Sunday Setup – Colossians 1:3-8

[music] [music] [music] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Hey, cross church family. Welcome to the Sunday setup. This is our time each week where we digitally gather together to read our text that we'll be studying through this week. Because every Sunday it is our goal that we pray through, that we praise through, that we preach through [music] so that we can put into practice God's word. Well, this Sunday we are wrapping up our series rooted and ready through the book of Colossians. And we've been kind of bouncing all in over this book, this short little letter. And this is an awesome week cuz we're going to start in [music] Colossians chapter 1. I'm going to read 3 through8 to give us our prayer prompts today. But we'll also be jumping to the end of this book because this really encompasses this idea of how do we be ready for leadership? And we see it in the life of a faithful servant within this church that Paul [music] has been guiding, been loving and seeing the fruit of. And we start here in Colossians chapter 1 starting [music] in verse 3. It says this, "We always thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world just as it has among you since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate God's grace. You learn this from Epifice, our dearly loved servant. He is faithful, a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf. And he has told us about your love in the spirit. This week when we jump to chapter 4, we'll pick up his story and see just the leadership he exhibited in the church and what it did in the life of Colasse. But as we are raised up to lead in our families and to lead in in our church and our neighborhoods and our businesses, there's just a few things that we can reflect on this passage. And I just want to prepare our hearts for God's word this weekend to do that. And and here's our first prayer prompt. Uh I love in the end of verse 6 that he talks about hearing of the fruit that they are bearing. And he says this, "And came to truly appreciate God's grace." The church at Colasse was bearing fruit because they appreciated God's grace. [music] And I just want us to take a minute of appreciation for God's grace. Because this is where we start. We can't do anything else if we don't appreciate God's grace. And here's the prayer prompt. Real simple, straight from this passage is God, I appreciate your grace in I appreciate your grace in my family, in my job situation. I appreciate your grace in the fact that we get cool air. We get to breathe in here. We have nature is wonderful. God, I appreciate your grace in fill that pray that prompt fill those words in that sentence [music] and pray to our God. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] [music] >> God, let us appreciate your grace and just the common grace that we have that we get to be. We get to live, we are [music] born, we get to be in this place that you provide for us food and clothing and shelter and so much more. But we also appreciate your special grace that we can be forgiven of our sins. That we can be given a a second and a third and a fourth and fifth [music] chance. That we are not defined by our mistakes, but we are defined by what you have done for us. Lord, we just appreciate your grace in so many areas. And Lord, let that be our starting point that propels us forward. And it propels us forward to what in verse 7 and 8 it tells them they learned from one of their leaders Epipras who was in this church and they learned from him but then he's also told about their love. So they [music] learned but they also put it in action. They learned and then they led. And and when we talk about this in going into this leadership is and how we are to lead in whatever God has entrusted with us is here's our second prayer prompt is we appreciate the grace of God, the common grace, the special grace, the grace we don't deserve. Our second prayer prompt is God, help me learn and lead and help me learn and lead in my family and and how to be a dad, how to raise up my children. Help me learn and lead maybe in your workplace, in your neighborhood, in your marriage. We always need to learn more about what God has for us. Be better stewards. Be better just learners and soaking up knowledge. But then we need to lead in applying that [music] knowledge. God help me learn and lead in. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] >> Lord, let us just be constant learners, learning more about you, learning more about just whatever skills you've given us, the crafts you've given us, the passions you've given us. Let's be learners, and how do we be better people, better bosses and and employees and spouses [music] and husbands and fathers and brothers and sisters and all those things. Lord, let us be learners, but let that learning lead to go to leading. That we can be leaders in our community, that we can lead our families, that we can lead our workplaces, that we can lead our neighborhoods, and that we can make a difference in this [music] generation and in the next. Because, Lord, we are rooted in what you have for us. We appreciate your grace, but Lord, then we learn and we lead in the ways that you show us. God, we thank you for all this. We just ask that you be with us and prepare our hearts as we come to gather this Sunday and lift all this up in Jesus name. Amen. Hey, thank you guys for joining us. Please join us in person or if you're out of town online this weekend as we get to wrap up Rooted and Ready. We'll see you there. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] [music]