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!