Month: May 2025

fellowship group

It Is About Kingdom Community

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Colossians 3:1-17 is one of my favorite passages in the bible. It’s hard to think of other passages that describe what it means to be a disciple of Jesus so well. It reminds me of the Sermon on the Mount, and it is about kingdom community! Today we are looking at Col. 3:12-15: “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.” (NLT) In Col. 3:10 Paul directed Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

We Have True Life – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. ” John 10:10-11 (NIV). In this passage Jesus is explaining who he is to the Pharisees. Obviously, they had a life so they might have wondered why Jesus said that he came so his sheep could have life. Therefore, we understand that the life he gives us, his sheep, is not the same life that the rest of the world has. We have true life. It is a different life. It is a life with fullness, with depth, with meaning, with fulfillment. Then Jesus says he is the good shepherd, and in John 10 he has been explaining how he is a shepherd. I have to think that this made everyone there think about Psalm 23, which starts out ” The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, Continue Reading →

communism, marx, communist

Jesus Promises The Ideal Society

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In the 19th century Karl Marx and Frederick Engels presented their strategy for producing the ideal society. It begins by the workers overthrowing the merchant class (“bourgeoisie”), by force if necessary. The workers then confiscate all the private property of the merchants and others. At the end of chapter two of the Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels claim this will lead to a society where “the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.” Of course we object to their strategy but their goal wasn’t that far from what Christians hope for. We too await the day when everyone will be free to use the gifts God gave them. It seems God has put this desire for the ideal society into the hearts of humans so that we instinctively know it is the proper destiny for humanity. Thus, this desire for the ideal society is still alive. Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

We Know The Truth – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32, ESV). He also said that he was the “truth” (John 14:6) and that “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36, ESV). Knowing Jesus means that we know the truth, that he is from the Father and he is the Savior. We find truth in Jesus’ teachings, for he said: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63, ESV). Believing his words allows us to experience true life, which sets us free from sinfulness, which is the power that enslaves us. “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34, ESV). As we know the truth and walk by his Spirit, we walk in growing freedom from sinfulness and freedom for goodness. We are also free from the influence of this Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

Drinking Living Water – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14, ESV) Jesus promises that he will give water that produces never-ending life to those who believe in him. A few sentences earlier Jesus referred to his water as “living water” (John 4:10). When we are drinking living water we will never thirst to find God again because we have found him. This water is like a spring flowing up out of the ground that just keeps flowing, and for us it is a flow of the true life God originally intended for us. Sometimes we can’t feel it but it is the place deep inside where we desire God. This is where his Spirit dwells and where we have a new self, made Continue Reading →