COLOSSIAN SCAMMERS: HAVE YOU BEEN BYPASSED?

•    Highway 17 re-routed: now quiet towns
•    trade route changed so Colosse downgraded to ‘second-rate’
•    diverse church influenced by heretical thinking
•    Epaphras sought guidance from Paul in prison at Rome
•    beware scams, including the spiritual kind

THE FOUNDATIONAL TRIAD: FAITH, HOPE, LOVE

•    faith in Christ, love for the saints, arise from hope stored up in heaven

SEVEN-FOLD GOSPEL FRUIT

1) CONVERTS: Epaphras founded local church
2) CONTENT: gospel information key to knowledge / wisdom / understanding
3) CHARACTER: live life worthy of the Lord, not hypocrites
4) CONTRIBUTION: good works cause onlookers to glorify God
5) KICK: Christ’s strength for our weakness
6) CARRY-THROUGH: stick with the race despite daunting hills, deadly illness
7) CHAR-ISMA: not grumbling but graced, joyfully giving thanks