The Heart of a Chosen Life

Open your Bibles, if you would, to Colossians chapter three. The title of the message is: “The Heart of a Chosen Life.” The Heart of a Chosen Life. We're going to focus on Colossians 3:12-17. If you need a Bible, there should be one under a seat nearby.

You know, God's design for life is truly amazing. And Colossians 3:1-17 is a synopsis of that life. the thinking, the sins we put off, and the heartfelt life God has us to put on. We don't want to stay in the mud, just dreaming of the mind described in Colossians 3:1-4. We want to think that way. We don't want to be stuck with the sins described in Colossians 3:5-11, the put off section of Colossians here. We want to move past that. And we want to live in the free and vibrant life described in Colossians 3:12-17.

So, if you're wondering like, “How should I live? How should I think? What should I do? What should my life be about?” It's verses 12 through 17. Because when it all comes down to it, your life is lived out of your heart. That is to say, “the heart” is the center of man. It is the way we think, it is where we have our true self. And it just flows into everything else. And as Paul writes to these Colossians, that he's never met, he wants to give them a picture of the life that they are supposed to live and how they're supposed to think. That's the heart of a chosen life.

We understand that love is the mountain top of that life. It's the pinnacle characteristic of what defines a Christian. That is love. J.I. Packer says, “The Greek word agape,” I'm just quoting him, “The Greek word, agape, seems to have been virtually a Christian invention.” It's mentioned about 20 times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, but it draws its meaning primarily from the revelation of Jesus Christ. There is a love that permeates all that we do. And it is only possible from those who have Jesus Christ in their life. So, you can see why the Old Testament, though pointing to Christ, though pointing to his stripes forgiving us. It is fully revealed in the New Testament. It is not a form of just simple, natural affection. Godly biblical agape love goes well beyond that. It's more than just a feeling, or a matter of the will. It is something that comes out of a Christian from a transformed life, from a new nature that we did not possess before Jesus Christ. And it's the basic element of Christlikeness. Packer says.

Love defines our relationship with God and the world. It is, of course, the greatest commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. And the second commandment is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. So, if you're ever in a bind, you just start with those two things. Love for Christ fills the heart and overflows to others. A Christ-like heart is described in great detail in the New Testament. And though even in this passage, love is the pinnacle, there is so much more to having the heart that God wants us to than simply thinking, “I must be loving.” Today we're going to see “The Heart of a Chosen Life.” And by God's supernatural grace, it will reflect the heart of everyone here.

Look, if you will, in Colossians 3:12-17. I'm going to read out of the ESV version.

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

And if you're familiar with expository preaching, you're wondering how we're ever going to get through everything in this passage. But this is one, single, coherent thought, from Paul to these people. To be read, digested, and applied in our lives. So, as we turn our eyes to Christ this morning, we seek to understand the heart of this chosen life. You are the chosen ones. It says that right there in Colossians 3:12. You, “chosen ones.” And there are six characteristics of this chosen life that we're going to cover this morning. So, if you're taking notes, I hope you have a lot of ink in your pen this morning.

The first characteristic that we need to put on is: a compassionate heart. And you see that in verse 12, “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts.” Compassion is sympathy for the sufferings of others. It's not a “suck it up buttercup” kind of mentality. Though some people do need to stop playing in the mud and crying about being muddy. We see those types, right? And we are those types from time to time. Compassion needs the wisdom to know how to comfort other people. You realize this intrinsically when you are the one who needs the compassion. And you think, “Wow, I hope so and so shows up today, because, man, they always give me a boost.” That is a compassionate person simply living the way Christ wants them to. And we love those types of people. They're encouragers, they're constantly encouraging other people. It's those who cry with you and say, let me be a friend to you and to support you. But it takes time to do this. People don't need our compassion on our timeframe, they need it on their timeframe. Which normally doesn't match up with our timeframe. Right? I know you hear me on this. We need to be compassionate when they need it. And those who are living with a Christ-like heart and a compassionate heart, they simply do this because of who they are.

Some turn their sympathy, of course, into selfish needs. Go around always taking the life out of others. But I remind you when people are sinking it's not normally their best moment. And you with your perspective on their sinking can see accurately that they just need a hand, they need you to lend them a hand and pull them up. And they need your compassion. God has set your feet on solid ground and allowed you to be compassionate to someone else. And that is the heart that God is looking for here. And he's saying to put on compassionate hearts. For we do need it. Sometimes often, do we not?

Philippians 2:3 describes it this way, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” When someone's need comes crashing into your timeline, that's the moment, that's the point of decision. That they are more significant, even when we see them reaping what they've sowed. That is when they most need it. When we were sinful, Christ looked upon our helpless state and lavished us with his grace. And as we consider the situations and the circumstances of others, who may suppress all of their angst because they've tried to let it out before and they just get told, “Ah, you're just being immature.” They haven't found a compassionate, mature Christian. When we see someone in that situation, that's your moment to jump into action out of the overflow of your heart and the compassion Christ has given you to then pour that on to others. Not to enable their sinful life, but to pull them into a right perspective with God. That is where real grace and compassion come from.

So, he tells us to live with compassionate hearts, and goes on to describe that here with many adjectives. But a compassionate heart leads to a second characteristic. And we find that in Colossians 3:13, that is, a forgiving heart. Look in verse 13, “bearing with one another.” That would take all of our energy, right? “bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Notice the complaint ends in forgiveness. Notice the legitimacy of the complaint is not in question. That's really what happens all of the time when we have a complaint. “I see this this way, this other person has said or done something else, and we're at odds.” That's what a complaint is, when someone doesn't see things, the way we see them. That's what generates a complaint in us. “Surely if they had my wisdom and saw things the way I do, we wouldn't have this problem.” Right? We would all just be like me, which would be a huge problem. We want people to be like Jesus, not like us.

Arguments, by nature, are one group of people not seeing things the way we see them. So, if one has a complaint – Paul's little double entendre here – like, of course, we know you have complaints, right? So, when you have a complaint, and it comes up – and maybe you have one now – here's what to do with it. Are you ready for this? Just forgive as completely as Jesus forgave you. That's all. Watch the complaint flyaway. When we compare the forgiveness that we have received in Jesus Christ, with the complaint of someone else against us, it puts us in this new perspective. It's like, “Okay, well, I, me, and my world, and my kingdom (which is about a one-foot circle around me) has been offended. But yet God, in his infinite love and mercy, has been sinned against by me a few hundred thousand times. And yet, he says, ‘Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You with a complaint, you who have sinned against me, I am going to provide the way of forgiveness for you. If you would just believe in me and trust in me for forgiveness of sins. That's all you need to do. I will take care of showering you with an immense amount of grace and I will change you. All you have to do is believe.’”

Now take that into our normal situations and complaints with people, and you can see how the dynamic instantly changes. It's really difficult to argue with someone who just continues to forgive you, and to love you, and to bless you, and to be kind to you, and to be humble to you, and to be gracious to you. And eventually, the only thing we can do is say, “Why are you being so nice?” Have you ever said that? That's because their maturity is baffling to us. I've said that many times. You know, “Why are you always smiling? You're just always smiling.” You see those people. It’s like, does their face even frown, ever? They know the forgiveness that Christ has brought, the extent of that forgiveness. It's overwhelming. It's incomprehensible to some. And those are the people who can freely forgive.

“What if they don't ask for forgiveness?” you're saying. Well, that is just the same as saying that we came to Christ on our own accord. Well, what if they're evil to me? What if they're evil? They're not Christians. They're unbelievers. They like being unbelievers. They like being evil to Christians. What about those people? What about those who just think, “Oh, here he comes again, I'm going to push his buttons.” And their life goal is to make you unhappy and agitated. Do you know people like this? Stop looking at each other. Do you know other people like this? Others, like this?

Well, let me give you a little help. This passage is incredible when it says to the extent that Christ forgave. You need to understand this is freeing. This is a freeing way to forgive, in any situation. I'll just try and go over this quickly. There's three levels of forgiveness. The first is the easy one. That's when someone sins against you, repents, and ask for forgiveness. “I said this thing. I was trying to be mean. I was mean, please forgive me. I should not have said that. Will you please forgive me?” “Yes, I forgive you.” That's the easy case. That's the easy case. Peter does not think this is the easy case. Peter thinks this is the really, really hard case. Peter said, “Lord, how often should I forgive my brother who sins against me?” Matthew 18:21. “Lord, as much as seven times? And he says, “No, seventy times seven.” Can you imagine the look on Peter's face? The look on his face? Can you even think of someone you’ve forgiven hundreds of times? Could you imagine Jesus forgiving you hundreds of times? As Jesus forgave you.

So that takes care of that one. So that's one forgiveness scenario. But what about when you have to forgive your enemy? The one who just looks at you and just they don't see eye to eye. They want you to not exist. Their mission is to make you miserable, and they're really good at it. And they don't want to ask for forgiveness. They think morality doesn't exist, unless of course, you're infringing upon them. But they think you are a problem, and they want to make your life miserable. This is the second level of forgiveness when you have to forgive your enemy. This is when injustice or evil – real injustice, not contrived – our world is all mixed up on contrived injustice, but real injustice happens against you, real evil. And they have no desire to ask for forgiveness. What do you do with that person?

Well, Jesus, in 1 Peter 2:23, this is now Peter talking, Peter learned his lesson. “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten.” But what did he do? “but [he] continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” Christ is the answer again. Christ is the answer to the sufficiency of dealing with this kind of person. And he demonstrated it in his life over and over and over again. With a mere breath he could have subdued all of his enemies, embarrassed them, shown them their error. Yet over and over and over again he let men who were weak compared to him, beat him so that we could be forgiven. So you say, “How do I know if I've utterly forgiven my enemies? I'm just, I'm not sure.” Pray that God blesses them more than you. Love your neighbor as yourself. Consider others better than yourselves. So, this forgiveness does not well up into bitterness. If you're into bitterness, you're having struggles with forgiveness. But true forgiveness gets rid of all bitterness. Why? Because you entrust yourself to him who judges justly [cf. 1 Peter 2:23].

Okay, so we got the first level with somebody who sins, and they repent, you forgive, that's 101. Then somebody whose evil, they never [admit their] sin. You just act like Jesus in that situation. But what about the one who, you know the seventy-times-seven, that they constantly sin? There just always sinning. Like, morning, noon, and night, they're just sinning and asking for forgiveness. And you're starting to wonder, is it true, is it real? And this is where genuine love comes in. And this third level of forgiveness is when you have to forbear with someone. 1 Corinthians 13:7, “Love bears all things.” You say, “I can't do that.” Well, you're right. You can't, on your own strength. We barely get past one offense from someone with real forgiveness, right? Not 100, in a week. But remember what Paul calls us here to start this section: we are “God's chosen ones” [Colossians 3:12]. We are “holy” and we are “beloved.” That's the starting point. That's what we want for others. So, we forbear with them to allow them to repent. The Holy Spirit is really good at convicting people, we let him do his job. That frees us from, you know, playing helicopter over everyone. “Oh, I saw another sin.” The Holy Spirit does that. Colossians 3:14, “as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” That's just the first two things.

The third characteristic of a loving heart is found in verse 14, Colossians 3:14, “above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Love is above all of these characteristics, it is primary, it is all encompassing, it permeates everything. But notice here – is this just like a play on words? Because Paul says, “love…binds everything together in…” what? “Perfect harmony.” Now let me ask you a question: where do you regularly observe perfect harmony? You're doing the same thing I did when I first read that. You’re just drawing a blank, right? How about your marriage? How about the relationship of parent to child? How about friend to friend? Inside your political party? Inside your denomination? Where do you see it? Where do you see perfect harmony ruling? Well, where you don't see it, God's love isn't ruling. Is that fair? God's love is not ruling if we don't see people bound together in perfect harmony. Now you see the extent. You thought just forgiving as Christ forgave was the big zinger. Now we're going towards perfect harmony. That is, the harmony that is described in Scripture.

He's speaking to the entire church. The “you” here, in this passage, is one of those “y’alls.” It's everybody, “you all.” You all do these things, you all need to put on love, which will bind you all together. The idea is that Paul is seeing the church as a corporate whole, and seeing the blessed love that each individual adds to it, as something that binds people together in love. And what's the key to seeing this? It's letting Christ rule your heart. That's the key.

In counseling most of the time, here's what happens in counseling, you walk in, and they're just going under their breath, “Oh, I can't wait till he fixes the other one.” That's 99.9% of counseling, walk in going like this, what's the problem? And they go, “it came with me,” right? But, “let the peace of Christ rule in YOUR hearts,” let the love of Christ rule YOU. And this maintains “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” as it says in Ephesians 4:3.

So you see this love goes hand in hand with the next characteristic, which is the fourth characteristic: a peaceful heart. Colossians 3:15, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” And be thankful. This is a humble submission to the plan of God in your life. Do you ever feel like you just want to take all the pieces and grab them real tight, and rearrange them all? It’s a humble submission, the peace of Christ ruling in your hearts. Do you find that when you wake up in the morning, the peace of Christ is ruling in your hearts? Or that the day's agenda is so nerve racking, and anxiety inducing that you're just shaking almost as you wake up? I've been there. Where at times I wake up and it's just like, “No, God, this is overwhelming. Give me another hour. I just want to, whatever that dream was, just can you put me back in it for a little while. I can't take today. I can't handle the week. I don't know what next month is going to bring. I'm struggling with the first hour of the day.” Have you ever been there? Let the peace of Christ rule your heart. You can't be in an anxiety induced state of mind and obey this verse at the same time. This is your calling. This is the calling: for all of us to be ruled by the peace of God. That's our calling in one body. Now if churches in America, including ours, and any church, any God-fearing, Bible-preaching church did this. We'd never have a church with disunity. It would be impossible. And he just kind of tacks on this thing: “And be thankful.” Right? Thankful for everyone we go to church with, thankful for what our hearts are like, thankful for all that God brings. This cause of praise.

Christ is gentle and lowly. He's a much better God than our enemy. You know, when we let circumstances affect us, when we have this constant anxiety, or this this constant fear like the ceilings going to fall on our head. We're letting those situations rule us. We're not letting Christ rule us. We have taken Christ, put him over here for a little while. And we’re like, “just bring on the unknown, I just want to bask in the unknown. I want to dwell in the place of, I don't know what's going to happen or who's going to help me. ‘Be back in a minute, Jesus. This is where I wake up every morning, this is where I live, this is how I breathe.’” We're letting circumstances own us.

Sometimes we do this in relationships. You just see a person that you don't get along with coming, and you get anxious, they own you. They own you. Their words own you. You need to give that over to Christ. So, when that person comes, you see them as someone who needs Jesus, not as someone who is not a benefit to you, right? You even see them as more important than yourselves. You see them as being made in the image of God. You see your circumstances as something in which God, himself, is controlling? So that we don't fear circumstances. We don't fear outcomes. We know to whom we are going, we know where we are going, we know who's going to get us there. It's back on Christ, back on Jesus.

So, we have a compassionate, loving, forgiving, peaceful heart. And these things develop into a thankful heart and he's going to continue this idea of thankfulness. And this is the fifth characteristic. It's a thankful heart. It's a thankful heart. Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” The thankfulness is in you, and it comes out of you. It bursts into praise and into song and into thanksgiving. And you're full of the Word of God and so that when you speak, the Word of God comes out because it's so full in you. You squeeze a full water bottle, water comes out. You squeeze a mature Christian, God's Word comes out. Don’t go like squeezing each other. I can just see the guys doing that after the service.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” that's where the Word resides is in you. Do you see that? That's that abiding. That's the whole John [chapters] 13, 14, and 15 language, that God is going to dwell with us and abide with us. Here he is saying, let the word of Christ dwell with you. It never, ever leaves you. You're always ready. You're always equipped. Right? Equipped for every good work. That's because your heart is full of the wisdom of God. Not the wisdom of the world, but the wisdom of God. And sometimes our hearts are saturated with God's Word, and that can puff us up. That can make us prideful. But a thankful heart is saturated and humble, and humble. Promoting Christ, promoting others, being thankful for others.

Notice, the first thing it says is “teaching and admonishing one another.” That's the very first action given after Scripture commands us to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. It is this outward focus towards other people. So, our mission in our quiet times is not just so that we get the Word, it’s so that we can then become the conduit of God's Word to others. Teaching is the fun part, admonishing is the not-so-fun part. But don't just solely focus on the admonishing part or the teaching part. They go hand in hand. Right? As iron sharpens iron, one sharpens another. So that we need to have both. And we need to be approachable, with a thankful heart, so that when somebody does correct us, we can respond with compassion, gentleness, and kindness. This is difficult, is it not? It's very difficult to be corrected. Very difficult. But again, we're back on Christ. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. And as Christ dwells in you richly, as his Word dwells in you richly, then it's Christ who lives, not us. And then it becomes natural, natural to act that way.

In fact, Colossians talks about thankfulness often. It even starts with talking about thankfulness. Colossians 1:3, Paul says, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.” When we pray for you. When you think about other people, is thankfulness on your heart? When you're praying for other Christians, are you thankful for them? That's how Paul remembers these people. And he's only heard stories. The good and the bad, they need to be taught and admonished. He learned this from Epaphras, who was the local pastor there who brought word back. Epaphras was probably saved on one of Paul's missionary journeys. He brought the Word back and now there's a church started, and Paul is just so thankful for these people. He lived it out, what he was asking them to do. His prayers, we're saturated with thanksgiving to God.

When we think about our prayer life and our prayers, normally we're like, “Oh, Lord, it's me again. You know what I'm going to say, it's going to be a rough one today. I do know, you've planned out my day, but it's going to be rough, Lord. I do know I'm supposed to live by the grace that you supply. But I'm just not feeling it right now.” Right? And we lapse into this supplication. And after a while, we're just asking God for thing after thing after thing. And he says, “Look, I already knew what you were going to say.” So, why not be thankful? “Lord God, thank you for this day. It's going to sharpen me. Thank you, Lord, for this trial. I don't know the depth of my sanctification, until I walked through the fire. Thank you, Lord Jesus for this. Thank you, Lord God for the attack. Because now I know the shield is strong, and it really works. Thank you, Lord God, for all the things that you put in my life, for all of these people who pray for me and love me, thank you for all of them. They are a boost to my daily life. And I don't have enough time to thank you, Lord, for all the things you bring.”

That's Paul's prayer life. And this is a key to living this chosen life with this sanctified heart. Paul says in Colossians 1:10, this is all “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.” We don't even think it's possible to live a pleasing life to God. Paul's like, just start the letter with that. He hasn't even gotten into the Christology, and the deity of Christ, and just how amazing God is that he sent his Son to die on the cross to pay for our sin, that by his blood, we are cleansed. He hasn't even gotten to that yet and he's saying you can live in a manner that is fully pleasing to God. That's an amazing life. That's an amazing relationship. And that happens when God's Word dwells in us richly. It guides everything about us, our thought life. It even guards our thought life. It brings a life that that bears fruit. It's not this dry, parched land and “Oh, I had one fruit out of the field of my life last month. I was so thankful for that. I saw it, ran to it, grabbed it, and buried it in the ground. Hoping, maybe one day I'll get another one.”

No, it's just picture like, you know, miles of orchards that are just constantly bearing fruit. The farmer takes care of the field so well. The trees are just cared for, the soil is just perfect. They're nourished with the water they need, they have the right amount of sun, the composition of the soil just, it just feeds these trees. And they just continue to bear the most glorious fruit, the kind you think you're getting when you get one at the grocery store. It's just juicy. It's just right and you look forward to that fruit. He starts Colossians by saying, “you can be bearing fruit in every good work.” You're not like something that God says, “Well, I guess I can use them somehow.” God doesn't have chosen ones, holy and beloved ones, like that. He only has useful vessels. He's the Potter, we're the clay. Sometimes we feel like a lump of clay. But we're in the hands of the Potter who can fashion us into exactly the way he wants us to be, to live the kind of life he wants us to live, for his glory.

When Paul is saying to put all these things on, it's not just, “Well, I guess that'll happen when I'm in glory.” No, that's here and now. We need to elevate the kind of life God has purposed for us. And it flows out of this kind of heart. Well, all of these things, as you know, leads to Colossians 3:17. This is the sixth, and final, characteristic: A Christ-centered Heart. Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” That is, through Jesus Christ.

So, what does it mean to do something, or to do everything, in the name of Jesus? It means that all our words and actions represent him well. His name represents everything that he is. And our life, as Christians, are to represent him. In other words, and this is kind of like humbling, somebody should be able to figure out who Jesus is by watching us. Now you're like, “Okay, what were those things again? That we’re supposed to be putting into practice, that are supposed to be just flowing out of us?” Yeah, they learned that Jesus is compassionate through the Word, through his example, but also through his people. They learned that people are peaceful in heart and how to have that kind of heart by watching the lives of Christians; mature, godly Christians. It means that we do the things that he approves of. That's what it means to do everything in the name of Jesus. It doesn't mean when you don't know what to say, you just say, “Jesus.” Okay, that song. It doesn't mean that. “I don't know what to say, so I just cry out, ‘Jesus.’” No, you're not just supposed to shout nouns, and magically, the world is fixed. You are supposed to do what Scripture says, which is to put on this kind of heart. And in every thought, action word, deed – everything you do – is to represent Christ. And then you can say, “Praise the Lord Jesus!” It's to live in a manner consistent with his Name.

And I know this is high and lofty, but it's supposed to just drive us back to Christ. To bring us to our knees, and say “Lord God, I would love to be known for all these things. But as you know, I'm maybe a little short on some of this stuff. So, Lord God, would you please help me to live this way.” Godly love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, not just a fruit of mental assent, or a fruit of a Christian that says, “I'd like to do that.” No, it's a willing submission to be controlled by the Holy Spirit in your life. Romans 13:14 says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh.” Right, we make provisions like the well-watered orchard. We're where we should be. We're getting the right sun, the right soil, all those kinds of things, that our lives are rooted like, you know, Psalm 1:1-3 says. Right? How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law, he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and whatever he does, he prospers. That kind of life.

As Colossians 3:3 says, “you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” That old life, that old life is gone. We don't need to resurrect that one. We can say good riddance to that one. We can give thanks and be thankful to God that that one's gone, that heart is gone. Now we have a new heart that can please God and can love God. That can be fully pleasing to him, that can bear fruit, that can live with these kinds of characteristics. But you have to fight for it! You have to put off the things that were described in the middle section of Colossians. And you have to put these things on.

“Beloved, chosen one, holy one.” That's a description of every Christian. “Giving thanks” here is a word derived from Eucharist, it’s eucharisteo, it's a praise. It's a natural outpouring of a chosen heart. So that the end result of living this way, is that you just can't help but thank and praise God. Is that how you want to live? Is that the way you want to operate? See, the chosen life it’s a thankful one. It’s a compassionate heart, a forgiving heart, a loving heart, a peaceful heart, a thankful heart, and a Christ-centered heart. That's the chosen life God has for you. Let's pray.

Father God, we thank you for just this abundance of truth this morning. We thank you, Lord, for your Word, and for the grace that you supply in all things. Lord, we trust you. We trust that your ways are better than our ways. And Lord, right now, we pray that if there's anyone here who doesn't know you that they would give their lives to you right now. Confess their sin and put their hope and trust in you and you alone. And you will change them and you will save them.

And Lord, for those who are believers, the chosen ones, the holy and beloved. Let's just take a moment, right now, and ask God to help us to put on this kind of heart and live this kind of life.

Lord God, we need you, and we love you, and we praise you in all things. Amen.