Sunday 3 December 2006

Darkness - Richard Chin talk 1

from Colossians 1:1-4

  • darkness is out there in the world, but also in us personally

  • God can deliver us from this domain of darkness - we need to look to the radical rule of Jesus

  • Paul prays for the Colossians, a group of gentiles he had never met. he prays wonderful things for them, that they would be:
    - filled with the knowledge of God's will
    - live lives worth of the Lord, fully pleasing to him (God's delight), bearing fruit in every good work
    - strengthened with all power to endure because living a life pleasing to God will put us in a direct collision course with darkness
    - joyfully giving thanks to the father that he has dealt with our greatest need: forgiveness of sins. we give thanks to him for delivering us from a world of darkness.


i sat there on the floor in the auditorium with tears running down my face, listening to richard speak. the parts i've put in italics above just made me weep - in a good way. the power to endure is so important, and knowing that God is giving me this power is wonderful, that even though i'm tired and uninspired and burned out and whatever, that anything i'm facing is part of God's plan and he is strengthening me. and so i can joyfully give thanks to him despite the struggles because i know he's looking after me, and these struggles are because the darkness of the world knows i am trying to live a life pleasing to God.

ramble ramble. don't know if this makes sense, it's still percolating.

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