I want to welcome you to Walking With Christ. I'm Jeremy, and I'm really glad you're here. This devotional is a short time we set aside to reflect on a portion of Scripture contextually, thoughtfully, and prayerfully. And as we go verse by verse through these chapters of the Bible, we'll seek not only to understand God's Word a little bit better, but also to apply it and to let it shape how we live, how we think, and how we walk with Him each and every day. as Colossians 2 verse 6 reminds us, Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. So, let's begin our time together with our Bibles open and our hearts open to what God wants to show us. Last time, we did a quick overview and introduction to the book of Colossians, and today we begin our verse-by-verse devotional exposition of this epistle, beginning with chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, and we'll be reading from the ESV. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father. Opening Paul's epistle to the Colossians, we see a very familiar greeting and a claim of ownership, likely with Timothy transcribing. And this is very similar to all of Paul's 13 letters found in the New Testament. In the majority of his epistles, he begins by presenting himself as an apostle of Christ. Why was this important? Well, a true apostle of Christ must have met several qualifications from a biblical viewpoint. Among these were being eyewitnesses of Jesus' bodily resurrection, being hand-selected by Christ himself, recognized as an apostle by the early church, and had the authority to perform miracles in the power of God. For Bible references, see Acts 5, verse 12, Acts 10, verse 39, Acts 15, verse 2, Romans 15, verses 18 to 19, and 1 Corinthians 9, verse 1. In the early church era, there were many false teachers, false prophets, and other enemies of the cross of Christ that were twisting and perverting the gospel in many different ways. And it is because of this that many of these letters were written by the apostles in the first place, to correct dangerous and defective beliefs in young Christian churches and to encourage right living among the saints. By establishing himself as a true apostle of Christ, having met the necessary qualifications, he was able to speak on Jesus' behalf. It is on this unique authority that we can say the New Testament epistles are indeed scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit. Paul also often made note that he was an apostle and a bond servant, or an owned slave of Jesus Christ by the will of God. This statement holds a lot of value when we carefully consider it. First, Paul was submitting to the will of God. Paul had been a top-level Pharisee in his pre-Christ life, likely living in great comfort and maybe even luxury in the Jewish culture. He had to give all of that up to preach the gospel after he encountered the risen Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, and we learn about that in Acts chapter 9. As Christians, we too must always be submissive to God's will, even when it's not what we want or it's super uncomfortable. This is a pretty hard lesson to learn, but it is steeped in great reward. And second, this corroborates the separate nature of the persons in the Godhead. Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ, God the Son, by the will of God, the Father. And in this, we are reminded that Jesus willingly and lovingly lived in submission to His Father's will. Because of Christ's perfect obedience to His Father in all things, as we see in Romans 5 verse 19, He is our perfect model to follow as we give glory and honor to God the Father through our own obedience to His will. Reference Matthew 26 verse 39, Philippians 2 verses 5 to 9, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 28, and Hebrews 5 verse 8. Paul's opening continues by addressing the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae. As we learned in our Philippian study, all true believers are considered saints in the eyes of the Lord. Saint is rendered from the Greek word hagios, and it simply means holy ones. We are made holy only by Christ's sacrifice, not our own works or actions, and are now fully qualified to be part of God's holy family. Reference Hebrews 10 verses 8-10 and 1 John 3 verses 1-2. Knowing this should alter our attitude and our actions as we consider the gravity of carrying Christ's holy name in our day-to-day interactions with others. We are holy. Therefore, we should act holy. Or, as Paul puts it later in this chapter, we should live in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him. That's Colossians 1 verse 10. Finally, Paul wraps up his introduction with, "...grace to you and peace from God our Father." While we could read this as a simple encouragement, we again consider that Paul was an apostle with the authority to speak on behalf of God. Extending grace and peace directly from God carries significant weight, and I'm sure it was a powerful blessing for the members of the Colossae Church. So, with this in mind, as we go about our day today, let's do our very best to be more mindful of God's will in our lives. We may say it with our mouths, God's will be done, but we need to mean it from our hearts. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostle Paul here submitted to the Father's will, we too are called to obey God and to submit to His will and His authority that He has over our lives. And when we do that, we'll find far more peace and joy and satisfaction with life because we can release worry and fear and replace it with trust and comfort, knowing that our good, good Father loves us very much. So much so that He gave His only begotten Son that we might live eternally. Thank you for listening today, and I do hope to see you here next time as we unpack God's Word verse-by-verse on walking with Christ.