Day 2484 – Jesus Christ, Our Lord – Living Forgiven and Forever Free – Colossian 2:11-23

Welcome to Day 2484 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Day 2484 – Living Forgiven and Forever Free – Daily Wisdom Putnam Church Message – 10/13/2024 Jesus Christ, Our Lord – Living Forgiven…and Forever Free - Colossians 2:11-23 Last week, we continued in the letter of Colossians and learned of Paul’s heart and his love for the early church. Today’s passage is Colossians 2:11-23 on page 1833 of your Pew Bibles. We will learn how we can live forgiven and forever free. I am reading from the NLT. 11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.[c] 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed[d] the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. 16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. 18 Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels,[e] saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, 19 and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it. 20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, 21 “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? 22 Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. 23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires. Strange as it may sound, one of life’s most challenging aspects is learning how to live our lives. Far too many Christians are merely proceeding from one day to the next. They don’t know how to truly...