July 16, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Reflecting the Original Nature | Colossians 3:10b-17

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July 16, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Reflecting the Original Nature | Colossians 3:10b-17

Reflecting the Original Nature
Col.3:10B-5-17

In today's text, Paul will begin to build upon the same foundation from which he instructed the Colossians to unclothe themselves from the dead sinful practices of their past sinful nature. He presents this argument based upon the result of the work of Christ presented in the first four verses of this chapter: ‘Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col.3:1-4). He begins his discussion here with the words of v.10 “put on the new self, which "is being renewed....” We see in this not an instruction on how to start acting in a more righteous manner in order to become renewed, but due to the completed, redemptive work of Christ, the Colossian believer, and we, can act in a righteous manner, recognizing and then reflecting the very nature of God in Christ.

July 9, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Putting off the Old Nature | Colossians 3:5-10a

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July 9, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Putting off the Old Nature | Colossians 3:5-10a

Putting off the Old Nature
Colossians 3:5-10a

Paul moves into a discussion about sin and sanctification in this next section. On the one hand, we must put off sin, and on the other hand, we must put on righteousness. The focus is not upon human effort expended in order to rid ourselves of sinful behavior or to add to our being a new force of righteousness. It is not a process of our effort and then God’s response. We are not commanded to do in order to receive. It is not action and then reaction. Paul sets this entire section in the context of what he has so clearly outlined in the first section. At the cross, Jesus Christ overcame and put on display the philosophies and practice of the world which so fully occupied our thoughts and actions. He has fully unmasked their deception and by His death and resurrection, destroyed their wickedness. He has both fully redeemed (bought or purchased) our broken nature, our sin nature, and forgiven us of the sins which have come out of that nature. As stated so powerfully already: “19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace (with) through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel” (Col.1:19-23). “1And again: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col.3:1-4).

Today we will explore how this action takes place– from the indicative act of Christ, we can imperatively act toward our world and ourselves.

July 2, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | The Calling to Death and Life | Colossians 3:1-4

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July 2, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | The Calling to Death and Life | Colossians 3:1-4

The Calling to Death and Life
Col.3:1-4

In this text Paul is signaling a transition from the theological section of the letter to the practical teachings. Much like how he later organizes his letter to the Ephesians, he will build the practical applications from solid theological truths. This is an important principle. So often we seek to live our lives from circumstance to circumstance. It things go well, we feel we are in God’s will. If we enter into struggles or trials, then we sometimes feel we have been abandoned by the Lord. The objective reality is that God has revealed His will through His person and through the person of Jesus Christ. We adjust our life experience to the nature and attributes of God. There is no greater security than in holding fast to God’s view of the dynamics of this world and interpreting them from His divine viewpoint. As the scripture reveals, God is working for our greatest good and His greatest glory (Rom.8:28). Paul looks back on the theological foundations he has set in the first two chapters in order to demonstrate that theology always plays itself out in the relationships of life.

June 25, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Things that Deceive: The Jewish Influence | Colossians 2:16-23

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June 25, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Things that Deceive: The Jewish Influence | Colossians 2:16-23

Things that Deceive: The Jewish Influence
Col.2:16-23

In the previous verse (2:15), Paul comes to the conclusion and confession that in Christ, all the pagan frauds of authority have been exposed and disarmed. This conclusion was used to silence the influence of the pagan Roman philosophies and practices. In this current text, Paul will address the second, yet equally influential syncretistic influence to the Colossian Church: the Jewish influence. He opens his exhortation with a discussion of Jewish legalistic food laws being imposed upon these new believers by the false (non-eschatological, non-new age) Jewish ideology which he found both in Corinthian and Roman churches. His opening “Therefore,” is there for the repudiation of the Jewish legalistic influence based on the same foundation as the previous Roman pagan discussion: Christ is supreme over all philosophies and practices! As Paul concludes: “And (in Him - v.11), having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col.2:15).

June 18, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | The Unimpeachable Authority of Christ | Colossians 2:9-15

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June 18, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | The Unimpeachable Authority of Christ | Colossians 2:9-15

The Unimpeachable Authority of Christ
Colossians 2:9-15

Today we will see that It is not what the cross did to Jesus, it what Jesus did to sin, our sin by the use of he cross. It is what Jesus did to the pagan practices of this world by the use of the cross. It is what Jesus did to Satan’s fraudulent rulership of the earth (and all those powers who claim the same fraudulent claim to the lives of men and women in every age), using the instrument of the cross. This the work of Christ Jesus our Lord.

June 11, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Things that Deceive: The Pagan Influence | Colossians 2:6-15

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June 11, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Things that Deceive: The Pagan Influence | Colossians 2:6-15

Things that Deceive: The Pagan Influence
Colossians 2:6-15

In today’s text we have a unique, yet familiar challenge. What was common to the recipients of this letter and to the Apostle Paul is more distant to our contemporary experience. We can bring some historical context to the passage, but in part (or in whole) we are seeking to understand pagan religious language and practice which is largely lost to us today. This dynamic is something we have seen in many portions of our study of the Scriptures. This does not however mean that there is a wealth of application which is maintained which thunders into our present lives.

We will begin with verse 6, which sets the verse we left off with last time. This is because it serves as the conclusion to the earlier passage and also forms the foundation for the verses that follow. In summary, we understand the view that Christ is supreme to all religious forms: those which have substance only in the thinking of the pagan mind (those forms which are imaginations) and those religious forms which touch the human experience on a substantive level - they are real, but wrong; they have form, but are forbidden. They have power and an authority, but have been dominated over by the living Christ at the cross.

June 4, 2017 | Reverend Keith Williams | Sifted Faith | Luke 22:31-34

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June 4, 2017 | Reverend Keith Williams | Sifted Faith | Luke 22:31-34

May 28, 2017 | Roger Melson | Perspectives of Christian Living (Part 2)| Genesis 5:1-5;21-24

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May 28, 2017 | Roger Melson | Perspectives of Christian Living (Part 2)| Genesis 5:1-5;21-24

                                             

                                                   Roger and Marsha Melson

May 21, 2017 | Roger Melson | Perspectives of Christian Living | Genesis 5:1-32

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May 21, 2017 | Roger Melson | Perspectives of Christian Living | Genesis 5:1-32



                                        

                                           Roger and Marsha Melson

May 14, 2017 | Pastor Mike Ibay | The Real Mother | 1 Kings 3:16-28

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May 14, 2017 | Pastor Mike Ibay | The Real Mother | 1 Kings 3:16-28

The Real Mother
1 Kings 3:16-28


                                                    

                                             River of Life Pastors Mike and Grace Ibay