Cancel Culture, Week 5

Sermon Series by Pastor Bob McCartney, First Baptist Church, Wichita Falls Tx

We don’t study God’s word to know more, we study to grow more. It’s not information, but transformation. We believe God’s word has the power to change our hearts, which can change our lives. The word of God is sufficient.

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

Colossians 2:6-8

1.Strive for Spiritual Progress.

You received Jesus by grace, so walk by grace. You received Jesus by faith, so walk by faith. You didn’t receive Jesus by works, so you don’t achieve your sanctification by works.

Received here is specifically a word used when a student receives instruction from a teacher.

Don’t be swayed by the winds of culture and by some flashy looking new teaching.

If it’s new it’s not true, and if it’s true it’s not new. It’s been in this book for 2000 years.

a. Be firmly rooted – have roots that go down deep. Is your faith deep enough to endure the drought?

They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.

Jeremiah 17:8 (NLT2)

b. Be built up in Him and established in your faith – What is the foundation for your life?

c. Be overflowing with gratitude – Live out of the overflow of Jesus in your life. Clutivate gratitude with generosity.

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’

John 7:38 (NASB)

2.Be Sensitive to Spiritual Perils.

Don’t be taken captive by the world around you. Make sure every belief you have is based in God’s word.

a. Read the Bible for yourself.

b. Be a part of a Life Group or another Bible study.

Our culture has changed significantly in the last decade and it’s not going to get better. You as a believer are going to need to be firmly rooted in God’s word to be able to stand firm. The light of the Gospel will shine brightest against the darkness of a culture that has gone awry.

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

2 Thessalonians 2:15 (NIV)