# Sunday Setup – Colossians 1:3-8

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Sunday Setup
Date: September 3, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/sunday-setup-colossians-13-8

## Summary

Are you ready to lead with purpose and grace? What does it mean to truly appreciate God's grace in our lives? How can our learning transform into impactful leadership in our families and communities? Join us as we explore these questions in Colossians 1:3-8. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

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 >> 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. 
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 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. 
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 >> 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. 
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 >> 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. 
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