So last week we looked at Colossians 2, 1 through 5, and really looked at how this passage talks about what I call the quest, the quest for a treasure. And that treasure, as you can see in this passage, is Christ himself, knowing him. So let's begin by reading last week's passage, Colossians 2, 1 through 5 together. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ himself. in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument, for even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ." So last week we talked about what is the object of our quest. It is a treasure, as in all quests. What is that treasure? Well, more properly, who is that treasure? Paul writes, that we would attain to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is Christ. So you can take out all those prepositional phrases, that we would attain all the wealth of the full knowledge of Christ. that is the object, that is the great treasure. And we looked at how that life is, or how that knowledge of Christ is not a knowledge about Christ, that that word means an intimate closeness with. There's more in it than no, but there isn't really a word that covers what God means here. It's, well, as Jesus said in John 17, which we read last week, You can see it there on your sheet, John 17, one through three. I'll just read verse two. Even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. This knowing of Christ is so It's much more than just knowing about someone. It's knowing Him in such a way that His life becomes your life, because that's the only way you can have eternal life. So the treasure here is not just a really good understanding of who Christ is. It is to know Him. Paul said, nothing is worth anything compared to the value of knowing Christ. There's nothing else that even comes close. To know Him and to know the Father is to have eternal life. So, this connection with Him is the object of the quest. Also in this passage, though, it becomes clear that we have an enemy, that there are spiritual forces of evil that are against us in the quest. And we know that that is Satan, but also all the spiritual forces of evil, which is much more than just Satan himself. And Satan desires that we would not complete the quest, that we would not know Christ, that we would remain weak and separate from him. And so we have an enemy. And then finally we looked at our companions on the quest, that this is a quest which cannot be completed on your own. It's not just that you wouldn't have the ability or the strength, although that's part of it, it's that We cannot know Christ in this way unless we know him with his people. We are together called the body of Christ and we do the work of Christ. And God has ordained that we cannot know him unless we know him along with the people of God. It's not an individual sport. We will not complete the quest by ourselves. John says in one place, how can you say you love the father if you hate your brother? If you can't even love your brother, how can you love the father? Well, I think that's tied very closely to this idea. If you can't even know someone you can see, a brother or sister, a sibling in Christ, then how can you know the father whom you cannot see? that God has revealed himself to us through his people in a way that we can't really explain, we just have to accept. And we read some passages and other passages that make this clear, that we have to be one in order to know him. So that was last week, that our treasure, our goal, the ultimate point of everything is to know Christ in this way, in a way that we actually receive his eternal life within us. that we're battling against spiritual forces that don't want that to happen, and that God's given us people to do this with us, to strengthen us and hold us together. And all of that was really just to give you a proper understanding of what is life really about. When you look around, it's easy to get caught up in this is happening, that's happening, and it's work, and it's kids, and it's family, and it's parents, and all this stuff. But what's really going on? When you boil it down, we're on a quest to know Christ, intimately, fully, completely joined with Him that His life is our life. Our battle is not against the people around us. It's not against sickness. Our battle is against the spiritual forces of evil that would stop us from accomplishing that. And our friends, our companions, are the body of Christ, the other believers who are around us. So given all that, and flipping the sheet over to this week's, how then How does one go about questing in this way? How do we make that practical? That's a way of seeing the world as God sees it, to sort of see through everything around us to understand what's really going on. But practically speaking, what do we do with that? Paul isn't writing this letter as a theoretical treatise. He's writing it because he's worried about something. He's worried about the attacks on the Colossians and about them knowing the Lord. And so he's writing them very specifically to warn them and give them practical guidance on how to pull through this and accomplish the goal. So that's what we're gonna look at this morning. But before we go into that, let's stop and ask for the Lord's help. Dear Father, we pray that you would fill us with the knowledge of your will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. that we may walk in a way worthy of you, pleasing you in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of you, being strengthened with all power according to your glorious might, and joyously giving thanks together with all the saints. Amen. Colossians 2, 1 through 8, how then Do we go about this quest, this journey to know Christ? Paul is not writing them a new command. No new information does he want to communicate to them. In fact, he begins the letter by saying, I know that you heard the truth, the gospel, and that you understood it, and that you obeyed it, and it was given to you. You received it from Epaphras, who was a faithful worker, a faithful coworker in the gospel. So Paul's not writing because he doesn't think that they've heard the truth. He's writing because it's easy to forget what you've heard and to be drawn astray, if you will. And so what I received as I studied through this passage is just again and again, the idea of stability, of standing your ground, not of starting something new, but of continuing what's already been started. I'm not going to tell you anything this morning that you haven't heard before, more than likely. And that's good. I have no new information to give you. But in this passage, God reminds us to stay the course. So let's look at five ways to continue in the journey, the quest of knowing Christ. And the first one, looking on your sheet there, is to stay alert. And we're gonna cheat and take these verses a little bit out of order. So go down to verse eight of Colossians chapter two. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. I wanted to start at the end because for me, it's easier if I understand the problem or the danger for me to pay more attention to the solution. And Paul really bookends this whole section. So if you look back to verse four, he opens this same idea. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. Persuasive arguments, empty deceptions. The first verse of, sorry, the first word of verse eight, see to it, or your translation may have watch out or pay attention. It, that's what it means. It's not just make sure it happens. It's be alert, be vigilant, look up and pay attention. To what? That no one takes you captive. The word he uses here for being taken captive is not used anywhere else in the New Testament, but it was a common word and it was used always the same way. There was a war. The winning side captured people from the losing side and hauled them off as the spoils of war for slaves or to be sold or whatever. That's the word that's being used. And so he's saying, be on your guard. Watch out that no one takes you captive as the spoils of war. What war? Well, it's a war against the spiritual forces of evil. How then might they take us captive? What do we be looking out for? What is the attack gonna look like when it comes? Well, let's read a little further in verse eight. That no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception. according to human tradition, or according to the tradition of men. We'll stop there. So hollow and deceptive philosophy according to human tradition, or in verse four, he talks about persuasive arguments and delusions. These are all, it's just a lot of different words to say the same thing. The word philosophy then as now refers to a system of thought. What is the meaning of what's going on? What's really going on? How do things relate? What's the big idea? Those are all the kinds of questions that philosophy is trying to answer. Then and now. It was not new in Paul's day. The Greeks had been into this for a long time. And really, even religions are all trying to answer these same types of questions. And what he's saying is that the danger is that we'll start answering the key questions of life some other way than in the way that we heard from Christ. And that's why, as he's done in chapter one and he'll do again in chapter two a little later, he will say, everything is in Christ. In fact, we read that at the beginning of chapter two. In Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So here's the thing. Why would people who have Christ, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, be at any risk whatsoever of being led astray by hollow and deceptive philosophies and persuasive arguments? Well, because they're persuasive and because they're deceptive. And here's how it works. There's something you're missing. I don't know if you're ever on the internet at all, particularly for some reason, if you go to like the Weather Channel or something to check the weather, there's all these things called clickbait. And it's these little phrases and pictures all over the screen. And what they want you to do is go read this. And it's telling the kinds of things they say. It's things like, find out what four entrepreneurs in Will's Point have discovered that has insurance companies worried. And you're like, ooh, why are they worried? Do they know something about insurance? Do I not have to pay for insurance anymore? This is important. There might be something I don't know here. Or it could be, for some reason the word weird is popular. One weird trick that will get rid of your wrinkles forever. Ooh, secret knowledge that nobody else has. There's something about secret knowledge that appeals to us. I don't know why. I guess maybe it's our pride, but it's been this way since the beginning. In fact, look on your cross-reference sheet at 2 Corinthians 11.3. What was the very first deceptive philosophy, persuasive argument? Second Corinthians 11 three, but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. The gospel is not complex. It's deep beyond all measure, but it's not complex. But we're suckers for feeling like we're missing out on some secret. Some little thing we didn't know. And here's how these deceptions work. They play on our pride. You can be one of the elite. You can know something that nobody else knows. There was that aspect in the garden with Eve. You can be like God. You can know good from evil. And there are a hundred scams like that, or maybe a thousand, where here's something important you ought to know. Most people don't get it, but I'm going to let you in on the secret. That's how these deceptive philosophies look. It might play against your fear. One thing you need to know to prevent your children from ending up in prison, whatever, whatever you're afraid of, your house from rotting to the ground. or our greed, you know, six tricks to cut your electric bills in half this month, or whatever. It's always a combination of what you need is something that you can know that's going to fill in the blank, save you from something dangerous, give you something you've always desired but never been able to get, or maybe even just put you on a different level from everybody else, the people who are on the inside story. And this isn't, I mean, whether it's podcasts or internet ads or billboards or whatever, it's a combination of playing on our curiosity and our pride and our fear to make us think there's something we're missing. We need to go figure out what it is. And guess what? The going to figure out is always off the path. What he says in 2 Corinthians 11.3 is that our minds in this way would be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. We quickly, quickly forget that in Christ is all knowledge and all understanding. There isn't anything else. Anything that you can't learn from Christ, you don't need to learn. It's superfluous. If everything is in Him, and He is beyond everything else, there is no secret knowledge we're missing out on outside of Christ. There is only one treasure trove we need to be delving into. To be concerned that we don't know Christ enough is good. Know Him more. That's our desire, more of Him. To be concerned that if pursuing Him we're going to miss out on something, that's deception. And it will come a hundred different ways. Happened to me the other day as I was driving through Shadow Lakes and I see all these houses going up and I'm thinking, You know, if you buy a house now, with the way inflation's going, that house gets cheaper and cheaper. I'm probably missing out. I should be buying a house. Wait. No, that's not what God asked me to do. But just that fear of missing out on something. I'm going to miss my opportunity. That's why sales are a limited time only. That's why telemarketers never say, well, I'll just call you back next week and see what you think about it. Or I'll mail that to you. No, no, no. You need to make a decision right now. It's a limited time offer. Paul wants us to be alert. It will come. It won't be someone saying, the deceptive philosophy is not going to be, the scriptures are not trustworthy. It's not going to be, God is not real. Not for most of us. It's going to be something much more subtle. Just a little extra piece of information. It might be that there's pieces of Judaism that you really ought to be practicing if you really want to know the Lord fully. it might be that you really need to understand the hierarchies of angels in order to really achieve spiritual understanding. And very likely something like that is what was prevalent in the region around Colossae. And you'll read a little later about people who were worshipping angels. Angelology has been around for a long time. And there was a segment of Judaism that had come up with this whole power structure of angels, and you needed to be in good terms with all of them, or you couldn't advance through the levels of knowledge. And all of this, they didn't deny Christ, they just said, well, yeah, you start there, and then, you need to know this level of angels, and then you can get past there, and you can get to this next level of enlightenment, and get to this, there's always something else, something more, something you're missing, something secret, something special. Don't be deceived. So the first thing is stay alert. Be aware that this can happen and it can happen to you. The second thing is to stay together. And we touched on this last week, but it is so important. So look at Colossians 2.2. This is Paul talking about, well, I'll just back up to verse one. I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be strengthened, having been knit together in love. Having been knit together in love. Strength comes from being knit together. Like I said last week, knit doesn't really bring the right picture in my head. Think welded together in love. Joined into one real union. That is where our strength comes from in the battle. Being welded together with the people of God in love. Not only is that where our strength comes, but as I mentioned a few minutes ago, recapping last week, we cannot know Christ without being welded together. And that's how verse two continues. Knit together in love and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is Christ himself. We are to stay together, to be unified with our brothers and sisters in Christ as if our life depended on it, because it does. If eternal life is in knowing Christ and we cannot know Him without being welded together with the body of Christ, then your life depends on the unity of the body of Christ. We can't get there alone. These hollow and deceptive philosophies will divide. So as soon as I'm chasing one special knowledge, one deception, and you're chasing another deception, guess what? We're no longer going the same direction. Prioritizing staying together above our personal opinions, above our speculations, above our theories and hypotheses about things that God has not specifically told us, that is what maintains unity. So soon as something doubtful becomes more important to you than the body of Christ and maintaining that unity, then you've been deceived. and that unity begins to dissolve, and you are losing in the battle to know Christ. So what does that look like? Look at your cross-reference sheet at Ephesians 4, 1 through 3. Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you've been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, making every effort to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The command is at the end, making every effort to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. What does that require? It requires humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance for one another in love. It means if you disagree on a non-critical point, that point is not worth sacrificing the unity of the body. Only together will we stand, will we be strong, will we know the Lord and grow in Him. Unity doesn't just mean being in the same building. Some people would say, well, you know, it doesn't really matter if you have a different opinion of who Jesus is than I do. Unity is more important than that. That's a wrong understanding of unity. Unity is not just co-location. We're both still in the same church. We haven't left yet. Unity is always in something. Unity in Christ cannot be obtained by denying Christ and yet staying together. There's still no unity. Our unity has to be in knowing Him, that we both follow Him and we follow Him together. But there are so many things that will pull us apart within the church. Trivial things, not as trivial things, but we need to prioritize staying together. That is key to knowing Christ and to standing strong under attack. Third thing is in Colossians 2.5. And again, we touched on this last week, but not in the practical aspects. And that is to stay in position. Let's read Colossians 2.5. Even though I am absent in body, nevertheless, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. Good discipline. military word that means being in the right place within your regiment or your troop it was used of roman soldiers who were marching in order or in formation if you will so good discipline is being in your place within the body prepared for battle and that second word good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. That word stability, steadfastness, it's the word that would be used to say you're maintaining a strong front or an unbroken front to the battle. We talked about this last week. That's important to understand the nature of why we're together and how God uses it. But on a practical side, what does that mean? It means that Whatever your place within the body, you need to stay in it. Or if you're not in it, you need to get in it. Because the body will work effectively only when each of us is in our place. Just like in the military, a group of men working in concert together, each one doing his part, staying in his position in the formation, will be extremely effective. A mob of men, all rushing around, doing whatever seems best to them at the time, will not be effective. Same number of men, same weapons, vastly different result. Why? Because good order, or good discipline, allows us to work together to protect one another, to accomplish the things God's called us to. so the body of Christ. We more often think of it as a family or a body than we do as an army. But the words he's using here in the context of the spiritual battle, the quest in which we're engaged, are military words. But they are all giving us different aspects. Look at your cross-reference sheet at 1 Peter 4.10. It talks about manning your post. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Your part might be in the back of the line, shooting arrows. Your part may be in the front of the line, holding the shields and the spears. But if you're not in your place, you won't be accomplishing the thing that God has placed you in the body to do. So understand what God has equipped you to do, the gifting that He has given you, because each one has received a gift, and then do it, whatever it is. There's a little pamphlet next door, which is a sermon by Charles Spurgeon. I don't remember what it calls, but if you ask me afterwards, I'll tell you. But the whole sermon is about encouraging people not to give up their spot. or not to shirk it in the first place. And he goes through all the things that prevent us from staying in position or from ever getting in position. And it's all kinds of things. It could be fear. It could be a low image of yourself that you can't really accomplish anything. It might be that you feel like you're past your prime and you don't have the strength anymore. It may be that you're discouraged because you tried it and you didn't see any good fruit. And so you're concluding, well, I just don't have a place. There's a lot of lies that Satan will tell us and that we'll tell ourselves to take us out of position. But. To win the battle, to accomplish the quest, we have to stay in the position in which God places us and stand strong there. Not just be there, just kind of standing there like a t-ball outfielder that's like watching the clouds. He's in his position, but he's not really in the game. That's why Paul said good discipline and stability or steadfastness. You're in the game and you're in the right place in the game, the place that God has appointed you. Number four, and this is where we move into new territory, stay on the path. Verse six, therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. There's a word here that has a lot of baggage with it, or not baggage, meaning that we don't get, and it's received. So when we read, as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, I think of the phrase I've heard my whole life, did you receive Christ in your heart? We're talking about salvation. This word received was a special word and been used for hundreds of years and what it refers to as a tradition or a teaching that you've received from those who've come before. So the Jews would talk about the traditions of the elders that had been received. They were handed down from one teacher to the next teacher to the next teacher. And there was a special word for that handing down, and it's this word, receive. And you can get an idea of this meaning if you look down a little further. So we're in verse six, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, look in verse seven, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, referring to the same thing. So what is he saying? What does he mean, therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, he's saying, The truth of Christ, the gospel of Christ was passed to you. You received it like a baton, a teaching handed down to you from the apostles to Epaphras, from Epaphras to you. And for us, through many successive generations and through the scripture to us, it has been handed down. He said, how did you come to know Christ? None of us in this room came to know Christ without receiving the truth of Christ, the gospel of Christ from someone else. We received it. And so what he's saying is when you received Christ, And he says, having received past tense completed action, you receive the truth already. He's not saying I have a new truth to give you a new testament of Jesus Christ. No, he's saying you already got it. You received Christ. What is left to do to complete the quest? Live it. Walk as you received it, so walk it. Stay on the path. You've been given the map. You received it from trustworthy men who have recorded it in scripture, who have handed down the teaching. Now stay on the path. How many stories have you read? We're on a quest and someone tells them the way to go and they're walking down the path and then they see something off to the side and they're like, oh, it'll just take a minute. Bad news. Or is it Red Riding Hood and the wolf? or a hobbit wandering off the path, and all these stories stay on the path. And what do they always do? They leave the path. And that's what hollow and deceptive philosophies do. They tempt you to leave the path. Paul's saying, don't do it. You've already received the truth. Walk in it. Do it. That is how you'll reach the goal, not anything else, not some special move, some weird fact that you didn't know, some trick of spirituality. Just do the simple things that Christ has taught us and that he has handed down to us. How do you do that? What does that look like? Well, first of all, let's look at this idea of receiving. So look at 1 Corinthians 15.1. Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, same word, in which also you stand. It's that idea, we're standing on it, it's our foundation. 2 Thessalonians 3, 5-6, May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ. It's that same idea of stability. not something new, holding fast to what you've already received. How? Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life, not according to the tradition which you received from us." Tradition gets a bad rap in scripture because we read of all the places where Jesus chews out the Pharisees for holding on to the traditions of men. But there is a tradition of Christ. That word tradition just means the truth which is handed down. If it is the teaching of a man that you're holding on to, whether it's handed down or not, it's still the teaching of a man. Don't hold on to that. In fact, we read in verse 8, empty deception according to the tradition of men. He's contrasting two traditions. There is the tradition of Christ, the teaching of Christ handed down to us. There's a tradition of men, many different men's teachings, which are prevalent in the world. We are to walk in accordance with what we have been taught in Christ and not be lured in to following the traditions of men. So walk in Him, having been, verse seven, firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith. Staying on the path means staying rooted in what has already happened. That's what that word established means, rooted. But not just staying rooted in one spot, but growing in that spot. So think of a plant, first the roots, then the fruit. This encompasses both. When you're walking in the path, you're not just standing on the path, you're walking in the path. That's why I didn't say only stand, but also walk. We know the truth, we've already received it. We have been born again, but it is not sufficient to just stand there. No more than it'd be sufficient for a baby having been born to say, whew, that was a lot of work, I'm good, nothing else to do for the rest of my life. We want to grow, we want to bear fruit. And so that's what it looks like to stay on the path, to continue to be rooted and growing. And how do we do that? We do it in Christ, just as we were instructed. And then there's something odd. Look in verse seven. This is all in the context of staying on the path. These are participles. They're saying, how do you stay on the path? One of those things is to stay rooted and to keep growing. And then this one, overflowing with gratitude. Now, what does that have to do with staying on the path? Well, temptation only works when there's a lack of gratitude. If everything good is on the path, there's no desire to leave it. If everything good is in Christ, and He's at the end of this path, why would we go anywhere else? But when we forget how good Christ is, and how rich our inheritance is, and we're no longer thanking God for His goodness, then we're susceptible to some other good that someone proposes. That's how it worked in the garden, right? Here's God. He's created all of the Garden of Eden. Beautiful trees, fruits of all descriptions. And Satan says, don't you want this fruit? And suddenly all she can think about is the one fruit in the whole garden she can't have. That's a lack of gratitude. If she at that moment went into a session of thanksgiving for all the good things that God had given her, would she have been as tempted to take the one thing that he withheld as not good for her? I don't think so. Gratitude keeps you on the path. A lack of gratitude and you are very, very close to leaving it. You begin to get bitter. You begin to think only about the things you don't have, about the experiences in life you may be missing out on. And that's how all those philosophies work. You're missing out. And that we fall into when we forget to be thankful. This word he uses, overflowing with thankfulness, is the word used of a river in spring that overflows its banks. So not just a little thankful every now and then, like filled with it, overflowing with it. It's the beginning of your day. It's the middle of your day. It's the end of your day. You're continually thankful for God and all of his gifts and all of his promises. Then you will stay on the path. So we stay on the path by sticking with what we've received, the truth. It's simple, not easy, simple. We walk in that way, not just stand there, but we do what God says. So we've done it before. You stay alert, you stay together, you stay in position, you stay on the path, and lastly, you stay engaged. Where does prayer enter into this? Look at the very bottom of your sheet. We're in Colossians 2, 6 through 7, where he's telling them how to stay on the path, how to avoid these deceptive philosophies. I've put right beside it Colossians 1, 9 through 11. Now, remember we talked about how Paul was like a gladiator fighting spiritual battle on their behalf? And we talked last week about the only way he could have been doing that, he said, I want you to know how hard I'm struggling for you, is through prayer. He was a hundred thousand, who knows how far away, in prison somewhere, but he claimed to be fighting for them. He was fighting how? He was fighting in prayer. We don't have to imagine what that prayer was like. He tells us. He starts this letter by saying, ever since I heard about you, I've been praying. And then he tells us exactly what he's praying. Now look at how it lines up. He prays in Colossians 1, 9 through 11 that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will. The charge in Colossians 2, 6 is that they're to walk as they have received Christ Jesus the Lord, the knowledge of him. So he's praying that they would have the knowledge in which they need to walk. Then he prays in Colossians 1, 9 through 11 that they may walk worthy of the Lord. And then he commands them or charges them, walk in him. He prays that they would bear fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of him. He charges them to be rooted and growing in him. He prays that they would be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might. He charges them to be strengthened in their faith just as they were instructed. He prays that they would joyfully give thanks to the Father who has qualified them to share in the inheritance of the kingdom of light. He charges them to be overflowing with gratitude. So what does this tell us? Paul fought the spiritual battle by praying the people of God onto the path of God. Everything he told them to do to stay on the path, and for that matter, to stay together, to stay alert, he prayed for them. It's great to have instructions, but can you follow them when you're in the thick of battle? The answer from our own personal experience is not by ourselves. We'll lose sight very, very quickly. We must stay engaged in the battle. And the only way to stay engaged in a spiritual battle is with spiritual warfare, and that is in prayer. Fight the spiritual battle through prayer, just as Paul was demonstrating to them. This is how you must walk. I will fight for you. So we fight for ourselves in this way, praying for what we need to do. We fight for our children this way, for our parents, for our spouses, praying exactly what they need to do to walk the path. That is how we engage in spiritual battle. Ephesians 6, 11 through 12 is right there on your sheet. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. And down in verse 18, with all prayer and petition at all times in the spirit, and with this in view, the battle, be on the alert. Sound familiar? With all perseverance and petition, prayer, for all the saints. There's more to being on the alert for attack than just stealing your mind, trying to see the attacks. There is also praying because you know the attacks are there. And praying very specifically in the ways that God teaches us to pray. Praying that we would be alert and not be fooled. Praying that we would stay together and not be divided by deceptions of the enemy or our own pride or fear. Praying that we would stay in position, not get discouraged and give up on the work God's given us in the church. Not be ashamed and feeling like we can't serve in the church. staying in position, praying that we will stay on the path, rooted in what we know and has been handed down to us, growing and bearing fruit, staying thankful, not dissatisfied, but satisfied in Him. This is the way we complete the journey together to know Him, to have His eternal life within us. It is a battle, it's not an easy road, but it's not a complex one. You're not missing some weird detail, some hidden truth of scripture that the church has missed out on all these years, but some internet blogger has recently discovered. It's not gonna happen. Even in the first century, they were already done. Paul didn't say, you've received most of the truth and you'll get the rest later after a special initiation, which by the way, was a normal way that mystery religions of the times worked. You could be an initiate, you would learn some things, but only if you went through special ceremonies and rituals would you learn the secret knowledge. That's not how the gospel works. It's laid out there for us. It's right here. We've already received it. We don't need to worry that we're missing out. We need to worry that we're wandering from what we already know, deceived by hollow and deceptive philosophies, ideas of men or attacks of the evil one. Let's pray together.