Messages

The book of Colossians

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Advancing the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus in a Disorderly World
Introduction to a Series of Expositions on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians
By Dr Annang Asumang
Introduction
Of the thirteen letters written by Paul, five emanated from his time in prison. One of these letters is Colossians. And in the next fourteen visits with you here at Celebration Church; I shall, God willing, and of course, you being happy to invite me here again, I shall devote each visit to expound on this Letter, its meaning and more importantly, its application to us today.
Now Colossians is a very special book indeed. You may know that in terms of vocabulary, Colossians is very similar to Ephesians. In fact 25%, a quarter of the words in Colossians are also repeated verbatim in Ephesians. So parts of Colossians sounds very much like Ephesians. That is why for many Christians, Colossians exists in the shadow of Ephesians. But, of course, in terms of its message, Colossians cuts its own path, it addresses its own specific situation and it deals with a distinctive aspect of Christian discipleship. We do ourselves a lot of injustice, and rob ourselves of immense blessings if we allow Colossians to remain in the shadow of Ephesians or of any other book for that matter. Read the rest of this entry »

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The related timings of the births of Jesus and John the Baptist

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It is not specifically stated in the Bible when Jesus was born. However, the indications from Scripture give us a pretty good guide of when He was born, and importantly, when He was not born. We are given clues in the details concerning the priestly service of John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, and the fact that Jesus and John were cousins.

Zechariah, was of the priestly division of Abijah (Luke 1:5,8). Back in King David’s day, the priests had been separated into 24 turns or divisions. These turns began in the first month of the Jewish calendar (1 Chronicles 27:2), March or April of our modern calendar. According to Talmudic and Qumran sources, the turns rotated every week until they reached the end of the sixth month, when the cycle was repeated again until the end of the year. This would mean that Zechariah’s division served at the temple twice a year.

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God’s Amazing Autumnal Celebrations

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God clearly describes the feasts, set in the yearly calendar of Israel in Leviticus 23, as His feasts, His celebrations. They are special events full of significance. They are called holy convocations, in Hebrew “miqra”, which also means rehearsals. beholdBy instituting the feasts, God was painting a picture of the various prophetic milestones of His entire plan of salvation! And by rehearsing them every year throughout the yearly calendar, His people would be able to recognise the fulfilments when they occurred as being the work of God. Jesus said all things from the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled concerning Him, Luke 24:44.

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The SERMON on the MOUNT (2)

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Part 2 of a series on The Sermon On The Mount by John Lavric

Matthew 5:6-7

The beatitudes are not a multi-choice question, choose any 1 from 8, but the building blocks of the character of a citizen of the kingdom. As Jesus goes through the sermon He will build on these basic principles. Knowing our poverty of spirit, mourning because of it and being meek or humble enough to acknowledge it will do us no good at all unless we are prepared to do something about it. These first three beatitudes imply the next one

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (vs. 6) Read the rest of this entry »

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The SERMON on the MOUNT

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Part 1 of a series on The Sermon On The Mount by John Lavric

Matthew 5:3-5

Rather than searching for which particular subject to consider next, I have decided to look at topics as they naturally arise in the Bible, beginning with the Sermon on the Mount? I don`t apologise for this even though I have preached though it at Celebration and Ashgrove and we have studied it at house group. Because its focus is on the citizens of the kingdom we should always keep it before us. It has influenced many ‘good’ laws since Jesus spoke it and is relevant for every generation. Let us first put it in its historical setting. This is one message, given in one location to a people waiting for a king to come and bring in his kingdom. For that reason I think a better title would be The Sermon of the Kingdom. Matthew records it as one complete sermon but I am sure parts of it were repeated. Jesus seeks to establish what are the pre-requisites for people to be part of that kingdom. Read the rest of this entry »

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