 Yes, welcome back. So we were looking at Paul's letter, Paul's prayer for the Colossian believers verse 9 onwards all the way up to verse 14. So the first prayer request which he is asking from the Lord he says, we continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will so that why is he making this prayer so that they may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way. You know, we were looking at those missionary journeys in the second missionary journey Paul and his companions want to go towards Bytynia but then the Holy Spirit prompts them and says no that they are not meant to go into Bytynia. So they say okay fine and they go towards Troas and then Paul has this vision where you know you have the Macedonian man saying please come and help us. So how did Paul and his companions know that they are not supposed to enter into Bytynia? They were full of the knowledge of the will of God on a daily basis. You know, not just simply knowing the general will of God but being so full of the knowledge of God where you know his will regarding the things regarding the activities that you're doing on a daily basis. Jesus and his disciples were walking through the desert. How did Jesus know that he has to stop at that particular well? You know, you could have maybe walked another one kilometer and stopped somewhere else but why did he sense in his heart that that is the exact place where he should stop and rest? So you see if a person is full of the knowledge of the will of God they will be able to take the right steps at the right time and that will make a huge difference in their ministry and even in their personal walk. Everything that they do they start doing it in the way God wants it done. So that will please him in every way and it will be a life that is worthy of the Lord. So therefore it is good to know the general will of God. It is also vital to be full of the knowledge of his will. How do you gain access to something like this? How do you become full of the knowledge of his will? We are told that it comes through the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. So this should become a prayer point, you know, where we pray during our quiet time and say Lord I need this wisdom and understanding which you alone can give me. I want to walk in this kind of a wisdom and understanding so that Lord, if you I know because it says very plainly the Holy Spirit will give this to us. If we ask for it, you know, he will give us this wisdom and understanding. Paul was asking it for those people. We can ask it for ourselves and say Lord give me this wisdom and understanding that comes from the Spirit so that hour by hour I am filled with the knowledge of your will and I get all my decisions right so that I will do what I am meant to do and it will be so pleasing to you. You know, so it's something that we can ask. So the second prayer point that Paul asks for these collusion believers is that, you know, they would be strengthened with all power. This would be verse 11. They would be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. Why? Why does he want them to be strengthened with all power so that you may have great endurance and patience? When you become full of the knowledge of the of God's will, you know, there are so many things that God is going to be asking us to do. We will not be able to do it in our own strength. When you're, you know, ignorant and blind to what God wants, you can sail through the whole day not even realizing that God had actually wanted to so many things from you. But once you become full of the knowledge of his will and you become aware that, oh, God wants me to call up so and so and speak to them. God wants me to send and spend half an hour in prayer interceding for someone. Once you start becoming aware of what God actually wants you to be doing with your day, then now that you're aware of it, you would have to act upon it. And it's not something that you can do on your own. So he says, you know, you would need great endurance and patience to live in this way. And so Paul is saying that God would asking Paul is praying and asking the Lord to strengthen them with all power so that they will be able to exercise great endurance and patience and live in a way which is worthy of God. So we need to know God's will, but we need the strengthening and enabling of God himself to be able to actually do that will. The third prayer point that we see over here, he says, and giving joyful thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people. So Paul says, my third prayer point is actually a praise point. I give joyful thanks to the Father, because you guys have been qualified to share in the inheritance of His holy people. So they will begin to share in this inheritance, begin to enjoy this inheritance even as they are full of the will of God, full of the knowledge of the will of God. And they start acting out this will, obeying this will through the strengthening and enabling of the Holy Spirit himself. He will give them the patience and endurance they need to be able to do his will. So that's basically a small prayer that he prays for them. And then he goes on to talk about this thing which is on his heart, because there are wrong teachings which have been coming into the church. And he wants to stress that it is Jesus who should be the center of our focus. It is Jesus who is supreme over all things, including the spirits. So somewhere around the end of chapter two is where he actually clearly says, please don't go away into angel worship. Okay, so that's basically what he's trying to focus on. He's trying to tell them, do not go into angel worship, do not go into all this Gnostic teachings which have started rising where you want spirits to come to you and reveal things to you so that you can boast about how great you are. He says, please don't get into all of these things. Jesus is the one who is supreme. He's supreme over everything, even over the spirits. So let your faith and your walk be focused on Jesus. So that is what he is focusing on right here. So if we can have someone read out for us, verses 15, maybe all the way up to verse 20, yeah, 15 to 20, if we could have someone read out, Colossians chapter one, verses 15 to 20. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him, all things we are created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether through thrones or dominions or presparities or power, all things we are created through him and for him, excuse me. And he is before all things and in him, all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father. Amen. I don't know. Please go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah. For it pleased the Father that in him, all the fullness should drill and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on earth, all things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Amen. Thank you. So in these verses, Paul talks about the supreme status, the highest status that can be is given to Jesus. So he talks about that. So he says the son is the image of the invisible God is literally the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn over all creation. Not sure whether we've touched upon this in other classes, we most probably have the word firstborn over here. It's not talking about Jesus being, you know, being created by God as the first born in the creation process. No, because this is how the Jehovah Witnesses would use this particular verse. They say, in the beginning, God created the created creation. And one of the first acts of creation which he created was Jesus. No, that is not what this verse is saying. This verse is not saying that Jesus is first born in that sense. It is saying he's first born over all creation. It's talking about a technical term. It's a legal term which refers to the inheritance, the authority which comes to the first born. So that word first born is not talking about someone being born biologically or not. It's talking about the legal status that they have, where they hold all the inheritance, where they exercise all of the authority. So very difficult to remember what I have touched upon in which class, but in case I have not, maybe we should, you know, when go look at this, in biblical times, if a Jewish person, let us say he has two sons, one of course was born to him biologically first, and then the second son was born second. So as long as the first born son, the biologically first born son is alive, he's probably the one who would be inheriting the property. He's the one who would be given an awful authority in that household. So yes, he is literally the first born when it comes to biological birth and when it comes to the legal sense of the term first born. Also, he is the first born in the sense he's the one who holds the inheritance. He is the one who exercises the authority. But let us say he has an accident and he dies. He's now dead. Now the second born becomes the first born. Does it mean he somehow miraculously was biologically born first? No, it's not talking about his biological birth at all. The second born is now the first born in the legal sense. The second son is now holding the inheritance. He is now holding the authority and legally in all the paperwork, he would be termed as the first born, not because he was born biologically first, but because legally he is holding on to the inheritance and the authority. In that sense, it's talking about Jesus' legal status. This is what Jesus' legal status is. He is the image of the invisible God and legally he is the one who is holding all of creation as a inherited inheritance. And he's the one exercising authority over all of creation. That is who he is. Verse 16 goes on to elaborate on this. It says, for in him, all things were created. Everything that was created, it was created in him. It was through him that it was created. So obviously he is the one who has legal inheritance authority over all of creation because of who he is. It was in him that all things were created things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. So the things which you can see visibly on this earth, the trees and the mountains and the natural resources and the human beings. Yes, he is he has ultimate authority over all of these things which we can see. But he also has ultimate authority over all the invisible things which you cannot see, such as these thrones and powers and rulers and authorities. It's talking about these spiritual forces in the unseen realm. You know, the spirit beings that we cannot see, which are boasting against God and placing themselves as though they are gods, you know, in defiance of God. Even Jesus, Jesus is Lord even over such creatures. So he very specifically, you know, talks about these four categories of spirit beings, the thrones and the powers and the rulers and the authorities. Now this reminds us of our efficient passage, because in the efficient passage just before talking about the you know, armor of God, Paul's he writes over there and he says, you know, you guys are fighting against these four levels of spiritual authority. So you better wear your armor. If you're not fully clothed in your armor, you know, you may fall prey to these four levels of demonic powers. So those powers are mentioned over here, even in the Colossian passage. And three of them are identical with the ones which he mentions over there in the efficient passage. In the efficient passage, he is the first category that we had talked about worthy, our cars, you know, in the Greek. So these are the ancient ones, the most supreme ones. So here, again, those the same archive are mentioned over here in this verse. He also mentions the exucia, the authorities who were that were mentioned in the efficient letter, the ones who exercise, you know, delegated authority. So those exucia are mentioned even over here, the same Greek words are being used, the archive, the exucia. The third term seems to be a little different. You know, in the efficient letter, it talks about the powers. They are called the Cosmo Kratos, the rulers of the cosmos, the, you know, the world rulers. Here, the word Kurio is used, you know, they are called lords or masters. So two different words in the efficient, you have the term Cosmo Kratos. Here you have the word Kurio. Both of them basically mean lords and masters. The fourth one seems to be different. There in the efficient letter, it talks about the evil spirits of this world. Whereas here, it talks about Tronoi, the thrones. So you know, that's just one different category that is mentioned over here. So, you know, in all of his interactions with the, with the Lord, these are things which the Lord has revealed to him that these are the kind of demonic powers that are there in existence and our fight, the fight of the church is against these forces. So here, Paul is saying all these, you know, very big, powerful, mighty spiritual powers, even they are under Christ. Christ is ultimately the superior authority. He is the first born over all creation. So these, these things which you people are you know, kind of looking up to and beginning to admire, okay, not the church, the church was not doing that. But you know, other people were doing that and the church was getting kind of attracted in that direction. So he's warning them, he's saying the way the people of this world, you know, they, they, they worship these creatures like as if they are something very big and great. And for them, it's like a great honor if one of those creatures comes and you know, visits them and gives them a vision, please don't go after such things, he says, you know, hold on to Christ because Christ is an authority or even over these, the over these creatures. He says all things have been created through him and for him. So originally, even these spiritual powers, these, you know, the spirit beings, they too were created through Christ for Christ to honor him, to worship him, to do his bidding. And then they chose to rebel against him. But actually, in reality, even these creatures were also created through him and for him. We in fact see that right about that about about Satan in Ezekiel. If someone could just go to Ezekiel and read out Ezekiel chapter 28. Look at the way it talks about Satan over there. What is he created for? You know, what has he been made for Ezekiel 28 versus 14 and 15? If someone could read out Ezekiel 28 14 and 15? We you were the Anointed cherub who covers I established you were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the Mid East of fair stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created until iniquity was found in you. Amen. Amen. Yeah. You know, all of you, a lot of you are reading out the verses without even me having to like urge and also thank you so much, you know, for the very quick responses today. Yeah. So here in Ezekiel 28, it says so plainly in verse 20, yeah, 28 verse 15. From the day you were created, Satan was just a created being and he was created with a purpose. What was he created for? Verse 14, it says he was ordained and anointed to be a guardian. He was supposed to be this guardian, cheer up, you know, this guardian angel who would be guarding the holy Mount of God. That was what he was created for. So even Satan, you know, was created through Jesus, for Jesus to serve Jesus to to guard this holy Mount of God. And so the irony is that someone who was supposed to, you know, be guarding the holy Mount of God chooses to rebel against God due to the pride in his heart. He does that. So all these creatures are under the supreme authority of the first born overall creation. So our focus should be on him, not on these lesser beings. We should long maybe for a visitation from him, you know, through his Holy Spirit, rather than wanting visitations from all these evil spirits which which which claim to be giving us mystical superior knowledge. So in verse 17, he says, Jesus is before all things and in him all things hold together. Everything is being held together by this Jesus, not by the spirit beings. It's Jesus who's holding everything together. If you look at the visible world, you know, the planets that we can see, the natural forces on earth, you know, the oceans, the winds, everything, it's all being held together by Jesus. If Jesus were to stop sustaining these things, you know, there would be complete chaos in a matter of minutes, maybe the entire universe would just crash. It would not be held in place in its proper positions, you know, without Jesus holding on and sustaining it. So it is that important. He is in the center and everything is being held together by him through his authority. And so even these spiritual beings, they wouldn't last a moment without him. He has given temporary permission to them to, you know, wreak their havoc, which is what they are doing right now. But it's a temporary permission that is being given to them. We see that so clearly in John 1231, where it says, now is the time for judgment on this world. Now the prince of this world will be driven out. So, you know, when the right time comes, Jesus just comes into the world and very casually, he just drives the prince of this world out, you know, on the cross. The prince of the world thinks that he's being very, very clever by putting Jesus on the cross. But actually it was Jesus who was turning the tables on him. So when the time comes, Jesus, you know, without any effort, he's just able to drive the prince out or prince of this world out of his position of power so that he can no longer hold humanity in slavery. The same thing Jesus says even in John 1430, he says, I will not say much more to you for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, Jesus says. So the spirit beings which are, you know, which are described as cronoi, the thrones, the dominions, all the big words which are used for them, they have no hold over Jesus. Jesus is supreme. He holds them in place and gives them temporary permission to do what they want because God is going to even use this evil and he's going to turn it into good to accomplish his ways. So, God has his own purposes for allowing this but these spirit beings have no hold over Jesus. So, our focus should be on this Jesus rather than on the spirit beings, you know, is what Paul is saying over here to his Colossian audience. And then he goes on to talk about how the church has this special privilege of being so personally connected to this very, very supreme, you know, all sovereign Jesus. You know, we have such a personal connection to this highest of highest kings and lords. What is our very personal connection to him that is talked about in verse 18 onwards. If we could have someone read out for us, 181920 please versus 181920 of chapter 1. And he is the head of the body, the church who is the beginning, the first one from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence for it leads the father that in him all the fullness should dwell and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him whether things are earth or things in heaven having made peace through the blood of his cross. I mean, just now in the previous verses we talked about how sovereign and supreme this Jesus is. In fact, all of the universe would just crash if Jesus was not holding it all together. And this Jesus who is so supreme and sovereign gets so personal and gets so involved with such insignificant beings like humans. This God of God who is completely supreme, he chooses to become the first born from among the dead. I mean, imagine this supreme sovereign Jesus chooses to taste death on behalf of humans. Where's the need for him to even do that? But that's because of the love that this that God has. So, you know, it says in verses 19 and 20, it's so beautiful. Verses 19 and 20 it says, God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in this Jesus so that through this Jesus, you know, both of them together can reconcile mankind to themselves, the love that God has for us. Such a supreme sovereign God, such a high status. He loves us so much that he allows this Jesus to come to this earth so that through Jesus, you know, God the Father and God the Son can reconcile humanity to themselves. So, on behalf of us humans, Jesus chooses to taste death and it's so beautifully expressed in Hebrews 2 9, you know, where it talks about the highest status of Jesus being made low on our behalf. This is what it says in Hebrews 2 9. If someone could read out for us, Hebrews chapter 2 verse 9. But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God might taste death for everyone. So, for a little while, Jesus chose to become lower than the angels so that, you know, he can identify with humans like us, you know, because we are anyway lower than the angels. I mean, at least we were earlier, that was our earlier status. So, as slaves of sin, we were lower than the angels. So, Jesus also chose to become lower than the angels, come and become one of us, represent us and taste death for everyone on our behalf. He humbled himself in that manner and then of course after having won the victory on our behalf, he once again rose above the angels. He now has got the glory which he had with the Father which he originally had. He has got it back. So, now in that position of supremacy, he is acting on behalf of the church. So, that is why in verse 18, Paul says he became the firstborn from among the dead. He did that so that in everything, he might have the supremacy. So, remember who he is. He is supreme and now he has chosen to be supreme for us on our behalf by tasting death for us. So, regard him as supreme in your personal lives is what, you know, Paul is reminding them and telling them and he goes on to talk about what Jesus has done for them in verses 21 to 23. This is, you know, just him urging, giving them encouragement, telling them, see, this is what Jesus has done for you. So, therefore, let him be supreme, you know, in your lives. So, verses 21 to 23, if you could read out, we will look at what Jesus has, you know, done for us 21 to 23. And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the blood of his fresh through death to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable in his sight. If indeed you continue in the faith grounded and fast and steadfast and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you had, which was preached to every creature under heaven of which I, Paul, became a minister. Amen. Amen. So, here again he's referring to the gospel, the true gospel which was proclaimed to every creature. So, what does this true gospel tell us? This true gospel tells us that we used to be enemies of God once upon a time. You know, we were enemies but Jesus chose to come down and in his physical body he chose to die for us. So, now if we are reconciled to God through this Jesus, then, you know, one day we will be presented before the Father without blemish free from accusation. So, the exact wording is this, he says, now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight without blemish and free from accusation if, this is an if, if over there mentioned, if you continue in your faith established and firm and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. There are two things that you Christians need to continue doing. He's saying to the people, he's saying God will one day definitely present you without blemish, you know, you will be presented before God. God will present you to himself without blemish, free from accusation, fully accepted, no longer enemies, considered as friends, considered as loved ones as part of God's family. This is how God will present you to himself. If you do two things, you need to continue in your faith established and firm and you should not move from the hope that is held out by the gospel. So, any true proclamation of the gospel will involve this message of faith and this message of hope. If any true preaching of the gospel should talk about the heavenly hope, the reward which is awaiting us and it should talk about the way we should live on this earth staying steadfast and firm in our faith. No matter what suffering comes along, no matter what doubts and questions Satan throws at us, we hold on, we continue to obey in faith. We do this because we have that eternal hope and reward to look forward to. So, he's saying that this is the gospel which has been proclaimed. Therefore, stay firm in the Lord, let your eyes stay focused on Jesus. So, then in verse 24 onwards, he talks about this commission which has been given to him, this mission which has been given to him by God. He talks a little bit about that. That would be verses 24 to 28 if we could have someone read out for us. Verses 24, all the way up to verse 28. I now rejoice in my suffering for you and fill up in my spirit what is lacking in the affliction of Christ for the sake of his body which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations but now has been revealed to his sense to then God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Amen. Amen. So here he says, I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in the afflictions of Christ. Christ when he was crucified on the cross and he declared it is finished. He indeed finished everything that is required for our salvation for our redemption and deliverance. Everything that is required Christ finished on the cross. So what is still lacking in the afflictions of Christ? Somebody has to now take what you know somebody has to now go and tell people what Christ has done otherwise it stays incomplete right? So he says, now my job is to tell everyone to present to you the word of God in its fullness this mystery you know which is hidden in the past but now Jesus has come. He has done his work on the cross. He has finished what is required for us and now I am the messenger who's going and telling everyone that Jesus has done this so that they can realize that they have hope of glory in this Jesus. How will they ever enjoy the glory and the praise and the honor which God wants to release upon them if nobody ever goes and tells them what Jesus has done for them? So someone has to do that. So in that sense we all all of us the church we are supposed to fill up in our flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. So Christ was afflicted Christ finished whatever is required for humanity. He has completed the work of redemption but now we need to go and tell people about this because only then they will discover this great mystery that people like us who were enemies and rejects we now have hope of glory through Jesus in Jesus. So we need to go and share this good news with people that they there is a future glory awaiting them a great reward that is awaiting them and that good news has to be shared by us and by doing that we will complete this work which Christ began. So Christ finished his work on the cross but we need to do our part in telling people about this and the wording that Paul uses to to talk about this you know this work of going and sharing the good news he says he's filling up this work in his flesh literally he this ministry that he has this work which has been given to him he literally feels the impact of it the sacrifice of it every day in his physical body you know it's something which strains him it's something which affects him are we um fulfilling the work of Christ in that way where we can literally feel the impact of it in our flesh you know is something that we need to think about because when this man you know when he went from city to city sharing the gospel getting persecuted getting beaten sometimes not having enough food and starving sometimes having to go through shipwrecks sometimes getting arrested and being thrown in the jail in all of these things that he was going through he literally could feel it in his flesh you know he was filling up in his flesh this commission that was given to him by God and we need to be that totally involved in ministry I mean if we are not facing persecution today excellent I mean that's good it means that I know the the environment is good and open and we can go and do the gospel work without any kind of obstacles so it's really good if there is no persecution but in other ways in the amount of effort that we put in the amount of sacrifices that we are willing to make to be able to go and minister to people are we literally filling up in our flesh this commission that God has given us where we can feel the impact of it in our in literally in our physical bodies you know is something that we would have to consider so Paul was that enthusiastic in doing his part he was filling up in his flesh on a daily basis whatever he needs to do for the for the sake of the church and so he says you know I'm presenting to the word of God to everyone and letting them know this mystery that even they can now have hope of glory through Jesus and he says this Jesus is the one we proclaim admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ so Paul's ultimate goal is that everyone should know Jesus to such an extent where they will become fully mature in him so there he wants the believers to be growing in in their in their knowledge of what is the will of God he wants them to be growing in the faith which they which they exercise and obeying him he wants them to be growing in the love which they are showing sacrificially towards one another he wants them to be growing in all of these aspects so that one day each believer will be will be fully mature in Christ so that is his goal and so that should be the goal of every person who's you know operating in some kind of leadership in the church our ultimate goal will be to present every person in our congregation fully mature in Christ we got to urge them open their eyes and help them to see the exciting realities of heaven so that they will all exercise their hope and practice their love in such a way that Christ is pleased and so that in the process each of them will become fully mature in Christ that should be the goal of every leader who is ministering to the church so from there we kind of move on into chapter two of course you know we will be looking at chapter two in greater detail in the next class okay Enoch says that they're having a blackout in Nigeria due to a lack of power supply so yes yeah we will maybe know pray when we are having a concluding prayer yes we will definitely put that as a prayer point yeah so in the little time that we have left we let's get into chapter two if we could have someone read out for us the first five versus yeah chapter two versus one to five please for I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you those in Laudicea and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh that their heart their hearts may be encouraged being in it together in love and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God both the Father and of Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge now this I say least anyone should deceive you with possessive words for though I'm absent in the flesh yet I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order and steadfast fastness of your faith in Christ amen yes so here he says you know I wanted to know how hard I am contending for you so he says I'm going all out you know like I'm giving every bit of myself in fighting for your spiritual growth of you guys in Colossia and the people in Laudicea and all the other places people whom I have not even met personally you know I'm really struggling in prayer interceding for you you know writing to you encouraging you I'm doing all of this because this is my goal my goal is that you may be encouraged in heart you know which is basically one way of saying you know that you may have hope that you may be encouraged in heart second that you may be united in love and the third thing he says is that so that you may have a complete understanding of the full riches which are yours so again we have the trifecta being you know being brought out over here faith hope love all the three are being mentioned over here so he wants them to be encouraged in their heart and be full of hope he wants them to be united in love and he wants them to have a complete understanding of the full riches you know they'll they'll be they'll be fully confident and their faith will be fully bolstered up by the knowledge that you know there are riches which are backing them up heavenly riches which are backing them up so he says he wants them to have these three things you know in their full capacity that is his goal therefore he's literally contending for them fighting for them in prayer he is um you know writing letters to them he's sending messengers to them who will talk to talk to them on his behalf and encourage them so he's doing everything that he can and he's doing all of this while sitting in prison in Rome so we who are not constrained like him you know who have the freedom of movement to be to go around as we please we should be contending even more than him because he was not you know he was not saying okay I'm under arrest there's not much that I can do and he didn't sit back even though he was in prison he still had this burden and this passion to give us very best for them so in the same way whatever God has called us to we should be contending and giving our best in whatever it is that God has laid on our hearts to do so he says in this in this Christ we have all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge so because in Christ we have all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge don't get deceived by fine sounding arguments is what he says but rather he says you know he wants them to be firm in their faith in Christ so he says in verse five that he's delighted to see how disciplined they are and how firm they are in their faith in Christ so he wants them to continue being like that he says you know in Christ you have all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge you don't need some spirit coming to you in the middle of the night and giving you some kind of fake knowledge okay so he says to not be deceived by this fine sounding arguments there are two kinds of fine sounding arguments that were going around in that in that church some of it may have come from the Judaizers of course but some of it was also coming from these beginnings of the Gnostic philosophy you know where people were beginning to focus more on spirit beings and spirit realm and things like that so when when when people stand up and talk about these things oh it sounds so interesting it sounds so fine and people may get drawn away they may think oh gospel message is so boring so dull look at these exciting things which these people are talking about they're talking about visitations from spirits they're talking about hidden knowledge and mysteries oh that sounds so exciting gospel message on the other hand it sounds so simple so simplistic it and it's all about sacrifice on the cross so you see the gospel message didn't doesn't sound very appealing to human years on the other hand these other things sound adventurous and interesting but it is in Christ that we have our hope this is the mystery which Paul wanted to unwrap and you know tell us that our hope of glory is in Jesus so he says to not be deceived by these fine sounding arguments rather hold on to the wisdom and knowledge which God reveals to us which Jesus reveals to us to us is what he says so in the same I know same line a line of thought he says in 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 so he's saying all this philosophy you know which these people are you know spouting just to cheat you it is empty deceit there's no power in it it may sound very nice to the years but there is no power in it it doesn't give you the power to enter heaven it doesn't give you the power to live a victorious life on this earth it doesn't give you the power to walk into the abundance which Christ has for you so you see these things sound very fine to the years they sound exciting the sound interesting but they're empty they're hollow there's no power in any of these philosophies and teachings rather the knowledge and the wisdom and knowledge the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of Christ that contains true power so hold on to that is what he says there's a term that he uses over here which is you know translated differently in the NKJV and in the NIV in the NKJV it says you know do not be cheated by the basic principles of the world whereas in the NIV it says you know don't be cheated by the elemental spiritual forces of this world so the Greek word that is used over there some people think that it is just that word refers to wrong principles and philosophies but on the other hand that same word can also be used talk about spirit beings which are conveying something wrong so which is why in the NIV and some of the more modern versions they prefer to use this particular term they call it the elemental spiritual forces of this world you know these there are in the spiritual realm there are hidden demonic forces which are releasing wrong thoughts and ideas into people's minds you know because I mean if you actually look at the current world scenario there's so much stuff about new age spirituality you know it's all some kind of combination of white magic black magic and all kinds of witchcraft and all of that it's kind of whitewashed to make it look good and it sounds very interesting and you have a lot of stuff on YouTube you know regarding all of that youngsters are getting attracted and drawn to such things because it all sounds so mysterious and fun you know so there are actually demonic beings in the spiritual realm which are releasing these teachings and thoughts into the world today so that term which is used in NKJV which just simply says basic principles of the world it's not just principles and thoughts and ideas it's the demonic forces which are releasing these thoughts and ideas so he says don't allow yourself to be cheated by these things because these things are all fake and there is no power in them all right so we'll conclude with a word of prayer and next class you know we'll look in greater detail into chapter 2 and then the remaining chapters so yeah let's pray Lord we just thank you so much for today's class we thank you a lot for all the things that we could learn we pray Lord that we would be excited about heavenly things that we would realize the bigness and magnitude of what is waiting for us over there so that we will no longer be very interested in our little careers and our little promotions and our little gadgets and the things of this world and we will realize the bigness of what is awaiting us the glory of that is awaiting us in the heaven oh lord and we pray that as a result of that we will walk in faith no matter what sacrifices we have to make and that we will act in genuine sincere love towards one another even if it means you know putting other people's interests before our own help us a lot to live in that way and we pray that if we are teachers or pastors or ministers we will share this with other people so that they too can become excited about the things of God and so that we can get our eyes off wrong priorities Lord we also pray for Nigeria and the crisis that they are going through currently we do not know the details but we know that people are suffering people are struggling so Lord we just commit them into your hands so Lord Lord make a way for them Lord help them in this time of crisis so Lord give your wisdom to those in leadership over there so that they will know what steps to take what decisions to take so that Lord in in in the background you would work and you would help your people to come through this crisis thank you Lord in Jesus name amen thank you so much we'll meet again next class thank you