On April 11th, Pastor Ray will begin meeting with what will be called the “Church Plant Group,” or CPG for short. This group will worship with TCO at 9:15am and then meet in the third modular during the 11:00am hour to plan the launch of LIDO....
In light of everything going on right now in our culture, in our nation, we as believers have a wonderful opportunity to display Christ and our hope in a real way. Unity of the gospel and the church in a real way....
The gospel wasn’t meant to simply be admired or acknowledged. It was meant to be submitted to and to be enjoyed....
As we continue to look at Colossians and the correct posture we hold before the Lord, that He would have no rivals in our lives, the remedy Paul offers to the Colossians and their fight against false teaching is the same remedy he would offer anyone else ...
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This world is not our home. It is our mission field. We are ambassadors of God equipped with the gospel and as such fully-equipped to do every work God has for us. May this be our posture before a watching world....
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Do you enjoy communion with the Father thru all you do? Time in the Word, obedience, prayer, serving others, etc. Communion with God. May we start to see it this way as we unpack a posture of life with God. True communion in all we do. Time with our Father, enjoying being a child of God....
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In summary, The Life Over God posture has very little room for God in the practical every day affairs of life. It could be busyness, it could be science and technology and the supposed "wisdom" of an ever-changing world, but the effect can be to live as if God were not supreme, no real relationship....
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Remember, the issue here is pre-eminence, Christ being unrivaled in our lives before a watching world. That’s the main issue and where these fall short. Christ is subtly relegated to a prominent place in our lives, but not the pre-eminent place in our lives. He is replaced by something else, namely self and our need for control. We think somehow we can control God, or pu...
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Continuing to build upon what we looked at in Colossians 1:15-20, and the supremacy of Christ, we are looking at subtle ways we fall into the trap of attacking the supremacy and pre-eminence of Christ in our lives. We are prone to falling into traps, settling or being deceived with regards to the sufficiency of Christ and what our relationship with Christ is to look like a...
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On the front end, ask yourself these questions: Would you say that you currently enjoy personal communion with God? Do you enjoy being loved by and living with the God of this Bible? Do you enjoy communion with God, or might you be relating to God in way that is seeking to control Him, rather than enjoy Him? Does Christ have rivals in your life?...
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Reconciliation literally means “to cause to be friendly again”. It means “to change from enmity or disharmony to friendship and harmony.” The word Paul uses here goes even further to bring the idea of completeness to this reconciliation. Think about that with regards to us as sinners and a holy God. Paul is communicating the truth that sinners can be totally and fo...
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In Colossians 1:15-20, Paul offered us Thirteen Assertions about Christ. Read thru these this morning and meditate on what these mean and how they offer us strength and hope no matter what we face....
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Without truly understanding who Jesus really is and what He alone could and did accomplish through the cross, people become sitting ducks for worldly systems or false religious beliefs that seek to come to God other than exclusively through the Lord Jesus Christ. Always, all false belief systems either reject what the Bible teaches about the person of Christ (deny His deit...
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Look this morning at Colossians 1:13-14 and consider these thoughts. What Paul does here is continue to show how incomparable Christ is and what He has done for believers. Ultimately Paul is putting forth the truth that believers are complete in Christ, which was an issue that the Gnostic opponents of Paul opposed....
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