Our text for this morning sermon is in Colossians, chapter one.

Colossians chapter one beginning at verses one and reading through verse 8.

Paul and apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God

and Timothy our brother to the Saints and faithful brethren

in Christ at Closide. Grace to you and peace from God, our Father.

We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus

and of the love which you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you

in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth,

the gospel which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and

growing. So among yourselves from the day you heard and

understood the grace of God in truth as you learned it from Epipras, our beloved

fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf and has

made known to us your love in the Spirit. The question that we are asking in the month of July is, what is the fruit of hope?

We answered last Sunday, the fruit of hope is joy because it says in Romans 12,

rejoice in hope.

In other words, God never commands Christians to be happy if there's nothing to look forward to.

But the gospel is the truth that there is always something to look forward to in the Christian life.

In fact, there is something so stunningly great to look forward to

laid up for us in heaven that whatever suffering or affliction we may have to undergo on the way there, it is going to seem like a brief

and light affliction, Paul says, in comparison to the glory that is going to be revealed to the

children of God.

And so since there's always a future and a hope and a glory held out to the children of God, the command stands.

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