Loving Jesus Style

Scripture: Colossians 1:1-8 1  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2  To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4  since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5  because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6  which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7  just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8  and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. [1] Devotion Paul in writing to the Colossians was writing to a church he had not founded and had

Scriptures Jeremiah 17:5-8 and Ephesians 3:14-21           Well Christmas has come and gone leaving its mark on each of us this year. The Sunday after Christmas always feels like an anti-climax to me, but we shall dive into today’s message with the hope that God’s love will be poured into our hearts afresh in this post-Christmas season. May we be renewed in our hearts like the tree in the reading from Jeremiah this morning. May we be like trees planted by streams of living water waiting for our fruit to come to ripeness. That we may share the joy we have experienced during this advent with our thirsty and hungering world. I attended a wedding a few years back in the desert southeast of Tucson Arizona. The bed and breakfast where the wedding was held next to a river surrounded by green trees that didn’t have to contend with the dry desert just a few yards away. Turning away from the river there was not much green to be found besides a few cacti scattered across the landscape.

Scripture: Colossians 1:15-16 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. Christmas Devotion:             Two thousand plus years ago, a baby was born. Ordinary in every way. Yet this child was special. He was from his birth 100% human and 100% God. They named him Jesus because through him humanity and indeed all creation would be released from its groaning and decay.             Here was the very God that put the stars in the sky and made the Earth along with all the life on it. You wouldn’t know to look at him, but he even created the one who gave him birth. Here this helpless baby who would draw nourishment from his mothers’ breast was the very one who created that nourishment. Jesus was indeed a special child.             Angels would come from heaven to

Scripture Jude 17-25 (ESV) 17  But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18  They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19  It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20  But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22  And have mercy on those who doubt; 23  save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. 24  N ow to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25  to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Devotion       

Jude 5-16 5  Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6  And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7  just as Sodom and Gomorrah and               the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. 8  Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and t blaspheme the glorious ones. 9  But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10  But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are des

Scripture: Jude 1-4 1  Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 2  May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.   3  Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4  For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. [1] Devotion:                         Jude may be a short book, but it is packed full of meaning. First, who was Jude there a several contenders, but the leading candidate Jude the brother of James and the half brother of Jesus. Jude wasn’t a believer until after the resurrection of our Lord.   (Mk 6:3) The specific recipient isn’t known, but a group of J

3 John 1  The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. 2  Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. 3  For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 5  Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6  who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7  For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8  Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. 9  I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10  So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wi