King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Chapters: The Books Of Colossians & Philemon
Message: A Faithful Witness
Hello My Friend,
Lately, I have been waking up about 3:30 in the morning, and for some reason I knew that God was doing this to prepare me for something. Well, yesterday I had a job interview, and while I have not heard officially yet that I got the job, my potential hours would be early. And this will be a guaranteed permanent position for the next ten years. Well, that right there told me that God has much better plans for me, and I thanked and praised Him for His timing and for not letting me settle for the first thing just to get a paycheck. I also asked Him why He is so good to me that He wants the very best for me, even when I fail Him so much. Do you know what He said to me? “You are precious to me!” [Psalms 139:15-18 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.]
God’s will is truly an incredible thing to be in, and we do not have to be perfect to be in the will of God, we just have to be willing, and faithful, and then let Him direct us with the rest. Let me tell you, with each and every one of those interviews, I already knew that God did not want me to work for them, but each one did come a better opportunity. When the company that I was supposed to start working for this week pulled out of the contract I thought that was as good as it was going to get, but God knew otherwise. Yet as good as this job sounds, even if I do not get it, I know that God is in control and something even better would be waiting for me. Well, Jesus said it best when we are faithful to Him, [Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.]
We know that Paul spent the last two years of his life as a prisoner in Rome, the Book of Colossians was written by Paul in approximately 64 AD. The epistle (letter) was written to the church of Colosse, who were instructed to share it with other churches. The purpose of the letter was to address doctrinal issues within the church. What we are to learn is that we are complete in Christ, who is the Head of the Church, God in the flesh, created all things, and all things are created for Him, [Colossians 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:]
When Paul wrote these letters during that time, he did so with the anticipation that he would get out of there and visit with these towns that had learned of their faith in Christ. When Paul got word of the Colossians and their faith in Christ he was ecstatic, but some false doctrine was being used there that he was concerned of, he decided that it was best to let them know what the truth is before anything escalated.
[Colossians 1:1-6 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, 5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; 6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:]
[an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,] Do you see how God chooses our calling? It does not matter if we are a janitor, if it is in the will of God, He will bless our faithfulness. Remember, when it is in the will of God, we cannot stop it, likewise, if it is not in His will, He will do everything in His power to stop it. We are not always so successful at listening to Holy Spirit when He is telling us not to go there, we find that out often after the fact. However, God will even use our being out of His will to His advantage to get us back in His will, after all, He already knew that we were going there. So, why does He allow it in the first place? Well, take my last job for instance, I knew the second that I took the offer that I needed to just stay where I was. Then when I did take the job, God used me there to encourage my team, and also gave me experience on how to persevere in difficult situations. This job that I am getting would not have been offered had I not gone through what I did. Now, as Paul continues his letter, this is exactly what he tells them happens as they walk worthy.
[Colossians 1:10-15 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; 12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:]
[Strengthened with all might,] This is where works and faith go hand in hand, when we take those steps by faith, it is the bravest thing that we will ever do, and that is when Jesus gives us the strength to do them. Praise God! And we truly were walking in the darkness of this world before knowing Christ as our Saviour. I cannot even recall one thing that I did before Christ was in my life that is prosperous now, or gave me the desire to keep going, but the second I dedicated my life to Him, my desire to serve Him faithfully still continues. Of course, I have bad times, make bad decisions, get out of His will, feel defeated, and want to give up like everyone else, but like I always say, Jesus never lets you go when you are truly His. That is when Jesus smacks me upside the head and reminds me that I am covered under His blood, and that is not a defeat.
[Colossians 1:20-23,27-28 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:]
[that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:] And this is exactly why He allows us to get out of His will sometimes, it will lead others to Christ. If we stayed in God’s will all the time we would never come out of our bubble, never be a witness, and never reach certain people. God uses everything for His glory, even our temporary lapses of judgment, [Colossians 2:6-10 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:]
[spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,] Believe it or not, by our seeing how the world deals with things through their eyes and our increasing knowledge of God, we are able to discern the truth from the lies. Most religions are not about the truth of the Gospel, they are about tradition and submission to their will, not God’s. We, who are faithful, are testimonies that we are complete in Christ, and of the life that He established for us, even when we are not always in His will, [Colossians 2:12-15 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.]
[and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;] Jesus took every sin ever committed and those not even committed yet to the cross with Him, nailing each and every one of them on the tree. Amen! Saved, born again Christians are not subject to harsh laws that even God would never suggest. Yes, we all sin and come short of the glory of God, therefore, each and everyone of us are who are saved are saved by the grace of God through our faith in Jesus Christ alone, not by our works, [Colossians 2:20-23 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.]
[not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.] Being dead with Christ means that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our Saviour we are no longer walking, talking corpses, we are living souls, made alive through Him. As Paul continues his letter, he reminds them, and all of us, that since we are saved by grace, we are so much better than that, and should not be using our salvation as means to satisfy every lust of the flesh.
[Colossians 3:4-10 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:]
[Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth;] [Mortify; To subdue; to abase; to humble; to reduce; to restrain;] Since we are saved by grace, we ought to do whatever we can to remove sin from our lives. Until I dedicated my life to Christ, I never knew that the life I was living was full of sin. We do not change overnight, it takes a lifetime to remove every sin, and even then, it is not long enough, but we are more than complete, we are witnesses for Christ. Being saved and understanding the pain Jesus went through ought to motivate us to walk with Him, be more like Him, and live in a way the reveals Him through us.
[Colossians 3:15-17,23-25 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. 23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. 25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.]
[And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord,] Since we are the body of Christ, and He is the Head of us, what better form of gratitude can we give then to live our lives in the newness that He made us. By the way, man means mankind, so God is talking about men, women, and children that are belong to Jesus, and we need to love one another as the brothers and sisters in Christ that we are. Of course, we are not always going to get along with each other, but that is where the love of Jesus comes in, [Colossians 4:1-6 Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. 2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; 3 Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: 4 That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. 5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.]
[give unto your servants that which is just and equal;] We are all the same, even Jesus said that we He is not above us concerning this. We are not required to agree with one another, but we are required to love one another. The Book of Philemon was written to a convert named Philemon around 64 AD, who lived in Colosse and it was written to seek help for a runaway slave named Onesimus. What we are to learn from it is that Christian principles must be applied to social relationships as well as personal, [Philemon 1:6 That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.]
Onesimus, was a slave of Philemon’s who had robbed him and fled to Rome where he met Paul and became a convert. Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon with this letter, it was a testimony on his faith and how he greatly improved since walking with Christ, [Philemon 1:1-6 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer, 2 And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house: 3 Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, 5 Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; 6 That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.]
[may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing] Life is so precious, so fast, and so hard sometimes, did it ever occur to anyone who are so judgmental of those who have fallen from grace that that is their judgment? Some will learn, and repent of their sin and go on to be great testimonies, and Onesimus was one of them, [Philemon 1:10-11,15-20 I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: 11 Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me: 15 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever; 16 Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord? 17 If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. 18 If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account; 19 I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides. 20 Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord.]
[but above a servant, a brother beloved,] Let me tell you, when life happens, it tends to put God on the back burner, and we lose sight of what Christ did for us. Do you realize the state you were in before you knew Christ as your Saviour? Before we got saved we were unprofitable, servants to the world, and imprisoned in our sin. Jesus set us free when we received Him as our Saviour, we are no longer unprofitable servants, but brothers and sisters united and joint heirs with Christ, [Romans 8:14-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.]
Let Us Pray: God, In the midst of all my struggles, failures, and doubts, I remain confident that You will complete the work You began in me. You accepted me as I was, and since then You lovingly began reshaping my life into an image of Your Son. Not only are You continuing the good work You began, but You are perfecting those things that weaken my faith and my testimony. I thank You that You will fulfill Your purpose in me, no matter what people believe, I thank You for Your grace that abounds so much, I thank You for using me to serve You, and I thank You for keeping me faithful. Lord, lead me and guide me, teach me, and show me Your will for me, let me not get caught up in ordinances to please man, rather live to please You, and fill me with Your wisdom so that I can be ready to answer those who are trying to discourage me. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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