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Ethos Church

Week One // Colossians 1 (NIV)

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.


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. 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, who is

a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love

in the Spirit.

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, 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 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.

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. 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.

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your mind because

of] 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.

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. 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.

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.


 

Fun Fact:

Verses 15-20 were written as a poem! Paul goes on to reference this opening

poem throughout the letter. The poem is used as a tool meant to establish

and describe Jesus’ authority.


For these three questions, use a journal to write down your answers.


1. Having never met the church in Colossae, Paul knows their reputation. He

thanks God and encourages their exemplary model of faith, love, and hope.

If someone who had never met you heard only the best things about you,

what words do you think would be used to describe you?


2. Paul prays for the Colossians to receive knowledge and wisdom, to be

strengthened with endurance and patience. What do you need to grow in

your spiritual life? List them here and ask someone to pray God gives you

them. (hint: fill out a prayer card at the response moment stations, and/or

head to the prayer banners at the end of Sunday experiences!)


3. Paul says he rejoices in his suffering. What kinds of thoughts or emotions

come up for you when you read that? Can you remember a time when you

chose joy in a hard circumstance?



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