Living Faithfully As An Urban Christian Woman

Season 2: Episodes 2 + 3

Part One

Colossians 1:1-8

Background:

1. v 1-2: Paul is writing and greeting the church with a letter to be circulated amongst the church and a few other churches as well

   1. Giving thanks for the church

   2. Being thankful for the faithfulness of the saints

   3. Paul’s affection(s) for the family of God

      1. Thinking of each other

      2. Reaching out to each other

      3. Speaking to one another with affection

   4. Paul’s affection for the church

2. v 3-4: Paul & Timothy are rejoicing and thanking God for the Church through their 

Prayers and faith in Christ and love for one another

1. John 13:34-35

2. Paul is rejoicing in Colossae as a church of faith and love

3. The Colossae church is known & identified by faith & love

3. v 5-6: Paul makes known the reason

1. . Because of the hope

2. Why do we have this hope & this anchor?

3. Why do we seek to live this love?

4. Because of BOTH the hope of heaven  and the hope of THE ONE, JESUS who is in heaven.

The DNA of the Church:

1. Faith v4

2. Hope v5

3. Love v4

   • If we are clinging to the hope of Heaven, then we are sharing this DNA with brothers and sisters in Dubai, Niger, Scotland, Ecuador, China, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Sweden and on and on it goes. Because it is a GLOBAL CHURCH

   • It’s not just about you, but it’s also about, the whole GLOBAL CHURCH.

   • If you see the church declining, know the church is still bearing fruit and increasing

The DNA ALWAYS leads us to respond with:

1. Praise

2. Prayer

3. Thanksgiving

Pray:

1. That we seek to live faithfully in the everyday as an Urban Christian Woman

2. Help us as Urban Christian Women to recognize and reflect the DNA of the GLOBAL Church we belong to

3. Help us to respond in our daily lives with praise, prayer and thanksgiving as we give thanks for our leaders, as well as, we be ministers of the Gospel

4. May we take our focus off “leveling up” and seek to be a bondslave. Show us the ways (few or many) that we can be known by our faith and fellowship with the saints

Part Two

Colossians 1: 9-12

In Colossians the framework for v.9-12 is focused on:

1. Paul’s example in prayer

2. The reason for Paul’s Prayer for the Colossian church 

Which leads us to: Why is Paul praying? What can we see from scripture about Paul & his prayer life?

1. Paul understands prayer is essential to the Christian life.

2. Paul’s life overflowed with prayer. There are over 40+places where we can see Paul praying with fervor 

   • Paul knows if you ain’t got prayer, you ain’t got POWER! 

   • Paul pre-conversion had positional/cultural/religious power, but Paul recognizes that transformational power in the church only comes from God