LIVING THE NEW LIFE

 

LIVING THE NEW LIFE Colossians 3:1-17 NLT 1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. 5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. 12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. 16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Colossians 3:1-17 New Living Translation

 

DO NOT ABANDON THE FAITH

 

DO NOT ABANDON THE FAITH When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8 Jesus predicted that a great time of Deception would happen during the end times. In fact, he told his disciples that deception would be the first major sign of the end: As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.” Matthew 24:3-4 For false messiahs and false prophets will arise, and they will give great signs so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand. Matthew 24:24-25 Jesus predicted that the era of deception would be so powerful, everyone on earth would be deceived in some way or other. Jesus said that only the "elect" would escape the great time of deception, and even some of those would be at risk. Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars; whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. 1 Timothy 4:1-2 Have you thought about it this way: if you have abandoned faith in Christ, then you ARE deceived. There are no other options for truth. In Isaiah 45:5 we are told, "I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God." Most people abandon Jesus by ignoring him completely. They figure what they don't know won't hurt them; which is just one more Deception that people fall into. So how do we fix this problem? The same God who loves us, who sent Jesus to die for us, who is preparing a home in heaven for us… THIS God wants us to find TRUTH. He wants us to be part of His family, forever! “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” Romans 10:13 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6

 

COFFEE THOUGHTS

 

COFFEE THOUGHTS Gerald D Hochstetler Jr. Sip… I'm sitting here this happy morning, sipping, and I'm thinking. There's a lot to think about when you are my age. I think about the life that has been lived. I think about my wife, the kids, they're all grown moved out and living their lives. I think of my failures, they were many. I think of my victories. As I sit here and try to think from an eternal perspective, I really do believe my losses turned out to be my greatest gains. My failures turned out to my wins. Yes, even my sins. What I thought was keeping me FROM God, turns out to have been what caused me to run to Him. It all caused me to despair from my natural inclination to try and save myself, and call on His name. And God knows how long and desperately I worked trying to save myself. This is all by God’s design. God is very smart. Yes, He surely is! Gerald D Hochstetler Jr. #coffeethoughts on Facebook Used with Permission

 

LORD OF THE HARVEST

 

LORD OF THE HARVEST Study of Revelation Continued REVELATION 14.14 I looked, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud one sitting like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 14.15 Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Send your sickle, and reap; for the hour to reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe!” 14.16 He who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. -WEB Bible. REVELATION 14.17 Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. 14.18 Another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Send your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for the earth’s grapes are fully ripe!” 14.19 The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.  -WEB Bible. As the Tribulation draws to a close, there will be two harvests to bring in. First, there is the wheat harvest, which is the good crop. John the Baptist predicted this harvest and described Jesus as the fierce "Lord of the Harvest" who would burn away the worthless chaff and save the valuable wheat (Luke 3:16). Jesus made a similar prediction during his ministry. LUKE 3:16 John answered them all, saying, "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." And now, in Revelation we learn there will also be a grape harvest, which will go into the winepress. The harvest of the grapes is a metaphor for the great army of Armageddon, which will be slaughtered when Christ returns. Revelation doesn’t go into graphic detail about the battle of Armageddon, but the metaphor gives a very grim idea of it. The next five chapters of Revelation will describe all the significant events that happen when Christ returns. The harvest of wheat and grapes is only part of it. Study of Revelation Continues on Thursdays IMAGE CREDIT: Wheat harvest and grapes harvest, AI images by ChatGPT Dall-E3.

 

CHRIST IS SUPREME

 

CHRIST IS SUPREME Colossians 1:15-23 NLT Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. Colossians 1:15-23 NLT