So we're going to have the same scripture reading as last week. And that's the one where we're going to be in multiple places here of Hebrews. Not far from each other, but Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. Hebrews chapter 3, verse 12. And Hebrews chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. So we'll move along slowly. And if you don't want to do all the turning, just listen carefully. I'll read nice and clearly. But I'm starting with Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who, being in the brightness of his glory and in the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." He goes on to describe the superiority of Christ over the angels And then in chapter two, verses one through four, we continue. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip or drift away. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will. We go to chapter three, verse 12, to pick up this thought. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. And then chapter four, verses one and two. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." That is my way of giving you a synopsis of four chapters, almost four chapters, that sets the stage for the book of Hebrews to be a book of remembrance, of reminders, of warnings, of cautions. We spent time last year talking about the perpetual use of the gospel. It has a long-term effect. Paul came to the Romans and The gospel wasn't just something to get you started. The gospel was his context continually in all that he taught, that we might be established, not just born again, but growing and maturing and serving with gospel emphasis, how we looked at the entire Bible. Now, as we are starting the new year, I'm using some of the book of Hebrews to follow on with our perpetual need of this gospel. There's a reason that the gospel needs to be continually put out there, that the emphasis on Christ, the centrality of Christ in this gospel, because there's things within us, dangers that we need to be aware of for ourselves and also for going to be watchmen over men's souls. We need to understand this perpetual need for the gospel context and be careful how we hear it. There's one time when Jesus spoke, I forget if it was a parable or what it was, but he said, take heed how you hear. Let this sink deeply into your ears. Sorry, I don't have the reference for that. But how we receive it is so important. Sometimes we know things, but we haven't really received them yet, which means we don't really understand them because we can't respond correctly. Hebrews is going to help us respond correctly and continually to his word. So the gospel has a perpetual application for us because we have a perpetual need for it, a perpetual need to be involved with gospel truth. And we're taking Hebrews to look at some warnings. And this is where we get into the twofold purpose in scripture that is very accentuated in the book of Hebrews. Two things the scriptures can be doing at the same time because we're dealing with two different kinds of people at the same time. And Hebrews is meant to help us repent. and or stay vitally connected with gospel truth. The reason I say and or is because some people haven't really repented yet, even though they confess the name of Christ, and they need that initial repentance. And others of us who know the Lord, we have repented, but we've slipped up. We need to do some more repenting. Christianity can be a life of repenting. As God shows us more of ourselves, we have more to agree with him, confess, and forsake. And it's a steady thing going on in our lives. So if you're looking at the notes, there's two preliminary considerations in bold on that third paragraph. And we've got a number one and a number two. Let me read those statements. I'm not going to read any scriptures right now, but the first one is, some people have professed faith in Christ but did not really possess a saving relationship with Christ. Perhaps they have been mistaught or they have not been paying attention to the truth that they have been taught. Passages in the book of Hebrews and in other places of scripture are designed to warn them to seek that true relationship with Christ and his word. The second category, some people have a true relationship with Christ, but they have not matured or they have become careless, sleepy, discouraged, distracted. They may be under the influence of weak or false teachers. Passages in the book of Hebrews and in other places of scripture are designed to awaken and revitalize them to make them mature followers of Christ with true zeal and understanding. Okay? I sound like a theology book on purpose. I carefully formulated those statements, studied them, lived with them, and I'm repeating to you them word for word because You can say some things that can get slipped up. And this is the main reason, I think, well, it's one of the big reasons why there's different denominations and different kinds of teaching going on in the realms of Christendom. Because some people think you can lose your salvation and then you've got to get it back. And they read some of these scary places in Hebrews And they come up with a doctrine that it agrees to their logic and what their eyes have seen. I talked to a lady. She was a holiness preacher. It was a lady. And she was kind, and I was kind to her. But I wanted to talk about that salvation's eternal and what Christ does. He finishes. And I wanted to go on the emphasis of what commonly is called eternal security. And when I said, I do not believe a Christian can lose their salvation, she looked at me with imploring eyes, and she said, but I've seen so many who have. I don't doubt what she saw was something very important, but I don't think she interpreted correctly. Because I've seen these things, these situations with people, and they move along and they seem to be fine, and then all of a sudden they're not fine, and all of a sudden they go the other way, and it looked like they were so there, and now they aren't. I think Jesus taught a parable for all of this, that one with the sower. Now the seed that fell on the wayside, that's a hard-packed area, the seed never even got started, the birds came, the devil took it right away. That's not the consideration for this morning. But the next two, thorny ground and stony ground, They both seem to take off. And Jesus even said, with joy, they receive it. And something pops up, but never fruit. The thorns choke out the plant. It doesn't have fruit. The stony ground is shallow. And when the sun comes up and the heat of persecution comes, they'll say, I didn't sign up for this. And they're gone. But I can interpret the parable just fine. Those two are professing Christians temporarily. They do not finish. They never were. As John said in 1 John 2, they went out from us because they were never of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have stayed with us. But the other, good soil, The seed takes root and it's fruitful. Some 30, some 60, some 100. We don't all have the same amount of fruit. We don't all have the same amount of maturity. We can't compare each other about this. But the fact is, and over and over scripture says, the true believers bear fruit. And Jesus sees to it. John 15 and the branches and he's the vine. I can't go any farther than this. I'm going to allude to some things that if you want to know more about this, how to understand it, how to apply it, how to use it so that you're not forever torturing yourself over whether you're saved or not. There's eventually some point where you just got to say, okay, as a Christian, I've got to do better than this. There's a book written, it says, Stop Asking Jesus to Come into Your Heart. And that's pretty important. I did that for my younger years. Every time I'd hear a gospel message, every time I felt conviction about sin, I'd think, well, maybe I didn't really get saved. Maybe I didn't say the prayer right. Maybe I didn't really mean it. Well, Lord, I really, really, really mean it now. And that's torturous. And it's necessary until you get things right. But odds are you're not going to get them right if you're trying to do it in the power of the flesh and making resolutions, I'll do better Lord, I promise, I promise, I promise. No, it's understanding what God has planned for you through Christ and appropriating, like 2 Timothy 2.1 says, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus. Now, through Christ, I can do all things, and so I have to do it that way. But here's the thing. There are places in Hebrews, as well as some other scriptures, where what is happening brings fear and brings confusion to almost everybody. Now, I've alluded to two of the most powerful devices. I won't call the scriptures devices, but people are divisive over these two. Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10. I'm going to try to deal with them a little later to some degree, but I thought because of this discussion, I would point out that Hebrews and I've got chapter 5 verse 8 through chapter 6 verse 12, and I have Hebrews 10 verses 19 through 39. that if you need to get on this, go to John MacArthur's comments, go to Warren Wiersbe's comments, you'll get some sound things. But there's so much division. Even people who basically agree can disagree on how to interpret these. It's not an easy place. But we have to face that. And there's also the subject of 1 John, helping us to know that we know the Lord. By this we know we're born of God, if. And way back in 2020, I got the dates here precisely, because you can go back to Sermon Audio or northumbiblechurch.com, and from January 12th, 2020 to May 17th, 2020, I went through the book of 1 John. In a way, I went through it twice. I did it as an outline and then topically pulled out the subjects of the evidences of the new birth and kind of taught it again. And of course, that was right in the middle of the pandemic and we stopped meeting for a long time and I had to do it online and I probably lost a lot of people's attentions. And yet online, I still see people consulting those sermons somewhere in the world. How important is the book of 1 John? It's so important. It's only five chapters. but so clearly that you can know that you're saved, and then you can work with the Lord on how the saved should live. We had it back in December with Christ is the light of the world. In Ephesians 5, it says, you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. That's where we want to get going. So anyways, A singular passage, and a lot of them are in Hebrews, can be working on both people at the same time. Taking a person who is a false professor and waking them up so that they can truly repent and believe. but also believers that are weak, distracted, went astray or something, they can, with those same scriptures, be alerted to the task of getting back on following the Lord as we should. But if we don't have a gospel that tells us that we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works, that God has before ordained that we should walk in. If we don't have a gospel that says that, if we have some gospel that says, well, all I have to do is believe in Jesus and it doesn't matter how I live. He's got my soul in a fireproof vault and I'm going to go to heaven. And the truth is, put bluntly, if you want to live like the devil, you will live with him. And we don't want to be false professors. So we have things like 2 Corinthians 13 5, and it says, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. And then there's that little warning, lest you be reprobates. And reprobates are people that they've turned things upside down. They call good evil, evil good, and they can justify anything. But a Christian will welcome the task of examining themselves. The most honest people are the ones who put themselves on trial, who do not make assumptions. They accuse their own selves. And if we do that before the Lord, like he says in 1 Corinthians 11, if we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged with this world. That's healthy. Biblical activity for us. And then 2 Peter 1.10, make your calling and election sure. If you go to 2 Peter, it talks all about these things, add to your faith virtue and knowledge. You're busy working with your belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ to make sure all the proper components are flowing and working. Because we do not add faith plus works, we need a faith that works. That's a James 2 thing. And so how important this is to not be confused what we're going to be looking at. Is that talking to me, or oh, that's just for somebody else? Or are we constantly doubting our salvation when we shouldn't? Or are we doubting our salvation because we really should? These are things the Spirit of God and the Word of God need to clarify. But I wanted to make sure we got on the right start there. I'm going to ask you to go with me to 2 Peter 3. Oops. 2 Peter 3. And I want to look at verses 17 and 18. 2 Peter 3, verse 17, Ye therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, and I'll have to let you figure out what those things are that he's just got done saying. Beware, lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. So clear, clean warning. Beware. Look out. Don't say it's always the other guy. It could be you. Instead of giving yourself a benefit of doubt, you get under the examination light of the Lord, and as we sang this morning from Psalm 139, verses 23 and 24, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, test me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. And the Spirit of God will give you the parental comfort and say, yes, you have been wrong, I am correcting you, and we're gonna go forward now, and I've never stopped loving you. or the horror might come in and say, hey, the pain, it won't go away. What's wrong? And he may say, now let's go back and look at when you said you were a Christian, when you made this decision, when you made this choice, and then look how you lived afterwards. And there, he may be calling them to faith. But here, and as many times in Hebrews, there's a positive hopeful note, because you wouldn't say but grow in grace and in knowledge to a person who isn't born again. So he believes he's talking to Christians. He addressed that in the beginning of his book. Grow in grace. Some people want to grow in knowledge. Got to watch out for that one. Growing in knowledge, boy, you can scoop a shovel over your head backwards on everybody else and dump on them, but you grow in grace with that knowledge, which means I am seeing the Lord work. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. When Jesus ministers grace and truth, he's giving you desire, he's giving you joy, he's giving you zeal to do the things. And I don't know where I'm supposed to preach this, but in John 7, if you know these things, happy are ye if you do them. I stole my own thunder somewhere there. But the happiness comes with doing, not just knowing. We're here to do the truth. That comes up all over the place, especially in John's writings. In 1 Peter, and we don't have to turn there, but 1 Peter 2 verses 1 through 3, we're told to put aside all superfluity of naughtiness, okay? That means the excesses of indulgent living and not denying ourselves. Put aside sloppy, careless, dirty living and thinking and receive with meekness. Oops, I'm quoting James now. But he says, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. He has this spiritual soul food for you called milk, and you need to be like a little baby because you want to grow. You're starving. You're not going to put it off. There should be a spiritual hunger alarm in you, much like your stomach has one that it'll growl really bad. It might even bite, but you need to say, I haven't been in the Word. The Word isn't flowing in me. It's not dwelling in me richly, like Colossians 3.16 says. And you just can't take it anymore. You gotta have more of Him. And then there's 1 Corinthians 14.20, which says, Brethren, be not children in understanding. How be it in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. And some translations may avoid the word men here and just talk about mature. But the idea is that our understanding needs to be growing up and maturing. Stay childlike when it comes to malice. Stay simple and pure. But in the area of understanding, grow up. Grow up. Okay, so that's a synopsis and a little bit more to what we said last week. Now I'm starting select places of Hebrews. And we're going to look at chapter 2, and we're going to particularly look at verse 1 and verse 3 first. We're looking for words that describe how we could be in danger of something, a bad habit or practice or a negligence So we want to look for these things. These are to give us, hopefully, the warning so that we will be hungry for the gospel way of studying the Bible. Always getting back to Jesus, getting back to Jesus and me. So, in Hebrews 2, verse 1, Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip," in some translations say, drift away. Like the boat comes up to the dock, and somebody's holding on to the piling there, and everyone's getting off, and they forget to tie the boat to the piling. And they're all walking away, and guess what the boat's doing? It's starting to float back away. And if we don't tie this on firmly, we might drift or slip away. Then we go to verse 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and I think that's like what Hebrews 1-2 was talking about, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, And you look at Mark's gospel, the first thing he says, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ comes to introduce the new covenant, the gospel of the kingdom. There's something now that's got new, powerful life in it. Jesus spoke it, and then it says, was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. Which, by the way, means somebody who wrote Hebrews wasn't one of the original apostles. I still think it's Paul. It isn't as popular with some today to say Paul, but I really do, and I won't get off on that tangent right now. J. Vernon McGee wrote a whole thesis on the subject, and you can write their organization, which is through the Bible, I think, and they'll send that material to you, but the debate goes on. We will not debate right now. But the gospel, this salvation, first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. And chapter four talks about the confirmation, the book of Acts, signs and wonders following and so forth. We have that all documented. But let's get to the point here. People let things slip or drift away. They do not give more earnest heed. They do not pay much closer careful attention to the things that we have heard. Now, by the way, if you want to know what I'm doing, I took some of the major translations and I looked at their wording because you or somebody else may be using a different translation and some of my King James E's might not seem to make sense or might get you sidetracked. So I'll do this. I'm going to take quotations. I'm not going to list all the translations. I basically look at the New King James the ESV, the New American Standard Bible, the New International Version, and I may have missed one there, but I generally look at them. So if I see alternate wording, especially if I agree with it, which has been most of the time. I'm putting them all there so you can get this bigger picture. For a moment, I'll sound like the Amplified Bible, which is a hard Bible to read, because it takes a paragraph to say John 3, 16, because they give all these alternate ideas and words. So bear with me. They do not give more earnest heed, or they do not pay much closer or careful attention to the things that we have heard. They neglect or ignore the scriptures teaching on such a great comprehensive subject as our salvation. Now, if you think salvation is just to get that over with, Okay, we sprinkle the baby, we catechize them, we confirm them, we're done. For the rest of your lives, you're just gonna repeat ordinances and functions, celebrations, and just keep rehearsing salvation in Christ and not have to apply it further. That's a danger. And different groups do it different ways, but that the gospel is something to never ignore. Never neglect, never take for granted, say, oh, I got that over with. Because we'll start drifting. We'll slip away. We need to pay more attention, careful attention, closer attention, earnestly taking heed. And I do that, and it's not because I don't think I'm saved, it's because I know what I'm capable of. I've unfortunately proved it to myself and to my dear wife how messed up I can get if I don't stay close to this and make sure I'm tied up closely and involved with this. Now there's Hebrews 2, 1 through 4. Let me just read the context one more time here. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God also bearing witness? bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will." I've had people say, why is he on such a salvation kick? It's because I really got kicked. And I'm still getting it. And we've got to get this motivation settled. It's not something just to put in its place somewhere and now we go on to Bigger, better things. This is the biggest thing. So great salvation. Now, Titus chapter 2, verses 11 through 14. There's some very good and careful wording here by Paul in the book of Titus. Chapter 2, 11 through 14. For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men. teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar or purchased people, zealous of good works. Now, there's some things said at the very beginning we don't want to gloss over. The grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men. There is a thing going on. The Holy Spirit is convicting men of sin and righteousness and judgment. He is working on the consciences of men. I think we talked about that in December with the light of the world. But that doesn't mean everybody's saved. Teaching us causes us to take the microscope and switch to a stronger lens. This is the grace of God bringing it to all men and yet those who are saved have been taught by the Holy Spirit. Taught as a child of God. And here's what we have been and are still being taught. That we should deny ourselves. That we should deny ungodliness. that we should deny worldly lusts, that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Now, those are things I'm going to do the rest of my life. It doesn't mean I'm not sure if I'm saved and I gotta wait till the end to see if my works were good enough. That's not, and that's what some people teach, but it's telling me this is what a child of God does when he has actually received the grace It hasn't just appeared to me, I've received it, and it puts me on this course of sensitivity. Like John would say in 1 John 2, 15, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of the life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, the world is passing away, but he that does the will of God, what's the will of God? You just read it. Believe on Jesus. And as you're believing on him, you're turning away from the world and the flesh and the devil. And this is written, as a Christian should see it, because verse 13 says, looking for that blessed hope. Other people who are not saved don't have a blessed hope. They may have some wishful thinking. They may have a false hope, but the blessed hope is given to us as we respond to God with the fear of the Lord and the desire to please Him and to deny ourselves and all of that. We have this blessed hope and we're looking forward to the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, who is Jesus Christ. We have so much to look forward to. And we're getting compensation and comfort the whole time we're going through struggles with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Jesus gave himself for us. Okay? He gave himself for us. He redeemed us. He purchased us back from sin. He purifies us. And 1 John 3 says, every man that has this hope purifies himself even as he is pure. And we're referred to as peculiar people. Now, lots of people have called me peculiar. And just acting weird isn't what he's talking about here. Some have inserted the idea of the word purchased. You know those people that collect things? And if you see one of those things somewhere, you say, oh, that's the kind of thing they would have. You know, I'm kind of known for loving to buy rocks. Collect them, buy them, whatever I can do. I like rocks. I like carnival glass, okay? So people will see, and sometimes I get phone calls, hey, I just found this, do you want it? Yeah, my mother had a collection, she liked monkeys. And once I was born, that was like the final thing, the final monkey, and she didn't want any more. But some people collect chickens, and some people have this and that as their thing. And when the world looks at us, they always say, oh, that's one of those Jesus kind of people. One of those people that's all about Jesus. And whether they like it or not, or understand it or not, Jesus purchased them because that's what he's collecting. What are they? They're people who are zealous of good works. They don't just do good works so they can not go to hell. They do works because it's great! It's an opportunity. It glorifies God. I feel rewarded. My life is prospering, and I might be a better testimony to others. This is win, win, win, win. We're not just saying, oh man, I can't do that because I'm a Christian, or I gotta do this because I'm a Christian. No, it's I get to do this, and I don't have to do that anymore. The zeal, folks, We've talked about the zeal of the Lord in the past, and that Hebrew word for the zeal of the Lord, it means to get red in the face with passion. And we ought to get excited. It doesn't mean we always feel bubbly. I got that. But the zeal is nonetheless consistent desire. Would you also notice with me 1 Timothy? We're not far away. Go back a little bit. 1 Timothy chapter 4. Verse 13. Now, don't get spoofed by the idea that this, you know, was written to a pastor. Oh, that's for pastors. Yeah, I'll make sure my pastor does this, but not me, no. Because Paul told Timothy carefully, you be an example to the believer. Okay, and he has a list for that too. Be thou an example of the believer. And so we all can apply this in verse 13. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. The Christian mind should be a busy place. Always things to think about, meditate, contemplate, interpret, apply. And I'm going to skip down to verse 16 because there are some things that are kind of getting us sidetracked about ministry and ordination. But verse 16, I think this one's just as pertinent as 13. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. And I've done this quite a few times, I won't go into it in detail. But salvation, initially, is justification for the penalty of my sins, and in the moment when I repent and believe on Christ, I am saved. And that's settled. But there's another time salvation is used to describe the deliverance from the power of sin, from its sinful, deceptive qualities, and that takes a lifetime. I'm saved because Jesus purchased me. I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. But now the battle begins for sanctification. And so Timothy is going to save himself from a whole lot of miserable things. And others who are following him and watching him, they can be delivered also of these temptations. We've got an awful battle going on with ministers falling. Christians of great reputation over the last years, giving up, quitting, or it turns out they were utter failures, and I won't go into names or content there, but the positive note here is I'm to apply myself with true doctrine, the truth as it is in Jesus, and take heed about myself, look at myself, consider, what I'm doing with what I'm knowing. Now, a little note here with Romans 10, verse 17. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. If you look that up in its context, it's talking about evangelism. It's talking about people who don't have faith will get faith when they hear the word of God and the Holy Spirit uses that and quickens them, makes them alive. And we got to get out there and preach the gospel. That's what Romans 10 is talking about in the first half of that chapter. I want to make an application that I think is just as important. You want to grow in your faith? Well, I remember Paul saying in Colossians 2, which if I be patient, I'm going to read it to you. But in Colossians 2, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. So if I'm going to receive Christ by faith, I gotta walk by faith, and if I'm gonna walk by faith, I gotta build up my faith, and guess what? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Expose myself, keep myself under this umbrella, keep myself out in the sunshine of his word. Just keep getting exposed. You can hear it, you can read it, you can have people talk to you about it. There's so many things you can do. Don't expect your faith to grow if you're not hearing the Word of God. And hearing doesn't just mean audible, hearing in the sense of receiving. Again, the Christian mind and heart should be a very busy place. And it should be pleasant. Okay? So we should apply this text to the believers' maintenance and maturity. And here's where I'm going to wrap up for this morning, is Colossians chapter 1. I still to this day remember a lady at Emmanuel Baptist Church was giving her testimony. I can't remember if she was joining the church or what, but she got up and gave a testimony, and she quoted from this, Colossians 1 verses 9 through 13. And even though I was a pastor, It felt like I'd never heard this verse before. I was so locked into the Ephesians. Colossians and Ephesians were written at the same time, have a lot of the same subjects. They make great commentaries of each other. Just throwing it out for free. But this place here in Colossians, all of a sudden when she quoted it, I think she called it her life verse. And I thought, man, I know I read it, but I didn't feel impressed by it like she did. And after that, I was different. So I'm going to try to do that to you, in case you haven't paid much attention here. But Colossians 1, verse 9, for this cause, we also, since the day we heard it, which has to do with their love of the Spirit, their zeal for the Lord, Since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthen with all might according to his glorious power unto all patients and long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet or qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us unto the kingdom of his dear Son." Which I have to stop here, because the man doesn't breathe. When he writes, he just keeps going, keeps going. And I'm going to stop there, but I'm going to take you on to chapter 2, verse 1, and read to verse 8. More of the same, more extension of this thought. And Paul says, for I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hid all treasures of wisdom, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In this I say, lest any man should beguile you, trick you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware, lest any man spoil you or take you captive, plunder you through philosophy and vain deceit. After the tradition of men, after the rudiments, the elementary incomplete teachings of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Oops, I've got to shut myself up. I'll read the whole chapter to you. But I want to ask you this question because it's confirming everything I'm trying to say. But Paul said, I have this great conflict for you, which means he works hard. He sometimes compares himself to a mother having birth pains, till Christ be formed in people. He talks about being a nursemaid that's endeared to the children that she cares for, and she yearns for them, and she looks after them, and she thinks of them, and she's listening for the cry, listening for something, watching for something, attentive. My wife was a lifeguard in her younger years, and she used to talk to me about it. You just never took your back. towards the people in the water. You never gave your back. Whatever you did, you always kept watching. I think they even learned to go down the ladder from that big high thing. They'd go down and keep looking. If they're talking to somebody, they position them here so they keep looking, keep looking, because it only takes seconds for somebody to be struggling. And they've got to be on it and not wait for other people to start yelling about it. And so always, always eyes on the water where the people are. And that seems like what an apostle is, and I'll be honest with you, that's what a pastor feels like. But we don't get the copyright, folks. I'm just going to answer the question, do you have a conflict in your soul for anybody? Do you have a struggle going on? Are you yearning, and laboring, and watching, and praying for the welfare of others? Because that's a lot of what this message in this series is about. Not just saying, oh yeah, I'm going to heaven. I'm fine now. Thank you. It goes past how we're doing to how others around us are doing. Loving, caring, serving, shepherding. If we're all doing it, we're not going to have dark spots and dark corners amongst us. That's as far as we can get today. This isn't intended to be an entire study, the whole book of Hebrews, verse by verse. It may feel like it. I'll try to make it in palatable bites that you go in this thought today. Do I have a conflict in my soul? For the glory of the Lord in my life and for the glory of the Lord in other people's lives that they too might be fruitful. If we're all doing this, not in a judgmental spirit, but in love and with compassion, we're going to be okay. But our job isn't just to be okay. Our job is not just to survive. It's to advance the kingdom of Christ. And I don't know, you can't do this single-handedly. I can't even do this single-handedly. But I'm asking God that there'll be a church here later. Till Jesus comes, which if it was today, that'd be great. But till Jesus comes, I want a church to be here. And that means we need to have a conflict. What are we doing? Has the salt gotten out of the salt shaker? Are we reaching our loved ones and our neighbors and our coworkers and our friends and people in the community? Are we? I'm not sure that we are, and I'm not judging you and blaming you. I'm in this too. What could we do better? I'm not saying you haven't done anything, and I haven't done nothing, but we're bound to need to do better. Twice in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul told them, and he had so many good things to say about them. But he says, I know you do these things, but I desire that you increase more and more. More and more. Well, enough to chew on for now, I trust. God help us, we're going to get back to this. Father, give us the grace. Give us the grace. to be so attracted to Jesus that we just can't stop following Him. And as we behold Him with hungry heart, that your Holy Spirit will help us to be transformed and become like Him. And if we become like Him, we will become the light of the world, reflecting Jesus, who is the real light of the world, and that others may get a taste and see. Others may get a hunger. that you would fill. Show us what to do with what we know so that we can have a joy unspeakable and full of glory. In this world that's full of conflict, may we have the holy conflict that Paul spoke of to the Colossians, that others know the Lord, are transformed into His image, and are added to the workforce, Lord, Lord of the harvest, Give us laborers. And I ask this for Jesus' sake. Amen. If you just take your bulletin, what you have at the top is what we're going to close with from Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24. If you'd like to stand with me. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, O Lord, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. May the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.