9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. Colossians 1:9-14 (NASB) See verses 13-14 on the site.
We live in a time of deep deception. Even genuine Christians can be deceived if they are not exceedingly careful. It is imperative that, even though we must remain in the world for a time, we must not be of it. The Church has been under heavy attack since Acts 2….
It is a wise and discerning thing for us to understand that God uses this to purify, cleanse, and teach the Church. It is as we address heresy that doctrine is developed or our understanding of God and His ways becomes more defined for us.
Let us never forget that God is both transcendent and imminent. Our environment heavily influences us, but God is outside of creation. His transcendence should comfort us because, along with His immutability, we know that He never changes and He is always faithful. God is still a mystery because He is so far above us that our minds cannot contain how wonderful and awesome He is. However, He is also imminent. He sent His Son to be incarnate as one of us. He never ceased being God, however, as a Man He was tempted in every way that we are yet without sin. At the proper time, He laid down His life to incur the wrath of God for our sin. Through this, He purchased His people with His blood. He redeemed them. As Paul said in the passage above, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” He is returning when it is the proper time. Then His imminence will be fulfilled.