Colossians 1: 1-8 HCSB Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother: To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth,the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth. You learned this from Epaphras,our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf, and he has told us about your love in the Spirit. Good Morning Loved Ones! We are taking a short break form the Book of Revelation and will return to it this coming Monday. I will be in Bible study this Sunday but we will have a guest speaker. He has chosen to speak from Colossians 1:15-20 so we will start from the beginning of the chapter today and work up to those verses by tomorrow in preparation for this Sunday. It is so easy to think the Christian life is about you and Jesus but the reality is, if we have the Son we have the Father, the Spirit and each other as well. I love that Paul start his letter by including Timothy as our brother. Such a humble start to a book that is all about the supremacy or first place of Christ in all things. Paul says that it is by God's will that he was an Apostle, which means "one who is sent". Notice that from the beginning Paul makes this a family affair. "Timothy our brother", "faithful brothers" and God our Father is how he chooses to introduce this letter. Then he goes into the sweet salvation we have in Christ and what gave the Colossian church confidence and motivated them to serve Jesus. It was the knowledge of eternal security for all those who belong to Jesus. The Apostle Paul says, "the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth,the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth." It is a privilege to be called family and saints, which simply means set apart. But then he shifts to responsiblity into KIngdom mode calling Epaphras,"our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah". We have been granted family status in Christ but also the privilege and responsibility of service. No matter how close we grow in relationship to our Savior we should never forget our place in the Kingdom. He is the King, we are His slaves and servants purchased by blood. What a beautiful privilege once you know the One who is supreme over all things yet calls you family. May this fuel your soul as you go about your day. Have great day Loved Ones and God bless you real good! Memory Verse of the Week He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Colossians 1:15
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