(Colossians) Small Man to the Sacred Family in Village of Giants 2

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

1I want you to know about the fierce spiritual battle that I fight for you who live in Village of Giants (Colossae). I also fight for you who live in the village of The People Will Decide (Laodicea) and for all who have never seen me face to face. 2I pray that all of you would have strong hearts that beat together with the love of the Great Spirit. Then your understanding will grow strong and you will see clearly into the mystery of our Father the Great Spirit, and this mystery is the Chosen One.

TREASURES OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE

3For the Great Spirit has hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in the Chosen One. 4I am making this known to you so that no humans behaving like tricksters will fool you with their smooth words and sly arguments. 5For even though my body may be far away, in my spirit I am close to you. I can see you standing strong and walking a straight path with firm steps as you trust in the Chosen One.

WALKING THE GOOD ROAD

6So, in the same way you welcomed the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), to be your Honored Chief, continue to walk with him on this road of life. 7Let your roots grow deep into him, and then your faith will grow strong and your steps will become firm on this path that you have learned to follow, always giving thanks to the Great Spirit.

WATCH OUT FOR LYING SPIRITS

8Make sure no one steals your faith from you with fine-sounding words spoken with hollow tongues. These people make up their own traditions as they follow the lying spirits of the ways of this world,#2:8 Lit. elemental spirits or principles of this world instead of simply trusting in the Chosen One. 9For all that the Great Spirit is fills the physical body of the Chosen One. 10He is the one above all other powers and forces, and you have been made complete in him.

CUTTING OFF WEAK HUMAN WAYS

11In the Chosen One, you received a spiritual cutting of the flesh ceremony done without human hands. The Chosen One did this for you, by the cutting off of your weak human ways.#2:11 Lit. the flesh

12This is what happened when you were buried with him during your purification ceremony.#2:12 Baptism You were also raised up with him through your trust in Creator’s great power that raised the Chosen One from the dead.

SILENCING ALL ACCUSATIONS

13You were spiritually dead because your weak human ways had not yet been cut away and because you were still following your bad hearts, walking in your broken ways. Even so the Great Spirit has made you spiritually alive along with the Chosen One by releasing you from all wrongdoings.

14When Creator did this, he wiped away and silenced every accusation that could be made against us for not following tribal law. When the Chosen One was nailed to the cross, the accusations the law made against us were nailed there with him, releasing us from those charges.

VICTORY DANCE

15This is how the Great Spirit, through what the Chosen One did on the cross, defeated the spiritual powers that ruled over us by using our tribal law to accuse us and hold us captive. He now dances the victory dance with us, for the whole world to see, to celebrate the defeat of those powers!

NO MORE SHADOWS

16From now on do not accept anyone’s accusation against you for not following laws about what you should eat or drink, or whether you participate in celebrating festivals, or New Moon ceremonies, or a Day of Resting. 17These laws and ceremonies were only dim shadows of what was coming, but the reality is found in the Chosen One.

HOLD ON FIRMLY TO THE CHOSEN ONE

18Do not permit anyone to talk you out of what the Chosen One has done for you. That kind of humility is only a mask to fool you into humbling yourselves before wayward spirit-messengers. The visions they claim to have seen are only puffed-up images that come from their own prideful imaginations and weak ways of thinking.

19These people have lost their way because they did not hold on firmly to the Chosen One, who is the head of his body, the sacred family. When the members of this body depend on the Chosen One, they are nourished and held together by the body’s joints and tendons. This is how Creator helps them grow into maturity.

FOLLOWING THE CHOSEN ONE INSTEAD OF RULES

20If you have died with the Chosen One to the powers and ideas that rule the ways of this world, why would you follow the kind of rules these people require? 21Rules like, “Do not handle this! Do not taste that! Do not go near this!” 22The problem is, these things they make rules about eventually get used up and ultimately fade away, because they are only rules and instructions made up by weak human beings. 23They may put on a show of wisdom and humble, self-imposed spirituality, along with harsh treatment of their bodies, but these rules are without honor and have no power to keep us from following our broken human ways.

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(Colossians) Small Man to the Sacred Family in Village of Giants 2: FNVNT

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