Colossians (Program #42) – One Position, One Life, One Living, One Destiny, and One Glory With Christ

On one hand, Christ is mysterious, He is at the same time sitting at the right hand of God in the heavenlies but also simultaneously dwelling in us. He’s also practical. He not only saves us eternally, but He wants to become our very living, that is to live Himself out in our everyday life. We’ve been treated to a marvelous view of Christ in the book of Colossians for many weeks now. And as we near the end of this memorable life-study, we want to come back to a few key passages to be nourished and enlightened once again.

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Colossians (Program #41) – Having Died With Christ And Having Been Raised With Christ

The Bible tells us that, in Christ, we are dead to sin and to the world and even to ourselves. Not only so, it also tell us that we also have been raised in Christ and made alive to God in Christ. This is truly wonderful when we treasure verses like these that point us to the spiritual facts that are true in Christ. But, does simply knowing these facts help us in our day to day walk?  Is our experience parallel what is true in Christ? Well, I think we all know the answer to this question and the struggle and the anguish that most serious believers go through trying desperately to experience in us what is factually true in Christ.  As we come back again to consider how to bring into reality, the reality of being in Christ.

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Colossians (Program #40) – Holding the Head, Out From Whom All the Body Grows With The Growth of God

Consider this interesting phrase from Colossians 2:19 “And not holding the Head, out from Whom all the Body … grows with the growth of God.” Well as believers we read such verses and surely none of us will disagree but do we really stop to consider, what is it to hold the Head; and why does it say, “holding the Head” and not holding Christ? Well the answer is that most of us take the Bible for granted. Of course we have our special and favorite passages that that we often quote and understand to some extend.  But for the most part, we skim over accepting what it says but not taking the time or the interest to dig and probe and pray over the word.  Today we will dig and probe and even pray concerning this crucial and important section of Colossians.

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Colossians (Program #39) – Not Defrauded of Your Prize of Enjoyment of Christ

What is your favorite book in the Bible? Maybe many would say the gospel of John or perhaps one of the other gospels. Others will surely pick the book of Revelation with all the exciting things it says about the end times. But what about the writings of Paul, the apostle, which actually make up the bulk of the New Testament? How many of you picked one of Paul’s letters? Let’s see what Paul has to say about his ministry in Colossians 1, it says “Of which I became a minister according to the stewardship of God, which was given to me for you, to complete the word of God. The mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations but now has been manifested to His saints; To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of this glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

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Colossians(Program #38) – In Christ and According to Christ

What does it mean to be “in Christ”? Many places in the New Testament, especially in the letters of Paul the Apostle, use this term. Well, the easiest answer is to say that according to the facts, whatever is true of Him is true of us. For example, we died in Him and we were made alive in Him. As I said, these are the facts. But, what about our experience?  If we’re regenerated, born again. Then without doubt, we have these divine facts as our spiritual history, but we may not have a corresponding experience: being in Him and living according to Him.

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Colossians (Program #37) – Having Been Rooted In Christ And Being Built up in Him (1 & 2)

What is genuine spiritual growth?  The term is found repeatedly in Scriptures and is tossed about quit freely by Christians.  What does it really mean to grow or to grow in Christ?  The apostle Paul uses this term many times with a corresponding phrase “we have been rooted in Christ.”  as a plant or tree has been rooted into rich soil.  Such a plant’s growth, not from studying the Bible or by determination or by laboring but it comes by absorbing the rich nutrients from the soil in which it has been rooted.  Being rooted in Christ and growing with the growth of God that’s our topic on this life study of the Bible.

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Colossians (Program #36) – Christ Replaced in Every Way

Three important books in the New Testament are 1 Corinthians, Galatians and Colossians.  It’s interesting to know that all three of these letters written by the Apostle Paul were sent to the churches largely because the believers in these places had allowed things other than Christ to replace Him in their experience.  With the Corinthians it was gifts and knowledge.  With the Galatians, religion had replaced Christ and with the Colossians, it was their top culture.  All good things yet all had replaced Christ.  How about us?  Have we allowed things other than Christ Himself to become our focus?

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Colossians (Program #35) – The Receiving of Christ

There’s a seemingly simple verse in Colossians 2 that says, “As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.” Well as I said, this verse seems simple. But consider for a moment, the Bible says that Christ is the very God. It also says that His dimensions surpass even the Universe itself. So just how is it that a simple man of limited proportions and capacity can receive, even contain, this vast immeasurable and all-inclusive Christ who is the very mystery of God.

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Colossians (Program #34) – Rooted and Built Up in Christ With the Processed God

Here’s a question for you to ponder, “Does God have a history?” What does the Bible say? Of course it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” and that’s clear enough. But, in the New Testament’s first book Matthew, we discover that God is not just simply God; He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – God. And even more incredibly, He has become the enter-able God. Our God does have a history, a mysterious history. And to unlock it, Colossians gives us the key in chapter 2:2, “That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together … unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ.” Christ, the mystery of God is also the history of God.

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Colossians (Program #33) – The Extensive Revelation of the All-Inclusive Christ

Our Christ is not narrow or limited. He’s all inclusive, and He’s extensive. Do you realize that He’s a universal traveler? Well in incarnation, He traveled from the heavens to the earth. In death and resurrection, He traveled from the earth into hades and then back to earth again. And then in ascension, He traveled back into the heavens only to be poured out once more to the earth to be our everything as the life-giving Spirit. This is our Christ. And, as the result of all this universal traveling, He fills all in all and wants to impress us that He alone can replace everything that occupies us, even our culture.

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