Richvale Community Church
Sunday, April 19, 2026
  • Good morning,
    Have you ever noticed that everything that lasts is built on a strong foundation?
    We see it in nature… one of our favorite trips had been to to Muir Woods , just outside San Francisco…
    It’s breathtaking to walk among the giant redwoods that have been around since the time of Christ..
    And what’s striking is this—you don’t just look up at what’s above the ground… you begin to realize that what’s holding them up is hidden beneath it.
    Massive root systems—deep, wide, and strong—anchoring these trees through storms, winds, fires 100 Of seasons.
    Their root systems is what supported them all these years...
    Roots are important..
    In fact..the most important things in life are often below the surface—unseen, unnoticed, but absolutely essential.
    Today we’re stepping into a new series in the book of Colossians:
    “Rooted and Rising.”
    And over the next several weeks, we’re not just going to glance at this letter—we’re going to slow down and really dig into it.
    We’ll walk through it together on Sunday mornings, and then on Wednesday nights we’ll go even further—layer by layer—as we learn, wrestle, and grow in this rich letter.
    So if you’re able, I want to encourage you—to come out Wednesday nights…we do some revision ..have a meal..get in to the text.. The book of Colossians is known for its Christology…because —throughout out the letter Christ is magnified… He portrayed as being supreme over all creation..
    everything we need is found in Christ alone….
    Colossians is one of the prison letters Paul wrote while under house arrest in Rome—along with Ephesians and Philemon.
    And what’s remarkable is this: even in chains, Paul is still building the Church.
    Still teaching. Still pouring into others. Still deeply concerned for the people of God.
    He’s under house arrest, paying his own rent, receiving visitors… writing letters…
    and the gospel continues to move forward.
    Even in a time of pressure, the Church isn’t shrinking—it’s expanding.
    Now the church in Colossae actually began indirectly through Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. During his 3 journey..
    The book of Acts  tells us …that Paul taught daily for over two years in Ephesus—first in the synagogue, then he lectured in the hall of Tyrannus…
    And the result? The word of the Lord spread throughout all of Asia.
    Colossae was about 100 miles away from Ephesus .
    Paul never visited colossi personally… the gospel spread
    … Jesus said thst he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it…
    God uses all of us…
    A man named Epaphras who had been impacted by Paul’s ministry —in Ephesus—
    carried it back to his hometown… and planted a church.... The book of Colosians is a response to a problem in the church..
    That later became known as the Colossian Heresey..
    Epaphras has traveled all the way to Rome to visit Paul—to share some concerns..
    On one hand, the church is strong and growing..
    But on the other hand, there’s danger.
    False teachers had come in and begun to influence the church—blending other religious and philosophy into the gospel.
    Mixing or blending Jewish traditions, and Greek philosophy into something new.
    These teaches
    claimed Paul’s message was incomplete…. it was not enough..
    That real spiritual growth requires more— more knowledge, more rules, more practices.
    So they begin adding burdens God never intended— what to eat, what to drink, which days to observe.
    And what is amazing is Paul addresses confusion, —not with frustration, but with clarity and love.
    And he opens with these words:
    Colossians 1:1–2(ESV)
    Colossians 1:1–2 ESV
    1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
    Paul begins by grounding his authority—not in himself, but in the will of God…. in his Calling…
    IN His greeting he adresses them with Grace and peace…
    He introduces the core Gospel..
    Grace… and peace.
    The order is important..
    It’s is always Grace first. Then peace.
    Because if God had not first moved toward us in grace, we would never experience His peace.
    But because He has… we now have peace with God, peace with others, and the peace of God within us.
    Reconciled,.
    And so right from the beginning, Paul is shaping the message of this letter around one central truth:
    Grace and peace that come from Christ.
    We learn from Paul’s letter...
    T/s How do we develop a life that is truly rooted— rooted in prayer… rooted in wisdom… rooted in Christ?
    First.

    1. TAKE STOCK OF WHAT WE HAVE IN GRACE

    In leadership studies and in counseling, there is a consistent principle that shows up again and again: 
    growth begins with personal awareness..
    Knowing who we are..
    Peter Drucker, the well-known leadership thinker, captured it simply:
    “What gets measured gets managed.”
    In other words,
    We grow in the areas we become aware of…
    What is interesting is that
    Early on in the Church history. the people of God understood something essential: spiritual growth requires self reflection .
    David prayed in
    Psalm 139:23–24 ESV
    23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
    The need for ongoing self-examination continues throughout Christian history,
    In the middle ages Ignatious developed a Practice that became known as prayer of examine..
    Where believers ask..an the end of the day..
    Where did I sense God’s presence today?
    Where did I respond to His grace?
    Where did I drift without noticing it?
    Where did grace show up in ways I almost missed?
    Spiritual awareness has always been part of the gospel……where are in relation God is a given moment..
    In our Text Paul reflects on what God has already been doing in Colosse..
    lets read..
    Colossians 1:3–9 ESV
    3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
    Notice how Paul begins—not with correction, but with gratitude.
    instead of focusing on what is wrong in the church, he begins by noticing what God has already done.
    Paul writes:
    vrs 4,…since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints… (v.4)
    He does not begin with their struggles. He begins with evidence of genuine faith…
    He DIDNT know them personally ,but he had heard Of their Faith in Christ … Love for the community of saints..
    In other words. . Grace has already taken root.
    Here is the thing…
    it is possible to become so focused on what is not present.. or.lacking .. that we miss what God has already doing …..
    Phil 1.6 Paul say to the church in Philippi..
    God is not only a starter he is a finisher..
    Philippians 1:6 ESV
    6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

    as Paul looks back over their story.

    He saw…that ..The gospel came to them. They heard it. They understood the grace of God in truth.
    And over time, it has begun to bear fruit.
    He sees the unfolding work of Grace in the lives in the church…
    The gospel is alive. It is growing. It is bearing fruit—
    and here is the thing..even in midst of imperfect people and imperfect places.
    Spurgeon once said..
    The day we find the perfect church, it becomes imperfect the moment we join it.
    Charles Spurgeon
    What happening…
    even though tere is a problem.. Paul recognizes that the gospel is still working in the life of the church…
    . It is shaping how they relate to one another.
    God had put Epharus into the church to reach them sound doctrine…: he is light…lamb of truth..
    Colossians 1:7–8 ESV
    7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
    Here is the first time we are introduced to Epaphras.
    Epaphras becomes a kind of bridge of grace.
    Paul calls him:
    a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf
    And Paul responds is one gratitude.
    He especially highlights one phrase:
    your love in the Spirit love is present..
    T/s How do we develop a life that is truly rooted— roote… rooted in wisdom… rooted in Christ?
    First.
    1. TAKE STOCK OF WHAT WE HAVE IN GRACE

    2. MAKE PRAYER THE CONTINUOUS RESPONSE TO GRACE

    One of the hardest parts of prayer is keeping —it consistent .. keeping it steady, keeping it alive in the middle of everything else.
    Ben Patterson, in his book Deepening Your Conversation with God, says we as ..
    “Churches can run without prayer.
    Whole denominations can run without prayer. The question is: Is what they’re doing worth doing if they can do it without prayer?”Ben Patterson, in Deepening Your Conversation with God.
    Good question..
    Here is the thing.. It is possible to be active in ministry, structured in church life,
    We can organize, plan, strategize, and still function at a level where prayer becomes optional instead of essential.
    But Paul models in Colossians dependance on God..
    From the opening lines of Colossians, Paul’s,h ministry is centered on prayer..….
    He says..
    “We always give thanks…” “When we pray for you…”
    And then he makes it even more striking:
    Colossians 1:9 ESV
    And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
    From the moment Paul hears about this church,
    H is prayer becomes his ongoing response… His prayers are .. Not occasional. Not seasonal. Continuous.
    He does not just respond to problems with prayer—he responds to grace with prayer.
    He sees what God is doing, and his instinct is to lean further into God.
    Prayer looks forward to what God can do…
    Years ago - visited one of the Efca churches in Chicago… they etched in writing on the wall..
    Praying for what God is going to do next…
    Prayer is expectation
    Prayer is preparation…
    We need to encouraged to pray…
    You see when we pray some thing take placed in us .
    first..

    a. Prayer confronts our deepest human problem: the ego

    At the center of spiritual our struggle is not just behavior—it is our ego.
    Our ego..is that deep internal drive that builds identity around control, self-sufficiency, and self-reference.
    And without realizing it, we begin to interpret life through ourselves:
    What I think
    What I want
    What I deserve
    What I can control
    Even spiritually, we can drift into a subtle self-centeredness where God becomes part of our system rather than the center of it.
    And that is where prayer becomes disruptive in the best way.
    Because prayer is about re-centering our lives around Him.
    Every time we pray , something inside us is being challenged:
    our need for control
    our resistance to surrender
    our instinct to self-direct
    Prayer quietly shifts the center of gravity.
    It moves us from:
    “My will, my plan, my direction”
    to:
    “Lord, Your will, Your wisdom, Your way”
    That is why the deepest form of prayer always echoes Jesus in Gethsemane:
    “Not my will, but Yours be done.”
    That is not resignation. That is realignment. It is the surrender of self at the deepest level so that God becomes the reference point again.
    Prayer is making room for God..

    b. Emptying creates space for filling

    Paul continues his prayer:
    “…that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…”(Colossians 1:9)
    That word filled matters. Because it assumes something has been emptied.
    If we are full of ourselves—our assumptions, our fears, our preferences, our need for control—
    We won’t have room…
    But when prayer , it creates a different kind of space. Where we can receive what God gives.
    The other day I spilt water in to our water dispenser..and I got a sponge soaked the water.. had to make several trips to the sink..
    We are often like a sponge. It absorbs quickly, but it cannot keep absorbing unless it is squeezed out again.
    And prayer is that continual releasing:
    releasing control
    releasing self-sufficiency
    releasing the need to always be right
    releasing the illusion that we are enough on our own
    So that God can fill what is empty.
    First.
    1. TAKE STOCK OF WHAT WE HAVE IN GRACE
    2. MAKE PRAYER THE CONTINUOUS RESPONSE TO GRACE

    3. WALK IN THE POWER OF GRACE

    We live in a culture that says: knowledge is power.… We see it in education—degrees, credentials, achievements.
    not We live in a culture that assumes: if you know more, you are more.
    But the Bible offers a different kind of knowledge and a different kind of power—knowledge shaped and sustained by grace.
    And the difference is .
    Knowledge that is not earned —
    We cannot manufacture it, control it, or use it to elevate ourselves.
    Paul warned the Corinthians:
    1 Corinthians 8:1 ESV
    “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
    Paul’s says..Knowledge, when separated from love, becomes self-serving.
    .Paul points us somewhere else entirely:
    Walk in the power of grace.
    COLOSSIANS 1:10–14— LIVING IN GRACE
    Colossians 1:10–14 ESV
    10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
    Paul says the Christian life is not just believing in grace—it is walking in grace.
    To “walk worthy of the Lord” does not mean earning His favor.
    It means living in alignment with the grace already given…
    Living to please the Lord..… it is living for the audience of one..
    GRACE PRODUCES FRUITFUL LIVING
    …Grace does not stagnate—it produces movement.
    When we walk in grace, life becomes fruitful:
    Vrs 10 bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God… (v.10)
    ….
    character grows
    obedience deepens
    love expands
    knowledge of God increases
    And notice the rhythm: fruit leads to deeper knowledge, and deeper knowledge produces more fruit. It becomes a living cycle of growth.
    It’s like a flywheel…store electricity..
    Grace is not a one-time moment—it is an ongoing reality, like a current that carries the life of the believer forward.
    It is not static—it is active, shaping, and multiplying.
    GRACE STRENGTHENS FOR ENDURANCE
    …being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy… (v.11)
    Paul draws a
    Life in a line in the sand…there is a clear distinction: there is a difference between self-generated strength and Spirit-given strength.
    And here is the paradox of the Christian life: when human strength decreases, spiritual strength increases.
    Paul says
    2 Corinthians 4:8–9 ESV
    We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
    2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV
    But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me
    God does not waste weakness—He works through it.
    Jesus Himself reveals this pattern:
    the cross—an image of weakness in human terms—becomes the ultimate display of divine power.

    It’s isGRACE SECURES OUR IDENTITY

    “He has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” (v.12) “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son…” (v.13)
    Notice the language: He has done it.
    Not:
    you qualified yourself
    you earned access
    you improved enough to enter
    But:
    He has qualified you.
    That is grace.
    And Paul reminds them: their identity has already been transformed.
    Many of them would have understood story.
    He once opposed the church. He was zealous in persecution. But God met him on the Damascus road and completely redirected his life.
    The same grace that stopped Paul is the grace that saved them.
    And now Paul says: this is who you are—
    delivered from darkness
    transferred into the kingdom of Christ
    redeemed and forgiven
    Not becoming this someday—but already brought into it.

    title deed .. belonging to a other

    Conclusion
    At the beginning of the year, Pam I went down to Oceanside for a few days.
    One morning we walked to the docks and decided to go on an impromptu whale-watching cruise.
    We left the harbor— into the Ocean…
    Most of us were on the bow of the boat… scanning the horizon and once and while we would see splash… but it turned out to be nothing..
    For a while, it felt like we might not see anything at all… just waves and waiting.
    And then something unexpected happened.
    A pod of dolphins appeared right beside the boat. (hundred of them.) moving together through the water, rising and falling in rhythm with the waves. For about ten minutes, everything slowed down. Nobody was searching. Nobody was talking. We just watched.
    There was something about that moment—quiet, unplanned, and beautiful—that stayed with me.
    That is How Grace works..
    Not what we anticipated…
    You can move through life searching for something bigger, something more, something you think you need… and all along, God is already present in ways you didn’t expect.
    Not always dramatic. Not always on your schedule. But real. Steady. Sustaining.
    Grace that has been there before you even noticed it.
    And that’s what Paul is inviting us into in Colossians.
    To slow down long enough to see it.
    To take stock of what God has already done.
    To return again to prayer—not as a last resort, but as dependence.
    And to walk, not in our own strength, but in the power of His grace.
    Because when we begin to live that way… you don’t just move through life trying harder or chasing more.
    You begin to see
    God has been at work. God is at work. And His grace is enough to carry you forward.
    So maybe the invitation today is simple.
    Slow down. Open your eyes again to grace. Return to prayer. And walk in the power of what God..Why?
    Because when you are rooted in Christ…
    Let’s pray..

      • Colossians 1:1–2ESV

      • Psalm 139:23–24ESV

      • Colossians 1:3–9ESV

      • Philippians 1:6ESV

      • Colossians 1:7–8ESV

      • Colossians 1:9ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 8:1ESV

      • Colossians 1:10–14ESV

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8ESV

      • 2 Corinthians 12:9ESV

Richvale Community Church
brendenbridges@gmail.com
5308453694
http://richvalechurch.com
24 members • 9 followers