Brothers and sisters.. you fully belong to the Father.  You have full rights and privileges of being close to him as your Father.  And you have Christ in you right now… which is your God-given confidence of all the glory you will share with him in the future.

The Apostle Paul was an amazing minister of the gospel. His life and ministry were marked by joyful suffering and deep love for the Church, a pattern he learned from the ultimate gospel minister, Jesus Christ.

Our natural state as humans is to be enemies and aliens of God, cut off from him until Christ reconciles us back to God by his life, death, and resurrection. Paul then encourages the Colossians to endure in the faith that was taught to them by continuing to trust in Christ by faith and not moving into the performative religion of the false teachers.

Jesus is so much more than simply our King and Savior… so much more. Rejoice in Jesus for his Saving. Rejoice in Jesus for his amazing leading. Now learn to Rejoice in Jesus for his nature and glory.

Our Father, the creator of the universe, has given to us a great treasure in his holy, living word. In this lesson starting in 2 Timothy 3:16 we look at why we should trust God’s word, why we should delight in God’s word, and why we should cherish God’s word.

Our amazing, adopting Father is continuing his saving work. He has children

scattered abroad. That is his mission.. and therefore.. that is ours.

In week 2 of our Vision series, we look at how, because of the gospel, God adopts us into his family. We now seek to live life together in light of the reality that God has provided for us as we walk in our new identity as his children.

The Gospel brings us to a new worldview. There is power and joy and peace found as we begin to see things as they are by the light of the gospel.

The eternal plan was for the Messiah to use his suffering to accomplish forgiveness and righteousness for all who would follow Him in order to bring them to Himself to experience and be part of the satisfaction of Christ.

In this second week of our Advent series, we look at how the promise of the messiah has been unfolding since the beginning of history and how Jesus was the perfect completion and fulfillment of all the promises of God.