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MANual Lessons: Paul’s Letter to the Colossians

October 18, 2021 No Comments

Another of the Apostle Paul’s letters to early churches was one to the people in Colossae. As you read this next post in my year-long journey through The MANual, my NIV Bible for Men, you will find similarities to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, probably because it was written about the same time. However, the book of Colossians does have a different emphasis. About Colossae The Bible does not record Paul ever visiting Colossae (also spelled ‘Colosse’), a city in the western Asia Minor region named Phrygia in modern Turkey. Colossae was about 100 miles from Ephesus along a Roman road that connected other destinations in the province, such as Hierapolis and Laodicea. Colossae’s chief export was unique wool called collossinus that was likely colored purple. It was also blessed with rich mineral deposits. The general area around Colossae was prone to frequent earthquakes. During the latter part of Emperor

MANual Lessons: Paul’s “Joyful” Letter to the Philippians

October 11, 2021 No Comments

The Apostle Paul wrote several letters to churches he visited during his three missionary journeys. My year-long journey through an NIV Bible for Men called The MANual, now brings us to another letter Paul wrote from prison; the letter to the Philippians. As I previously explained in Paul’s Unity Letter to the Ephesians, modern copies of the New Testament generally order Paul’s epistles according to the number of lines of Greek in the original texts. Other scholars posit that Paul’s letters are grouped together to emphasize his imprisonment. Similar to Ephesians, Paul’s letter to the Philippians comes from a prison cell in Rome. While not written during the happiest of circumstances, scholars consider it Paul’s “joy letter” for the Christian life. Joy > Happiness Everyone wants to be happy. We chase this elusive ideal: a life-long pursuit; spending money, collecting material things, and searching for new experiences. But happiness depends on

Men, Do You Submit to Your Wife?

October 8, 2021 No Comments

Submission is a word that’s not very popular these days as the classic bumper sticker states: “Question Authority.”. Submission is also unpopular, especially when Bible verses like Ephesians 5:22: “Wives submit to your husbands as unto the Lord.” give the mistaken impression that Scripture teaches that only women should submit. In reality, the message of submission is often ignored by men but is just as important since the Bible is clear everybody submits to somebody. I’d like you to put aside any preconceived notions and read this post, Men, Are You Submissive? because submission is not a female virtue; it’s a Christian virtue. The post provides a provocative – yet real view of the type of submission that we all need to understand. It also includes some great diagnostic questions for men, like do we submit to our employer, church leaders, elders, and governing authorities. But I’d add one more area: Do you submit to your wife? The