Comment: How sad
it would be if someone lived in your home and you did not fully know them. Say
what? Yes, what if someone lived in your house, whom you were scarcely aware
of, but when confronted with their friendship or love you would have to admit
that you did not understand them enough to feel friendly with them or even love
them. This is a serious condition in churches TODAY and it begins with our
relationship with God the Holy Spirit! Like a bleeding ulcer, it contaminates
the whole church. Notice what the apostle Paul says to the Colossians in the seventh
and eighth verses of chapter one. “As you
also learned from Epaphras, our fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of
Christ on our behalf. Who also declared to us your love in the Spirit”. To our
shame we often wash over these nuggets of wisdom. We default to the flesh, and if we do see a need for more
of the spirit and love we lean on fleshly experiences to produce it and
fail to bring forth fruit from the grace of God in Truth.
Devotional: Colossians 1:9-18 – The apostle Paul blesses
the church at Colosse with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving, but he does not stop with
just this. He continues with a petition to God, that in addition with their “love
in the Spirit” the church would also flourish in the Will of God with “knowledge”
in all Wisdom and Spiritual prudence. His prayer does not focus on the
physical strength of the human mind, but in all Spiritual wisdom and understanding.
This is not a play on words, I seek only to reveal that there is a “marked”
separation from the human based worship in churches today and the spiritual
based worship of the early church.
Nothing has changed
doctrinally over the last two thousand plus years, Christ Jesus is the same
Messiah of yesterday, He will be the same today and tomorrow, and when your head
raises from the bed, “He will be the same then too!” It would be well to note
that this thought is connected to the church of Christ in Hebrews 13, see
verses 7 through 9. This being true and it is; we ought to evaluate the church
we call family today. This would not mean that we should all find another
church, but we should do our part to love one another in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding. Do you fall short of this mark at times? I know I do.
According to the glorious
power of God’s strength! This ought to be a spiritual goal for every child of
God. as it is God’s goal for His children. That is to be fully pleasing Him, we
are to have a complete understanding of being led by the Spirit of God and we
are commanded to reject all errors of emotional false teachings. Works based
religions that seek to appease God with emotional worship services are popular
today. Am I condemning the popular church of today? Connect 1 Corinthians
13:1-13 with Colossians 1:9-18 and see for yourself. If what I do in my church
today is not grounded in the love of God via the Spirit of God then what is the
result? I have NOTHING!
We will continue this
tomorrow since I am running out of time.
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