Contending to Continue | Colossians | Part 2

Take out your notes. We are in week two of our study through the book of Colossians. We're gonna pick up in Colossians chapter two, where Paul is writing to the church at Colossae, and he's giving them a challenge that they have started well, but then these deceptive ideas have come in, and he's giving them a challenge of how to continue in the faith, to build this thing well. It's very interesting. I wrote this message two months ago, not having a clue the world that we were gonna be in, and I had so many pastors reaching out to me, going, are you changing the message for this Sunday? I'm going, no, it actually works perfect for our society today. So let's pick it up in Colossians chapter two. We're gonna pick up in verse one, and it says, I want you to know how hard I am contending for you. Say contending. Contending. Contending means fighting, wrestling, and he's wrestling for them. And I just want you, this is the job of a pastor, is that we fight alongside of you. We're challenging you. We're moving this thing forward.

That's why last week, I gave you the challenge. Man, this thing is all about Jesus. I don't know what your life has been made about. Let's put our whole focus right back on Jesus. And now he's talking to the church, saying I'm contending with you, for you, for those in Laodicea, for those who have not met me personally. And then he gives his goal, and this is my goal for your life right now. My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love. Let it be said of the church of Jesus Christ during trial that we are still encouraged in heart and united in love. Can I hear a good amen today, church? So that they may know the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ. As I said in week one, this whole book is a refocus on Jesus, on putting our attention back on him. And then he shows us how to do it in a world filled with trials, filled with deception, filled with frustrations. How do we do it? And he picks it up in verse six. Now, interesting fact is when I was in Bible college, I took a class called homiletics. Homiletics is the art of preaching.

They teach you how to preach. And it was where I preached my very first message. To preach it, they gave out random passages to everybody in the class. And I was given a passage, and you had to give a message off that passage. Well, my passage was Colossians chapter two, verse six through eight. It is a passage that means so much to my life, and has shaped so much of my life. Now, when I went back over my notes, I had to take out all the Myspace references, Britney Spears, AOL Instant Messenger references. So I'm gonna give you a fresh perspective today in 2025. So let's look at it in verse six. So then, just as you've received Christ Jesus as Lord, here's the challenge, ready? Continue, say continue. Continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Verse eight, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy. And there's a lot of that out there today, which depends on human tradition and the elemental forces of this world, rather than on Christ. I'm gonna give you a message titled simply contending to continue.

Contending to continue. Paul is challenging the church. He's saying, fight with this idea that you are called to continue this faith that God has for you. And we understand that anything that you do for a long amount of time, there's gonna be seasons where the emotions and the feelings leave, and you're gonna have to fight to keep going even when you don't feel like keeping going. Marriage is a good example of that. We celebrate way too often when people get married instead of people that stay married. Like, if you see someone that says they've been married for 20 years, you better be like, woo! I mean, that's a big deal. 30 years, wow! 40 years, you're just like, whoa, there's something amazing. I remember in the early days of Radiant, we celebrated the wrong things. We celebrated the starting. I remember our very first marriage night that we did as a church. First year of the church, we gathered at Kate Jackson Park in Hyde Park. We had about 100 people there, and we did this marriage night.

And I was like, we wanna know who are the newest people that are getting married. I don't know why we did this instead of who are the people that have actually survived this thing. So, and we're like, if you've been married less than six months, you know, our church was so young, half the people all stood up. All right, less than a month, you know, a ton of people still stand up. Then it came down to two couples that were left. And we're like, within a matter of days. And we're like, finally, everybody's just shocked. We're like, how many, how long have you been married? One couple's like, two days. Everybody's like, whoa, that's amazing. And then the other couple, we're like, well, how long have you been married? They're like, two hours. We just came from the courthouse. Katie and I looked at each other. We're like, why are they here? This is weird. I don't know what you want. learn tonight. Apply what you already know. Get out from the church and just go have fun in Jesus' name. We were celebrating the wrong thing, and here's what you have to understand, is if you're going to sustain the thing that God wants to do in your life, you're going to have to go through seasons where you have to contend to continue, to contend to keep going. True success in the kingdom of God is not how loud you are, but how much longevity

you have. Not that you've started, but that you've sustained. Not that you've had a moment of passion, but that you have had a lifelong pursuit after Jesus. Let's make long-term obedience celebrated again. And it's not going to happen by chance. It happens by a decision to say, even when I don't feel it, I'm going to still do it, because I'm not living based on my passions. I'm living based on the principles in my life, that I didn't just start this. I'm going to sustain it in my life. I am going to continue, because here's why. It takes grit to continue long after the initial emotions have worn off. And some of you, the emotions have worn off. You were once excited and passionate about God, but you stopped it. You were once passionate about that calling on your life, but you've kind of thrown in the towel. You were once passionate about that relationship, but you've let it kind of die out. Let us have a moment right now to contend, to continue what God has in our life. And that's what Paul does. Paul addresses this church that had started well, but deceptive teaching came in. There were four major teachings that came in to the church at Colossae that had infiltrated the church. The first one was Gnosticism. This is a belief in secret knowledge, spiritual knowledge for salvation. It downplayed Jesus' full divinity. It seemed right, but it was off. And that's what you've got to be careful about. You've got to be careful about things that seem right, but they're just a little bit off. There was Legalism. This is relying on strict rule keeping, and dietary plans, and Sabbath keeping, that you wanted to earn God's favor over having faith in Christ. And that still comes into the church today, where it's Legalism that kind of binds people up. There's Asceticism, which is harsh self-denial. This is where they would punish their bodies to try to earn salvation. And it's, again, this works-based religion. It came into the church in Colossae. It's coming into our churches too. And the last one is called Synchronism. It's basically mixing Christian faith with other religious or philosophical ideas. And we do the same thing in our world today. We taint our faith by mixing in a little bit of culture, a little bit of politics, a little bit of our upbringing, instead of making it Jesus and Jesus only. And that's the whole point of this message series, is to put the focus right back on what is most important. So let me help you contend to continue your faith in a world that's attacking the church, in a culture that's coming against the church. How do we continue? Let me give you three things I think that'll help you today. Number one, it's the statement that I want you to

start with, which is, I will start. I will start. It is important that you understand the only way you can contend for your faith, to keep the faith going, is you actually have to start this thing. It's like the person that drives around the gym. And they go, I went to the gym today. But did you? You made a budget on ChatGPT. But did you apply it to your life? It's like the people that have all the bookshelves at home and have all the books. You're like, oh my gosh, those are amazing books. Which one is your favorite? You're like, all of them are. I just love them. Like, well, which one have you actually read? None of them, actually. I got them there. I bought the book. Buying the book doesn't change your life. You've got to read the book. Does that make sense? Coming to church is not the thing that's going to be your saving grace. My question for you, have you actually started this relationship with God? Have you actually gone all in? That's what Paul says in our passage. Look at verse 6. It's beautiful. He says, so then, just as you've received Christ Jesus as Lord, now live in him. Continue it. So you've got to start it. You've received it. And now you've got to keep it going in your life. Let me break down these words. We don't understand what it actually means to be saved. It means it starts with this word received. Received means to actively take hold of or accept. Often it's a personal, and I want you to get this, it's a personal commitment. So it's not my mom is a Christian, my girlfriend's a Christian, my grandma is a Christian. Have you received? Have you made a personal commitment? says this, he says, as you've received Christ Jesus as Lord. So what does this mean? This means acknowledging his supreme authority. He's not just a Savior figure in our life. It's like, I want to get out of hell. That's great, and that is a amazing benefit, but that's not what it means to get saved. When you give your life to Jesus, when you start this relationship with God, you are submitting yourself to saying, I am receiving personally the Lordship of Jesus in my life. I am under his control, no longer my control. Let me just say it this way. John, the book of John says, yet to all who have received him, said same word, so those who have made a personal commitment to the Lordship of Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave them the right to become the children of God. So if you're sitting there going, well, just God loves everybody the same,

and we're all his children. No, no, you missed it. You missed it. Because what I have found in the world today is people will come into my office, and they have really good intentions. Man, I want to be a better person. I want to be a better father. I want to build a better business. I want all these things, and sometimes I'll just look at them, and I'll go, I think you're a good person, but let me ask you a question. Are you born again? Have you actually given your life to Jesus? Like, I understand you went to church. I understand you maybe even bought a Bible, but have you started this actual relationship with God? Have you come under the Lordship of Jesus? Listen, to become a Christian is to submit to the sovereign rule of Jesus over every area of your life. Let's not mix it in with the things of this world, and who you voted for, and what your background is. No, no, no. I am under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Every part of me belongs to him. Have you ever been to a restaurant that was like absolutely horrific, and you leave that restaurant, and you're like, I am never going to that place again. You know what I'm talking about? And the service is bad. The food is bad. The whole thing is bad. And then a couple of months later, you drive by, and you see this sign right above the door, and it says, under new what? Management. And you go, I might give that place another try. Because what did you recognize? You recognize that because somebody else is in charge of it, maybe it's not so terrible after all. Maybe someone came in and actually made the change. Let me tell you what Christianity is. Christianity is not a betterment of your life idea. It is not a little bit of self-improvement to go along with the other improvement you've got on TikTok and YouTube. No, Christianity is putting your life under new management. I once was in control. I once was in charge. Now I'm under the management of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah, I used to go out and party on Friday nights. I'm under new management now. Yeah, I used to drink myself to pass out. Guess what? I'm under new management now. Yeah, I used to be addicted to that stuff, and I watched that stuff online. But you know what? I'm under new management now. I used to go from girlfriend to girlfriend to girlfriend. You know what? I'm different because I'm under new management now. I'm not controlled by what was. I'm

controlled by Him. He's not just my Savior. He's my Lord. I have a relationship with God. I'm under new management with Him. Does that make sense? Listen, all right, I know I'm very passionate this week, okay? Because if we're gonna seize this opportunity in our nation, we can't just make people good people. We got to make them see them get born again, totally submitted to the Lordship of Jesus. And this is what I want for your life, because a lot of people are frustrated going, well, I tried that before, and I went a little in, and I raised my hand one time, and I tried. And here's the reality is, we can't partially surrender and expect total transformation. So some of y'all are like, well, I tried this. You can't partially surrender and expect total transformation. You can't have one foot in the world and one foot in the church and think that your life is gonna be changed. You can't live a life where you're saying, I belong to God on Sundays, but I belong to the world on Fridays. No, we are raising up a group of people that are all in that say, I'm starting this thing, and I'm starting this thing right, and I'm giving my life to the Lordship of Jesus. Can I hear a better amen today, church? So he says, you got to start. He says, so since you've received Jesus Christ, your Lord, now continue in him. Here's your second one. Now, I will. Here's your second I will statement. I will grow. So I'm not gonna just start. I'm gonna grow. So let's look at our passage again, and he tells us how. He says, you've received Christ Jesus as Lord. Continue to live your lives in him. And then he tells us how to continue to live our lives. We're rooted. We're built up in him. We're strengthened in the faith as you were taught. Can I encourage you, church? Don't settle for surfaced level Christianity. Don't settle for a version of Christianity where you show up to church once every tragedy and you get a verse of the day, but you don't really dive deep into the word. Where you show up to a church, but you're never committed to that church. Go deep with God. You see, this is where real life change happens.

It's where we say, I've started, and now I'm going to actually grow. And this isn't a works-based religion. You're not working for your salvation. You have to understand it this way. One decision to follow Jesus saves you. Praise God for that. But it's a daily decision to follow him sanctifies you. And we've all got some issues that we need to work out of our life. We've got some attitudes and some behaviors and some trauma from our past that we need to work out of our life. And Paul is telling us, you started this thing. Now, get some work done in your life. And he tells us how. He says, you've got to get rooted, built up, strengthened, and then you'll go change the world. So let me break these three words down. Rooted. Here's what it means to be rooted. It means I am deep in God's word. I do not settle for a surface-level Christian version of what the Bible has to say. No, I'm going deep in God's word. I know what God is speaking over my life. I know what his truths are. I'm not confused about God's voice because I read his voice every single day. The Bible is God's voice to us. He's speaking to us, and we need to have our roots deep into this. A.W. Tozer says, a shallow faith withers in the storm, but a rooted faith grows strong. Stay planted in Christ, and you know what you'll do? You'll bear fruit. How do we stay planted in Christ? We get into God's word.

And the best way to continue in your faith is to become a person that's hungry for the word of God. You're in Bible studies. You're in radiant groups. You're listening to podcasts. You treat it as a treasure that you're going after every single day because it's guiding your life. Let me say it this way. I no longer live by my feelings. I live by the word of God. I don't care what culture has taught me. I go by what God's word has said. I don't care even how I was raised. I'm going to go off of what God's word says. I don't even care what kind of trauma or tragedies I've been through because that does not dictate my life. God's word dictates my life. I'm living based on his word. I don't care how motivated I am. I'm going to keep going into God's word and saying, God, if your word is alive and active, I'm going to let it guide my life. It's a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. I am living my life based on the word of God. I got my roots down deep in it, and I'm not swayed by what culture says. I'm living it based on what God says. We're rooted. We're deep in God's word. That's why I love our radiant groups.

And if you're not connected with one yet, you need to get connected. They're taking Sunday's message and even going deeper throughout the week. Why? We need to be deep in God's word. Here's your second one. We're built up. Built up means I'm connected to the church. So now I have a body around me. I have friends around me. I have community around me. You can't do this thing in isolation. You can't do this thing. You can't sustain this thing in isolation. You need community around you. I remember when growing up, I was such a small little kid on the playground. I'd still pick on all these other guys. And then they would come in. When you're on the playground, you kind of have your little packs and your groups. And I was the weakest guy, but I had the right crew. I had the right friends. So they'd try to attack me, and I'd be like, look who's with me. I'm 32 pounds, but man, collectively, we got this thing. Some of you, you might feel weak. You might feel like, man, the enemy just keeps getting you. Let me just encourage you. You're not going to survive this thing alone. But look around the room you're in. You're not alone. We are part of the winning team. The kingdom of God is advancing, and we're stronger together.

When I'm weak, you're strong. When I fall, you help pick me up. When you're struggling, I got your back. This is the body of Christ, somebody. We're in this thing together, and we're building each other up. And you need this. That's why we have our groups throughout the week. And if you aren't in a group, get in a group. Here's your third one, and we're strengthened in the faith. I love this phrase, we're strengthened in the faith. You know what he's showing us here? He's showing us that you're going to get strong in your faith, which means I'm trusting God in tough times. And by the way, I wrote that two months ago. That's almost like God knew. And if it's not the tragedy this week, there's going to be something. else in your life that comes along, and you're going to be frustrated, and it's going to be the point in your life where you're going to either shrink back in fear, or you're going to get strengthened in faith. I've realized this in my life. I remember going through COVID and leaning through that, and the thing that almost broke us, man, we kept going. We leaned in in faith. Then all the racial tension that we went through, we leaned it in faith. All the trauma and issues and politics and elections, we leaned it in faith. You're going to have your trials in your life. Here's what I've realized. God does not cause our storms, but he does use every storm you go through in life to build you in faith to make you stronger than ever before. If you're going through a storm right now, get your head up and get encouraged, because storms that don't break you build you. We serve a God that declares in his word that he turns all things around for the good. So if you're in a bad season, it's okay to be frustrated, but get some hope that God who brought me to it will bring me through it because he's making me stronger. I might not enjoy this season. I'm getting stronger. I might not like the tragedy, but I'm getting stronger. I might not

like what's going on in my finances, but I'm getting stronger because if it's happening in my life, it's going to be turned around for a purpose because my God is good, and he turns all things together for the good. Can I hear a better amen, church? So look what he says. He says, as you've received Christ Jesus as Lord, here's your challenge. Continue to live your lives in him, rooted, built up, strengthened in the faith as you were taught. And then he says, overflowing with thankfulness. I'll give you one last challenge. Here's my challenge for you. How do we contend to continue? How do we fight to keep going through tough seasons where we feel like there's opposition? Your first one is, I'm going to start. You're going to start this thing. Second one is, you're going to grow. You're going to make a decision to grow whether you feel it or not. And your third one, I love this one, I will be grateful. I will be grateful. He says, listen, I'm contending with you as a church to continue in your faith. Start this thing. Grow. And no matter what happens, be grateful. Be grateful. It is an attitude of gratitude that gives us the drive to continue to move forward towards what God has for us next. And some of you are only looking at the negativity in our world today and the negativity in your world today. Can I challenge you to change your perspective, to look at what God is doing instead of what you don't see him doing, to give God thanks for what he has done instead of what you're still waiting for him to do? So many times people want to know. The number one question I get as a pastor is, what is God's will for my life? And I know God's will. Ready? Here's God's will for your life. 1 Thessalonians 5.18. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. You want to know God's will for the current season you're in? Walk in gratitude. You're Aaron, but it's not a good season. Be grateful. The scripture says, be grateful in all circumstances. Well, it's a bad season. Be grateful. Well, it's an awesome season. You better be grateful. I'm prosperous right now. I'm grateful. I'm poor right now. I'm still going to be grateful. I'm lonely right now. I'm going to be grateful. I have lots of community. I'm going to be grateful, because gratitude is not dictated based on my circumstances. Gratitude is a decision that I make despite my circumstances. And through my gratitude, it fuels my life to keep going to the purpose of God for my life. Hear me out, because every time I choose to be grateful, I receive strength from God to continue when I otherwise would have quit. Right. So you look at the situation in our world today, and you're so frustrated. Be grateful. Be grateful that God has a plan. Be grateful that God's not done with your life

or with our nation. Be grateful that God is working behind the scenes, and you go, well, Aaron, there's so much negativity out there. Some of you need to get off social media and need to focus on Jesus and go, you know what? God, if you did nothing else for my life, I'm going to live forever grateful that you saved me, that you sanctified me, that you gave me an eternity in heaven. We need to be a grateful people. Grateful people. How do we continue to keep going? First of all, you got to start. If you haven't started, today's your day to start. You've not gone too far. You're not messed up too much. For God to start something fresh in your life, you need to grow. Don't just come to church because of a tragedy. Lean in. Get on a team. Get in a group. Make this your new season in life that I'm gonna grow deep in my faith. I'm gonna be grateful. I'm gonna be grateful when things are good. I'm gonna be grateful when things are bad. I live with an attitude of gratitude. Can I hear a good amen across Tampa Bay? Amen? Give you one last verse that I'll close with that has helped me in my life through tough seasons and to continue. I was raised in a small little Christian school, so we used to quote this verse all the time. Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. So you know what? It's like I didn't study for my test and I would sit there and go, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. We used to, you know, our little team, our little softball or baseball team would play. They're a little baseball team. This is like, you know, elementary school. And we quoted, I can do all things through Christ. And then they're quoting, I can do all things through Christ. So I don't know who's gonna win. Here's the reality. Here's the reality. We don't know what that verse means. It's probably, this is the most taken out of context verse in the Bible. Because what it's saying is, is that man, you can do anything you want to do. And what the verse in context means is Paul's sitting there writing from prison. And he's writing to a church that's under persecution. And he says, when you have a lot, you can get through it. Because you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. When you have nothing, you can get through it. Because you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. When things are good, you

can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. When things are bad, you can do all things. You can be content no matter how bad it is. Why? Because our power is not in who we are. It's in Christ who gives us strength in the good seasons, in the bad seasons, in the blessed seasons, in the broken seasons. He gives us strength. Can we give him some power? Praise today church. Amen. Let me pray for you. All across Tampa Bay, I want to just end this message by just praying God's strength over you, in your trials, in your trauma, where things are going great, where things are really not going great. Lord, we thank you that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. Lord, I pray over your church today, would you help them even right now find strength in you? Come on, just ask them right there in your seat. Those who feel weak, those who feel discouraged, God help me find strength in you. Lord, I pray that during this season that we will contend to continue. We will fight to keep going. Lord, and I pray that our church would grow. Let us grow deep in the things of God. Lord, I pray that we would be grateful or walking with an attitude of gratitude, overflowing with thankfulness. We thank you for that in Jesus' name. With every eye closed, every head bowed, I want to end this service by giving an opportunity for people who have not started, who have not received Christ Jesus as Lord. You have not made a personal commitment to come under the Lordship of Jesus, the management of Jesus in your life. I have good news. You're not too far gone. You can make a simple yet significant decision today that'll change your entire life. If that's you on the count of three, I want you to throw that hand up and say, Aaron, pray for me. Today's my day. God brought me to church today. Whether I'm in Overflow, I'm at one of these campuses, God brought me here today because he loves me and he wants a relationship with me and I want to go all in with him. On the count of three, be bold. This is your day of salvation. One, two, three. Come on, if that's you, throw that hand up. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Man, hands all over this room. Thank you. Proud of you. Thank you. Thank you there in Overflow. Just wave it right there at the screen at every campus there in Brandon. All those over Pinellas County,

up at Clearwater, just wave it right to the screen. Thank you so much in Odessa Heights. Put those hands right back down. We're all gonna pray this prayer out loud together. And then by the way, I don't want you to leave right after this. Right as soon as we're done, I'm gonna give the benediction today from our passage. I'm gonna pray over everybody before we leave today. But why don't we all pray this out loud together with those who just raised their hands. Say it this way. Dear Jesus, today I give you my life. Thank you for dying for me. I choose to live for you. I'm under your management. You are my Lord. You are my Savior. Forgive me. Give me a fresh start. And for the rest of my life, I'll follow you. In Jesus' name we pray. And everybody that believes it says, come on, let's give God some praise for those who just made the decision ever. Let's do this across Tampa Bay. Let's all stand up together. I'm going to give you this benediction right from the book of Colossians, exactly what Paul prayed over the church. I want to pray it over you. By the way, if you made a decision to follow Christ, we're so proud of you. Make sure you let us know by filling out that connect card. You can drop it at the orange tent on your way out. We are very proud of what God's doing in your life. Colossians chapter two, just open your hands like this to receive before you leave today. Ready? It says, so then just as you, Radiant Church, have received Christ Jesus as Lord, here is my challenge for you. Continue to live your lives in him. Be rooted, be built up in him, and be strengthened in your faith no matter what storms come your way. And overflow this week with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow or deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ, here's our hope. Here we have the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. And in Christ, you have been brought to fullness. He is ahead over every power and authority. So go with his power and change the world in Jesus' name. Love you all. I'll see y'all next Sunday.