WEBVTT 00:00:02.104 --> 00:00:03.245 All right, are we on? 00:00:03.245 --> 00:00:04.088 I don't even know. 00:00:04.088 --> 00:00:07.033 Okay, good evening everyone. 00:00:07.033 --> 00:00:16.266 So I feel like I've been entrusted with the task of giving someone a tour of New York City and I have about two hours to do it. 00:00:16.266 --> 00:00:25.652 You know, we're going to somehow have to go to the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, museum of Natural History, etc. 00:00:25.652 --> 00:00:26.053 Etc. 00:00:26.053 --> 00:00:27.902 But we have to squeeze it all into two hours. 00:00:27.902 --> 00:00:29.585 I don't know how that's going to work. 00:00:29.585 --> 00:00:42.947 So tonight we're just going to move and try to get through the book of Colossians as quickly and as thoroughly as possible, but hopefully honoring the Lord as we go. 00:00:42.947 --> 00:00:57.573 So what I'd like to do is start out and just give us a background of the book and cover a few things, and then we're going to swiftly move through an outline of the book with some takeaways and then wrap up with a few additional takeaways. 00:00:58.159 --> 00:00:59.743 All right, so just a little background. 00:00:59.743 --> 00:01:02.832 Of course you know it's the Epistle to the Colossians. 00:01:02.832 --> 00:01:14.549 It's known as one of the prison epistles, along with Philippians, ephesians and Philemon, and it was written while Paul was under house arrest in Rome, most likely around 60 to 62 AD. 00:01:14.549 --> 00:01:18.302 It was written by Paul, but also with Timothy. 00:01:18.302 --> 00:01:19.828 Some say he was a co-author? 00:01:19.828 --> 00:01:26.462 We're not really sure, but he was certainly with Timothy when he wrote it A little bit about the city of Colossae. 00:01:26.581 --> 00:01:32.019 So I don't know if any of you have been to Ephesus I've had the privilege of going there. 00:01:32.019 --> 00:01:40.706 It's right along the Aegean Sea, but if you move inland from Ephesus about 100 miles or so you have the ancient region of Phrygia. 00:01:40.706 --> 00:01:47.501 Now it's known as Anatolia and it's in central west Turkey and that's essentially where Colossae was. 00:01:47.501 --> 00:01:55.661 There were three cities located in the same area and they were Hierapolis and Laodicea. 00:01:55.661 --> 00:02:06.162 So by the time of Paul the city of Colossae had actually dwindled in size and significance, so it wasn't nearly as important as it had been. 00:02:06.162 --> 00:02:08.527 There was a large Jewish community there. 00:02:08.527 --> 00:02:21.949 Paul had never visited Colossae, which is interesting in itself and the key founder of the church was Epaphras who, although he was from Colossae, had heard the gospel when Paul preached in Ephesus. 00:02:21.949 --> 00:02:28.943 So the church was also the end result and the outgrowth of Paul's ministry in Ephesus. 00:02:29.824 --> 00:02:38.246 Now one of the things that is being combated in this book is the Gnostic philosophy, but it's not the. 00:02:38.246 --> 00:02:44.532 It was a brand of Gnostic philosophy that also had some other elements in it which we will get to. 00:02:44.532 --> 00:02:52.860 Um, there was sort of a strain of jewish mysticism and legalism that were, uh, infused into the philosophy as well. 00:02:52.860 --> 00:02:57.893 So the colossians were subject to a combination of these different philosophies. 00:02:57.893 --> 00:02:59.963 Uh, it was a. 00:02:59.963 --> 00:03:19.793 It was a philosophy that promised the adherents a spiritual fullness and union with God, and according to this philosophy, the wisdom they attained was by keeping prescribed ceremonies, which would release them from earthly concerns and connect them to heavenly concerns. 00:03:19.793 --> 00:03:24.242 Of course, they saw that matter was evil and that flesh was evil. 00:03:24.242 --> 00:03:28.206 They believed in keeping the Old Testament laws and in particular the dietary laws. 00:03:28.206 --> 00:03:29.728 Of course, they saw that matter was evil and that flesh was evil. 00:03:29.728 --> 00:03:37.774 They believed in keeping the Old Testament laws and in particular the dietary laws that, according to them, would keep the evil flesh away and would help someone attain spiritual perfection. 00:03:37.774 --> 00:03:40.757 Circumcision was also very important as well. 00:03:40.757 --> 00:03:55.191 They believed in angelic beings being able to influence earthly affairs, and so, in their view of things, jesus was seen as but one of many emanations from God. 00:03:55.191 --> 00:04:01.046 So Paul would hit some of these viewpoints as we go through the book. 00:04:01.247 --> 00:04:02.449 I think I might need a little water. 00:04:02.449 --> 00:04:06.115 Thanks, okay, I won't stop. 00:04:06.115 --> 00:04:13.810 So we're going to begin with a survey of chapter one. 00:04:13.810 --> 00:04:19.009 I would entitle chapter one the supremacy of Christ in all things. 00:04:19.009 --> 00:04:23.463 So we begin with Paul's greeting and thanksgiving in verses one through eight. 00:04:23.463 --> 00:04:24.303 Oh, thank you. 00:04:24.303 --> 00:04:37.004 All right, I think that's a little better, thank you. 00:04:37.004 --> 00:04:38.571 So Paul's greeting and thanksgiving is in verses 1 through 8. 00:04:38.591 --> 00:04:40.639 Paul greets the Colossians with Timothy, as we also made reference to. 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:46.408 He thanks them for their faith in Christ, their love for the saints and for the hope that was laid for them in heaven. 00:04:46.408 --> 00:04:50.154 And so we see that three early on faith, hope and love. 00:04:50.154 --> 00:05:14.627 This message of truth had produced fruit in them from the beginning, paul says, and was also produced in other parts of the world Most people think that means the Roman world, since obviously the gospel had not reached other parts of the planet earth, and so essentially what he was saying is that in other parts of the world there were also true believers as well. 00:05:14.627 --> 00:05:21.730 So that same message of truth that had produced fruit in them had also produced fruit in others throughout the world. 00:05:21.730 --> 00:05:33.723 Paul gives thanks for Epaphras, who was a faithful brother and who had informed Paul of the love with which these Colossians believers had, although Paul himself, again, had never met them. 00:05:33.723 --> 00:05:37.632 So apparently Epaphras was the pastor of Colossae. 00:05:37.632 --> 00:05:42.610 He wasn't there at this time because he was in prison with Rome, with Paul rather in Rome. 00:05:42.610 --> 00:05:49.024 So and we'll see later on how that Paul sends greetings from Epaphras back to his own church. 00:05:50.007 --> 00:05:55.466 Then in chapters in chapter 1, verses 9 through 14, we have Paul's prayer for the Colossians. 00:05:55.466 --> 00:06:05.812 Again, these new believers were in danger of turning from the truth of the gospel to false teachers and philosophies, and this is Paul's concern. 00:06:05.812 --> 00:06:10.567 So in his prayer he prays some specific things. 00:06:10.567 --> 00:06:15.925 First of all, that they might be filled, they might have a knowledge of God's will. 00:06:15.925 --> 00:06:24.492 Now what's interesting is that Paul deliberately uses words that had different meanings for the Gnostics and infuses them with Christian meanings. 00:06:24.492 --> 00:06:36.449 So he used the words knowledge and wisdom and spiritual understanding that were already a part of religious vocabulary in Colossae, but gives them a different meaning, gives them a Christian meaning. 00:06:36.449 --> 00:06:54.141 And Paul says he continues in his prayer he says that you might walk and he gives several examples that you might walk and bring fruit and increase in the knowledge of God, that you would have wisdom and knowledge that will result in action. 00:06:54.141 --> 00:07:02.730 And so his prayer was not just that they would have knowledge and wisdom, but that this knowledge and wisdom and spiritual understanding would result in action. 00:07:02.730 --> 00:07:05.406 Of course, that's a huge takeaway for us today. 00:07:05.406 --> 00:07:41.502 He also prayed that they might be strengthened, and he prayed that the result of this strength might be the patience and joyfulness and not just putting up with circumstances, but truly addressing issues with joy and patience that can only come from Christ and that would result in thanksgiving to God, who is the one who delivered them from darkness and translated or transferred them into the kingdom of his dear son, and also an understanding that he has redeemed them with his blood and I realize I'm flying through this. 00:07:43.747 --> 00:07:47.052 In verses 1, I'm sorry, in verses 15 through 20,. 00:07:47.052 --> 00:07:56.906 Paul then declares that Christ is the preeminent one, and he details four ways that Christ had a relationship to creation, and some of these are fascinating. 00:07:56.906 --> 00:07:59.653 I wish we had more time to focus on each one. 00:07:59.653 --> 00:08:04.447 He notes that Jesus existed before creation. 00:08:04.447 --> 00:08:11.752 Now let me just pause for a moment and say one of the issues that comes up in Gnosticism is the idea that Jesus was a created being. 00:08:11.752 --> 00:08:21.769 It's also a philosophy that influences Jehovah Witnesses today, because a lot of what they believe really stems from the Gnostic heresy. 00:08:23.394 --> 00:08:31.872 However, paul not only states that Jesus existed before creation, but also that he created all things. 00:08:31.872 --> 00:08:36.649 Now here's a question If you create all things, then how can you yourself be a created being? 00:08:36.649 --> 00:08:39.765 You can't, unless you're an uncreated created being. 00:08:39.765 --> 00:08:42.072 Which sort of is linguistic suicide? 00:08:42.072 --> 00:08:49.003 So he created all things, and then it says in verse 16 that all things exist for him. 00:08:49.003 --> 00:09:05.109 Now let me just stop again and think about the fact that when we look at creation, when we consider nature, yes, we know that God created all things, but do we often think about the fact that they were created for him? 00:09:05.109 --> 00:09:11.446 So when you look up at the sky, when you think about the beauty of nature, these are things created for Christ. 00:09:11.446 --> 00:09:13.432 It's an incredible thought, actually. 00:09:13.432 --> 00:09:21.683 He also goes on to say that he holds all things together the atoms, the molecules, whatever holds things together. 00:09:21.683 --> 00:09:25.351 Christ is the one who does that. 00:09:25.351 --> 00:09:30.028 He's the one who holds all things to, keeping them from bursting apart. 00:09:30.028 --> 00:09:37.148 And then he goes on to say that he is the head of the church and he reconciles all things to himself. 00:09:38.870 --> 00:09:50.428 Paul then moves on to talk about three ministries that he's clarifying for the Colossian believers, just so they know what his purpose is, in writing to them. 00:09:50.428 --> 00:09:55.124 So he details these three ministries in verses 21 through 29. 00:09:55.124 --> 00:10:25.749 First he talks about the ministry of reconciliation, and he mentions that, though they had been estranged, now, now, in God's grace, he had reconciled them, he had presented them holy, he had presented them without blemish and free from reproval, free from any kind of accusation, and so this was one of Paul's ministry, a ministry of reconciliation, and he assures them that they would continue. 00:10:25.749 --> 00:10:35.347 This is the great if-then clause, but he assures them that they would continue in the faith, which would actually prove that they were saved. 00:10:35.347 --> 00:10:36.711 Now we could get into this whole. 00:10:36.711 --> 00:10:41.071 There's a lot of if phrases in the Bible and people use that to say, well, if could be. 00:10:41.071 --> 00:10:52.573 A is a conditional clause and no, no, no, it's not conditional, it's actually a statement that says since, since you are in the faith, you will continue. 00:10:54.941 --> 00:11:03.091 Besides the ministry of reconciliation, there was a ministry of suffering, and Paul rejoiced in that he could relate to the sufferings of Christ. 00:11:03.091 --> 00:11:14.410 He rejoiced in his sufferings because it was for the Gentiles these were the people that God had called him to and it was also for the suffering for the sake of the entire church. 00:11:14.410 --> 00:11:18.428 Paul then moves on to the ministry of preaching. 00:11:18.428 --> 00:11:27.309 This involved warning and teaching, and it also involved laboring, as Christ himself had mightily worked through him. 00:11:27.309 --> 00:11:39.701 And again, a moment to stop and think about the fact that when we work for the Lord, when we labor for him, that labor should be something that comes from him, as he works through us. 00:11:39.701 --> 00:11:48.625 So we work as we labor for him, so he is giving us the energy, he is giving us what we need to work for him. 00:11:48.625 --> 00:11:55.566 So if chapter one is on the supremacy of Christ, chapter two is on the sufficiency of Christ. 00:11:55.566 --> 00:12:03.125 Paul moves on and warns the Colossians against false teachings that threaten the purity and sufficiency of the gospel. 00:12:04.506 --> 00:12:09.754 We read about his pastoral concern and encouragement in verses 1 through 7. 00:12:09.754 --> 00:12:15.808 So he prays that their hearts would be comforted. 00:12:15.808 --> 00:12:18.374 He was concerned about these believers. 00:12:18.374 --> 00:12:27.386 He had not met them, but he was concerned about them and he was concerned that their hearts would be knit together, united together in love. 00:12:27.386 --> 00:12:31.842 And what an important thing that is for a church that people be united. 00:12:31.842 --> 00:12:37.442 A lot of churches where there's good doctrine there's not always a lot of churches where people are united in love. 00:12:37.442 --> 00:12:52.543 He also expressed concern that they be not led astray by convincing or enticing words and that they already having been rooted and built up in Christ, that they should now continue in him that they should now abound. 00:12:52.543 --> 00:12:55.773 It was time to move forward with what they already knew. 00:12:55.773 --> 00:13:09.812 He talks about abounding with thanksgiving, and this word connotes a river that overflows its banks, so it's sort of like an overflowing with thanksgiving, and overflowing with gratitude is the idea. 00:13:09.812 --> 00:13:17.090 Yet he says they were not to be grounded in ritual or philosophy, but in the person and work of Christ. 00:13:17.090 --> 00:13:19.400 So he moves on to the warning section. 00:13:19.721 --> 00:13:23.727 First he warns against this philosophy. 00:13:23.727 --> 00:13:50.509 Now, the philosophies they had been exposed to were just a tradition of men, and today we could look at a lot of churches, a lot of religions, where what they believe, what they hold to, what they consider their foundational principles, are just traditions of men, just made up doctrines that have no basis as coming from God at all. 00:13:50.509 --> 00:13:52.692 We could talk a lot about that. 00:13:52.692 --> 00:13:56.649 But he says but the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ. 00:13:56.649 --> 00:14:14.022 This word fullness, pleroma, was a very important word that was used in this philosophy, and he contrasted it to what the Gnostics taught, namely that God was simply not just the source of all the emanations they believed in, but he was the head. 00:14:14.022 --> 00:14:19.572 He was the head of creation. 00:14:19.572 --> 00:14:22.562 They had this idea of a demiurge, and see if I can explain it. 00:14:22.562 --> 00:14:39.649 It was the idea that God created a creature and that creature created another creature and from that another creature stemmed, another one, and these are all seen as a demiurge and eventually the universe was created and all these creatures were considered quote-unquote emanations. 00:14:39.649 --> 00:14:44.912 Well, paul confronted that philosophy and taught against it. 00:14:45.780 --> 00:14:49.932 He then warns, in verses 11 through 15, against Jewish legalism. 00:14:49.932 --> 00:14:52.187 He said it was unnecessary. 00:14:52.187 --> 00:14:52.508 Why? 00:14:52.508 --> 00:14:55.990 Because you don't need circumcision with hands. 00:14:55.990 --> 00:15:01.471 You already have been circumcised in the heart, a circumcision without hands. 00:15:01.471 --> 00:15:07.633 So there's no need to go back to what you knew about before. 00:15:07.633 --> 00:15:12.448 You've already been buried and raised and made alive through Christ. 00:15:12.448 --> 00:15:27.124 He goes on in verse 14 to talk about how the list of decrees or the record of their debt that was against them had already been nailed to the cross and Jesus had already disarmed the rulers and the authorities and triumphed over them. 00:15:28.726 --> 00:15:37.309 Then he moves on to a section where he talks about freedom from these two philosophies, from both Gnostic philosophy and Jewish legalism. 00:15:37.309 --> 00:15:50.210 He combats the idea that one needs to be bound by restrictions against drink and against meat and celebrating of Sabbath and special days. 00:15:50.210 --> 00:15:51.011 Why? 00:15:51.011 --> 00:15:55.642 Because these things were the shadow, but Jesus was the substance. 00:15:55.642 --> 00:15:56.724 Now let me tell you. 00:15:56.724 --> 00:16:13.553 I would like to just take a small break and say that I've been exposed to a lot of Judaism, judaistic teaching, and this is exactly what is taught in their circles. 00:16:13.553 --> 00:16:27.250 The idea is always focusing on the outer, the external, the feast day, keeping this fast, keeping that fast, refraining from this meat, keeping this diet. 00:16:27.250 --> 00:16:33.529 And it's so similar to what Paul was talking about here, what was threatening their freedom? 00:16:33.590 --> 00:16:48.985 Here in Colossae, he goes on to say that those who would have you worship angels and seek mystical approaches are not connected to the source of life, who is Christ. 00:16:48.985 --> 00:17:02.344 And he says if you are dead in Christ, you should not be subjecting yourselves to these rules like don't touch, don't handle, don't taste, instead observing these things. 00:17:02.344 --> 00:17:08.994 When people observed these things, it was really more of an example of how they lacked humility. 00:17:08.994 --> 00:17:26.211 They might have exhibited the illusion of piety, but really, underneath all this piety was a sense of arrogance, was a sense of a lack of humility, a sense of religious superiority. 00:17:27.492 --> 00:17:33.426 Moving on to Colossians, chapter 3, we now have the practical section. 00:17:33.426 --> 00:17:44.067 This is something Paul does a lot, where the first chapters are doctrinal and then the last chapters are practical, and so the same happens here. 00:17:44.067 --> 00:17:44.852 So we're going to call this living. 00:17:44.852 --> 00:17:46.259 The new chapters are practical, and so the same happens here. 00:17:46.259 --> 00:17:50.284 So we're going to call this living the new life in Christ. 00:17:50.284 --> 00:17:56.269 So he begins to say that believers should set their affection because of all these things that we've talked about. 00:17:56.269 --> 00:18:00.474 Believers should set their affection on the heavenly and not on the earthly. 00:18:00.474 --> 00:18:01.395 Why? 00:18:01.395 --> 00:18:04.662 Because their old life was dead. 00:18:04.662 --> 00:18:06.188 Now their new life is hidden. 00:18:06.188 --> 00:18:12.954 They are now separated unto Christ and they will be glorified at his appearing. 00:18:12.954 --> 00:18:17.048 And also because of that he moves on to the next section. 00:18:17.691 --> 00:18:21.943 Because of these things, believers should put off their old man, or the old self, if you will. 00:18:21.943 --> 00:18:23.929 In verses 5 through 11. 00:18:23.929 --> 00:18:28.465 The analogy is made of putting off grave clothes. 00:18:28.465 --> 00:18:30.510 So take off these old grave clothes. 00:18:30.510 --> 00:18:32.422 You don't want these grave clothes on you. 00:18:32.422 --> 00:18:34.667 And what does that look like? 00:18:34.667 --> 00:18:37.319 Well, first of all, putting to death sexual sins, he says. 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:44.875 Mortify or kill off sexual sins, including desires, promiscuity, impurity, covetousness. 00:18:44.875 --> 00:18:51.490 Put off also the social sins, which would include anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy and lying. 00:18:51.490 --> 00:19:03.315 Instead, the believers who have now been granted duties and privileges by God were not to be divided by nation. 00:19:03.315 --> 00:19:07.923 They were not to be divided by religious distinction or class distinction. 00:19:07.923 --> 00:19:08.463 Why? 00:19:08.463 --> 00:19:11.369 Because Christ was all and in all. 00:19:12.912 --> 00:19:22.928 He then goes on to say that, whereas some of these things are to be put off, there's also things that are to be put on, and he covers that in verses 12 through 17. 00:19:22.928 --> 00:19:25.162 The believer should put on the new self. 00:19:25.162 --> 00:19:26.865 What does the new self look like? 00:19:26.865 --> 00:19:44.089 Well, by contrast to the old with its sinful deeds, it should be characterized by kindness, compassion, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and, above all, love, and that is emphasized above all love. 00:19:44.089 --> 00:19:54.974 He then says let believers have the peace of god rule in their hearts, and he covers this in the next few verses. 00:19:54.974 --> 00:20:05.112 Believers should let the word of christ dwell in them richly, with their singing, with their thanksgiving and with instruction and warning being the evidence. 00:20:05.112 --> 00:20:16.310 And we just sang a few minutes ago to the Lord and I believe this is something that is honoring to God when we sing to him and we're filled richly with the words of song. 00:20:16.310 --> 00:20:26.496 They were to do all these things that he has previously named, whether word or deed, in the name of Christ. 00:20:27.681 --> 00:20:30.790 Then he moves on to another section that's also practical. 00:20:30.790 --> 00:20:33.689 Believers should foster Christ-centered relationships. 00:20:33.689 --> 00:20:39.633 He covers this in verses 18 of chapter 3 through verse 1 of chapter 4. 00:20:39.633 --> 00:20:45.192 Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting to the Lord. 00:20:45.192 --> 00:20:48.369 Husbands, love your wives and be not harsh or bitter against them. 00:20:48.369 --> 00:20:50.026 Children obey your parents. 00:20:50.026 --> 00:20:53.201 Fathers, don't provoke your children to wrath. 00:20:53.201 --> 00:21:05.829 Slaves or servants should work wholeheartedly, not with eye service as man pleasers, but rather in a way that shows that they are pleasing the Lord, who they fear. 00:21:05.829 --> 00:21:14.314 Masters are also to treat their slaves or their servants justly and should be reminded of the fact that they too have a master in heaven. 00:21:14.314 --> 00:21:16.949 So this takes us to chapter 4. 00:21:16.949 --> 00:21:20.770 And in chapter 4, we'll call this communicating the new life in Christ. 00:21:22.220 --> 00:21:30.795 Paul moves on to say that the Colossians were to devote themselves to prayer and be watchful. 00:21:30.795 --> 00:21:33.247 They were to pray for him. 00:21:33.247 --> 00:21:37.108 He's saying don't forget me, I'm here in prison. 00:21:37.108 --> 00:21:44.933 Pray for opportunities that I have to proclaim Christ in the current state I'm in. 00:21:44.933 --> 00:21:49.672 And he said pray also that I would proclaim the gospel clearly. 00:21:49.672 --> 00:21:56.526 And then he admonishes them to walk wisely and to speak graciously. 00:21:56.526 --> 00:22:10.085 He says be careful how you act toward outsiders, in other words those outside the faith, non-believers and speak to others with grace, but also grace that is seasoned with salt. 00:22:10.085 --> 00:22:13.903 Now some people interpret this to mean only speak to those with salt. 00:22:13.903 --> 00:22:17.892 No, there's supposed to be grace and seasoned it with salt. 00:22:17.892 --> 00:22:22.108 Salt isn't supposed to be the whole thing, and what does salt really mean? 00:22:22.108 --> 00:22:24.823 It means impactful speech, purifying speech. 00:22:24.823 --> 00:22:33.288 Finally, they were to honor and partner with fellow servants in Christ, and here he gives a list of those. 00:22:33.410 --> 00:22:36.907 First, he gives a list of those who are sending greetings. 00:22:36.907 --> 00:22:45.969 So he mentions Tychicus, also known as Tychicus to some, and Onesimus, who were sent to deliver this epistle. 00:22:45.969 --> 00:23:00.692 And we don't know much about these guys, but Tychicus apparently is a trusted courier of Paul's that was sent to bring this Colossian letter, along with Onesimus, to the Colossian believers. 00:23:00.692 --> 00:23:10.000 Onesimus, of course, is mentioned as being a slave that had belonged to Philemon, but who Paul now counted as a brother in Christ. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:16.374 Then there's greetings from Aristarchus, john Mark and Jesus Justice. 00:23:16.374 --> 00:23:17.625 These three were Jews. 00:23:17.625 --> 00:23:20.626 Aristarchus was a fellow prisoner. 00:23:20.626 --> 00:23:22.748 We know that because he identifies that way. 00:23:22.748 --> 00:23:32.828 John Mark, of course, was used greatly by God initially, and then there was a falling away period and then he came back to work with Paul. 00:23:32.828 --> 00:23:36.511 Jesus' justice, we don't know a lot about, but he's mentioned here. 00:23:37.315 --> 00:23:43.691 And then Paul also extends greetings from Epaphras and from Luke and from Demas, who were Gentiles. 00:23:43.691 --> 00:23:45.622 So three Jews, three Gentiles. 00:23:45.622 --> 00:23:49.791 And of course we know that Epaphras had a great burden. 00:23:49.791 --> 00:23:57.752 It says, not only for the Colossians but also for those in the two nearby cities of Hierapolis and Laodicea. 00:23:57.752 --> 00:24:05.673 And then greetings to others were extended by Paul. 00:24:05.673 --> 00:24:20.436 He says greet Nymphus, some versions say Nympha, so depending on how you read, that he be a man, she or she could be a woman, um, but essentially, whether it's nympha or nymphus, it was a house in nymphus's. 00:24:20.436 --> 00:24:22.483 Uh, there was a church in nymphus house. 00:24:22.483 --> 00:24:27.780 It's not the same as the church of of the colossians, it was a separate church. 00:24:27.780 --> 00:24:30.326 Some believe that it was in laodicea. 00:24:30.326 --> 00:24:38.384 And and finally, he says admonish Archippus to take heed to the ministry that he received. 00:24:38.384 --> 00:24:42.000 Now, tradition says that he was the pastor of the church in Laodicea. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:42.782 We don't know. 00:24:42.782 --> 00:24:45.288 He was also mentioned in the book of Philemon. 00:24:45.288 --> 00:24:47.643 And then this Paul's salutation. 00:24:48.223 --> 00:24:53.380 So now the question is, now that you've gotten the introduction, computation. 00:24:53.380 --> 00:24:55.805 So now the question is, now that you've gotten the introduction, what are the takeaways? 00:24:55.805 --> 00:24:59.271 Well, there's, there's many, many takeaways, and far too many to to cover. 00:24:59.271 --> 00:25:12.412 But what I did is I I thought of four takeaways that we could, uh, that we could grab one from each chapter to begin with, each chapter To begin with. 00:25:12.432 --> 00:25:25.800 Let's think about the fact that Paul said that when you pray, you will please God in every way. 00:25:25.800 --> 00:25:30.128 If you continue to pray and this is something that is practical for us Pray that, you will please God in every way. 00:25:30.128 --> 00:25:32.854 That's a prayer for us today. 00:25:32.854 --> 00:25:38.852 You know, don't slip into a mindset that says that God can't do anything. 00:25:38.852 --> 00:25:49.173 You know, it's very easy to believe that God cannot answer prayer, and I know that sounds almost heretical, but this is pretty much where we're at as human beings. 00:25:49.173 --> 00:26:07.513 I am a big believer that the littlest things can be prayed about, even something that might sound insignificant, and I've seen in my own life, thankfully, how God has answered small prayers which others might not even think to say anything about. 00:26:07.513 --> 00:26:12.047 So that's one of the takeaways that we can grab tonight. 00:26:13.830 --> 00:26:25.063 A second takeaway would be to not reduce the Christian life to something that is obligatory or something that just stems from religiosity. 00:26:25.063 --> 00:26:37.522 I believe that religiosity is really just an expression of the flesh, really just an expression of the flesh. 00:26:37.522 --> 00:26:47.032 And the more one displays a life where they're just carrying out rituals and going through the motions, that's not a symbol of the sign of the spirit, it's a sign that you're being controlled by the flesh, because there's no life in that. 00:26:47.032 --> 00:26:52.373 It's just routine, it's just obligatory practice. 00:26:52.373 --> 00:27:03.732 This is what it was like before we were saved, what it was like before we knew Christ, just going through the motions of obligatory behaviors and religiosity. 00:27:05.701 --> 00:27:21.490 But another takeaway that we can grab from chapter 3 is that, with Christ's help, we can put off the old sinful deeds of the flesh and clothe ourselves instead with the virtues of the new man, especially love. 00:27:21.490 --> 00:27:25.082 You show me a christian that's really walking with god. 00:27:25.082 --> 00:27:31.008 I'll show you someone that may not know a ton of doctrine hopefully he knows some good doctrine. 00:27:31.008 --> 00:27:48.202 May not be, may have a lot of flaws, but is someone who is characterized by love, someone who is characterized by faith, someone who is characterized by a simple belief in Christ. 00:27:48.202 --> 00:27:53.847 And what he says, that's the kind of Christians I like, being around Christ and what he says, that's the kind of Christians I like being around, and I'm sure you do too. 00:27:55.029 --> 00:28:12.857 And finally, from chapter 4, paul admonishes the Colossians to be thankful, not only devote themselves to prayer, but be thankful, and we can't overemphasize the fact that the Lord wants us to be thankful for the things that he brings into our life. 00:28:12.857 --> 00:28:16.286 Thanksgiving is such an important part of Christianity. 00:28:16.286 --> 00:28:23.809 I pray many times that for forgiveness, that I'm not thankful for the things, that I've even asked prayers for. 00:28:23.809 --> 00:28:28.644 How often do we pray, god answers us and we don't even come back and thank him. 00:28:28.644 --> 00:28:34.181 We don't even remember to say Lord, here's a prayer that I prayed. 00:28:34.181 --> 00:28:38.692 You answered it and thank you so much for what you've done for me. 00:28:38.692 --> 00:28:44.832 Thank you for all that you've done in every way, things that I never could have even imagined. 00:28:44.832 --> 00:28:50.884 Well, let's close in a word of prayer. 00:28:52.327 --> 00:28:59.107 Speaking of Thanksgiving, father, we have a hard time really encapsulating this epistle. 00:28:59.107 --> 00:29:19.113 We think of the Colossians and how they were steadfast and how, even though they were influenced by false teaching, bad philosophy, very similar to what we experience today, yet they remained steadfast, they were encouraged, and it was a church that was used mightily. 00:29:19.113 --> 00:29:22.226 We thank you for Paul and how he loved these people. 00:29:22.226 --> 00:29:32.569 Didn't even know them, hadn't even seen them, and yet he exhibited a tenderness, a heartfelt concern for them. 00:29:32.569 --> 00:29:35.474 We thank you, lord, for his example. 00:29:35.474 --> 00:29:44.095 We pray that we would be like him and we pray that we would also realize that in Christ we are complete. 00:29:44.095 --> 00:30:01.788 We are full in you, lord, and we don't need all these other philosophies, religious concepts, rituals, traditions that so bogged down believers and have done so for several thousand years. 00:30:01.788 --> 00:30:10.980 We thank you for the example that is set forth for us and help us to understand these principles, and we pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.