Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Colossians 2:8-9 " See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,  which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world  rather than on Christ.  9  For in Christ all the fullness  of the Deity lives in bodily form,   10  and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head  over every power and authority . One of Paul's main goals, as he encourages this young church, was to teach them about the major heresy that was threatening the church. It was called "Gnosticism", which comes from the word "to know" or came to be known as "secret knowledge".  Different blends of this heresy showed up in Jewish mysticism, local religious cults, as blending Greek philosophies a strict dualism between body and spirit.  Here is a brief summary of Gnosticism and how Paul teaches in Colossians and how the person and work of Christ is directly antithetical to this false teaching.  Gnosti

Today we begin our journey through the book of Colossians.  Here is a little background on Paul's letter. The Setting of Colossians Date:  A.D .  62 Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians while in prison, probably in Rome. The church at Colossae was likely established during Paul’s third missionary journey as he ministered for three years in Ephesus. It appears that Paul did not personally plant the church there, but instead a Colossian named Epaphras traveled to Ephesus, responded to Paul’s gospel message, and returned to share the good news in Colossae . 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 Armor of God 10  Finally, be strong in the Lord  and in his mighty power.   11  Put on the full armor of God,  so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.   12  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,  but against the rulers, against the authorities,  against the powers  of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13  Therefore put on the full armor of God,  so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.   14  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,  with the breastplate of righteousness in place,   15  and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.   16  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith,  with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.   17  Take the helmet of salvation  and the sword of the Spirit,  which is the word of God. Paul fini

Ephesians 5:15 Be very careful, then, how you live —not as unwise but as wise,   16  making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.   17  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.   18  Do not get drunk on wine,  which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,   19  speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.  Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,   20  always giving thanks  to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter 5, Paul turns his attention to the type of lives the believers at Ephesus should be leading.  Paul for these new believers it would be easy for them to fall back into old patterns of sin, just as it is with us today. He also knew that they had an opportunity to impact the world around them every day with every decision they made.  These decisions not only affect us but others around us.  Then, he uses the metaphor of hav

But to each one of us  grace  has been given  as Christ apportioned it.  11  So Christ himself gave  the apostles,  the prophets,  the evangelists,  the pastors and teachers,   12  to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ  may be built up   13  until we all reach unity  in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God  and become mature,  attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ . The bible uses the word "grace" in a couple of different ways.  The first is the " grace of God in Christ Jesus that saves us" .  By grace we are saved through faith.  Grace in this sense is God's gift of salvation.  As we sing, " Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me ."  We might call this "saving grace". Then Paul says, "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it." Does this mean some people get more saving grace than another?  No. This grace is referr

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me  for you,   3  that is, the mystery  made known to me by revelation,  as I have already written briefly.   4  In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight  into the mystery of Christ,   5  which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.   6  This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs  together with Israel, members together of one body,  and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. One of my favorite types of books to read are "mystery novels".  Each chapter you get nearer and nearer to solving the mystery, and this keeps the reader wanting to read more and fet to the end of the story. Usually the mystery is revealed in a way that one does not expect, increasing the enjoyment of the novel.   Paul uses the term "mystery" in chapter 3 of Ephesians

Made Alive in Christ Ephesians 2:4-10   4  But because of his great love for us,  God, who is rich in mercy,   5  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved.   6  And God raised us up with Christ  and seated us with him  in the heavenly realms  in Christ Jesus,   7  in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness  to us in Christ Jesus.   8  For it is by grace  you have been saved,  through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—   9  not by works,  so that no one can boast.   10  For we are God’s handiwork,  created  in Christ Jesus to do good works,  which God prepared for us to do. Normally when we think of death, we think of literal physical death.  Today Paul talks about a different kind of death, spiritual death.  Paul describes this death as being " dead in our trespasses ".  This resulted from, " Following the w