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PRAYER: Election, God’s love for people—the unborn, the mother, the young, the old, the poor, the rich, the foreigner, the citizen, the Ukrainian, the Russian, the Israeli, the Palestinian, and the Lebanese.  Each party emphasizes different people they protect.  No one candidate or party platform adequately represents the love God has for people.  We must pray that God will give us discernment and the guidance of heart in how we vote.  It is a privilege to vote, and it would be foolish to not do so.  Our faith should inform our vote, but be careful, our nation needs Jesus not a political figure.  The day after the election we will be praying for whoever will be our next president.  Praying for God to convict them for where they are wrong and affirm them for where they are right.  Praying also that the church will be resolute and impactful in advancing the gospel for the sake of our country and the other peoples of the world.

What does it mean to “Stand your ground”?

• It could mean you are just being stubborn, unyielding, unteachable.
  
  
• Militarily, to not give up territory, fight if necessary to the death because it may mean life for others.
  
  
• It could mean not caving to social pressure to conform to their way of thinking.
  
  
• When life throws you an unexpected storm and you survive it perhaps even stronger than before.
  
  
• What if standing your ground was more about the condition of your heart with God? “Where your heart is, there you will be.”

Read Colossians 1:21-23

“Once…” 

• How many stories begin with the word “once”?
  • “Once upon a time…”
  • “Once, when I was learning to drive…”
  • “One time when I was in college…”
  • “Once when I went to buy an engagement ring…”

• It is a term that suggest it is historical and no longer the case.

At one time, you were hostile towards God.  You treated Him as your enemy.

Taking up arms against God begins inwardly in the mind and heart.  (21a)

• Jesus said that our thoughts are as guilty as our actions. Matthew 5:28
  
  
• Jesus said that the mouth speaks what our heart is full of. Luke 6:45

Our lives are the evidence of what our minds are set upon.  (21b)

Romans 8:5-6 “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”

“But now…”  “…I don’t do that anymore.”

God has reconciled you to himself by this Gospel. (22a)

• By Christ’s body. Nobody else’s body. 
  
  
• His physical death. Nobody else’s death.
  
  
• Making peace with God by Christ’s shed blood on the Cross. (20)

We are made holy and spotless in God’s sight. (22b)

• No blemish.
  
  
• Free from any accusation.
  • Satan is the great accuser, and his accusation are made powerless by the Cross!

“—if you continue…”  WHAT? 

Are these conditions for keeping salvation? (23)

                  You must continue in your faith.

                  You must stay established and firm.

                  You must not lose the hope that the Gospel provides.

Scripture teaches us that we cannot lose our salvation.

Ephesians 1:13b-14 “…When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”

1 Peter 1:3-5 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”          

Our salvation is not meant to be received and then passively lived out. 

Philippians 2:12-13 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”          

Our salvation is a grace, but it leads to and is evidenced by great work!

Ephesians 2:8-10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

The Gospel’s root in our lives is a journey of nurture. Matthew 13:18-23

• The path: heard but not understood and rejected.
  • As believer we need to try again in sharing the gospel with them.

• Rocky soil: heard, receives it positively, but no root. Vulnerable to any challenge.
  • As a believer we are hurt, because evidence bore out the truth of the heart. So, we share again.

• Thorns: hear the gospel and receive, growth happens, but then worry and financial pursuits take first place and begins choking out the life.
  • Very well could be a true believer, but they will not bear fruit. They need discipleship to work away from worry and put money in a better place.
  • Difficult to discern if the heart of someone is rocky or thorny soil—both do not bear fruit and are distracted from looking to Jesus.

• Good ground: gospel received, understood, and lived out will lead to multiplying fruit.
  • We join them in sharing the gospel.

Paul is charging us to work out our faith.

• Your faith will thrive when it is being worked out.
  
  
• Your faith will be established and growing with time as you persevere through challenges.
  
  
• Your faith will be fueled by the hope for what the Gospel of Jesus Christ promises—Life now and forever.

The gospel is not merely a moment but is also a journey of living out the hope of that gospel by His Spirit.

Benediction:

                  Do you still feel you are adversarial towards God?

Do you feel you have allowed things to entangle your heart, therefore, you display little to no fruit of the gospel in your life?