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Being Rich in the Word of Christ by Pastor Charlie Handren

By Anonymous
In three days from now, 2019 will give way to 2020 and the first year of a new decade will begin. As those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and eternally adopted into his family, let’s choose to aim our lives in the right direction by resolving to be rich in the word of Christ!

As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:16-17).

The word here for “dwell” means “to establish a house or a residency,” so that Paul is urging all believers to allow the word of Christ to establish a residency in our souls and therefore in our way of life. In order to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, we’ll have to commit ourselves to hearing it, reading it, studying it, memorizing it, meditating on it, applying it, and teaching it. Of course, none of us can focus on all these things at once, but all of us should focus on one or two of them and spend much energy establishing them in our lives by the grace of Christ and for the glory of Christ.

With regard to reading, Pastor Kevin and I are encouraging all of you to download the YouVersion app and use it to choose and work through some Bible reading plan this year. When you get the app, select Plans > Find Plans > Through the Bible, and then browse and choose from there. We encourage you to choose and work through a plan with one or more others, and to take advantage of the social features in the app that can be used to encourage one another and provide some friendly accountability.

Kim and I are planning to read through the Chronological Plan and Pastor Kevin plans to read through the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan. You’re free to join either of us, but you must first “friend” us on the app and then begin the plan on January 1.

With regard to Bible memory, Pastor Kevin and I encourage you to commit to the Fighter Verse program in 2020 which will be on Set 5. The Fighter Verses cover a variety of topics, and are relatively brief and easy to remember. On their website, you’ll find a number of tools to help you develop or grow in this crucial discipline. 

However the Lord leads you in 2020, let’s commit together to being a people who are lavishly rich in the word of Christ! 

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