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My Colossians A.       Opening: Testimony to the Power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Paul is writing from prison to one of the churches he was yet to meet, and was probably started or pastored by Epaphras (or Epaphroditus). They are regarded as a testimony to the fact that the Gospel of Jesus Christ works everywhere in the world, turning lives around in love and by the hope that is promised. He prays for their patient endurance that is necessary for all who will inherit the immeasurable blessings that come through Christ (who alone is the image and fullness of God, superior to all created authority by being first to taste creation , the Head of the Church, and the one in whom all things will eventually come together, 1: 17). It is important that saints join together in love in order to experience the fullness of what Christ has done, rather than be divided over traditions and ascetic practices. B.       The Uselessness o...

You have always had a Father, waiting ... Main Reading: I John 3:1-10 Introduction When God created man, He clearly had in mind the cream of creation that is like Him in character and power, and He has not ceased from that agenda. He is achieving it, by letting us go through the mill of the fall and restoration. Before the fall, we were creation, hardly referred to as the children of God, but at the restoration, He introduces that authorization through the NEW BIRTH or ADOPTION. John’s first letter celebrates the consummation of the Divine desire, and points out that those who have appreciated this set themselves apart with purposeful dignity and industry, knowing they are destined for nothing less that the throne of God. He is categorical that those who fail to see this produce bad character, remaining as children of the devil. This discourse is brief survey of God’s declared intent to have nothing but a Father-Children relationship with us, and how we should av...

The Old Ways Lead to Death Main Readings: Heb. 10:19-25, Rom. 12:1-2, 2 Cor. 5:17 In Christ all things become new for a Believer. This new life must be well understood and lived by faith or be lost! It must guard and guide thoughts through action to the complete overhaul of character. The Believer must therefore take all care to mind the newness, primarily through studying and meditating on God’s Word. This sermon looks at the primary areas in which newness has come to transform the Believer in daily relationship with God and what to care about and do in this life: 1.        New Saviour and High Priest: Jesus is the New Saviour and Mediator of the Believer. Without Him, people all over the world seek to relate to God through atoning practices and mediators. Even for Israel it was required that a person presents animals to priests to be offered as sacrifices for sins committed. Other peoples go about their attempt to elicit response from God throu...

MARK 4 - THE GOOD NEWS AND CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. Acts 4:23 Passage: Acts 4:23-35 INTRODUCTION: The mark of a being a member of the Church is not a mean mark of one bearing the Gospel. Many people have gone out of the Church because the Church degenerated to the point where it had lost her submission to the Lordship of Jesus and become just a social club. Such well-meaning people went out after giving several warnings to the body of believers they belonged to. The Holy Spirit vindicated these people’s revival of the Church with ample demonstration of His presence, especially in the three areas we have already discussed: BOLDNESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS AND DEMONSTRATION OF DEPENDENCE ON THE GRACE OF GOD. Meanwhile many others have left the church at the slightest provocation or no provocation at all. Many have become apostates, teaching their own doctrines, and sometimes start...