 Colossians chapter 1. We're going to be looking today at verses 1 through 14 and what I'll do is I'll take you to verse 14 but obviously I will want to pick up probably at verse 13 or so next week and give you some more introduction and more information because I'll be closing on at verse 14 but I want to build it a little more next week and you'll see that that's how I usually teach and for those of you who are not normally here what I like to do is I'll take the first several minutes to lay a foundation so that you have an idea of the direction this book is going to go because every book has a purpose and so I'll give you some of the direction and information then then we're going to pick up at verse 1 and we'll go through it up to verse 14 so we're doing our introduction today in the book of Colossians I'll give you background information try and give you some information as it relates to the scriptures that we're looking at we'll conclude at verse 14 pick up next week probably give you some more information and then move on till we complete the book so let's begin reading together here in Colossians chapter 1 at verse 1 I'll read to verse 8 and we'll get into our study Colossians chapter 1 beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 8 Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy our brother to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossians grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel which has come to you as it has also in all the world and is bringing forth fruit as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth as you also learned from Epaphrys our dear fellow servant who's a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf who also declared to us your love in the spirit and so as we begin Paul is speaking concerning the gospel the message of the gospel and as we begin we need to remember the message of the gospel was not intended to be preached only in the nation of Israel Jesus intended the message of the gospel to go throughout the world he intended people to receive this message that they might have life and when he was giving his commission in Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20 remember at the end of the gospel of Matthew where Jesus is about to commission them to go out into the world he said to them go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you and low I'm with you always even to the end of the age so he said go and make disciples of all the nations so the message of the gospel was intended to go beyond the borders of Israel now remember Jesus was speaking to 11 men who had never traveled beyond their own borders now he's commanding them to go into the entire world and the men would not have completely understood what he was saying they wouldn't have been understood what this really means they didn't have a complete knowledge of how immense the world actually is because Israel is a small area of land today Israel is roughly equivalent in size to the the state of New Jersey it's a small place you know it's around 200 miles from the north to the south around 200 miles which would be like leaving Chino and driving up to suddenly so bispo east to west it's around 70 miles again it's like if you left the city of Chino and you went up to Camarillo so it's not that big it's a small nation but that was their world and these people were not seasoned travelers yet they're told you need to go into the entire world so how are they going to be successful how are they going to be able to go into all the world to preach the gospel remember Jesus trained them and Jesus taught them scripture and Jesus authorized them for their mission but all the training and teaching all the authority was not enough for them to succeed they still were lacking something so Jesus made sure that they had that which they were lacking and what they were lacking was power they needed the power of the Holy Spirit they needed the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to go into the whole world to preach this message of the gospel and so Jesus said you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem in Judea in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth so you have the commission you have the information but you need the power and it's through the power of the Holy Spirit that the gospel would spread and have impact and so this message of the gospel spread out many took the gospel into the known world and one of those people who received that gospel and shared that gospel is mentioned in verses seven and eight his name is Epaphorus he planted the church there in central Turkey in a place called Colossae and Paul had said that they learned the word of truth from this faithful minister of Jesus Christ so Paul didn't plant this church but was writing instructions to the church in Colossians chapter 2 verse 1 it makes it very clear there that Paul was unknown by face to many of them he didn't plant the church but as an apostle he was concerned for them remember he had told Timmy Timothy in 2nd Timothy 1 verse 11 that he was appointed a preacher an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles he had a concern for these people he was a preacher a teacher he was an evangelist missionary and he was a man who had concern for believers his love for the Lord overflowed it resulted in a love for those whom Jesus loved and he learned that he learned how people loved Jesus loved people when he encountered Christ on the road to Damascus because remember how Paul was breathing out threatening for all of those were followers of Christ and he was accosted if you will his journey was interrupted by Jesus and he fell to the ground and he went temporarily blind and he heard a voice saying Saul why are you persecuting me and remember how he said who are you Lord and Jesus said when you persecute one of mine you're persecuting me so he learned from Christ of Christ's love for people and he learned that the church was dear to Jesus and the church became dear to him so as an apostle he carried a concern for churches in general he had a concern for the things that mattered and it was a concern for these things that was greater than anything he had and no matter what he had gone through he still had a greater concern for Christians for believers when you read 2 Corinthians on a couple of occasions he begins to speak a bit about the things he's gone through the shipwrecks and the beatings and the scourgings how he's been a night and a day and in the depth of the sea and so many things that he'd gone through and yet when he's speaking concerning what really mattered and what he really thought about and all of that he says in 2 Corinthians 11 28 he said besides the other things what comes upon me daily and went on to say my deep concern for all the churches so Paul had a concern for the church and he wanted to make sure that this church was protected the church of Colossae now again Epaphorus is one of the many faithful but not famous believers in the Bible there are many people mentioned in Scripture with great testimonies that we never hear we hear of Epaphorus here in verses 7 and 8 he's a fellow servant he's a faithful minister and he gives witness to their faithfulness and love in the spirit to Paul but that's pretty much what you hear about him so that ought to help us as ordinary people in the day that we live in instead of trying to seek for great things for ourselves even as we're told by Jeremiah seek them not there are some today who seem to have forgotten that we need to remember that much of our story will never be heard by anybody else the world isn't going to hear about us necessarily and that's okay because we need to be faithful in what we're called to do you see there are many many who are used in wonderful ways that are known only to God and very few others and that's all right because most people remain unknown and most people never become famous it's like what Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9 when he spoke and used the phrase as unknown and yet well-known Paul was speaking of himself he said I'm unknown to some but well-known to those that matter and in your life that's the way it is too one of the things that we need to understand is it doesn't really matter who knows our name as long as he does if God knows your name that's all that really matters and that really should be what we're concerned about not being known by man but being recognized by God so that the Lord may say come on in I've prepared this from the foundation of the world for you so come on in I know your name even though others may not Paul said that I'm unknown but I'm well known I'm unknown to some but well known to those of matter but I'm especially well known to God you see it's from Jesus that we receive the words well done my good and faithful servant and it's the Lord Jesus Christ who sees and it's Jesus who rewards in Hebrews 6 verse 10 it says God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward his name in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister God is not unjust to forget your work in labor of love God knows what you're doing for him and he'll reward you accordingly now Paul spent time in prison for preaching the message of the gospel but he used the time wisely while imprisoned in Rome he wrote Ephesians he wrote Philemon he wrote Philippians and he wrote the book of Colossians and Colossians was written somewhere around the years 60 to 62 AD as is true with all of his letters Paul had a purpose in writing this epistle he wrote to warn the church against error and doctrine an error that's entering in to the church and we'll see that as we go through this book we'll see that error and we'll be looking at it as he speaks of it but this particular error that was beginning to seep into the church and affecting them was a system that combined Greek philosophy with Jewish legalism and a touch of mysticism and they were watering down the Christian truth and what they were doing these false teachers what they were doing was they were reducing Jesus Christ from Messiah God in the flesh they were reducing him to a Jewish philosopher and Paul is is correcting this because this error will seep into the pews if you will if it's not confronted in doubt with and believe it or not because the world that we live in today is quote-unquote so tolerant of so much believe it or not Paul would immediately respond to error because error infects the way that you live because the way you believe is how you behave and when you begin to believe wrong things about Christ your life is going to be stifled in terms of its fruit so naturally when he hears of this error that begins to seep into the church there in Colossae naturally he addresses it because your behavior is always built on your beliefs and so what he's going to do here is he's going to reveal that he intends to reveal the preeminence of Jesus Christ because as you go through this book he's going to point out some things about our relationship with him he reveals that we're rooted in him he reveals that we're alive in him he reveals that we're hidden in him and complete in him now when you look at Colossians it's actually divided it's got four chapters it's divided into two sections chapters one and two then chapters three and four chapter one and two deals with doctrine and chapters three and four give us practical application again our belief in our behavior and so this is what we'll be looking at as we go through together the book of Colossians so we'll begin at verse one I'll read verses one and two and we'll get into our study that was your introduction let's get into our study verse one Paul and Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy our brother to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossians grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ notice how he begins Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God Paul was chosen to be an apostle while on the road to Damascus while he was breathing out threatening concerning followers of Christ Christ actually arrested him and so he speaks concerning up one who's been chosen by the will of God in Acts chapter nine verse 15 the Lord was speaking to a man by the name of Ananias Ananias was hesitant to go and pray for Paul because God had just said go and pray for him Ananias Ananias thought it'd be wise to kind of like fill God in on some recent events and he said to him this is the guy who's been damaging the church and you want me to go and you want me to pray for him and God speaks to him says go he says this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel and so he was chosen he says that I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God in Galatians chapter one verse one he said it like this he said Paul an Apostle not from men nor through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead I was not appointed an apostle by men I didn't go to apostle classes I was chosen by God it's like what Jesus said in John 15 16 when he spoke of his own disciples as apostles and he said you didn't choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit that your fruit should remain that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you so he says I am an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God then he makes reference in verse 1 to Timothy Timothy our brother again we know Timothy who was converted to Christ under the ministry of Paul we see in Acts chapter 16 verses 1 and 3 about him we know that Paul wrote him two letters first and second Timothy we know that his mother was Jewish his father was a Greek and this is a man who got saved and was traveling with Paul and so it's Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God as well as Timothy our brother verse 2 to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ we're in Colossae when he says to the saints the saints it's a word Haggias it speaks of being separated God is the one who separates you to be called the saint we in our day will say what do you think you are some kind of saint and and all of that but the fact is we are we are you can call me saint David I do have a ring no we the word saint means the one who's been set apart that's God's work God set you apart so when you see the saints in the faithful first you see God's work you are you have been set apart it's been said that either you're a saint or an ain't you're one of the two if you're saved you are set apart one who's being used by the Lord again that is God's work he sets you apart a saint in the New Testament is one who trusts in God's promises it is one who has convinced that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that Jesus is Messiah and that he is the author of salvation now the word faithful speaks of man side of salvation you see the faithful are those who have trusted Jesus for salvation so he did his work and we do ours as we serve him now as a combination God sets us apart but we by faith are faithful to him as we serve it's like what Paul said in 1st Timothy 1 12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me because he counted me faithful putting me into ministry so God is the one who counts your faithful and God is the one who puts you in ministry but you're faithful in your service to him and so there's your introduction when he says grace to you in peace I want you to notice the word grace in peace and the sequence the word grace always goes before peace when you read your Bible you'll see in the letters grace in peace you never see peace in grace he says grace in peace why because without grace you'll never have peace so you always step into grace and then you experience peace and those are actually a combination of the common greetings during the day so the word grace is the Greek word Keras so if I were Greek and I'm walking on the street and I'm there in Athens and I see one of my friends he would turn and say Keras and that's simply a greeting if I'm in Israel and we heard this plenty just recently they will say Shalom because Shalom is peace it's a common greeting what he did is he took the common greetings of his day grace and peace Gentile and Jew combined them put him in proper order grace first then peace and that's common salutation so grace to you and peace where's it come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and now he says verse 3 we give thanks we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven of which you heard before in the word of truth of the gospel which has come to you as it has also in all the world and is bringing forth fruit as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth as you also learn from a path that's our dear fellow servant who's a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf who also declared to us your love in the spirit and so we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you he gives thanks because they've been saved and the church has a good testimony notice how Paul heard of their faith he had heard of their love and their hope their faith love and hope that motivated their lives their reputation preceded them because Apathras had given Paul a good report all churches have reputations all churches have reputations when you read your Bible you'll see that Paul makes mention of that to the book of Rome in the book of Romans to the Roman church in the first chapter he speaks concerning their faith that has been communicated throughout the world so the Roman church was known for its evangelism and so you'll see that there is a testimony that a church has you're known for something he speaks to the Thessalonians in chapter one again and he speaks concerning the fact that they're enduring suffering and so they were known for being faithful in the face of suffering and persecution they had a reputation Paul makes mention of it and then he speaks to the Corinthians and the Corinthians also had a reputation what was the reputation carnality I mean it's interesting there are 16 chapters in first Corinthians and so for the first eight verses or so Paul commends them you fall short in no gift and he's sharing with them and then in chapter one then from verse 8 into verse 9 verse 9 until chapter 16 the conclusion he rebukes and exhorts them why because they had so many sins going on that he had to deal with them one by one so every church has a reputation in the old test in the New Testament as well as today every church has a reputation and for me I want to guard the reputation of our ministry I want people to know that we're a people who love the Lord I would love people if they hear Calvary Chapel Cino Valley I would like them to be able to say that's a good church great people remember that the church is you it's made up by you and the things that you live out in the world is what this church is known for so may I encourage you to live for Jesus Christ to live for Jesus Christ because you're not only reflecting on the kingdom of God which is the most important thing of course you also are reflecting on your family and this is your church family if this is your home and so my mom used to tell me that about my poor reputation and how it affected my father's name well every church has a reputation and the Colossians have one too and Paul said I heard of your faith and I've heard of your love that's a great reputation wouldn't be great if people would say Cino Valley that's a place filled with faith and love that's a church filled with grace and hope because that's what we get from Jesus Christ and we need to understand that today so we need to have that kind of attitude he says it in verse four we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the Saints we heard we heard of your faith we heard of your love they had heard before the word of truth he said in verse five from the day that they heard they had borne fruit he said in verse six he from the day that he heard of it had not ceased to pray for them so there is hearing things and they've heard things and their reputations preceded them and Paul rejoices to hear how they live for Jesus Christ faith in Jesus and love for other people that reveals that you're actually saved that's how people know you're a Christian but this shall they know that you're my disciples if you have loved one for another this is how they know because you walk in the truth even as John said that he rejoices when he hears that his children are walking in truth and so your way of life makes such a tremendous impact you're to preach the gospel at all times and when necessary you use words because you are an open book you were a letter Paul said to the Corinthians known in red by all men and so even a child is known by his deeds whether he's good or evil by the things that they do you can tell and so he's saying you have a reputation of faith you have a reputation of love they also are known as those who had hope you see you'll not have a biblical faith or a genuine love without accurate Bible teaching that's why Paul is concerned that's why it's concerned about them because they need to receive the whole council of God so that their lives line up with God's word and so today unfortunately we have some who say well I I follow Christ but never read his word so in reality what we're doing is following our own inclinations of our heart because sometimes what happens is we'll read something that we don't agree with so rather than saying God you're saying something that I'm having trouble with we just say well I'll ignore that and do what I feel most comfortable with a lot of people are doing that unfortunately today what Paul would be saying that's going to be a road that it's going to destroy your walk these false teachers are walking in as they're coming in they're bringing false things about Christ when they bring these false things you're going to stumble so I rejoice to know that you actually love the Lord that you have faith and I actually am blessed to know that you actually love one another because you know he who says that he loves God well he's not going to hate his brother because how can a man love God whom he's not seen and hate his brother whom he does see and so we need to understand that and if we really say I'm a Christian that the mark of the believer and like Jesus said by this shall all men know you're my disciples is to love one another and so he's blessed over that in 1st John 3 23 John said this is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us commandment so if you're asking God to increase your faith it comes to spending time in his word and if you desire love it's also refined for you and refined to the message of Christ it is revealed in the giving of Christ but it is informed to scripture we're living in a time when we unfortunately as a society have equated tolerance with love and that's been a that's a bad mistake the more tolerant we are we think the more loving we are there are times we have to define what love actually is and we not to and the Bible does give us a good insight into what that is in 1st Corinthians for example chapter 13 verses 4th await Paul tells us love is patient love is kind it doesn't envy it doesn't boast it's not proud love is not rude it's not self-seeking it's not easily angered love doesn't keep a record of wrongs I remember this guy who was saying that we get he gets in fights with his wife she gets his she gets all historical and his friend says you mean hysterical and he said no historical she brings up everything I've ever done but it keeps no record of wrongs love does not delight in evil but it rejoices with the truth love always protects love always trusts love always hopes always perseveres then he said and love never fails so if we took time just to understand what these qualities of love are we could apply those to our daily lives you see false teachers are undermining this foundation that's why Paul's addressing it teaching God's word accurately provides a foundation of faith love and hope and because the church has faith love and hope Paul is inspired and he begins to pray for them notice in verse 5 how he says because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel the word hope we use the word hope as if well I hope it doesn't rain you know I I hope I graduate I hope I hope the Dodgers don't blow it this year you know we we hope but we use the word hope as if it's something we're not confident the Bible doesn't the word hope speaks of a confident expectation Paul in the book of Romans says we are saved by hope there's a confident expectation God has said it I believe it that settles it that's hope we know we're confident no matter what goes we go through in our life no matter what ups and downs no matter what waves that we deal with no matter what struggles we experience no matter what pain we endure we have a hope a sure anchor and it holds us fast in the midst of the trials and the struggles that we go through hope is a confident expectation it has an element of future fulfillment in heaven so we hold fast because we're just passing through we're gonna make it God is with us there's no way we won't he who began a good work will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ he doesn't leave me nor does he forsake me I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil why because you are with me I don't walk by myself if I were walking in the valley of the shadow of death by myself naturally I wouldn't have any confidence but he's with me he's by my side he takes care of me and he carries me in the times that I'm struggling that's the God that I serve and so we have hope a confidence Jesus said it that settles it and that's what he's speaking to and he's pointing that out to the Colossians you see we believe that Jesus rose from the dead and because he conquered the grave in him we are victorious the grave has no victory over us oh death where is your sting oh grave where is your victory it isn't there why because Jesus took it on our behalf so we have a hope of heaven so we'll be with Jesus Christ in heaven our names are engraved in the Lamb's Book of Life and one day we'll hear him say come on up here and one of these days he'll look us in the eye and he will say welcome in to the joy of thy Lord I prepared this from the foundation of the earth and it belongs to you and that's what Christians hold fast to so Paul is saying that you have confidence you have hope why because what Jesus Christ has done for you he has given us an inheritance and it's inspiring and we will have fellowship with Jesus for eternity hope will never perish unlike things of this age hope does not rot nor decay hope is permanent it doesn't spoil it doesn't fade hope is pure it's spotless it doesn't wither and this hope is kept that word kept means to be reserved guarded protected or put aside it is kept just for us by God himself and he says in verse 5 second portion of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel we have hope because we can trust the message of the gospel because it's true you can trust the gospel it's the word of truth in John 17 verse 17 Jesus was praying to his father he said sanctify them in your truth they went on to say your word is truth in Ephesians 1 13 Paul said you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation it is the word of truth and in embracing that word of truth we have life I was in an airport a number of years ago now is returning from a trip and somebody came walking and I was watching them as they were walking and they were talking to people who were seated waiting for their flights and watching this person move back and forth they knew they would eventually come and speak to me which they did and they said he said hello I am selling a book if you'd like it I'd like to sell it to you for a donation and I said oh really and what is this book he said it is a book that contains words of life I said really he said yes it's the Bhagavad Gita he was a Hindu it's the Bhagavad I said really he said yes this book contains words of life and I have you know my pocket Bible I've told you before I carry this my Bible it's the sword but I have the pocket Bible I call my switchblade and so I had my switchblade and I pulled my switchblade out and I said this is the word of eternal life this word here tells me of my God and the guy says to me oh God cannot be seen he is beyond fathoming I said indeed that is why he took upon himself human flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory of the only begotten Son of God full of grace and truth I said the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us and the word is Jesus Christ for in the beginning was the word the word was with God and the word was God I said so yeah we have the truth right here I don't need to pay for a Bhagavad Gita I've got the word of truth in my pocket and in my heart he walked away but that was true but it was true and so we need to understand that today it is the word of truth it isn't man's ideas it is God's declaration and we're saved by holding fast we're saved by holding to it and he says you heard the word of truth it wasn't some man's opinion it was God's declaration and that's the point he's making for us as we look at that now I have some water because my voice is saying shut up but I say no so he says since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth and when he said knew the grace as a phrase that speaks of coming to know perfectly it speaks of maturing or growing in depth when he says knew the grace of God in truth while he's commending a paphras he's saying that a paphras was faithful in giving them the whole counsel of God a paphras did not shun from declaring them the entirety of God's word you see a man a pastor who is going to be declared faithful by God is one who doesn't shun to declare into his congregation the entire word of truth you don't come to church to hear opinions by that man you come to hear the word of God from that man we would see Jesus not your opinions and so it's a man's my responsibility and every pastor's responsibility to rightly divide the word in order that it's presented as it truly is not just my idea of why you should do this or don't do that but because God's word declares we ought to do this and we ought not to do that for these reasons and you get that from Scripture so they had held fast to that and they had learned that in a paphras was a person who gave them that now he ministered according to verses seven and eight he ministered a paphras ministered to Paul on behalf of the Colossian church because he was representing them in verse eight a paphras spoke to Paul and he shared this report told Paul that the church loved him well as Paul is hearing this notice what happens in verse nine for this reason we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you may walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing him being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for all patience and long suffering with joy giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light so I prayed for you what are you praying for well he said I heard it it caused me to continue praying and I've been asking God in my prayers that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom I've been praying that you may walk worthy of the Lord I pray that you will be fully pleasing to him I pray that you might be fruitful in every good work I pray that you would increase in the knowledge of God I've been praying for you closions that you might be strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for patience and long suffering with joy I've been giving thanks to the Father who qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light that's what I've been praying for this is my model this is what I've said I want you to know the knowledge of his will you see knowledge of God's will is spiritually imparted as they seek the Lord in his word in contrast to the false teachers who are trying to deceive them Paul instructs him and he makes it clear that it's the spirit who fills the believer with the knowledge of God's will and you're gonna see this later on in chapter 2 and other places you'll be seeing this as he alludes to this kind of thing but but this knowledge of God's will isn't gonna come through diets or religious rituals or the worship of angels he's gonna present that to us in a little while because at that time they're saying it listen eat certain foods and do certain things and no he said it's not gonna come that way so meat doesn't commend us into God neither if we eat are we the better neither if we eat not are we the worse it isn't whether I eat pork or not there are people say you can't eat pork if you eat pork you're far from God I know I remember I was in the army and I was I was I was going through a chow line and you're taking your life in your hands by doing that alone and we're going through chow line and this guy was dropping food on plates and I could see him saying something because the guys that he was serving were kind of looking at him with a double take everyone and I was you know about 10 guys back but I saw him like that there so I thought he's saying something I wonder I wonder what he's gonna tell us so I I go up to him and he drops a pork chop on my plate and he says this is what he said I'm quoting him it was you eat that you're going to hell you know if I eat it I might feel like him in hell but that's something different if you eat that you're going to hell and I stopped I stopped I looked at him huh I said why because you can't eat pork Bible says so I said is that right now I'm a brand new Christian I'm four months five months old in the Lord what do I know so I said no going to hell for a pork chop I'm not quite sure I've done worse things so I went to them I went into the Bible meat does not commend us into God for neither if we eat at the better neither if we do not eat are we the worst and I came back and I told him that's not true I don't go to hell because they ate a pork chop we're not going to go to hell because we didn't eat certain things or did eat certain things because Jesus said that the real problem is is not what goes into a man remember Mark chapter 7 is that which comes out of him because that which comes out with that which proceeds adultery and murder and all of that comes from man's nature so the point that Jesus was making concerning diets etc. is this and I came to fulfill the law and I'm making all things clean unto you now because the real question has been answered because of food regulations to order make you realize that there's a separation but I've come in order that you might have relationship with God and thus I can eat kind of eat this anytime I want I do and other things that people won't touch I'll eat that too like menudo but anyway so the point he's making is your you're not godly through ritual you're not godly to a certain diet again we'll see that you're not godly through these things you're made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ now he says in verse 10 that they may have a walk worthy of the Lord worthy of the Lord you might have the right belief so that you might act properly that word worthy is a Greek word that means after a godly sort that which is appropriate or suitable so the desire is that we would walk as John said in third John 4 that we would walk in truth now in verse 10 he says fully pleasing him now how can we be fully pleasing well he says by being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God by taking his word applying it and as they apply it they increase in experiential knowledge so when you hear his word to put it into practice you actually are gaining experientially there are things you've read but never done when you do those things now you gain insight so that's how it works if you keep my commands Jesus said then my father and I will dwell with you and you'll gain a personal knowledge that's how it works he said I had to pray in this way I did he said I had to do this or not do that I obeyed and he showed up he manifested himself to me the Lord says to share your faith and you say I'm shy I can't do that you know I'll pray that somebody else will come and I'll pray for them when they do but as for me I'm shy I don't know that much and you argue with the Lord and then somebody shows up and you're talking in the conversation naturally turns towards what have you been doing you share some things you tell me became a Christian they say why you begin to share and before you know it you're saying wow I'm I didn't even know I knew that and God shows up and you go home with this holy glow saying man what a joy God manifested himself that's how it works trusting him he shows up and sometimes you may not seem to show up but that's another kind of lesson he's going to teach you so that you walk by faith and not by sight and it's just part of growing but it starts with obedience and we're walking to please him in verse 11 he said strengthened with all might according to his glorious power so this power enables him to live victoriously even though they go through suffering and even though they go through opposition and then verse 12 giving thanks to the father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light he has delivered us from the power of darkness conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins giving thanks to the father who qualified us if God has given us his grace then our response is thankfulness and notice he has made us qualified that word qualified means to be made suitable he has made us qualified to be partakers through his relation our relationship with his son and verse 13 he delivered us from the power of darkness that word delivered is a Greek word that means to be rescued it speaks being drawn it literally speaks of dragging a person out of the jaws of danger it's like you're on the ground and a lion is about to get you and someone drags you out just in time and that's what he's done he has delivered he has rescued us you see he has given us power to overcome he's given us power to not yield to the enemy any longer we reject the enemy we die to our carnal desire and we follow him and when he rescued us he translated us he conveyed us when he speaks concerning that the word convey is to transfer it it really applies to the transplanting of a people from one nation to another it takes him from a settlement into a new home he has translated us he has taken as he's conveyed us because we are now citizens of heaven and our lives demonstrate that we're different we should be preaching the gospel with our lives it's been said preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words we are letters written that all men will read they will watch my life and then listen to my words very often on the job you live for Christ it's not that you're always pulling out a Bible and quoting it God gives you opportunity of course you take it but it's that you live for Christ it's that you live for Jesus and people know that and some of you know this firsthand by experience somebody may approach you and say I've been watching you when I was in the army I still remember a guy walk up to me and he said to me I notice you pray before you eat every time I'm noticed I didn't even know this guy he's just at another table he said I notice that you you pray every time are you in a religion or something and I and I and I shared with him you know I've been born again I'm a Christian and it gives you opportunity to share so live for Christ live in such a way that people will look at you and will know there's something about you that really speaks like you're different it's like what Titus 2 14 says where it says Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself of people that are his very own eager to do what is good eager to do what is good so we walk worthy of the gospel we're eager to do good because we've been saved and Paul is praying that we'd understand that live like a saved person and then he says in verse 14 in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins we're redeemed we have eternal deliverance we were in bondage but have been purchased and the debt is completely paid off it is finished I don't know anything you know you buy a car and you pay it off for six seven years whatever and then you got in the habit of sending $350 a month but one of these days you know you finally paid it in full they used to they still do in some places have one of these stamps and they would stamp the contract and it said in red interestingly enough sometimes paid in full that's what happened when Jesus died on the cross for you he said it is finished and it's like God's hand came down the stamp paid in full and when I said yes to you Jesus you said your debt has been wiped clean you owe me nothing just loved me and follow me that's Christianity that's how we were saved and so he said we have redemption in Christ and we have been set free Jesus in John 8 36 said it like that if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed and that's what we the church today need to remember he set us free let's live as if we had been let us live worthy of the gospel so when people see us they'll say something's different about you I've seen a lot of these TV preachers and all they want is your money but you don't ask me for anything can you tell me why and then you can say yeah because Christ changed my life and he caused me to love people and I care about you and I want you to know him too and you can have ministry just by loving Jesus walk worthy of the gospel