Bible Passages Bridge: New Testament in a Year

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Colossians 2- Easy-To-Read Version (ERV)

October 16
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King James and other versions... [http://bibleabc.net/bible/kjv/col2-1.htm]
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2 1I want you to know that I am trying very hard to help you. And I am trying
to help the people in Laodicea and other people who have never seen me. 2I want
them to be strengthened and joined together with love. I want them to be rich in
the strong belief that comes from understanding. I mean I want you to know fully
the secret truth that God has made known. That truth is Christ himself. 3In Christ
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are safely kept. 4I tell you these things
so that no person can fool you by telling you ideas that seem good, but are false.
5I am not there with you, but my heart is with you. I am happy to see your good
lives and your strong faith in Christ.

Continue to Live in Christ
6You received Christ Jesus the Lord. So continue to live following him without changing
anything. 7You must depend on Christ only. Life and strength come from him. You
were taught the truth. You must continue to be sure of that true teaching. And always
be thankful. 8Be sure that no person leads you away with false ideas and words that
mean nothing. Those ideas come from people, not Christ. Those ideas are the worthless
ideas of people in the world. 9All of God lives in Christ fully (even in Christ's
life on earth). 10And in Christ you are full. You need nothing else. Christ is ruler
over all rulers and powers. 11In Christ you had a different kind of circumcision.*
That circumcision was not done by the hands of any person. I mean you were made
free from the power of your sinful self. That is the kind of circumcision Christ
does. 12When you were baptized,* [your old self died and] you were buried with
Christ. And in that baptism* you were raised up with Christ because of your faith
in God's power. God's power was shown when he raised Christ from death. 13You were
spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power
of your sinful self. But God made you alive with Christ. And God forgave all our
sins. 14We owed a debt because we broke God's laws. That debt listed all the rules
we failed to follow. But God forgave us of that debt. God took away that debt and
nailed it to the cross. 15God defeated the spiritual rulers and powers. With the
cross God won the victory and defeated those rulers and powers. God showed the
world that they were powerless.

Don't Follow Rules That People Make
16So don't let any person make rules for you about eating and drinking or about
Jewish customs (festivals, new moon celebrations,* or Sabbath days* ). 17In the
past, these things were like a shadow that showed what was coming. But the new things
that were coming are found in Christ. 18Some people enjoy acting like they are humble
and love to worship angels. Those people always talk about the visions* they have
seen. Don't let those people say, "You don't do these things, so you are wrong."
Those people are full of foolish pride because they think only the thoughts of
people, [not the thoughts of God]. 19Those people don't keep themselves under the
control of the head (Christ). The whole body depends on Christ. Because of Christ
all the parts of the body care for each other and help each other. This strengthens
the body and holds it together. And so the body grows in the way God wants. 20You
died with Christ and were made free from the worthless rules of the world. So why
do you act like you still belong to this world? I mean, why do you follow rules
like these: 21"Don't eat this," "Don't taste that," "Don't touch that thing"? 22These
rules are talking about earthly things that are gone after they are used. These
rules are only commands and teachings from people, [not God]. 23These rules seem
to be wise. But these rules are only part of a man-made religion that makes people
pretend to be humble and makes them punish their bodies. But these rules don't help
people to stop doing the evil things their sinful selves want to do.
Footnotes: circumcision Cutting off the foreskin. This was done to every Jewish
baby boy. It was a mark of the agreement God made with Abraham (Gen. 17:9-14). baptized,
baptism A Greek word meaning to be immersed, dipped, or buried briefly under water.
new moon celebrations Holy days for the Jewish people on the first day of each Jewish
month. Sabbath days The Sabbath day (seventh day of the week) was a special religious
day for the Jews. vision(s) A vision is something like a dream that God used to
speak to people.
"Taken from the HOLY BIBLE: EASY-TO-READ VERSION © 2001 by World Bible Translation
Center, Inc. and used by permission."
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Thursday, October 15, 2009

New Testament in a Year - October 16

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