Sometimes you find yourself in situations that seem unbearable. Maybe people are talking about you in ways that tear you down. Maybe you’re physically depleted and running on empty. Maybe your friends are abandoning you. Maybe you feel at a complete loss for what to do.
Maybe that whole paragraph describes your 2020. Or even 2021.
Colossians is loaded. A hard-hitting, fast-paced, concentrated bundle of truth.
So in that spirit, here are 5 short takeaways as you run into your day...
Make no mistake, friends. We live in a battlefield. It’s a battlefield of ideas and a battlefield of “fine-sounding arguments” and “deceptive philosophy.” How can we navigate this battlefield today?
One step at a time.
Head up. Eyes focused. On Christ. Keep the main thing the main thing today.
Google "most popular Bible verses" and you will see Philippians 4:13 at the top.
"I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
Since you're already on your computer, now go ahead and Google that verse specifically.
You'll undoubtedly find it on a variety of images and pictures, like a guy hanging one-handed from a cliff's edge...
WWJD? If you know what that stands for, it means you were in church in the 90s. For those who don't know, I'll catch you up. WWJD?...What Would Jesus Do? This was an extremely popular phrase in Christian circles...
Paul lived in a time very much like ours. There was great turmoil, riots, social unrest, and struggles for political power. There was reason to be discouraged. There was reason to be overwhelmed by the evil that seemed to prevail. There was reason to want to give up. But Paul's final words aren't filled with hopelessness...
Paul doesn’t mess around.
No fluff, no cheese, just straight meat and potatoes.
Take Ephesians 4, for example. In one chapter, he gives no less than seventeen commands.
Seventeen!
Imagine you eat poisonous berries on the shore and fall dead into a flowing river. You’re not drowning, you’re dead. You’re a corpse. That’s what it is when Ephesians 2 says we are dead in sin. Dead, by nature and choice.
But you’re more than a corpse.
You don’t have to be alive for too long to know that life is full of problems. Computer problems, car problems, money problems, job problems, back problems, people problems.
And though some problems may be more severe than others...
You've heard the saying, so heavenly minded, no earthly good. I'm not the first to point out how unbiblical this cliche actually is. It seems to imply that heavenly-minded people would be more productive if they were a little more earthly-minded. According to Paul, just the opposite is true...
Paul wrote to the church in Colossae because a group of new believers was on the verge of abandoning their faith. And it wasn’t outright denial of the Gospel they received; rather, it was a replacement with a gospel that sounded right but was dead wrong...
What a profound way to start your day.
Forgetting what is behind, I strain toward what is ahead.
What if you started today like that? What if you approached your day with a clean slate? A fresh canvas?
Most of us (ok, all of us) wake up with baggage from yesterday.
Welcome to Philippians! This is a power-packed, joy-filled letter written from prison by the Apostle Paul.
He has great affection for the Philippians and shares a special relationship with them because of their support and partnership with the Apostle.
Many Christians name Philippians as their favorite book of the Bible and it’s hard to disagree!
It took me a while to get past the first verse of this chapter. It’s more than a mouthful. It’s more than incredible. It’s so marvelous and so great that it’s almost unbelievable.
“Be imitators of God.”
Let’s slow that down.
Be. Imitators. Of. God.
Ephesians 3...Wow!
That's the only way I know how to respond after reading this chapter of Scripture. Over the years, Ephesians has captured my intellect, formed my theological understanding, inspired my worship of God, caused me to love Jesus more, and shaped the trajectory of my life. And still, these Holy Spirit-inspired words are so powerful that they leave me near speechless. What is there left to say after a chapter like Ephesians 3?
Chaos. Stupidity. Foolishness. Irrational thinking. Degradation. Outlandish logic. Censoring. Canceling. Right is wrong and wrong is right.
But enough about Facebook.
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Grace City Church
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