April 14, 2024
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Colossians 3:1-4
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heaven
Many Christians today seem to doubt and know nothing of heaven. What do you know about heaven? What do you believe about it? Are you focused on heaven?
Do you have questions like: “Do Christians immediately go to heaven when they die?”“What kind of body will we have in heaven?” “What about hell?” “What about the near death experiences people have reported about visiting heaven?” “What about the new heaven and the new earth?”
In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he called believers to focus their hearts and minds on heaven.
October 7, 2023
“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” (Colossians 3:13 NLT). Paul told the believers in Colossae to put off their old ways of thinking and behaving and to put on their new life in Christ. He spoke of these old
January 8, 2023
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Colossians 3:1-17
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discipleship
We all tend to think that if we could renovate our house, or our job, or our marriage, or our …, then we’d be happy, but the truth is that life is not lived from the outside – in, but from the inside – out. We live from our hearts. So what does it mean to let God renovate, to transform our hearts? It means to have the heart of Christ, the character of Christ formed in you.
Are you growing in Christ, becoming more like Him in character and behavior? Do you want to? Do have a desire to grow in Christ, having His life and character fully formed in you?
In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he instructed believers that since they had been raised to new life in Christ Jesus, God wanted to renovate their hearts, so that the character of Christ was formed in them. Having received Christ as Lord and Savior, we can actively yield our hearts to God, so that Christ is formed in us.
October 7, 2022
DOES THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE YOUR HEART? Paul said that we are to let the peace of Christ “rule.” The Greek word translated “rule” is “brabeuetō.” It literally means to “umpire, arbitrate, to let make the call.” When difficult circumstances come that bring anxiety, we are to let the peace of Christ act as
October 7, 2021
PUTTING ON GOD’S FORGIVENESS Paul told the believers in Colossae to put off their old ways of thinking and behaving and to put on their new life in Christ. He spoke of these old and new ways as if they were articles of clothing. Among the new articles of spiritual clothing that believers received was
November 15, 2020
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Colossians 3:9-16
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rise up
This week, we will focus on the second quality, Heart for Each Other. We live in a time when it is easier to stay in touch, but people are starving for a in-person touch.
What’s the solution to our increasing loneliness and social isolation? A loving relationship with Jesus and through Him a loving relationship with one another. Jesus invites us to follow Him and belong to His family. In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he reminded them that as Christ-followers they were to show a heart for each other. As followers of Christ, we are to show a heart for each other.
October 7, 2019
LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST UMPIRE YOUR HEART Paul said that we are to let the peace of Christ “rule.” The Greek word for rule is βραβευέτω (brabeuetō). It literally means to “umpire, arbitrate, to let make the call.” When our circumstances appear to overwhelm us, we are to let the peace, the “shalom,” of
October 7, 2018
ARE YOU SPIRITUALLY JET-LAGGED?
Paul encouraged the Colossians believers to set their hearts and minds on things above, pulling them off the things of earth. He wanted them to focus on things that are eternal, not the temporal things that will not last. He encouraged them to remember that their lives are already hidden in Christ, and that Christ would soon return.
In a few weeks, those of us in the Eastern US will reset our clocks from DST to EST. We will “fall back” an hour. For a few days we will feel as though we got an extra hour sleep, but then we will quickly adapt to the new time. It only requires a small adjustment. But when we travel to Africa or Indonesia or some other far away place to visit our missionary partners, the adjustment is much more severe. We experience jet lag. Our bodies might be in Uganda, but our internal clocks are still in North Carolina! It can be very disorienting.
But I’ve learned that it helps alleviate jet lag to start setting your time on your destination as soon as you get on the plane. We may not have taken off yet, but we can go ahead and set our clocks on our destination’s time.
Where’s your focus today? Dear believer, your life is already hidden in Christ, yet your body is still here on earth. Why not go ahead and set your sights on the realities of heaven? Let the things of earth “grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”
September 23, 2018
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Colossians 3:23-25
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service, worship
All our service, at home, at work, and at church can be an expression of love and worship for our Lord. But it has to come from the heart. It’s all about serving out of our wholehearted love for the Lord, not out of some sense of earning or duty. So how can we express our love and worship of Christ through acts of service? In the book of Colossians, the apostle Paul taught the Colossian believers that they could express their love of Christ through appropriate acts of service. We can express our love and worship of Jesus through our acts of service.
November 29, 2015
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Colossians 3:15-17
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discipleship, thankfulness
This past week we celebrated a national holiday called “Thanksgiving.” It is intended for us to celebrate all that we’ve been given and be thankful for our families and for God’s provision. Yet, we often have a hard time with this mark of being Christian. We struggle with ingratitude. We complain. Instead of being thankful, we’re often filled with a heart of ingratitude.In the apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, he told them that the result of having Jesus as their Lord and Savior was a heart of thanksgiving.