To start, Pastor Nicole gave us another point we can glean from the first chapter of Colossians so that we learn to run the race well… so that we finish the race well.

1. To run the race well – REMEMBER it is God’s GRACE that brings fruitfulness!

What happens to our race when we get too impressed with ourselves rather than acknowledge it is purely God’s grace bringing fruitfulness in our lives … a prideful church. A church that lacks character.

It is the Spirit of God that moves through us and His grace that brings fruitfulness in and through the Kingdom of God! Pastor Nicole had us spend quiet time with the Holy Spirit to ask if there was anywhere in our race where we are not remembering that God's grace brings our fruitfulness.

Then we shifted as Pastor Nicole brought us a Spirit inspired message for Palm Sunday.

She talked about how when people were praising Jesus as He came into Jerusalem, they were praising Jesus as their King, the one who would re-establish the kingdom of David on earth.

Even though Israel praised Jesus as the Messiah, they had a limited understanding of what Jesus would look like as their king and what God’s kingdom would look like on earth.

She challenged us that we also have a limited understanding of what it means for Jesus to be our King and what it looks like to see the Kingdom of God manifested on this earth.

The truth is…Jesus far surpassed Israel’s expectations of what Jesus being King and Jesus establishing the kingdom of God would look like. He broke their boxes of what they thought, and He wants to break our boxes too!

She invited us to come before Jesus daily, remembering and thanking Him for all that He

accomplished on the cross and praising Jesus for who He is as our King as the one who ushered in God’s Kingdom on earth.

As we do this, the Lord will break our boxes of what it looks like for Him to be our King - of what it looks like for us to see the Kingdom of God on earth. And this shift in thinking begins with praise!