Scripture: “God’s Message came to me: ‘Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they polluted it by the way they lived. I poured out my anger on them because of the polluted blood they poured out on the ground. And so I got thoroughly angry with them polluting the country
Scripture: “They were trying to intimidate us into quitting. They thought, ‘They’ll give up; they’ll never finish it.’ I prayed, ‘Give me strength.’ Then I met secretly with Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, at his house. He said: ‘Let’s meet at the house of God, inside The Temple. Let’s find safety behind
Scripture: “One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’ Jesus replied, ‘The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must
Paul exhorted the church in Colosse to not lose focus on the message about Jesus that they had been given. Instead of trying to wrap Jesus into other religions or be swayed by people following a different path, they needed to keep their eyes fixed on Christ’s power that had changed their lives. Even within their church, the good intentions of some to keep people on the straight and narrow was crippling. The rules and religious code undermined what Christ did on the cross. The Colossians knew what they needed to do to follow God; however, knowing wasn’t enough. They had to start walking in what they believed.