Welcome back! This is week 1 in Colossians. I’m glad you’ve come to study with me. This book is full of such wonderful words. This is going to be fun.
But before we begin, let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, before we read this I want to ask You to reveal all that You want us to see. I ask for Your leadership and Your help in writing another great lesson. Thank You, Lord.
Here we go! Please read Colossians 1:1-2 here in the AMP
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters[a] in Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.[b]
I know we’re hundreds of years past the lives of the apostles, but we have their writings, so we can be assured what they taught back then is applicable to our lives today. For God is the same yesterday, today and forever. His grace and peace are for you too.
Please read Colossians 1:3-6a
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you.
Your faith and your love for all God’s people. Fill this in…the faith and love that ________ from the ________ stored up for ____ in __________ and about which _______ have ___________ heard in the ______ message of the _________ that has _______ to you.
According to the subheading, what part did we just read? There’s a bit more of it, let’s keep going.
Please read Colossians 1:6b-8
6b In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,[c] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our[d] behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Is the gospel growing in you? It can be if you’re here reading this. But what else do you do to grow your faith? Think about it. How do you let God’s words infuse your mind throughout your day?
Please read Colossians 1:9-14 A Prayer
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Slow down and fill in the prayer you just read.
We ask God to _____________________________________ through all the ____________ and ________________ that the Spirit gives, so that you may _____ a _______________ of the Lord and _______ Him in every ______:
Bearing ______ in every good ________,
Growing in the ____________ of God,
Being __________________ with all _________ according to His _____________ might so that _____ may have __________________________ and _______________, and giving ______________________ to the Father, who has __________________ you to share in the ______________ of his holy people in the _____________________________________. For He _________ us from the ____________ of __________ and brought us into the ________________________________________ he loves, in whom we have ________________, the ____________________________.
Please read Colossians 1:15-18
The Supremacy of the Son of God
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
The Son (Jesus/Yeshua) is
the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
For in him all things were created:
things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead,
so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
Please read Colossians 1:19-20
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Those two verses are memorize verses. That thought appears in multiple places and that is the gospel message.
God was pleased to have all His Fullness dwell in Jesus, and through Jesus to reconcile to God Himself, all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through Jesus’ blood shed on the cross.
Reconciled to God Himself. Praise be His Name.
Please read Colossians 1:21-23
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[g] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
This is Paul’s zoom in from the previous verses. Now you can personalize what has happened.
But now he has reconciled______ by Christ’s physical body through ________ to present you _______ in His sight, without _______ and free from __________________—if you __________ in your ________, established and ______, and do not _____ from the _______ held out in the gospel.
Please read Colossians 1:24-26
Paul’s Labor for the Church
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.
Paul was commissioned to present what to the church?
Disclosed: to make known
Please read Colossians 1:27
27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The mystery? ________________, ________________________
Please read Colossians 1:28-29
28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
Christ is the one we proclaim.
Admonishing: giving friendly earnest advice or encouragement to
and teaching everyone with all _________, so that we may present ______________ fully mature in ____________.
If he could strenuously contend (to struggle for)with all the energy Christ so powerfully worked in him, if he could do that and Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, could we not also? Proclaim, Admonish, Teach through His Wisdom and His Power, for you. Oh yes, it is possible.
Thank You, Jesus. Amen.
Footnotes
- Colossians 1:2 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 4:15.
- Colossians 1:2 Some manuscripts Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
- Colossians 1:7 Or slave
- Colossians 1:7 Some manuscripts your
- Colossians 1:9 Or all spiritual wisdom and understanding
- Colossians 1:12 Some manuscripts us
- Colossians 1:21 Or minds, as shown by