Colossians 4 v 7 - 18 - Wrestle Mania

Anyway, last bit of Colossians today, sad times. But moving onto something else soon, hope you've enjoyed colossians. thinking i'll do an OT book, but not too sure. if you have any suggestions, shout :D


(this'll be a shortie, although it's lots of verses, it's Paul's final greeting)


v7-8
Tychicus is a brother of Paul, they work similarly like completely for God. Paul is sending him to them as he's in jail. 


v9
Onesimus, i think i came across in Philemon? I think? Great story behind that, he was a run away slave, came to know Christ, woop woop 


v10-11
Aristarchus, whose a priseron and Mark say hey to the Colossians. Paul says the Colossians know what to do when Mark visits, to welcome him. Now, i don't think this was in the book of Colossians so there must have been other letters, but aren't in da bible? Okay, so background, the same Mark who wrote (guess what. . ) Mark abandoned Paul on a preaching journey and Paul refused to take Mark with him, but he's forgiven him. Big lesson, learning to forgive. it's hard, but if we don't we're opposing God. Jesus who iss called Justus says hi too. We have no idea who he is, but it's nice he's saying hi. 


v12 - 13
epaphras a servant of JC, also says hi. he ALWAYS prays for them to grow spiritually mature and have everything that God wants for them. He's worked hard for people in Colosse and also in Laodicea and Hierapolis. So he;s the founder of the church apparently! I think it's significant the fact he's always praying, like obv, it's not all the time, but constant prayer for them. I forget to pray in general, let alone over a specific topic and specific people. Dudes take not, need to be like Epaphras. 


v14
Demas and Luke also say hi.  Luke is the Luke Luke we know. Demas decides to desert Paul because he loves the world too much.  sad times.


v15
Greet the people in Laodicea, and in Nympha and the church. 


v16
He asks them to send the letter to Laodicea as well as the people in Laodicea giving their letter to the Colossians. And this letter has been lost apparently


v17
Tell Archippus that he should finisht  the work given to him. 


v18
Paul had a scribe, but he writes the last bit himself so the peope realize it's him doing it. He signs off, asking them to remember him in prisno. 




that was a lot of hellos! :P

Colossians 4 v 2 - 6 - Talking to and about God

v2

Keep praying

Keep Alert

keep praying, keeping alert and thanking god.
Okay so first part, prayer. We should be praying a lot, so we're in daily conversations with God. i struggle with this a lot, so i've tried setting specific prayers times, in the morning and evening, and then whenever i find something to pray for, i do it straight away. that's another thing, promising you'll pray for something and forgetting. if you promise to pray, do it straight away. by praying, you'll feel stronger and closer to God, through good times, and through bad times, whatever the occasion.

keeping alert, this could be for a number of things. keeping alert for the needs of others, when you know someone just needs a hug, or a helping hand, whether a Christian or non Christian. keeping alert for JC opportunities, when you get the chance to tell people about JC and how amazing he is, and how much you love him. my commentary says keep watching of satan, but you can't really. you'll never know when the devil will attack. but keeping alert for bad habits we do, and how to stop them. 

finally, thanking God. Paul mentions this a lot, so i really think it's a very important thing to do. SOOO often, I forget. like my clarinet exam, it was all going horribly wrong, but the exam was okay and I passed it but i completely forgot about thanking God. I mean, how bad is that?! The israelites did, loads people have done it in the bible, and in modern times now. that's why it needs to be highlighted. thank God for anything and everything :)

Keep thanking God

v3
Paul asked the people of Colosse to pray for them that God will give opportunities to talk about JC and they would pray about the secret of God, made known about Christ. We need to do that today, in our world. Pray that there will be an opportunity to talk about Jesus, but for the will and the courage in order to do so. Sometimes there is the chance, but we wimp out. Don't do that, pray for courage and strength, and just go for it. 

DON'T use Christianese

v4
Paul asks them to pray in a way that's clear as he should. So I guess maybe this is about, say you were talking to kids about Jesus, using words like redemption, kids won't understand. and to non christians, don't speak in christianese, they just won't understand. don't dumb down christianity, but find better and more appropriate words to say


v5
I LOVE THIS VERSE. should have found it earlier. Act in an appropriate way with non believers, making the most of opportunities. Okay, so firstly, actingn in an appropriate way with non believers. So, being a good Christian witness. Acting appropriately, isn't getting drunk. People look to you to see Christianity, not Jesus. Yes it's pressure, yes it's hard but we're chosen. This also means that maybe if you're having a problem with alcohol or something, go to your Christian friends for help, non Christians may not understand it as much. Use opportunities again, just like we've said.  


v6

Do it!

when you talk, you should be kind and pleasant, so you can answer everyone in the way you should. So, there's different ways to witness to different people who are in different circumstances and are at different places in their faith journey. so speak in the right way to the people. don't speak harshly either, people won't want to talk to you about Jesus!






So. that's my challenge for today, talk about Jesus and talk to Jesus with every moment you can :)

Colossians 3 v 22 - 4 v 1 - Working Classes

v22 - 24

Obey your masters in everything, not just when they are watching to look good, but serve honestly because you respect the Lord. Work to the best you can, work as if you are working for the Lord, not for people. You're serving Christ, and you will receive your reward from God. 

Okay so God has given us people who have authority over us, parents, teachers, the police etc. 

hehe, this amused me greatly!

work as if you are serving Christ is a hard one, but it focuses your attention on how we should be treating jobs, work, things we have to do, and how we should respect and treat our authorities. If a teacher told us we have to do 5 pages of maths for tommorow, you'd grumble about it. However, if Christ did it, we'd probably do 10 pages, just to try and please him. We need to have a similar attitude as we were serving Christ. 

Slaves in bible time, didn't get inheritance, but the bible here, promises they'll get their reward when they are in heaven. Similar to us, we'll get ETERNAL LIFE, so if you're ever a bit miffed over a reward, remember, if you're serving Christ, there's like the most amazing reward waiting for you in heaven. 

But as a side note, doing revision is working towards God, so there's no excuse not to do, unfortunately. .  :P

v25

whoever does wrong, will be punished, and God treats everyone the same. Okay so when God judges us, he judges us equally, God doesn't have favorites, we'll be judged on the right and wrong we do. God also, just slight side note, the wrong will be punished by God. so there is absolutely no excuse for "revenge", if someone wrongs you, and treats you badly, don't retaliate. 

4v1

Talked about slaves, now masters. Paul says that they should be good and fair to their slaves, as they have a master in heaven. so Paul hated slavery, he wanted to get rid of it, and he wanted to change hearts and then society would change. if masters loved their slaves, and slaves loved their masters then slavery would eventually come to an end. Mini history lesson, anyone whose seen the best film ever called amazing grace will know slavery never officially ended til 1833. that's over 1000 years when Paul was trying to abolish slavery. wow. mind boggling! 

Colossians 3 v 18 - 21 - Family Fortunes

v18 
ahhhhhh, my favourite topic. okay so it says for wives to submit to their husbands because it's the right thing to do. so, he's not the more important one, he's not better than his wife, he just needs to have dominance, for the benefit of the whole family. See ephesians 5:22-24 for more of this


v19
husbands loves your wives and be gentle with them. love them like christ loves the church who he gave himself up for. See ephesians 5:25,28!


v20
children obey your parents. .  they do know better. .  (ephesians 6:1)


v21 
Fathers, don't nag your kids, or they won't bother trying anymore. need to discipline with love. (ephesians 6:4)

Colossians 3 v 15 -17 - Body Language

v15
let the peace that Christ gives control us, we are the spiritual body of Christ. so towards other believers and other people, we need to act with peace. steve did a bit of this in his QT, on james 3:18-19. go check it out! always be thankful. like, we have so much to be thankful, it seems insane we need to be told to be thankful. but our tiny brains think about day-to-day stuff, and possibly big events, but we never think, hey God, thanks for the birds outside. or hey God, thanks for the rain, we really needed it. God's grace, love, forgiveness, salvation alone is soooo much to thank God for, let alone the people and the earth he created for us too. 


v16
let the teachings of christ live in you. (all about applying stuff to our lives! head AND heart knowledge) use wisdom to each and instruct each other. wisdom from where? the bible ofc! someone once told me to base all arguments from scripture, and you won't ever go wrong. 
in most versions, it says admonish, which i think means like encourage. so it's not jumping down someone's throat when they sin, but it's encouraging people to do the right thing, being accountable, trying to heart other people. And we should sing songs with thankful hearts, not just because they are words on a screen, because it's a social norm to sing in church, or because we love the sound of our own voice. Do it because you WANT to worship and thank God. 


v17
Everything we do or say should be to obey Jesus. Kinda sums out how we should live right? In all you do, thank Jesus! again, being told to be thankful, because so often we're not. 

Colossians 3 v 12 - 14 - Holy Wardrobe

Okay so maybe we don't need to look like Ned Flanders, or wear socks with sandals to look like a Christian. But Paul does have something to say on what we should wear. 


v12
We are the elect, God has chosen us, and he loves us. So we should be clothed with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Some of these are from the fruits of the spirit back in Galatians, so Paul is rally reiterating here what we should be like. So, obv it's not saying to not wear clothes or anything, but it's more important that your inner qualities are ones that reflect God, not your inside qualities. 


v13
Forgive others, as God has forgiven others! (yeah yeah . .we're not God . . .but we have God to help . . .). We're not all good perfect people, we all faults people have to put up with, and ones that we have to put up with. I guess though, if it's something that someone is doing wrong spiritually, you have the right to try and intervene and encourage them. But if it's a fault of theirs, we need to forgive. From the heart, so we have completely forgiven them. By not forgiving people, there's a lot of anger and bitterness involved, and that's just not good. And tbh, we do soooooo much against God and he still forgives us, so we should be able to reciprocate that.


v14
Most importantly, clothe yourself with Love! it's the most important for unity and stuff :) love yourself, love others, love God! 

Colossians 3 v 5 - 11 - Get it sorted!

v5
Put these evil things out of life such as sexual sinning, evil thoughts, wanting evil things, greed as this is serving a false God. Sin begins with our hearts, God can tell our attitude towards stuff by looking at our hearts, which is very very tricky. On the outside we may be okay, but our thoughts may be corrupt. But again, on the outside we all sin too. 


Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do.


We are constantly surrounded by sin in our world, sometimes we fall into sin and temptation. But as Christians, we should resist, and submitting to God. 


But it's not as easy as saying "right, i'll never look at porn again" or "i'll never argue again". You have to have an action plan and actually put it into action. You may have the desire to stop sinning, but your not doing anything to stop. This was me. Figure out with friends, with God to come up with a plan to stop you sinning, become accountable and pray to God. he knows your heart, he knows you want to stop, but you need to execute the stopping of sins! I asked all my friends to list the sins I had, and I then wrote down what I knew I was struggling with. It was immensely hard to deal with, it's humbling in some ways, just to see how bad we are as Christians. But in the long run, it was better. I came up with a plan, and slowly half my list is already disappeared. Don't think you are perfect, don't get complacent. 


v6
All of this makes God angry. It's kind of scary in a way, although a lot of the time we think of God as loving and caring, he gets angry too. righteously angry. the God who created the world, will one day destroy it. It's really just a warning towards us to be honest.


v7
In the past, we did evil stuff too. We did stuff in the past, we do stuff in the present, and we'll do stuff in the future. but DO NOT LOSE HOPE!! 


v8-9
Don't have a temper, unrighteous anger, doing / saying to hurt others, using evil words when you talk, do not lie. You have left behind the evil stuff you've done.


v10
I LOVE THIS VERSE.


You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you. This new life brings you the true knowledge of God.


It's just amazing, huh? We have a new life, in Christ becoming more like him. If you're not moving forward in your relationship with Jesus, you are backsliding. More and more, you are becoming like Christ, it's just amazing. You are discovering Christ, what faith and Jesus really means. We will be different to the world around us, we will be more like Christ.


v11
We are all believers in Christ, there is no difference between us! It doesn't matter about race or class, or dividing things in this world, as Christians we are all one. Wer all have different gifts, and different ways to serve God though. When we are all truly one, we will be in heaven, but we need to adopt that attitude towards the Christians we know, and within our churches. 

Colossians 3 v 1 - 4 - Back to the Future

v1-4
We were raised from the dead with Christ, so aim towards heaven.
Think about things in heaven, not on earth
Our old sinful selves have died, new life is with Christ
Christ is our life and when he comes again, you'll share in his glory.


amen :)

Colossians 2 v 16 - 22 - Chasing Shadows

v16 - 17
oooh cool, Jewish laws. Paul says to not let people make rules for you about eating, drinking about a religious feast, a new moon festival or a sabbath day. So, the Jewish law is made up of the moral stuff (ten commandments and such) and ceremonial law (we're talking rules for sacrificing, jewish festivals and whatnot). Okay, so we all know Christ came and changed everything, which is why we don't celebrate "New Moon festivals" and we don't sacrifice or etc. But the people in Colosse hadn't grasped that, they were still doing these sorts of things. Paul is sitting there going, woah people, no. The people were also looking down and judging the people who weren't doing these sorts of things. Lets go back 2000 years though, it must have been a bit of a shock factor, to be living in a culture where having jewish festivals were the norm, and people did it. To then have to change your entire lifestyle, and everything you believe in, must have been a little confusing for these people. It must have been hard at the time to completely comprehend everything, especially Jesus. They had the idea that because of all these good Jewish things, they would be saved. Paul is going no no no, you're saved through Jesus, you'll never be good enough! (JEwish, JEsus. meant to happen?) All these things like festivals are a shadow of what's to come, but Jesus has now come, wooo. Think about the differences between religions. We don't believe rules will get us into heaven, but other religions do. We believe that JESUS and his mercy and grace get's us into heaven. 


Acts 4:12 Jesus is the only One who can save people. No one else in the world is able to save us. (but no one, and nothing, yaa?)


v18
Paul says to not let anyone disqualify you by humiliating yourself by worshiping angels, they have a human way to thinking. So, the people were having this idea that to be saved, you had to humiliate yourself (i do that on a daily basis, i don't get saved though haha)  and you had to worship angels who acted as a mediator between people and God. And if you didn't have special visions or experiences then you were looked down on. pretty harsh. Again, Paul';s like no no no, through J.C. angels aren't mediators, only Jesus is. 


v20 - 21
we died with christ, and made free from the ruling spirits, the people were still acting as if they weren't. they basically, as i was saying above thinking that ritiuals and such would get them to heaven. nooppeee. I think we can relate this to us too, or at least i'll try. I didn't really realize when becoming a christian / being baptised how much emphasis there was on before / after christianity. it's not just a public display, everything changes. we died with christ, our old selves die. yes i still get a bit confused. because we still sin, we still have free will, but our old selves die, our motives change, we want to do everything for God, and love God, no longer rule ourselves and do things for our own purposes :)


v22
these rules are only earthly commands and teachings that are gone as soon as they are used.  Remember people yelled at Jesus? 


Mark 7:8 you have let go of the commands of God and are holding onto the traditions of Jews


Slightly ironic isn't it, the people yelled at Jesus for not being a good Jew, and he's the one telling them how to do things.




v23
these people seem to be wise, but it is a human religion. they make people pretend not to be proud and make them punish their bodies but they don't control the evil desires of the sinful self.

Colossians 2 v 13 - 15 - Nailing the Truth

v13

You may not know this, but you were spiritually dead once. how horrible is that, how horrible it sounds. because of all our sins, we were spiritually dead. Through Jesus and his amazing grace we become alive, and he forgives all our sins, we get eternal life, woohoo! :)

v14

God cancels debt, the sin, everything we failed to do right. The big book of all our sins, he gave to Jesus to nail on the cross with him. My commentary says stuff about the written Jewish law that if you broke it just once, you considered to break the whole law, and you'd be condemned. 

v15

Through the cross, he showed everyone his power and authority, and showed he was above everyone else. Satan is now powerless, Christ overcomes them, we're set free. 

Don't really feel i need to go into detail, short simple amazing truths today :)

Colossians 2 v 8 - 12 - Cut it out

v8
Paul says to the people to make sure that they don't get strayed away from bad teachings which isn't from Christ, but from humans. Okay so think about it for a sec, human teachings vs Christ's teachings. Human teachings, however indirectly, through the media tell us that sex before marriage is okay. However, Christ's teachings tell us the opposite. but Paul tells us we should be listening to Christ's teachings. No wait, hahahaha, it means religious teachings. Okay. So when people say that Jesus wasn't God's son, or stuff like that, it's wrong. We know it's wrong. Christians can get caught up in all of this, and it's not biblical teachings.


v9
All of God lives in Christ, even when Christ was on earth. It's kind of weird to think of really, having 3 people in 1. too much for my brain to be handling, let alone on a friday night. But Jesus isn't a form, or an example of God. He's not an ambassador. He IS God.

v10 

WE have all full and a true life in Christ who is the ultimate ruler. Okay so same with us! We sort of become complete when we are in Christ. In ecclesiastes, it says life is hebel MEANINGLESS without Christ, and when we have Christ, there's a whole new meaning for our lives that's more amazing than we can ever imagine. Cool huh? :) 

Another point that Paul makes, is Christ is above EVERYTHING. He's not comparable, he's top. There's over 100 words in the bible used to describe Christ, there's just so many, because he's above everything, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. I mean, there's only 4 names in my full name, and there's over 100 in Jesus. It's good to remember that he's above everything, he's bigger than the exam, he's more important than your friends, and he's better than anything you can ever imagine.

v11

Here it's talking about the Jewish circumcision, and how all Jewish boys had to be circumcised to show that they were a Jew, but it all changed with Christ. This was removed, and there was a spiritual circumcision, like when you become Christian, and you become holy, and you were free from your sinful self. Now this is totally amazing, not only do guys not have to go through that pain, but Jesus did it FOR us, he was crucified to get rid of sin. Now, it says free from sinful self. 

v12

WOOOOO i love this verse. When were baptized, we were buried with Jesus, then we rose up like his Resurrection through our faith. It's kind of weird, like we've been buried? We were washed away of our sinful selves, and we recieve a new self. So we gotta be born again, to be a Christian, we weren't ever born into a religion. still amazes me that Jesus got baptised really!

Okay cool, that's enough from me today :) Just remember these amazing truths!

Ps - sorry I'm rambling.

Colossians 2 v 1 - 7 - What's the secret?

v1-3
Paul starts off by saying how hard he's worked for the people in Colosse, people in Laodicea and even people who have never met him. Paul himself had never met with the people in Colossee or Laodicea, but he was still helping them by writing to them. Paul's trying to stop all the false teachings and to strengthen the people, join them with love, they'll be rich in knowledge. Then they will understand God's message and the mystery. Againnnnnn, bringing it home, when WE or other believe in Jesus, which is the "mystery". It's kind of a good way to see it. The people who don't know Jesus, see christianity and everything else around it, a bit of a mystery, but it's not til they know and believe in Jesus that the mystery is revealed and they will finally understand. But we're the ones who need to spread this mystery around, so it's not a mystery and people finally understand :)


v4-5
Paul does all this to stop the false teaching, that seem good but are actually bad. So they would say stuff like Jesus wasn't the son of God, but these people were persuasive. Nowadays, we'd get our bibles out, we'd talk to friends, talk to youth leaders to check whether these arguments were true. It was harder for them to double check the teaching, so it wasn't that they would distrust the people teaching them, but so they were taught the right thing. yaaaa? 
Paul then says he's absent physically, but in heart he is with the people and he's happy to see their good lives and faith in Christ :)


(i couldn't find a good enough picture to back up either points)




v6-7
Paul then encourages the people, by encouraging stamina in their faith in God. Remember the first time you met Jesus? I don't really remember mine, there were several times it happened, but weren't they filled with lots of joy peace and love kinda thing? Keep that! It's not saying running around trying to the "buzz" you got when you first became a Christian, because dude, you're already there. Keep roots deep in Christ, and have life built on him. Be strong in faith and be thankful. 

Colossians 1 v 24 - 29 - Solving the Mystery

v24
Paul says he's happy in suffering for Christ. 

Yaaaa, we've all heard this before haven't we, we are suffering for Jesus, we need to look like <-- 


"2 Timothy 3:12

Everyone who wants to live as God desires, in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted."

I ain't gona preach this. We all have been / know about persecution for faith. Like, being laffed at because you don't go out drinking, or because you believe in an "imaginary person" or etc etc. I don't think though, that happy through suffering means you have to be fake. Personally, I think it's because of the knowledge that you're doing this for Jesus, is meant to make you feel better. Paul isn't saying, people are being mean to you, so SMILE. Sorry, i know i'm waffling here, i hope you understand the jist of what i'm saying. It's easier to say you'll smile during suffering before it happens. Just be ready babes. 


Paul says he is enduring the things Jesus would have done, if he was still on earth. We should be doing the same. When i was at spring harvest a couple of years back, they were saying if they had put crosses on the beach, ready for all those who were willing to sacrifice themselves for God, who would do it. Honestly, I don't think i would. Apart from the fact there really isn't a need to do it, it's the idea behind it. If you suffer the same things Jesus would have done, GOOD. You're standing up for your faith, and what you believe in. Jesus is smiling down at you.



v25
Den Paul says that his special mission was to help and spread the mission of Jesus. He's been especially appointed. This kinda got me thinking. Okay, number 1, the people in Colosse had to listen to Paul, he pretty much knew what he was saying, he was trustworthy, God appointed him. Number 2, God's got a special mission for you. Just like Dug in the photo here, God has a mission for you. So if you ever feel that you don't have a purpose or you're worried for the future or don't know what do in the future, just calm yourself. God's got your mission, trust him, he knows what he's doing.


v26-27
The message of God was hidden, but is now being revealed to God's holy people, to all those whose hearts and open. Now God let everyone know this secret, which is Jesus Christ, who is in all of us and is the only hope for glory, for JEWS and GENTILES. Cool, so God has this big secret of Jesus, but now everyone knows it, Jesus came for everyone. So, what you waiting for? Go tell everyone! There's this amazing person / thing called Jesus, and tell people how he's changed your life, and stop letting people putting Jesus in a box, that's only opened during R.S lessons, religious assemblies, and Christmas, if he's lucky. Jesus is for LIFE, and he's so much more than we can ever know. ahhhh, so amazing. 


v28-29
Following on this, Paul's like go preach to everyone. Using wisdom, to warn and teach people, to bring people to Christ as perfect, as Christians . So, not on a street corner scaring the living daylights out of people, it doesn't work. By witnessing, acting like a Godly person, people will  come to know God through you. Paul does this by working and struggling using Christ's strength. Not through his own strength. Only through Gods. Remember this :)

Colossians 1 v 21 - 23 - Before and After

v21 - 22
At one point we were all separated from God. This was before we all became Christians and we were enemies of God. kinda scary, God who had so much power and strength, we were enemies of. It's good to think, now we're on his side kinda thing. The evil things we did were against God. (but but but, the evil things we do now are still against God.) But then think of all y'all non Christians friends, they are separated from God, they are enemies of God.

Ephesians 2:1-3  As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,  in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
  
But because of the amazing God we have, we are reconciled through JEEEEEESUS. I AM A FRIEND OF GOD, WOAH,OH OH! yeah, we're friends of God now, through Jesus. We can now be brought into God prescenmce as HOLY, with NO WRONG, so we are NOT GUILTY. SO, through Christ, we are saved from sins, we are blameless, unreprovable! 

v23
But this will only happen if we continue strong and sure in faith. We can't be moed aaway from the hope of JEEESUS.  (i guess this is proof that salvation isn't earned by being a christian once at some point as they won't be continually strong and sure in faith. i'm slowly working on this issue :P)  This is been told through das world, with da help of Paul.

Colossians 1 v 15 - 20 - Numero Uno

v15

No one can see God through their eyes, but Jesus is exactly like God, is ranks higher than anything ever made. So through Jesus, we see what God is actually like! But he's not "exactly the same" he IS the same! Jesus was made in God's image, and in man's image, so Jesus is the firstborn over creation, he's kinda like our older brother. Like in the olden times everything used to go the first born, Jesus gets all the Father's inheritance. But through being saved, we get a share in the inheritance - woooo!

v16-17

All things were made for CHRIST and his sake. He was there before anything was made, and he's the reason why thigns are still there. Kinda weird, I always think that Jesus was "there" when he was a baby, but he wasn't he was there before. Weird thoughts huh! He rules over the thrones, powers, rulers, and authorities in the entireeeee universe. He has ultimate supremacy :)

v18

Christ is head of the church (not the queen) but also the head of the body. Think of a body with no head, pretty useless. Same is without Jesus. Christ also CREATED the church!! And through him, many are turned to God and christianity. People can also (hopefully) see Christ through us, even if they can't see him. This has gotta be our aim in life, to show Jesus through us

v19-20

God has given all of his power to Christ, and given to Christ in his fullness. and through the holy spirit, we can have this too! Go's purpose was through Jesus to reconcile himself. The sacrifice of JC, transferred all the punishments. We can't be held guilty anymore!! We are reconciled to God, we no longer have separation* but peace. We're not just forgiven, we're reconciled. ALL things will be placed under God, even satan.

Application

Basics yeah, Jesus is number one. Jesus is the only way to God, and he's the only one who can reconcile. YEEEEEEEAH, good stuff :)

Colossians 1 v 9 - 14 - The Knowledge

v9-10
remember yesterday? yep good, cause todays is related to yesterdays. because of the new Christians in Colosse and their faith hope and love, Paul's continually praying for them , that God will help them to fully understand. And that they will have wisdom, understanding in spiritual stuff. Yes this is right, if you don't have a knowledge of God, then all other knowledge is useless. Because knowing V = IxR won't get you to heaven. Yes you still need to revise for exams, but God comes first, always. If the people have this knowledge then they'll live a kinda life that'll please God, they'll produce bananas (fruit) and keep growing (no short people in Colosse) all because they put God first, and have God wisdom. But it's no good just KNOWING, they have to put it into practise, like everything in life.
James 1:22  Do what God's teaching says; when you only listen and do nothing, you are fooling yourselves.
God wants us to have the fruits of the spirit; love joy peace patience kidness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self control, but also that we convert people to becoming xians. Paul talks of growing, and , if your not growing in faith, you are backsliding, there's no middle ground. 

v11
"God will strengthen you with his own great power so that you will not give up when troubles come, but you will be patient." 
I love this verse so much, it's painted orange in my bible. 


v12-14
Paul here talks of three things that the Colossians (just twigged, they are Colossians, and the bible chapter is called Colossians. imagine a bible chapter called WP-ies. Weird.) 

1.  They should thank God cause we've been "qualified" to share in God's kingdom, we're part of his kingdom. 
2. They should thank God for rescuing us from darkness and from Satan and we're in the kingdom of God!
3. Thank God that they have redemption of sins through JC. 

Application

• Practice what you preach
• Put God first
• Keep growing, not backsliding
• Pray for faith in the power of God
• All our trials, we have God with us, you'll be able to do it through God, pray for endurance and patience and joy as well
• We need to thank God that he's chosen us, that we no longer belong to the devil, JC sacrifice

Colossians 1 v 1 - 8 - How to grow a Christian

Background
So Colossians is in the New Testament, squidged between Philippians and 1 Thessalonians. We're jumping in at 60AD in Colosse which is modern day Turkey full of new Christians. It's kind of all about not needing rules, or clothes, or extra stuff to be a Christian (error from Judaism and Gnosticism, and i've mentioned that before!!) - it simply is a relationship with Christ. This will be great for new Christians apparently! Geographically I can't find it, but shall have a wee search in my student atlas later :)


v1-2
Paul starts off by calling himself an apostle - a personal representative. He says he has been sent on a special assignment by Jesus as part of a special plan. He says he's in this plan with Timmy (remember him? I know, long time no see!) and Timmy was probably with Paul when this letter was written. He then greets the people in Colosse!


v3-4
Paul says he prays and thanks to God about the faith of the people in Colosse (remember, new Christians!) Paul says this a lot, not that it loses it's meaning, but it's great. Oh and he also thanks for the love the Christians have! As shown in Galatians 5v6 that faith only works WITH love: When we are in Christ Jesus, it is not important if we are circumcised or not. The important thing is faith—the kind of faith that works through love.


v5 -6
Long verse! Okay so Paul tells them that they have kept their faith and love because of hope, and the hope they have in heaven. They knew about this when they were told about the Good News of Jesus. So obv the hope in heaven is eternal life, and the hope they have is a strong hope of salvation, and it's from Christ! Interestingly, Paul calls the bible, the "truth" which it is, but it shows it's all from God, it's all true. We can give our complete reliance onto the Bible, cause it's from God. So here, now we've got Faith Hope and Love! 

Faith (from Christ) --> Love (from faith) --> Hope (result of faith)

Yay. the Good News is throughout the world, and it's bringing blessings and it's growing. And it happened to the people in Colosse too! 


v7-8
the Christians in Colosse learned about God's grace from Ephras, who was a friend of Pauls and servant of God who may have established the church in Colosse. He's guilt of telling Paul of how faithful and love filled the people were. 


Application
Okily Dokily. Paul thanks God for the people of Colosee, how often do we thank God for stuff? We complain when things go wrong, but do we say thank you when things go right? We also need to think more about the hope we have in heaven, this gives us a better outlook on life now. If you thinking whether to gossip about that friend, and you think about the hope in heaven, you'll stop. when Ephras tells Paul about the people of Colosee, people also talk about us. This can be in a good way, when we've represented ourselves well at something, when you do a youth service and everyone loves it, or when you've been a good witness, but this works both ways too. When you've been a bad witness, people will talk about it. The characteristics of the growing christians were holy, faithful and loving, ask God to help you with all three!