Sent on the Gospel Message (Reprise) - Colossians 4

As Paul finishes his letter, we glean confirmation that he is in prison for his faith and witness. Yet he is not despondent, but full of hope and sees opportunity. He has good reason, for the chapter demonstrates a range of names, e.g. Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristartchus and Nympha to name just a few. This is a network of believers and co-workers, people on the same task of bearing witness to Jesus.

[OUT] What initiative will you take this Christmas?

Challenge: Pray for as little as one person/family, ask God for the next step

Colossians - From Our Study Day

On Saturday about 17 of us got together to Study Colossians (first 3 chapters). We did this split into 3 groups, and worked through 4 sessions. The idea was for each to share what God was saying to us through the passage. What follows is a broad summary!

In session 1 we loved the prayer of Paul, how he is praying for 'Spiritual fullness' in the lives of Colossian believers, praying for 'great endurance and patience'. God spoke to us about how patience is active - a walk in patience with God. Yet that walk becomes a state of being, being in the presence of God.

It was clear that the letter is about the spiritual, and so let us learn to pray in the spiritual realm, with the practical flowing from it. Let this become our norm! As a practical tip, use verses of scripture when we pray for people. Remember your status in Christ: rescued from darkness into His Kingdom, so we can pray with confidence from the throne room of God.

In session 2 we moved to Jesus Himself. We were struck by the phrase 'He is the image of the invisible God'. God is ... even if non-believers can't see it. We can, because we look to Jesus! So this is God in the spiritual breaking in to the physical (His own creation), but people can only get this by having spiritual sight. Sadly the devil does a good job of blinding people - their hearts might be open, but minds are blinded ... yet that doesn't put them beyond the reach of Jesus.

Christ reigns supreme, all things created through Him and for Him. That supremacy comes right into our lives, with the promise of Christ in You. He has done enough for each to be reconciled, our bodies now holy in His sight. By this stage we could see 2 clear principles emerging shared between the 3 groups:

1. It is about Jesus and the spiritual ... which will have practical outworkings
2. It is about the Big Picture of God and His plans - remember where you are in the Big Picture!

Ploughing on through chapter 2 into the 3rd session, Paul writes of Jesus' death and resurrection, and the implications. God spoke to us about rules, how they can set unnecessary expectations, but they are external constraints. Discipline, however, is intrinsic, it comes from our spiritual walk and the Holy Spirit working within. Our call, therefore, is to live by the Spirit.

The language is rich: with covenant marks of circumcision (Old Covenant) and baptism with faith (New Covenant). The rules do not save us, but faith expressed in baptism does! It saves us to Freedom in Christ, learning to live by the Spirit. To do that requires us to stay connected to Jesus the Head, and to be supported by the wider body of believers.

So let us live in freedom! Don't judge, and don't be judged. In everything put your faith in Christ. The alternative - unbelief - is death!

Our final session looked at chapter 3, applying what was read in the morning into real life. The key message for us was: Change your clothes! This is an active ongoing daily process of being renewed and transformed. Note the call is not written as a legal code, it is written as a choice - a faith response to what Jesus has done. Lose, get rid of, trash, put to death ... and put on the new. When you were physically born, you were born naked and were then clothed. Now you are 'born again', lost the old clothes (be naked again!), and be clothed by Christ, with His new clothes, worthy and appropriate for the Kingdom.

So learn to live Christ-centric - see it is all about Jesus! He is supreme (chapter 1), He is completely God, the Spiritual into the physical (chapter 2). Christ is all and in all. So when you see someone (perhaps someone who is 'far off'), learn to see what is of Christ in them, and respond to them as Christ would respond to them.

My own final thought was that this was a great day. Even a primary school age child could positively listen and contribute. We were able to have God speak through us. We read some serious stuff, e.g. chapter 3 covers immoral behaviours, but we weren't led to simply try and map 'Christian requirements of moral behaviour onto the world'. Instead the emphasis was seeing Jesus more clearly ourselves, and then helping others see Jesus!

COP26

Climate change has obviously come to the fore with the recent COP26 conference, with national pledges, campaign groups etc. At our level we should seriously ask is it just for governments or other 'important people' to make their 'big decisions', or is it something for each and every one of us to think how we are living. What decisions can we take?

Kill it Off, Put it On - Colossians 3:1 - 14

Last week Paul seemed to blow away all notion of living by law or rules, describing it as 'mere elemental'. Paul now writes 'Since then ...' - but the 'then' actually refers back to earlier in chapter 2. In fact all the way back to 2:6 'just as you received Christ as Lord, continue to live your lives in him ...' and 2:12 'your self buried with him, now raised with him through faith in God who raised Jesus'. For Paul this is all the same thread, all back to putting our lives in Christ - to us dying with Jesus (who himself died on the cross) and being raised with Jesus to a new life.

Freedom in Christ - Colossians 2:16 - 23

Paul has written to the Colossians about their faith in Jesus. He prays for them, and then talks about Jesus being fully God and fully man. He talks of a 'mystery revealed', which is Jesus coming so that through faith we can live in Christ and have Christ in us. Yet at the end of chapter 2 he writes things that shake things up. Words that challenge long held assumptions.

[IN] Has the shaking of the last 18 months led to a deeper faith in Christ?

Challenge: Identify the good habits and support structures for your walk with Jesu

Let the Children Come

In Luke 18 there is an episode where people bring young children or babies to Jesus. The disciples of Jesus get uppety about this and want to put a stop to it. But Jesus corrects them, using some interesting words that should make us think about people come into the presence of God.

Servant of the Cause - Colossians 1:24 - 27

In the British Army special forces (SAS) the soldiers are willing to face unspeakable risk, hardship and danger all for the cause, all to 'get the job done'. Yet it is not done in a vacuum - it is with incredibly high comradeship, knowing that on mission your fellow soldiers will be there for you whatever happens. They also know that the unit will equip them and back them with whatever they need.

The Image of the Invisible God - Colossians 1:15 - 20

In trying to understand God, we have to come to terms with the fact that God is Spirit - He isn't someone or something that we can just see, touch or grab. God to the human eye is invisible. So we can't make an image of God, like ancient people would carve a bull and then bow down and worship it, because that would be just a physical thing and of course not God at all.

[UP] What does it mean for you to totally surrender to Jesus as Lord and God?

Challenge: Examine all departments of your life – in which areas do you hold back?

The Ten Coins - Luke 19:12 - 27

Another story told by Jesus, this time with a man of noble birth going off for a while, and giving servants coins to 'put to use' while he was away. The story has some interesting twists - some are clear that they do not want him to be king, and the responses to the investors raises eyebrows. Some of the dialogue might surprise us.

Sent on the Gospel Message - Colossians 1

Paul writes to followers of Jesus as an apostle - someone sent on a specific task, with a message to deliver. He is not just sent by anyone - he is an apostle of Jesus - sent by the Lord of Lords! It is not his choice, nor the choice of others - it is the plan of God. He is sent with a message to people far and wide, and in that context he writes effectively to us.

[OUT] Who are you carrying the good news message to?

Challenge: Relay the message to one person in the next couple of weeks

Jesus and the Blind Man - Luke 18

Jesus approaches the town of Jericho, with a crowd all around him. At the side of the road a blind man calls out: 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me'. The crowd tells him to shut up, but the man shouted out all the more ...

The Rich and the Kingdom of God - Luke 18

Jesus is faced with an important person, who asks a great question. They ask 'what must they do to inherit eternal life'. They show the correct understanding that eternal life (and the Kingdom of God) is inherited and not earned - this is good!

How we approach God - Luke 18

Jesus tells a simple story of two going to pray. One is in the religious elite, all smart and respectable. The other is a common person, with unsavoury behaviour to go with it. The two pray in quite different ways ...

Persistent Widow - Luke 18

Jesus tells the story of a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. A widow in the same town wanted justice, and went to the judge many times to get it sorted. Many times the judge refused.

The Ten Lepers - Luke 17

In Luke 17 Jesus is walking into a village. Here there happen to be ten people with some kind of skin disease - enough for others to keep their distance from them. Somewhere along the road these ten call out to Jesus to take pity on their plight.

Positive Influencers - Jude 12 - 13

Jude is continuing his rant - warning readers of people who are no longer rooted in Jesus being Lord. In verses 12 and 13 he basically says 'These people don't bring anything good'. They are bad influencers, and if they get into positions of leadership they make bad leaders. By looking at these examples of what is bad, we can think of what actually makes for a good, positive influencer.

[IN] To what extent are you helping others to serve God better?

 Challenge: Get someone to pray with you to be a greater Jesus-like influencer

The Woman with the Bleed - Luke 8

Luke tells the story of Jesus walking through a crowd. By all accounts there is a lot of pushing and shoving (social distancing had not been invented!). There was one woman who particularly wanted a touch. She had a bleed over many years, and was at her wits end. All treatments had been tried and exhausted.

Jude's Warnings - Jude 5 - 7

Today's verses from Jude (verse 5 to 7) are hard to get our heads round. To understand them it is best to think in terms of warnings. In life we have warning or danger signs, in sport we have the referee's red or yellow cards - all telling us to be careful and consider our ways.

The Good Samaritan - Luke 10

The story of the Good Samaritan is well known to us. Jesus responds to the expert in the law - who presses with the question 'Who is my neighbour' - with this story (see Luke 10). Of course the story shocks the hearers - it is the 'no good Samaritan' who is the one who shows mercy and proved to be the "neighbour" of the unfortunate traveller.

Keep the Calibration

We are looking at the short letter of Jude. In the introduction we saw how encouraging it is from the start. It talks of our calling, being kept for Jesus, a shower of mercy, peace and love, the salvation we share. It encourages us to contend for the faith - a faith once for all entrusted to us.

A Called People - Jude 1 - 3

We are taking a look at the short letter of Jude. We don't know for sure who Jude was, or who he was writing to. Yet he is obviously writing to believers, both to encourage them and also to warn them. For us there is rich encouragement from just the first three verses.

[UP] What is your regular practice to re-commit yourself as a servant of Jesus?

Challenge: Live up to your calling - show Christ's blessing in big ways and small

The Story Continues - Acts 28

We now jump to the end of the Acts story to conclude this series. We skip alot, but the result is that Paul ends up in Rome. This is good - he wanted to get there! What is not so good is that he is under house-arrest - literally bound with a chain. Yet even under house-arrest he continues to tell people about Jesus - they just have to come to his house!

Resurrection Life - Acts 16

It has been a tough year - we have all been knocked about by the pandemic. In the past 10 days we marked the one year anniversary - a time of genuine lament and recognition of the loss. Yet for those of us with faith in Jesus, the bad news is not the only news - for we also live by much bigger news.

Scattered Cohesion - Acts 16:1 - 5

In Acts 16 we catch up with Paul again in Lystra. We have heard alot in Acts about scattering outwards, but here Paul is actually re-visiting places he had already been (see Acts 14). So this is a phase of consolidation, a period in which he can check on the health of the spreading movement.

Discipleship in Mission - Acts 14

Launching out in many small mission initiatives can be likened to deploying ourselves as small lifeboats. Leaving behind the luxury of the big ship we take the risk on the choppy seas in small boats as a way of more effectively reaching people in the community who need saving.

[OUT] Are we ready & willing to deploy lifeboats?

 Challenge: Pray for God to lead you to those He has ready to hear

Faith Caught - Acts 13 & 17

It is instructive for us to compare Paul's messages. This week we will look at his message in Acts 13 (Psidian Antioch), and his message in Acts 17 (Athens). In chapter 13 he went to the synagogue - not simply for some nice worship - but to give, he went strategically to tell about Jesus. In Acts 17 he did the same, and from there he went on to the Aeropagus - that's the gathering point of the clever and influential. Again he did this not because it would be nice or stimulating, but because it afforded him the chance to give - to tell of Jesus.

Powers Fall - Acts 12

Acts 12 finishes with the story of Herod dying and eaten by worms. We might wonder why Luke includes this, when he could have turned to another account of witness, healing and salvation. The reason is that Luke is making a point. There is opposition and persecution against the witness to Jesus. The chapter starts with James captured and executed, and goes on with Peter also arrested.

Ananias and Saul - Acts 10

Saul is an educated Jewish person who moves in the circles of power in Jerusalem. He is appalled at the people who claim to 'follow Jesus' and preach 'Jesus as Lord'. He sees them as deluded and dangerous, distracting people from the true Jewish faith. He is a man on a mission, and pro-active with it. He gets permission to widen his operations, to round up believers he has heard are now in Damascus.

Blow Your Mind - Acts 10

Let's be honest - we all have prejudices and 'unconscious biases'. We see certain 'other' people and think negatively about them. With any ingrained prejudice there comes a time when the Holy Spirit moves to simply blow it out of the water. Acts 10 is the story of Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is not of a Jewish background, so he is 'unclean'. A Jewish person would not visit his house, for fear of becoming unclean, as if they might 'catch something'.

[IN] What false views of other people does God need to change in us?

 Challenge: Pray for the most 'unlikely' person you know

Red Lines to Opposition - Acts 4

Peter and the Apostles are regularly proclaiming Jesus and His Kingdom in the temple courts area. It has become a core practice (see Acts 2 last week) for the new believers to hear their teaching about Jesus and the Kingdom, and being a public space anyone else who wants to can also hear.

Core Practices - Acts 2:42 - 47

The Spirit is poured out, Peter has just preached a belter of a sermon, and thousands of people have believed in Jesus for their first time. This series looks at what happens next. We see in this passage that they started to follow Jesus together. The verses show what they first did, before there was any church organisation or structure. There had been no time so far for anyone to think 'what is working well, and what is not working'!

[UP] Is your walk with God worth imitating?

 Challenge: Consider how you connect in partnership, the small, and the wider church