Gary Gleans

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek   the things that are above, where Christ is,   seated at the right hand of God.    Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.    For   you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.    When Christ   who is your life   appears, then you also will appear with him   in glory.   There are three events that shape the lives of every Christian: the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the return of Christ.  These three events impact the way we live in the present because they give us a correct perspective on both the past and the future.     SEEK HEAVENLY THINGS: The resurrection of Christ is a first fruits of the resurrection meaning that it is also our resurrection.  All who have placed their faith in Christ are given new life in Him.  We are no longer dead spiritually but have been...

Therefore let no one   pass judgment on you   in questions of food and drink, or with regard to   a festival or   a new moon or a Sabbath.    These are a shadow of the things to come, but   the substance belongs to Christ.    Let no one   disqualify you,   insisting on asceticism and worship of angels,   going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by   his sensuous mind,   and   not   holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.    If with Christ   you died to the   elemental spirits of the world,   why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”   (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to   human precepts and teachings?    These have indeed an appe...

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,   rooted and   built up in him and   established in the faith, just   as you were taught, abounding   in thanksgiving.    See to it that no one takes you captive by   philosophy and   empty deceit, according to   human tradition, according to the   elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.    For   in him the whole fullness of deity dwells   bodily,   and   you have been filled in him, who is   the head of all rule and authority.    In him also   you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by   putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,   having been buried with him in baptism, in which   you were also raised with him through faith in   the powerful working of God,   who raised him from the dead.    And you, who were dead in y...

For I want you to know   how great a   struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,   that   their hearts may be encouraged, being   knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of   God's mystery, which is Christ,   in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.    I say this in order   that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.    For   though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your   good order and   the firmness of your faith in Christ.   The churches in Asia Minor outside of Ephesus were planted indirectly by Paul while he ministered in Ephesus.  Many people from the region traveled to the port city of Ephesus where Paul and his team were teaching and preparing leaders for the church.  Though Paul knew many members of the ...

Now   I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh   I am filling up   what is lacking in Christ's afflictions   for the sake of his body, that is, the church,   of which I became a minister according to   the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.    To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are   the riches of the glory of   this mystery, which is Christ in you,   the hope of glory.    Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that   we may present everyone   mature in Christ.    For this   I toil,   struggling   with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.   Paul describes his ministry in this passage.  His description provides a blueprint for our ministries as well. ...

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind,   doing evil deeds,   he has now reconciled   in his body of flesh by his death,   in order to present you holy and blameless and   above reproach before him,   if indeed you continue in the faith,   stable and steadfast, not shifting from   the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed   in all creation under heaven,   and of which I, Paul, became a minister.   God is at work in this world and specifically in the lives of every believer.  Because of our lost condition, we could not save ourselves.  Were it not for God’s work, everyone would be lost and under eternal condemnation.  This passage is the testimony of every believer.  It reveals who we were, what God has done about it, and who we have become.   SIN’S WORK AGAINST US: Because of the sin nature with which we were born, every person starts life in a precari...

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.     He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.     For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.     And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.     And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.     For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. It is important for us to understand b...