For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and knowledge of God’s …
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things …
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 …
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Matthew 6:13 ESV Whenever I begin to finish a sermon series, I almost always have a longing to set aside my previous plans for the following series in order to repeat the current one again. This is because, after having spent dozens of hours …
Author The author of Colossians is blatantly stated to be Paul (1:1). Timothy likely served as the scribe while Paul dictated the content with exception to the final verse of the letter, which Paul wrote with his own hand. Many scholars have tried to argue that Paul did not author this letter; rather, someone (who …
Of all the various philosophies to choose from, Stoicism is particularly fascinating to me (as I've noted previously). Far from the stereotype of seeking to remain emotionless through life, Stoics seeks to live each day as if they might not have another, to master their primal appetites and desires, and to face with resolve and …
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 event described within these two chapters is one of the most monumental in all of human history. Some may find a global flood to be difficult to believe; however, the presence of similar versions of the story being present in nearly every culture speaks of its reality. Herein we see the wrath of God …
Of the Lord’s Prayer, Tertullian wrote that it “is comprised of the whole Gospel” (I). Cyprian called it “a loving and friendly prayer to beseech God with His own word, to come up to His ears in the prayer of Christ” (3). Augustine said that “the words our Lord Jesus Christ has taught us in …
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 …
B. C. Newton 