Jeremiah 2:31-4:18, Colossians 1:1-20, Psalms 76:1-12, Proverbs 24:21-22
Today is the 4th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is always great to be here with you as we come around the global campfire. Just threw some logs on. Got a nice fresh pot of coffee going. And off we go into the wild frontier that is the Scriptures and is our journey through the Scriptures this year. We’re reading from the common English Bible. We just began the book of Jeremiah, so, we’ll continue forward in Jeremiah and then when we get to the New Testament we’ll start another of Paul’s letters, the letter to the Colossians. But first Jeremiah 2:31 through 4:18.
Introduction to the letter from Paul to the Colossians:
Okay. So, like we mentioned at the beginning, we’re moving into some new territory, a new letter, an epistle from the apostle Paul to the Colossians. And Colossae was not an unfamiliar city to Paul. It was about 100 miles from Ephesus where Paul spent a considerable amount of time. And, the ancient ruins of Colossae, they have been identified. They’re in the western part of modern-day Turkey but there hasn’t been any major excavation to this point. But ancient Colossae has definitely been identified. During Paul’s life, Colossae wasn’t a ruin, it was a cultural melting pot that brought a lot of people together and mingled them. And, so, a lot of philosophical and religious ideas were flowing into the city and these had made their way into the Colossian church. And so, Paul’s letter was written as a response. Like Ephesians and Philippians, Colossians is widely considered to be another of the letters that Paul wrote while he was in prison in Rome while awaiting trial before the Emperor. And this letter breaks down kind of into two halves, in two sections. The first is a doctrinal issue. Individuals had come into the church were teaching angel worship and, you know, other foreign rituals. And Paul addressed this by reiterating Jesus is supreme over all of creation, that the universe itself was created by and through Him and is sustained through His Lordship. And then Paul had to deal with an issue that that we see appearing over and over in the New Testament, circumcision versus on the circumcision. And this had become quite a controversy in the early church and we’ve already seen it many times. This issue had also found its way into the church at Colossae. And of course, Paul’s shared his views. He had no problem doing that. So, we see in the early church that some of some of these fundamental issues, they keep showing up in different letters and in different places and contexts because they were widespread and controversial issues of the early church. Ironically, many of these challenges are still with us today in one form or another, making it possible for us to experience growth and correction in our own contexts through these letters. And understanding the Colossians was written by man awaiting a life or death judgment, right? Allows the letter to carry a certain amount of gravity and we should give it the gravity that it deserves. Colossians is a magnificent testament to the Lordship of Jesus in our lives and presents the overwhelming reality of what that Lordship offers to all of humanity. And, so, we begin. Colossians 1 verses 1 through 17.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the letter to the Colossians we’ve just begun that shows us how Almighty, how sovereign Your Lordship is and how much we can rest in that. And, so, come Holy Spirit and plant these words in our lives as we continue our journey forward. You are the sovereign God. We return to You as we were reading about in Jeremiah. We come back to You. We humble ourselves before You. We want to walk with You in every moment of this day, in every choice that we need to make, in every conversation that’s going to happen in every intent of our hearts, we invite You to be present in it all. Come Holy Spirit align us with Your will and Your ways. We trust You. You will only lead us into all truth. You will only guide us on the narrow path that leads to life and we can’t find this without You. We can navigate this without You. And, so, we surrender to Your Lordship and Your authority. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.