“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”
~ Colossians 1:13
Hi James and Ellen,
Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached in the churches where you have attended with your dad and ma? The pastor of the church where your grandmaa and grandpaa are attending in Colorado Springs teaches through the books that are in the Bible in an expository way – verse by verse. The pastor of the church where your grandmaa and grandpaa are attending has been since the first of this year going verse by verse through the Colossians Book. Whenever and wherever your grandmaa and grandpaa go to a church service, your grandmaa and grandpaa want to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached. Epaphras was behind the bringing together of a group of Christ-follower guys and gals in Colossae, Phrygia in Asia Minor. Epaphras was an evangelist. Epaphras would walk to towns that were nearby – such as Laodicea and Hierapolis, to tell the guys, gals and kids who lived in these towns about the good news of what Jesus Christ did for the guys, gals and kids who accepted as truth why Jesus Christ had to be born and then why He had to die on planet Earth. Paul’s third missionary journey had him going through Colossae. Paul – while he was in Colossae, appointed an elder to insure that the Gospel of Jesus Christ would always be what would be preached in the Colossae Christ-follower community of guys and gals. Several years later – and after Paul had been taken to Rome to be kept under house arrest because of his insistence and persistence of always pursuing opportunities to preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere he went, Epaphras visited Paul with some disturbing news about what was taking place in the Colossae Christ-follower community of guys and gals. A guy with some weird ideas of what he thought should be taught versus the Gospel of Jesus Christ had gotten into the Colossae Christ-follower community of guys and gals. The guy had gotten the Colossae guys and gals to incorporate into their Christ-follower community worship services tenets – such as ceremonial laws and feast days, that they had obeyed before Jesus Christ changed everything. The guy had gotten the Colossae Christ-follower community’s guys and gals to also incorporate into their services the worshipping of angels. When Paul heard that the guys and gals in the Colossae Christ-follower community had been hoodwinked by a false teacher who claimed that he was privy to some sort of secret knowledge that included the need to have to worship angels, Paul sent a personal letter to the Colossae Christ-follower community’s guys and gals to remind them to faithfully obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul’s heartfelt letter to the Colossae Christ-follower community of guys and gals begins with a specific focus on the person of Jesus Christ. Colossians 1 has what your grandpaa thinks as being Jesus Christ’s job description. Your grandpaa has had all kinds of job descriptions over the years. The mission agency that your grandmaa and grandpaa are with – which is OC International, uses what they called a JED (Job Effectiveness Description) for missionaries such as your grandmaa and grandpaa to develop a job description for them. A job description defines what a guy and gal will be held accountable to do over the next year. Your grandpaa was the Field Director for the Bolivian South American Mission field missionary team for three years. Your grandpaa was also the Field Director for over five years for the OC International field missionary team in Guatemala. Your grandpaa was responsible for insuring that the field team missionaries who he was the Field Director over had job descriptions. Your grandpaa then was responsible for insuring that each one of the field team missionaries who he was the Field Director over did what they said in their job descriptions they were going to do. Your grandpaa did not mind being the Field Director for field missionary teams. Your grandpaa just had to be always ready for the unexpected to happen – such as an unexpected tragedy or a natural disaster or . . .
God’s JED for Himself as God the Son included having His only Son reflect His image as God the Father. Having been created by God in the image of God the Father, God – as God the Son, radiated the glory of the image of His Father because He was created in the exact image of His Father. God – as God the Father, remained invisible while God – as God the Son, became visible as an incarnate man. God – as God the Son, was the first created being that God – as God the Father, created – which gave God – as God the Son, the rights and privileges of a firstborn. God – as God the Son, had absolute priority, preeminence and sovereignty given to Him by His Father. Everything that was created after God – as God the Father, had created His only Son was created for His only Son. Everything that God – as God the Father, created in the heavens and on planet Earth to be visible and invisible were created for His only Son. Who God – as God the Father, created to sit on thrones as kings, have power, be rulers and have authority were for His only Son. God – as God the Father, created His only Son as the common denominator that can be seen in everything. God – as God the Father, created His only Son to be the head of the body of believers or Christ-follower guys, gals and kids and to be the first to live again after dying. God – as God the Father, gave His only Son total supremacy over everything and everyone. God – as God the Father, had His only Son be crucified so that His specially elected guys, gals and kids who He chose for Himself before He created planet Earth would be able to claim after confessing their belief in Him the gift of eternal life. Paul expounds on this in verse 13, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” Because of the JED that was given to God – as God the Son, by His Father, you are able to today live lives that are filled with hope.
Colossians 1 (518)