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Sing together #35 and #35.
Rise my soul, behold.
His Jesus sing besides one 100 grain eyes stand now again.
Glory, Satan.
Where God is saying no Lord can grow up.
God now praise our deepness. Kiss me.
Welcome.
At first tell me what abortion that is on.
Let's say Gloria.
And sunset.
19 by them.
Just pray your God our Father. We just pray that we would see Jesus, that our eyes would be upon Him as these scenes of confusion and creature complaints. We pray that He would.
Be able to come together and enjoy our deliverance, our our hope, our blessed calling a place, our purpose, our position, we.
Pray that we would know another name. We would.
Seek to know him to even.
Know the fellowship of his sufferings. We would win Christ.
Conformed to his image.
We thank you for this time dedicated to being together around your word.
Pray for blessing and leading of the Spirit.
I would like to just suggest.
The Epistle to the Colossians.
Just considering what we've had before us and some of the hymns.
We begin today by singing about the fullness that resides in Jesus, our head.
And I just wonder if it might be.
Helpful to consider the all sufficiency of Christ.
In the officials of the Colossians.
I just suggested I would really like to.
Know if.
That is commendable to others here before we before we read it.
But I I was thinking of perhaps a key verse in the epistle of chapter 2.
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Verses 9 and 10. For him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And he are complete.
How Christ is sufficient?
But is that something that would be?
The order would have placed on others parts as well.
Brother, I was also struck by the thought of the all sufficiency of Christ as being. Perhaps that's what the Lord would have before us.
Yeah, I was thinking, you know, especially in the first three chapters, I know it's a lot of ground, but maybe we could read Colossians chapter one today.
Selection Chapter one. Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother to the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at colossi. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Jesus Christ and of the love which you have.
All the Saints, the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof he heard before, and me in the word of the truth of the Gospel, which is come unto you as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you. Since the day that he heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth, as He also learned of the ephemeris, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ.
Who also declared unto us your love and the Spirit.
For this 'cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will, and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. He might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, and all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father which.
Made us meet, meet partakers of the inheritance of the Saints and light, who have delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature. For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible.
Whether they be thrown through dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist, and He is ahead of the Body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence for pleased the Father, that in Him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of His Cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself.
By him I say, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works.
Yet now He has to be reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you fully and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. If you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, would you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul M, made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind.
Of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which sake? Which is the Church?
Whereof I have made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His Saints, to whom God would make known. What is the richest of the glory of His, of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ, and you the hope of glory.
Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man.
And all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh, and me mightily.
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And you know, there's a lot of.
Ones here at this conference in different stages. There's a lot of children here. Somebody said there were 60.
I don't know if it was children under 12 or if it was. Does that include the young people as well? There's a lot of young families, there's a lot of middle-aged individuals and other ones.
And.
You know, there's a need for us to grow, there's a need for spiritual growth and development in each one of our lives.
There's a need for us to increase.
As it says in verse 10, in the knowledge of God.
But there there is something that can't change, that can't increase, and that's the fact that we are complete in Christ. We have something that can never be improved on because it's the greatest that God has to give, and that's Christ.
In reflecting on this epistle.
There are lots of different things that can come in to discourage and to turn us aside, but it all stems from one roof and that's.
The lie that we need something more than Christ.
Whether it's that we need to add traditions, whether it's to doubt what God has said.
Christ is sufficient, and we are complete in Him.
And the devil would like to come along and tell us that we're missing something.
If we just add something else that our lives will be better but what we find in this amazing epistle.
Is that there is a need for us to grow an increase, but that we it's really an increase in our apprehension and understanding of what we already have in Christ. So I just suggest this and trust that the Lord will bring out that which would lift up our hearts.
Establish us and strengthen us in our portion that we have in Christ.
Just to back up what our brother said in chapter 2.
And verses 18.
Through 23.
Kind of hits on what Paul's burden was in writing to the Colossians.
Similar, perhaps, to his burden for the Galatians.
Was that the colossians were in danger of slipping back to.
Earthly religion, if I can put it that way.
Or maybe just religion in general.
Because they did not see that price was sufficient and.
I think that reading those portions there briefly, you can see that Paul's burden was to make the Colossians see that they that Christ was sufficient.
As our brother said.
It's beautiful to see how even the first verse of this all introduced him himself as an apostle by the will of God. And so going back to the all sufficiency of the crisis starts with Our Calling. You know, not one of us willed ourselves to be one of his.
But we did bow the knee when the Spirit of God.
Christ before us.
In our as the remedy for our sins. But that was all of him and Paul was saved brightly in the road to Damascus and then Paul called to be an apostle by the will of God. And so again, it's not a matter of earning your way in any way, starting with salvation in terms of Our Calling.
Just a couple of additional comments.
Thinking as we have just looked before us, you know the whole New Testament, if you go to the first verse of Matthew, it says the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. It's the first verse of the whole New Testament. What's the last verse of the whole New Testament? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Be with you all. Amen.
The whole subject of this whole book both old and new is the Lord Himself. And as we take up this book of Colossians it's interesting to me that the 1St 4 verses repeats Christ name over and over. As husband just mentioned, this is Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. In verse two it says.
The Saints and faithful brethren in Christ. And then later in the verse it says grace and beyond the UN peace.
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And the next verse says we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you. And so we have this incredible theme that's brought before us. You know, sometimes it doesn't.
Particularly excite our hearts in the way that it should, I was thinking.
Just as we were praying about what chapter take up, you know, sermon, I mean the train now the transfiguration, the Lord was there and they had trouble. They didn't realize that they should see no man save Jesus. And you know, sometimes in our lives we don't see the Lord maybe the way that we should. A couple of days ago I was interested in hearing a man who I don't believe as a Christian.
Comment that he had a dream about all the great men of the world. He was in a graveyard and all the great men of the world.
All the warriors.
Stood up and started fighting with one another and then he saw them, the Lord and they all bowed down before him. And I thought, isn't that interesting Here's a man who's not even a Christian probably one of the greatest thinkers of this age had this very strange dream and what he saw is that nothing even began to compare to the Lord. And so you know if we take off a topic like this, it's.
Hard to do it justice in the way that we should.
And we have to hang our heads sometimes and recognize, you know, we don't really see Jesus always.
In the way that we should, but as the verse was read.
In the exercise with respect to this verse, it says in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So I hope as we take up these chapters in Colossians, it just in a small way our eyes can be turned over and that we can see Him for who He is and that we will grow in it as Josh has been bringing in. I was thinking.
About the amount of transfiguration as you say.
Where we find the Lord Jesus is glorified.
And we live in a world where the name of Jesus.
Is despised, it's trampled on. You hear his name taken in vain.
And.
Yet we find that there are those whose desire it is to.
Uphold the name of Jesus.
And just this past week, there was a car pulled up to the post office and walked out.
And there on that license plate on that car.
Was a knee.
That name was Jesus.
Jesus, Well of course that thrilled my soul to see that name, and I'm sure it thrills the soul of many here today.
To raise high the name of Jesus. And of course I want to know who it is that's driving this vehicle. Well, it took a while for him to come out of the post office. I thought, well, why not just talk to his wife? And so I went around and she rolled down the window and said, I like what you got on the license plate, Jesus. And you know, a big smile came over her face.
And she was so happy to meet another believer and to be able to talk about Jesus.
And then her husband came out of the post office.
And we had a great conversation. You know, I believe God appreciates when we uphold the name of His dear Son.
And often think of Malachi 316. It says there then they did feared the Lord. They spake often one to another.
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And Book of Remembrance.
Was.
For those who feared the Lord and who thought upon His name.
And this morning, here we are.
It's our privilege to think upon the name of Jesus and to exalt no other name.
And.
He truly is all sufficient 1.
There on the mount we find it. Peter. He wanted to make three cabinets, one for Moses, one for Elias, and 1:00.
For Jesus.
Three buildings. But before he could finish, he was interrupted by that voice out of heaven.
This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
Hear ye him.
And.
You know, it's so easy to become occupied with other individuals rather than Christ the Lord Jesus. And we know the bottom line there in that account was that.
They lifted up their eyes and they saw no man. Say Jesus only.
So I do believe it's God's desire that we like this morning.
See No man save Jesus only.
Rise, my soul.
Behold, this Jesus feels like wandering eyes.
There he is. I do believe in our very mixed this morning.
And it divides the heart of the Father. So here is speak well of Christ.
There's so much in this world to detract.
On that Lesson 1, and I speak to my own heart, you know, we're bombarded with media and news and it's easy to get wrapped up in the news of the day.
But I do believe.
With the Lord's help, He can enable us to focus our attention on His own dear Son, and I believe that's what we have here in this epistle.
Prod using salty the person of the son.
Kim Wells, all the fullness of the godhood.
And we are completing him.
You know, the measure of our acceptance.
Before God.
Is the measure of Christ acceptance.
And so we are accepted into beloved.
All his beauty and loveliness we are accepted in the love in Christ.
And you can't improve on Christ.
And God the Father made that plane on that mount of Transfiguration.
You're Christ, You're my son.
My beloved son, may we just hear his voice speaking to us this morning.
Brother Mark, you said that you didn't think we could do this subject justice, but if we would allow the words before us to be brought to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, I think the Holy Spirit could do the subject justice.
Three things stand out that were influencing the believers in Glossy and in that area. One was the philosophies that they had grown up with in the gentile world.
And the.
Man's mind seeking to solve the great questions of this world and a man and his life. Where did he come from? Where is he going? Why does he do what he do?
Why does he do what he does? And so on And.
Those things were pressing in, but outside of Christ, those are questions that can't be answered. Those are questions that end up just going round and round what Paul calls endless genealogies, just round and round and round and never any real answers. And on top of that, those philosophies, they're vain. They come from man's vain mind.
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And they never ever still the cry of any human heart. They never met the need of any human heart and never will.
But there was an effort to introduce those and mix those thoughts of man into Christianity, and he takes that up philosophy in verse 8 and vain deceit after the tradition of men. The other thing that was influencing them, as there are those, and it was the great vein of early Christianity, There were those who came seeking followings for themselves.
Teachers mainly from Judea.
Sought to bring the believers under law and introduce and mix the law and in circumcision we find in in the Epistle to the Galatians was a large part of that the ritual aspects of the laws and in in Acts. They even told them at Antioch they couldn't be saved unless they were circumcised, so strong was that teaching.
And so seeking to introduce the ritualistic aspects of the law.
Into Christianity, as if that was going to enhance Christianity and make it better and improve it. And he takes that up and he tells us in verse 11 of chapter 2.
He whom also ye are circumcised with a circumcision made without him.
You don't need the circumcision made with dance.
He tells us.
Those rituals bring nothing to the table to add to Christianity. In fact, what they picture is what we are in reality, spiritually in Christ. The third thing was there was a rise in a teaching that is generally headed up under what's called Gnosticism, where there are those who come with Eastern mysticism.
From when I say east east of the Middle East.
Getting down into India and in Syria and those areas, bringing their idolatrous, mystical teachings and mixing it with Christianity.
And they taught that the spiritual world was all defiled and dirty and you needed to escape it. You, you were truly a being of light. And you just need to escape this shell that you have of your body and this defiled material world. And the way to do that is beat yourself up.
Afflict your body, make it suffer and escape it. And they had a lot of other philosophies. Well, he takes that up.
A little later in chapter 2, verse 18, Let no man beguile you.
Of your reward and a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels. They had a whole Penelope of angels and and semi deities and so on and and and their worship that they thought to bring in and mix in with Christianity and down in verse 23, which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship and humility and neglecting of the body.
Not in any honor only.
Really, to the satisfying of flesh, fall in flesh, sinful flesh, those three things were pressing in on the Colossians.
All of them saw and said we have something to bring to Christianity and make it better, improve it. You're just in kindergarten here. You need to grow up and you need to bring these things in and they're going to make Christianity something wonderful and better and on and off.
You put it all under that umbrella.
I want to turn back to scripture in Genesis.
To illustrate.
A little bit of what has been already said and that there's nothing can be added to it. Then what we have in Price. Steve, Brother. Steve, just before we do that, can we make a quick correction? Sure. I think you misspoke on one thing. You said the Gnostics taught that the spiritual world is offloaded. I think you meant the physical. The physical world. Yes. I'm sorry. The physical, natural. Thank you.
Yes, that would have been very backwards.
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In Genesis 2 when?
The Lord made.
Says in verse 21, And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh and stood thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man may be a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.
There is nothing that satisfies the Lord except what is from Himself.
The Church was formed from Christ, gone into death and raised again, and nothing else can be added to that. Nothing else will satisfy him other than that which came from himself.
Through Jeff and Resurrection.
Nothing else. And all of those things that were seeking to come into Colossia person on the Church today are all belong to a sphere to which Christ has died.
And as we find ourselves by sovereign grace in Christ, it's a sphere to which we have God.
And have risen again in Christ. And our baptism speaks of that. So he takes that up as well in chapter 2.
Verse 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the face of the operation of God, who have raised him from the dead. And so we are formed from Christ, from that ribbon side of grace, from the dead. That is our origin, and he is looking for nothing else but Himself.
Is there anything that can be added to Christ to improve Christ and nothing?
This is vote of my vote, flesh of my flesh.
That's what satisfies them. There was no helpmate found for Adam, none that were his like. But now in the church he has that which is his life. Don't add anything to it. All of those things will just spoil it. And not only that, as he has died to all of that old spirit thing, we have two in him and now we're risen.
And in a whole new place.
Which our baptism speaks, and now being risen. What is chapter 3 tell us?
We're dead to that old scene. If he be, if he, then be risen with Christ. Seek those things which are above where Christ said it on the right hand of God. Set your affection or your mind on things above, not on the earth, not on that old sphere, till it's in time.
So all of those things, none of them bring anything to the table. In fact, if anything, they just spoil it. He's only looking for Christ. He's only looking for that which is of himself in US. Verse five, the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.
That would be referring to the completion of our salvation, right? As in the.
The building from God and another scripture says it will receive it's it's when our bodies are changed to be like his and our salvation is complete. Is that right?
Good question.
Ritualism, Rationalism. Anything else? Touch it.
Can't be touched by any of those.
And goes on to speak there.
And yet verse 5, where I'll be heard before in the word of the truth.
Of the Gospel.
Which has come unto you.
How wonderful that you and I today.
We can build our faith on a firm foundation upon the one who is the truth. TRUTH and that's the Lord Jesus. He could say I am the way, the truth and the life and we have in our hands on our laps.
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The truth of God.
Lord Jesus said in John 17, Thy word is truth.
So we've come to know the One who is the living truth.
And we have the written truth, the Bible.
And the Bible stands.
You know, like a rock.
Undaunted.
Amidst the raging storms of the time.
And how wonderful that we have the truth. We live in a day.
When?
It's appalling, the deception.
In the world today, and it's growing worse and worse.
And it's in keeping with the Word of God.
Because it tells us that in the last days, evil men and seducers, they're going to wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
And.
I suppose most here have had experience on the Internet.
You know, it's something that can be helpful.
But in any measure that we spend time on the Internet, we find.
Their deception.
And.
Sometimes, you know, we're gullible.
And there's these offers made and they seem like.
Legitimate offers and so we sign on what we find out is a scam.
There's no truth to it.
And then we begin to wonder, you know, where does the truth lie?
And so another offer comes up.
And it looks so good. I think I'm good at.
Click on this. But then we think, well, you know, I've already been duped once.
I think I better find out if this is a legitimate offer, so we go to some other source.
You know, find out.
And then we find out that maybe this other source.
Is deceitful too. And then we begin to wonder. Well, you know what?
Are we up against here? I want to tell you there once we have an enemy of our soul and that's Satan, and he is the master of deceit.
May the Lord help us.
To not be.
Deceived by his devices.
The pastor Paul, he said we're not ignorant of his devices. He's a great deceiver. But thank God we have the truth and it's found in Jesus, the Ephesians, Jesus.
Writes about the truth as it is in Jesus.
I'm so thankful.
As it is in Jesus.
You'll never disappoint you. And this book, it's open today on our laps. It's going to be open in eternity.
It's the Word of God that lives, and it abides forever.
And there's no disinformation.
In this pleasant book.
We are complete in Him, but there's also a progression to look for and to find encouraging in the path of faith. And I believe that's intimated in who this letter is addressed to. To the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ, we start as Saints.
We don't finish there five years after our death. Where?
Is is. The process has begun as Rome presents it.
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With some revenue, but we start there and.
That is we we should we should aspire to that. It's comforting. It's encouraging to see that and he had Timothy with him. There was there been progress in the path of life of Timothy. Just want to go back for an example of of one who was a St. but he was not among the faithful brethren.
I'm going to read from Mr. Garveys translation of the reference to that here.
I thinking of.
Of John Mark.
Acts 12 and 25 and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, having fulfilled the service and trusted to them, taking also with them John, surnamed Mark. And then.
Chapter 15 and verse 37. And Barnabas proposed to take with them John also called Mark. But Paul thought it not well to take with them him who had abandoned them, going back from Pamphilia.
So those are the early circumstances of John Mark and he was a St. But he wasn't one of the faithful brethren. And that word abandoned is a strong term. And then immediately following that chapter 16, he came to Derby and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there by name. So the Lord brought in Timothy to accompany Paul and to.
Be a help to him, thankfully.
Mark was, in the end, all could say, take Mark.
Mark was counted among the faithful brethren, and that's encouraging to see. The the restored servant was privileged to record the life of the perfect servant, the Gospel of Mark.
You really see the love of God through Christ and Paul here, can't you and he opens this up to those at quasi and you recognize as our brothers pointed out that which instead of the Saints and the faithful and and surely in this room there are those that are set apart except leaving the Lord Jesus Christ and their sins watching sins, watching this precious blood.
And then two, it could be that maybe there are those that are somewhat walking into more faithful way, but Paul doesn't judge that. He just introduces this to them in love. And it's such a letter of an encouragement to them that it's written to you and I as well. And the same things exist today that existed then. And so he says to the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are our clause and grace be unto you in peace.
From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on with such a letter that he gives, he gives thanks to God for praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which he has to All Saints. Don't each and every one of us desire to hear these things and don't we need to hear them? It's not as though we're being puffed up by them, but we're being encouraged by them and so that we might go on. And so that is Josh pointed out at the beginning when he read at the end.
Verse 9.
That you might be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
And at the end of verse 10, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, and so on, that we might attain to that faithfulness in Christ and walk.
In the same path, in the same way that the Lord Jesus Christ did when he was here, as we can see in Paul. And so he then goes on to bring out the whole Have you and I at some point in our life lost sight of that hope that is in us through Christ? Do we not need to be reminded of it daily?
Do we not go out into this world every day, the rudiments, the elements of this world that are sucking this book of Colossians?
And somewhat get overrun by it and forget.
Surely we do. And so Paul and his love for these dear Saints, and in his love for you and I today, has presented this through Christ. God has allowed it to be written so that you and I can see it. And so he speaks of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. Where have you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel which has come unto you? And not just to you, but to the whole world, that it brings forth fruit, and it brings forth fruit in you too.
Did you know that?
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What an encouraging thing to hear to have somebody tell you that you can bring forth fruit for God through Christ this time. And what a desire it is of his that you and I might walk in such a way that we too can do all things that are pleasing to the Father, and that we might encourage each other to do so as well. And so he goes on, and he speaks of Epiphros, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ.
Who also declared unto us your love in the spirit. And so another speaks.
Of how you go on, the Lord Jesus Christ two is solidified, is made it true, and it is seen in you.
What a wonderful way to introduce an encouragement to the Saints into you and I. The start of the Bible conference here together like this. And then of course, he goes on from there.
To speak of what is needed and responsibilities that we have to live for him, not one who is All in all.
Just highlight verses four and five. Three things that characterize Christians, faith, hope and love. And I like when we find this character, when the three of those things are grouped together as we see here in Colossians. One says that we have faith in Christ Jesus and we know that without faith it is impossible to please God. So there needs to be.
A Trusting in the Lord Jesus. It says here that we have love to all the same.
And we know that. How does the world know that we are his disciples? It's if we love one another. So we need to show love to our brother. And then of course, as Jonathans mentioned, we need the hope before us. Hebrews calls it that hope is an anchor of our soul. And so it's so important that we don't lose sight of the prospect of what's before us. We know that.
Our life down here is very temporary, but we have eternity ahead of us to enjoy the Lord Jesus. Lord we will see His face and so we need to.
Keep that hope before us, and of course, we do that by living in the truth, which is in this book that we have opened before us this morning if you're heading towards a goal.
To accomplish something or to reach something and you take your eyes off the goal.
It's very easy to get sidetracked.
I think that's.
Somewhat of a summary of Paul's burden with this epistle.
The Lord Jesus said this is eternal life to know thee, the only true God.
Jesus Christ and love his Son.
That is the purpose of eternal life and of salvation.
It's not get everything right or do everything right. The goal is to know God.
And this term in verse 10 increasing in the knowledge or actually I believe it's the full knowledge of God.
Goes along with what it says when it says our Savior God, who desires all men to be saved and to come to us.
The full knowledge of the truth. And that's to know God. God is a God of love. He wants to be known.
By those he loves, he wants to be known. That's an inherent nature of love, is to want to be known.
God wants to be known, that is why he saved you.
It wasn't just to make you a good person or a righteous person. He saved you primarily so that you might know him. That's what he wants.
And bringing in any of the things that have been mentioned, earthly religion, and by the way, the rudiments of the world in this Epistle.
While worldly things can distract us.
That term in this epistle is particularly referring to the practice of earthly religion.
Trying to be right and do right in all these things and being occupied. Touch, not taste, not all these things are a distraction. From what? From knowing him.
I spoke with a Christian the other night who he's an older man and he said all his life he's just always had this trouble of am I doing the will of God?
You know, if I could paraphrase it and am I getting this right and my decisions right? And it's easy to get hung up and distracted with that.
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The truth is, what's the worst that can happen if you make a mistake?
You'll learn something.
You might get to know God better.
What's wrong with that? So we need to trust him talked about.
Blood of Jesus, we're cleanse, we're set free for what purpose? So we can go and do whatever we want? No.
But so that we can be free to get to know God. And that's that is what God wants. And this epistle deals with those things which would distract us from that.
Darby's translation has a different word for in and the end of verse 10 is by. So just to add what you said, it's.
If there's going to be increase in our spiritual life, this is the means by which that increase will come, the knowledge of God and so.
It's not only increasing in the knowledge of God, but increasing our life comes by the instrumentality of that knowledge as we know Him more and more than there's increasing.
Fruitfulness in our lives.
There's increase in our spiritual growth.
By the knowledge.
Has there become a distraction from this increasing by the knowledge of God, this better understanding of who God is, growth in our relationship with them? Has there been a hindrance to that in the?
Message in Christendom that the primary thing is for the Gospel to go out to the whole world and souls to be reached in the world in its entirety and etcetera, etcetera.
Back in.
Verse six, the end of verse five, the word of the truth of the gospel which has come unto you as it is in all the world. That's that. That's gone out. And yes, there are some parts of the world that are familiar with this wonderful message, responsible message. I gave a little pocket calendar to a woman at work this week.
Ten years ago from Iran and I handed it to her and I was explaining the importance of for God so loved the world and put a privilege that I had had and growing up in a Christian home and having that impressed upon my soul. And she held that she listened. And then she she she pointed to the little word John on that card. She said, where's John?
Not it not not not familiar with precious reference and.
That's that's sad to think of someone not being familiar with that. It's even sadder to think that she's been in Canada for 10 years and somebody hasn't made the effort to impress the importance of that on her soul. That's, that's evidence of a Laodicean state in president today.
I believe that all sends the decline.
With those.
Glossy, which is why he introduced this to them.
And brought this before them.
And so it's good to notice in verse nine that though he spoke of their faith and their love in the Spirit, and for this 'cause he says we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you.
So the good to recognize the importance of prayer for one another. We often say, oh, I'm praying for you, brother, or I'm praying for the assembly there.
Let's do it without ceasing. You remember his love he had for Timothy. Another example of it there in Second Timothy chapter one.
Second Timothy.
After one.
In verse three he says, I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembered.
My prayers night and day. So how important it truly is. It cost our cares up to Him for one another. And so he mentions that and he says into desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
00:55:15
I have a verse that I appreciate with that in Job chapter 28.
The last verse in Job chapter 28 and has to do with wisdom and understanding.
Job 28 verse 28 and on demand he said, behold the fear of the Lord. That is wisdom.
And to depart from evil is understanding.
So I believe how important that is in our lives as believers today, that if we want to walk worthy of the Lord.
Unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God and continuing that all the way down to the end of verse 17 is where that ended, at least in my Bible. To continue that, we have to walk in the fear of the Lord, have that written and have that understanding. We have to depart from evil.
So that is not taken up with the things of this world, or even as such, and Brother Porter pointed out the religions of this world, but to be taken off with Christ and with the Lord.
Believe that that the cost was desired was that.
Saints and philosophy might recognize.
OK, there's two ministries. There's the ministry of the gospel of the grace of God that you're speaking about, reaching out to souls that are in darkness without God, without Christ. They need to be saved. And how important it is that we might reach out to those around us.
Whether it be at school or neighborhood at work.
The gospel of the grace of God. But God's desire is that we not only be saved, but that we come to a knowledge of the truth. And I think that's what the apostles is referring to here. He speaks that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. There's more.
You know than just being saved.
From hell and knowing that I'm on my way to heaven. What God's desire is that we might recognize that we are not safe for the individuals. We are safe to be part of the church which is the body of Christ of which.
As it tells us later in the chapter.
The Lord Jesus is the head of the body of the Church.
In verse 18 and.
It's the privilege of ours today.
Give expression in a practical way to that which has been formed, in fact, I believe on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God came down, and I believe that was the birthday of the Church. I put it that way.
The baptism of the Spirit being baptized by 1 spirit into one body. The pasta speaks of it in other places like Chris Corinthians as well. And so we find that here we are.
And we are part of this glorious Organism, the body of Christ, where members one of another, and Christ is our head in February.
It possibly speaks later in the chapter not to jump ahead, he speaks of it here in first.
24 at the end of the verse speaks about.
Which is the Church, whereup I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but is now made manifest to His Saints, to whom God will make known what is the riches.
Of the glory of this fiscal. What is this mystery? It's the mystery of the church. It was hid from ages past. We don't have records for you in the Old Testament.
01:00:02
But your pastor Paul, he unfolds his marvelous truth, and he wants the Saints to get ahold of it.
That it might affect.
Their walk and their wings.
And it's all part of being filled with the knowledge of these people to knowledge and to demonstrate I believe in a practical way the truth is to the church.
The Colossians were in a more dangerous place because of what was pressing in on them and the Ephesians. And so the apostles able to open up in Ephesians in a poorer way than he did with the Colossians and he praised there for them as well in chapter one that they would be, they would have in verse 17, the spirit of wisdom of revelation.
And the full should bring full knowledge of him and then and holds the truth of the Church and then after that parentheses of unfolding the truth of the Church. And chapter four, he beseeches them that they would walk worthy of the vocation where with your call, In other words, to walk worthy of that truth.
And the position in place they had been brought into, the Colossians were not going to escape the error.
That they had slipped into and was pressing on them so easily.
And so he takes it up in a slightly different way.
Again, being praised, praying that they would be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Wisdom says, I see how that fits. I see why that is appropriate. I see why that's cuddling. I see why that suits God.
This particular thing that he wants me to do and Knowledge says, I see how to apply it in my life. I see how to put it in action.
So it's filled with wisdom, receiving the rightness of the thing and knowledge, knowing how to make it work, applying it in your life to walk in it. He wants us to be filled with both.
And for what reason that he might walk worthy of the vocation? Where would he been called?
No.
Walk worthy of the Lord, because they were slipping away from that place of being subject to him, and holding the head and giving him his rightful place. And so it's walking worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
And being fruitful in every good work which those things that were pressing in were spoiling, being fruitful every good work increasing as environment brought out by the instrumentality.
Of the knowledge of God there would be that fruitfulness and increase in their life, and strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory, occupied with a man at God's right hand has a decided effect in my life as to how I walk worthily for the Lord. Unto what patience for everything that's going to come along in the path of faith.
It's the first mark of strength in a believer patience.
It's the first mark of, of, of real spiritual strength and believers. Patience, patience.
Steve a couple times and others have mentioned.
I think the geographic location in which they lived. In this epistle we also read about Hierapolis and Laodicea. From the ruins of Laodicea you can see Colossae about 7 or 8 miles away, and you can see higher Appleus. In between Hierapolis and Colossi was a beautiful lake.
Sorry, Hierapolis and Laodicea.
Go to Laodicea and you go, wow, what a great place to have a city. But they had need of nothing and Colossae had other things going on and so.
So it is with us. We have people here from the East, from the Midwest from and even though we're living in the same time period, our geographic location influences us in ways that we often don't even appreciate. And like you said, we can can look at different things that we don't realize our influences of the world and see how it we think it fits into Christianity or our life or how it provides fulfillment. And we have to be aware of that.
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Each one of us has a daily walk.
And here we've been talking with this prayer because he would walk worthy of the Lord. You know, I was thinking there's a lot of discouraging things. Jonathan mentioned that things are going downhill and glossy at this point. But you know, it's as you read through these verses, this is not discouragement and defeat. It's the complete opposite. It is amazing. What it says here is that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work.
Increasing in the knowledge of God's strengthened with Almighty.
Glorious power unto all, patience and long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet takers of the inheritance of the Saints in life, who has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of His near side. And you know.
If our focus is turned to the world around us, we'll find ourselves slipping and sliding and we'll lose all that power. But if we can turn our eyes towards the Lord, who is the whole focus of this book, it can be turned around in an amazing way. You know, I was thinking earlier, the Lord at the beginning of his public ministry was taken up into a high mountain by Satan, and Satan says, I'll give you all the kingdoms in the world.
The Lord rejects it to follow what His Father had given Him to do. You know, it's interesting to me about that, and I know others. You have heard me comment on this. We turn over to Mike that the Lord's going to set up the Lord's Kingdom at the top of the mountains, and the whole world's going to look at him. And the only thing they'll see and know is His power and His glory and His Majesty. And you know, Satan wants to take our eyes and get it on the world around us.
And so that we can't function in our daily walk in the way that we have here.
And I say this for myself.
Am I fruitful? Am I increasing in the knowledge of God?
Am I strengthened with All Might where I knew his glorious power? Do I have patience as it's just been brought out to us as one of the first markers of of our real spiritual growth? You know, these things are things that we need to consider. If we can get our eyes on the Lord, if we can see no man, say Jesus only lay and enter into these things that we've been translated into the Kingdom of his his.
And things will start looking a little brighter. And you know, even as we look at this world around, we can see things just completely sliding in the wrong direction. But we can know that in the not too distant future, the Lord will be put in His rightful place as King of kings and Lord of Lords. And the whole world is going to see him for who He is and all His power and glory and majesty. But Satan just wants to mask that and hide it and discourages every day.
As we walk our daily life and so we need to be deeply exercised with these things.
That's tomorrow morning we wake up.
And what does our day look like? We need to have the Lord before us.
When we're at a time I know, but it makes me to think Mark of brother Brad pointed out John Mark and Axe and you know, Mark recovered, didn't he? We see him there in second Timothy 4. He's mentioned in verse 11. Take Mark and bring him with thee. He says, and you know, maybe it's that.
You feel like in your life, you've gone through something that you just can't walk worthy. But Paul, he doesn't bring it up in a negative sense, as Marcus pointed out, he brings it up in an encouraging sense and he says that he might walk worthy. That sounds like there's lots of possibility there to me. And so I just encourage each one that if you've gone through a difficult time, if you feel like John Mark at the moment.
Will recognize that there's a possibility in Christ that you can be marked.
And that surely you can walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleases. You just need His help, we all do.
130.
Time together over Thy word, and pray that our hearts might be stirred, that there would be an individual exercise and desire to walk worthy of the Lord.
We would not be here is only but doers of my word, and so we just look to thee for blessing, wait upon Thee for continued health and Jesus precious name and.