March 16, 2024 THE HOPE OF GLORY
Colossians 1:25-27 “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of then glory of this ministry among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, then hope of glory.”
God has chosen to reveal, to a certain group of people, a mystery that was hidden from past generations. This mystery has been revealed to those who know Him as their Lord and Savior. It is evidently possible for one to know God as Savior, yet not in a real way experience or understand that Christ is living in them; they may believe it in their minds, but yet not experience it. The mystery that Paul is referring to is that Christ lives IN us; and He is our hope. Christ living in us makes all the difference; because He is in us, we can experience His life rather than our life. Christ living us means we view life differently; we see situations and circumstances-and everything-from His perspective. Our view of life and the understanding of our purpose is bigger than life viewed from a human viewpoint. Because He is in us, we are overcomers, we are light, we have wisdom, and we are expressions of the fruit of the Spirit. His presence means we have no fear of death; it means that all things work together for our good; it means we can love our enemies. God is a giver, and because He is in us, we are givers. But perhaps greatest of all is that even though we have trials on this earth, we have a sure and steadfast hope in the inheritance that God has reserved for those who belong to Him. I pray that we will continue to understand in greater degrees what it means for Christ to be in us-it is a mystery that has been revealed, but it is also continually being revealed. As mentioned above, some believers have not come to a place where they have experienced the reality of Christ living in them; and that is not condemning. But, it should be in our hearts to discover what it means for Christ to be in us and how that impacts everything about our lives-and in fact makes us new. There is a growing in the faith and a maturing in the Lord; that implies that there is a part we play in our spiritual growth. Our part is to seek Him first and to learn of Him; and the primary way of learning of Him is to read and study His word. In Galatians 4:19-20, Paul said it was it desire, and his ministry, to see Christ formed in the those who were believers. Let it be our greatest desire for Chris to be formed us; He is in us, now let us discover our new identity we have in Him—-and I mean NEW identity!
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Blessings, Buddy
Colossians 1:25-27 “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of then glory of this ministry among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, then hope of glory.”
God has chosen to reveal, to a certain group of people, a mystery that was hidden from past generations. This mystery has been revealed to those who know Him as their Lord and Savior. It is evidently possible for one to know God as Savior, yet not in a real way experience or understand that Christ is living in them; they may believe it in their minds, but yet not experience it. The mystery that Paul is referring to is that Christ lives IN us; and He is our hope. Christ living in us makes all the difference; because He is in us, we can experience His life rather than our life. Christ living us means we view life differently; we see situations and circumstances-and everything-from His perspective. Our view of life and the understanding of our purpose is bigger than life viewed from a human viewpoint. Because He is in us, we are overcomers, we are light, we have wisdom, and we are expressions of the fruit of the Spirit. His presence means we have no fear of death; it means that all things work together for our good; it means we can love our enemies. God is a giver, and because He is in us, we are givers. But perhaps greatest of all is that even though we have trials on this earth, we have a sure and steadfast hope in the inheritance that God has reserved for those who belong to Him. I pray that we will continue to understand in greater degrees what it means for Christ to be in us-it is a mystery that has been revealed, but it is also continually being revealed. As mentioned above, some believers have not come to a place where they have experienced the reality of Christ living in them; and that is not condemning. But, it should be in our hearts to discover what it means for Christ to be in us and how that impacts everything about our lives-and in fact makes us new. There is a growing in the faith and a maturing in the Lord; that implies that there is a part we play in our spiritual growth. Our part is to seek Him first and to learn of Him; and the primary way of learning of Him is to read and study His word. In Galatians 4:19-20, Paul said it was it desire, and his ministry, to see Christ formed in the those who were believers. Let it be our greatest desire for Chris to be formed us; He is in us, now let us discover our new identity we have in Him—-and I mean NEW identity!
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Blessings, Buddy
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