Always at the top of the lists for causes of death is heart disease. It is the same in my spiritual life. My heart desires things that are destructive at worst and at least come far from representing the best version of me, which is Christ in me. What’s up w that?

We all struggle. In this series we are going to the roots of all our struggles, the first one is this: we struggle with be told what to do. Why?

The final lesson in our series on the cross is this: The cross did something, fully and finally, it was an action that accomplished something that can't be unaccomplished.  

The most serious outcome of being sinned against is that message it sends our heart, you are what happened to you.  The cross is the antidote.

Jesus teaches us from the cross that the value of suffering does not lie in the pain of it, but in what one makes of the pain of it. Suffering is not the cause of growth but the occasion of it and Jesus is the gold refined by fire.

The dragon does not hold the keys to death and hell, Jesus does. He has lured Adam's race into sin and thereby has the power of death.  Jesus' Calvary weekend victory ended that problem so that the believer has hope.

Jesus’ death on the cross is THE moment when the God, deeply offended by His people who were His rebel enemies, was satisfied, when the sins of His beloved fallen people were paid for fairly and finally.

Colossians is a simple book: Don’t let anything take you away from believing Christ, believing in Christ, in His finished work for you.  Then live, filled with the love of God, against the backdrop of inside and outside sin and miseries, and let God’s love shine through you to everyone else.

Bad habits are hard to break.  We're not the same people that we were when we made them so new habits must replace the old.

Love is the character of God. It defines Him.  God is love.  It is not merely a fuzzy affection but rather a sacrificial action, myself for yourself. Believe in love!

The gospel is  love story. God is loving us in Christ.  Our lives affected by God’s love become love stories too.  This week we look at loves positional characteristic: Love is humble or ’not proud.'

God Helps People in their Misery

A high and lifted up Jesus is the theme of Colossians. We are going to take a long  New Years look at Jesus’ primary character trait, unshakable love.

All false religion and even philosophical non religion is in some manner missing the fullness and enoughness of Jesus.  Jesus is the fulfillment. There is no replacement.

Jesus, whose birth we celebrate this week, is the mystery of God to the people of the world.  He is the person who delivers/saves His people from their sins. For unto us was born, this day, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

God's mystery is Jesus.  Still today, God's mystery is Jesus. If we miss Jesus we miss God, or as the Christmas slogan goes, "Wise men still seek Him."