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I, Paul, have been sent on special assignment by Christ as part of God's master plan. Together with my friend Timothy,

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Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

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Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

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This letter is from Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.

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I greet the Christians and stalwart followers of Christ who live in Colosse. May everything good from God our Father be yours!

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To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

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To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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It is written to God's holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.

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Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings. We can't quit thanking God our Father and Jesus our Messiah for you!

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We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

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We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

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We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

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We keep getting reports on your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus, and the love you continuously extend to all Christians.

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because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints--

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since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints;

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for we have heard that you trust in Christ Jesus and that you love all of God's people.

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The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope. The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn't diminish or weaken over time.

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the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel

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because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,

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You do this because you are looking forward to the joys of heaven--as you have been ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

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It's the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you've been hungry for more.

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that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.

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which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;

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This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is changing lives everywhere, just as it changed yours that very first day you heard and understood the truth about God's great kindness to sinners.

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It's as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate Epaphras. He is one reliable worker for Christ! I could always depend on him.

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You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,

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as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,

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Epaphras, our much loved co-worker, was the one who brought you the Good News. He is Christ's faithful servant, and he is helping us in your place.

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He's the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit.

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and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

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who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

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He is the one who told us about the great love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.

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Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven't stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works.

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For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

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For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

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So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom.

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We pray that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work.

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And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

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that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

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Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.

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We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul--not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy,

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being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully

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strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;

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We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy,

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thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.

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giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

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giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

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always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people, who live in the light.

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God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He's set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much,

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For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

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He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

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For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.

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the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.

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in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

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in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

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God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.

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We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created.

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He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

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He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

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Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation.

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For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels--everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.

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For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

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For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

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Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see--kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him.

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He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.

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He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

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And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

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He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.

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And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and--leading the resurrection parade--he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone.

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And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

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And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

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Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is first in everything.

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So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding.

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For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

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For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,

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For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,

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Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe--people and things, animals and atoms--get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross.

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and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

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and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

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and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross.

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You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got.

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Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.

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And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled

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This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions,

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But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence.

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But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation--

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in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight--

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yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

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You don't walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message--just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message. [JC]

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if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

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if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

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But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it.