That's right, my wife told me to set it up so she could watch it at home, and she's got family coming in, so she wanted to stay home, and I forgot to set her up, so she'll miss out. Okay, we're in Colossians chapter one. Last week, or two weeks ago, we were supposed to be doing verses one through eight, and we got up to verse five. So today, six to 11, We'll get to where we get to, but let me read that passage and then we'll pray. Starting in verse six, it says, well, I really need to start in verse five for a little bit of context. Because of the hope reserved for you in heaven, you have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognize God's grace in the truth. You learn this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf, and he has told us about your love in the spirit. For this reason, since the day we heard this, we haven't stopped praying for you. We are asking that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, Let's pray. Father, thank you for your love and your care for us as we open your Word. We recognize, Lord, that you have given us intelligence. We might be able to go through it and talk about things, but we also recognize that it is spiritual and we aren't. At times, we can be pretty carnal. So we pray, Father, that your Spirit would enlighten our eyes, give us grace to understand and see the things that we need to see. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. So the first section is the gospel truth. You can see on your outline here in verses 1 and 2 we have a greeting, in verses 3 and 4a we have the gospel truth is received by faith, and then we have the gospel truth results in love in verse 4. And the gospel truth rests in hope, verse five, that brings us to verse six. The gospel truth reaches the world. Verse 6a, which has come to you as it has also in all the world. It is amazing, we have a hard time reaching a city with the gospel, and within the first century, the world's view of Christianity was they had turned the world upside down. It started out with a dozen and moved on from there. Obviously there was a lot of things that had come together that happened at the right time so that the gospel truth could go throughout the world like that. But here were people who had seen Jesus Christ in his ministry here. They saw him die, they saw him rise again. and they believed what he said. I mean, how do you argue with the evidence of what your eyes have seen? And so the truth went forth. So notice, Matthew 24, 14 says, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all of the world. That is actually something that's going to ultimately be fulfilled during the tribulation. You've got the two witnesses, you've got the 12,000 Jews from each tribe of Israel that are going to become world evangelists. I know we want to reach as many as we can today. I see a lot of ideas, philosophies about reaching the world by 2030, the reality is it's not gonna happen until the tribulation. In John 8, 12, Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Romans 1a is spoken of throughout the whole world. Verse 16, it is for everyone who believes. Romans 10, 18, their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the end of the world. 1 Thessalonians 1.8, for from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. And then Revelation 7, 9, and 10, a great multitude which no one could number of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, showing that they were successful. So I think we need to rethink what we're doing as far as you're supposed to let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. That's more of a as you're going mentality. Why do I say that? Well, we just took a trip to Bermuda, celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary. And on Tuesday, we went up to St. George, which is all the way at the other end of the island. And we took public transportation, so we're on the bus. Everybody there, at least in the public setting that we saw, friendly and polite. They get on the bus. Good morning, everybody. Good afternoon, everybody. When everybody got off the bus, except for young people, everybody got off the bus, thank you, thank you, thank you, talking to the bus driver. Very polite people. It was a joy to be around some of them. And so we go all the way up to St. George. We come back to Hamilton, which is kind of like their capital city. And Hamilton's where you have to change buses to go to the different places that you're gonna go. So we did a little shopping in Hamilton. We came back to the bus station, and we're sitting there waiting on our bus. And it seems like every other bus came, but our bus took its sweet old time. So I'm standing there, and I start singing, How great thou art. Now I'm not, not doing that kind of thing, but I'm just singing it. People around me can hear me. And then after that, I sang It Is Well With My Soul. Couple ladies on the bench, oh, I like that song. And they kind of sang along with me. And someone came up and said, I assume you're a believer. I don't know too many other people that sing these kinds of songs. And most of them don't do it in public. But I just had the joy of the Lord in my heart and did so. Had an opportunity to talk to this gentleman who is also a believer. And then on the way back after we got on the bus, I started singing There's Something About That Name. and a lady in the next booth started singing it with me. And then we got talking about, hey, the Lord's coming back. And she was about as excited as I was about the whole thing. It was kind of cool. See, that's an as you're going type thing. We really do have to have the mentality that we've been born again, we've been adopted into the family of God, and as we go forth, filled with the Spirit. We don't need to be afraid to let people know because it is God's plan to reach the world. Letter F, the gospel produces fruit in 6B, not just a stagnant system of ethics. Unfortunately, in many churches today, I really do think that we've broken Christianity down to I have to live kind of like this, don't do those terrible things, or at least don't let anybody know that I'm doing them, and that's Christianity. We go to church because, well, that's what you're supposed to do. Notice, it is a living, moving, growing reality according to Hebrews 4.12. The word of God is living and powerful. It brings forth fruit, Psalm 1-3. He'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season. You got a couple other verses there. Divine energy causes it to spread like a mustard seed. And again, when people are walking in the Spirit and people see Christ in them, their hope being real, that's how it grows. And it brings forth spiritual growth. One of the things that I'm very interested in is how we can implement, not a program, but a culture of discipleship. where we're talking to people that are, maybe they haven't grown that much in their faith and we've been through a few things, so why can't we come alongside them and encourage them and help them along, help them get over some of the humps. That's what God has called us to do. As you're going, make disciples. And then number two there, the gospel brings forth fruit in two ways. Letter A, internal transformation of individuals. Romans 8.29, we know 8.28, all things work together for the good, but it goes on to say that he has predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. So all of those things that happen for the good, trials, difficulties, they're used by God to make us more like Jesus Christ. So we have internal transformation, And then we have external growth of the church. Again, if you wanna look at Acts, they did not get together and come up with a methodology whereby they could invite unbelievers into the assembly. The assembly loved one another in such a way that people saw it, were attracted to it. But when they came, what did they hear? Well, if you just ask Jesus into your heart, No, they heard the truth of the word of God so that they would understand their need. I think one of the difficulties we have in this day and age is, and I've said this in the past, one of the doctrines we struggle with is the depravity of man. We recognize we're sinners. I don't know how many times I have heard people say, well, I made a mistake. Is adultery a mistake? Now, one could say that they believe some lies were seduced and they fell, okay, once. But when it happens more than once, there's intention, okay? If we're talking about viewing pornography, I know it's one of those things that we don't like to talk about because it's, oh, that guy, he's really bad. No, he's just like the gossip. Did you know that gossip, God considers that an abomination? We wanna talk about the bad sins. Homosexuality, sexual immorality, gossip, that's okay. We can talk about other people. By the way, definition of gossip, anything, when you're talking about something that you're not part of the problem, not part of the solution, or the person you're talking to is not part of the problem or part of the solution. So if you're talking to someone about that person over there, or even the problem that they're in, you're talking to this person, if they're not part of the problem, it's gossip. If they're not part of the problem, it's gossip. Okay, so being able to help people get past that external growth of the church when they see that we love one another, they're gonna know that Christ is real. That's what Christ indicated back there in Acts chapter 15. Letter G, the gospel truth is rooted in grace. Grace is at the very heart of the gospel, Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. The grace of God in truth carries the sense of genuineness. It is received by humility, and it can be offered in vain. What do I mean by that? As far as being received by humility, I don't know how many people I've talked to over the years in benevolence about the gospel shared, I think, relatively clear message. and everybody walks away saying, thank you for the Bible study. That was very interesting. But recognizing, in fact, I've gone through the first part of the gospel where God is righteous and holy and just, and we're sinners and the wages of sin is death, with what we've heard so far, where do we deserve to go? And I'll have people go, heaven? Kind of like, There's no way you could have come to that conclusion with what I said. But they just can't believe that they're that bad. Everybody else is, but not them. And so it has to be received in humility. I remember when the gospel finally made sense to me. There wasn't only a humbling, there was a fear. And not just fear I'm gonna die and go to hell. It was kind of like I'm riding a motorcycle in Connecticut in the middle of winter. Well, it wasn't quite winter yet. But I'm praying every day, oh Lord, let me get back to church so I can find out how to get saved. My neighbor was a Christian, she had invited me to church, but I thought I had to do it at church. But I mean, I was afraid. It's kind of like anything could happen, and if I die right now, I'm on my way to hell. This, you know, wow. So humility, and the latter part there can be offered in vain. How many times have I offered the free gift of eternal life to people in our benevolence meetings, and Now I can't tell you they didn't leave here and get saved at a later time, except for the ones that come back every single year, but I can tell you that a lot of people hear the gospel and they're not convicted, so it's offered in vain. Letter H, the gospel truth is reported by people, verses seven and eight. We are channels of the grace, Acts 1.8. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall go and knock on doors and tell people about Jesus. Much of the church thinks that's what that verse says. And that verse says, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses. People should be able to see the difference that Christ makes in your life. and hopefully you'll have opportunity to talk about it because of that. In 1 Corinthians 1.21, people believe the message that was preached. He's talking about it's the foolishness of the cross. It causes some to stumble, but some believe and are saved. And then in Romans 10.14, how can they believe in him whom they have not heard? When Hannah was dating Jason, while they were still friends at the time, my boys had met him at the gym, they work out together, and then Hannah started working out with him, and so Jason was invited to a Fourth of July party up at Pierre Marquette. And so we all go up there, and we're sitting around, we've had lunch, and I say, hey Jason, come with me. So we walked out to the back of his truck, I'm on one side, he's hanging off the tailgate, and I asked him the two diagnostic questions, and I shared Christ with him, and when I got done, he had come from a liberal church, where he recognized as a kid, you go through catechism, they give you the certificate, and then everybody lives like the devil anyway, it's a bunch of hypocrisy, I don't want anything to do with it. So he left before he graduated his catechism. But when I got done sharing the gospel with him, he goes, no one has ever shared it with me in that way. I understand that. Now he didn't get saved for another probably year or so, but That's what happens when you share it because he hadn't heard the message, not in that way. And then number two, Epaphras brought news to Paul that they were being channels of God's grace. He says, our dear fellow servant, or our dear fellow slave in my Bible, sundoulos, the word doulos is the word for slave. Somewhere in the 1700s, slavery was not looked upon as something that we wanted to be, slaves. So they changed the word to servant or bondservant. That's what most Bibles say. And the Holman Christian Standard Version, the Christian Standard Version, every time the word doulos or son doulos is used, it says slave, fellow slave. Because that's what the word means in Greek. Okay, now if you look up doulos in a lot of the dictionaries today, it'll probably say servant or bondservant because they changed it all to meet people's attitude towards slavery. Well, if Paul called himself a slave and called Epaphras a fellow slave, what was he trying to get across? You are not your own, you've been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God with your body, as 1 Corinthians 6 says. So son doulos, a co-slave, a servitor or a ministrant, et cetera. Who is a faithful, he's talking about Epaphras here, and he says he's a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf. The word for minister there is diakonos, where we get the word deacon. He's a servant. And then letter C, who also declared to us your love in the spirit. Now I will tell you, I've been here this time at Edgemont Bible Church 21 years as of the beginning of this past month. And it's very easy to look in from the outside and say, do these people get it? And there was a time where, boy, I was kind of frustrated about that whole thing. But the reality is, is the more you get to know people, and then you start seeing how their neighbors respond to them, you realize that there are a lot of people in this church that they are living it, and their neighbors are seeing it. When COVID came about, a lady in a neighborhood over here, a friend of one of our elders, Unsaved, her husband I think had passed, and she had $5,000 that she needed to do something with, and so she gave it to our elder and said, I know your church will use this rightly, give it to your benevolence ministry. Five grand. Someone else gave 10, I can't remember who or what the circumstances were, but why would she say that? I know your church will do right with it. because she had seen the life of the elder. And so it does happen where you get to recognize God is using some of the people here to reach their neighbors. Maybe they haven't gotten saved yet, but they're seeing the difference. That brings us to our second passage, verses nine to 11, the encouragement of prayer for one another. This is part of the apostles' ministry in Acts 6-4. It says that the apostles are supposed to be in the ministry of the word and prayer. And though Paul gives rich instruction, he also shares something of his prayers for them, starting with prayer requests in verses nine through 11 here, and finishes with praise in verses 12 through 14. Paul acknowledged the importance of prayer as he requests others to pray for him in his ministry. 2 Corinthians 1.11, Philippians 1.19, Philemon 22. One would expect Paul and others to encourage prayer for one another. Ephesians 6.18, 1 Timothy 2.1, Hebrews 13.18. The Bible is full of examples of people praying for others. And we could talk about Job praying for his friends, Moses praying for Aaron, for Miriam when they doubted his leadership. Samuel praying for Israel. He even said it would be a sin to not pray for them. David praying for Israel in 2 Samuel 24. I believe that's where God was upset with Israel about something. So Satan incited David to number the people. Remember that one? And then a death angel came upon the people and killed 70,000 people. And David went up to a particular threshing floor, bought all of the materials, set up an altar, offered a sacrifice, and prayed. And the death angel stopped killing people. And then of course, David prayed for Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28, 18 and 19. Hezekiah prayed for Judah in 2 Kings. Daniel prayed for Israel in Daniel chapter nine. Wow, there's a prayer. Go back and examine that thing, verses three through 19. How much of it could we pray for this country? Yeah, no, we haven't been through all kinds of things like Israel had been, but so much of what he said, if we look at where we are as a country today, we would have to say, unto you belongs praise, but unto us, shamedness of face. Because we're the ones as a country that have walked away from him. Mm-hmm. Exactly. And so Daniel's prayer is a great example for us. Ezekiel prays for Israel in Ezekiel 9. Nehemiah prays for Judah in Nehemiah chapter 1. Jesus prays for his disciples in John chapter 17. And that prayer including the church of the future. The Jerusalem church prayed for Peter when they thought he was in jail. He's going to be killed just like James was. And when he showed up at the prayer meeting they thought he was a ghost. Another funny story if you get technical. Paul prayed for Christians in Romans, Ephesians, Epaphras prayed for the Colossians in Colossians chapter four. Because prayer is so important, Paul begins by sharing the nature of his prayers for them. So our next section is Paul's prayer for the Colossians. Now, something I'd like the people of Edgemont Bible Church to consider. On Sunday morning, before we have the message, we have a little time of prayer. And having been up here and watched our people pray, we break up into small groups and we pray, to hear the whispers, and they seem to go on and on and on, and if we didn't cut them off, I think the prayer would last longer. But as soon as we suggest a concert of prayer, which we were thinking about for today, for this morning. The response of the people is, oh no, we don't wanna do that. Why not? I'm not looking for an answer. I'm wanting us to think as a people, what do we have a problem with? a concert of prayer. This is where there's a little bit of teaching, well, some singing and hymns, a little bit of teaching, and then we go and pray about the things that we're just taught about. And we do that a few times over an hour, hour and a half service. It doesn't make sense to me. If someone's got an answer, see me afterwards, because we ought to be praying as a group, don't you think? And like I said, it goes so well on Sunday morning. Why not more? Oh well, Paul's prayer for the Colossians, verses nine to 11. Verse nine, we see the request for this reason. What reason's that? Well, back there in verse eight, Epaphras had told him about their love in the spirit. Epaphras was letting Paul know these people love one another. They love people, they love Jesus, and Paul's sitting there saying, yes! And so for this reason we also, since the day that we heard it, this is a favorable report given by Epaphras, we do not cease to pray for you. It is important for those that are doing well to pray. It is important for those that are struggling to pray. But a lot of times we don't feel as though we have to pray for someone that's doing well. We wait until they're knocked down and kicked and then pray for them. Well, I'll pray for you. Pray for people that are doing well, too, because if they're doing well, chances are Satan's gonna tempt them anytime now. Notice it requires a God consciousness to view everything in life as God has something to do with this also. Flat tires, does God have anything to do with them? Little accidents. Because I do some marriage counseling. Does a wife nagging you about a particular thing, does that have anything to do with God trying to work on you and make you more like Jesus? Does a husband complaining about something that a wife does, Is that God's way of saying, attention, I want you to see something here? So often we think it's just the other person when God is involved in everything that goes on. It also requires a people consciousness. We cannot effectively pray for people without knowing their needs. I remember one time I was working with Dave and Dave got frustrated in what he was doing and he kind of, had a little explosion. Hey, I have been there, I have done that, okay? So we're not putting Dave down. And he apologized afterwards, and I said, look, how can I effectively pray for you if I don't know what's going on in your life? And so that's just the truth of the matter. When I hear about prayer requests, whether it be on Facebook or here in the church, I make sure I remember to pray for that thing. Now, I may not pray for it every single time I pray, but I make sure I pray for it, and I try and get back with that person at a later time to find out how did it go, that kind of a thing, because, well, that's what God has called us to do as leaders, okay? Letter C, that you may be filled, this is what he prayed for, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will. Oh, wow. Filled here, to make replete, to completely fill, or totally control. I just dislike this concept of control. Part of it may be because I'm slightly rebellious. Part of it may be a reaction to the charismatic movement. The reality is when we're talking about being filled with the knowledge of His will, Biblically speaking, we're talking about people that have spent time in God's word. They're not being conformed to the image of the world, but they're being transformed by the renewing of their mind so that they might prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Here's some of the things that we know is the will of God. It is the will of God that we pray without ceasing. It is the will of God that we give thanks in everything because everything that happens is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. It is the will of God that we abstain from fornication. These are the things that the Bible is very, very clear on. It is the will of God that if you have a problem with a brother, that you pray about it and then go and talk to that person. Whether they're the problem or you're the problem, you're required to pray about it and then go talk to that person and deal with it. So there's a lot of things that when we're in the Word of God, we understand this is how God thinks about this particular subject. This is what God would have me to do. And so he's praying that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will. It's not a matter of being controlled by that knowledge, it's a matter of making good decisions based on what God says about the subject. And as far as the word knowledge there, epigenosis, recognition, full discernment, and acknowledgement. Knowledge is a central theme in Paul's writings. He's constantly talking about, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And he describes that. He talks a lot about the mind, where the Old Testament talks a lot about the heart. And the reality is, is they are the same. So that brings us to number three. The epistles are written with chapters on things that must be known, and then there are chapters that are more practical. For example, Romans 1-11, doctrine. Romans 12-16, practical. Galatians 1-4, doctrine. Galatians 5-6, practical. Ephesians one through three, doctrine. Four to six, practical. Philemon and Colossians follow basically the same pattern. The first two chapters are gonna be doctrine, the latter two chapters are gonna be a little bit more practical in their application. So that brings us to number four. Excuse me. The warnings in the Bible against the lack of knowledge. There are several verses there, I'll let you look them up at your leisure. The reality is, is Paul even talks about people that because they don't know, they end up doing things that they shouldn't do. So, I find, We're in that kind of a day and age today where among evangelicals, for instance, a survey done last year, 1,000 evangelical churches, they basically sent out this survey and they found out that evangelical churches, like this church right here, it was something like 64% did not believe in hell. Yeah. And they had all different kinds of topics and questions straight out of the Bible. And to see what the evangelicals believe or actually don't know that the Bible teaches is absolutely astounding. Because, well, we got this thing with theology. For whatever reason, people think that theology is boring. It's too difficult to understand. The reality is God wants us to know things. He wants us to know what's true about Him. He wants us to know what's true about salvation. For example, if you understand what God does in saving a person, all of the things that are included in that, you would never come to the conclusion that somehow you could lose your salvation. I mean, when he makes you a new person, takes you out of this realm and puts you in this spiritual realm, how are you getting back over there? It doesn't happen, so what are you gonna know? You have to study soteriology, the doctrine of salvation. One of the reasons why we don't believe that we're that bad is we don't like studying hamartiology, the doctrine of sin. When you study the doctrine of sin, you find out, you know, all the way down to my absolute center of my core, there's not a thing that I can do that glorifies God until I get saved, because my core gets changed. But even then, as a new creature, I have to walk in the Spirit in order to do something that's pleasing to God. And we'll see that as we go along here. So, moving right along, the warnings in the Bible against the lack of knowledge. People need to read the Bible, they need to understand things, and I would suggest finding an easy theology. I know they're that thick, and sometimes the guys talk up here. There's nothing wrong with stretching yourself, okay? Because you need to know things. Number five there, how does one gain knowledge? First, one must desire it. You know, being happy with the fact that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and when I die I'm going to heaven, is not going to save you from a lot of the problems that you're going to have in life. In fact, your reaction to a lot of those problems is probably going to be relatively ungodly. Because every problem that we have is a theological problem. When we fight with one another, what does the Bible say? that we're supposed to serve one another, love one another, not think too highly of ourselves. We're supposed to submit ourselves one to another in the fear of God. There's all kinds of things that say that if there's conflict, you have a theological problem. So those are the things to consider. You gotta desire knowledge in order to get it. Second, he must depend on the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2, This is the passage that's speaking of how the Holy Spirit changes us from glory to glory as we're in the Word. And so our dependence is upon Him. As I prayed earlier, Intellectually, we can read this and analyze and check out the Greek and all that kind of stuff. We can come to some good understanding of what the thing says, but we need the Holy Spirit to really open our eyes to the truth that is spiritual behind it. And that brings us to letter D. In all wisdom and spiritual knowledge. So Paul wants them to be filled with the knowledge of his will. in all wisdom and spiritual knowledge. What do we know about wisdom? Wisdom, there is an earthly wisdom that is sensual and demonic, and then there's a heavenly wisdom that has peace and grace involved in it. I think there's plenty of people in this world and in the church that have lots of earthly knowledge, or earthly wisdom. When we count beans, when I say that I mean we're only limited to the dollars that are in the bank. I don't know how many times we've had talks in a board meeting over the years where we've had to remind the official board we are not bean counters. Our job is to determine what is the will of God, God will provide for it. And how many times have we seen that happen when we had a need, God provided, people gave. If we just went on what came in the offering, there would be times when we say, okay, which staff members are we getting rid of this week? When our people recognize a need, they give. So we need to understand, okay, what is God's will? Should we do this? If we do, we let the people know, boom, it gets provided for. My friend down in Bermuda, Down in Bermuda, everything costs twice as much. A loaf of bread might actually cost eight to nine dollars, and I'm not joking on that, where we might pay a few bucks for a loaf of bread here. I know you can buy some expensive bread here, but most of us don't. A simple loaf of bread down there costs me nine bucks. A thing of potatoes that would cost me four or five dollars here is gonna cost nine dollars there, you know, a three to five pound bag. Exactly, they import everything. Well, this pastor that I'm a friend with and went to Bible college with, he has a home not in a rich area. I wouldn't say it was a home much better or bigger than mine. It is two stories. They got an apartment downstairs and their home upstairs. It's on the edge of a hill, which is not the favorable place. It cost a half a million dollars. And right before COVID, someone paid it off. He didn't pay it off, someone else paid it off. I don't even know if he knows who paid it off. And when COVID came, the church cut him to half salary. He wouldn't have been able to afford his mortgage. See, what is God's will? God's will for Troy, he wanted to be a missionary. He wanted to go to England and be a missionary. And God left him in Bermuda. And then God provided. for him to be there. He didn't wanna be a pastor in Bermuda. Huh, interesting how that works. Yeah, well, he didn't leave, he stayed. And so when he got cut to half salary, he goes, I think some of them were trying to get rid of me, but since my mortgage had been paid, I didn't have to leave. So that's just what we need to understand, that we're looking for, what does God want us to do? How does God want us to do it? Should we start up a rock show up here with the smoke coming out so we can attract unbelievers into the church? Let me see, the word church means assembly of called out ones. We're supposed to go from here, having been encouraged by the word of God, out there to shine as lights, to reach people. We don't need them coming in here until they become one of us. It's not that they can't visit. Hey, visit, you can hear the gospel. but we don't need to change our methodology to match a marketing scheme here in America or do the latest thing so we can attract unbelievers because what happens when we allow 20 million non-citizens to come into our country? Does that change the culture at all? So, invite a bunch of unbelievers into the church. Will it change the culture at all? Oh yeah, okay. Yes, for the worse, so spiritual wisdom and understanding. Number two, five purposes fulfilled in such spiritual knowledge, verses 10 and 11. Number one, a spiritual walk, 10a. The word walk basically means a pattern of daily conduct, and we are to walk worthy of the Lord. The idea there is fully pleasing him. By the way, that might seem impossible at times. The reality is, is all things are possible with God, amen? And so when we walk in the Spirit, we are going to be walking worthy. So features of a worthy walk, there's gonna be humility, Ephesians 4, one to three. Purity, Romans 13, 13. Contentedness, 1 Corinthians 7, 17. Faith, 2 Corinthians 5, 7. There's gonna be good works, Ephesians 2.10. We're gonna walk in love, Ephesians 5.2. We're gonna be different from the world, Ephesians 4.17-32. We're gonna walk in light, Ephesians 5.8. In wisdom, Ephesians 5.15. And in truth, 3rd John 3 and 4. So to walk worthy means we're gonna be walking in the power of the spirit according to the word of God and it's gonna be demonstrated in our personal humility, contentedness, love for one another. We're going to be walking by faith, purity obviously. One of the attributes of a false teacher is immorality. It's interesting how many teachers over the years, false teachers especially, have fallen into immoral, sinful situations. So a spiritual walk. Letter B, a spiritual fruit. Verses 10b, being fruitful is the mark of true faith. Notice in John 15, 5, 8, you know, abide in me, let my words abide in you, and you will bear much fruit. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. Okay? And then of course, Romans 7. I'll let you look that one up. But a lot of people say, well, what is fruit? One organization when I was in Bible college, I was looking for a scholarship. They were named after some famous evangelist that I don't remember right now. But in filling out the applications, kind of like how many people have you led to the Lord today? They thought fruit only was people that you brought to the Lord. Well, if I share the gospel 20 times and nobody comes to the Lord, I must not be an evangelist according to your definition. And I didn't get that scholarship, by the way. But fruit, I think, really comes down to it's going to show maturity in your spiritual life. It's going to show the character of Christ in your spiritual life, or if you will, the fruit of the Spirit. And ultimately, there may be fruit in the sense of seeing others come to know Christ because of the life that you have lived before them. So spiritual fruit, being fruitful is the mark of true faith. The Bible defines fruit in various ways. Here, being fruitful, he says specifically in every good work. So it could include converts, 1 Corinthians 16, 15, Romans 1, 13. It could include praise, Hebrews 13, 15. Offerings, Romans 15, 26 to 28. Godly living, Hebrews 12, 11. Godly character developed by the spirit, Galatians 5, 22 through 23. So when we talk about spiritual fruit or fruit unto good works, we're talking about you're living the life that God has called you to live. That's going to be walking worthy. So what produces fruit in 10b? First, you have to be united to Christ. Romans 7.4, you've You died with Christ, Romans chapter 6, and therefore you're no longer married to the old man and you've been separated from him so that you might be married to another, to Christ, to bear fruit unto God. That's what Romans 7, 4 talks about. And of course, John 15, 1 to 8, I'm the vine, you're the branches. As long as we're connected, we're resting in who Christ is and what He's done, we're going to bear fruit. So union with Christ. Second, wisdom that comes from above. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield. Ooh, there's one. Full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. So that's the wisdom that comes from above. And then third, effort on the part of the believer. In 2 Peter 1, five to eight, Peter says that we are to add to our faith virtue. To virtue, knowledge. To knowledge, patience. To patience, steadfastness. To steadfastness, brotherly kindness, and then something else, and then love. These are things that we're responsible to actually be involved in the process of growing. Paul puts it this way, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. He says elsewhere, I press toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Whole point being is, a lot of people like to come to church and sit back and just soak it in. Go ahead, make me grow. Paul and Peter both indicate that we're supposed to be actively involved in this growth. First, united with Christ, looking to him for the wisdom from above, and then third, being a part of that spiritual growth, which brings us to 10c, spiritual growth, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Well, turn with me, if you would, to 2 Peter for just a moment. Second Peter, after chapter one, it talks about adding to your faith the virtue and all that kind of stuff. But notice what it says for the person that is actively involved in this growth process. In verse nine, or verse eight, it says, for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The person who lacks these things is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. Therefore, brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. So you can see that there is a point where when you're actively involved in your spiritual growth, you're not only going to become more like Christ, but you're going to increase in the knowledge of God. The marks of spiritual growth, a deeper love for God's word. More obedience. Enlarged faith. And I'm not sure that that's actually a good way of saying it because God has given us everything that we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of him. And faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Faith is a gift from God. I think we have all the faith that we need But the more you walk with him, the more you're able to access that faith. So you're using more of it, I think is a better way of saying it. And then of course, greater love, Philippians 1.9. One of the things I'd have to say is the longer I've walked with the Lord, the more this relationship is one where I love the Lord more. Before it was, okay, I'm saved, I'm one of his servants. Yeah, I love Jesus, but now I'm recognizing, wow, he's been so good to me, I do love him. And same with God's people. I recognize that people can be an absolute pain in the ear, okay? But the reality is, is the more I've walked with the Lord, the more I can love them in spite of that. And hopefully they love me in spite of that too, so. So let's, greater love, let's look at letter D. Spiritual strength, 11a. That we might be strengthened with all might. The word for strengthened there starts out with the word that we get dynamite from. Dunamuomenoi is the word. It's a present participle indicating continuous action to enable or strengthen. Okay? It's not like a booster rocket. It gets them going and then leaves them to fly on their own. This is the thing about being filled with the Spirit. Because as a church in general, not as Edgemont Bible Church, a church in general, somewhere in the last century, I don't know all the details. I can go by some of the things I read. A.W. Tozer writing in the 40s and the 50s was already talking about how the church had gotten away from God and they were moving towards entertainment. Now if he's writing that in the 40s and the 50s, you see where we are today and it's kind of like, wow, he wasn't far off. So it's already started before the 40s and the 50s, but somewhere the church got away from a trust in the word of God and in the spirit of God. The turn of the 20th century, every mainline denomination in America basically went liberal. That was also the start of the charismatic movement, late 1800s, early 1900s, because people were looking for something more than the liberal church was giving them. It wasn't until about the 20s or 30s that the evangelical movement as we know it today got its footing and started saying, no, the Bible says this, that's what it means. And I think it was in the 30s that the IFCA got its beginnings. Dallas Theological Seminary came out of that, things like that. But, you know, we got away from something and then restarted it up. But in starting it back up, a lot of churches are dependent upon programs. Nothing wrong with programs. But the people that are involved in ministry need the Holy Spirit. Again, we need to be people that let the word of Christ dwell in us richly so that the life of Christ exudes from us. And so when we talk about being strengthened, the spirit of God enables us to live the life that God has called us to live. If it's dependent upon our flesh, then I'll tell ya, you might come up with a nice little program, but is there gonna be eternal fruit from it? And so these are things that we need to understand. Paul is praying that they would be strengthened with all might. Not like a booster rocket, but something that is gonna continually giving them that which is necessary. According to his glorious power. Notice it's not out of, it's according to. How glorious is his power? Well, the word glorious there refers to the manifestation of the attributes of God, and His power in this particular passage basically is the word for vigor, dominion, might, power, strength. It refers to strength in action. It is used 12 times in the New Testament, 11 times talking about God. God's power is manifested in us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Bunch of verses there. And again, look at who I was when I got saved. who I was shortly after I got saved, look at me today, and can I tell ya, there's a lot of difference. Why? Because of the work of the Spirit of God through the Word of God, through the encouragement of other brothers and sisters to change me and grow me up and make me into the man I am today. Now, again, am I interested in going down to the bus station and singing How Great Thou Art? No, not at all. People are gonna think you're weird, okay? So why could I do something like that? Because the peace of God that I had in my heart at that moment, I mean, all's I could do was sing. And it wasn't a matter of, I've been controlled by the Spirit. It was just, I had joy and it needed an outlet. Yeah, and that's the idea here of strengthened according to his glorious power. Notice it refers to God's power 11 out of 12 times. It is available to the believer who is filled with the knowledge of God's word, or if you will, filled with God's word. Again, letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly has the same byproducts in chapter three as being filled with the spirit in Ephesians chapter five. Excuse me. All right, so that brings us to spiritual endurance. These are all things that Paul is praying for them. This is found in 11b. The knowledge of God's promises and purposes revealed in God's word gives strength to endure trials and suffering. I was driving home from Blues Creek this morning and I was thinking about I've yet to meet a transgender person that wanted to give me their pronouns. Personally, being a truth-oriented person, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't laugh at them. Maybe. But I'm thinking, how would I handle that situation? And this morning I was thinking, it's kind of like, what brought them to this place that they feel as though they have to be a different gender and let you know what their pronouns are? There had to be something that went wrong along the way. And we can talk about demonic oppression, we can talk about poor parenting, and all that kind of stuff. The reality is, is I think one of the first things I might say is, you know, I am really sorry for whatever brought you to this point. But I have to tell you that I'm gonna love you enough not to join you in the delusion. Because words mean things. A male is a male. A man is a man. They're both the same thing. A female is a woman. Okay? And this person is not a woman, though they may think they are. And to join them in their delusion is not loving them. Again, I'm still working on that one in my mind, but it's one of those things where When we're filled with the knowledge of God's word, there's gonna be a way to pass this along. So knowledge of God's promises and purposes reveal in God's word gives strength to endure trials and suffering. I imagine if that time ever comes, this woman might beat me up, I don't know, and well, we'll endure. The word hupomone, cheerful or hopeful endurance. Enduring patience. It deals more with the circumstances that you're going through. Getting behind someone that's doing 35 on 159. Macrothumia. Long anonymity or forbearance. And this deals more with dealing with people. The circumstances are he's driving 35. The person is the one that's driving 35. You need both of them. You see what I'm saying? That kind of a thing. Actually, the circumstances might be unboxed in here because they got two cars over here in this one, that would be the circumstances, and I have to deal with the person as well as the circumstances. And that brings us to the last point here. This is not the stoic, teeth-gritting, patient enduring of trials, but the strength provided by the knowledge of God's word, allowing the believer to endure the trials joyously. On our way down to Bermuda. I get a report on my phone first thing in the morning, your flight going to Charlotte is delayed 45 minutes. The night before, Jason was supposed to be coming back from Minnesota to land in Kansas City and he was gonna get home, have a few hours sleep, hop back on a plane and go to Idaho or something like that. And apparently between weather patterns and pilots, they're only allowed to fly so many hours and then they have to have so many hours rest excuse me, he ended up getting stuck in Minnesota, or Minneapolis, or it was some mini. He got stuck there. So when I saw we're delayed 45 minutes, okay, things have gone on. We get there, we check in, we take off 30 to 40 minutes later, and we got there on time. The problem was is when we checked in, yeah, you're going to miss your next flight, so we're just going to check you to Charlotte, which means we have to go get our luggage and then recheck in, but by that time the plane's already gone. So we go to the customer service and they say, I can't fly you to Kennedy because you still won't get there until tomorrow. Okay, we'll put you up in a hotel. Fantastic. They're paying for it. Problem is it's 11 o'clock in the morning. Guess what happens between 11 o'clock in the morning today and 11 o'clock in the morning tomorrow? You're gonna eat three times. And they gave us a meal voucher. All right, one of the meals is covered. We can do this. We're not next to anything. There's no McDonald's next door or anything like that. There's a restaurant in the hotel. A hamburger costs $20. Guess how much the meal voucher was for. So it didn't even cover a meal. It's kinda like, okay Lord, you've given us this money to take a vacation, not gonna worry about it. Three meals cost a lot of money, I can tell you, and that's with meal voucher. And you know, they took care of us. Next day we got to the airport, took off, got to Bermuda. A day later, oh well, not a problem. That's how you have to handle life. Why? Because who's in charge of the pilots getting there 45 minutes late? Who's in charge of whatever caused them to not be able to fly until that 45 minutes was up? God's in charge of all of it. And so it's kind of like, okay, Lord, you're in this with us, we're going. It's not a, I have to be nice to these people because they're flying me someplace. No, it's just, life happens, doesn't it? Yeah. So we might as well learn that God is in the midst of the details of life happening Okay God, what are you trying to teach me? What are you trying to show me? What are you trying to prevent me from being a part of that if I was driving 45 I might have been in that accident down the road? That kind of a thing. That might be the case at times. So when you get delayed, okay, is God in it? Yes, so how do you handle it? Thank you, Lord, and we move on. So that is Colossians, Paul's prayer for them, and next week we will talk about how he praises God for them. Lord willing, because we don't make plans for next week, because we're but a vapor. We're here today and gone to Mali, or something like that. Okay, let's close in prayer. Father, we do thank you. Thank you for your love and your care for us. Thank you for your word. We recognize that in it, we have everything that we need for life and godliness. We see that you are in the midst of our trials. You are making us more like Jesus Christ through those trials and through your word, by your spirit. And we ask, Lord, that you would give us wisdom. You are more than happy to do so. You've told us already in the book of James. All's we have to do is ask. And Lord, we come tonight asking, give us wisdom so that we might walk worthy of Jesus Christ, fully pleasing you by the power of the spirit that lives within us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. All righty, we'll see you, Lord Willen, on Wednesday night, and more food and all that kind of stuff, and we'll talk around the table. Have a good night.