Colossians on Sinfulness

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Holy Father, You are perfect and just,

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Scripture

Colossians 1:13-14, Psalm 103:12, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 5:8, Titus 3:5, 1 John 1:9

Holy Father, You are perfect and just, but we are sinful and unworthy. We intend the best in how we live our lives, Yet sin remains in us. Through Your Son, we are able to have redemption and a reconn...

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How Transformation Happens

Author

James Bryan Smith

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:11-14, Galatians 2:20, Romans 8:1-2, Colossians 3:3-4, John 8:34-36, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Ephesians 4:22-24, Romans 8:15-16

In The Good and Beautiful God , James Bryan Smith describes a new Christian he happened to know who came to him one day feeling dejected. He was so excited to be a follower of Jesus, but he just co...

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Out of the Center

Author

Michael Frost

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Scripture

Isaiah 26:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17, John 15:5, Colossians 3:3-4, Luke 9:23, Philippians 2:3-5, Romans 12:1-2

The word eccentric comes from a combination of the Greek terms ex (out of) and kentron (center). When combined, ekkentros means “out of center.” The term gained currency in the late Middle Ages, when ...

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Our sins had taken root deeply

Author

Charles Teixeira

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Scripture

1 Peter 1:23, John 15:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 2:13-14, Isaiah 1:18

Our sins had taken root deeply, down to the deepest soils of our hearts. Know that Christ has uprooted our sins to the last fiber, planting His Word of forgiveness that can never wither.

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Author

Curtis Hutson

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2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 John 3:9, James 2:17, Colossians 2:6-7, Titus 3:5-7

You don’t turn from sin to get saved. You get saved to turn from sin.

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Author

N. T. Wright

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Scripture

1 Peter 1:18-19, Romans 8:30, Colossians 1:13-14, Romans 5:1, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 1:7

Dealing with sin, saving humans from it, giving them grace, forgiveness, justification, glorification-all this was the purpose of the single covenant from the beginning, now fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

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Author

Emil Brunner

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Scripture

Romans 3:23-25, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:24, Ephesians 2:13-14, Colossians 1:19-20

Only at the cross of Christ does man see fully what it is that separates him from God; yet it is here alone that he perceives that he is no longer separated from God. Nowhere else does the inviolable ...

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Two Wrong-Headed Views of the Body

Author

Tish Harrison Warren

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Scripture

Genesis 1:31, 1 Timothy 4:4-5, Colossians 1:16, Romans 1:20, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 2 Corinthians 5:1

Christians are often accused of two wrong-headed views of the body. One is that we ignore the body in favor of a disembodied, spirits-floating-on-clouds spirituality. The other is that we are obsessed...

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Out of the depths of darkness and

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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Scripture

Psalm 130:null, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Acts 3:19, 1 John 2:12, Hebrews 10:17-18, Isaiah 43:25, Colossians 1:13-14

Out of the depths of darkness and despair we have cried out for your mercy, O God. Instead of marking our iniquities with the just weight of our condemnation, you have forgiven us, breathed new life i...

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A Debt We Couldn’t Pay Ourselves

Author

Jerry Bridges

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 2:13-14, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 1 Peter 1:18-19, Psalm 49:7-8, 2 Corinthians 5:15, John 8:36

Suppose I sell you a piece of commercial property on which I am already behind in my mortgage payments. You not only pay me a fair price for the property but also pay my overdue payments. Now the prop...

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Salvation From and For

Author

John Ortberg

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Scripture

John 10:10, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, Romans 5:9-10, Ephesians 2:8-10, Colossians 1:13-14

Being saved always involves being both saved from something and saved for something. We are saved for shalom—a flourishing life with God. What are we saved from? Salvation as described in the Bible is...

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Author

Michael Gorman

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Scripture

Romans 8:19-21, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, Philippians 3:20-21, Colossians 1:16-18, Revelation 21:, 2 Corinthians 5:17

Salvation in the New Testament is consistently portrayed not as escape from creation but as the redemption and transformation of creation.

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Loving Others Through God's Power

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:17-19, Matthew 6:14-15, Luke 15:11-32 , Colossians 3:12-14, Ephesians 4:31-32 , Romans 12:18, Genesis 33:1-4

Gracious God, we are sorry for withholding good things. We have offered judgment and held back mercy. We have kept comfortable and withheld justice. We have ignored cries for help. God we cannot love ...

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Hear the Good News. God sent his Son,

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 4:4, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:23, 1 John 1:9, Romans 8:1, Colossians 1:19-20

Hear the Good News. God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem us, free us, and make us children of God. In the Name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Glory to God! Amen.

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The Debt Must Be Paid

Author

Peter Kreeft

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 3:23-26, 1 Peter 2:24, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:13-14, Isaiah 53:5, Hebrews 9:22

Mercy goes beyond justice, it does not undercut it. If I forgive you the hundred dollar debt you owe me, that means I must use one hundred dollars of my own money to pay my creditors. I cannot really ...

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Embracing Forgiveness Through Christ's Love

Author

Laura B. Murray

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:17-19, Matthew 18:21-22, Luke 15:11-32, Ephesians 4:31-32, Colossians 3:12-14, Matthew 5:23-24, Philemon 1:15-16

Gracious God, through the forgiveness of Christ you hold nothing against us. In our pride, we have withheld forgiveness from others. In fear, we have chosen distance rather than relationship. Yet you ...

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Gracious God, we ask for Your

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 43:18-19, Hebrews 10:22, Colossians 3:10, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Titus 3:5, Psalm 51:10

Gracious God, we ask for Your forgiveness and receive it with joyful hearts. Renew our minds so that we may discern what is good. Fill us with Your Spirit so that we may be Your witnesses in the world...

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Author

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

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Scripture

Isaiah 53:4-6, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 8:1-3, Colossians 1:19-20, Exodus 12:1-30, Leviticus 16:, John 18:28-19

In Christ as sacrifice, God our judge is judged in our place, reveals our perpetration of and collaboration with sin, ends our rebellion, forgives our guilt, cleanses us, makes us righteous, and estab...

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God's Redemption Through His Son

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Scripture

John 1:14, Matthew 1:20-23, Luke 19:1-10 , Romans 5:8-11, Ephesians 1:7-10 , 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Colossians 1:13-20

O God, who looked on fallen humanity and planned to redeem us by the coming of your only-begotten Son, we ask that you ensure that all who confess his glorious incarnation will have fellowship with hi...

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Holy Spirit, you have come to reconcile

Author

Chip Hardwick

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:14-15, Ephesians 4:31-32, Colossians 3:12-13, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, Psalm 139:23-24, Matthew 18:21-35

Holy Spirit, you have come to reconcile us to each other, but we resist your work to bind us together. We hold onto grudges. Even though we know God has forgiven us in Jesus Christ, we are slow to for...

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Your Body

Author

Christopher West

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Scripture

Genesis 1:27, Genesis 1:31, 1 Timothy 4:4-5, Colossians 1:16, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 2 Corinthians 5:1

Think of your own experiences as a human being: your body is not just a “shell” in which you dwell. Your body is not just a body. Your body is not just any body. Your body is somebody—you! Through the...

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Author

Jonathan Walton

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Scripture

1 John 3:18, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, Micah 6:8, Galatians 6:2, James 1:22, Colossians 3:16, 2 Timothy 3:16-17

When we don’t meet Christ in Scripture and are not regularly being discipled by or discipling others, it is impossible to discern what being a Christian means or to cultivate a relationship with God. ...

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You have wonderfully created us, O God, and yet more wonderfully

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Scripture

Philippians 2:, Isaiah 7:14, Luke 2:1-20, Matthew 1:, Colossians 3:10, 1 John 3:1, 2 Corinthians 5:17

You have wonderfully created us, O God, and yet more wonderfully restored the dignity of human nature. Allow us to share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesu...

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Author

Watchman Nee

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Scripture

Galatians 5:24, Luke 15:11-32, Acts 9:1-19, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:3-4, Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:6-7

It is a fact that the Lord Jesus has already died for you. It is also a fact that you have already died with the Lord Jesus. If you do not believe in your death with Christ, you will not be able to re...

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Reading the Bible as Drama

Author

Brian Dembowczyk

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 4:9, Acts 19:29, 31, Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:6, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:22-24, Colossians 3:3-4, Matthew 5:14-16, Philippians 1:27, Romans 12:2

Kevin Vanhoozer draws on 1 Corinthians 4 to argue powerfully for reading and teaching the Bible as drama. As Paul talks about his apostolic ministry, he says this: “For, I think, God has exhibite...

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Author

G. K. Chesterton

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 1:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 5:8, Isaiah 53:5, Colossians 1:15-16, Philippians 2:6-8, John 1:14

[I]f we chose to project the human figure forward out of an unhuman world, we could only say that one of the animals had obviously gone mad.

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Author

Thomas à Kempis

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:15, Colossians 3:1-2, Romans 12:1, John 15:4-5, Philippians 3:7-8, Galatians 2:20, Matthew 6:33

Let this be thy whole Endeavour, this thy prayer, this thy desire, that thou mayest be stripped of all selfishness, and with entire simplicity follow Jesus only.

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Second Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Bud Thoreen

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, 2 Corinthians 4:13-18, 2 Corinthians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, Acts 9:1-18, Hebrews 12:2, Colossians 3:9-10

Preaching Commentary Besieged from All Angles The context of this passage is best summed up with the words recorded throughout the letter: Trouble, Distress, Suffering, Hardship, Death at work, Jar...

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The Reconciling Love of the Father

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:12-13, Romans 8:15-17, Galatians 4:4-5, Ephesians 2:12-13, Colossians 1:21-22, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

In her book Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home , Jen Pollock Michel reflects on the nature of home in a transient age. In this short excerpt, Michel reflects on the Biblical doctrine...

lectionary

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Author

Gabe Fung

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5, Revelation 21:2, 10, 22-27, Revelation 22:1-5, 1 Kings 6:20, Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 2:9, Genesis 3:23-24, Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15, Genesis 3:17-19, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Ephesians 6:5-9, Colossians 3:23, Genesis 1:26-27, Exodus 33:20-23, John 14:9, Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3, Mark 15:34, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Exodus 28:15-21, 29-30, John 4:13-14, John 7:37-38, Matthew 27:46, John 3:2, Romans 8:29

Preaching Commentary Pulling Back the Curtain The Revelation of Jesus Christ is a “pulling back of the curtain” to reveal both the unseen realities of the present (what is really going on in the wo...

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