How do you view the world? What do you see first and most when you view the world? Is it President Trump? Is it the USA as the world’s only superpower? Is it yourself? Or is it the Lord Jesus first and most?

How do you view the church? What do you think of first and most when you think of the church? A pastor? Or is it an organization? Or is it your role and place in the church? Or do you see the Lord Jesus first and most?

How do you view heaven? What do you think of first and most when you think of heaven? Is it loved ones? Is it yourself? Or is it the Lord Jesus first and most?

These three questions about how we view the world, the church, and heaven reveal something don’t they? They reveal that Christ is not always supreme in our world view. He’s not what we see first and most when we view the world.

What happens when Christ is not supreme in our worldview?

• Christ-consciousness shrinks when we don’t see Christ in the first creation (the world)
• Christ-worship shrinks when we don’t see Christ in the re-creation (the church)
• Christ-hope shrinks when we don’t see Christ in the new creation (heaven)

Thankfully, there is a way to restore the supremacy of Christ and so rebuild Christ-consciousness, Christ-worship, and Christ-hope. Let’s look at three areas in which Paul helped the Colossians recover the supremacy of Christ, so that we can get help too.

For more, see my sermon notes from my third sermon in the Colossians series entitled Complete in Christ (download pdf here).  Scroll down a bit further and you’ll find a one-page sermon summary infographic.  Index to other Colossians sermons here.

Sermon Notes

Sermon Infographic

Like all healthy and satisfying relationships, our relationship with God needs time and energy. But giving time and energy to our relationship with God actually increases free time and energy because it helps us get a better perspective on life and order our priorities better, it reduces the time we spend on image management, and it removes fear and anxiety.

In this article, on Crossway’s blog, I highlight some things that have helped me to keep my personal relationship with God personal and avoid falling into the trap of relating to him only through my ministry to others. Some of the subjects covered are:

1. Guarded Time
2. Undistracted Mind
3. Vocal Prayers
4. Varied Devotions
5. Good Sleep
6. Christ-Centered Sermons
7. Christ-Centered Books

Read the whole article here.

Peer pressure causes many to drop out of Wisdom University. But there is a way to stay enrolled and to graduate with honors, as Proverbs 1 :8-19 demonstrates.

For more, see my sermon notes from my second sermon in the Proverbs series entitled Wisdom University (download pdf here).  Scroll down a bit further and you’ll find a one-page sermon summary infographic. Index to previous sermons in the series here.

Sermon Notes

Infographic

Complete in Christ Series

Worldly Pessimism or Heavenly Hope
From People Pleasing to God-Pleasing

Wisdom University Series

Too Much Information
Peers v Parents

Carol was a people-pleaser? She lived to make other people happy. Her whole life was dominated with questions like: “How can I make my boss happy?” or “How can I make my parents happy?” or “How can I make my husband happy?” or “How can I make my kids happy?” Does that sound familiar to you? It’s a hamster wheel, isn’t it? And you can’t get off it.

Whether Carol ever succeeded in making everyone or anyone else happy, she was certainly not happy herself. Why was that? Carol’s people-pleasing:

• Produced sin by making her say/do wrong things, and not say/do right things.
• Required mind-reading as she tried to guess what might make others happy.
• Was draining because she exhausted herself trying to please everyone.
• Made her angry at her inevitable failures.

People-pleasing is miserable and impossible. Some of you know this but, like Carol, you don’t know how to change. With God’s help, though, you can change to become a happy God-pleaser. We can discover what a God-pleaser is in Colossians 1:9-14.

For more, see my sermon notes from my second sermon in the Colossians series entitled Complete in Christ (download pdf here).  Scroll down a bit further and you’ll find a one-page sermon summary infographic.  Index to other Colossians sermons here.

Sermon Notes

Sermon Infographic

Complete in Christ Series

Worldly Pessimism or Heavenly Hope
From People Pleasing to God-Pleasing

Wisdom University Series

Too Much Information
Peers v Parents

I enjoyed chatting with Nancy Guthrie about how to teach and preach on Hosea. It was part of her Help Me Teach the Bible podcast. You can listen here and also access additional resources on Hosea.

TMI “Too Much Information” sums up our culture. We are drowning in a tsunami of information. The data stream that became a river that became an ocean is drowning us.

But although there is a tsunami of information, there is a drought of wisdom. In this sermon I show how the book of Proverbs remedies that.

Here are my sermon notes from my first sermon in the Proverbs series entitled Wisdom University (download pdf here).  Scroll down a bit further and you’ll find a one-page sermon summary infographic. Download sermon notes here. Index to previous sermons in the series here.

Download Infographic here.