Paul begins this letter to the Colossians with gratitude. The best response to the gospel penetrating hearts is gratitude. So Paul is grateful that the gospel has penetrated Colossae. How many of you have seen people make a credible profession of faith, and then after a few months, or perhaps a few years, they just disappear. Jesus told a parable about this very situation. It's the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. The sower scatters seed, some of that seed, the gospel, lands on the hard, packed paths that people would walk on through the field. That seed just gets snatched away. Nothing happens, nothing sprouts. But then there are two other kinds of soil when the seed falls. Some of the ground is rocky soil. The seed sprouts and begins to grow until the summer heat bears down upon it. Then the sproutlet withers. The other type of soil is the soil that contains weeds. The seed sprouts but then enters into a competition with the weeds for the nutrients and the water. Guess who losses? The sproutlet. Now there is some seed that falls on good soil. Last week I explained the pattern of how the Colossians received the gospel. They hear it. Then they understand it. Then they learn it, or they put it into practice and it shapes the way they live their lives.
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