Kaleo Church Podcast

There is something about the combination of story and song that is able to drill truth deep down into our hearts. You can probably think of times in your own life where a song has impacted you in a way that words by themselves may not have. That is why in this passage Paul calls us to sing to one another as one of the means of drilling the word of Christ deep into our hearts.

Anxiety, that feeling of dread that comes over us when we realize that we are not in control and we think of all the terrible things that might happen. The truth is that our anxiety shouldn’t surprise us. Anxiety is the natural response of people who were made for Eden but can’t seem to find their way back. But in Colossians 3 Paul offers us an alternative, the peace of Christ. In this message we will consider how it is possible to experience true peace in a world full of anxiety.

No one will disagree with the statement that we should "put on love." However, often when we pursue love from the world's perspective we find that it leads to division and disappointment. In fact, self-centeredness often lies at the heart of what we call love. So, what makes Christian love - love that springs forth from a new identity in Christ - different? Jesus shows the heart of God in his self-giving love for sinners. When we are satisfied in his love we are freed to love others with the same self-giving love.

What is forgiveness and how is it possible? How do you forgive someone who has deeply hurt you? How do you forgive someone who keeps repeating the same old sin? How do you forgive someone who does something completely inexcusable? How do you forgive someone who does something that you know you would never do? In this message we will seek to answer these and other questions related to the very difficult but beautiful call to forgive one another the way Jesus has forgiven us.

Compassion, kindness, humility and meekness, these things sound great but the truth is that there are many times that we find them very difficult to actually practice. In this message we will look at what each of these attributes look like and what can make them difficult for us to actually do. In the end we will see that before we can ever truly demonstrate these things to others we must receive them ourselves. Fortunately, there is one who has demonstrated each of these things towards us if we are only willing to receive them.

Anger. Anger occurs when we say “That’s not right and it matters!!” Anger is our natural response to displeasure. In others, anger often seems irrational, overblown, and terribly destructive, but in ourselves, anger feels justified, reasonable, and the only option if we want to have any hope of seeing justice done. In this message we will ask ourselves “What makes me angry?” and “How do I respond when I get angry?” We will consider why it is that our anger often goes wrong and what alternative there might be to responding to the brokenness of this world. In the end we will see that taking off our destructive anger is possible because our God has given us something far better to put on in its place.

What is sexual immorality? Who gets to answer this question and on what basis do they get to make that decision? In this sermon we will discuss what the Bible teaches us about the one who designed sex and the purpose that he designed it for. We will also discuss what makes sexual immorality so bad and why it often comes with so much shame. Lastly, we will consider the depths of God’s love and the price that he paid to free us from our sexual past and wash us white as snow.

Over the past year people have become more and more aware of just how unstable the things of this world are. Of course this growing awareness has led to a growing sense of worry and anxiety. Things we once trusted to keep us safe no longer seem as reliable as they once did. In Colossians 3 Paul calls us to stop trusting in the fleeting things of this world and to set our minds on things above. One of the things Paul wants us to set our minds upon is the reality that we have died and our life is now hidden with Christ in God. The reason Paul wants us to think about that is because it means that we are safe. For all those whose life is hidden with Christ in God there is no longer anything in the universe that can ultimately harm us. In this sermon we will consider how our lives might be different if we would set our minds more fully on the things above.

In Colossians there were some teachers who thought that they had discovered the secret to experiencing the presence of God. Because of this they became puffed up and looked down on those who did not share their experience. In this sermon we will talk about the danger of allowing our knowledge of the Bible or our experience of God to lead us to feel superior to others. We will also look at the true path into the presence of God and talk about how it crushes our pride and keeps us humble.

One of Satan’s weapons of choice is shame. The Bible calls him the accuser and he loves to hold our sins over our head and remind us that we are not enough. He whispers that if anyone knew the things we had done there is no way they could ever truly love us. But in Colossians 2:13-15 Paul tells us how our God has disarmed the accuser by cancelling the massive debt that we owed at the cross. In this message we will discover the connection between the forgiveness of our past sins and freedom from slavery to sin in the present.

The book of Colossians lays claim to a glorious picture of Jesus that is meant to spur people on to daily worship and adoration. However, sometimes we are quick to look to our own daily disciplines and human traditions to give us confidence before God. But Paul takes the Colossian church back to the moment they first believed in the person and work of Jesus and commands them to trust in that same person and work day in and day out. Listen and hear how the gospel is such great news that we never have to move beyond it.

You and I will become like whatever we give our attention to. Knowing this Paul tells the Colossians that he toiled and struggled in order to proclaim Christ to them so that they might behold him and become more like him. This raises the question, “What are you giving your attention to?” Knowing what is at stake are you and I willing to toil and struggle for our own soul in order to make sure that we are giving our attention to beholding the one who is truly worthy.

I think most of us wish we were more bold in talking about our faith with others. However, many times we find ourselves holding back because we are not sure how talking about Jesus will be received by those around us. But what if suffering or even the fear of suffering didn’t hold us back from sharing the Gospel? How would that change our lives? In this passage Paul comes to shift our view of suffering from an obstacle to be avoided into a means of proclaiming the Gospel to be rejoiced in. It sounds crazy, right?

In this passage Paul reminds us that the most broken relationship we have ever experienced was with the most important person we have ever known and it was 100% our fault. Nevertheless, Paul tells us that we have a savior who has reconciled that broken relationship in his body through his death! Let that sink in, the most broken thing in all of the universe has already been fixed! You could summarize all of this by saying that you and I have been more wrong than we have ever realized and yet we remain more loved than we could ever imagine. In this sermon we will talk about what it means to be wrong and loved and why that truth can sometimes be difficult to swallow.

Just like the Colossians we live in a world that is constantly trying to dethrone Jesus in our lives by deceiving us into prioritizing other things. Into this world Paul broke out into a hymn proclaiming the preeminence of Jesus in all things. Jesus is preeminent in everything good and beautiful because he is the one who made it. But he is also preeminent in all of the broken because he alone is able to fix it through the blood of his cross. In this message we will consider what it would look like to give Jesus the preeminence in everything in our lives both the beautiful and the broken.

How often do you think about pleasing God? Many people rarely think about pleasing God at all, while those who do think about pleasing God usually find themselves feeling pretty discouraged at how far short they fall. In Colossians 1:9-14 Paul reminds us of the importance of pleasing God, while still finding a way to encourage those who are despairing over their sin. If you have ever wondered how to honestly seek to please a holy God without being crushed by your failure then this sermon is for you.

Sometimes people are hard to love, especially people that we have tried to love only to be let down by. In this sermon we will consider the way Paul continued to love people even after they had hurt him. We will also talk about the Colossians love for “all” of the saints and what makes that kind of love possible.

In a world full of temptation where each of us have experienced our fair share of sin and failure the last few verses in Jude are meant to overwhelm God’s people with encouragement. There is one who is bigger than any temptation and he is able to keep his people from stumbling. Not only is he bigger than our temptations he is stronger than our sin and he promises to present his people blameless in the presence of his glory. These truths are meant to overwhelm us with joy and move us to give God the glory, majesty, dominion and authority that he deserves.

There is a final judgment coming for all humanity. When we become aware of people that are deceived by false teachers, what is our typical response towards them? Do we protect ourselves from them or do we show them mercy and remind them of the Gospel, praying God saves them from the judgment to come? Listen and hear how the Gospel reminds us of what we were once like and why ungodly sinners need the Gospel just as much as we once did.

In Jude 8-13, Jude exposes that the people who have crept in unnoticed among the church are false teachers. The way to know them is by watching their lives. They all have an imbalance that says one thing but does another. Listen and hear how the Gospel confronts and comforts our own imbalances in this life.