God’s five-step protocol to cure a Worldly Heart

INTRO The book of Colossians was written by Paul while he was imprisoned in ROME sometime around A.D. 60-62. Colossians was a letter written to the local church in Colosse which was located about 100 miles east of Ephesus in what is now modern-day Turkey.The church was founded by Epaphras and had a mostly mixed population of Jews and Gentiles. This mixed population heavily influenced the need by Paul to write this letter.
At some point in your life you have probably heard of the CDC. ○ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a federal agency that conducts and supports health promotion, prevention and preparedness activities in the United States, with the goal of improving overall public health. ○ To accomplish their mission, CDC conducts critical analysis and provides health information that protects our nation against expensive and dangerous health threats, and responds when these arise.
○ The CDC focuses on the following five strategic areas: ■ increasing support to local and state health departments ■ improving global health ■ decreasing leading causes of death ■ strengthening surveillance and epidemiology ■ reforming health policies.
And as we look at this letter written by Paul to the church in Colossae… What becomes evident is that Paul acts a Spiritual CDC ● He aims to increase support for the local church ● Aims to improve the spiritual health of the body of believers
● Aims to Decrease the leading causes of spiritual decay ● Aims to Strengthen the surveillance of the church leaders in Colossae ● Reform the actions the church takes to maintain Spiritual health. Paul had heard reports that there was a spiritual disease that was spreading throughout the church there. The disease was that of ​Worldly Wisdom. ​This disease was affecting both Jews and Gentiles in the city.
The Gentile “thought leaders” ​ of this time, preached , super-spiritual contemplation, self-abasement, bodily harm as ways to become more spiritual. Ultimately they are looking for alternate ways of reaching higher spirituality. And the Jewish thought leaders ​were busy doing what they had always done, emphasizing ceremonial rituals to attain salvation or right standing with God. - They emphasized the necessity of circumcision for achieving salvation - Promoted strict dietary laws as well as self-harm to create man-made spiritual achievements

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