Summary
What if the single most important prayer we could ever pray for someone we love has nothing to do with protection, provision, or even healing? In the opening chapter of Colossians, we discover that the apostle Paul’s one request for a church he had never even visited was that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. At first, that might feel underwhelming. But when we dig into what that actually means, everything changes. Knowing God’s will is not a passive or abstract idea. It is the key that unlocks a fruitful life, a maturing faith, genuine strength, resilient endurance, and deep joy. The problem is that most of us, when we do not know what God wants, default to what we want and then quietly assume the two are the same. This message challenges us to close that gap, to move from guessing to knowing, and to discover that when we align ourselves with what God desires, the life we have been chasing has been available to us all along.
Key Scripture – Colossians 1:1-14
Discussion Questions
- Before reading this passage, if someone asked you to pray one thing for a new believer or a loved one heading off to college, what would you have prayed? What does your answer reveal about what you value most?
- The sermon mentioned that when we do not know what God wants, we tend to guess, and our guesses tend to look a lot like what we ourselves want. Can you think of a time when that was true in your own life?
Going Deeper
- Paul prays that the Colossians would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Why do you think wisdom and spiritual understanding are necessary companions to simply knowing God’s will? What happens when someone has knowledge without those things?
- The sermon describes five benefits of being filled with the knowledge of God’s will: a fruitful life, a maturing life, a strong life, a resilient life, and a joyful life. Which of these do you find yourself most hungry for right now, and why?
- The sermon points out that many people chase the fruit of the Spirit directly, rather than pursuing God’s will and allowing fruit to grow as a result. What does that difference look like practically in everyday life?
- Endurance and patience were described this way: endurance is sticking with it when things are hard, and patience is waiting until things are good. Where in your life right now do you need one or both of those qualities? How does knowing God’s will connect to having them?
- The sermon identifies three ways God speaks through Scripture: commands, promises, and narratives. Think of a specific example of each from your own Bible reading. How did each one shape your understanding of who God is or what He wants?
Personal Reflection
- A story was shared from 2 Chronicles 25 about King Amaziah, who hesitated to obey God because he was focused on what he had already paid for. What is something you are currently holding onto that may be making it harder to walk in obedience to what God wants?
- The sermon closes with the encouragement to do the next right thing, regardless of past failures. Is there a past mistake or season of failure that the enemy has used to convince you that you cannot walk in God’s will today? How does the gospel speak to that lie?
- Andy described the prayer of Jesus in the garden as a model for how we should pray: not my will, but your will be done. How would your prayer life look different if that became the starting point rather than the conclusion of your prayers?
Scripture Reference
- Colossians 1:1-2 — Paul’s introduction, identifying himself, Timothy, and the recipients of the letter
- Colossians 1:3-6 — The mention of faith, love, and hope as building blocks of the Christian life, and the gospel bearing fruit throughout the world
- Colossians 1:9 — Paul’s prayer that the Colossians would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding
- Colossians 1:10 — The “so that” phrase: walking worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him
- Colossians 1:10-14 — The benefits of knowing God’s will: bearing fruit, growing in knowledge of God, being strengthened, endurance and patience, joyful thanksgiving, inheritance in light, rescue from darkness, redemption and forgiveness
- Galatians 5:22-23 — The fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
- Romans 8:28 — God works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes
- Ephesians 4:29 — Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth
- Hebrews 3:13 — Encourage one another as long as it is called today
- John 3:16 — God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life
- Romans 10:13 — Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved
- Romans 10:9 — Confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and you will be saved
- 1 John 1:9 — If you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse from all unrighteousness
- Luke 22:42 — Jesus in the garden: not my will, but your will be done
- 2 Chronicles 25 — The story of King Amaziah, the hired army of 100,000 soldiers, and the man of God’s instruction to release them and trust God
- Proverbs 24:16 — Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again
- Philippians 3:13-14 — Forgetting what is behind and pressing on toward the goal and the prize of the upward calling in Christ Jesus