Monday – April 25, 2016
Praise the Lord it is Monday and time to receive God’s Word once again. If we have a sour look on our face like this little boy, take it captive and put a smile in its place for we are the children of God. The Word of God is like a supercharged food for our soul. It renews our mind so that our thoughts and subsequently our words and actions become more Godly. It does not crowd out the devils ideas we must take them captive and cast them out with full recognition they are false.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (HCSB)
3 For though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, 4 since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments 5 and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ.
Now let us return to our primary text in Colossians.
Colossians 2:6-8 (KJV)
6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
I have been discussing how we are saved by faith and we walk and grow in Him by faith.
Ephesians 2:8 (KJV)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Like in natural ground the deeper the roots go the better and more consistent the water (Word of God) supply and the more stable the tree (you and me). People cannot see our root system but they can see our walk and so indirectly our root system is appreciated. As we worked through our primary text passage we found that thanksgiving or the giving of thanks is fundamental to this whole process either the determinate or a main determinate of our abounding in faith, the rooting process, and the expression of Jesus through us. Before we move into the next Scriptural passage let’s take a look at the definition or synonyms for the word thanks. To be thankful, say thank you, or give thanks (thanksgiving) is to have appreciation, recognize another, recognize an obligation, to acknowledge, to give credit, to have gratitude, and to recognize a source of benefit. So to Whom are we thankful, to Whom do we say thanks? Who do we appreciate, Who do we recognize as our source? To Whom do we have an obligation; Who do we acknowledge; Who do we give credit to for being new creations? Who are we grateful too, and to Whom do we ascribe all of our benefits? In a Word, JESUS!!!!
The following passage comes after a lengthy discussion by the Apostle Paul of the centrality of the resurrection of Jesus to our salvation, our hope. Because Jesus was raised from the dead (born again) not only spiritually but physically so do we have that same reality, that hope available to us. We not only can be born from death to life spiritually (born again, saved) now in this life but eternally and we shall be born from this physical body of corruption to incorruption just like Jesus. I want to make a distinction in our thinking here before I move on with regard to being raised from the dead and the resurrection. To be raised from the dead like Lazarus is simply the restoration of this natural life only to die again. When one is resurrected they receive an incorruptible body that cannot die like Jesus. Jesus was not raised from the dead he was resurrected from the physical dead. These terms are commonly used interchangeably and they are not interchangeable if one wants to be accurate and convey the correct message. Now, to the following secondary text.
1 Corinthians 15:57-58 (KJV)
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
The victory that is being talked about in verse fifty-seven is victory over natural death we already have victory over spiritual death in Christ Jesus. To God be all the glory (all attributed goodness). However there are many other things that because of Jesus we have victory over because of His provision of Grace in our lives.
By Pastor David R. Wood
