 We're in Colossians chapter 2. Let's begin reading together at verse 1. We'll read verses 1 through 3 and we'll get into our study. Colossians chapter 2, beginning at verse 1 and reading to verse 3. Paul writes, I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And what I'm going to do again is I'm going to remind you of some of the things that we've been looking at. I'll refer back to verses 28 and 29 in chapter 1. Pick up on that and move into our chapter study here in Colossians. Today we'll be going through verses 1 through 10, beginning obviously with verses 1 through 3. But as we're looking at this, I'm going to read verses 28 and 29 again where it says in chapter 1, where it says, him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end, I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. And so Paul has written, him we preach, warning and teaching every man. As I mentioned before, the word warning there, when he uses that word warning, it means to admonish or exhort. And what he's saying is I've attempted to awaken people to their need for Jesus Christ and so he says there, he says, him we preach, I am exhorting people to understand who Jesus is and give their lives to him. He speaks about teaching and when you see teaching him, we preach warning every man and teaching every man. When he uses the word teaching, he's speaking concerning helping young converts to understand the basic, the rudiments of Christian faith, as well as encouraging those who have been walking with the Lord for a while to continue to mature in their understanding as believers. And so he's speaking of warning and he's speaking of teaching and he's saying that this has a purpose and the purpose of warning and teaching is to present every man perfect in Christ. Now, what did he mean when he spoke of presenting every man perfect in Christ? Well, the word perfect means something that is brought to its end. It speaks of being finished or lacking nothing. It's being full grown, a full age. It speaks of maturity. So he's saying the purpose of preaching and teaching is so that people may become fully mature. The ministry of preaching and teaching, preaching very often is a gift of the Spirit where that you're speaking the word of God in such a way as to encourage people to make a decision. And teaching is a way of encouraging people to apply that which they're learning. And so the minister preaches and the minister teaches and with the end of bringing people to spiritual maturity. And so that's what he's talking about. Paul is speaking of complete Christian maturity. Pastor teachers are commanded to teach and to encourage people to mature as well as to protect people from spiritual error. Teaching the whole Bible does this. When the word is received in faith by the hearer they are being equipped for worship service and they're being protected. They're maturing when they apply it and they're protected from deception. When Paul was writing to the Ephesians in chapter 4 he said it like this, verses 11 through 15. He himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting but speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ. And so the purpose of preaching and teaching is maturity. It's the safeguard believers from being deceived. It's to keep them from being tossed to and fro by every hurricane forced gale that enters into the church intending to destroy the faith of those attending. So the evidence of maturity is that you are no longer tossed around by error. You know there are those believers who like loud preaching. They like many stories. They like exciting singing but they don't put up with teaching. And because this is true there are many pastors who carefully avoid teaching the whole counsel of God because they desire people to fill the pews. And because they want people to fill the pews they don't want to take the risk of offending sensitive hearers. Charles Virgin once said it like this. He said, I do believe we slander Christ when we think we are to draw the people by something else but the preaching of Christ crucified. There are people who want to hear anything but Christ crucified and they want to be entertained but somebody said I do not expect my doctor to be entertaining, just competent and experienced. You need to remember that you don't learn all there is to know the moment you are saved. The time of being born again is only your starting point. The exploration of the wisdom that resides in Jesus is really a task of a lifetime. And so how do we come to spiritual maturity? How do we become those mature believers perfect or mature in our faith? How does that happen? Well it happens through simple faith filled obedience. Putting into practice what God has revealed. You see Jesus in John 14, 15 said it like this. He said if you love me keep my commandments. Well there are a lot of people who say well I do, I love Jesus Christ but loving Jesus is revealed by obedience to what he's taught in his word. It's not an emotion that people are kind of looking at Jesus like a boyfriend. It's a relationship that they have with him where his word means something to them. In John 14, 21 Jesus said he who has my commandments and keeps them it's he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. So you love me you keep my word. And how do we learn his word through the teaching of the word of God? And so because Paul was concerned for the believers he labored to encourage maturity. By the power of the Holy Spirit he strove to inspire and instruct believers. And this concern was for the church at large. He mentions it in verse one here in chapter two including the Laodiceans. Notice what he says in verse one chapter two where he says I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. And so he's saying I'm concerned. I'm concerned for you but I'm also concerned for the church in Laodicea. If you were looking at a map and you saw the city of Colossae, Laodicea was about ten miles to the north. And in chapter four verse 13 he mentions another city called Hierapolis which was in the same general area. So he's concerned for believers. Paul wanted to let him know of his concern. So we'll begin by looking at this. This reveals something very tender about the Apostle Paul. Paul actually loved them. I want you to see this. Look at verse one again. I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea. The word conflict is a Greek word A-G-O-N. And it's where you get the word agony or agonize. It speaks of an internal conflict. It speaks of a contention of heart. It speaks of anxiety. I want you to know I have anxiety of heart. I have agony over your spiritual condition. Hearing that there are false teachers entering into the church has caused them to be greatly concerned. Why? Because he cares about them. He cares about their spiritual health. When you read about Paul you'll need to remember that Paul had a father's love. He was extremely protective for these people and their spiritual lives. That's a love that is revealed in other books. For example, to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 2 and 3, he said it like this to them. He said, I'm jealous for you with godly jealousy. I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear that somehow as a serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I don't want you to be messed up by these false teachers. Paul had a great love for the church. He cared about them deeply. It was a kind of love that caused inner conflict. It caused an agony within the heart of Paul. He said something similar to the Galatian church in chapter 4, verse 19, when he said, my little children for whom I labor and birth again until Christ is formed in you, I'm going through labor pains. I want to see your maturity. I love you. I want to see you walking in spiritual health. I want to see your spiritual maturity. It's difficult to reveal this kind of love to believers. Many don't understand even to this day. For some, this kind of concern being voiced seems more like an intrusion than love. And this is because they don't understand the love of a true shepherd, and the love of a true shepherd would have for the sheep. It's a scripture in 2 Corinthians 12.15 that I love where Paul was speaking to the Corinthians. And this is what he said. And by the way, 2 Corinthians is what they have said is his most open-hearted letter. And he's writing to a church that is filled with division and carnality. And he's writing to a church that has been invaded by false teachers that are referred to as the super apostles, the imminent apostles, who have been saying things about him. I mentioned that they lodged no less than 24 accusations against this great man of God. And so he's writing to them, the Corinthians, and he wants them to know his heart towards them. And he's correcting the error, and he's confronting the false teachers in that letter. And he goes on, and he says in 2 Corinthians 12.15 to say this, he says, I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls, though the more abundantly I love you the less I am loved. And that's an open-hearted thing to say as a pastor, as a shepherd. The more that I give of my life, the more that I spend of my energy, the more that I've yielded to the Lord on your behalf, and the greater I love you, the less I'm loved by you. I can tell you as a pastor there were times in my ministry where I've had somebody that I was speaking to sometimes in my office. And I can tell you the truth in this and that, that I've said to them with tears and sometimes wept in the room as I'm trying to minister to them. I can tell you how many people, I can't tell you how many over the years have not understood that kind of love for them, felt that I was trying to lord it over them, tried to dominate their faith. And I've been able to understand a bit of what Paul was saying, the more I love you, the less I love by you. The more I'm open to you, the less you care, the less it matters to you. You see, deceivers were entering into meetings. They were changing the gospel. They were seducing young believers. And he was concerned that the believers would be cheated out of their growth in Christ. If they embraced the error, they would suffer loss of eternal rewards. It's like what John second, John eight says, the apostle John wrote, look to yourselves that we do not lose those things which we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward that we may not lose those things we work for that we may receive a full reward. Somebody said, this is a reward that is built on grace. God has by his grace promised a reward to those who love and serve him. It is founded on his grace. It will be given to them through his grace after their work is over. Like wages are given to a worker when he has completed the job. So the faithful life results in reward. And those who are deceived will lose reward. In 1 Corinthians 3 14 and 15 Paul said, if anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer a loss, but he himself will be saved yet so as through fire. You know, so yeah, you'll enter in, but you're going to be smoking when you get in. Like Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner holding that dynamite stick and then it goes off and there you are standing there just smoking. That's how some people are going to enter into heaven. I've shared this before. I used to work at this particular place that used to produce drilling kinds of drill bits and things for oil wells. And so it was a job that required a lot of work with metal. And this one guy, I forget his name, is an older fellow at that time. He had to be at least in his 40s. I was about 19. He was in his 50s and he is kind of a short guy, thin. He had real white hair and we had these blast furnaces. And this furnace had a shaft and he would get this long tube and he would put a light, he would put a match at the end of it and he would light the match and then he would slide the tube, this tube with the match at the end. He would slide it down and then the pilot light that was on would ignite and that would get the blast furnace going. And it was one of these furnaces that produced a lot of heat. And I was standing by him one day when he was talking to somebody and he had turned the gas on and forgot that he had turned the gas on. And he's just talking and talking and I was standing maybe 20 feet from him and then he lights the match and slides it down the tube and when he slid it down the tube the gas buildup exploded. It exploded with such force that these big old metal doors exploded off the hinges and the flame came out. And it was like a starter pistol to me when it went off. I was out the door. It was like go and I was gone. And I remember looking in at him and he was still standing like this and his hair was smoking. His hair was smoking. The flame had come out and had gone over him and he's just and I've never forgotten that. So when I read this verse I think of him and I don't want to go to heaven like that. I don't want to be standing before Jesus has gotten smoking and that's what's going to take place in a way because this says if anyone's work is burned he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved yet as so through fire. Now anyway going on. These are people who did not yet personally know Paul but Paul was concerned for them and with this in mind he expresses his heart's desire for them. He had said again in verse one for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh then verse two that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God both of the Father and of Christ. He says that he wants their hearts to be encouraged and knit together in love and he says that he wants them to attain to all the riches of the full assurance of understanding the knowledge and mystery of God. So he wants their hearts encouraged their hearts to be knit together and that they would grow in their understanding of the Lord. So he desires this because false teaching results in discouragement. You see when it says that their hearts may be encouraged that word encourage means to be strengthened or comforted. False teaching results in discouragement. I can't tell you over the years conversations I've had with people who have become victims of false teaching and they have lost their joy and they're discouraged because they don't have the things that they think they're supposed to have because the false teachers have told them that they should have certain things they don't have those things they're discouraged and that's what false teaching does it discourages you. In John 10 verse 10 Jesus said the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Jesus brings life in abundance false teachers discourage. So to combat discouragement Paul desires them to be strengthened and settled. You see encouraged hearts speaks of being strengthened in the mind not simply the emotions. We need to remember that emotions are activated by what the mind perceives. You feel what you believe. That's why some people can be going through hard times of relationship and they believe that the person that they're so in love with doesn't love them anymore. They're feeling that when the facts may not be that way at all. I had to learn that as a young man that that sometimes the person you're with may not be acting as if they care for you and you could start thinking they don't love me they don't care for me anymore. I remember when Marie and I my wife and I were dating I'm not a telephone guy as a matter of fact I pretty much hate the phone in many ways. I use it I have to but it's not one of those things like oh I have to rush home and get on the phone I hate phone and just don't like it and so I called Marie to me that was a big big sacrifice I don't like to talk on the phone so I call her up you know I think to ask her out or to see how much she loves me I forget but I I called her up and when I called her up she was kind of like aloof she was like not wanting to talk and I'm thinking she doesn't care about me she doesn't care this happened last week no I didn't I'm just I'm thinking she doesn't care about me and I told her I said you know what I'm wasting my time I shouldn't have called you up and she says oh and she says you know I'm just had a bad day and this and that my feelings were telling me because of the way she was acting at that moment that she didn't care for me but the facts were different than that so we have to be careful that our feelings don't become our facts and sometimes people will believe things by their feelings not by what's being said and you cannot have a walk with God that's based on how you feel at the moment it has to go deeper than that because he wants to bring encouragement to these or being discouraged by bad teaching and the way for them to be encouraged is to hold God's promises to heart to meditate on those things that matter to understand that their feelings don't dictate the reality of their faith in Philippians 4 verse 8 Paul said finally brethren whatever things are true whatever things are noble whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely whatever things are of good report if there's any virtue if there's anything praiseworthy meditate on these things so we guard our hearts and we direct them towards pursuing the Lord through his word it's like with Joshua chapter 1 verses 6 through 9 says where it reads be strong and of good courage for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you do not turn from it to the right hander to the left that you may prosper wherever you go this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous then you will have good success have I not commanded you be strong and of good courage do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go so false doctrine brings bondage but God's grace and truth brings freedom deceit undermines the comfort God gives and brings bondage to self effort self effort to be saved produces frustration or pride trusting in Christ relying on his teachings produces peace and freedom in John 8 31 and 32 Jesus said if you continue in my word then are you my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free so he says he wants that also he says be knit knit together in love so Christians are to love one another and be united in Christ bad doctrine separates the body of Christ because bad doctrine causes division and the fruit of deception is self-righteous thin skinned argumentative disciples so what is the emblem of a real Christian love for God and love for other people Jesus in John 15 17 said these things I command you that you love one another in Romans 13 verse 8 oh no one anything except to love one another for he who loves another has fulfilled the law 1st Thessalonians 4 verse 9 concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another so love binds us together and Jesus prayed that his disciples would be one united in him in John 17 20 and 21 he said I do not pray for these alone but also for those who will believe in me through their word that they all may be one as you father are in me and I knew that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that you sent me you see this unity of the spirit that he's praying for something that we pray for in Ephesians 4 verses 1 through 3 he said I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called with all loneliness and gentleness with long suffering bearing with one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and then he says attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding believers see Jesus and loving others especially believers as of great value the full assurance of understanding is an invaluable possession it's the fuel that ignites our love for Jesus and love for others it's immense our hearts it should be recognized as having great worth this false teachers that are entering in will lead people to seek knowledge but not ever really knowing what it is the fruit of such a feudal search is always pride you see what happens is when you begin to substitute information for God himself when you begin to think that you're mature because you can quote scriptures which I think we all ought to be able to but when we think that we're more mature than somebody else because we can quote more scripture we can make a big mistake we need to remember that during the time of the writing of the Bible that the Greeks thought that knowledge was the was the gathering in of information so if I knew a lot of things they say that I was knowledgeable but the Jews didn't think that way because the Jews would say no knowledge is the assimilation of information that produces a transformation it's not just in other words being able to quote something it is being changed by that which you say you know so knowledge isn't just having information knowledge to the Jew was transformation that's why Jesus would say if you love me keep my commandments that's why he would teach his people teach us to not only know his word but to really know him and and that's the whole point of gathering information it's not so that I can quote scripture but that I may know the one who inspired it because eternal life is this and no youth the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent that's why Jesus would say why do you call me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say that's why he'd say I have done this as an example unto you why so that you might do the same he was washing the feet of his disciples he said I am doing this so that you may see a living lesson so that you'll know what servant hood is is not simply talking about washing feet it's actually caring for people see so Christianity is not the accumulation of information Christianity is knowing God and that's what he's saying he's saying I want you to know him to have a relationship with Jesus Christ I want you to know the truth but to remember that the truth is not simply a bunch of things that you believe it's Jesus himself who is the truth and so that's what he wants them when you seek them to do when you seek primarily after Christ then you'll receive assurance from him in Romans 8 15 it says you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father the word Abba when you're in Israel you may be walking down a street and you'll see a little boy and his mama and daddy and you'll hear the little boy and he will say Abba and he'll be speaking to his dad because the word Abba there is really translated daddy it speaks of a tender relationship of a child with her father and so there are those who say well God our father and yes he is my father but it's deeper than that he's my daddy you know he can say who's your daddy I can say you are you know I had a real tender relationship with my own dad my father went home to be with the Lord in 2001 I had a very tender relationship with my dad and I don't remember ever calling him dad perhaps I did I don't remember and I didn't call him dad even to the point when I was in my 50s and my father you know went home even to be with the Lord even there in the hospital when I was talking to him and ministering to him I remember for example we were in my dad had a heart attack and I was in the ICU unit and my mom and I were there and the nurse in charge said I need to speak to you to my mom I need to speak to you my mom turns to me and she says I can't go in there she says you go in so I went in to the room where my dad was with the nurse and my dad was hooked up on this machine and all of that and I remember walking in standing there at my dad was in front of me and the nurse was on the other side of the gurney there and he says to me your father's in a lot of pain and he's not responding to my requests you need to say something to him you need to ask him if I can give to him a pain reducer he says I can't just give it to him I need permission and so you have to ask him and I still remember that was probably one of the last conversations if not the last conversation that I would call a conversation last time I spoke to my dad while he was alive and I still remember looking down at my father and I said daddy daddy I didn't say pops or dad or father I said daddy because that was a tender thing between a son and a father and I gave permission on his behalf for him to receive the medicine but painkiller but he went home to be with the lord later that afternoon there's that knowledge though do you have that by the way of your god that he's not simply father he is father thank you for being my father but do you see him as your dad as your daddy with that love because that's what he has for you please understand that maybe you didn't have a man in your life that was dad or his father maybe you didn't have that maybe you didn't have someone who would listen to you who would talk to you who would laugh with you who would take your places cared for you maybe you didn't have that I understand but you have a heavenly father that loves you like that do you know that do you know that today that you have a heavenly father who loves you and paul said it's by his spirit we call him daddy we don't just call him father yes he is but it's deeper than that it's a personal thing it's something that's real it has all of those things that matter that's wrapped up and that's why he says it's by the holy spirit it's by the holy spirit that we refer to him as daddy whereby we cry abba we call him our father so his desire was for them to have the knowledge of the mystery of god believers should desire for and mature too and have a complete conviction of their christian faith and he wants them to fully acknowledge the mystery of god and jesus that they might have no doubts that he is no doubt about who jesus is and he makes it clear in verse 3 he says in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge remember what he had said in verse 3 in verse 19 of chapter 1 it pleases the father that in him all the fullness should dwell well in the midst of the error creeping in and reducing jesus paul is saying jesus is god in him is hidden knowledge and wisdom so there is no need to seek it anywhere else the fruit of such a search is humility is humility because we'll see ourselves in in light of who he is he's saying don't be looking for some esoteric truth and forget that truth is in jesus christ because in jesus is hidden all the treasures he says of wisdom and knowledge you don't need greek mysticism you don't need jewish legalism jesus christ is a fountain of all wisdom it speaks concerning treasures in him he says in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge the word treasure refers to a receptacle in which valuables were kept it speaks of a treasury he's saying the wisdom and knowledge of god is safely secured it is stored up in jesus christ and since this is true it's foolish to try to find answers from any other source you see for the christian seeking direction from other religions isn't necessary as i said recently before i i said when i came to faith in christ i didn't want to learn about him and then learn about buddha or learn about muhammad or learn about krishna i didn't want to add of all those things together i didn't need to because in jesus christ this is some total of everything that i need it's in christ that i find every purpose and every answer and it's in jesus that that i get these things so i seek him first it's like what paul said to the carinthians in first carinthians 1 23 and 24 we preach christ crucified to the jews' stumbling block to the greeks foolishness but those whom god has called both jews and greeks christ the power of god and the wisdom of god in whom he says are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge he goes on in verse 4 now this i say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words with words that are intended to deceive their sales techniques to try and get you to buy into what they believe he said i'm saying this to protect you from deception through faulty reasoning the word deceived means to delude by false reasoning persuasive speaks about leading others into error false teachers are abounding they're entering into the church and he's warning the church he did so constantly again in 2nd carinthians 11 13 he said such are false apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of christ john warned the church in 1st john 4 verse 1 he said do not believe every spirit test the spirits whether they are of god because many false prophets have gone out into the world paul was always concerned that the message would remain pure he was concerned for their spiritual welfare you see again you live what you believe false teaching ruins lives and so he's sharing about that now as he does so verse 5 though i am absent in the flesh yet i am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in christ paul is anticipating the response that will come because of the influence of false teachers they could ask how can you have conflict over people you don't even know how can you express such love for us having never even met us you've never even been with us how can you be aware of what is going on with us see they don't know him apathras is the one who brought the gospel to them paul is concerned for them but the false teachers would say how can a guy who doesn't know you really love you how is that possible and there are people today in churches like this and throughout the world who would say the same thing how can that person say he loves me when he's never even met me and a false teacher can enter in and say see he's just saying things to try and get things from you and that's simply not true we love each other though we may not know each other we may never have coffee together or visit together know each other's business that may not ever happen but that doesn't mean you can't love one another that doesn't mean you can't care sincerely about somebody that's what christianity is as we care for people even strangers you know in the early early history of the church the romans would be concerned in the christians and they would say that they were an odd sort because they call each other brother and sister they're even incestuous because they marry brothers and sisters and they said and they said that they love one another how can they do such a thing but love is the emblem of the believer you don't have to know somebody to have a love for that person you know the Lord has given me opportunities over the years for many years now to minister in various places and various times and I'll speak in pastors conferences or different churches or conferences men's conferences you name it and there are times when I have gone out and I have shared with the people and I have said to them that I love you and that's sincere that's real I have a love for the body of christ and I can say it with sincerity even though I realize that I may not get to know all the people you know I've been in this church for 30 some years 38 years in July and I can't say that I know everybody and a lot of people don't know me but that doesn't mean that I don't have a love for this church that doesn't mean that I don't care and one of the greatest ways that I can show love and what Paul is doing here is to teach the truth to encourage people to know Christ to walk with Jesus to stay away from error to hold fast to him to love one another and serve God together and that's what he's doing and that's what he's sharing here and the false teachers are saying now wait a minute you have never even seen this man Paul how can you possibly hear from him that he loves you when in fact he doesn't even know you but that's not the truth at all he's saying I'm with you he's saying I'm with you in spirit my heart my presence is with you though I'm physically not with you we belong to the same body and I care for you in 1st Corinthians 1226 it says if one member suffers all the members suffer with it or if one member is honored all the members rejoice with it and so he says this is what's taking place verse 5 though I am absent in the flesh yet I'm with you in spirit rejoicing to see notice your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ he speaks of good order the words good order speak of a line of soldiers that are drawn up for battle standing side by side steadfastness speaks of their feet being firmly planted they're forming a solid line of defense and he's saying you have formed a line of resistance you have remained untouched by the error the church has not yielded to the pressure to embrace these false doctors now when false doctrine enters a church there are those who do embrace it 2nd John verse 4 says I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth as we receive commandment from the father there are those who will hear what's being said and will begin to follow after that that's why John would say some of you are walking in the truth because others have walked away well Paul is concerned that none walk away and so he says rejoicing to see your good order and verse 6 he says as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him how did they receive him? well they received him through grace and faith in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 it says by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it's the gift of God and not of works lest anyone should boast so you receive Jesus through grace and faith so live daily in grace and faith now how do I walk in grace and faith? well my life is to be filled with good works Ephesians 2, 10 says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them we're to walk in love Ephesians 5, 2 says that walk in love their lives are evidenced by being separate from living in sin their walk means that they have a pure or holy life in 1 John 1, 6 and 7 if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not practice the truth but if we walk in the light as he's in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ's Son cleanses us from all sin so we're to be walking in that way and then he says in verse 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught abounding in it with thanksgiving rooted and built up rooted and built up in him we're rooted in Christ because he's the source of all of our spiritual nourishment the word rooted means to be established it is to cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded we're to be built up built up speaks of finishing a structure of which the foundation has been laid we're to be established the word established means to be stable to be firm faith in Christ gives us stability and God establishes you God gives you stability as he blesses you in 2nd Corinthians 121 he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us as God you know over the years as I gave my heart to Christ that was 20 years old and now I'm 68 years old 48 years of walking with the Lord in 48 years of walking with Jesus Christ you know I began on solid ground with Christ but shaky in my unformed faith but over the years I've been rooted and grounded and stabilized and that happens through reading the word and acting upon it I've told my wife Maria we've had conversations like this in the past where I've said listen I have become a different man than the man you dated and the man you originally married and that's a fact we all do there's the influence of our mate who can help us to actually form us in ways because we have a tendency of responding to the way that they are so had I married a different woman I would probably have a different ministry but in marriage in Marie and Marie the way I've learned to adapt to her and all the way she's adapted to me it's actually helped to form me into the person I'm up here that I am as I stand up here so blame her and beyond that that's what happens see so you grow up you mature you learn certain things over time so when you first get saved you have that foundation it's Jesus Christ but over time you build on it you build on it through reading the word you build on it through fellowshiping with other believers you you build on it by learning to express your faith as you share it with other people you build on it through a variety of ways and over time you're shaped by the word I've told Marie this I'll say this also that I was a liberal very liberal in the way I thought not not exactly like some of those that are referred to today as progressive I wasn't like that but I was exceptionally liberal in the way I thought but over time by being in God's word he actually sanitized my brains and transformed me that's what happens you're washed by the water of the word and as you read the word the things that at one time I thought well big deal who cares became things that I said those aren't things he's pleased with so it was never something like oh I'm going to become a finger waving Puritan preacher and yell at people because they're all sinners no because my mom taught me a long time ago she says when you point one finger at others you've got three pointing at yourself don't forget that so the word of God before it's proclaimed to others needs first to filter into your own heart and transform you and when you read the word and you see this is what God wants but this is the way people are you first look and see how can he change me and as he's changing you then you'll be able to preach a message that can encourage other people it's not that you accept sin you don't but you learn to love the sinner and so from my perspective what happened in me is I got in the word I began to read and I said this is what God is pleased with this is what he's not pleased with I'm gonna pursue him and as that takes place I became safeguarded and I now hold fast to the things that the Lord would be pleased with that transformed my life that influence was able to be also extended to my wife it was given to my kids it's part of my family it's part of my relationships and that's how it works as Christians we need to be rooted we need to be grounded we need to be built up in our most holy faith we need to have an understanding of the things of the Lord how it works how we can put those things into practice we need to be people who are firm and established you know I'm no intellectual God knows that and you have by now learned that also but I will say this you can't talk me out of Jesus Christ you can't you cannot talk me out of Jesus Christ you can't do that because I am established in him firm in him because he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God he says in verse 7 rooted and built up in him established in the faith as you have been taught abounding in it with thanksgiving verse 8 beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power beware beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit when he says beware I'm going to roll to a conclusion so I hope this makes some sense when he says beware he's saying that's your responsibility that's each individual believer in this room that's your responsibility you beware you be careful you safeguard your faith that's your responsibility he's saying do not fall into the trap of man's philosophy he has said this you have everything you need in Jesus Christ in 2nd Peter 1 3 his divine power has given us everything we need for life in godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness you have everything you need you don't need anything else you don't need Ouija boards you don't need horoscopes you don't need anything like that you just need him understand that today you just need Jesus Christ he is all that you need we hold fast to his word because he has taught us through his word Acts 20 32 speaks of the word of his grace which is able to build us up and so we have to be careful lest anyone would cheat us why verse 9 for in him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily in Jesus inhabits the infinite nature of the supreme deity in human form the very substance of God dwells in its most fullest sense in him like it said again in verse 19 it please the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell in John 1 14 it says the word became flesh and dwelt among us we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth so in him verse 10 you are complete who is the head of all principality and power he who is the fullness of God has given us fullness in him in John 1 16 it says and of his fullness we have all received and grace for grace we are complete in him we do not need false teachings Jesus made it clear that he is all that we need Jesus said I am the bread of life he who comes to me shall never hunger he who believes on me shall never thirst we have all that we need in Jesus Christ never forget that you don't need to be hunting for something more because you have everything you need just concentrate your life on pursuing him following him and loving him one of these days and it's not that long we'll stand before him and we'll see him face to face and we're going to be able to say to him we love you and we served you and he's going to say come on in to the place I've prepared for you from the foundation of the world we're going to be able to behold the eyes of the one who wept for us in the garden we're going to be able to see the one who died on the cross for us we're going to be able to hear the word of life spoken from his lips to our ears our life is going to be incredibly blessed at that moment you're not going to wish that you had done something different you're not going to wish that you had followed some other master you're going to throw your crowns before his feet you're going to kneel before him and you're going to say Jesus I love you thank you for what you did oh thank you for opening the gates of heaven and lord I love you and I'll love you for eternity that's the way it's going to be and so there's nothing else that you need there's no other master there's just the one Jesus Christ and we yield to him all that we have you will never regret following Christ there are times in your life where you may feel that you're not getting all that you would like but you need to remember you're not also you're not getting what you deserve and God by his grace is giving us his love his forgiveness his mercy his compassion he has given to us those things that are necessary he's working with us we're never alone he never ever abandons us he walks step by step and though as we're walking we may feel alone we're not alone sometimes we feel that we're alone he's not he's always there with I'll never leave you he said I'll never forsake you so for me I just want to know all that he is and I want to know how to serve him and that's what Paul is saying these false teachers are entering in they're telling you follow the Jewish legalism and mysticism and the Greek philosophy stay away from that he says they're trying to pull you away they don't want you to hear my teachings but remember the things that you've been taught I'm the one God used to teach you those things that Paphras may be giving you communication but Paul was an apostle who gave God's word to people that they would communicate and that's why he's writing to Colossians and he's saying you need to understand this it pleases the Father that in Christ all the fullness should dwell you need to understand that you're rooted and built up in him that you are established in the faith you need to know in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you need to know he's the head of all principality and power that the angels you're great you are actually in a position that they are your ministry and spirits because you have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ God is your Father those angels don't have what you have so don't worship angels because you are the ones that God has saved so that they may minister to you so don't reduce yourself understand who you are you are a child of God and God is on your side understand that and when you understand that that means you've been rooted and that means you've been built up so hold fast guys he's coming soon and we shall see him face to face