Bible Studies

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The Letters
Colossians 1:11-20 - A Kingdom for All
Key Verses: (NCV)

• 11: "God will strengthen you with His own great power so that you will not give up when troubles come, but you will be patient." – The ways of the world constantly beckon us from God's path but through constant prayer and a focus on Christ, we are strengthened in our resolve to follow His teachings.
  
  
• 13-14: "God has freed us from the power of darkness, and He brought us into the kingdom of His dear Son. ¹⁴The Son paid for our sins, and in Him we have forgiveness." – A promise that gives eternal life.
  
  
• 15: "No one can see God, but Jesus Christ is exactly like Him. He ranks higher than everything that has been made." – The Colossians were questioning Christ's divinity so Paul continues in this letter to address this hypocrisy and to set the record straight.
  
  
• 16: "Through His power all things were made – things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, all powers, authorities, lords, and rulers. All things were made through Christ and for Christ." – One argument presented by the Colossians was that God would not have created evil which is represented by the physical world. This led to a belief that Christ then, could not have been truly human.
  
  
• 20: "And through Christ, God has brought all things back to Himself again – things on earth and things in heaven. God made peace through the blood of Christ's death on the cross." – All that is wrong in the world has been reconciled with God through Christ.
  

Points to Contemplate:

• Have you given up? When trouble comes into your life, are you patient enough to weather the storm or are you quick to quit the ministries with which God has entrusted you? As you immerse your self in the details of life, have you forgotten why you became a Christian in the first place? As you build the walls to your ministry, do you constantly refer back to the foundation of your faith to insure that you are still solidly based in Christ's love and not off wandering in the darkness of your own making? Will you always remember that He has brought you into His kingdom through the redemption and forgiveness of your sins?
  
  
• Do you wonder who Christ is? Do you accept His humanness but struggle with the stories of His birth, the miracles He performed, His victory over death, and His ascension into heaven? Is His divine nature too "unreal?" Do you tend to think that He was simply a good teacher like so many other teachers in history? Or do you accept His divinity but struggle with how or why He would become human? Do you shy away from stories that make Jesus too human? These were the types of issues causing struggle within the early Colossian church. Do you see how people today still wrestle with the same questions in their efforts to understand Christ? What can you do to help them with this struggle?
  
  
• Is Christ your King? What does Christ as King mean to you? How applicable to your life is His Kingship? When you hear of God's kingdom does it cause you to pause and see dreams of a brighter future here on earth? Or, is it a time and place too glorious for earthly experiences? When you pray: "Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven," do you fully believe that this prayer will be answered? Do you see that a kingdom represents all of which God oversees? Do you accept that when you hand over your life to His authority that you have stepped into the kingdom of heaven? With this step do you accept your responsibility to also bring others along with you? Is this not kingdom building? Is this not how your prayer of bringing His kingdom on earth will be answered?
  

Promises of the Gospel:

On Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday in the liturgical year, we celebrate the entire being of Jesus Christ. Everything He has brought to earth including His life, His teachings, His sacrifice, and His victory over death, are united under the image of kingship. When we step forward and repent of our sins, He is there to embrace our fragile and broken lives. When we are lost and in despair, He is there to comfort and teach us so we can grow beyond our circumstances. When we step out in ministry, He is there to lead and guide us towards a vision of a brighter future. In all things we are His. We have handed everything over to His authority. When this occurs, His kingdom on earth is assured and the glory He promises becomes available to all people.

FUMC Devotionals

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