The church happens when I discover that Jesus is really in me. As I abide, stay and enjoy His life in me His love -life fills my whole being. A longing rises up in me to gather with likeminded saints where His life overflows into our meeting. When the church is simply Christ, The church simply emerges. Amen.

Paul says “for this cause since we heard of it” (1:9). What is the it? Paul heard about their faith, their hope, and their love. According to revelation in I Corinthians 13 what is the greatest of these three? Love! "Now there abide faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13) Specifically the “it” that Paul is referring to is the love in the Spirit we see in verse 8. This is huge, because this initiates in Paul a desire to pray for the Saints in Colossae without ceasing!

This love in the spirit is the foundational root and building block of the church. "That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love," (Ephesians 3:17).

Paul is excited to hear that they are living out of their spirit and that love is its manifestation. Seeing and understanding this revelation means the saints in Colossae we’re getting to their spirit and Christ was making home in their hearts. His love was overflowing and this formed the church.

This is so significant for all the churches. Actually, if there is no love in the Spirit in the churches, the church becomes lifeless. There is no way to go forward in the church. We settle for something religious, social or commercial in the way we meet or operate. Genuine Salvation is present, Doctrine is spoken, the good works are there, there’s an eschewing of evil practices, Jesus is named, and even the gifts may be there. But Is there Love in the Spirit?

Now it is your turn: The church happens when you discover that Jesus is really in you. As you abide, stay and enjoy His life in you, His love -life fills your whole being. A longing rises up in you to gather with likeminded saints where His life overflows into your meeting. When the church is simply Christ, The church simply emerges. Amen

May the Lord give us an Epaphras in all of our fellowships. A brother or sister, who always brings us to Jesus, as the answer to all things.

The highlight of his testimony was that the Saints in Colossae demonstrated love in the Spirit. This church did not have the problems that Paul addressed in many of the others in his letters, but praise the Lord for this dear brother, who intercedes on behalf of the Saints, seeks Pauls counsel that other things would not creep in and nullify their life in Christ.

"Even as you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, Who also has made known to us your love in the Spirit." (Colossians 1:7-8)

"And I have made Your name known to them and will yet make it known, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:26)

"No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is (continuous action) always in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (John 1:18)

"And He said, Abba Father, all things are possible to You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will." (Mark 14:36)

"Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed."(Mark 1:35)

"For you have not received a spirit of slavery bringing you into fear again, but you have received a spirit of sonship in which we cry, Abba, Father!" (Romans 8:15)

"And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!" (Galatians 4:6)

Paul’s prayer for Ephesian saints:

"That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, May be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are And to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. But to Him who is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which operates in us," (Ephesians 3:16-20)

Jesus, to the church in Ephesus:

"I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love." (Revelation 2:4)

Besides grace as the beginning and ending of all of Paul’s epistles, here are some other verses that share how that Grace is to be the constant supply of the church:

John 1:16

And of his fullness we have received, grace upon grace.

Acts 6:8 (NLT)

Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.

Acts 20:32 (NLT)

“And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.

Acts 13:43 (NLT)

Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God.

Acts 20:32 (NLT)

“And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.

Romans 5:20 (NLT)

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.

Romans 5:21 (NLT)

So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:14 (NLT)

Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

1 Corinthians 15:10 (NLT)

But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me--and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.

2 Corinthians 1:12 (NLT)

We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have lived with a God-given holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God’s grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world, and especially toward you.

2 Corinthians 8:9 (NLT)

You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NLT)

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)

So let us come boldly to the throne of grace. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

2 Peter 3:18 (NLT)

Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.

Revelation 22:21 (NLT)

May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people.

"And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality. … For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:14-17)

Paul declares us all as Saints, holy ones, concentrated ones, made to contain Gods treasure- Christ! Then he says to us “Grace to you”

This is how he begins all 13 epistles, with grace. Specifically, to all the churches, he says “grace to you.” Also, in all 13 epistles, he ends by saying, “Grace be with you . This is not an accident or just a Pauline characteristic. This is Gods word to the church.

Grace is certainly Gods unmerited favor or as God’s riches at Christ expense, but these are only doctrinal definitions. John chapter 1 tells us how the disciples saw grace. Upon watching Jesus they concluded that He was the expression of Gods glory. What did they see? Jesus was full of grace and reality. This means they just weren’t seeing Jesus demonstrate grace, but they were seeing Grace itself. God’s life was in all the living of Jesus. Jesus was the gift of Gods life for mankind and they were witnessing this Jesus living the Fullness of Gods Life on earth. Then John goes on to say we also have received this Fullness. This grace Jesus, lived Gods life perfectly on the Earth, went to the cross, resurrected, ascended, and then this Grace was plunged into our spirit upon salvation. We received the Fullness! Amen. We are saints! We have been made containers of this treasure called Grace (Jesus ) and we are made to continue enjoying this Grace upon Grace.This Grace never stops. And unlike the law that condemns us Grace is our constant supply of His life.

Now Paul, the faithful steward, says, Grace to you. He says this to all of the churches. He is saying that all the saints in all the churches with all their unique problems and situations, need to enjoy the same continual supply—Grace! And so while addressing, for example the problems of Corinth, the circumstances of the Galatians, or the cultural conflicts in Colossae., what he is actually dispensing to all of the churches is Grace! Grace to you! Whether it takes three chapters, six chapters, 16 chapters, etc. he supplies the Saints with Grace.

Then, at the end of all the epistles, he says, “Grace be with you, or Grace be with your spirit! “ This means what I just shared with you, Grace (Christ) let it just stay with you, dwell in you, fill you, permeate you, and flow out of you! Grace be with you says “Stay in the realm of this grace, this Christ, that I just shared as a faithful steward to you” Amen.

Saints, this is not simply Paul’s letters that were given to ancient churches, but this is the Grace and reality, the Fullness that Paul is supplying the churches today. That the churches must express today. May we take this grace presented by Paul and may this grace, just Christ, simply stay with us in these last days. We need such a word. “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen. (Revelation 22:21)

"To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours:" (1 Corinthians 1:2)

I use this verse because we know the church of Corinth is famous for its many problems. Even in Corinth Paul calls them the Saints.

The word Saint literally means holy ones, sanctified ones consecrated ones. We have been set apart, uniquely, and only for God to use. We are containers of the treasure of God, which is Christ in us.

We often read the Bible religiously , hermeneutically and doctrinally, and we study and consider the way Paul greets believers, and the way he concludes his epistles that it’s just the way he writes his letters. No! This is the word of God to the churches from the apostle that had the vision that reveals to us God’s unique desire for the church today. We are not merely reading letters from Paul, we are reading the word of God from God through Paul to the churches. And remembering that all these writings are based upon his revelation that God gave to him in Damascus . So for Paul to say “to the Saints in Colossae” is not merely a greeting.

In the New Testament, saint is use 61 times , one time in the gospel, two times by Jude, 14 times in the book of revelation and the rest are exclusively associated with Paul’s epistles or experiences, such as in Acts. Paul takes this word saint, which means a holy one of God, and makes it common for all believers! It is first used in Acts chapter 9, where Paul is blind after seeing Jesus on the road to Damascus. Ananias is told to go help Paul and Ananias says, “but Lord he’s the one persecuting the Saints in Jerusalem” As if to say, now, “he’s here to persecute saints like me in Damascus! “ After Paul’s revelation, he takes this word saint, this sacred word, and makes it common to all receivers of Christ.

He applies this word to whatever location believers are found. Colossae, Corinth, Rome, Philippi, etc. you are saints wherever you are located! Does not matter your location or situation, it does not matter where you are geographically, what era you are in, the environment you are in, the mess you got yourself into, it matters not, if Christ is in you than you are the Saints . This word is not in the realm of religion, or high spirituality or of ones personal accomplishment. It is simply in the realm of who we are and wherever we are! This is who we are in Christ Jesus. Now, with this revelation, Paul can build and speak to all the churches, he can speak to us, no matter who we are, or where we are, if we can realize this, that Christ is in us and this has made us Saints unto God! Paul has a way to move forward. Amen.

"Christ…His Body, which is the church; "Of which I became a minister according to the stewardship of God, which was given to me for you, to complete the word of God," (Colossians 1:25)

Note what Paul says, at the end of this verse: he says that what he was sharing to the churches as Gods faithful steward to be the completion of the word of God. It wasn’t that his word was the final word, but as far as the church was concerned, this was all that the church needed to complete the word of God during the church age before Christ return. This revelation was enough! There is nothing else needed in this church age to fulfill Gods desire for what the church ought to to! This should sober His church. That’s an awesome thought! Paul’s words to the saints is finality on this matter. We do not need new revelations or further evolution regarding the way the church goes further. What God gave Paul for the church to hear completes His Word in this matter. This also implies that our participation and living according to this revelation verifies the completed word regarding the church. We, the church, are to be a testimony on earth of God’s eternal goal today. Think of it! Paul like a good steward completes the written word regarding the church as simply His body on earth, and then we, through faith, complete the expressive word as we walk in it. What can we add or what does the church need outside of Paul’s revelation? Nothing. We become His masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10) meaning His composition, His finished work of art that’s expressing Him. Yes, there will be a future appreciation of that masterpiece But that’s another age. We are to be his masterpiece on the Earth for the world to see in this age! The New Man on earth today is his masterpiece. Let us walk simply in that, today, and not be beguiled by anything else. Amen

"But I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your thoughts would be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity toward Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3)

"Christ…His Body, which is the church; Of which I became a minister according to the stewardship of God," (Colossians 1:24-25)

"Here, furthermore, it is sought in stewards that one be found faithful. A man should account us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God." (1 Corinthians 4:1-2)

Praise the Lord, for Paul’s, unique apostleship, and this apostleship was manifested through Paul’s faithful stewardship. A steward dispenses the family wealth. We certainly live in a wealthy family, the household of God, and our primary riches are Christ himself. Paul’s burden as the steward of God was to dispense the riches of Christ to all the members but also to teach the body of Christ how they can enjoy all the riches. We enjoy the riches of Christ in everything, in whatsoever we do in word or deed, doing all to the glory of God as we experience Christ as our life between all the members to where we simply live in the realm of the new man which is the church. The church should be an environment where you find Christ as all and see Him in all. This is the reality of the New Testament church that is under the stewardship of God. May we all be faithful stewards enjoying Him in all our living and dispensing Him to one another.

"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." (Acts 26:14)

"…I persecuted them (saints) even as far as foreign cities." (Acts 26:11)

"And I persecuted this Way unto death, binding and delivering to prisons both men and women," (Acts 22:4)

By looking at these verses, we can see the connection between persecuting Jesus, and persecuting the Saints. The persecuting “Me” is the persecution of believers. This is a Revelation we all need to see. It will truly revive our fellowship and change our living. This is the revelation that was the basis of Paul’s apostleship. To the Colossians he urges them to see that Christ is their life. He is in them as the hope of glory, and their understanding and experience of this produces the new man where Christ is the head and is all and in all. To practically experience this in our fellowship would be quite a transformation. It was quite a transformation for Saul or Paul to see this truth. Previously, he had tortured many believers before he was headed toward Damascus. Evidently his conscience was spoken to, but He kept kicking against the pricks of God, and he would not listen. So finally, God gets his attention to see this magnificent truth. Deep inside, all along he was pricked as God was speaking to him, and kicked at His speaking’s, but on the road to Damascus he stops kicking and sees Christ. This vision qualified him for his distinct apostleship, and his epistles unveil his ministry for all believers to see this identical vision of Christ and the church. If you see this truth that Paul saw as you go through Colossians you are going to come under a conviction in your consciousness as a believer. This conviction will be to live in the reality of what the church really is. To make this transition cost Paul everything. For you to live in the realm of this revelation, brother, sister will cost you, if you ignore it, you are likely kicking against the pricks. It is far too easy to just stay in the realm of our religious understanding of the church. But what the Lord requires is a living out of the church where he is everything to us until the new man is visible in our midst. May the Lord urge us, and may we respond: Amen Lord, whatever you want, whatever it takes for you to be all and in all. Here I am!

Do you know the significance of the apostles.? Sent ones, directly by Christ, who personally bore witness of Christ in his living, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his ascension. Such were the 12 minus Judas and their testimony as apostles. Now Paul, on the other hand, has a unique apostleship. His claim and testimony of apostleship however, is legit, he refers to his apostleship and defends it, no less than 20 times in the scriptures. His apostleship was directly related to the vision he saw on the road to Damascus. He then received a vision of the resurrected Christ, and he received a vision of the church. It is that vision that riveted his entire life. He told Agrippa that to date he had not been disobedient unto that revelation throughout his whole ministry. Paul is uniquely an apostle to the church to declare the reality of who Jesus Christ is, our very life to be expressed and known as the body as we hold the head, that we might present the new man on earth today before Christ return. This is the Revelation given clearly to Paul and it is the heart of his apostleship. Seeing it will revive you and your fellowship in these last days. Here are a few verses declaring his apostleship: "Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?" "If to others I am not an apostle, yet surely I am to you; for you in the Lord are the seal of my apostleship." (1 Corinthians 9:1-2) "Paul, a called apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God," (1 Corinthians 1:1) "Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead)," (Galatians 1:1) "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope," (1 Timothy 1:1) "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy the brother," (Colossians 1:1) "For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain, but, on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me. And last of all He appeared to me also, as it were to one born prematurely." (1 Corinthians 15:9-8)

God has a clear desire throughout time. He wants to put his life in man that man might have uninterrupted fellowship with him. Like an arrow He has shot this out from eternity past, and He will surely reach his mark in the future. In the garden, we see the tree of life was planted. Satan entered into the world to stop Gods desire. God then gave an altar and a lamb to man that through sacrifice, Life with God could be enjoyed. Then the law and the tabernacle were provided to his people, Israel. He eventually gave them a land with a city, Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem there is a Temple, where man can come and bring a sacrifice, and have life with God. All of this was according to God’s eternal timeline. There was no deviation on His part. Ultimately He gave them the reality of it all -the Messiah , yet many of God’s people rejected him. They deviated. But God‘s purpose kept flying straight on through Christ Jesus through the cross, nullifying sin and Satan. Then through his resurrection, his ascension and the dispensing of Himself into mankind through the Holy Spirit Christ’s life was deposited. Now in the church there is the opportunity to enjoy Christ as our life (Colossians 3:4). When the members of the body choose to enjoy Christ as their life What do we have ? The new man! (Colossians 3:10-11). The new man is where Christ is the head and we all are enjoying his life in all things. Christ is all and end all! This life then is flowing in the Body between all the members. This is what God desires, and this is what we should be after. Everything else is a deviation from that straight line that was shot out from eternity past. This is how we watch and make ourselves ready in these last days. Now this line is still flying straight through the church expressing the New Man. Then there will be a rapture, a tribulation, a bringing the remnant of Israel into this new man, when Christ comes again. And then into the millennium, where this new man will visibly reign with Christ as our Head. This arrow will land finally in God’s eternal target, which is the new Jerusalem! He will reach his mark. Christ in you becoming your all your living will manifest as the new man, and the new man will eventually be manifested as the new Jerusalem where God will hit His target, He will come down and dwell with us and we will share His life and enjoy God as our Father in this family forever. Amen!