 Yeah, as I was saying, you know, we'll be starting the book of Colossians today the letter that was written by Paul to the Colossian believers So the city that they were living is called Colosse Again, that's something very close to your, you know Anatolian Peninsula it's somewhere, you know situated somewhere very close to that and This city was not very big in size, but it had People from different backgrounds living over there and so you had people Who believed in all kinds of you know, religions and belief systems who are coexisting so There was a danger that the church could get influenced by these wrong ideas that are going around So we get the impression that even as Paul is writing this letter to the Colossians He is they have not yet gone into any wrong doctrine But he expresses his concern and he is just trying to you know establish the fact that they must hold on to Christ There does seem to be some wrong teaching that has crept in and he kind of talks about that in the second chapter And so he says rather than you know chasing after those Those things that are going around, you know hold on to Christ So yes to some extent this church had become influenced by wrong things But then in the first chapter he also says, you know, you are firm in your faith in Christ right now So things had not gotten bad But Paul wanted to you know clarify that our life needs to be centered Around Jesus that we need to be completely focused on Jesus because Once we are led away, there's nothing left. There's no hope of any kind left because All of life, you know, it's in him. So So he basically talks about these things Wants them encourages them to hold on to the faith in Jesus rather than you know Go after these other teachings and philosophies that are there, you know in in that particular culture so We see that in the city of Colosse there were a large number of Jews also living that's because Antioch is the great is supposed to have taken many of the Jewish families that were living in Mesopotamia and He relocated them to this particular region as a result of which you had A lot of Jewish families living here In fact in Acts chapter 2 when you when we see the large mixed crowd that is drawn to the upper room because of the You know Pentecostal experience that has happened and then all the people are attracted there because of the noise that is Coming out of that place, you know, even as the people are now beginning to speak in different tongues So at that time when all the Jewish people and all the others gather around to see what's going on We also see people from this particular region gathered over there from the region of Phrygia That's the region, you know in which the city of Colosse is established so So there is a chance that the Jewish philosophies that were kind of prevailing You know in this Phrygian region might have started influencing the the Colossian Church a little bit So Paul is concerned regarding that and he addresses that issue so We see that this particular Letter was written while Paul was still in prison during his first Imprisonment, you know, that's around the time when this book of Acts, you know mentions his imprisonment so during that time he wrote a Number of letters he wrote to the Ephesians He wrote to Philemon and he also wrote to these believers in Colosse Because we see that when he sends out the letters He sends all the three letters the letters to the Ephesians and the letter to Philemon and also this particular letter All the three letters he puts them in the hands of Taikikas and Onesimus and he sends them off So they all these three were kind of written around the very same time. All right, so that's regarding the background of this particular letter We also see that You know couple of times in this letter He mentions the fact that I have never seen you he says so which means he is not the one who personally planted this church Rather we get the impression Yeah, in fact, we are told that Epaphras is the one who shared the gospel with them the true gospel with them Okay, so we also learned that this particular church was planted by Epaphras and Another another thing that maybe we could know about this particular Group of believers they experienced a major earthquake Sometime after this letter was written So, I mean, I'm not sure how many believers were affected. I you know What happened after that? But that particular city the city of Colosse Had a major earthquake Sometime after this letter was written. No, maybe a few years after this letter was written And in fact, you have two historians who mentioned this They talk about the major earthquake which affected this poor, you know city And you know as we know even today up even after today because of that Anatolian, you know that Earthquake fracture line, which is over there. You this is a place where earthquakes do keep happening all the time so These are just some of the things to kind of keep in mind even as we are you know thinking about this letter to the Colossians So we you know in the beginning of the letter Paul begins by talking about the things that he likes about them the things You know that have made him happy to hear about this particular church So, you know, we'll get started if we could have someone read out for us versus 3 to 5 please Colossians chapter 1 verses 3 to 5 Colossians chapter 1 3 to 5. Yes, we give thanks to the Lord and father of our Lord Jesus Christ Bring all this 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 Yes, so here Paul is praising them For two things he says, you know, I have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and he says I've also heard of the love that you have for all of God's people and he is complimenting them on this and We all would like to be in that category right where we Maybe we would like to be known as people of great faith You know people who have much faith in the Lord Jesus and we would like to be known as people who live in love Who live in unity who are known for that? So these are really good things to aspire for but how do you become that? How do you end up with that kind of a faith? How do you live in that kind of a love? He explains in verse 5 that their faith and their love has actually come out of this Hope which they have, you know this future hope which they have that is what has made them You know have this level of faith and that is what has you know Encourage them to live in love towards people. So here it doesn't really explain You know in great detail what this particular hope is which is stored up for you in heaven But we find out of course mentioned in a lot of other places Now One now good place, you know Where we can see a reference to something very similar would be first Thessalonians 5 Versus 8 to 10 first Thessalonians 5 8 to 10 if someone could read out, please First Thessalonians 5 8 to 10 it reads but let us who Let us who of the day be sober putting out on the breastplate of faith and love as a helmet of as a helmet as a helmet the hope of salvation For God did not point us to wrath but to obtain salvation To our through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep We should live together with him All right, so The hope that these believers have I mean these Thessalonian believers and also the believers that we are looking at in Colossians The main hope of all these believers is that you know They have understood what actually the wrath of God is how serious the anger of God is and they are so Grateful that now this anger of God this judgment of God is no longer directed at them They are safe and secure in the knowledge that now they are you know at peace with with God because of Jesus Christ So they have this deep assurance that whether they wake whether they're awake or asleep You know in the sense whether they're they stay alive here on this earth or whether you know They they die and they pass away either way their Union with Christ will not be broken. They are going to be safe and secure with him forever and ever So this deep assurance which they have is the hope You know that they are looking forward to and so because they know that they have this eternal hope they are willing to Place their faith in Christ Jesus obey him submit to him make sacrifices for him So all of this that they are doing all this faith that they have placed in Christ it's because of This future hope that they are looking forward to in the same way It's not very easy to live in love with all people But they are willing to do that they're willing to make sacrifices to place the Interests of other peoples of other people first Why are they willing to do all this because they know that now their life is you know united with Christ And so whatever happens they will always be secure in him forever and ever and this hope enables them to live in in this way and So we see that what actually enables us to be warriors of faith You know to be people who will just obey him trust him submit to him How do we become that we are able to strive for that if we are you know if we are filled with a joy of this Future hope on the other hand if we are not really very Grateful for what we have been given You know we kind of take our relationship with Christ casually. It's only when we start valuing What we have received You know we begin to treasure it and then we begin to strengthen our relationship with this Jesus Christ because through him What a inheritance we have awaiting us in the future. So It's only when we get excited about what awaits us in the future That we will actually be excited about our spiritual walk over here, you know on this on this earth When we look at a lot of you know, Christians who are very lukewarm not very interested in the things of God That's because they're not really excited about what's awaiting them in heaven either. So you see When we are lukewarm about the things that God has given us and we don't really appreciate The value of what has been given to us it affects the way we walk today So what is there to get so excited about is what we think, you know, because there are other things that are that you know That makes it make us more excited. I mean we would like to you know earn well and you know Purchase all the nice things that other people are purchasing and we want to go about you know socializing and Just having a good time with people and these are the things which make us excited So we we don't we don't really think much about what is awaiting us in heaven So when that happens all our focus is on the things that are you know holding our interest over here On the other hand if we are that set of believers who are you know excited about what is awaiting us over there in the future Then our eyes will be set on that future and we will do whatever is required, you know To establish ourselves in that future. So it makes a lot of difference This this perspective that we have so, you know in that context if we could If one of us could just look at first Peter one versus six to nine first Peter one six to nine first Peter was six to nine And this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while if need be you have been grieved by various trials That the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes though It is tested by fire may be found To praise honor and glory at the revelation of jesus christ Whom having not seen you love Though now you have not seen him yet believing You rejoice with joy inexpressibly And full of glory receiving the end of your faith The salvation of your souls And so, you know, hey over here in in this letter which peter writes to some believers He says over there It's true that you're going to go through some Suffering and some trials and difficulties now But in spite of that you are holding on to your faith in jesus. Why are you doing that? I mean it says in verse eight you have not even seen him. I mean, you know the disciples and the people who lived in You know in jesus, um, you know Locality they witnessed him they spoke to him and all of that but these people out here in, uh, you know This place where Peter's audience is you know, he says you people have not even seen him But you love him even though you do not see him now You believe in him and you're doing all this because you know, you have this great hope That uh, you know in the end the this faith that you have placed in him will lead to the salvation of your souls So it is this hope which makes you hold on to him Keep place your faith in him and uh something that Peter says about their faith, you know, he says when god looks at this faith which you have placed in jesus It is so precious to him in his eyes You know, we may not really think very much about our faith, you know in jesus But when when god looks at it, he values it. He thinks of it as so precious. I mean, you know, he has all these gemstones and gold and whatnot out there in heaven Our faith that simple faith which we put in our jesus on a day to day basis Even as we go through trials and difficulties That is more precious to him more valuable in his eyes than all the treasures of heaven, you know So, um this faith that we are placing in jesus and is in fact very very valuable And we and we hold on with this kind of a faith because we know that through him, you know, we will have the salvation of our souls so Also, you know regarding the other aspect of The hope the future hope so future hope causes us to place our faith in jesus and future hope Also causes us to live in love with people So, uh, maybe we can look at another scripture regarding that That also maybe can be taken from from first peter So if someone could read out for us first peter one 22 to 23 first peter one 22 to 23, please speech award 22 to 23 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit in sincere love of the brethren Love one another fervently with pure heart with a pure heart Having been born again not of corruptible seed But incorruptible through the word of god which lives and abides forever Yes Yes, yeah, thank you. So it says over here that uh, you know These people have the assurance that they are born not of perishable seed, you know, as in they're going to be they're going to perish Once they have finished this earthly life They know that they have been born again through Imperishable seed they have the seed of god in them now They are aware of that and because of they have they have this awareness of this it says They choose to love one another deeply and so by doing that they purify themselves You know, that's what it says it says you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth You know and by and by loving one another through sincere love Why are you doing this because you are aware that you have an eternal future ahead of you So We need to ask ourselves Our how valuable is this future hope to me? How excited am I about it if we are really very very excited about this future hope that we have in christ It will reflect in the way we live our lives over here on this earth today It will reflect in the amount of trust that we put in jesus The amount that we are willing to submit to him obey him because we are eager to be Just joined with him forever and ever in eternity So we are willing to go through all the trials now like you know paul keeps saying in all his letters He says i'm participating in christ sufferings. I'm going through all this because I know that one day, you know I'll be with him eternally and I will know him So he's doing all of this because he's excited about what awaits him in the future So in the same way if we are also very excited about what awaits us in the future We will live in love towards one another We will be willing to place other people's interests first because we want to have put on the mindset of christ We want to be like him in this so that One day when he you know, he he's glorified. He will also glorify us along with him So our future hope is what Gets us excited about our christian walk in our uh, you know current day Moving on to the next aspect So when we are happy and excited about the things of god, we you know begin to bear fruit and this This is the thing which paul goes on to talk about in verses six um Yeah, maybe we could just simply read verse six. Yeah, someone could read out Which has come to you has indeed in the whole world. It is very improved and increasing As it also has a long use since the day you heard it and I understand I understood the grace of god and truth Yeah, so uh, he says Uh, so this hope which you have it's making you bear fruit In fact, it's doing that all over the world all over the world where the gospel has been reached This gospel is bearing fruit. Um, you know, uh, he says and so he kind of you know, uh start starts off with a prayer versus, um I think all the way from verse Six up to verse um 12 Uh, no up to verse 14 It's like a prayer That paul prays over these people, you know, this coalition believers that the gospel should bear fruit in their lives Um, we've seen you know in different letters Wherever paul prayed for the people He's praying things which are very important for their christian walk So even this particular prayer which he now prays over here for the coalition believers all the way from you know verse, um Six up to verse 14. Uh, it's something that we can take and we can pray over even ourselves So what exactly is involved in this particular prayer? He's basically saying lord let this gospel bear fruit in their lives. You know, that's his that is his hope That is his prayer for them. Uh, so, uh, if we were to rearrange the you know, the The wording in this particular prayer We get to know that he's still talking about the same team, which you know, which he was talking about earlier He's still talking about the hope in which they are rejoicing And he says that because of this, you know, they are beginning to bear fruit in their life And then he goes on to say that, you know, god will give them the power that they need To do his will and so all of that. So let's look at this prayer that paul is now praying for these coalition believers Um, maybe we can start off with you know versus 12 to 14 because there he you know talks about How this fruit bearing is all being, you know, motivated by this excitement that they have regarding their future hope so, um If maybe we could first read Colossians chapter one versus 12 to 14 place 12 to 14 the father was qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints the light He has delivered us from the powers of darkness And conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins Yeah, so, you know, it is uh, so one aspect of paul's prayer is, you know, let them be people who will be always giving Joyful thanks to the father, you know, because they are they have understood the value of this inheritance, you know Because now they are qualified to share in the inheritance of his holy people So let them be always joyful about this let them be, you know, always giving thanks about this because if they have this Kind of an attitude this kind of an excitement, you know, uh, what uh, what would it lead to it would make them want to Please him It would make them want to live a life that is worthy of him It would encourage them and motivate them to start bearing fruit Uh, so so that is his prayer for them that they would know that they would begin to bear fruit And he mentions that in verse 10. Yeah, if someone could just read out just verse 10 Verse 10 It says that that you may work worthy of the lord fully pleasing him Being fruitful in every good work and increase it in the knowledge of god So his prayer for them is that they will live a life that is worthy of god And what is a life that is worthy of god one which pleases him always, you know, they're living in a way that pleases god always Is what he wants for them and he says, you know, bearing fruit in every good work So, uh, how does a person start living a life that is really pleasing to him? How does a person start living a life that is very pleasing and bears fruit for the lord? It is only when we get to know god more and more That we will be able to understand what he wants what pleases him Uh, which direction we need to go So you see it's a person who barely knows the lord Will not be able to do his will much simply because they're not even aware of what that will is right? So it's so important For us to have a knowledge of god and so that is why he says my prayer is that you know You would please him in every way growing in the knowledge of god And you know, this is basically whether the the main emphasis of the prayer is this the core of the entire prayer is basically in your verse Nine Where he makes a lot of important statements So if someone could just read out verse nine, you know, and then we'll kind of you know, wrap it all up together and see overall What the prayer is saying so verse nine if someone could read out Thank you And so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray for you Asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his work in all spiritual wisdom and understanding Yeah, so um His prayer is you know, ever since he heard about the Hope that these people have and how it has made them live in faith How it has made them live in love once he has heard about this Since then he says we have not stopped praying for you and we are continually asking god You know for this one thing what to fill you with the knowledge of his will You know so that you will know exactly what he wants from you on a daily basis How to please him how to bear fruit for him on a daily basis We are praying that you will have a deep knowledge of this and how will you gain this deep knowledge? The spirit will give it to you the holy spirit will give you all wisdom and understanding So that you will know how to please god What it is he wants from you each day, you know, and and what you need to do You know in your in your choices in your decision making and all of that and Then you know, he must 11 He also says that they will be able to do this Why because god will give them the power needed to do that So if someone could read out verse 11, which talks about the power that god will give to enable you to do his will verse 11 Going to his glorious mind for our endurance and patience with joy Yeah, so God is the one who will strengthen us with all power Whatever amount of power we require to be able to do his well God will impart that power to us and so that So that we will have great endurance and patience So even though it's going to be tough at times to do god's well Even though bearing fruit is not always very easy We will have the endurance and great endurance and patience which is required Through the strengthening which will come from the power of god So we have this really complex. I know sentence construction over here all the way from our verse Nine up to verse 14 where you know, he's praying out of his heart for these people And this is basically what you know, he is saying We have heard that you're that you people are living in great faith That you're living in wonderful love And you are the and you're and you're being just spurred on and motivated because of this hope that you have And once we heard that you you people are so enthusiastic about the things of god It really made us long for bigger things for you. So we started praying for you How does he how how does he put it? He says we have not stopped praying for you You know, ever since we heard about this thing and he says we are continually asking god to Fill you with the knowledge of his will so that you know through the wisdom and understanding Which the holy spirit will give you through that wisdom and understanding You will be able to really start knowing What is god's will for your lives as a church for your lives as individual believers So that once you really know what this will of god is Then, you know, you you will strive to please him in every way you will try to bear fruit for him And you will be able to do this because god will strengthen him by his own power and By his own power, he will give you this great endurance and patience which you require, you know to live For him in this manner and even as you're doing this, you know You would be filled with joyful thanks because you're you're doing it for the inheritance Which is awaiting you you have been qualified for a great inheritance and So you're you know, you're aiming towards that because no longer are you slaves You know who didn't have any status who didn't have anything in that domain of darkness But you people have now been brought into the kingdom of the sun You have been completely redeemed and forgiven of your sins and there is a great inheritance waiting for you So having understood all of this you are going to be able to serve him because he will give you the knowledge Which you need he will reveal to you what his will is for your life So actually, you know, if you already knows, um, if you have a passion for god a love for god And you really want to honor him and please him and bear fruit in your life If you if you have all of those desires, but you I know you're at a point in life Where there are a lot of decisions that need to be taken and you're not very sure what is god's will and What exactly you're supposed to do? This actually is a lovely prayer that you can pray over yourself You can you know say lord I need your holy spirit to give me the wisdom and understanding that I need at this particular moment To take the correct decisions so that I will know exactly What does it say so that I will know the knowledge of his will What exactly it is that he wants from me at this point of life Then once I know that then I will be able to live a life Which is worthy of him and I will please him in every way Bearing fruit in every good work, you know, and then with joyful. Thanks. I can look forward to the inheritance which I have in the lord so It's a kind of prayer that we can pray over ourselves, especially when we are Seeking his will and we are not very sure what it is regarding certain matters And we are waiting upon him and we can say lord by your spirit Enable me to know know his will so that you know I will be able to please him in every way is what it says in in verse 10 Okay, so these are all the truths that are contained over here in this particular prayer now Moving on from there. He gets into the next you know main thing, which is about the About jesus christ and his superiority Because it looks like there were a lot of Wrong teachings going around in the city of kolos say where you had the jewish people, you know Presenting their own teaching We know right. I mean their teaching has always been You need to follow all these traditions and rituals which have been passed down to us since thousands of years So, you know for thousands of years people have followed these and god has honored them for doing it So now this is the right way to live, you know, we need to follow these rituals if we want to earn the favor of god, so that's the teaching which they were you know Spreading at the same time you had other people from other cultures also living over there in kolos say and they were talking about angel worship they were talking about worshipping the The elements in the air No, probably they were talking about the planets or something when I don't know what exactly they were referring to But the word that is used over there, you know, we'll be looking at all of this in chapter 2 You know, they were worshipping the elements of the air So all of these things were going on and so paul is saying A lot of things are being held up as being the important things to look up to the important things to place on a pedestal But please remember that jesus is above all of those things So he's the one that you should be honoring He's the one that you should be living for not for all these other things that are being, you know Promoted as being the superior thing So he takes the the time to kind of explain to them how jesus is above all of these other things which are being, you know Presented as superior So he says it is jesus who is actually superior over all of that. So let your focus be on him so he Kind of talks about Different aspects of this particular thing, you know in the next few verses Maybe we could just begin with verse 15 if someone could read out for us verse 15 Verse 15 a read Is the image of the invisible god The first born over all creation Yeah, so Our focus as believers should be on jesus christ more than anything else Because jesus christ is the first born Overall creation and we've kind of touched upon this this term right in in other classes We've looked at how this word first born is not talking about biological birth at all. It's talking about the status That is given to The person who will be receiving the entire inheritance. So In in a jewish family Due to whatever tragic reasons, let us say that the Uh, that the eldest son who is born is maybe handicapped or something Then he would not be, you know, the inheritance would not actually go to him Simply because he would not be able to oversee everything and take care of it all So basically the second son would Um would be the one who would be inheriting everything But you see the technical term that would be used for him would be the first born Now, of course that they are not trying to say that he is he has he's the first born biologically But when they are using the term first born, they're just basically using it as a Legal term a technical term which is referring to the to the person to whom all the inheritance will be going He's the one who will be holding all authority in his hand He's the one who'll be responsible for the entire household and they all have to know, um, listen to his, um, you know, um Instructions and you know be guided and led by him So so it's a position of authority which this particular person holds So anyone who has that particular status and that position and responsibility They would be called the first born. So in that sense in that legal sense Jesus is being Called the first born over all creation. So absolutely everything in creation It belongs to him He is the one who has inherited it, you know, he's the one who holds authority over all of it So our focus should be upon this Son of god And then it goes on to explain why we are saying that he is the first born How come all the authority is is is given to him? I mean, why is that the case? It's because you know verse 16 explains someone could read out verse 16, please first 16 For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth Visible and invisible Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers All things were created through him and for him So the reason that we refer to jesus as the first born over all creation It's because he's the one who made it all He's the one who created it all So it says all things were created things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible So all the things that we human beings can see in the natural realm All of it was created by him and even the things that we are unable to see the things which are in the spiritual realm No, the things which are invisible to us even those things were all created by him So he is the one who holds authority over everything. You know, it's the point which paul is making over here Yeah, yeah, brother shei, please go ahead Yes, pastor. So I just so I just wanted to clarify in other words What you're saying is that uh paul using the term first born apart from the legal standing of what inheritance means to a first born is that Before all these things that the collo the people in collosy were worshiping He came first He has always been before all the elements of the heavens and the earth and all the Thrones and whatnot I am i in the right Trum track to say this Yeah, he's first born in the sense that um Before all of these things were made um, he was there But over here it's not really talking about beginnings So over here when it says first born it's not really talking about The timeline as in he came first and then everything else came later because then we are thinking in terms of Born we are thinking in terms of birth in in terms of beginning over here It's more being used in the sense of in a legal document You know, if you had a legal document talking about who's the one who owns creation and gets to run it Over there, you would basically have jesus name written over there and he would be addressed as the first born in the legal sense That he is the first born to whom everything belongs So in the same way in in in natural jewish family, you had the paperwork drawn up And you have the name of the son who will be inheriting everything that particular son Whether or not he's the first born in the family He may be the second son or the third son But he would be called the first born in that legal document Because the entire property would be going to him He's the one who would get to have authority over the entire, you know, um, the that that family unit I mean the the the large family unit in the sense the entire joint family all the brothers and all their properties So he kind of oversees all of that. So in the legal document, they would say so and so the first born So biologically he may not have been born first. There may be another two brothers above him But he has been officially appointed by his dad as the first one who will be receiving all of this inheritance So, yes, we can definitely see it in the sense of Before all of these other things that the collusion people were worshiping before all of those things jesus was was there And in fact, he's the one who created all of those things. Yes, we can take it in that sense But also we can understand this term in the sense of all of this is rightfully Comes under his control and and his authority So rather than worshiping the things which are under his authority, we should be worshiping him Because he's the source of all of those things So yes, we could take it in both senses in the sense of timeline as in he comes first And also in the sense of he's the one who holds the legal authority in both senses the term first born Yeah, would make sense Yes, does that help? Oh, yes, it helps it even just painted another picture in in terms of timeline That would be his god nature in terms of his humanity That would be all that he has been Accrued to him as inheritance in his humanity. Thank you pastor. Thank you. Thank you Yeah, so uh, so all things were created in him Okay, so uh, that is clarified and therefore he is the one who holds all authority And then it goes on to talk about this invisible things which also, you know, are under his authority because they were created by him So it talks about the thrones and the powers and the rulers and the authorities So we notice that both in efficiency and over here In collosions Paul refers to a fourth fold hierarchical system When it comes to the spiritual powers so Based on that we are kind of assuming that you know the that Then satan now fell and he dragged the fallen angels down along with him He kind of set up some kind of a four fold hierarchy In efficiency chapter six verse 12 you have we have certain Different terms used over there to describe these four levels over here You have slightly different terms used to describe the hierarchy But it looks like as if you know this this hierarchical demonic system Seems to be a four fold thing where you obviously have the very top most demonic powers And then the second stage would be Those who have been delegated some authority and power by these top most beings So that would be the second level and the third level is basically where you have the The demons which are kind of controlling different territories here on the earth So, you know, you have the prince of this and the prince of that So you have different areas and territories They are at the third level a rather low level And under them you just have a whole bunch of evil spirits which go about doing what they are told to do So it's it's some kind of a hierarchical system And even this entire hierarchical system is not just some wonderful thing that just came into existence on its own No, these were created beings They were in fact created for god for his purposes for his honor They chose to ignore his purposes and rebel against him and try to set up an alternate power system And god has allowed it in his wisdom for a temporary period of time But once his time is up, you know, they will Lose or whatever authority they have and there will be nothing they would be, you know, punished at that time So So people may be under the impression that these spiritual beings are very very powerful and they may admire them and they want They may want to worship them But over here, you know Paul is pointing out even these things Which you people are thinking are so fancy and so powerful They too are just created beings that Jesus Christ created So it says over here all things have been created through him and For him that's the reality So even these these powers which are there in the in the spiritual realm this invisible powers They too were actually just created for him and we in fact see that right regarding Satan Maybe we could have someone read out Ezekiel 28 14 to 15 Ezekiel 28 14 to 15 Ezekiel 28 14 to 15 You are the anointed cherub who covers Who covers I established you You were on the holy mountain of god You worked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created Till iniquity was found in you So we see over here that this particular Guardian cherub is what it says in in in IV So this guardian cherub was anointed and he was ordained for a specific purpose So and then it goes on to say in verse 15 it says from the day you were created So this was just a created being and he was created through Jesus for Jesus It says why why why was he created? He was created so that he can serve as a guardian of the holy mount And that was his designation. He was ordained to guard that place And you know serve The God who is there in that holy mount that was supposed to be the purpose for his life So even though now he may have established himself as some some kind of alternate power He's nothing. He was he too was created through Jesus and for Jesus Yeah, yeah, brother. Sheiko head I know I just observed something that I thought was fascinating Here in Ezekiel says you work back and forth in the midst of the fiery stone And then we see in pause one of Paul's letters saying that the devil Goes to and fro seeking home to the war. I just seen the decline in what used to be For heaven now it's for evil that I just wanted to bring that out. That's fascinating Well quite an interesting thought true so interesting And that can even happen for us. We're also busy going back and forth But for what are we going to and fro to achieve god's purposes? Are we going to and fro very busy the way the world is going to and fro just chasing after temporary things? So, yeah, interesting thought. Yes Oh, yeah, we'll take a break. We'll come back from the break and then we'll continue Um, so at 10 if we all could log back in place. Thank you