Last week, we stopped at verses five, five and six, as we've been talking about how the Apostle Paul is giving thanks to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ on the behalf of the Colossian Church. And we've seen at verses five through six that the progression of the gospel. from verses three through five, the Apostle Paul gave thanks because of, first of all, their faith in Christ, second of all, because of their love for all the saints, thirdly, because of their hope which is in heaven, and fourthly, they heard the gospel of truth, and fifth, where we stop at is the progression of the gospel. He gave thanks because of the spreading of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I mentioned last week, that this gospel is universal. It transcends all ethics. It transcends all culture. It goes against all geographic. It goes in all languages. It is the message for the world. And as we had said last time, that this gospel is from God himself. The Apostle Paul here again making a hyperbolic statement, meaning that he is deliberately using an exaggeration that the gospel is spreading out throughout this world of the time. Particularly in his time, the gospel had spread amazingly in the years between the Pentecostal and the time when the Apostle Paul had wrote this letter. But again, I want you to notice that not only is the gospel is being spread abroad throughout all the known world of the Apostle Paul time, but notice that he also says in verse six, that it is bringing forth fruit. And the tense, as I shared with you last time, indicate that this is a constantly and a continuously bringing forth or bringing action. This is this gospel that is being preached, this gospel that transformed lives, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is again bringing forth fruit. Once again, this fruit here, as it's mentioned here, it's not speaking about that which we find in Galatians chapter five, verses 22, where it talks about the character of the believer, which the believer who submit, or he or she submit themselves of the leading guiding of the Holy Spirit, and which in order for that to take place, the person who submit themselves to the leading guidance of the Holy Spirit, to bear the fruit of the Spirit, that person, he or she, must be born again, or must be regenerated. And what the Apostle Paul is saying here to the Colossian church, that the gospel has now reached to you as it had went in through all out of the world at that time, and it is also bringing forth the fruit Notice 6B again where it says here, as it has also in all the world and bring forth fruit as it is also among you since the day you heard the grace of God and knew his truth. When the gospel is heard and received, it has the same effect like it did in the world of that time as the apostle Paul says, It has the same effect of bringing forth fruit, of people being changed, of people changing their lives to the point of the hearing the gospel, being led by the spirit of God, being convicted of their sins, calling on the name of Christ, repenting of their sins. They're now being changed. And so Paul is saying, just as it's been done unto the world, now it is done unto you as well. It has the same effect. I want you to notice the word new here, where it says, is also among you since the day you heard it and knew the grace of God. It's the Greek word epikinosko, which means to become thoroughly acquainted with, to know thoroughly, to know accurately, to know well. The Amplified Bible says it like this, and I like how it says it, it says, you came to know the grace or undeserving favor of God in reality, deeply, clearly, and thoroughly becoming accurately and intimately acquainted with it. In other words, the apostle Paul was saying God's act of graciousness was towards you, Colossian church. God bestowed his grace upon you. When you heard the gospel, just as it was done into the world, it has the same effect as it done to you as well. Salvation is of the Lord. And you'll notice where he says the grace of God in truth, meaning that this is the genius of the gospel. The gospel is for real people. The gospel is real. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the word of God that changes people's lives. As I mentioned last week, that social gospel that we are hearing does not change people's lives. It has no power whatsoever. That humanistic gospel that we hear, or that prosperity gospel that we hear, it has no power to change your life. It cannot change your heart, young people. Yes, you know you got to do certain things in this world to live, but what you really need is to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is God bestowing the grace upon the church of that day. And notice that he says that you knew it. It means that you became so acquainted with it. You came so accused to it. You, you know it very well. There is no doubt in your mind about this grace of the gospel. And now the question we bring was bring us to that next point. How did the Colossian hear about this grace or how did they knew that this gospel of grace is the truth? How did their lives were being changed? And we see here in verses seven through eight, notice what it says here. As you also learn from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the spirit. Again, we see how the apostle Paul gave thanks because of the faith, in Christ Jesus. He thanked the Lord God because of their love for all the saints. He thanked the Lord God because of the hope which is in heaven. He thanked the Lord God because they heard the gospel of truth. Fifthly, he thanked the Lord God because of the progression of the gospel. But lastly, in verse 78, I want you to know that he thanked the Lord God because of the work of Epaphras. The work of Epaphras. Very, very little is known by this man. And as I mentioned in the beginning of this study here, we noticed that his name means Epaphras, short for Aphrodite. But he is not to be identified with Aphrodite that is mentioned in the book of Philippians. But as mentioned, We learned that he was a native of the city of Colossae, and that he ministered not only in that city of Colossae, but also in Laodicea and Herilopolis as well. Now I want you to notice three things that the Bible says about Epaphras. And I love this part here, so you have to kind of stick with me a little bit on this, right? I love this and I'm gonna kind of, Just a little bit, take my time on this here. Now, the first thing we see that the apostle Paul mentioned about Epaphras is that it says here that he was a fellow servant. Notice verse seven, as it says, as you also learn from Epaphras, our dear, dear fellow servant. The Greek word here is sondolos. and it means one who work as a colleague. He's a co-labor with the Apostle Paul. They have the same master. Now keep in mind, he was not a apostle. We learned what the word apostle mean. It mean technically that he's being sent. Here the Apostle Paul, as you go back to verse one, he was the official apostle who was being called by God, called by Jesus Christ to preach the gospel, but here, Ephraphras, he was not an apostle, but he was a fellow servant. In other words, he worked alone with the Apostle Paul. In their mind, they had no thought of trying to outdo each other in the sense of being competitive to one another. If that was the case, the Apostle Paul had the upper hand. Why? Because he was officially called by Christ. He was officially picked by Christ to preach the gospel. But Epaphras, Paul said, he is my fellow servant. He is a fellow servant. He is my comrade in the ministry. He is my coworker. He is my co-labor. They only had one focus in mind. and that was to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. There wasn't no competition with one to see who was better than the other, or sometimes how we could get caught up where I like to hear this preacher preach one, and I like to hear this preacher preach here. No, they didn't have that in mind. They ain't had no arguments between each other. They had one focus. And I like to think when I was studying this, as I share with my brother Chris here, I like to think of that's how we are here. Now, I've been with this man here over 10 years, and not one time that we come to the point of trying to outdo each other. And it's only because of the grace of God that he has likened our minds to be of one focus, and that is to preach the gospel. I love, hear me out now, and I'm just gonna bare my heart a little bit. I love hearing this man here teach the word of God. I ought to have amen on that, because when you come to Sunday school, we hear exactly how he brings out the word of God. I mean, this brother here is teaching today, I'm like, man, where do you learn all that? And he make it so clear, and I told him that I'm gonna be mentioning it, and I don't want to build his head up, because his head already big, it's like mine is. I love hearing this brother teach. I love hearing him teach. But I also love hearing this brother preach. Like we said, Pastor Rod got a way of navigating through the gospels to paint Jesus Christ to you. To where we can see exactly what's going on. I love and I hope, as I have told him, I hope the Lord leads you to go back into the gospels because then I can see Christ. But that's the beauty of it. We are not here trying to outdo one another, no. We are fellow laborers, we are co-workers, we are son-in-laws, we are fellow servants of who? Of Christ Jesus. For there are many out there, my brothers and sisters, who go through that foolishness, who will try to outdo one another. Preachers trying to be more deep than the other instead of just preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to know that the apostle Paul says of the Colossians Church, he says, as you also learn from He says in the Greek word, he'll learn monotheist. It means that he, you heard, you understood the gospel in truth and the way in which you learned it and you learned it from Epaphroditus. In other words, Paul approved of his teachings. In other words, Epaphroditus, he got it right He got the gospel right. It has been said by most theologians, a lot of commentary as I was researching this, that it might've been the time when the Apostle Paul was in Ephesus, in them three years time, you can go to the book of Acts, in that three years time, as he was ministering to the people of Ephesus, that Epaphras heard the gospel, was converted, and he came back with the gospel to the Colossians, and he preached the right message. He preached the right message. He might've been pressured by the whims of the society of that day to change the message, but he did not. Why do I say that? Because again, notice that it says in verse three that he's what? Their faith was in Christ Jesus. Sometimes, I've heard him say that, I heard him say, sometimes because our pews are not packed, because it's not filled to the rim, sometimes we kinda, the thought comes in our mind that we may need to change the message, but it's the Spirit of God tell us, no, you do not change the message, you keep preaching the message, you continue to do exactly what I have called you to do. So Epaphras, he got the message right. He preached to the Colossian church that their faith was in Christ Jesus. And because he got it right, Epaphras did not just taught the churches, which is Laodicea and the Hierapolis, that they learned not just the doctrine of Christ, but they learned Christ Jesus himself. That's what a minister does. The minister don't go tell you how your pockets can be fed or how much money you need to get or why you need to get this job and stuff in that matter that we are hearing today. No, a true minister always point to Jesus Christ that your faith will be in Christ, not in the church, not in denomination, not in the man of God, but only in Christ. Yes, it is good to teach the doctrine. It was good that he, they taught him about grace. As my brother had explained it, it's important that we keep that balance, that we not only preach of the life and death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but as believer, what Christ does for us now, how he has justified us, how he had declared us righteous, how we will be with him forever and forever. Yes, we must have that balance. preface, he did not just simply lead the Colossal Church to Christ and then abandoned him. He taught them the word. See, the problem with us, we are so hooked up with that hacking, especially us black folks. We, we, we, what you call what Caesar preaching. And, uh, and, uh, sometimes you may hear me a little bit, but I try not to do it. Like in that manner that I want you to understand exactly what is being said, but not only that, but exactly what the Bible says. what the Bible says. So a preference, he talked to him and Paul said, look, he is a dear and that dear, it is me beloved, me dear to him, like a brother in love, meaning that he was a faithful, a fellow servant. But notice secondly, not only was he was a fellow servant, but secondly, he was a faithful minister of Christ. You can't miss this. You can't miss this. Notice what he says. He also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf. Now it's been said that Epaphras represented the apostle Paul and that the apostle delegate with authority to a preface to preach the gospel. Yet again, I want you to notice what the text is actually saying. It is saying that he is a faithful minister to Christ. That's what we should be, faithful ministers to Christ. In order for me to be faithful to you, my beloved, I must be a faithful minister to Christ. In order for me to serve you in the sense of doing what God has called me to do, is to serve you in the sense of teaching you, sharing with you what the word of God's saying, I must be a faithful minister of Jesus Christ and him alone. Not to the church, so to speak. In order for me to be faithful to the word of life, I first must be faithful to who? Christ. Now I'm gonna show you that a little bit. but actually how important it is to be faithful. And I want you to go with me to the book of Numbers in the Old Testament. I want you to see what God says about Moses, who was one of my favorite men that I love reading about. In Numbers chapter 12, Numbers chapter 12 here. Some of us know the story. Moses here at the beginning of chapter 12, when you haven't just say amen, it says here that then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because, excuse me, of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. For he had married an Ethiopian woman, so they said, has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also? And the Lord did what? He heard it. So you better be careful how you deal with the man of God. You think God don't hear? He does hear. Notice that he says, now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth. Suddenly, verse four, The Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, come out here, or come out, you three, to the tabernacle of the meeting. So the three came out. Then the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both went forward. Then he said, he, meaning the Lord, hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, either Lord, make myself known to him in a vision. I speak to him in a dream. Notice what he said about Moses. Not so with my servant Moses. Notice what God says about Moses. He is faithful in all, who house? My house, not Moses house. No, not word of life house. Not any other church that you may be going to house, not even your own house. He said, in my house, everything that pertains to me, Moses is faithful in my house. He says, I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and do not dark saying. And he's seeing the form of the Lord. And when he said the form of the Lord, remember when the Lord had to show Moses his back part? So Moses was something else. You better be careful how you deal with the man of God. And he says here, what he said, why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, Moses? showing you how faithful Moses was in the house of God. Again, Epaphras was faithful minister to Christ, everything that belongs to Christ. He preached Christ, he lived Christ, he taught Christ. In order for him to be faithful to the Colossian church, he had to be faithful to Christ first. I wanna show you another passage. Go with me to Matthew chapter 25. Again, show you the importance of this word faithfulness. And as we have learned, faithfulness meaning what? Trustworthy, meaning that I can trust you or the person can trust you, you're trustworthy. Look at Matthew chapter 25. And when you have, just say amen. Looking at verse 21, here Christ give the parable of the talents that was be given to the service of the Lord of that day. And notice what he says in verse 21, his Lord said to him, well, what done good and what faithful servant, you were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over what many things. Now, what true believer does not want to hear that coming from their master? That should be the longing of every true believer. Why? To hear Christ says, well done, my good and what? Faithful servant. because you were faithful in my house. You were not pressured by the society or the world trying to change the gospel. You preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. You cause sin just as it is. You cause homosexuality, abomination. You preach the gospel. You were faithful in my house. That's what a true minister long to hear. That's what I long to hear. I long to hear my God, my master, my maker, my creator, my king, my brother, the one who loves me and I love him. I want to hear him say, well done. It doesn't matter what I hear from you. And that doesn't matter to me. I told you that before. It doesn't matter what I hear from the world. It doesn't matter what I hear from those who consider themselves the upper echelons of the preachers. I don't want to hear none of that. What I want to hear is my master say, well done. Enter into the joy of your Lord. And you, as a believer, that should be the longing of everyone. You should be longing to hear, Lord, I want to hear you say, well done. That's why I go through the headaches. That's why I go through the trials. That's why I am up and down. That's why I'm being persecuted for your namesakes. Lord, I am still holding to you because you are first holding on to me. And when I call upon you, Lord, you answer me. Why? Because I want to hear you say, well done. When my family don't want to be around me, when they call me holy roly, I still want to hear you say, well done. I want to be a faithful minister. It's not just talking about a preference within this context in Colossians one, by him being a minister, but you as well. The gospel has been given to you. God, the father has placed the gospel of his son into your hands. He tells you that you ought to be what? A light unto the world. You ought to be what, the salt? He tells you to do what? Teach, preach the gospel in whatever capacity that God has given you. It ain't so much behind the pulpit, but in the context, that's what he's saying about Epaphras, that he is a fellow worker and that he is a faithful minister. I love that! That encouraged me to go against the flow When they don't want to invite me, brother Chris, I don't mind, no, because you know what I'm going to talk about. You ain't never got to invite me. In some case, I won't go in there because of that foolishness you talking about. I don't want to be associated with that. I want to be a faithful minister of Christ. And that's what Paul says here. He is a faithful minister. again, faithful minister. He preached the gospel. You go to first Corinthians chapter one verse seventeen. You have to turn and again, even in troubles and then trials, even in the shadow of death, he remains a faithful minister of Christ. But that's the second thing. The third thing you see here again, looking at verse seven, verse eight, he says that he also declared to us your love in the spirit. He was a messenger from Colossae. Not only was he was a fellow servant, but that he was a faithful minister, but he is also a messenger from Colossae. Look at verse eight again. He says, he who also declared to us your love in the spirit. A path was declared to the apostle, the love of the Colossians. How did they get that? How was the apostle Paul knew that they love like that? You notice that he spoke about their love again in verse four. He says, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints, how do they know about that? They was taught. Epaphras taught them. He got the message right. And he tells the apostle, by the way, who was in prison in Rome, That their love is of the spirit. That the spirit of God had enabled them to love the people of God. Had the love and affection and goodwill. That's their brotherly love. That's what I love about Epaphras. That's why I like reading about such men in this. And you'll notice that his name is mentioned in the gospel, I mean, in the apostles, in the word of God that is forever settled in heaven. It will not be changed. Can you imagine that he is always will remember that being a faithful minister, the day when God takes this breath from me, you can put a lot of things on my tombstone, which I don't mind because I won't be reading it. But one thing I do wanted to know, Pastor Rod, is that, hey, I was faithful to the word of God. Now, that's it. That's it. He, yeah, he was, yeah, he was, nah, I ain't gonna be able to read my epithet. Nah, I ain't gonna be able to read it. But you'll know that I was a faithful minister of Jesus Christ. in order for me to be faithful to you." Because notice that he said that he was a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf. Again, in order for me to be faithful, in order for a pastor to be faithful to the Colossal Church, he had to be, continuously be, steadfast, unmovable, unshaken, always abiding in, if I may use that term, a faithful minister in Christ Jesus. Well, we come to the end of the second point, the prayer of Thanksgiving. We've seen, first of all, the greetings, what's in verses one and two, and secondly, the prayer of Thanksgiving. But thirdly, I want to draw your attention to the prayer petition verses nine through 14. Now having informed the Colossians of the various reasons that he is grateful to God for them, the apostle Paul now turned to intercession on their behalf. And again, seeing that the apostle is a man of prayer, the apostle adds a fervent petition found in verses nine through 14. In verses nine through 11, there are three requests. We're just gonna deal with one first. And the first request is that the Colossian church and all believers is to know the will of God. Notice verse nine. He says this, for this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding." Notice that he says, for this reason, referring back to the entire discussion of verses three and eight. And this shows the apostle response to the news that he had received from Epaphras. But this also kind of revealed or shows the heart of the man of God. Notice that he says here that for this reason, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. In other words, as soon as he heard the news about the Colossian church, they, particular Paul and Timothy and many others who might've been with them, they did not cease to pray for them. They did not cease praying, and the word cease means to stop. And we know what that means, that it means to stop. They have not stopped praying, and the tenses indicate that they was continually, always praying for them since the day that the news reached the ears of the apostle Paul. That's what he says is, notice that he says, for this reason, we also since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to what? And to ask. In the New King James Version, it has the word ask, but in the King James Version, it has the word to desire, which means in the Greek to ask, to beg, to call, I like this, to crave. Or you can use the require. And the tense is a present menopausal, meaning that Paul and the others has such a craving that their petition be answered. In other words, Paul was so desired that they will be filled with the knowledge of God, that they was craving for this. You know what it is to crave for some things? It look like you'd be right there. You just came reaching at you. Instead of reaching it, you just can't get it, and you've longed for it, you want it so much, and to a point, we almost do things that we shouldn't be doing for it, but yet we have that inner craving. Just like it says in the song that we sing, Lord, my only heart desire is to love you. And Paul was saying, look, I got such a crave for the Colossian church that my desire, my crave, my everything within me, I want them to be filled. I'm asking you, Lord, to be filled. Again, that word has the idea like a beggar Begs from those that pass by. You ever seen how the beggars be begging? They be asking. It doesn't matter who you are. They ask. Why? Because they long to have what you got. Some of them ask me, man, can you give me $2? Or can you give me $1? And sometimes I get to, and then I see sometimes they look like you drunk, man. I ain't going to give you that. But the idea of what I'm trying to picture is the fact that they longing for it. They want it. And if you don't give to them, then they're going to let you go by and they're going to ask somebody else. this is what Paul said. He's saying, for this reason, since the day that we heard of your love, since the day that we heard of your faith in Christ, since the day that you heard the gospel, since the day that you know that the gospel is the gospel of grace and truth, we have not ceased in praying. I hear my brother speaks of that all the time. How that he longs for word of life, the members here to be filled with the knowledge of God. To have the wisdom that can be have no more, have so much on this side of the earth. I hear him when he, when he be praying how that Lord filled him with your knowledge, with your understanding. That's the crave. And the Apostle Paul, he was begging God, again, notice that he says, that they may be filled with the knowledge of his will. Now I want you to notice what he did not pray for. He did not pray that you be rich. No. Nor did he pray that you receive a better job. nor did he pray that your marriage be restored, nor did he pray that you reach your destiny, nor did he pray that you reach your potential or your goal. No, even though some of those things are noble in itself, but that is not the essence of his prayer. The true men of God have prayed that they be filled with the knowledge of God himself. The word feel means to be make full. And it's in the tense, the passive subjective, meaning that God is filling you up with his will. It means feel to the top, feel to the brim. Now, as I was looking at this, my brothers and sisters, I had to ask myself the question, I would ask you now, When we wake up in the morning, we make our devotions unto the Lord. Is it, or do we ask him, Lord, what is your will? See, with me, this was a dormant in my life at times. And when I began to study this, God had reawakened that dormant, that this will, the will of God, should permeate my whole entire life. Do we ask that? Do we ask to be filled with the will, the very will of God? Again, and notice that the word says the knowledge of God, it consists of two Greek words, epikinosis, knowledge, which we have the Greek word gnosis, and it's added with a preposition, ipi, which intensify the meaning. In other words, it talks about that Paul want the Colossians to have a deep, precise, correct knowledge of God's will. That's what he was craving for. That's what he was begging God for. That was his petition. That was his first request, Lord, that you will fill the Colossian church with the knowledge of your will, that you will fill them up to the brim, that everything within them, they are sold out to you to do your will. Is that our desire? Or is it our business? Is that our agenda? Or some of us got some goals that we're doing now. Is that the will of God? And I'm not saying what you're doing is wrong in itself, but does it match up with the will of God? Is that the will of God for you? And we'll soon see that as we go on. But I just want to hammer in that the fact that God here is, Paul is talking, saying that he want the Colossian church to be filled with the knowledge of God himself. One writer says it like this, to be filled with the knowledge of the divine will suggests that such knowledge is to be, is to purvey all of one's being, thoughts, affection, purpose, and plan. Is that's how we doing it? And I noticed in my life, I said, Lord, that ain't no word that I'm seeing in my life like that. And it's not that God's will is obscured and where we can't find it. No, it's all in the word of God, his will. See, if we love the Lord Jesus Christ, as we say we do, we seek to do his will. Did not our master say when they, the disciples went into town and God and God, yes, God, Christ dealt with the Samaritan woman. And when they came back, they said, Lord, I'm just paraphrasing, Lord, here, have something to eat. But what did Christ said? He said, my meat is to do what? The will of God. See, the will of God should be more than our necessary needs. Again, God knows that you need a job. God knows you need a place to stay. God knows that you need to have the things to live on this earth. But what he wants you to come to, to your understanding is that you must seek the things of God, seek his kingdom. The whole scope of life, everything we do, Everything, every moment, every day is to involve God's will in our life. And I tell you, Pastor Bob, I'm telling you, that was a dormant in me. I remember when I first got out of prison, that that was the thing that I was saying. I used to sing this song by the Mississippi Mass Choir. It says, The safest place in the whole wide world is to be in the will of God. And I came out with that multiple, I came out with that thought in my mind. But then it's like it became a be a bank burner. Why? Because not only that I'm married, I got to go out there and work. I got to do this and I got to do that and I got to do this and do that. And I kind of lost focus to the fact of knowing that the will of God is more important than anything else. And so now by studying this, Pastor Rod, the Holy Spirit have reawakened that dormant up to show, look here, the will of God is supposed to be in every area of your life. It is to flow out of you. And you'll notice that he said, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. In all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Let me stop right there. And I pray this day that we will come to the point of, Lord, what is your will? Some of us may be, I ain't gonna say some of us, I'm gonna say me. I know the reason why I was dormant in my life because I was scared of what God may have me to do. Yeah. So I was too comfortable, brother Chris, in my comfort zone. My wife tell me all the time, she said, Mike, you get too comfortable in your comfort zone, get out, get out. And she be trying to push me out and I'm standing, trying to push myself back in there. But that was the reason why that I know that was dormant in my life because by me saying, Lord, what is your will? It's like, you just kind of scared of that. I don't know if that may be your case as well. But here the Apostle Paul, he craves that in asking, desiring for the petition, his first request for the Lord is that the Colossian church be filled with the knowledge of almighty God. And that knowledge again is precise, thorough, correct knowledge about who God is.