"No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven."
There are many things I've received from heaven (God). I'm grateful that I was not preaching at CrossView Church today.
Don't misunderstand. I love preaching God's Word and I love preaching to my local church. But today has been just the 6th Sunday in 2 years (107 Sundays) that I've not preached. Ideally, I'd like to preach 40-45 Sundays a year and allow anywhere from 7-12 Sundays for others to preach (and even more to share if we have several elders who will preach or eventually plant). I was blessed to have my brother Jun Henares bring the Word from Colossians 1:21-2:5. He challenged me to always remind myself of the gospel, to speak the gospel to others, and to pursue maturity in Christ even as I help other CrossViewers mature in Christ.
Three things struck me from the sermon and text. First, I was challenged and refreshed with Jun's passion and preaching of the gospel on his first point. It was good to hear the gospel preached to me in that context. Secondly, God struck me with how much Satan works to keep us in the dark and immature in Christ. Jun kept calling us to the right (being full maturity in Christ) and away from the left (being darkness or even just being content with being "converted"). He called us to work hard in "moving to the right" because Satan is working even harder to "move us to the left." I tend to minimize the demonic influence and role in our spiritual warfare and this was a jolting reminder. Third, the mystery is striking: "Christ in you all, the hope of glory." There's depths and riches in that statement that are glorious, freeing, and profound. I'd love to meditate on that statement more extensively at some point.
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