Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / February 20 - Colossians 2

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February 20 - Colossians 2 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  How life, friends, it's shown here.
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  It's Tuesday, it's the 20th of February, and hello, thank you
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  for tapping on play and inviting me into your day on this
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  Plimsoll Day. What on earth is Plimsoll Day, I
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  hear you ask? Well, those of us who are
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  shipped during folk might know, but there was a guy back in the
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  1800s by the name of Samuel Plimsoll, who himself grew up
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  really poor, became a British Member of Parliament and decided
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  the thing I need to do with my career.
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  He stops so many people dying as they transport goods by ship
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  back in the day. This is terrible.
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  They used to call them coffin ships because they just claimed
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  the lives of so many sailors because there was 0 safety
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  procedures in place. And so he wrote something which
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  became law in 1874. And that law was that each ship
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  needed a mark on the outside of that ship.
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  This line which when that line got pushed underwater by the
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  weight of the the load on the ship, they needed to stop
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  loading the ship so that it wouldn't become overloaded and
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  sink. And that, would you believe, is
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  known as, yes, the Plimsoll line.
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  And they reckon that this little line saves 22 people every
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  single day from shipping accidents around the world.
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  Isn't that interesting? So today's Plimsoll Day, they're
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  clever dude who decided to take on their greedy ship owners of
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  the day. And so we still have this mark
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  on the side of our ships, the Plimsoll line.
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  And that is why we remember this.
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  Oh dear. We remember this day on the on
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  the 10th of February, not the 20th of February.
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  So that was 10 days ago. Let's let's just pretend it's
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  been a quick 10 days. That's still a great story and
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  worth sharing, but that is not the 20th, that is the 10th.
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  Today is the 20th of February. Friends.
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  Well aren't you glad that I am not in charge of your shipping?
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  Cause your goods would be 10 days late all the time.
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  Oh dear, let us go back to Colossae.
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  There you go. This is a lot more forgiving
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  because it was a long time ago where Paul has written this
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  letter to this young church to encourage them in the truth of
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  who Jesus is. And that, my friends, does not
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  change from day to day, year to year, century to century.
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  So let us go back and read together Colossians Chapter 2.
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  I want you to know how much I've agonised for you for the church
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  at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me
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  personally. I want them to be encouraged and
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  knit together by strong ties of love.
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  I want them to have complete confidence that they understand
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  God's mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.
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  In the hymn lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
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  knowledge. I'm telling you this so no one
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  will deceive you with well crafted arguments.
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  For though I'm far away from you, my heart is with you, and I
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  rejoice that you are living as you should, and that your faith
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  in Christ is strong. And now, just as you accepted
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  Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.
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  Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built
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  on him. Then your faith will grow strong
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  and the truth you were taught and you will overflow with
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  thankfulness. Don't let anyone capture you
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  with empty philosophies and high sounding nonsense that comes
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  from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world
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  rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the
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  fullness of God in a human body. So you are complete through your
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  union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and
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  authority. When you came to Christ, you
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  were circumcised, but not by a physical procedure.
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  Christ performed a spiritual circumcision, the cutting away
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  of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ
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  when you were baptised, and with him you were raised to new life,
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  because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ
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  from the dead. You were dead because of your
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  sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.
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  Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our
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  sins. He cancelled the record of the
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  charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
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  In this way he disarmed the spiritual rulers and
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  authorities. He shamed them publicly by his
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  victory over them on the cross. So don't let anyone condemn you
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  for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain Holy
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  days or New Moons, ceremonies or Sabbaths.
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  For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come, and
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  Christ himself is that reality. Don't let anyone condemn you by
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  insisting on pious self denial or the worship of angels, saying
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  they have had visions about these things.
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  Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not
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  connected to Christ, the head of the body.
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  For he holds the whole body together with its joints and
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  ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.
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  You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the
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  spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following
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  the rules of the world such as don't handle, don't taste, don't
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  touch? Such rules are mere human
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  teaching about things that deteriorate as we use them.
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  These rules may seem wise because they require strong
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  devotion, pious self denial, and severe bodily discipline, but
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  they provide no help in conquering a person's evil
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  desires. Jesus, thank you for this
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  reminder that you are enough. And then it's so hard for us to
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  comprehend the totality of your victory for us that we continue
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  to try and prop it up with our efforts and by following rules
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  and thinking that there must be more to it than just your
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  incredible sacrifice for us. But now you have done it all.
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  You are the Supreme Head and we are your children.
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  We are your disciples and we just need to follow you, to
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  trust in you and to know that what you have done is enough.
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  Thank you, Jesus, that in you we have complete victory and
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  complete confidence that we don't need to have doubt and
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  fear, but that it's your forgiveness and your sacrifice
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  that entirely makes us right with you.
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  With God we praise you, incredible Saviour, and it's in
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  your name we pray. Amen.