Malcolm Cox

In today's quiet time coaching episode we look at Colossians 2:9-10 and the way in which fullness and spiritual growth compliment each other.

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

This week we explore what it means to be filled in Christ. How do we deal with discontentments and avoid the hollow promises of false religion and the world?

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

An occasional podcast where I process my thinking and feeling after the death of my mother earlier this year. Today I reflect upon the impact of my father’s visit to stay with us.

These recordings are unedited, but I hope their basic nature is not a distraction from the content.

My website contains some resources the grieving might find helpful: www.MalcolmCox.org.

Until the next time, please trust that although weeping may remain for the night, joy cometh in the morning.

Malcolm

After a long break I'm back with a quiet time coaching episode. Today I share some thoughts around what it means to have the ability to leave tomorrow behind so that we can "continue to live in him", Colossians 2:6. 

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

"My goal is..." Colossians 2:2

The Olympics in Tokyo. What a spectacle! Injuries, controversy, world records, teenagers and even pre-teens winning medals. 

Whether or not you find the Olympics interesting, it can't be denied that it is a spectacle. Many things are on view, but one of them is seeing people strive for a clear goal they have worked towards for many, many years. We see the race, the bout, the routine, the throw, but what we don't see is more significant. The pain, the sacrifice, the cost, the humility, the setbacks.

Watching the Olympics combined with studying Colossians chapter 2 has given me pause to think about my goals. My personal goals, my leadership goals, my family goals.

The apostle Paul was very clear about his goal for the church in Colossae:

“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2.2–3 NIV11)

His goals are for the benefit of others, not himself. He is entirely positive and hopeful about the spiritual growth of those to whom he is writing. What are our goals for our churches? And I don't just mean those of us who have leadership responsibility, but all of us. The congregations we belong to belong to all members. It's not enough for leaders to have goals, every participant in a congregation can have a goal for the group. What is yours? Is it as positive as Paul's? 

His goals were not numerical, nor structural, nor territorial. What wonderful words he uses here, "encouraged", "united", "love", "understanding", "know…Christ", "treasures". We know our goals when we listen to our own words. Are my conversations with other church members filled with words like those Paul uses here? If they were, perhaps we'd find ourselves "overflowing with thankfulness" (Colossians 2:7). What do I need more than anything else right now? Not a change of circumstances, or that COVID will suddenly go away, but an overflow of thankfulness inspired by Christ in me and in one another.

Goals may take many forms. Not even numerical goals are inherently sinful. However, all congregational goals must surely lead to Christ and be inspired by him. What could you do this week to develop a healthy Christ-centred spiritual goal for your congregation? Let me know what you think.

God bless, Malcolm

What does it mean to make the most of being 'in Christ'? How do we overflow with thankfulness? We investigate walking in Christ, roots, bricks, weights and jugs.

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6–7 NIV11)

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

In this class for the men of the Watford congregation, I reflect on the heart of the Apostle Paul and his goals for the ekklesia at Colossae.

We consider how to contend hard for one another's spiritual welfare, and what it means to help each other be united in love and the strength of Christ.

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

They say to be careful what you wish for. Sometimes we have to be careful not to hold on too tightly to what we wish for.

In the last few days God has repeated a lesson over and over again regarding change. I'm learning, and I think as congregations we are learning, how to handle the unexpected and instead become joyfully flexible. Let me give you four examples all of which happened in the last few days.

1. Wellington: The annual outdoor church service at Wellington country park was cancelled because of bad weather. You could hear the collective grown going up from the Thames Valley, Bristol and Watford churches as well as others who would normally have attended. We love that celebration, and looked forward to it so much because it symbolises something positive about coming out of lockdown. However, God had other plans.

2. Watford: My wife and I were going to be away from the Watford church service this weekend, but everything was in hand. Danny was going to lead the service and share the communion talk. However, one of his children contracted Covid, and the whole household are isolating. On top of that, a number of other families are away on holiday.

3. Family weekend:At the time of writing, Penny and I ought to be in the car on the road travelling north. It's Penny's father and stepmother's 40th wedding anniversary celebrations as well as her stepmother's 80th birthday celebrations this weekend. There is a gathering of the clans in the north of England and we are meant to be there. However, we learned last night that Penny came in contact with a patient who tested positive for Covid. We are awaiting the results of Penny's Covid test to see whether we need to isolate or not. In the meantime we are kicking our heels at home.

4. Colossians 2 notes: As you probably know, I'm teaching a class on Colossians chapter 2 at a conference next month (details below). Whilst I was on my spiritual retreat I spent many hours studying Colossians 2 and recording my own thoughts as well as those from commentaries and other Bible resources. Returning home at the weekend I synchronised all my Bible notes across my devices and promptly lost all the work I did last week. Some glitch in the software meant that those notes were unrecoverable. I spent many hours on the phone to the software company. They did their best, but no joy.

Each of these events caused me some angst. Truthfully, I was more than just frustrated about losing my Colossians 2 notes. I was angry. I'm not entirely sure it was righteous anger, either.

I felt rather like the two people who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus. When describing what had been happening, they said "we had hoped...". Such pathos in that phrase. They had hoped for something. As have I this week. God had a different and better plan for them, and I must trust that he has a different and a better plan for me and the people around me.

How have I found peace over these four sources of frustration?

I prayed over each one. Here's what I came up with. It might seem a little intellectual, but it works for me!

1. Wellington: We conducted the service on zoom. Part of my sermon included breakout rooms. Who's to say that some of the conversations that happened in those breakout rooms enabled spiritual breakthroughs for people which would otherwise not have happened if we'd met in the flesh.

2. Watford: It is entirely possible that what Osagie and Oge plan to share will have a greater impact on the people present then anything I or Danny would have managed. This is a tremendous opportunity for Osagie and Oge to serve, but also for the congregation to hear from different voices.

3. Family weekend: Perhaps we've been preserved from a serious accident on the motorway today. Certainly Penny and I will enjoy time together and possibly over the weekend if we need to continue to isolate.

4. Colossians 2: In going back over my commentaries and Bible resources for a second time perhaps I will see things that I missed the first time. I have the opportunity to deepen my thinking and understanding of a tremendous text. Whatever I might have forgotten in terms of personal insight, surely I can trust God to bring back to me if it truly matters.

God is, I believe, teaching me the joy of flexibility. It's a bit like acknowledging that when we are weak we are strong because then it's the strength of God which works through us and not our own. When my hopes are compromised it allows God to do something which I would not have anticipated.  I get to stand back and observe his grace in action.

Have you had some disappointments this week? Can you see the way in which God might use the change of circumstances and plans for his glory and the benefit of his kingdom? Even if you can't see it, by the eyes of faith we can trust him that his plan is a good one. He will bring good out of frustration, disappointment and inconvenience.

“Unity to all things” | Class 4 | What have Sundays to do with the mission?

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“A vaccine for life” | Revelation 22v3-6 | Malcolm Cox

“A new thing” | Post-COVID church | Episode 9 – “We had hoped”

God bless, Malcolm

A sermon for the Watford and Thames Valley churches of Christ.

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community.

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

The fourth and final class in this series as we rethink why we gather on Sundays. Today we look at the significance of the mission.

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community.

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [email protected].

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)

God bless, Malcolm