Category: Blog

Just after three pm on February 3, 1691, a little boy was whittling on a piece of wood outside his house, when a raven landed on the steeple of the nearby church and said to him, “Look into Colossians 3:15.” The raven said this three times. So the boy, obedient lad that he was, went…

The anonymous preacher of Ecclesiastes once said, “Of making many books there is no end…” and I bet he’s right. As long as there are readers there will always be books, and not just old books but new ones too. Sometimes, however, new books are about old topics, thus helping to make something old new again.…

In Colossians 1:10, Paul prays that the Colossians would be able to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.” The underlying Greek sentence is a little rougher, reading something like this: “to walk worthy of the Lord in all pleasing.” Most responsible translations do something to smooth that out, because…

Paul’s prayer for the church at Colossae (Colossians 1:9-14) is a catalog of the blessings he wants God to give them: knowledge, spiritual wisdom, understanding, a worthy walk, eagerness to please God, fruitfulness, growth in knowledge, strength, endurance, patience, and joy. With all of that going on in the prayer, I still think it’s safe…

In Colossians 1:6, Paul mentions “The word of truth, the Gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing — as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.” The most important thing happening in…

In Colossians 1:4-5, Paul says that whenever he prays for the church in Colossae, he thanks God because of their faith in Christ, their love for the saints, and the hope laid up for them in heaven. Faith, hope, and love. That triad sounds familiar because Paul uses it to conclude the famous “love chapter,”…

I. Why Read Colossians? The book of Colossians is tiny (95 verses in 4 chapters), but its scope is enormous. In this letter, Paul looks from prison up to heaven, “where Christ is seated at the right hand of God,” and scans the history of God’s mighty work of salvation from creation to the return…

Even if all you read from Wesley’s Standard Sermons is the table of contents, you can see the basic shape of the Christian life. There are two major blocks of material in the Sermons, just as there are two major factors in the Christian life. The collection begins with a loud, clear, trumpet-blast of grace.…

John Wesley was a hard worker, and had tremendous confidence. At age 23, he wrote to Charles, “Leisure and I have taken leave of one another. I propose to be busy as long as I live, if my health is so long indulged me.” He carried out that resolution. Bishop J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) noted Wesley’s…