Adi Pastor Mark Triscoll here at the Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, really excited

to provide for you the series of sermons based on the Book of Colossians.

It's an amazing book of the New Testament where the Apostle Paul is writing from prison

to newly planted church and we took a few months here at the Trinity Church to go verse

by verse through this book of the Bible.

I've had the honor of preaching and teaching, perhaps a few dozen books of the Bible in

my career and this is the first time I've ever been through Colossians and I'm really

excited that you can join me.

All right, if you've got your Bible, go to Colossians chapter 3 verses 18 and 19 and while

you're finding your place, let me tell you a little bit about the Bible.

This is the Bible.

It's actually a library, 66 books, 39 books in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament

and we are removed a few thousand years from even the most recently written books of

the New Testament and that being the case, I wanted to learn some years ago what was the

context that the people were living in who originally received these particular letters,

particularly today, Colossians and so jumped on a plane, went to Greece, Israel, Turkey,

those would be the places on our map today that you would find these locations, hired some

archaeologists, some professors, some tour guides to go with me and just wanted to learn.

How did people live a few thousand years ago and so when they received this instruction,

how would they have heard what they received?

And I'll never forget we were down in an archaeological dig and I was there with an archaeological

professor and we were looking at the excavated ancient home that dated to a similar time

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