On The Winning Side

Colossians 2:6-15 (New Living Translation)

Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ

 ⁶ And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. ⁷ Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. ⁸ Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. ⁹ For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. ¹⁰ So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

 ¹¹ When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. ¹² For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

 ¹³ You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

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You've get to be On the Winning Side

Few today believe the pagan idea that the world is under the control of warring gods like Artemis, Pan, and Appolo. Yet even sophisticated skeptics readily acknowledge the reality of "forces" over which we have no control. For example, they attribute our inability to prevent violence in various places around the world to what they vaguely call "international forces". And they speak of "economic forces" beyond our control. For example, millions of people are starving despite the fact that there is more than enough food in the world to provide for every person on the earth.

The Bible clearly acknowledges the presence of invisible but very real spiritual beings, or powers. In Ephesians 6:11-12 the Apostle Paul declared that our primary warfare is against an army of rebellious angels headed by Satan, let's read it: "Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.  For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." (New Living Translation)

The bad news is that this battalion of demons are more intelligent and powerful than we are. The good news is that Jesus Christ defeated them by His death on the cross: "In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross" (Colossians 2:15).

There are many thing beyond our control, but we need not fear. We who have place our trust in Jesus, and received Him in our heart as our personal Savior and LORD, we are on the winning side. If you realized that you are not on this winning side, today is the day to receive this free gift of salvation given by God to all mankind.

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Lamb of God! You now are seated

High upon Your Father's throne,

All Your gracious work completed,

All Your mighty victory known.

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Remember:

Satan may win some battles,

but he cannot win the war.