This week its Current Events week on the blog, and I’ve been been writing a five-part series about the failure of Ravi Zacharias (so far you can read part one, part two, part three, and this is part four). How do we respond to such a grievous failure? It seems to me the primary responseContinue reading “Current Events – The Failure of Ravi Zacharias, Part 4”
Tag Archives: bible
Worship services are not enough – Colossians 1:20-23, Part 5
I recently saw a conversation between two people on social media. One is often outspoken about their Christian beliefs. That person began the conversation by writing a post angrily condemning people who are of a different political persuasion. Many people responded with supportive comments, but one person disagreed, confronting the Christian writer. I don’t knowContinue reading “Worship services are not enough – Colossians 1:20-23, Part 5”
Is it possible to be an enemy of God and not know it? – Colossians 1:20-23, Part 3
Are you an enemy of God? Are you and God strangers? Neither of those? How are you and God doing? How would your friends and family answer that question about you? About themselves and their relationship with God? Do people think of themselves as Paul put it in Colossians 1:21, that they are alienated fromContinue reading “Is it possible to be an enemy of God and not know it? – Colossians 1:20-23, Part 3”
You can be in a close relationship with God – Colossians 1:20-23, Part 1
What is broken in your life? I hate to start off this week’s blog posts on such a dark note, but so many of us have broken relationships, broken situations, and they really concern us, taking loads of emotional energy, time and sometimes money. How do we heal what is broken? I think about ourContinue reading “You can be in a close relationship with God – Colossians 1:20-23, Part 1”
How God wants to fix our broken world – Colossians 1:15-20
All things are in need of reconciliation. True or False? Just for the sake of argument, assume that statement is true. Why do all things need reconciliation? Because things are broken. You reconcile when you have a broken relationship. Something happened. Relationships break apart in all sorts of ways, right? From small slights to massiveContinue reading “How God wants to fix our broken world – Colossians 1:15-20”
Jesus was God or was filled by God? (and other humans can be filled by God too?) – Colossians 1:15-20, Part 4
Through the ages, one hotly debated topic in theology is how much of God is in Jesus, and how much of Jesus is in God? Paul talks about this. As we continue studying Colossians 1:15-20, Paul shifts the focus to the church, using body imagery. Jesus is the head of the church. We are hisContinue reading “Jesus was God or was filled by God? (and other humans can be filled by God too?) – Colossians 1:15-20, Part 4”
Is Jesus creator or created? – Colossians 1:15-20
Paul says that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation. What does Paul mean? It is a bit of a strange statement. Firstborn over all creation? Turn to Colossians 1:15-20, which we have been studying in a five-part series this week, starting here. If the statement “firstborn over creation” isn’t already strange enough, based onContinue reading “Is Jesus creator or created? – Colossians 1:15-20”
Christians were the first atheists? – Colossians 1:15-20, Part 2
In the first post in this series, we talked about what Jesus might have looked like. Paul in Colossians 1:15-20 says that Jesus is the image or icon of the invisible God. There are many ways that we English-speakers use the word “icon,” and one way is found in the Orthodox church paintings called icons.Continue reading “Christians were the first atheists? – Colossians 1:15-20, Part 2”
What did Jesus look like? – Colossians 1:15-20, Part 1
What image comes to mind when you think about what Jesus might look like? Through the centuries, artists have created thousands and thousands of possibilities. For many Americans, the classic image is what might be called the White Jesus. Some of you might have a picture of the White Jesus hanging in your homes. ItContinue reading “What did Jesus look like? – Colossians 1:15-20, Part 1”
What God requires of you to enter his Kingdom – Colossians 1:9-14, Part 5
I love traveling internationally, collecting immigration stamps from other countries in my passport. Maybe you’ve caught that bug too, or you dream about it. I know this is a distinctly first-world privilege, as so many around the world have little realistic opportunity for such travel. But permit me to describe it. For citizens of theContinue reading “What God requires of you to enter his Kingdom – Colossians 1:9-14, Part 5”
Engaging Scripture 