Colossians: Christ Alone

Colossians 2:1-2

For I want you to know yhow great a wstruggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that ztheir hearts may be encouraged, being aknit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of bGod’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 cin whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order dthat no one may delude you with plausible arguments

Laodicea mentioned in Revelation as a church that is lukewarm 

Neither hot nor cold

Paul is reminding them that Christ holds all wisdom

There is no Christ plus anything

It is Christ alone

Today, we live in a culture that may teach us falsely that we can worship Christ and something or someone else

Christians are too closed minded

But we need to heed the Apostle Paul’s advice and be rooted and grounded in Christ alone

So how do we do that?

Recipe for community

Hearts encouraged

Knit together in love

These two things help us reach full assurance of understanding of God’s mystery which is Christ

Remember 1:27 Christ in us the hope of glory

Community helps fight against lies and arguments that delude us

Are you walking in godly community?

If not, what is hindering you?

Fear

Time

Laziness

Unsure how to find the right community

Remember the Church is made of people and we will bring baggage

Stop looking for the perfect church

All churches have issues

Look for a church that preaches the Jesus of the Bible 

He goes on to say:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 irooted and jbuilt up in him and kestablished in the faith, just las you were taught, abounding min thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive by nphilosophy and oempty deceit, according to phuman tradition, according to the qelemental spirits1 of the world, and not according to Christ.

Walk in Christ rooted and built up in Him

See to it that nobody takes you captive

The thought is that if we do good, we get good

If we do bad, we get bad

The elemental spirits of the world was a belief that the world was dangerous place and we needed to worship or appease these spirits

That is not the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ

Look at verse 13

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh He made you alive together with Him having forgiven us all of our transgressions 

We were all dead in our sin

But Christ made us alive and forgave us

That goes against any worldly logic or wisdom

But we can know this is real and true because of Christ

Verse 9 sums it all up:

Remember:

For in Him (Christ) all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form

Christ is all and over all and holds all together and we are in Christ and Christ is in us, the hope of glory

This recipe goes against my logical reasoning bc it vegetarian, and GF but so good!

Savor Moment Corn Cakes from Kelly Taylor

1c GF flour

1 cup self rising corn meal 

1/2 tbs sugar

Salt (a large pinch- maybe 1.5 tsp?)

The whites of a bunch of green onions

I boiled some sweet corn in salt and sugar then took it out and dried it then charred it in a skillet. Then cut off kernels of two of the cobs

1c oat milk (I’m sure any milk is fine)

3 tbs melted then cooled butter 

1 egg

1 can of creamed corn

I added 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder but I’m not sure I needed it because the corn meal was self rising. They were pretty fluffy

Mix the wet ingredients together then add the dry ingredients

If you have a blackstone, pop them on there just like pancakes

If not, cooking on the stovetop in a skillet works too!

Top with pepper jelly and pesto