Colossians 3:18 – 4:1 I am thankful for a church with the guts to preach uncomfortable and unpopular parts of the Bible instead of quietly skipping over them! As Pastor Dave ably described, this passage on submission is unwelcome today because the views of the culture that surrounds us are...
Colossians 3:5-17The Christ-Centered Wardrobe Paul tells us, along with the Colossian Christians, that we have a new wardrobe and must get rid of the old, not just push it to the back of the closet. As Pastor Todd described the sexual sins mentioned in v5 and the sins of the tongue listed in...
Colossians 3:1-4Seek the Things That Are Above The things above Paul instructs us to seek are not angels and streets of gold. As Pastor Dave helpfully noted, Paul explains in the same sentence that things above means Christ, seated in a place of power, status, and glory. Affirm before him: Lord...
Colossians 2:16-23Two Commands and a Question Paul gives two commands – Don’t let anyone judge you and don’t let anyone disqualify you – to fortify the Colossian Christians against false teachers. Judaizers were adding pharisaic rules and regulations to the gospel, and...
Colossians 2:6-15Alive in Christ Pastor Dave noted that it is possible to be a Christian but not walk in Christ, just as it’s possible to have a gym membership card in your wallet but never go to the gym. The word walk connotes to me the ordinary, the regular, the everyday. How big a part...
Colossians 1:24 – 2:5Paul’s Ministry to the Church Paul describes his role in the church as that of a servant – a suffering, but rejoicing, servant. Pray that every single person at Calvary would function as a servant, not as an attender or onlooker or consumer (as someone on...
Colossians 1:3-14Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer Paul begins many of his letters, including Colossians, by thanking God for the body of believers to whom he is writing. Like any church, the Colossian church must have been a mixed bag of people with different levels of spiritual maturity...
Genesis 44:1-34The Silver Cup Caper Here, Joseph’s brother Judah shows us a picture of true repentance. Pastor Todd reviewed Judah’s sordid resume from Chapters 37-38, emphasizing that Judah’s modus operandi was disregarding God’s commands and looking out for himself. In...
Genesis 43:1-34Dealing with Crisis “… so that we … may live and not die.”(v8) Pastor Dave noted that God sometimes uses extreme circumstances, even a life-and-death crisis, to move people in His direction. I thought about how often we try to protect someone we love...
Genesis 42:1-38The Good of Sin Being Exposed In this passage, God is beginning to expose the decades-old sin of Joseph’s brothers. It is certainly an uncomfortable process for them. Before the Lord, let’s admit that, like the brothers, we dread the prospect of our sin being exposed...