A retired missionary friend rang me recently to ask if my generation has forgotten that the reason Christ was revealed was to destroy the work of the evil one. I suspect I and my contemporaries are not nearly as atuned to the raging of the spiritual battle as he would have been in Borneo, so he is probably right. I want to remember it at Easter - Jesus is the victor over sin, the flesh, the world, the devil and over death. Amazing!
Read moreJesus is the New Israel Part 2
Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of Old Testament Israel. He is the Israel of God because he is God. He is the King.
Therefore we would expect to find in Jesus the fulfilment of all kinds of things the Old Testament pointed to. Obviously its easy to find examples of Jesus being the fulfilment of specific prophecies, but even more importantly we also discover lots and lots of examples in the New Testament of him being the fulfilment and goal of the biggest themes that run right through the Old Testament.
Read moreJesus is the New Israel of God
Here is the biggest mistake in interpreting and applying the Old Testament: to forget about Jesus.
Read moreMature Manhood
Presenting everyone mature in Colossians means Paul labouring and toiling with all God's energy so that people have "the riches of the glory of the mystery." This is defined as "Christ in you, the hope of glory." That is the definition of Christian maturity in this verse. The job of leaders and preachers is to get everyone to bank all their hope, all their ambition, all plans and decisions on Christ, their hope of glory. Knowing, as we do so, that he will indwell them and transform them, by the Holy Spirit.
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