The Spillover Effect
If you know the Lord Jesus, you’re going to show the effects of that relationship in every department of your life.
Transcript
Alright, thank you very much and hello again, dear radio friends. How in the world are you? Are you doing Alright? Oh, my heart goes out to so many of you whom I know, and concerning whom I’ve been informed a bit regarding the things you’re going through now. I want you to know that I do pray for you and I do love you. And for those that I’ve never met but to whom I minister day by day through this blessed radio opportunity, I want you to know that I pray for you. I find myself praying, “Lord, for all the people that I haven’t met but who do listen, Lord, bless them today and help them.” Yes, I do. God bless you.
If you struck a rough day, look up and trust Jesus and ask Him to see you through. The keyword is “through,” remember that. Not just into but through. “When thou passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee.” God brings you through.
“In shady green pastures, so rich and so sweet, God leads His dear children along where the water is cool, flow, bathes the weary one’s feet, God leads His dear children along. Some through the water, some through the flood and some through the fire, but all through the blood. Some through great trials, but God gives us song in the night season, and all the day long.” It’s a great song, isn’t it?
I’d sing it for you but then that would clear your sinuses and also clear the air so I won’t do it. Many years ago, I asked for that people who would like to have some music and facetiously, I said,”You want me to sing?” Right away, came back lots of letters, “Don’t sing! Don’t sing!” I wonder if they were trying to tell me something. You think so? Oh dear.
Well we’re looking at Colossians under the heading of “random wrap-up thoughts from Colossians.” And I wanted you to be sure that you understood the meaning of Colossians 2:10, “Ye are complete in Him.” What is that completeness? Number one, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. That’s verse 3. And then a daily experience of Christ’s miracle presence, “As you received Christ Jesus as Lord,” so live your every minute of every day, “so walk ye in Him.” That’s verse 6. And then a stability that comes only from Christ, “Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith as you’ve been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”
What is Christian stability? Frankly, some people mistake stubbornness for stability. You know that. There are some folk who are like evangelist Sam Jones who lived in another century. His description of his mule, he said, “At the wagon, he was there and at the plow, he was there, and at the one horse shay, he was there, but you could never get him away from there.” Some people are born in the accusative case and the objective mode. They both know on everything just instinctively. This is not, dear friend, this is not what is called Christian stability.
What is it? Rooted, means you get your life from Him. Built up, means He is in charge of your progress, your growth. Established in the faith, that means you know better every day the things for which you’re willing to die and live and abounding in all of this with thanksgiving, you learn the secret of Christian thankfulness. That is Christian stability. Isn’t that a great truth? You get your life from Him. He said, our Savior did, “I am the vine and ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.”
The souce of life. The source of spiritual life is not what you do but what He does in and through you. Every day, commit yourself to this wonderful Savior who, by His Holy Spirit, dwells within you, if you’re a believer. If you’ve known the Lord is your Savior then the blessed spirit of God is dwelling in your life and every day, it is your unspeakable privilege to yield yourself to Him so that you can draw His divine life for yourself. “Abide in me,” He said, “and I in you for without Me, ye can do nothing.”
Rooted then built up. You give to your Blessed Lord the privilege of developing your life. Now, when you do that, it means that He will take various experiences which are calculated to shape and discipline your personality to conform with His plans. I am not of the school of thought that says that you can pray and everything is gonna come up roses. There are some people who teach that if you’re right with God, why, all the circumstances will be wonderful and you’ll never have any troubles or trials and so on. Well, I don’t believe that.
I have noticed that students who come to the college having been reared in that kind of belief experience a great deal of deep trauma when they realize that life is full of problems of one sort and another and they have to face it and find out about it. Built up means that God is going to use sometimes the cutting edge of an experience to shape your life so that it fits into His plans. He’s gonna use the abrasive quality in somebody else’s life to polish your life, so that it shines better for Him. He’s gonna use the crucible, the white hot heat of trouble of some sort, to melt your heart and to purify the dross so that the pure gold of faith and love and hope and joy will shine through.
Built up means that God is preparing you for His planned place in divine plans. Built up in Him. Let God build you today. Don’t fight the experiences but use them, by the grace of God, to grow a little closer to your blessed Lord and to conform more exactly to His divine plan for you. Established in the faith means that you’re going to increase constantly in the knowledge of those things that are eternally important. I notice as I look over denominational history that people have been divided oftentimes, not always, but oftentimes have been divided on points that to us, now after the passage of years, seem quite unimportant.
Whole denominations have been formed on the basis of what a person should wear for example. Others on the basis of how a certain religious rite, let us say, should be performed. You look back over the history of God’s people and you find them quarrelling and splitting off from each other on the basis of some things that from a distance at least, the distance of years, seem quite relatively, let us say relatively, unimportant. And I don’t mean to give offense to anybody either. If you belong to a certain denomination that has its own ideas, God bless you. Go ahead and shine for Jesus where you are. That isn’t my point and you know it.
The point I’m making is Paul says, “Established in the faith.” There are certain things that you must never quibble about. There are certain issues on which you must always be rock solid and the farther you walk with God, the more solid you and I need to be in those areas. You follow my thinking there? The deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. The need of the new birth, the victorious Christian life through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The oneness of the body of Christ regardless of denominational barriers. The divine commission of evangelizing the world. The soon-coming, the imminent coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The certainty of Heaven and hell, divine punishment for the unsaved and divine happiness and paradise and bliss for those who are saved.
All of these things and some others that I haven’t even mentioned comprise the body of our belief as evangelical Christians. And he says, “Established in the faith.” That is to say, you know and you know that you know, what is really important to believe, to hold fast, and to live by.
Then he says “Abounding in all of that with thanksgiving.” God teaches you the secret of Christian rejoicing and thankfulness. Abounding is a spillover word. You’re so thankful that you just spillover. One of the evidences of having met the Lord Jesus is that people learn to be thankful. Have you noticed that?
God’s quarrel against the heathen is two-fold as stated in Romans 1 “Because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God,” wouldn’t give God His place as God in their lives, “neither,” here’s the second quarrel, “were thankful.” The sin of ingratitude is lumped right alongside of the sin of idolatry. Think of that. And so contrary-wise, the other side of the issue is that when the Lord Jesus becomes Lord of your life, you learn at long last to be profoundly thankful to God and to show it in the spillover of your life in every day’s living. Complete in Him, established in Christ.
What else? Complete in Him. And He says, “In Him, dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily.” The presence of God real in your life. The presence of God real in your life. All of fullness of the godhead in Christ. What does that mean on any given day? It means that when you walk into the room, people will feel God. It means when you pick up the phone, your conversation will reveal unspoken, in terms not of being verbalized, but the very tone of your voice and the way you approach any conversation will reveal the fact that God is living in your life. It means that when people come into your home, they’ll sense the presence of God there. Now, is that too much to ask of an almighty heavenly Father? Certainly not. In Him, all the fullness of the godhead bodily.
If you know the Lord Jesus, you’re going to show the effects of that relationship in every department of all of your life. The fullness of the godhead. What do you know about God? Well, all you need to know about Him is found in the Lord Jesus. Get acquainted with your blessed living Savior and you will find out more about God than you ever thought you knew. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Paul says to Timothy.
Paul says in Colossians 1:10, “You can know in an increasing way your heavenly Father. Fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God”. Complete in Christ means that you’re going to get to know God better and show His presence in every relationship of life. Try that out today in your own daily living. And may Jesus be real, beloved, in all that you and I say and do.
Dear Father today, may we be people who spillover the very presence of Almighty God out from our lives as we live for Jesus. Amen.
Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!
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