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Speaker 1It's church downstairs. Children's church all the way up through middle school. And here we go. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you to the band.
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We are up to Colossians. The clickity clicker is not clicking at the moment. But there it goes. Colossians two six through 23. This was the plan and then all week long, I shrunk it back all week long and then the tide came in this morning and it went further than this.
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So, we're going Colossians two six through three four. That's where we're going this morning. Colossians two six through three four and you could literally ruminate on a verse or two at a time for the rest of your life in this section but I want to give you the context and I've reserved the right to come back and examine it a little closer. Okay? Here we go.
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Colossians two, we're going to start with verse six and it says, therefore, and so, what do you gotta do? See what it's there for? That's right. Here we go. Colossians two, this is the start.
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Now, I almost wanted to go back and read the whole of Colossians but here we start in chapter two. For I want y'all to know how great a struggle I have in your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea and for those, all of those who have not personally yet seen my face. Paul sitting in prison is concerned about the Colossians and the Laodiceans and he says, everybody else that has never seen his face before because if they had seen his face, they would have heard the gospel. He knows and he has, I've got a struggle. I'm stuck here but I want to be out there spreading this and so he's writing and he's spreading it and praise God he got stuck.
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We get these letters because he was stuck there, right? So, I am letting you know how great a struggle I have for those that I don't yet know that their hearts may be encouraged. Haven't meant it, been knit together in love. So, he's not just saying for everybody he hasn't seen, he's saying for all of the Christians, he has not yet met. So, it's not just the gospel of salvation, it's the gospel for sanctification that he's talking about.
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For growing in the knowledge of God. That their hearts may be encouraged, having been together in love and that they would attain to all of the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding. Resulting in true knowledge of God's mystery and God's mystery is Christ himself. Christ himself in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If you get to know Christ, you get to know everything that you need to know about God, life, and godliness will say too.
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So, in Christ, in whom are hidden, all the treasures, wisdom, knowledge and I say this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. So, this is the first time in this book that we have heard about what this letter might be about. Persuasive arguments is the way he puts it to begin with because people will try to draw you away from the goodness of the gospel. They'll try to draw you away from just Christ. And Paul is saying, don't let that happen.
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Don't let the persuasive argument say, what about this? What about this? What about this? What about this? You've gotta do this, that, and other thing.
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And they've got persuasive arguments for it. And he said, I say all of this so that no one else will deceive you with any persuasive arguments. For even though I'm absent in body, I'm stuck here probably in Rome in prison. I'm nevertheless with you in spirit. You might wanna put a capital s on that spirit.
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The Holy Spirit is what binds all believers of all times together. He says, I'm there with you in spirit and I'm rejoicing to see your orderly manner and the stability of your faith in Christ. Y'all are falling in line behind Jesus and it does my heart good to know that this gospel is going forth even though I can't go forth. Therefore, in the same way, as right there is in the same way, just as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord in exactly that same way, so be walking in him. And I say so be walking because it's present tense bourbon Greek and I don't want to throw my arm out but this means progressive action.
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Okay? I did that when I was an intern here. I accidentally turned from this direction to this direction. It popped my shoulder out. It's time to get, it's time to get your arm fixed when you preach yourself into throwing your arm out.
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Just as you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so be walking in him and how did you receive it? Well, you received Jesus by faith. It's the grace of God presented to you as salvation in Christ, death, Christ on the cross. It's the grace of God that is towards you. He's leaning towards you with favor but it must be accepted and it's accepted by faith, by grace through faith actually is the way Ephesians would put it and he probably wrote Ephesians within a few weeks of writing Colossians.
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Different because the cross is the place where the transaction was made and if you've accepted Christ and the cross, his payment of the penalty for your sin, you are already firmly rooted and now, as you learn, as you grow in the grace and knowledge of God, you're being built up in him and you're being established in your faith. Just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude. How does he know what they were taught? Well, he's already told us that Epaphras had spread the gospel to them and Epaphras is one of the guys who's carrying the letters out from the prison. He has heard what's going on in Colossi from Epaphras or you might want to call him Epaphroditis.
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Epaphroditus is like Miguel and Miguelito. Epaphras might be this big. Epaphroditus is probably this big. Same guy. It's a diminutive.
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So just as you're instructed by Epaphroditus and you're overflowing with gratitude because the salvation that has been offered has lifted the burden off of your shoulders for your past sin. It also provides the power for you to be able to walk in holiness now. But just as you're instructed and overflowing with gratitude, thank you lord that I'm not carrying that burden anymore. And thank you for guiding me day by day as I look to you, as I turn my eyes upon you as this will go on to say. Just as you're instructed, overflowing with gratitude and this next set, I mean, these these verses right here are really the hinge.
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So I've told y'all in in Ephesians, you've got the first three chapters are like theology, the underlying foundational theology and then four, five, and six are, okay, so walk worthy. Now that you know that and you understand that, be walking it out. In this book, he makes the transition. Bam. That fast and he does so Right here, this is the hinge upon which it swings.
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It goes from all of these things are true and since they are true, be walking in them. So, it goes from theological foundation and underpinning to walking it out. Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus, lord, so be walking in him. Having been root... Firmly rooted, that's his work.
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And now being built up in him and establishing your faith just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude. That's the hinge. And here we go. Josh, the clicky clicker is not clicking. There it is.
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Colossians two eight. See to it. This is emphatic. It's really, really emphatic. When he says see to it, it's a little more than look or now or hey, little suggestion.
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It's almost stomping the foot. Okay? See to it. This is emphatic. See to it.
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Take care with this. Make sure that there is no one who takes you captive. And takes you captive is literally like kidnapping you, pulling you away, or stealing you away like you are some prize to be claimed. So let no one come and take you captive and take you back to their camp with them. Because that's what they're trying to do.
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Now, we've already heard him say, don't let anybody get you with persuasive arguments. And now he's saying, see to it. Really, take care in this that no one takes you captive through philosophy. It doesn't say don't study philosophy. Okay?
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Don't be pulled off track by philosophy. And I know that anybody that's ever been to college and had a sociology, anthropology, or philosophy class, the first semester that you were in there, the first two weeks, what they're trying to do is destroy all the faith. Your parents have been working for seventeen, eighteen years. They do their best to just rip that out of your hands. And this is directly at that.
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It's saying don't let that happen to you. They have all these philosophies, but my goodness, if you can't tell when a tree falls in the woods if it makes any noise, is that real, really? Is that the best you can do? It
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Speaker 2sounds good, and it sounds like, well, how do you know? How do you know? How do you know? How do
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Speaker 1you know? Epistemology and mores and values and everything else. Well, if you know Christ, that's what you need to know. And look into him, that's what... And this is what this whole section is about.
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Looking to him, he's the author and perfecter of our faith is what Hebrews says. See to it that there's no one that takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition. So it's not just philosophy teachers. It's people who are insistent on the traditions going the way they go. You have to do things a certain way.
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This can be and probably in this case was, this is a Gentile land where after the gospel has been planted, there were Judaizers that came along afterwards and said, I know that you accepted Christ, but all of these things that that point to him still have to happen. You still have to go through these rites. You still have to eat this. You still have to do this on this day. You have to take care to make sure all of this happens.
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Empty deception philosophy. And in accordance with human tradition, I can say this, I grew up in a little bitty Southern Baptist Church in Shiloh, Georgia, and I love it. And I still love it. When I go home, I still go there. It's wonderful.
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If you don't do things exactly like we always do things, it's a problem. Okay? Everybody in the room knows how many songs you're supposed to sing before you say a prayer. Everybody in the room knows how it's supposed to go. And honestly, I have to say, that's human tradition.
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When we travel and get out of town, Tanya and I get out of town, we go to something that's a little different than what we're used to. And I tell you what, I sit there and bristle. Oh, they're not doing the one three one like the first service or they're not doing the 212. If you're a basketball player, 131 and 212 makes a sense to you. We do 131 in this service.
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We sing a song, the throwaway song because nobody's here yet. Then, we do the announcements and then we sing three songs, and then that's the way it goes. 131. In the second service, they're more apt to be here on time, so we do two songs first. I don't know why we do what we do, but I know that we do what we do.
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Right? And so those can get to be sacrosanct with us, And it can get to be where that's the that is the religious notion. He's kind of saying, hey, don't get pulled off track. It's about worshiping Jesus. And this service does look different from the second service.
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We've got Judy who's been playing the piano here for fifty years and me doing the best I can to stay on time and and keep the tune, right? Both of us are seeking to be relevant in the communities that we are ministering to, right? But lord, let me calm down a minute and let me settle in and let this be about worshiping you. Instead of, oh, this is not right. Oh, I can't stand this.
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Through philosophy, empty deception, in accordance with human tradition. Now, like I said, for them, it's most likely Judaizers, but it's not just the Judaizers. There's pagan religion all around them all the time. This is the time where they've got this whole list, the whole pantheon of Greek and Roman gods, and they are walking in fear of those things. Now, tell you what, you might kind of make fun of it but primitive religion is still really sticky and you can hear it in a group of people you say, I heard about so and so.
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Pray for em. I heard that they made some bad decisions and you know, if you're not lit, bless their heart. Yeah, that's right. And they're just not living right Or I had a flat tire on the way to work this morning, one of those kind of things. Well, you must not be living right.
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That's primitive religion. Okay? Don't let anybody draw you off track of following Jesus. Don't let the legalist get a hold of you, and don't let the licentious ones get a hold of you either. See to it that no one is taking you captive through philosophy, empty deception, accordance with human tradition, In accordance with the elementary principles of this world, like I said, primitive religion is the made up stuff like, oh man, there's something bad happened to me.
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I must have done something bad. Well, chances are you did do something bad, but that's not why the bad stuff is always happening to you. In accordance with the elementary principles of the world rather than accordance with Christ because in Christ, there's grace. There's unmerited favor and it's the gift of God and it's coming at you. It's it is towards you.
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He's leaning towards you with favor. For in him, Christ, all the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form. This is the second time we've heard this exact line. Right? He says, the pleroma, the fullness of God is available in Christ.
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In Christ, all of the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. Human form can be indwelt by God and he hasn't said it exactly like this yet but he's saying, all of the fullness was in Christ and the Holy Spirit is available to you too. If you've put your faith in Christ, then comes with that, the spirit of God. Never mind about that. That didn't work out.
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I was going to do something this morning. I, y'all know I don't do usually three points in a prayer. It kind of and I know that's the form for this thing but I feel like I'm really, really dedicated to just saying what it says. And I was trying to break this down and go, okay. One, two, three, and it didn't work.
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It worked in my head at night when I was laying in bed last night, but it didn't work when I got here. That's a vestige. Let's go back to just what it says. In him, that's Christ. You have been made complete.
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You lack nothing. If you've got Christ, you've got it. The finished work of Christ was enough. In him, you've been made complete. He's the head over every ruler and every authority.
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We've already seen in the first chapter he said that everything that was made and he include rulers and authorities and powers and principalities and all stuff. Everything that was made was made through him and made for him. So if you look at it, you say, well, he's the head over every ruler and authority. Can we just agree that not everybody is falling in line with what the head is saying? Yeah.
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They're not. But they're accountable to him. Everyone is accountable to him. He's the head over every ruler and authority. And him, you are also circumcised with a circumcision performed without hands.
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Now, he's writing to a Gentile group. Most of these folks, most of these guys are not going to be circumcised because they're not Jewish background folks. But the Judaizers come in and say, oh, this can't be. There's no way you can accept Christ unless you follow all of these 613 rules of the law or maybe we've dropped some of those but not all those. Wait a second.
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613, 10 commandments, maybe just the 10. No. Jesus boils it down to loving God and loving people. In him, all of those things that pointed to him were fulfilled in him. And this gets to be a difficult concept because it's just kinda hard for us to think about.
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In him, were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without hands. It's saying that he fulfilled that. It went all the way from Abraham and Abraham's family, and it was showing the covenant relationship with God that God had made with Abraham and his seed, singular, all the way through till Jesus and he was the circumcision on the cross, cut off from his people. And that's the place where the sign of the covenant really changes from circumcision and it changes into baptism and we'll see that here in the next couple of verses. In him, you also were, you y'all were circumcised with the circumcision performed without hands.
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It's not necessary to go through those actual physical rights in order to be saved. You are already saved to grow in them. You need to know that. In the removal of the body by of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. So, comes up and yes, he was.
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According to the law, circumcised on the right day, at the right time, exactly how it should have been but he also fulfilled that on the cross. He was cut off from his people And then this just turns the corner. And now for y'all having been buried with him in baptism, it is a right. It is. Is it a necessary right for salvation?
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I I don't I don't think so because the thief on the cross gets to go, right? Man on the middle cross said so. Having been buried with him baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised Christ from the dead. So, Christ was raised from the dead, the power of the Holy Spirit, the will of God the father, Jesus laying down absolutely everything, Having a perfect record and yielding that perfect record over to anyone who would believe and he was vindicated and that he was resurrected and we should believe everything that he says. Oh, yeah.
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Thank you, Connor. Haven't been buried with him in baptism. Every time that we baptize somebody, including a couple weeks ago when Van baptized his buddy Tim. He you would put him down and say, buried with Christ. It's an identification with Christ.
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Christ alone is good for salvation. Bury with Christ and what? Raised to walk in newness of life. Amen. Here we go.
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Having been buried with him in baptism which you are also raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead and when you were dead in your wrongdoings. Okay, this sounds like something that happened earlier in the book too. Right? He says, when you are alienated from God, hostile in your mind, and engaged in evil deeds, he reconciled you. Praise God.
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When you were dead in your wrongdoings and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him. Having forgiven us all our wrongdoings. Can can you just take a deep breath and go, thank you God. I don't have to carry around that burden anymore. Even though I still remember what I did in kindergarten.
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Yeah. I still remember it but it's not my burden anymore. That has been nailed to the cross. Let me let the text say that. Having cancelled on the cross, the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us.
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We broke the law, all of us. Now, I can go into original sin. I won't cause all of us whether we carried it originally or not in your arguments. You chose to, right? By nature and by choice, we were alienated from God.
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So, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us which was hostile towards us, the law was beaten us down. Do you all remember in Pilgrim's Progress? You remember Christians walking the journeys, walking the journey, and then all of a sudden he gets smacked down, not to use a wrestling term, but he literally got smacked. Bam. And just about time he got his senses and started to get up and walk the path, he's starting to walk forward.
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Bam. He gets hit again, knocked down. And then a hand reaches down and picks him up. And when the hand picks him up, he recognizes that's Jesus. And he goes, what just happened?
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He goes, oh, that was Moses. He hit you over the head with the law. It was hostile towards you. Yeah. But he has canceled that debt.
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He has taken it out of the way. He nailed it to the cross. Amen. And when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities and you think, when did he do that? He did that on the cross.
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Does that look like the win for Satan and his minions? It looks like it. Let's get rid of that guy. He's teaching all these people and he's doing all this stuff. He disarmed the rulers and authorities at the cross.
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He made a public display of their foolishness. They cannot hold him down. Having triumphed over them through him. So, made salvation available through what looked like the devil's greatest day but it was not the devil's greatest day. It's the center point of all history and that's where the transaction was made on the cross of Christ.
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Therefore, so that was the end of the sermon by the way for this morning but not really. Here we go. Therefore, let's walk it out. No one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink. Now, does Jesus?
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He he does. Jesus does. He gets to say yes or no, okay? But no one else and he's talking about these people that are coming in and saying, oh, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, you gotta do this in exactly this way. You gotta do one song first.
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Then you gotta do the three songs or you gotta be circumcised or you gotta go by the dietary law. You gotta do all these things in exactly this way and exactly this order. He said, no. Listen, no one else is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. You know, there's a big argument of whether it should be Saturday or Sunday.
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Big argument. Huge argument at the time. And then when somebody made a foul guess about whether or not we should be, well, when when Jesus was coming back, I'll just say it. It's a it's a cult. When Jesus was coming back and they're wrong about that and they say, you know what?
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I missed that vision. It wasn't that he was coming back on Saturday. It was that we are supposed to worship on Saturday. Come on. And if you don't fall in line exactly with us on this, you're wrong.
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The festival or new moon or Sabbath day. Things which are only a shadow of what is to come but the substance of those things belongs to Christ. So, everything Old Testament that we saw from the sacrificial system, everything in the law about holiness and purity, all of that fulfilled in Christ. The shadow of things to come but the substance belongs to Christ. So, take care that no one keeps on defrauding you.
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He's getting a little stronger. He says, hey, through empty philosophy, deceit, aggravation, take care that no one keeps on defrauding you because they're trying and they're defrauding you of your prize of freedom in Christ Jesus, liberty. Now, that's not licentiousness and that's not legalism but it is an individual relationship with Almighty God through Christ in his spirit. Take care that no one keeps on defrauding you of your prize by delighting in humility and the worship of angels. Can I say another couple of cult situations?
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The worship of angels. When guys get in a cave and they think that an angel has spoken to them. Oh. History takes a bad, bad, bad turn, okay? And this is exactly what this is talking about.
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Usually, that's followed by a list of religious commands and demands that, hey, we've been doing this wrong the whole time. What he said was we're supposed to meet at this time or we're supposed to do this in this way. Take care that no one keeps on defrauding of your prize by delighting in, oh yeah, humble humility but you gotta do it this way and the worship of angels taking his stand on visions that he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind. It's an unpopular thing to to state out loud but Muhammad in the cave having a vision from an angel led to a religion that is not about Jesus. Joseph Smith in a cave with an angel led to religion that is not about Jesus.
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Judaism is supposed to be about Jesus. It's all pointing towards him. If you reject the Messiah that you've been looking for, that is you gotta worship something because we're made to worship. So, taking a stand on visions he's seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind and so and so is his prophet and so and so is his prophet. That's inflated by his fleshly mind And not holding on firmly to the head which is Christ.
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From whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments grows with a growth which is from God. God will grow you up in him if you will turn your eyes on Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face, the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory grace. You know where we get that? This next slide.
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If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, if you have put that primitive religion behind which is so sticky and so hard, if you have indeed died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world. I'm sorry. I'm going to use you. Listen. She said, is it alright if I if I wear blue jeans?
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Like, Alyssa's been leading the music for a while now here. You all know that. We have brought Alyssa on, and I'm so thankful to have you. And she just said, dress code stuff. I got up this morning, and what I put on didn't work.
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And I put on my blue jeans, and then when I got here, I thought, I don't know if I'm wearing blue jeans. Well, according to the elementary principles of this world, and I mean that spelled the other way, the elementary principles of world. You can't wear blue jeans. I got a cousin that recently got in trouble because she went to the school on a weekend in blue jeans to do something. Yeah.
27:24
Oh, you can't wear blue jeans around here. That's ridiculous. In Mexico, somebody saw us, normal work team, work site all day and I was in and they said, you're Christians? I said, yeah. Why?
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He goes, because you're wearing blue jeans. Christians don't wear blue jeans. Like, that's ridiculous. Elementary principles of this world. If you have died with Christ to elementary prince...
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Did he walk a kind of a counter cultural lifestyle? In every culture, Jesus is counter cultural. If you died with Christ to elementary principles of the world, why? As if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to those kind of decrees such as don't handle, don't taste, don't touch. You gotta do this in exactly this way if you don't.
28:09
Oh, communion. When Van does communion, we do bread and wine at the same time, bread and grape juice at the same time. When I do it, we do them separated. It doesn't matter to me. It's not the weirdest way I've done this, I promise.
28:24
Don't submit yourself to these decrees such as you've got to do this in exactly this way. I had a buddy in seminary, I love the guy. Great exegete, wonderful expositor, lovely preacher. He used the wrong communion set and got fired. Yeah, that communion set has been here since the revolutionary war.
28:41
I don't care. Don't handle. Don't... Oh, you gotta don't handle, don't taste, don't touch. All of these things refer that with these things refer to are destined to perish with used.
28:58
In accordance with the commandments and teachings of man, we gotta do things exactly according to tradition or we didn't get it right and we've strayed off. Well, what do you what do you do? If Christ is not good enough, what do you do? Christ is good enough. That's the point.
29:12
These are matters which do have the appearance of wisdom and people will go back and say, I applaud you for your orderly conduct in Colossians. He... I said that earlier, right, in the first couple of slides. We gotta do these things in orderly manner. Yes.
29:28
Praise God. We do but we cannot treat that as sacrosanct that it must be done this way. There are matters which have the appearance of will... Wisdom in self made religion and hey, do y'all live in Jackson? I know a lot of y'all don't.
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Got some folks from North Carolina and from all over the world here but can can I get a witness? Do people follow self made religion here? Oh, yes. Yes. A smorgasbord type.
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I like this from that one and this from that one and we're going bring it together and it looks like, well, they're walking a life that's kind of... They've got a code. The code is Jesus. These are matters which do have an appearance of wisdom and self made religion and humility and their severe treatment of the body. So, he hasn't mentioned this one yet.
30:14
This is the first time he mentions. That's asceticism. Aceticism is when you, you know, I must flagellate myself and beat myself up for my own sin. I have to do this to fall in line with I must fast a certain way in a certain time at a certain time, and I need to deny certain things at a certain time. And I I gotta do this.
30:39
This is this is this is what I must do. And that is primitive religion. That's where I gotta gotta do just the right thing. Oh, I gotta walk this line exactly the right way. He's saying, there's some appearance of wisdom in that, but it's self made religion and humility and severe treatment of body but it is of no value against fleshly indulgence.
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So, therefore, because of all that. Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, believer, if you have been raised with Christ, keep on seeking things that are above. Keep on doing it. Yes, there will be people coming at you and they've got all kinds of stuff that you ought to do but keep on looking to Christ where Christ is. Keep on seeking things that are above.
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Heavenly things where Christ is. When we pray, lord, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's not about other people. That's about us. That's about me.
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Lord, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You fill me with the love that I need to have for this lost and dying world and I want for that to go forward, flow through me where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. What is he doing at the right hand of God? Interceding for you. Christ himself is praying for you right now and what you have to do today.
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Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. If the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of his glory and grace. For you have died. Reckon this as so.
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Buried with him in baptism. That guy's dead. Raised to walk in newness of life. I'm a new creature in Christ. And my life is hidden with Christ in God.
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So, when Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. You got that to look forward to. That's wonderful. In the day to day, keep on looking to Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. And we'll come back to that for the benediction.
32:37
Wait a second. I was thinking, say, stand with me. We'll sing our way out of here. But we have this. We get to celebrate this and we're gonna do it in two sessions, man.
32:45
Come on. I'm a ask the ushers to come forward, the elders to come forward, the ushers and elders and the band to come on back or Lisa, would would you play something pretty? Yeah. In Jesus name, lord, we ask you to bless this communion, this celebration of the Lord's supper, the Lord's table right here. Lord God almighty, we thank you that you came and you walked it out perfectly, that you were not drawn aside.
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You gave yourself. You followed after the father's will by the power of the spirit and you've offered us that same thing that we can go with the father's will by the power of the spirit because of your body and blood. You did it and then you sacrificed it on our behalf. So in Jesus name, I pray. That as we practice this open table for any of you who are believers in Jesus, no matter your background, if you put your faith in Christ, then we celebrate this commune together as an open table.
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Would you bless this little representation of the body of Christ as we distribute it this morning. In Jesus name, amen.
