As the Family of God, we need to know each other. We are told that we should weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice, Romans 12:15. We are also to bear one another’s burdens, Galatians 6:2. In addition to these, we are to think of others more highly than ourselves, pray for one another, treat others as we would want to be treated, and express brotherly love and kindness among other good things. In order to do these things we have to share our lives with each other.

In hopes of helping us to grow closer as a family we are going to get to know a different family each week through our bulletin article. I am hoping that each week as you read about other members you will know them a little better and feel a little closer as a result. I hope that each week I can provide you with some interesting facts that you didn’t know about your fellow brothers and sisters at Blue Ridge. Of course, I am looking forward to getting to know you all better as a result of these interviews and articles as well.

In both Ephesians 6:22 and Colossians 4:8 Paul tells these churches that he is sending some one to tell them how he and his companions are doing and that this person will encourage them. There is encouragement in sharing with others how we are and how they are and having something in common as we do in the church can certainly be encouraging as well. Knowing others care about us and that they are thinking of us and praying for us is not just helpful when catastrophe strikes, but all of the time.

Let’s get to know one another better so that we can better encourage one another, help one another, be closer to one another, and pray for one another. In 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul says there is coming a time when we will know fully, but for now we only know in part. Let’s try to know as big a part as we can until we can know fully.

​Quite simply Christ is God. Being divine and being deity are really just two more ways of saying that Christ is from God, like God and that he is God. 2 Peter 1:2-4 records, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  3  His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,  4  by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” Notice that in verse three his power is divine. It is a power from God, and yet it says this godly power is his. Not only is it his, but he makes it possible for us to take part in his godly or divine nature.

In Colossians 2:8-9 Paul writes, “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.  9  For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” Paul makes it clear that deity, God completely and fully lived in the body of Christ. This may be impossible for us to fully comprehend or explain, but the fact that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh is an essential foundation of our faith. Paul proposes that if we are not living according to the one who had deity filling his body then we are following after something that is empty, deceitful, human tradition, from this world, and something that will take us captive. 

There are many who don’t want Christ to be deity or divine. There are some who don’t even want to admit he ever lived at all, but if we want to receive the precious and great promises, escape the corruption of the world, take part in his divine nature and be filled in him (Col. 2:10) then we must hold fast to the truth of his divinity and deity.

Are you holding on to Christ as the one deity that came bodily to Earth? Don’t let go!

​As any Bible believer who created the world and they will likely give the same simple answer: God. On several occasions the New Testament puts forward the claim that Christ is God and one of the statements made about that assertion is that he created the world. Paul explains this in Colossians 1:16, “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.” 

Not only are we created by him/ through him, we were also created for him. Sometimes we miss this, at least, we act like we do. Some of us act and speak as if Christ is here for us and what ever we need or think we need he will get for us like he is a genie in a lamp with unlimited wishes and we can just tell him what to do. None of us would probably openly admit to it, but our actions and words sometimes betray us.

We have to remember that the creation is to serve the creator and not the other way around. The creator can make us as he chooses to serve whatever purpose he chooses and the creation has no right to complain. Isaiah 29:16; Jeremiah 18:4-6; and Romans 9:21 all liken it to a potter with some clay making whatever he wants. The clay can’t say anything about it. 

So, if we were created for him, what does he want us to do? He is God, so he doesn’t need us. He is not served with human hands as though he needs something, Acts 17:25. Humans make things for all kinds of purposes, but ultimately everything we make is so that we can enjoy it. Christ made us to bring him joy and glory and if we want to please him we must do whatever he commands us. If we will do what he commands we can become more than just a creation we can become a friend. 

Let’s serve our creator with our whole heart. He deserves all the praise, obedience, and honor we can give and so much more.

Revelation 21:6 and 22:13 both say that Christ is the beginning and the end. Of course this is equivalent to what is said in the song, “He Is My Everything”. There is no doubt that Jesus is the beginning of all things. In Hebrews 1:8-12 the Father says of Jesus, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;” We know Jesus created all things and in the physical world he is certainly the beginning of all things. 

1 John 2:13-14 John refers to Jesus twice as the one who is from the beginning. And in John 1:1-3 he makes it clear that Jesus, the Word is God and has been from eternity.

Paul tells the Colossians in 1:18 that he is our beginning in a spiritual sense because he is the firstborn from the dead, in other words, his resurrection will make ours possible. 

In so many ways he is the beginning. He is the beginning for the church and the new law. He is the beginning of all physical life and all spiritual life and hope for eternal life.

On the other hand, he is the end in so many ways. He brought an end to the power of death. He brought an end to Satan’s power. Romans 10:4 tells us Christ is the end of the law (the Law of Moses) for all who believe. He is or will be the end to this world as well when the time comes according to 1 Corinthians 15:24 at that time Christ will end his reign and return the kingdom to the Father.

​Christ is without a doubt both beginning and end in these ways and many other ways that we don’t understand or know about. He can end your old way of life and give you a new life of righteousness. Is Christ your beginning? Is Christ your end?

When something is being built there are a great many things that are important. What is being built? Whose will it be when it is built? Where is it being built? What materials are being used in building it? Who is paying for it to be built? Who is building it? There are probably more, but this gives us the picture. Of course the answers to these questions will vary by the project. In Matthew 16:18 we read Jesus saying, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” From this verse we learn the answers to some of those questions. Jesus is the builder. The church is what is being built. There is only one being built. It is built on the rock of the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. It will belong to him when it is built. 

From other passages we can find out the answers to more questions. God paid for it with his own blood -Acts 20:28. Christians are the materials he uses to build it - 1 Peter 2:5. Jesus is the chief cornerstone of the foundation with the apostles and prophets helping complete the foundation - Ephesians 2:20. He began building in Jerusalem, but has continued to make additions to it through the ages - Acts 2:47

There’s more, but let’s focus back on Christ: the builder, owner, and purchaser. He will decide who is and who is not in his church. He will decide where each stone is placed and what function it will serve. In any building there are different purposes for different parts. We sometimes are guilty of thinking like the apostles, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom (church)?’. We must remember that Jesus is the greatest and we are created for him - Colossians 1:15-18. We should be content to be part of what he is building and do our best to bring him glory and honor no matter the place he puts us or the way he chooses for us to be used. To use a concept from scripture with a different example: Shall the brick say to the builder why did you put me here? Or, Why didn’t you use me in a more prominent position? 

We answer to the Builder. Are you doing your best to fit into God’s building where the builder has placed you?

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There is some confusion among those who claim to follow Christ and one point of disagreement is his eternal nature. The title above quoted from Revelation 3:14  “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.’” Is one of the verses that some misunderstand. 

As we read this phrase it sounds like Christ was the first thing that God created and some think because of this that Christ is a created being and don’t recognize him as God because of this verse and others like it. Is that what this verse means? Absolutely not! There are too many verses that clearly state that Jesus was born of a woman, but that before that he was known as the Word who was with God and was God and that he has no beginning nor any ending.

If it doesn’t mean that what does it mean? It is similar to what is taught in Colossians 1:16-17 and John 1:3 That Christ began the creation. In fact, “Plummer and many other able scholars declare the second meaning to be the one intended here. ‘The words mean, the one from whom creation took its beginning.’”(Coffman Commentary) So rather than proclaiming him to be a created being himself this verse indicates that he is the source of all created things. We should find the harmony of scriptures with English translations that appear to contradict. God doesn’t contradict himself. When we think there is a contradiction it is our lack of understanding or poor translation or some other problem that has caused it. 

Christ is not only the beginning of the physical creation, but also of the spiritual creation of his kingdom and all of its citizens. Christ created us twice once physically and once spiritually. We await his final creation when we are recreated to live in Heaven with him. 
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Four times in Revelation (1:8; 1:11; 21:6; 22:13) Jesus refers to himself as the “Alpha and Omega”. You probably have heard that these are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, in fact our word ‘alphabet’ comes from ‘alpha’ and the second letter ‘beta’ which are also similar to the first 2 letters in Hebrew ‘aleph’ and ‘beth’. When we think of Jesus saying this as he does in Revelation 22:13, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” What do we think he means by this phrase? Obviously Jesus was not two letters of the Greek alphabet and it is clearly a figurative description, but what?

​We use a phrase about how something is all-inclusive that is similar to this. When talking about the animals from A to Z or how you can get anything from A to Z from Amazon.com. What we are saying is that this is all of it, everything. That is what Jesus is saying about himself here. There is a song I remember singing, “He Is My Everything”, that expressed this idea and encouraged us to help others see their need for Jesus to be their all as well. 

Just as God is described as the One who gives us all things and in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:25-28), Jesus is described in Colossians 1:16-17 as having all things created by and for him and being the one who holds all things together. Whatever you need from A to Z, Jesus is the one who can provide it. Have you made Jesus your everything. Like the youth song says do you believe and live the words: “You are my strength when I am weak,  You are the treasure that I seek, You are my all in all. Seeking You as a precious jewel, Lord to give up I’d be a fool. You are my all in all.”

JP

Most of the time when we hear “The Almighty” used as a description we think of it as a description of the Father, and most of the time it does seem to be referring to Him or to the Godhead as a whole, but on at least one occasion in Revelation 1:8 it is clearly Jesus who describes himself as “the Almighty”.

It certainly shouldn’t surprise us. We are told that the Son was involved in making everything that was made (Col. 1:16). That surely would have involved being almighty. Jesus also tells us that He had power to lay His life down and power to take it up again. There are other references to the power and authority that He has over the church, His powerful victory over Satan, His power to save us from sin, and other power as well.

Perhaps we are familiar with the term omnipotent which is one of the attributes of God. That really is just a fancy way of saying all-powerful or almighty. Since Jesus is God it should be expected that He would have this godly characteristic as much as any other characteristic of Deity, but the knowledge is not enough. 

Understanding that we have someone on our side that is all-powerful should give us confidence. We should feel courage to face the devil and the world knowing that the One who has our back cannot be beaten. Do you have Christ the Almighty on your side? Christ can do all things and because of that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

JP