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Series C – First Wednesday of Advent – Wednesday, December 2, 2015 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:29	our scripture reading tonight is taken
0:31	from the epistle to the colossian church
0:33	Colossians chapter 1
0:35	verse 1 through chapter 2 verse 7 we
0:39	will be working our way through the book
0:40	of Colossians this Advent season
0:44	Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the
0:47	will of God and Timothy our brother
0:50	to the Saints and the faithful brothers
0:52	in Christ at colossi Grace to You and
0:55	peace from God our Father
0:58	we always thank God the father of our
1:00	Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you
1:02	since we heard of your faith in Christ
1:04	Jesus and of the love that you have for
1:06	all the saints because the Hope laid up
1:09	for you in heaven of this you have heard
1:11	before in the word of the truth the
1:14	gospel which has come to you as indeed
1:16	in the whole world it is bearing fruit
1:18	and increasing as it also does among you
1:21	since the day you heard it and
1:23	understood the grace of God and Truth
1:25	just as you learned it from epaphras our
1:27	beloved fellow servant
1:29	he is a faithful minister of Christ on
1:32	your behalf and is made known to us your
1:35	love in the spirit and so from the day
1:38	we heard we have not ceased to pray for
1:40	you asking that you may be filled with
1:42	the knowledge of his will and all
1:44	spiritual wisdom and understanding so as
1:46	to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord
1:48	fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in
1:51	every good work and increasing in the
1:53	knowledge of God may you be strengthened
1:55	with all power according to his glorious
1:58	might
1:59	for all endurance and patience with joy
2:01	giving thanks to the father who has
2:04	qualified you to share in the
2:06	inheritance of the Saints in light he
2:08	has delivered us from the Dominion of
2:10	darkness and transferred us to the
2:12	kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we
2:14	have Redemption the Forgiveness of our
2:16	sins he is the image of the invisible
2:19	God the firstborn of all creation for by
2:23	him all things were created in heaven
2:25	and on Earth visible and invisible
2:28	whether Thrones or dominions or rulers
2:30	or authorities all things were created
2:32	through him and for him he is before all
2:35	things and in him all things hold
2:38	together and he is the head of the body
2:41	the church
2:42	he is the beginning the firstborn from
2:44	the dead then in everything he might be
2:46	preeminent for in Christ in him all the
2:50	fullness of God was pleased to dwell and
2:53	through him to reconcile to himself all
2:55	things whether on Earth or in heaven
2:58	Making Peace by the blood of his cross
3:01	and you who were once alienated and
3:04	hostile in mind doing evil Deeds he is
3:07	now reconciled in his body of Flesh by
3:10	his death in order to present you holy
3:13	and blameless and above reproach before
3:15	him if indeed you continue in the faith
3:18	stable and steadfast not shifting from
3:21	the hope of the Gospel that you heard
3:23	which has been proclaimed in all
3:25	creation under heaven and of which I
3:27	Paul became a minister now I rejoice in
3:31	my sufferings for your sake and in my
3:33	flesh I am filling up what is lacking in
3:35	Christ’s Affliction for the sake of his
3:37	body that is the Church of which I
3:39	became a minister according to the
3:41	stewardship from God that was given to
3:43	me for you to make the word of God fully
3:46	known the mystery hidden for ages and
3:48	generations but now revealed to his
3:50	Saints to them God chose to make known
3:53	how great among the Gentiles are the
3:55	riches of the glory of this mystery
3:56	which is Christ in you
3:58	the hope of glory him we Proclaim
4:02	warning everyone and teaching everyone
4:04	with all wisdom that we may present
4:06	everyone mature in Christ for this itoil
4:09	struggling with all of his energy that
4:12	he powerfully works within me for I want
4:14	you to know how great a struggle I have
4:16	for you and for those at laodicea and
4:18	for all who have not seen me face to
4:20	face that their hearts may be encouraged
4:22	being knit together in love to reach all
4:25	the riches of the full Assurance of the
4:27	understanding of the knowledge of God’s
4:28	mystery which is Christ in whom are
4:30	hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
4:32	knowledge I say this in order that no
4:35	one may delude you with plausible
4:36	Arguments for though I am absent in body
4:38	yet I am with you in spirit rejoicing to
4:41	see your good order and the firmness of
4:44	your faith in Christ therefore as you
4:47	receive Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in
4:50	him rooted and built up in him and
4:52	established in the faith just as you
4:55	were taught abounding in Thanksgiving
5:00	in the name of Jesus
5:03	now for our Advent meditations we will
5:06	be working our way through the book of
5:08	Colossians and if you’ve noticed this is
5:11	quite a hefty passage how do you pull
5:14	this apart in 10 minutes well it’ll take
5:17	me an hour I’m joking two
5:20	no it’s really not but uh We’re Not
5:23	Gonna We’re Not Gonna obviously work our
5:24	way through all of this we’re going to
5:25	have to tear this apart a little bit and
5:28	I chose the book of Colossians for two
5:30	primary reasons one the book of
5:32	Colossians is Christological
5:36	In this passage of scripture that we
5:38	read tonight we get what is considered
5:39	one of the most magnificent Christ hymns
5:42	in all of scripture and when you read
5:44	the commentators on it there’s a lot of
5:46	ink spilled as to whether or not it’s a
5:48	legitimate hymn or if it just looks like
5:51	one
5:52	if it just looks like when the
5:54	difference that makes no difference is
5:55	no difference at all but let us return
5:58	back to our text and I’ll read portions
6:02	of it and I want you to pay attention to
6:06	how the verbs work in fact Let me let me
6:09	work through from the beginning Paul an
6:10	apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
6:12	God and Timothy our brother to the
6:15	Saints the faithful brothers in Christ
6:17	at colossi Grace to You and peace to God
6:20	from God our father now in this section
6:22	of this text I mean you could literally
6:25	go on and tease out some of these themes
6:28	the fact that the Apostle Paul was an
6:30	apostle by the will of God and as you’re
6:32	going to see later in the text you are
6:34	in Christ because of the will of God God
6:36	will chose you to be saved and then it
6:40	says to all the saints and you’ll notice
6:42	that there are some well some Christian
6:45	churches and denominations and large
6:47	Church bodies that they talk about
6:49	sainthood as something that you aspire
6:51	to
6:52	I’m no saint but I hope to be one
6:56	someday
6:57	well the Apostle Paul clearly missed the
6:59	memo on that because he’s writing to all
7:01	these lowly Christians at the church of
7:03	colossae and he’s calling them saints
7:06	he’s not saying Saint candidates
7:09	he’s saying Saints you are Saints so
7:12	grace to you and peace from God our
7:14	Father
7:15	and when we see the word peace here
7:18	think of the word shalom it’s
7:20	fascinating how Paul uses Shalom peace
7:22	so we always thank God the father of our
7:25	Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you
7:26	since we heard of your faith in Christ
7:28	Jesus and of the love that you have for
7:30	all the saints because of the Hope laid
7:32	up for you in heaven of this you have
7:34	heard before in the word of the truth
7:36	the gospel notice here in this text and
7:40	your translations may run into this just
7:42	a little bit different than what I have
7:43	here is that the gospel is considered to
7:46	be the word of Truth and what is the
7:50	gospel if we were to have a little quiz
7:52	tonight and I say all right somebody
7:53	comes up to you they’re a pagan they
7:55	want to know what the gospel is what do
7:58	you tell them really quick you’re on the
7:59	spot what do you say where do you go
8:01	what do you do well you would take a
8:03	look at First Corinthians chapter 15
8:05	where Paul says let me remind you let me
8:09	remind you the gospel that I preach for
8:10	I Proclaim to you what was the first of
8:12	importance that Christ died for our sins
8:15	and accordance with the scriptures they
8:17	was buried and raised again on the third
8:19	day in accordance with the scriptures
8:21	that’s the gospel in a nutshell it has
8:24	to do with the death of Christ for your
8:26	sins and mine and his resurrection from
8:29	the grave and then Paul in the book of
8:31	Ephesians kind of ties Jesus’s
8:33	resurrection to our justification so
8:36	Jesus isn’t just dead he’s raised from
8:38	the grave all of this is for us
8:41	so Paul says that the gospel
8:45	the gospel itself is the word of Truth
8:47	which has come to you as indeed in the
8:50	whole world it is bearing fruit and
8:53	increasing as it also does among you and
8:55	I can say to you Saints of Kong’s Binger
8:58	not saint candidates but Saints
9:00	that the gospel has come to you and it
9:03	is bearing fruit even in your life right
9:05	now we continue a little bit ahead and
9:08	so from the day that we heard we have
9:09	not ceased to pray for you asking that
9:11	you may be filled with the knowledge of
9:13	his will and all spiritual wisdom and
9:15	understanding so as to walk in a manner
9:18	worthy of the Lord fully pleasing to him
9:21	bearing fruit in every good work and
9:22	increasing in the knowledge of God may
9:25	you be strengthened with all power
9:27	according to his glorious might for all
9:29	endurance and patience with joy
9:31	and so from this portion of the text we
9:34	learned something kind of important and
9:36	that is is that wow God Wills for you to
9:40	walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel he
9:43	is saying because you are in Christ
9:45	because you are forgiven because you
9:48	have heard the gospel the word of truth
9:50	because you know of the Forgiveness of
9:52	your sins and you trust in him that now
9:55	this then leads to you walking in
9:58	Freedom and walking in a way that is
10:00	pleasing to the Lord there’s no such
10:02	thing as a Christian who doesn’t do good
10:04	works that does that animal doesn’t
10:06	exist I mean it’s like saying I’ve got a
10:08	dog that never barks I got a cat that
10:10	never meows in fact it moves that that
10:13	animal does not exist although I’ve seen
10:15	parrots be able to do strange things but
10:17	that’s a different story
10:20	right
10:22	so may you be strengthened with all
10:23	power according to his glorious might
10:25	for all endurance and patience with joy
10:27	giving thanks to the father who has
10:30	qualified you
10:32	to share in the inheritance of the
10:35	Saints in light
10:37	major major idea here you do not qualify
10:43	yourself for heaven in fact if you are
10:46	trying to do that give it up right now
10:48	knock that nonsense off you’ll never be
10:50	able to do it instead receive the good
10:53	news that that you have been qualified
10:58	by God himself by what Christ has done
11:01	for you and it says this he God has
11:05	delivered us that’s including you and me
11:07	from the domain of darkness and he has
11:10	transferred us into the kingdom of his
11:12	beloved Son in whom we have Redemption
11:14	the Forgiveness of our sins
11:17	and so God is the one who qualifies you
11:20	God is the one who transfers you from
11:22	the Dominion of Darkness God is the one
11:24	who redeems you he is the one who
11:27	forgives you he is the one who saves you
11:29	you do not do these things
11:32	they are done for you by God they are
11:35	received as a gift and this is very good
11:38	news this is very good news because if
11:40	you are like me well when you’re out
11:43	away from Kong’s Winger this Embassy of
11:46	the kingdom of God and you’re out well
11:48	in the in the world
11:50	at home dealing with your sinful flesh
11:52	living with other sinners
11:54	right okay being tempted by your own
11:58	sinful flesh the devil the world and all
12:01	of its Temptations you and I both know
12:03	that we don’t measure up and see that’s
12:05	the thing
12:06	you can either do something you can do
12:08	this crazy thing with the law which the
12:09	Lord’s word does not allow you to do you
12:12	can sit there and say well it doesn’t
12:13	really matter if I keep God’s law
12:16	perfectly
12:17	God knows that I’m trying it’s the heart
12:21	that matters
12:24	wrong it’s not how that works because
12:27	Jesus says it’s out of the heart comes
12:30	all kinds of wickedness and sinful
12:32	thoughts murder theft adultery all of
12:36	these things
12:37	go and come from the heart and so when
12:41	you sin you are demonstrating that you
12:44	have an impure and sinful heart
12:47	and so if we if it were left up to us to
12:51	save ourselves to qualify ourselves by
12:54	our good works to qualify ourselves by
12:56	our effort to qualify ourselves by
12:58	really giving a good college try at the
13:01	Ten Commandments well understand this
13:05	this is one of those tests you know you
13:08	know I’m talking about this is one of
13:10	those tests it’s either pass or fail
13:13	it’s not graded on the curve it’s either
13:15	pass or fail you either get a hundred
13:19	are you getting zero
13:23	well
13:25	we might as well leave I got a zero
13:27	today how about you
13:30	how about yesterday anyone get a hundred
13:31	yesterday
13:32	no no all right for Sunday that was a
13:36	holy day and and no okay yep me either
13:40	but see this text tells us something
13:42	very important
13:43	God has qualified you
13:45	he has qualified you through what Christ
13:48	has done for you and that’s what we’re
13:50	really kind of celebrating here and if
13:52	you think about it we have Christmas
13:54	coming it’s just a few weeks away we’ve
13:56	got all the decorations out it looks
13:57	like we’re ready for a party right
14:00	break out the eggnog you know get out
14:03	the the Christmas DVDs it’s that time of
14:05	the year cuddle up in front of the fire
14:06	and watch the snow fall and get ready
14:09	for that great day we all remember when
14:11	our kids were really small and they
14:12	would get super excited about Christmas
14:14	don’t you kind of missed that I missed
14:16	that right
14:17	but we really ought to be excited
14:20	because we’re celebrating the birth of
14:24	the one who has qualified US
14:27	we’re celebrating the birth of the one
14:29	who has delivered us from the Dominion
14:31	of Darkness we’re celebrating the one of
14:33	the of the birth of the one who has
14:35	transferred us to the kingdom
14:39	of light
14:40	and I love the interplay between light
14:42	and darkness In this passage
14:44	our sin the Dominion of the devil and
14:48	our Rebellion against God is all likened
14:50	his Darkness
14:51	in fact you think about John chapter 1
14:54	where Jesus where it says of Jesus that
14:57	light came into the darkness but the
14:59	darkness is not understood it
15:03	Christ came to his own
15:05	but his own did not receive him
15:08	but to all who have received him who do
15:11	receive him he’s given the right
15:13	to be sons of God
15:16	and so God is the one who has delivered
15:20	us he is the one who has transferred us
15:22	from the kingdom of darkness and the
15:24	Dominion of Darkness into the Kingdom of
15:26	Light of his beloved Son in whom in
15:29	Jesus we have Redemption and the
15:32	Forgiveness of our sins and here’s the
15:34	great Christological passage that will
15:36	kind of end on for tonight he Jesus
15:41	he’s the image of the invisible God
15:45	you want to know what God is like
15:47	you look at Jesus
15:49	he’s the firstborn of all creation Now a
15:53	lot of ink has been spilled on this
15:55	passage
15:56	firstborn of all creation doesn’t mean
15:58	that Jesus was the first thing created
16:00	the firstborn is the one who has
16:03	preeminence over everything and when you
16:05	read the the Greek translation of the
16:08	Old Testament called the Septuagint you
16:10	have Moses saying to Pharaoh Yahweh says
16:15	release Israel Israel is my firstborn
16:18	or any singer Israel is my firstborn
16:20	well same word in the Septuagint
16:23	firstborn doesn’t mean that it’s Israel
16:26	was the first thing created no it means
16:29	he’s the preeminent one so all of the
16:32	older brothers out there you’ve got a
16:34	passage I just want to make that clear
16:36	so being firstborn I have to invoke this
16:39	from time to time
16:42	so he’s the firstborn overall creation
16:44	for by Jesus all things were created
16:48	that’s right it says by Jesus all things
16:52	were created in heaven and on Earth
16:55	visible and invisible whether Thrones or
16:59	dominions or rulers or authorities all
17:03	things were created through him and for
17:06	him
17:07	he is the first he is before all things
17:10	and in him all things hold together he’s
17:14	the head of the body the church he is
17:16	the beginning the firstborn from the
17:18	dead that in everything he might be
17:21	preeminent for in him all the fullness
17:23	of God was pleased to dwell and through
17:26	him to reconcile to himself all things
17:29	whether on Earth or in heaven Making
17:33	Peace by the blood of his cross
17:37	what a great
17:39	great thing to consider
17:42	truly Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega
17:45	truly he is the beginning of the end he
17:48	is the one now we learned from this
17:50	passage when God said let there be light
17:54	it was Jesus’s Voice who is speaking
17:58	let the Earth produce plant bearing or
18:01	seed bearing vegetation and it was so
18:03	right that was Jesus speaking all things
18:05	were created by Him and through him he
18:09	is truly Our God he is truly our King he
18:12	is truly Our Redeemer and we see this
18:16	that he has come
18:19	we know this now
18:20	that his birth
18:22	by the Virgin was to make peace
18:27	make peace by the blood of his cross
18:30	because each and every one of us
18:33	we needed
18:35	we needed to be reconciled to God you
18:38	think about family relationships family
18:40	relationships have a tendency to go
18:42	squirrely
18:43	and so from time to time you get family
18:46	members who are kind of at each other’s
18:48	throats it always makes Christmas and
18:51	Thanksgiving a little bit awkward which
18:52	is one of the reasons why a lot of
18:53	families have those rules that say ah
18:56	you’re coming to Thanksgiving here’s the
18:57	rules sign the card no politics no
19:00	religion right that’s how that goes
19:03	because if people talk about politics
19:04	and religions on Thanksgiving well what
19:07	ends up happening is well there’s
19:09	generally weeping and gnashing of teeth
19:11	and yelling and things like that and
19:12	that doesn’t go well and so when that
19:15	happens and things go squirrely in
19:18	family relationships you have people who
19:20	are estranged people who are in Conflict
19:22	people who need to be reconciled to each
19:26	other
19:27	and beloved that was us
19:29	we were born enemies of God
19:32	we were born in the Dominion of Darkness
19:35	we were born in League with the Devil
19:39	but this says that God has qualified US
19:42	he’s transferred us
19:44	and he has reconciled us to himself
19:49	by the blood of his cross
19:52	what a great and precious gift
19:54	he made peace when we were at War
19:58	what an amazing thing for us to consider
20:02	so as we walk through now
20:05	the season of Advent
20:08	let us remember these words
20:10	and you that’s you and I who were once
20:13	alienated and hostile in mind
20:16	we who are the ones who were doing evil
20:18	Deeds Christ is now reconciled in his
20:21	body of Flesh by his death in order to
20:24	present you holy and blameless and above
20:28	reproach before him
20:31	and if you say me
20:33	holy me blameless me
20:39	yes
20:40	yes you holy you blameless because he
20:45	has reconciled us to himself he has made
20:49	peace he clothed you in his perfect
20:51	righteousness he forgives you he
20:54	qualifies you he saves you he redeems
20:58	you
20:59	and for all of that
21:02	it just seems woefully inadequate
21:05	say thank you does it not
21:07	because in reality we owe everything to
21:11	him
21:12	we owe our life our breath our salvation
21:16	and our peace with God what a great and
21:20	amazing Jesus we look forward to
21:22	celebrating his birth by the Virgin Mary
21:25	because he is the one
21:27	who has taken us who were alienated and
21:30	hostile in mind
21:31	and he’s reconciled in his body of Flesh
21:34	by his death and he now presents us holy
21:37	and blameless and above reproach before
21:41	him
21:42	in the name of Jesus Amen
21:45	[Music]

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