PUTTING ON GOD’S FORGIVENESS Paul told the believers in Colossae to put off their old ways of thinking and behaving and to put on their new life in Christ. He spoke of these old and new ways as if they were articles of clothing. Among the new articles of spiritual clothing that believers received was
STRUGGLING IN THOUGHT AND PRAYER FOR OTHERS Paul often “struggled” for the believers in towns and cities where he had been before, but had left behind in order to carry the gospel to other places. Colossae was one of these places. Located in the province of Asia Minor (Modern day Turkey), Colossae was the least
SPREADING THE GOSPEL ALL OVER THE WORLD Paul described the “gospel” (“good news”) as being like a plant “bearing fruit and growing” everywhere it went “all over the world.” And what was that fruit? “Changed lives!” In the next verse, Paul identified the one who had actually carried the Good News to Colossae as
TURN YOUR WORRIES INTO PRAYERS What is worry? Isn’t it anxious self-talk? It’s an internal conversation between you and you. Worry circles around your head like a cloud of gnats that you can’t swat away. What is prayer? It’s talking to God. Why not take the same amount of effort that you’re putting into worry
CHRIST, THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD Paul told the Philippians that before he trusted Christ, he had worked to earn righteousness through obeying the law. But when he encountered Christ, he saw his attempts at righteousness as worthless in comparison to Christ’s infinite worth. He recognized that his own righteous acts produced by attempting to keep
WE NEED NEW CLOTHES This is the problem with the idea that we can live a good enough life to please God and earn entrance into heaven–– “our righteous acts are like a polluted garment.” We make the mistake of comparing ourselves to those around us and concluding that we are as good as the
LIVING WORTHY OF THE GOSPEL Paul taught the Philippians that they should live in a “manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” When we live as worldly, our message has no consistency and the gospel comes across hypocritical. Our lives should be consistent with the Good News we profess. Our lifestyle should in fact cause
DO YOU HAVE A GOSPEL PERSPECTIVE? The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church at Philippi from his jail cell in Rome. He wrote to encourage his gospel partners, so that they would see that his chains were actually increasing the “advance of the gospel.” He noted that the gospel had become evident to
PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD The apostle Paul warned the believers in Ephesus not to go out into the world unprotected from spiritual warfare. He told them to be prepared for trouble by putting on the “full armor of God.” In other words, don’t go out half dressed. Put on the whole armor
CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION PROPHESIED CENTURIES BEFORE Seven hundred years before Christ Jesus, the Lord gave the prophet Isaiah a description of His coming. There are two types of Messianic prophecies revealed in the Old Testament. Both are seen in Isaiah. The first is the Messiah as conquering king, who will rule the nations from the throne