Kingdom Opportunities

“So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality” Col.2:16-17

Every Christian will have an opportunity to downgrade Christ. To you it could be just sleep with that man and get a car then you can wash yourself in the Blood of Jesus. It can come in many different forms but it is the same thing that confronted the church in Colossae. It was what I was faced with in the personal experience I shared with you yesterday. The nice gentleman wanted to strike a deal with me, do not stop talking about Jesus but just tone it down. I refused to accept that deal. I said I couldn’t tone it down because Jesus is all I have to talk about. You were not there when He found me, when He delivered me from the powers of darkness, and when He translated me into the Kingdom of light. We are not doing this work for commercial reasons by the grace of God. If it were for commercial reasons then that is a very simple decision. So I said to him there is no decision to be made here, the decision has been made already. The church in Colossae was being told to downgrade Christ. You are going to be faced with that same challenge, downgrade Christ not eliminate Christ just downgrade Him. You will be told, this thing about Jesus do not make it too much just pull it down.

The second issue with the church in Colossae was Ceremonialism. That is, the rules about the kind of food that is permissible, the religious festivals that are acceptable, circumcision or no circumcision. They say to you if you are a Christian you should not eat pork. I said who said that? Some people say Christians should not celebrate Christmas. I said who said that? Some people say Christians should celebrate Christmas. I said who said that? Christmas is neither here nor there. Easter is neither here nor there. Christmas and Easter as is celebrated is not important to God. So why do we do it in church? Simple, anything that will make Jesus known, we are for it. “So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality” Col.2:16-17 [emphasis added]. I have Pastor friends that will argue, some have almost torn their families apart because the wife wants to celebrate Christmas and the husband says there is no Christmas. I say to them, why are you stressing yourself on what is not. If the world recognizes for just one day that Jesus Christ came why not leverage it to make the Name of Jesus glorified. Why are you worried about what you have been free from?

Prayer: Father, help me leverage every opportunity that comes my way to preach Jesus, in Jesus Name.