Small Group Questions

How do you maintain your faith?

Would you describe yourself as growing closer to God or departing (getting farther away) from God during this time? Why?

How have you defended the faith?

Do you have sin you aren't dealing with right now? Has it caused you to be farther away from God? How can you being to address that sin?

Grounded and Steadfast- (If You Continue in the Faith)

Colossians 1:19-23 New King James Version (NKJV)

19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

The occasion for this letter was the appearance of false teaching that threatened the spiritual future of the Colossian church. The exact heresy is unknown, but it is apparent that it was a strange mixture of Christian teaching, certain extrabiblical Jewish traditions and pagan philosophy, similar to today. There is nothing new under the sun.

Paul wrote his letter to the Church in Collosse for a few different reasons: 1. To combat the dangerous false teaching that was supplanting Christ’s centrality and supremacy in creation, revelation, redemption and the church; 2. Make clear the apostolic revelation of Christ as the Son of God and 3. Stress the true nature of life in Christ and its fruit in the believer.

So, how do we stay “grounded and steadfast” according to this Scripture?

“IF you continue in the faith”- notice the ongoing human response that Paul states is necessary before we appear before Him blameless. The Lord has done His part and we must do ours. Like Paul, we have a race to run with endurance and perseverance. EX: MJ documentary, he is to basketball what Paul is to the faith. This is the same mindset and determination that we must have about our Christian walk.

Now more than ever we need to be grounded and steadfast in the faith! The enemy is fast at work among us and he is a master at deception:

1 Timothy 4:1 NKJV “Now the Spirit [a]expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons”

Let me break this down, “To depart” is the Greek translation meaning to “distance oneself from, step away, withdraw from, shrink away from”. It is where we get the word “apostate or apostasy”.

This departing depicts a departure that takes place slowly, over a period of time, and it pictures a person who changes his position and withdraws from what he once believed. This process occurs so gradually that those who are in the process of departing may not even realize they are in transition. But little by little, they are backing away from what they once believed and adhered to, and moving toward something very different.

The verse goes on to say, “some shall depart from the faith” as we near the end of the age. This is important to understand, in the Greek the words “the faith” has a definite article, which tells us that it is not talking about raw faith, such as “by faith are you saved”,