Big God

We will not be meeting for the Blue Green Life on July 5th.

The next Green Blue Life will be at the on July 19th.

As we spoke about last week, God is big. Really big. Bigger than the universe he created. In fact he fills it, yet even the universe in its great size cannot contain Him. The Hubble telescope images give us some context to the sizes we are talking about.

We live in a spiral galaxy called the Milky Way. It is approximately 100,000 light years across. That means it takes light 100,000 years to travel from one edge of our galaxy to the other. Our galaxy looks something like this.

A light-year is the distance it takes for light to travel in one year traveling at 186,000 miles per second (like circling the Earth seven times a second) (or 670,000 miles per hour), approximately 6 trillion miles in one year.

The arrow shows where we are.

The milk in of the Milky Way is comprised of around 100 billion stars – some bigger and some smaller than our own sun. That is one galaxy.


This is a picture from the Hubble telescope giving us a peek into the distant reaches of our universe. All those lights…are galaxies! The amount of space we are looking at here is almost impossible to comprehend.

In the Old Testament dedication of the Temple in Israel, Solomon asks, “"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!”

Indeed, God is too big to fit in the Temple, or even in the universe he created. But Paul the Apostle reveals to us that “in him [Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily…” The fullness of God, in the body of Christ. The full power that created the universe in the clay shell of the carpenter from Nazareth. Paul goes on to say that “you have been filled in him…” The fullness of the power of God is in Christ and in him we too are filled with that power.

See more about the Hubble at this link:
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/wallpaper/pr2006023a/


Your Friend and Fellow Servant,

Colossians 2:6-23

Friends,

Last week we discovered Paul’s purpose in writing to the Colossians: encourage hearts, knit the believers together in love and to bring all the saints to a full understanding of God’s mystery, which is Christ. Looking back on the greeting it is clear to see Paul building the foundation for his purpose (thesis) and going forward we will see him expound on these topics even more.

For those who want a little spiritual exercise I offer (not require) the following for you to do before the next meeting. First read Colossians 2:6 – 23. Next, go sentence by sentence and write down which of the purposes you feel Paul is developing; and there may be more than one.

Example:

6Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Knit together)

In this passage it sounds to me like the Apostle is continuing his argument for unity – that we should be knit together with Jesus. Additionally, the fact that he is talking to all the church means that we are all to be in Jesus, and if we are all in Jesus then we have unity with the rest of the saints. A hint to this point is found in the fact that Paul uses “in him” twice in one sentence.

I had someone ask me if it was OK to invite other people to the group. Definitely. Everyone is welcome: friends, family, the new person you met at church on Sunday, believers, unbelievers, etc…

God bless you this week and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Your Friend and Fellow Servant,

Paul

Highlights from Last Weeks Blue Green Life

Last week in the Blue Green Life I described what this group would be like and we explored God's word regarding training in godliness by adapting Paul the Apostle's comparison of spiritual training to bodily training. Here are some of the highlights:

…train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. (1 Tim 4:7-8)

When you think of physical training what words come to mind?

Music, friends, free weights, programs, machines, trainer, diet, goals, measured, reaching a goal, satisfaction in reaching a goal, help others to reach their goals, pain, training, pumping up...

These words also describe aspects of our spiritual training.

Just as there are different reasons why people go to the gym there are probably a variety of reasons why we came here tonight. The most important thing is for you to know why you are here.

Social, support someone else, training, strengthening, flexibility, healing, improve health, loose weight, kids health.

All are good and legitimate reasons for going to the gym and gathering as believers.

Blue Green Life Rules:

Love
Whoever covers over an offense seeks love,
but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. (Proverbs 17:9)

Peace, Patience, Charity
Have nothing to do with ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. (2 Timothy 2:23-25)

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. (2 Timothy 1:14)

Humility
If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. (1 Timothy 6:3-4)

Holiness
…Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. (1 Timothy 6:11-12)

The gym (group) closes at 8:30pm, doors lock at 8:45pm.

God bless you and have a great week.

Welcome to The Blue Green Life