A FULL TANK OF GASNOTHING LIKE STARTING YOUR JOURNEY WITH

DON’T HAVE ENOUGHNOTHING’S AS STRESSFUL AS THINKING YOU

6 You received Christ Jesus as Lord. So keep on living your lives in him. 7 Have your roots in him. Build yourselves up in him. Grow strong in what you believe, just as you were taught. Be more thankful than ever before.

COLOSSIANS 2

“SO LONG AS YOU’RE DEEPLY

ROOTED IN CHRIST, YOU’RE ALREADY FULL.”

already FULLC O L O S S I A N S 2 : 6 - 1 5

ALREADY FULL

COLOSSIANS 28 Make sure no one controls you. They will try to control you by using false reasoning that has no meaning. Their ideas depend on human teachings. They also depend on the basic spiritual powers of this world. They don’t depend on Christ.

9 God’s whole nature is living in Christ in human form. 10 Because you belong to Christ, you have been made complete. He is the ruler over every power and authority. 11 When you received Christ, your circumcision was not done by human hands. Instead, your circumcision was done by Christ. He put away the person you used to be. At that time, sin’s power ruled over you.

Disgraced televangelists Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker

“YOU MUST DO THIS IF YOU WANT GOD TO [FILL IN THE BLANK].”

FALSE REASONING HUMAN TEACHINGS BASIC SPIRITUAL POWERS OF THIS WORLD

“YOU CAN FULFILL THE COMMANDS OF THE BIBLE BY FALLING IN LOVE WITH GOD THAN BY TRYING TO OBEY [GOD]…

Bishop N.T. Wright

“LOVE GOD WITH ALL OF YOUR BEING AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS A WAY OF LOVING GOD”

“THE CHRISTIAN FAITH IS NOT A BUSINESS TRANSACTION…

Bishop N.T. Wright

“LOVE GOD WITH ALL OF YOUR BEING AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS A WAY OF LOVING GOD”

“IT’S NOT AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE WHERE YOU RECEIVE A DOWRY OF RICHES FOR COMPLIANCE…

Bishop N.T. Wright

“LOVE GOD WITH ALL OF YOUR BEING AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS A WAY OF LOVING GOD”

“CHRISTIANITY ONLY WORKS IF YOU’RE IN LOVE [WITH GOD].”

Bishop N.T. Wright

“LOVE GOD WITH ALL OF YOUR BEING AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS A WAY OF LOVING GOD”

“JESUS HAS LOVED YOU BY DOING [BLANK], SO LIVE WITH GRATITUDE.”

DEPEND 100% ON CHRIST

ALREADY FULL

COLOSSIANS 28 Make sure no one controls you. They will try to control you by using false reasoning that has no meaning. Their ideas depend on human teachings. They also depend on the basic spiritual powers of this world. They don’t depend on Christ.

9 God’s whole nature is living in Christ in human form. 10 Because you belong to Christ, you have been made complete. He is the ruler over every power and authority. 11 When you received Christ, your circumcision was not done by human hands. Instead, your circumcision was done by Christ. He put away the person you used to be. At that time, sin’s power ruled over you.

ALREADY FULL

COLOSSIANS 212 When you were baptized, you were buried together with Christ. And you were raised to life together with him when you were baptized. You were raised to life by believing in God’s work. God himself raised Jesus from the dead.

13 At one time you were dead in your sins. Your desires controlled by sin were not circumcised. But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.

ALREADY FULL

COLOSSIANS 214 He wiped out what the law said that we owed. The law stood against us. It judged us. But he has taken it away and nailed it to the cross. 15 He took away the weapons of the powers and authorities. He made a public show of them. He won the battle over them by dying on the cross.

WHEN WE AREN’T FULL ALREADY WITH GRATITUDE

THINK BEING CHRISTIAN IS ALL ABOUT TRYING TO PLEASE GOD BY BEING OBEDIENT, MORAL, AND DISCIPLINED LOTS OF VOICES TELLING US THAT’S WHAT GOD REQUIRES LIVE AS IF JESUS DIDN’T TAKE CARE OF ALL OUR SHORTCOMINGS

WE FILL UP WITH TRYING HARD TO BE GOOD, SERVING, GIVING, SACRIFICING, FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE, STUDYING OUR BIBLES.

THESE ARE ALL GREAT, BUT ONLY IF THEY‘RE AN EXPRESSION OF OUR DEEP GRATITUDE FOR WHAT JESUS HAS DONE. AND

NOT IF WE’RE TRYING TO IMPRESS HIM.

WE’RE ALREADY FULL OF GRATITUDE

BECAUSE JESUS HAS ALREADY MADE US COMPLETE BECAUSE HE HAS PUT AWAY OUR OLD SELF BECAUSE HE HAS RAISED US TO NEW LIFE BY BELIEVING IN WHAT HE DID ON THE CROSS

BECAUSE HE HAS ALREADY PAID OUR SIN-DEBT IN FULL BECAUSE HE NAILED THE LAW AND ITS REQUIREMENTS TO THE CROSS HE HAS ALREADY WON THE BATTLE, SO STOP TRYING TO MAKE GOD LOVE YOU AND START LOVING GOD AND LOVING EVERY PERSON

WE’RE ALREADY FULL OF GRATITUDE

REV. DR. DICKSON KAZUO YAGI

4-6 I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.

GALATIANS 5

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