Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, …
As I turned my computer on this morning, I was greeted with an image of some beautiful Alaskan mountains, curtesy of Bing, that said, “What to get away from it all?” My heart’s answer was yes. Yes, it would be great to escape the pressures of everyday life, to behold firsthand the breath-taking wonders of …
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. Colossians 1:1-2 ESV Like all of Paul’s letters, the opening greeting is full of introductory concepts and phrases for us to …
The first five books of the Bible, commonly called the Pentateuch or Torah, are not merely the opening act of God’s revelation to humanity nor should we read them simply as a historical account of our faith’s roots. Instead, alongside the rest of the Old Testament, we affirm these writings to be the presently applicable …
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12 ESV Our study of the Lord’s Prayer continues with the petition for God to forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors. In many ways, this supplication is the natural plea arising from a belief in the forgiveness of …
Being the kind of person that assigns subtitles to my sermon notes through portions of the Bible, I wrestled a great deal with what to call this study through Colossians. At first glance, Colossians can appear to be a lesser imitation of Ephesians. Of course, Paul’s letter to Colossae has its own magnificent merits (such …
the forgiveness of sins For our penultimate study of the Apostles’ Creed, we continue our exploration of Article 3. Having addressed the Holy Spirit and the local and universal church, we now come to the forgiveness of sins. In order to understand this doctrine, we will spend most of our time in Ephesians 2:1-10 before …
Just as the first half of chapter 3 dismantled the relationship between the man and woman established at the end of chapter 2, this latter portion of chapter 3 will undo the restful paradise given in the first half of the second chapter. If we were ever confused as to why the first sin is …
We now conclude our study through Proverbs’ introduction. Our text brings to close the messages and themes of the first nine chapters, while also inviting us to dive into the collection of proverbs that follow. In many ways, this chapter is an expanded and illustrated explanation of Proverbs 1:7. Two paths in life are before …
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. Bruce Shelley opens his account of church history with this statement: “Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central event the humiliation of its God.” Indeed, it is no small fact that all four Gospels give extensive …
