Luke 17:27
17:27 People
were eating,
they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage – right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then
the flood came and destroyed them all.
Luke 17:1
Sin, Forgiveness, Faith, and Service
17:1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
Colossians 1:2-16
1:2 to the saints, the faithful
brothers and sisters
in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you
from God our Father!
Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church
1:3 We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
1:4 since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.
1:5 Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel
1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.
1:7 You learned the gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave – a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf –
1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church
1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
1:10 so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,
1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of all patience and steadfastness, joyfully
1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.
1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves,
1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Supremacy of Christ
1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,
1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.
Ephesians 5:31
5:31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
Hebrews 13:4
13:4 Marriage must be honored among all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.