One of the great things I love is preparing information and researching about some of the books and places in the bible.  As I studied this week and really began to uncover the book of Colossians, I was amazed with how much many of the books are interweaved.  What surprised me the most was not so much the connection with the physical location but with people.

In the past couple of months we have read and studied the book of Titus and Philemon and now we hit Colossians and boy do we have a connection to unfold.

When we read through the book of Philemon we learned that Philemon was actually a church leader and was from the city of Colossae, near Ephesus.  We learned about how Philemon was gathering people in his home and how his whole family was involved in the ministry. (See Philemon 1:2)  It is believed that Apphia was his wife and Archippus was his son.

Now when we get to the book of Colossians, we learn that Archippus is actually the pastor of the church in Colossea. So, now I can relate to the book of Colossians with more knowledge than before. When I think of Colossians, I can now realize that the pastor’s dad was Philemon.

The other miraculous thing about the book of Colossians is that is so eloquently written with such great encouragement from Paul while he was in prison in Rome. The part that is hard to believe is that Paul did not plant/start the church in Colossae, and he never even visited it, but he had great love and compassion for the congregation there.

This provides a great challenge in our life when we minimize or limit the amount of encouragement we provide others. I urge you to maybe take a timeout from your hustle and bustle to either call, write and email or post some encouragement to someone you have not seen in a while or maybe just never met. This is highly possible now where we have connections on Facebook but have really not actually met the people in person.

To learn even more about the book of Colossians, come join us this Saturday as we fellowship, grow and learn together.

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Columbus, GA
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