Serving Others

A couple of months back, I was serving at a BREATHE event for the special needs community (which happens every third Friday of the month) and had to serve in a rather unpleasant way.  Someone came to the event and got sick; Rebecca Hamilton and I found ourselves scrubbing the carpet on our hands and knees.  Certainly there was nothing glorious in this ministry!  

True, all ministry that exalts Jesus brings glory to Jesus.  But this seemed like a very distant connection to the Spirit’s empowering presence.  For months I missed it—I was where I belonged before God: on my hands and knees.  I was serving with another, in community.  And I was serving the least of these (at least by this world’s standards).  

Ministry is sometimes behind-the-scenes.  Ministry is sometimes grimy.  But there is no doubt that God saw this small act, and all of the other unnoticed acts that go on inside and outside our building, and it pleased Him.  Serving others, even in the small things, is one more way to worship Christ!

Doctrine

I hear people say things all the time in reaction to abuses or misuses.  One of these reactions is to the issue of doctrine in the church.  Maybe it was because some major argument broke out in the church over a secondary issue and it ended up dividing the church.  Perhaps it is because we have bought into the idea that if it is connected with faith, such knowledge is more one’s preference or belief than it is truth.  

The letter to the Colossians is intent on changing our minds about things that are truly important to know.  And the applications have less to do with how to act and much more to do with how to think!  

Think hard about what Paul says to us in this great letter to the church: think about Christ, think about what it means to connect with God, think about what the ministry truly is!

Everything You Need

I am so excited as we begin this new series on Colossians!  The more I have thought about a healthy church and spiritual formation, the more I have gravitated to this small letter to a church that Paul had not even met yet!

I challenge you to spend the next six weeks working diligently through this all-important letter in the New Testament.  You will find amazing theological truths that allow scholars to ruminate and ponder the mysteries of God.  You will find practical advice for your home life and your life in the community in which you live.  And you will find the heart of a person who is sold out for God, writing from prison in order to bolster the faith of His spiritual family.