In this enlightening episode, we are introduced to the Book of Colossians, one of the most Christ-centered books in the Bible. As we read through its first chapter, we gain deeper understanding of Christ’s authority over creation and His role in our redemption. Alan J. Huth shares reflections from his extensive Bible reading journals, offering practical advice and methods for daily Bible reading that help maintain a fresh and engaging spiritual practice. Learn to incorporate diverse Bible study techniques into your routine and keep your spiritual journey vibrant and steadfast.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Allen J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
SPEAKER 02 :
Today we begin the book of Colossians. Colossians is four chapters, one of the epistles of the New Testament. We will look at my English Standard Version Study Bible book introduction on this book. During Paul’s three-year ministry in Ephesus, a Colossian named Epaphras, probably in Ephesus, responded to Paul’s gospel message. He then returned to his hometown and began sharing the good news of Jesus, which resulted in the birth of the Colossian church. At the time of the writing of this letter, Epaphras was probably back in Rome with Paul. He probably shared the challenges of dangerous teachings that were threatening the church of Colossae. Paul writes to Colossians to respond to the threats and to encourage the believers in their growth in Christianity. But Paul never visited Colossae. The letter was probably written in 62 AD by Timothy, serving as Paul’s secretary. The theme of the letter is Christ. It is one of the Bible’s most Christ-centered books. Christ is exalted as Lord over all creation, even the invisible realm. He has also secured redemption for his people, enabling us to participate with him in his death, resurrection, and fullness. Our unity is in Him, the preeminent Christ. We are to press on to maturity in Christ by continuing to battle sin, pursuing holiness in Christ, and learning to live distinctly as Christians. Our guest reader for Colossians is a familiar voice to AdBible listeners, the voice that introduces each AdBible recording. Welcome to AdBible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join, that voice is Gwen Olson, Executive Administrative Assistant to me, the President of the Ezra Project. Gwen started with the Ezra Project in 2008 as a volunteer admin assistant, working one night a week. She became a full-time part of our staff in 2016. She lives in Texas with her husband, Bill. Gwen is the one who edits, transcribes, and publishes every Ad Bible recording. And without her, there would be no product for you to listen to. So now she gets to edit herself. It’s a joy to have Gwen read two of the four chapters of Colossians. Let’s listen in to Gwen Olson read the 29 verses of Colossians chapter 1.
SPEAKER 01 :
Colossians chapter 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. of this you have heard before in the word of the truth the gospel which is come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of god and truth just as you learned it from epaphras our beloved fellow-servant he is a faithful minister of christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the spirit and so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the lord fully pleasing to him bear fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him. and he is before all things and in him all things hold together and he is the head of the body the church he is the beginning the first-born from the dead that in everything he might be pre-eminent for in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of his cross and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which i paul became a minister now i rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh i am filling up what is lacking in christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body that is the church of which i became a minister according to the stewardship from god that was given to me for you to make the Word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to His saints. To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy, that he powerfully works within me.
SPEAKER 02 :
To help us through the book of Colossians, I selected three of my personal Bible reading journals. I found one on Colossians that goes all the way back to 1986 when I was 31 years old. Then I selected one 10 years later in 1996 at 41 years old. And the third one will be the one I used in 2006 at 51 years old. So three personal Bible reading journals from three different decades, 10 years apart. By the way, the first personal Bible reading journal I ever recorded was in 1983. So 1986 is very early in my journaling years. Looking back at my journal in 1986, I discovered that I read Colossians 1 on three different days. Today I want to encourage you in your Bible reading with three scriptural reasons and various methods you can try so you can vary the way you read the Bible each year. I believe varying your daily Bible reading routine from time to time keeps Bible reading fresh and exciting. So first, those three scriptural reasons for reading the Bible. Number one, it’s guaranteed. Isaiah 55, 8 through 11 say, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish, bring forth and sprout spiritual growth. So the first scriptural reason for reading the Bible each day is it’s guaranteed. It always comes back and bears fruit. The second reason is the Bible tells you to. Now does the Bible really tell you to read the Bible? Let’s look at Acts 17.11. Now these Jews, which were the Bereans, were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. So there was a good example in the Scriptures of the Bereans who read the Scriptures daily. And that’s a second scriptural reason to stay in your Bible each and every day. And the third reason is, actually, you still can. You can still read the Bible, but that day may come to an end. Amos 8, 11-12 say, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. That day will come, friends. So take advantage of your Bible right now by staying in it each and every day. So those are three spiritual reasons from the Scriptures to stay in Bible reading. So now, how about some methods? How do you read the Bible? How many of you want to read the Bible every day but struggle to do so? The number one reason people say they don’t stay consistent in their daily time in God’s Word is we get too busy. So let’s tackle that issue. Make time for Bible reading. Psalm 55, 17 says, Evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice. How many of you are morning people? How many of you are night owls? How many of you are neither? But you got to find time in your day that’s best for you. I started reading at the end of each day when I was a teenager. But I couldn’t control the end of my day. What time it ended, how tired I was, what condition I was going to be in. So I changed to first fruits. I can control when my day begins, even if I have a 7 a.m. breakfast in the morning. I can still decide to get up early enough to read my Bible. I even know a friend who reads his Bible over lunch hour every day. So decide today when is the best time for you for Bible reading and prayer. Is it evenings? Is it morning? Is it noon? Then also consider tithing your free time. The free time is about six hours after work and sleep. So that’s 360 minutes a day. If you tithe 10% of that, just 10% of our discretionary time, that would be about 36 minutes a day with God in Bible reading and prayer. So round it off to a half an hour a day. Drop the excuse of no time and decide to give God about 30 minutes a day. Now, how to read the Bible. I’m going to offer you 10 different ways to read the Bible. All these methods are listed in Ezra Project Bible reading journals found at ezraproject.net. So here’s the various methods you could choose of how to read your Bible so you can vary your Bible reading each year. Number one, like any other book, you can read the Bible from beginning to end, a chapter a day. And if you do that, it’ll take you about three and a half years to finish the Bible. Number two, daily Bible reading calendars and daily devotions. I know as a member of the Gideons International, we have a daily Bible reading calendar. And there are many such products available on the internet or at your Christian bookstore. So use daily Bible reading calendars or daily devotions. Number three, get a one-year Bible. Yes, there’s something called a one-year Bible. Divides the Bible up into Old Testament passage each day, a New Testament passage each day, a psalm and a proverb. So There’s 365 sections, and you just read one a day. So get a one-year Bible. That’s number three. Number four, you could read the Bible chronologically. And we have an Ezra Project journal that you can find on our website to do that. And that’s an exciting way to read the Bible. reading it chronologically because it’s not in the order of your Bible. But it’s fun to read the Bible and see how things actually happened and the timing of it by reading the Bible chronologically. Number five is read a book at a time. Select a book and read it. Then select another and another. Vary between Old and New Testament books. So just read a book at a time throughout the year until the year is over. Number six, read a book a month. Now, that’s an interesting one. You can select 12 books and stay in that book for the entire month. So if it’s a short book, you read it over and over. If it’s a long book, you figure out how many chapters you need to read each day. And I know when I did it this way, one month, I just read Psalm 119 the whole month because that’s the longest chapter in the Bible. Number seven is just read the New Testament. Number eight is just read the Old Testament. And our Ezra Project Trio Journal has those schedules in it. So it has a New Testament schedule each day or an Old Testament schedule each day. But if you want to read the whole Bible, then you do both. So you can either read just the New Testament one year and just the Old Testament another year. Number nine is let it fall open. Now, this is a method I don’t really encourage, but if you haven’t read your Bible at all through the whole day, at least before you go to bed, open your Bible, put your finger down, and see what God will say to you. Number ten is read it with commentaries, or in other words, study the Bible. Johnny Cash is credited with saying, the Bible sure does throw a lot of light on those commentaries, so don’t spend all your time reading about the Bible. Spend time in the Bible. Number 11 is use some of our daily devotional books from the Ezra Project. It’s called Day by Day Through the Bible, our 11-book series of daily devotionals covering all 66 books of the Bible, chapter by chapter. So those are various methods that you can incorporate so you can have energy and excitement in your Bible reading for years to come. I know you’re going to like it and want to share it with others.
