A New Church

 Our new church will begin worshipping in our home at the Y this Sunday. There is much excitement, thankfulness and true hope. 

Our Pastor is doing a sermon covering Colossians 2:1-7 

I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 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, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 

This is a great passage for a new church. Paul wrote this particular letter to a particular new church and in it encourages us all to explore the wonders of the Gospel. About this particular passage the Theologian N. T. Wright says: 

“While the process of knitting together the church into a united body clearly includes the growth of love, it also includes the growth, on the part of the whole community, of that proper understanding of the gospel which leads to the rich blessings of a settled conviction and assurance. Living in a loving and forgiving community will assist growth in understanding, and vice versa, as truth is confirmed in practice and practice enables truth to be seen in action and so to be fully grasped. All of this promotes the encouragement, comfort and strengthening of the heart, regarded metaphorically then as now as the seat of affections and the mainspring of action.” 

Abba Father, I pray that this new church; Harbor, will grow more in love, will grow more in size (for your glory), but also grow in proper understanding of the gospel. I pray we will live in a loving and forgiving community, that your truth will be affectionately seen in our actions and that our hearts will overflow with thankfulness. Amen and Amen... 

Grace and Peace!