Colossians
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for providing eternal life to us, through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross! Thank You for loving us enough to go the extra mile for us, when we responded to Your initial love and grace with rebellion and all manner of sin. I ask You to forgive me for any sins I have committed, which I have not confessed to You, and take a moment right now to cleanse my heart before You……….I pray that You will fill me now with Your Holy Spirit that all that I am and all I do will bring You great glory and honor. This I pray in the powerful name of Jesus who lived and died and lives again to fulfill Your eternal promise of salvation for all who believe in Him. Amen.
God's Word For Me Today
Colossians 1:15-23
15Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. 16Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. 17He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.
18Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is first in everything. 19For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. 21This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, 22yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it.
Reflecting on God’s Word
What does it mean to you that Jesus is “first” of all who will rise from the dead?
A Deeper Exploration of God’s Word
What position does Jesus hold according to today’s Scripture focus? (1:18)
What act makes Jesus “first” in everything? (1:18)
Understanding God’s Word
What is the significance of Jesus being “first” in everything as it relates to what we’ve been considering about Jesus all week—that He IS God?
What does it mean that Jesus is the “head” of the church?
Applying God’s Word to Our Lives
What one area of Your life needs to be brought under the “headship” (authority and leadership) of Jesus right now?
Thoughts...Head of the Church...
The Apostle Paul leaves us with little doubt as to who is “in charge” of the church. Jesus is the one who Paul calls the “head” of the church. What a perfect image to describe Jesus role in the church. The head is obviously the place where the brain is located—the control center of life for us as human beings. Jesus is the control center of life for us as His followers and as members of the church. How important it is for us to realize this truth! So many of life’s worries would be alleviated if we simply let the “head” of the church, Jesus, do His job. We don’t need to figure out what Jesus wants us to do. If we read the Word and listen to the Spirit’s voice in our lives then we will know what to do. Jesus already did everything FIRST, and He knows how hard it is to live faithfully and obediently here on earth. That’s why He died—to take away our sin, our shortcomings, and His resurrection, as Paul puts it is the first in a long line of resurrections, which shows us the infinite power that He has that He can free us not only from sin—but also from death! Hallelujah!