Colossians 2:11-17

In the New Testament, John tried to tell us about God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1). "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (1:14). John the Mystic tried to tell us how great God is. The Apostle Paul also gave us insight on who God is. . . . And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made public spectacle...

For Reading and Meditation:     Colossians 2:1-15

We are seeing the suffering and persecution we experience can be due to our own tactlessness and folly. Today I want to go a stage further, and suggest that in relation to this matter of suffering and persecution, some Christians have developed a "martyr complex". A "martyr complex" is an attitude of mind that finds...

For Reading and Meditation:     Galatians 6:1-18

Whenever I hear a person saying that all religions are the same, my mind runs immediately to the cross. If what is found here is true (and I believe it is), and represents the meaning of life, then clearly all religions are not the same. No authentic note of divine self-sacrifice comes from other faiths. The cross...

For Reading and Meditation:     Hebrews 10:1-18

We talked two days ago of humanity's efforts to try to reach God through philosophy and moralism or the law. The inadequacy, even bankruptcy, of trying to find God through the law is brought out most clearly in the passage before us today. The law, we are told, contains no true image, merely a shadow. It was the Word...

The Lord Jesus is in the midst of his church; he walketh among the golden candlesticks; his promise is, "Lo, I am with you alway." He is as surely with us now as he was with the disciples at the lake, when they saw coals of fire, and fish laid thereon and bread. Not carnally, but still in real truth, Jesus is with us. And a blessed truth it is, for where Jesus is, love becomes inflamed. Of all the things in the world that can set the heart burning, there is nothing like the presence of...

The word "alike" should be omitted from this verse; it was added by the translators. It should read, "another esteemeth every day/' that is, he looks upon every day as sacred.

To Jews, living under law, the Sabbath or seventh day was especially sacred. The law forbade labor on that day and restricted travel. Additional offerings were required.

Christians, living under grace, are never commanded to keep the Sabbath. To them all days are sacred, even though they believe that there...

Laban had learned by experience that the Lord had blessed him for Jacob's sake. It was a good lesson to learn. Experience is a great teacher.

I am impressed by the way that experience often helps us to understand verses in the Bible. We may be acquainted with the verses intellectually, but when we pass through some new experience, the verses come alive. They seem to stand out in neon lights. We have a new appreciation of them.

Martin Luther's wife said that she would never have...

No created mind can ever comprehend the dimensions of the victory which the Lord Jesus won at the Cross of Calvary. He overcame the world (John 16:33). He doomed Satan, the prince of this world (John 16:11). He triumphed over principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15). He so conquered death that it is now swallowed up in victory (

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. § Inasmuch … as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. § Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in...

Much in every way! § Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts. § If their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt—then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember.Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers. § In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands,...