy. He3:06 gave us a model for living. You'll hear a lot of people say, you know, what was Jesus? Jesus was love. Jesus never spoke against anybody anything or anybody. And and Paul would say, no. No. No. That wasn't Jesus at all.3:18 Jesus was 2 things. He was God's man, in that he was fully God, but he's also man's man. And so, we're gonna hear statements throughout this book that are something like3:30 this, all the fullness of deity dwell in Jesus in bodily form. We're gonna hear that over and over. He's gonna emphasize it in chapter 1. He's gonna3:42 emphasize in chapter 2. So as you think about Jesus, when you hear people talk about Jesus today, if they do anything to minimize his humanity and make him more deity, which some did that in that3:54 day, they said, well, yes. Those that would say he was perfect, they would say, yeah, but he wasn't fully man. And then there would be others that say, no, he's a really good guy, but he wasn't fully God. And we hear a4:06 lot of that today. You know, we if we're good enough, we'll we'll gain this little God spark in us. And so what here Paul is doing is he's saying, listen. We're not going to buy into any of those philosophies.4:18 That all the fullness of deity dwelt in Christ in bodily form. And he says, listen. If you think rightly, you will live rightly. But if you think wrongly, you will live wrongly.4:30 And so as we begin to walk verse by verse, I want you to tap into those and really Paul is saying, here's how we tear it up. As men, as we journey through our lives and he does, he's gonna he's gonna touch every area4:42 and every relationship in your life and in mine. And so, let's dive in real quickly. Let me just read a couple of verses. Really if you missed the beginning last week, go back on our podcast. Justin kind of4:54 dove in. But here it is, Colossians chapter 1 verse 1. It says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God and Timothy our brother. We'll see a little later in the book that Timothy steps5:06 in and starts writing a little bit. He says, to God's holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our father. And so as we think about5:18 this journey, he said, listen. As God's holy people Now now look around a little bit. Now, what we noticed again, today was we've got a lot of convicts in the room. How many of you know that?5:30 Is that a matter of fact, that's our best ministry here at the church. It's, you know, from the leadership on down. I mean, if you're a convict, you're gonna fit in. No. But, here's what he says. He says, listen. In the5:41 midst of everything, and this is a new church, new believers. He calls them God's holy people. Not because they have been Christians long enough that they had5:53 stopped sinning and they had everything they said was good and everything they did was right. That's not why. He says, listen, you are God's holy people because of what Christ did for you. We're gonna hear6:04 that. That man, he reconciled us to God. He died, for our sins. We're gonna see in a couple of weeks where it says, when Jesus died on the cross for you, he literally6:16 tore up the charges against you. He he took that in in those days if you're a criminal, you heard us talk about this before. If you're a criminal, they would write out the charges just like they do today and it is6:27 basically an affidavit but the affidavit of charges against you. It says, and it's gonna say this here in a little bit, in a couple of weeks, where when Jesus died on the cross, he literally took6:39 the charges. The affidavit of charges against you and tore them up. That's what Jesus did for you on the cross. That's why he can call them God's holy people. That's6:51 why if you're a believer in Christ, although you may not do some holy things, you are a holy person in God's eyes. Why? Because because God sees you through his son's eyes and his7:03 son's sacrifice. Does that make sense? And so, he says listen, to God so holy people, grace and peace to you. Now, here's the good report. Look at it verse 3. He says, we always thank God, the father of our Lord7:15 Jesus Christ when we pray for you. Look at verse 4, Because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all of7:27 God's people. I love this. He says, here's what I like is that I've heard that you have a fixed faith on Jesus Christ. He says, everybody around you knows it. That that church in Colossae, it was7:38 a church that was completely and totally centered on Jesus Christ. And he goes, I've heard that you've had a fixed faith. You haven't been shaken from it. Now what we're gonna see in a little bit, even though it hadn't7:49 been shaken from it, there were some competing philosophies and competing ideas. Some some people we called Gnostics, we're gonna talk about in the next couple of weeks. The word gnosis is the Greek word knowledge. There8:01 were people that rolled into church and claimed to have this special knowledge of who Jesus was and how you get saved. And we're actually gonna see some of them were Jewish Gnostics.8:13 So they roll into the church and they say, you know, here's what we know. Yes, salvation comes by Jesus Christ, but you Gentiles need to go ahead and get circumcised.8:25 And you need to start obeying a couple of our special days, and you need to start eating according to our feast and stuff like that. Can you imagine being a being a adult male Gentile that all of a sudden you're excited8:36 that you have a relationship with God through his son Jesus Christ and you're adult male and instead of having a baptism party after church, we have a circumcision party. How many of you'd be in? Especially8:48 back in those days. Right? Then all of a sudden these Gentiles were going, wait, wait, wait. That wasn't part of the plan. Right? I heard, salvation comes by, grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And9:00 these guys are coming in and say, yeah, but you're gonna need to be circumcised. And there was all these thoughts and ideas that people were saying, well, yeah, Jesus, he he kinda did did did most of the9:11 work for you. But these special days, you need to live according to. You need to you need to eat certain things and you need to set aside certain days that you would have this feast and that feast. And9:23 and man, here's what Paul says. He says, I wanna commend you for having a fixed faith on Jesus Christ and Him along. But then he also says a certain another thing right there in that verse. He says,9:35 you have a sincere and legitimate love for the brothers in Christ. And so, guys, here's what we wanna do. We wanna always make sure as we journey forward as men of God here at9:47 Cottonwood Creek that we have those 2 things in mind. That what? That we have a fixed faith in Jesus Christ, and no 1 ever shakes us from that.10:00 While at the same time, we couple that fixed faith with a legitimate love for the brethren. Those 2 things. Do you get it? It's not 1 or the other. I've met, you probably have over the years,10:12 we've met some men that, man, they they are so sound. They're fired up. They love God's word, but they are mean as snakes. Anybody ever run into a Christian man like that? There's no10:24 love. There's no compassion. There's no grace. There's no joy in their life. And man, they are just you're like, I love learning from them, but the last thing I want to do is hang out with them.10:36 And it also seems like not only do they teach God's word, but they pour gas on everybody and light them. And he says, man, that's not who we want to be. We want a fixed faith in Jesus10:47 Christ that cannot be shaken and that will not waver. But he also says, we need a legitimate love for the brothers. Man, we want to genuinely care for someone and some when10:59 someone stumbles, we want to help them up. When someone's discouraged, we want to encourage them. When someone falls in sin, we want to do what Paul says over in Galatians chapter 6 and gently11:11 restore that brother. Why? Because God has a plan for their life. And so I love what Paul says. He says, you've got both. You've got a great church. You've got a fixed faith11:23 in Jesus Christ. And you've got a legitimate love for the brother. That's exactly what Jesus said in John chapter 13 verse 34. Remember, in in that last night right before he's betrayed. He says, a new command I give to11:35 you that you would love 1 another. Just as I have loved you, so you must love 1 another. By this, every other man will know that you are my disciples if you love 1 another.11:47 And so Jesus, 1 of his last words was parting shots to the disciples as they're about to leave that upper room and he's about to be betrayed. He says, listen guys. Not only are you supposed to believe in me, but you're11:58 supposed to love others. You're supposed to grow in your love for others. And he goes, as a matter of fact, that may be a better witness to the world of your12:10 faith in Jesus Christ than just talking about your faith in Jesus Christ. He says, words have a certain amount of impact, but lifestyle12:24 is magnetic. Does that make sense? Man, if I say something, if I talk about, well, I go to church or I do this and this and you know, my words have a certain amount of impact, but our lifestyles are magnets.12:36 When they look at us and they see us wherever we are in your office or just journeying through the grocery store or working out wherever you are, that people would look at you and they would say, you know, there's12:46 something different about that individual. And it's not because of what he says. It's just how they live. Does that make sense? And so those 2 things we always want to carry. And here's what we need to understand. And12:56 this is where you hold me accountable, and I will always hold you accountable. As a church, we will always focus on Jesus, Where all the fullness of deity dwells in him13:08 in bodily form. And we will always drive each other to love 1 another. We won't back away from either 1 of them. We won't back away from either 1 of them. So if we're13:20 gonna tear it up, here's what we need. We need a positive outlook. Right? We need to say, hey, listen. I can get this done. I can I can journey with these guys and I can be about it? You say, where do you pick this13:29 positive look up? Pick it up. Colossians chapter 1 verse 5. He says, I know of your fixed faith, your legitimate love, and notice what he says, the faith and love that springs from hope.13:40 Everybody say hope. Hope. Guys, there's the positive outlook. Regardless of what happens in your life, regardless of what happens in your business, regardless of what happens in your finances, regardless of what happens13:51 anywhere and everywhere in the world, regardless of what happens in the Middle East or in the Far East, when it regardless of what happens in the White House or any other university setting,14:03 we never lose hope. So we as men of God don't ever want to be totally discouraged. We want a positive outlook. Amen. God's got this somehow, someway. And so notice what he14:15 says, continue to read. He says, the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven. Alright? What is this? Listen to this. There is a hope. Let me let me speak to14:27 the guy in the room that thinks, yes, I'm a believer, but I might be 1 of the most immature believers in the room.14:39 Or the guy in the room that says, yes, I'm a believer, but, yeah, if these guys knew the struggles I had, a secret sin that I had,14:52 they wouldn't accept me. Can I tell you even as a follower of Christ who thinks you're probably in the back of the line, there is still a hope that is stored up for you in heaven?15:04 That when Jesus died on the cross for you, he took your charges and tore them up. And so I love what Paul says. He said, the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up15:16 for you in heaven, and about which have already heard, the true message of the gospel. What is the true message of the gospel? We gotta know that. What is the true message of the gospel? It's not that somehow,15:28 some way I can be good enough to earn God's love. It's not that somehow, some way, if I get rid of some of my sins and if I get rid of all my addictions, that somehow God's gonna love me. It's not that that that if I15:39 could go back 5 years or 10 years or or 20 years and do this over and not do this over. If I hadn't gone through that divorce or if I hadn't made that mistake, that somehow, someway, if I hadn't done all those things,15:51 God would love me. You know what the true gospel is? Before the foundation of the world, God knew every 1 of your bad thoughts, every 1 of your bad words, and every 1 of your bad actions. And you know what his16:03 response to that? Was because of his great love for you. He decided before you were even a part of this earth that he was gonna send his son to die on the cross for you. And he knew he was gonna gather up every charge16:15 against a bad word, a bad relationship, a bad sin, and he was gonna tear it up on the cross. He knew before you were ever even created that his Son was gonna hang on the cross and say,16:26 It is finished. Paid in full. How many of you know what yesterday was? Tax day. How many16:38 of you got your taxes done? How many of you filed the extension? How many of you haven't paid taxes in years? There is a day of16:50 accounting. Right? And that's the reality. There is a day of accounting that that you and I have to have the books tallied. Alright? But here's the beautiful thing, man. When we do our spiritual17:02 taxes, God says, just be honest. I got the rest. Does that make sense? Just be don't pretend that you didn't fail. Don't pretend that you you you didn't sin.17:14 God says, listen. I've got so much grace that I'll cover it all. But, what you have to do is just come and be honest. So, the true gospel is this, that in spite of your sin, for all have sinned to fall short of the glory17:24 of God. And the wages of sin is death. But, the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. That's the true gospel. That God demonstrated17:36 His own love towards us. Listen to this. That while we were still sinners. Not once we got beyond our sin,17:48 but while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That's the gospel. And in light of that, you jump to what Paul says in Romans 10. He says, for whoever18:00 calls upon the name name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the true gospel. I love what Paul says. Man, you have hung on to the true message of the gospel, and that's it. That we're all sinners.18:12 That doesn't change God's love for us. God demonstrates his love for us while we were still sinners. Christ died for us. That when Jesus died on the cross, he died on the cross for your sins and my sins. That all we have18:24 to do is by faith understand there's that transition. That for the wages of sin is death. If you stop right there, it is all bad news. But the18:36 free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. And that's for anyone in this room. And so I love what Paul says, he says, and I love this. You understand the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and18:47 about what you have already heard the true message of the gospel. Verse 6. That has come to you in the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the18:59 whole world, just as it has been doing since the day you heard of it and is truly understand God's grace. Now, I love what he says here. He says, listen. When we follow Jesus, there's reason to be optimistic.19:11 There is a hope held up for us in heaven. It is stored up for us in heaven. God is in charge of it. It is called our inheritance that you and I have a spiritual inheritance. How many19:23 of you after getting your, getting your taxes done, decided, you know what? I'm just flat out broke. I don't have money. I I saw Mark Cuban. Did you see Mark19:34 Cuban tweeted out that he paid 277000000 dollars in taxes? You know, I would I don't know about you, but I'd just take 2000000. I'd do it.19:47 But it doesn't matter if you are broke beyond broke, there is an eternal inheritance stored up for you for all of eternity.19:59 And because of that, you and I can be optimistic. That means you can roll out of here today, here in a few minutes, and you can head towards whatever problems, whatever difficulties, whatever hardships you're gonna be20:09 heading toward, and you can understand. Listen, regardless of how I navigate through this, whether I get the deal or don't get the deal, whether I get the job or don't get the job, whether I get laid off or don't get20:18 laid off, whether my relationship makes it or doesn't make it, here's what I know. There is a hope stored up for me in heaven. Why? Not because of me, but because of who God is. And so we can be optimistic about it. We20:29 can we can find understand that that that the gospel brings us hope, but it also I love what he says. It's bearing fruit around the world. There are other men's20:41 groups in different places right now. That they're sharing God's word, they're reading God's word, it's bearing fruit. You can just stand there and look at that missions wall as that mission sign just rolls through20:53 all the missionaries around the world that we're we're supporting, and guess what? It's bearing fruit. That's what the gospel does. But more importantly, it's a lot of times a lot of times what we do is we think about,21:03 yeah, we hope our missionaries are doing our job. We hope our church planners are doing their job. We hope we hope God's really moving in this country or that country. Can I tell you what? The biggest call on your life21:14 today is that wherever you're about to be, that you would bear fruit for the gospel right there. Bearing fruit isn't just for the pastor. It's not just for the21:26 missionary. It's not just for the church planter. It's for you. It's for me. Wherever I'm about to go to, whatever I'm about to do, it says bearing fruit and growing21:38 throughout the entire world. Man, the gospel ultimately gives us hope and allows us the ability to handle the truth. You say, where is the truth? I love what21:50 Jesus said in, John chapter 17 verse 17. He says, sanctify them by the truth. What's the truth? Your word is truth. That's why we come in here every22:01 Tuesday morning. We're gonna be in God's word and I'm gonna encourage you to be in God's word. That's why we're going through this, Jonah series run with purpose and there's a daily devotion. If you haven't already got22:10 it, go get it. Why? Not because it's the most spectacular thing you can ever read, but it centers us every morning or whenever you read it just to remind us that part of what I'm supposed to do is to live in the truth.22:22 Because when I live in the truth, I am thinking rightly. When I think rightly, I live rightly. But if all of a sudden I wake up in the morning, I don't get engaged with God's word, I begin to believe a lie.22:34 And if I believe a lie, guess what? Wrong thinking relates to wrong living. And so we always want to journey forward in such a way, in such a space that we are about having the truth22:46 placed in our life. That way we can live up to the hope that is ultimately stored for us. Now, as we just continue to read, here it is. The bottom line if we're gonna22:58 tear it up, how should we live and I need you all to tap in and follow this as we journey from here today. Jump down to verse 9. Colossians chapter 1, we need a little spiritual intelligence. Here it is. You ready? He23:09 says, for this reason, Colossians chapter 1 verse 9, he says, for this reason since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. Verse 9. We continually23:22 ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all wisdom and all understanding that the spirit gives. Now now notice a couple of words right there. We pray23:34 that God would fill you with the knowledge of his will. That's what we pray for. I'll tell you as your staff, especially as the men on your staff, we pray that our men would be filled23:46 with the knowledge of God's will. And God's will for your life is different than God's will for my life. Why? Because you're going to different places. You're in different relationships.23:58 You work in different places than we do. Why? So God's got a specific will for you that as you journey through life, that you would fulfill God's will. But notice, he says that you would be24:10 filled God would fill you with the knowledge of his will. That means part of being filled is I've got to be open to it. It's spiritually and your spiritual or24:21 biblical knowledge today and and and journeying through your life. Do you pause and lift the lid? Do you tear the lid off every once in a while and say God, please tell me24:33 what your will for me is today. God, tell me what your will for me is today. Because that's what we're gonna be filled. If you leave the lid on, if you come in here24:45 and you wanna get a little bit of Bible knowledge, but you really don't see how you're gonna apply it out there, I want you to know that's not allowing yourself to be filled with the knowledge of God's will for your24:53 life. See, because there might be some in here today that that the knowledge of God's will in your life might be, you know what? I I need to be kinder in my words. I need to be gentler in my25:05 actions. I need to go and ask somebody to forgive me, who I truly hurt and offended yesterday. And that's that only comes when I say, God fill me. And that word25:17 fill, it it really is a it's a vivid Greek term that means a cup that is filled to overflowing. That I would be so filled with the knowledge of God's will that would25:28 overflow to every to everyone. And then he says, the knowledge of his will through all wisdom and understanding that the spirit gives.25:42 Up with the knowledge of his will. Man, knowing God's will is not a secret. It's not something that that we have to have to go to a special prayer meeting for.25:54 Man, I will tell you, there are some general principles that apply that we're gonna see Paul Paul talks about over and over. Remember I told you, it's just a book that's gonna touch on every area of your life, how you26:04 talk to your wife, how you treat your kids, how you live, how you point others to Jesus. Man, that is God's will for your life. And so Paul says, listen. I pray that you would be filled with the26:16 knowledge of his will. Now just continue reading. Look at verse 10. Here it is. So that once I understand the knowledge of his will, here's the so that it's there by the way, you don't have to know this about26:28 Greek. But every time, just log it in your mind. Every time you see those 2 words, so that, that in Greek that is called a henna phrase.26:40 That everything it was said before was leading to what's after. Okay. Does that make sense? So anytime you are reading, if you're just in your daily bible reading, if you see so that, Go hang on.26:52 Let me go back to what was before that because I have to do what was before that before I can do what comes after that. Does that make sense? That is a very clear way they talked in Greek. So he says, listen. Once you've27:03 prayed and accepted the fact that I want to be filled with the knowledge of God, I want to understand God's will for my life, then I can sow that. Well, what's to sow that? Let's read it. So that you may live a27:14 life worthy of the Lord. How many of you would like to live a life today worthy of God? Okay. You know how to do that? What happens before the so that? Now27:26 notice here, it's even gets better. And please him in every way. How many of you like to please God? And we all wanna live a life that pleases God. We all wanna live a life27:38 that is worthy of the Lord. And you say, okay. How do I do that? Pray that I'd be filled with the knowledge of God's will. Be willing to allow myself to be filled up. Get rid of some of the old junk. Put in a bunch of27:50 the new junk. And then he says, here are 4 things you will do. You want to know if you're living in God's will. Here are 4 things. Write these down, guys. They're right here. He says, how do you do that? How do you28:01 please God in every way? How do you live a life worthy of Lord? Number 1, bearing fruit in every good work. Let me ask you a question. Where are28:12 you bearing good fruit right now? In your church, in your marriage, with your kids,28:24 at the office? Life that pleases him, that you will28:36 be bearing good fruit. What if I just asked that question? What if I just asked that question, and there's some folks in here that you go, you know, I really just can't see where I'm28:48 bearing any fruit. Well then you're probably living outside God's will. Are you are you serving somewhere in church? Are you making sure worship is a28:59 priority in your family? Man, are are you taming some of the words that you've got developed the habit of saying to your wife or to your kids in harsh and mean ways and you're not bearing fruit.29:12 But if you wanna know if I live a life that is worthy of the Lord and pleasing pleasing to him, Paul says that you will bear fruit in every good work. What are you doing for God29:23 right now? What are you doing for God? Here's the second thing he says. He says, and growing in the knowledge of God. Alright? So how do I bear29:35 fruit in every good work? I look to serve somewhere. How do I grow in the knowledge of God? It's what you're doing right now. It's making studying God's word a priority in my life. And guess what? There29:47 is something beautiful about making a commitment to be in bible studies and read a daily devotion and find a find an opportunity to read God's word or listen to God's word each and every day. Why? Because that's29:59 part of living a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing God. So thought number 1, if you want to know if I'm living according to his will, what do I do? Number 1, I want to look30:11 for a place to serve so I can bear fruit. Even in my brokenness, God can use me to bear fruit in other people's lives and in my own life. Number 2, I wanna grow in the knowledge of God. I30:23 wanna always grow in the knowledge of God. Put yourself in places and spaces where you are listening to God's word. I will also tell you in today's age, in this church and every other bible study you30:35 listen to or podcast, man, you need to have your ears on and your bible open. Because I hear a lot of things and I see a lot of things and people ask me to read a lot of things that I'm30:47 like, that's good encouraging word, but they are so wrong on salvation or they are so wrong on Jesus and they are so wrong on this. And my encouragement to you is growing the knowledge of God, but as you30:58 listen to someone, have your bible open and say, does that say that? Well, the best way I can ask them to figure out if it says that. Well, let me read the verses a few verses before it, a few verses after it, see if it31:10 meets the context, see if it see if it all measures up. So thought number 1, if you wanna please God and and and you wanna live a life that is worthy of God, number 1, bear fruit. Where are you serving? Number 2, how31:22 are you growing? Looks it says growing in the knowledge of God. Here's number 3, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you might have great endurance and patience.31:34 So what does he say? He says, man, we we gotta buff up a little bit spiritually. So we gotta man up just a little bit spiritually. I mean, I gotta get into the spiritual weight room just a little.31:46 Why? Well, Paul is honest with you. He says, you better strengthen yourself up. Why? So you can have endurance and you can have patience. Why does he say that so you can have endurance and patience? Why31:58 would he say that? Because guess what? We are gonna need endurance and we're gonna need patience. So we're gonna bulk up just a little bit. We wanna strengthen up just a little bit. We wanna get stronger in our daily32:10 lives. So thought thought number 1, man, are you bearing fruit? If not, why? And if not, why then where? Where are you gonna start doing it? Am I gonna grow in the knowledge of God? I'm gonna strengthen myself32:22 up in God's word. In other words, I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna say, God, make this verse my verse today. Make this verse I just read my verse today. God, bring someone around me that when I begin to be tempted or begin32:33 to fall or begin to struggle or think about things that ought not to be thinking about God. That there will be somebody that will come alongside me and lift me up and encourage me and seek those people out. And here's32:43 number 4, you ready? Number 4 verse 12. And giving joyful thanks to the father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance. Remember I talked about your32:54 inheritance earlier? Of his holy people in the kingdom of light. So here's number 4. Give joyful thanks to the father. Why? Maybe not for the circumstances you're going33:06 through, the hardship you're going through, or the relationship difficulties you're going through, but you give joyful thanks to God because he qualified you to share in the inheritance of his33:18 holy people. In other words, guys, look around the room real quick. You might think you're the lowest on the totem pole in here, but you're not. You get to share in the spiritual33:29 inheritance of every other dude in this room. Does that make sense? And if you think you're at the top of the total pole, don't you dare look down on someone lower than you. You say,33:41 I get to share in the inheritance. Now how does this work? Listen, The beautiful thing is we climb up in our faith and we bear fruit in our faith and we grow in our knowledge and our faith and we are strengthened with33:51 all power. If I think I'm down here, sharing in the inheritance of all of God's saints means that there are some guys up here that are gonna help me move up. And I'm gonna get to share in their spiritual knowledge34:03 and wisdom. Does that make sense? But it also means, if I'm this guy, I get to look at some of these guys and help them come up. And when I help them come up, I get to34:15 share in their inheritance. Let me tell you what as a pastor, there are multiple ways I can share an inheritance. I can I can find and I can always speak to the super saints in the room, and I would just share in their34:27 inheritance? And if all we had was a bunch of super saints, and and it would help probably if your pastor was a super saint, but you didn't you didn't hire that guy. But we could all sit around and have fun, and34:39 we could run out everybody that was struggling. And we would miss a whole lot of seeing God work in some broken dude's life. That you can34:51 look back and some of y'all are sitting here that if you look at where you were 2 or 3 years ago and where you are today, everybody's shocked, including you. Seriously. Right?35:03 That's the beauty of the inheritance of having men gather together and be together. So wherever you are in your journey, if you want to understand, you don't let you put it in your35:15 notes today. Alright, if I want to live a life worthy of Lord, I want to please him in every way. 4 things. What are you gonna do today to bear fruit?35:27 What are you gonna do on the weekend when you come to worship? Are you serving somewhere to bear fruit? Number 2, am I taking in God's word daily? When I go to church on Sunday, am35:39 I ready to listen to and hear God's word daily? Number 3, if I'm gonna tear it up, please him, man, I need to be strengthened with all power. I need to be strengthened with all35:51 power. And then number 4, be joyful, guys. Man, don't leave here bitter and angry and mad. Sometimes I know we can get bitter and angry and mad over past difficulties and36:03 hardships and maybe how someone's treated us. Give joyful thanks. See, your eternal joy isn't in that job. Your eternal joy isn't in that bottle.36:15 Your eternal joy isn't in that attitude. Your eternal joy is in heaven. And we all get to share in that. And so guys, when we leave here today, wherever you are, if36:27 you think you're at the top rung spiritually you have ever been there, don't forget get about the guys that are headed that way And help them get there. If36:39 you're at the bottom, don't you dare look at another dude in this room and be discouraged and think I'll never get there. Because you will. And there'll come a day when you'll36:51 get the opportunity to share in the inheritance after being put back together to help someone else rise to the top. Let's pray. God, as we leave here today, God, I pray that our men37:03 would tear it up. They would tear it up by bearing fruit. We would tear it up by gaining knowledge of your will and your word in our life. We would tear it up by37:15 getting stronger spiritually each and every day. And we would tear it up by joyfully giving thanks for the inheritance that we are headed toward. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen.37:27 Hey, have a great day, guys.37:30 Thank you for tuning in to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Caton. For more information on John Mark's ministry and resources, please visit johnmarkkayton dot com. Until next time, remember, we're37:42 on this journey of life together.In this video 0:00 Tearing It Up: Living a Life Worthy of the LordComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
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