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Showing posts from February, 2021

Maximizer: Colossians 4.5-6

Time is very important to us.  Have you ever found yourself ahead of schedule so you squeezed in another task and as a result you were late?  We can easily lose track of our time and  it can be later than we thought it was!  We try to get as much as we can out of our time to maximize our lives.  In Colossians 4, Paul writes to the church telling them how they can get the most out of their time.  Our opportunities to reconcile with God are slowly slipping away.  Paul writes to a people who are surrounded by people that are not walking with God.  How do we live with the fact that we know time is slipping away? Walk in wisdom. Wisdom is a theme throughout the book of Colossians.   Jesus is the head.  We learn from Jesus.  He tells us what's good for our hearts.             Live wisely among those who are not believers,   Colossians 4.5a (NLT)                                                       This word "wisely" is a call to  communicate clearly and distinctly.  We are t

Praying Well: Colossians 4.2-4 (ESV)

 In the past year we have been concerned about how to stay connected to people, to church, to our families and to our friends.  Today, on Valentine's Day we are reminded we want to be connected to the people we love.  As kids we passed out Valentine cards to our class as an expression of caring.  We have love for one another because God first loved us.  God sent His son into the world for us, Jesus was resurrected for us.  How do we stay connected to God?  Colossians 4:2-4 will help us today.   Keep talking to God.     As we talk to God we have questions about how we get through times like these.  The church at Colossae had challenges and so do we.  The church at Colossae is similar to us today.  They had a good economy, good jobs and people would travel to their area.  People enjoyed living there.  Believers were in the minority in their community.  It was difficult.  How do we serve God in a world where most people aren't believers? You might be surprised to learn that most

New Job: Colossians 3.22-4.1 (ESV)

  How we do our job matters, especially when we are sharing the Gospel, it matters.   Paul is writing to believers in Colossae.   He’s answering the question, “What’s it mean to do life?”   This passage is part of the household codes that we visited last week.   How does this affect our job?   The troubling part for us is that the household codes apply to slaves.   S ome people in that congregation were probably slave owners and some were slaves.   Slavery still exists today and we do not condone it.   We have fellow believers around the world that are slaves. What do we do when our circumstances aren’t ideal?   Sometimes this happens in our workplaces or in our homes.   We pray for God to change things but sometimes nothing changes.   Some things persist even if they’re against God.   Sometimes we don’t like our job or our boss.   We excuse and reduce our attitudes and behaviors as a result.   This really affects our Gospel witness. Follow well. There are many times when we are no