Scripture referenced 18 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Colossians 2:1-2 Paul's personal struggle and prayer for the hearts of believers in Colossi and Laodicea to be encouraged and knit together in love
1 For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
2 that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,
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Keep this verse
Colossians 2:2-3
the mystery which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge
2 that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,
3 in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
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Colossians 2:4
warning that no one may delude believers with plausible arguments
4 Now this I say that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.
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Colossians 2:5
Paul absent in body but present in spirit, rejoicing in their good order and firmness of faith
5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
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Colossians 2:6
just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him
6 As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him,
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Colossians 2:7
rooted and built up in him and established in the faith
7 rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
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Colossians 2:8
warning to see to it that no one takes believers captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition and elemental spirits of the world
8 Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ.
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Colossians 2:9
in Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily
9 For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily,
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Colossians 2:10
believers have been filled in Christ who is the head of all rule and authority
10 and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;
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Colossians 2:11
circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of flesh through the circumcision of Christ
11 in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;
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Colossians 2:12
buried with Christ in baptism and raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
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Colossians 2:13
believers who were dead in trespasses made alive together with Christ
13 You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
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Colossians 2:14
the record of debt with its legal demands canceled and nailed to the cross
14 wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;
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Colossians 2:15
God disarmed rulers and authorities and triumphed over them in Jesus
15 having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
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John 3:16
quoted by a child from memory as an example of scripture learned through Awana
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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2 Corinthians 8:9
though Christ was rich yet for our sake he became poor that we by his poverty might become rich
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
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Titus 2:11-12
the grace of God has appeared offering salvation and teaching believers to say no to ungodliness and to live godly lives
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
12 instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age;
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Micah 6:8
what the Lord requires: to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Ray preached from Colossians 2:1-15, walking through Paul's concern for the Colossian church and his warning against plausible arguments that pull believers away from Christ. The central image was a target and a spirit level: Christ hits the absolute center every time, and everything else is measured against that.
What was said
To set up the passage, Pastor Ray introduced a four-direction picture of how people go wrong in their faith. On one axis you have the naturalistic and the supernaturalistic. On the other, the dogmatic and the experiential. Orthodox Christian faith lives in the center of all four pulls. Every quadrant has its own version of a plausible argument, and every one of them is capable of drawing a person out of bounds.
Paul opens Colossians 2 by telling the church he is struggling on their behalf, even for people he has never met face to face, including those at Laodicea. That name means "the people rule," and Pastor Ray noted how easily the assumption that the majority is right can creep into how Christians think about truth. Paul's whole concern is that their hearts would be encouraged, that they would be knit together in love, and that they would reach the full assurance of understanding that comes through knowing Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
The warning against being deluded by "plausible arguments" comes from a Greek phrase, pith analogia, meaning persuasive speech. Pastor Ray traced that kind of speech all the way back to the garden, where Satan used it on Eve. The point is that every quadrant produces its own version of a convincing case: Carl Sagan's naturalism, karma and reincarnation, a rigid sacramentalism that controls who receives grace, or a song sung nineteen times until everyone comes forward on the power of suggestion. None of them are center.
Paul then says that just as the Colossians received Christ, by grace through faith, that is exactly how they are to walk in him. The word for walk is parapetate, a present active imperative in the second person plural. Pastor Ray translated it plainly: y'all, be walking. The command is continuous and active, not a one-time event. You were not established in the faith by what you did, and you do not stay there by what you do either.
To make that concrete, Pastor Ray described Eileen, a legally blind young woman whose father Steve has trained her to hunt. He steadies her, talks her through her breathing, mirrors her scope, and tells her when to pull the trigger. She is the one who gets the animal, but none of it happens without him. The point was direct: we are all spiritually blind, and Christ is the one who knows exactly how it is done, having hit the center perfectly in every moment of his life.
Paul's argument then moves to what Christ's perfect life actually accomplished. He fulfilled the law, he fulfilled the covenant sign going back to Abraham, and in his death he canceled the record of debt that stood against us and nailed it to the cross. Jesus voluntarily exchanged his perfect, dead-level life for ours, which is all over the map. For those who are being saved, that is the power of God. For those who are perishing, it reads as foolishness.
Pastor Ray closed with the image from 2 Corinthians: though Christ was rich, for our sake he became poor, so that by his poverty we might become rich. And from Micah 6:8, to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Without Christ that is impossible. Because of the cross, it is not. The harder a person tries on their own, the further they pull off target. Yielding to him is what brings the shot home.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Ray described four directions a person can drift from the center of orthodox Christian faith: too naturalistic, too supernaturalistic, too dogmatic, or too experience-based. Which of those pulls do you find yourself most prone to, and why?
- Paul tells the Colossians he is struggling and praying for people he has never even met, so that their hearts would be encouraged and knit together in love. What does that kind of concern for strangers look like in practice, and where do you see it happening around you?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 8,540 words
0:00
So, welcome. Glad you're here. If you're in the vestibule and you mean to be in here, come on in. We'll sing the rest of em in. This week, we have had more people have called in sick than any other week that I know of to the work, to job, to the schools.
0:15
We didn't do children's church this morning because we just didn't have well volunteers all ready at the same time. I've had a couple of volunteers in between. If you want to help out with children's church or want to, please feel free. We've could use the help and especially during the season where this valley is like a huge petri dish and we've been handing the same cultured cold around for the last two and a half months. We're going to talk about a time when we are not going to be encumbered by our mortal coil right here.
0:42
I'll fly away. Would you stand with me? And we'll sing hymn number seven seventy nine, I'll fly away.
0:54
Glad morning when this life is old
2:30
How about love lifted me?
2:32
Thank
2:32
you, Judy for playing the piano for us this morning. If you all haven't noticed, Judy's been out of town up in Billings and she's only been back a couple of times but Judy and Frank are here this morning. Enjoy em while they're here. Here we go. This love lifted me.
2:46
Hymn number five zero eight. Y'all can have a seat. We have a few announcements this morning. Y'all know about the connect hour this morning. They have breakfast burritos down the hall.
5:37
Nancy Teracciano, if you don't know who that is, is the one who takes care of that. Nancy was a church secretary somewhere in California and just loves it and she loves coming in and she's here by herself getting everything ready so that when the time comes in the morning, it's already ready. So, while she's doing that, she prays. Get to know her. If you know who she is but you don't get haven't gotten to know her.
5:56
She's really, really a sweet, sweet lady and a nice servant's heart. She's not in here right now. I'm not embarrassing her that I know of but don't fret. Next week, Monday nights, we'll be back. We're not doing Monday nights at first b this week and we're not doing Awana this week.
6:11
It's a long weekend. We're keeping with the schedule that Awana has set and that's Presidents Day weekend. We're not gonna do this. So, Monday nights at first b will be back next week. The men's retreat is happening February 24 through the twenty sixth.
6:26
That is an old school sled right there. That's something else. But that's happening this weekend. So, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. There may be a slack crowd of males here next week because they are going to be up there.
6:39
I'm planning on being here to preach but they're planning on being up there and they're going to have their own service on Sunday morning before coming home. So, men's retreats next weekend. If you still want to go and you haven't talked to anybody about it, talk to me or Kyle Knutson and we'll get you involved in it. Truth Project, I can't say enough good things about the Truth Project. It's really really it's it's about 10 or 12 years old but the nice thing about the truth is it doesn't change, right?
7:05
So, the truth project starts started a couple weeks ago. This will be the third one at 06:45 in the Fellowship Hall on Wednesday nights. Wednesday night, 06:45. During the daytime on Wednesdays, we're doing the ladies are doing this women's Bible study called Unashamed by Christine Cain. Dropping the baggage and picking up your freedom in Christ and so that's ten to noon.
7:30
Books are available in the church office and we have another ladies Bible study for those who can't come during the daytime. If you're working but you really would like to be involved with a small group of ladies, there's one called Seamless and they are undertaken to understand the Bible as one complete story. That starts 06:45 in the evenings on Thursday evenings. So, that's a good one too. That started just this past week.
7:51
You're only one behind. If you didn't make it this time, you could catch back up and I have an announcement. Caroline is going to make the baby bottle campaign for Turning Point. So come on up, Carolyn Warmziniak. W a r z I n I a c k.
8:08
Alright. Good. Just wanted to prove it could be done.
8:17
Can you hear me? And my Polish husband said they actually dropped five consonants. I'm glad that was before I marry him. Anyway, good morning to everyone. We're really heavy weighted on this side.
8:31
Is there a reason for that? Nope. Anyway, I'm here on behalf of Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center this morning. I'm, standing in for six months as the executive director for this wonderful lady, Judy Basie, who's been serving there as the executive director for about, four years. We just celebrated our 30 birthday and we sang a song in the earlier service that by the grace of God we endure and by the grace of God we win.
9:04
We are winners. We are on the winning team here in our church and at at Turning Point. So we are thankful for that. God promises he will accomplish everything that concerns us and that his loving kindness endures forever. So we see it enduring every day as we are on the front lines at Turning Point.
9:24
It is a pregnancy resource center so we're there to help men, women and, children. There are people who come in, women, with unplanned or unexpected pregnancies and we help them navigate, through that. We are there to speak life to them, to speak hope, to bring joy to their lives in places where they are scared or confused. We also have the joy of navigating life with women and men who are looking forward to to parenting. We're located at 250 East Broadway.
10:00
We're in this nineteen twenty eight small cozy house next to the brand new two story animal adoption center. So we're we're easy to find and hope you'll come by and visit with us. One thing I love, we have great staff and, Judy, of course, is the executive director, Our own Alyssa Massey, who was at the earlier service, is in charge of all our volunteers. We have incredible volunteers, one sitting right here, Liz Jacobson, Helen Courtney. I look forward to these ladies coming in and working with our clients and with us.
10:35
We have about 11 to 13 volunteers depending depending on the season. We have two nurses on staff that meet with our with our clients. So just in France Francis, that's my husband. Ray said, you know, a moment or two, well, this will be a southern moment kind of withdrawal, but in thinking about what we're all called to as a church, as individuals at Turning Point, we're all called to fight faithfully this battle which we're in knowing that Christ has already gone before us and has already won. We just need to walk it out as pastor Ray, preached earlier today.
11:15
We're all called to grow up individually and as a church, as Paul says, to the fullness and to the measure of of Christ, all that is in Christ, all that he has implanted within us. And we're called to speak life to people, to speak hope, to speak truth in love, and to be ambassadors and be ministers of reconciliation. So this time of year, we have a winter fundraiser and it's fun because you can take these bottles, men, women, children of all ages, and fill these bottles with coins, with dollars, with checks, and help us keep our doors open all during the year. And we use our money to provide parenting curriculum and post abortion and post miscarriage Bible studies to do all that we do on a daily basis. So we ask you to join with us to we covet your prayers and to participate with us in this campaign.
12:16
So Tanya set up an a beautiful display out front and Tanya has been such a faithful volunteer for us and, of course, raised the chairman of our board. So we appreciate them. So, if you can, bring it back next Sunday. But if not, just bring it back any Sunday. Diane will accumulate these for us and we'll look forward to counting the money.
12:39
So, thank you Ray for my moment.
12:42
Thank you, Caroline for doing that, for being willing, and stepping up. I appreciate it and Judy too. It's it is amazing and there are a lot of people. Y'all heard a lot of names that are all folks, home folks from here but there are a lot of people who are working from the other churches in town too and to me, I like to see these kind of pan church organizations that are over. They're parachurch.
13:04
They're to help the church but they're pan church and that it's not just one little local assembly but it's this whole valley. All the Christians working together. So, if you would grab one of those bottles on your way out and and fill em as you will and bring em on back in. It is it is a fun one. So, I think you can check your bulletins for the rest of the announcements.
13:23
I do have a couple other things. So, we ask you, this is a great one another. Are we not doing the digital thing this go round? Thank you, Rinsey. Alright, why don't you all greet one another?
13:35
How about that? Let us know who you are and your phone number for the directory some kind of way soon. Alright.
14:39
Grace, grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin. Sin and despair like the sea waves cold threaten the soul with infinite loss. Grace that is greater, yes grace untold points to the refuge, the mighty cross. Grace, grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within grace, grace God's grace grace that is greater than all our sin dark is the stain that we cannot hide grace that pardon and cleanse grace God's grace grace grace that is greater than all our sin on the last infinite matchless grace freely bestowed on all who believe you that are longing to see his face will you this moment his grace receive grace grace God's grace grace that will pardon and cleanse within grace grace God's grace grace that is greater than all sin Amen. I think
17:11
I just need to save this one. This will preach. That is a fantastic song. We haven't sung that one in a while either. It's really really good and it's going to come up again today.
17:19
God's grace comes up pretty much every sermon, doesn't it? Oh, it's on every page. The greatest thing, hymn number six forty four.
17:32
The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you greatest thing in all my life is knowing I want to know I want to know greatest thing in all my life is knowing the greatest thing in all my life is loving you the greatest thing in all my life is loving you I want to love I want to love the greatest thing in all my life greatest thing
19:20
Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I'm going to invite the frontline team forward Would you pray with me? Lord, it seems like a contradiction to saying, the greatest thing, singular in all my life is and then we say three different things, knowing, loving, and serving lord but to know you, to really experientially know you is to love you and to really love you, lord, is to serve you and so God, would you help us in all of those facets? Would you draw us closer so that we could be filled like Paul says with all spiritual wisdom and understanding, grow in the knowledge of God but lord, to an end, so that we may walk it out and love well.
19:59
Love others, lord, into your kingdom by our godly lives and our Christian witness with the defense of our faith. Being able to articulate the gospel and offer it freely. Lord, that's service. Lord, would you take what we are we are collecting here in this offering, and would you use it for the ongoing of your kingdom? Would you build up the nascent church that is growing all over this world?
20:27
God, I think of this amazing church that you're building worldwide and I just pray that we'd be a part in building it up lord and never ever tearing it down. Would you take these tithes and offerings? You multiply them. Lord, and do your kingdom's work as you see fit. In Jesus name, amen.
24:40
I don't think I've heard that one before. It's very very pretty. Whispering hope. So this morning, we did not have children's church. It was because everybody's sick, you know, calling in.
24:55
And so I got the call yesterday. No big deal. You know, we preach all summer. We don't have children's church during the summer when school's out and so I preach to kids sometimes but I'm more scared of children than I am y'all. I promise and I don't.
25:08
I just have to tell you that that when I when I preach to y'all, I feel like, okay, we're relating. I'm getting some some visual feedback but when I preach to kids, I don't get that. Not at all. The most scared that I have ever been is preaching after after the summer that I came as an intern here, I was asked the very last week I was here. They said, hey, could you come up and do a middle school camp at Old Faithful Christian Ranch?
25:31
The preacher that was supposed to do it is sick and bailed on us and we don't have a replacement. Would you do it? Somebody recommended you. And I said, yes before I really thought about it and then, I had preached eight messages over the course of the whole summer to y'all and then, I had to preach eight messages between Monday at noon and Friday at noon and they were different messages. They weren't the same ones I preached for a different audience and I was scared to death.
25:53
I cried in between. I'm not afraid to tell you. That's the truth. Today, as I was considering Colossians two one through 15, I was thinking about all the Old Testament passages I could draw on and all this stuff and then when I saw that the kids were there, I thought, you know what? Maybe I need to simplify this a little bit and the simplification actually helped me more than anything else.
26:15
Maybe I need to consider this every single week. Y'all remember this analogy. I've used it before, crosshairs. This is Wyoming. So, y'all, it's their guns.
26:23
You know, we we know about guns, firearms out here and even in Jackson, I I brought actually a BB gun with me this morning and I was going to use the BB gun and I thought gun in church might not be the best thing that I could use. So, but if you are looking at a crosshair where you want to hit is in the center, right? You want to hit the center of those crosshairs, a target. You center it up with your crosshairs and you want to hit dead center of your target. There's another one that I thought about.
26:51
You know, construction, most people know what this is and I've used this before. This is an objective standard, right? It is a level. It's straight and when you put it on a surface this way, it'll tell you whether it is level. And if you hold it up like this, it'll tell you whether something's plumb, straight up and down.
27:09
So plumb and level. And in in building, that's incredibly important. These little things like the one on the screen there, this it goes beyond just being one directional like this level. This is a unidirectional level or a vial level. It's filled with some sort of liquid and there's a bubble that floats around in it and I'll pass these around actually.
27:31
There are a couple of kids right here. Here you go. Take a look at that and you can pass them on around too. I'll give one to Bob too. This is a this is a vial of liquid but it has one bubble in it and if you get the bubble in the center of this, you know that it is level in all directions.
27:48
It's not just one way, it's level and this is very helpful when you're laying tile or when you're building a building, When you're doing anything, they look a little different. Some of them tell you how many degrees off you are, one degree, two degree, three degrees there. Like this one, this filled with antifreeze, that's helpful in Wyoming too. So that it doesn't freeze up. You wanna hit the center of the bull's eye or you wanna have the bubble right in the center of that vial level.
28:13
Some of them are called spirit levels because they're filled with a spirit, a water or whatever. Spirit levels. So you're shooting for center but the truth is we don't hit the center. In fact, if I were to ask people, you can see we're all over the map here. I asked Steve Marsteller in the first service and I know some of y'all are probably on shooting and target practice and that sort of thing.
28:40
What are people typically the most likely to do? Eric Anderson. When you're pulling on a target, what's the most typical for most human beings? Where do they usually shoot? That's true.
28:58
If you close your eyes and yank the trigger, it's hard to tell where you're gonna hit. Well, there are a lot of people living like that. But if most people, if they're right handed, when they pull the trigger, they pull to the right because they're pulling the trigger with their right hand, and they pull down or they don't account for the fact that the bullet dropped because of gravity. And so most people pull down into the right. That's the norm for people.
29:17
So most of us are shooting somewhere in this quadrant. If we're shooting for, and I've used this analogy before and I'll use it again. I think that it helps me to to see a little better. We're shooting for the center. We can go wrong by being too naturalistic with the scriptures.
29:36
We can go wrong by being too naturalistic and focus it too much on just the natural. That goes in a lot of different directions but Thomas Jefferson, great man, great statesman, wonderful guy but he believed that the supernatural stuff that is in the Bible was not really he he didn't care for that. He liked the good moral teachings of Jesus. He liked to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, chutzpah to go get em and so he removed everything that was supernatural in the Bible and he definitely shot outside of orthodoxy towards the natural side. Do you know anybody that you think they're a Christian but they tend to keep it all right in that lower left quadrant where they don't really have a whole lot of put a whole lot of stock in the supernatural.
30:19
So, it could be that you're too supernaturalistic. I get to talk to people from time to time who say, oh, the angels are just around you. I can hear. I can feel the aura that's coming off of you. Okay.
30:31
Alright. Alright. God led me to put on these socks so that such and such and it's like, okay, that's okay too but it's supernaturalistic and you can go wrong. You can be outside of the bounds of orthodoxy. Let's call the circle Orthodox Christian faith, alright?
30:48
You can be too supernaturalistic where it's all about demons and not about responsibility or humanity, you know, but you can be too much right there too. AA at is a very drinking is one of these natural tendencies. It's one of those things that people do but AA in the first step says, my life has become unmanageable. I'm way over here in the naturalistic realm. I've tried everything I can.
31:13
I've put my hands on everything I can but the second step after you've admitted that your life has become unmanageable is to say but there is a higher power. And I'm surrendering myself to him and that pulls you back up towards the center. So natural, supernatural. You can go out of bounds in either direction but hopefully, you're pulling towards the center. Dogmatic, down into the right.
31:39
The normal human response is dogmatism. It's about if we have decided what our religion is or what our books are, what our sacred script is, It is it is what it is no matter what I feel about it and it is true and not one jot nor tittle will ever change but you can be too dogmatic about scripture. Do you agree with me? Okay. Or you can be too existential.
32:08
Now, I could say experiential. It's all about your experience and how you feel. It's all about the feeling that you get. The my heart was strangely warmed. Okay?
32:19
That if you're Methodist, John Wesley said that if you're Mormon, Joe Smith said that. If you're if you're a Muslim, Mohammed said that. Experience is important and we should have a real experience of what scripture says but it can go too far. I feel that was okay in this case to be able to do this because I felt it, you know, if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right. That kind of feeling.
32:49
If it feels good, do it. That's not true. You have to balance that with what scripture says. Now, dogma, scripture is not dogma. We create dogma from scripture and dogma is not necessarily bad but you can be too dogmatic and experience is not too is not bad but you can be too experience based or too existential.
33:10
We're shooting for the sinner. Now, every Sunday, when I am going to present, I try to present and I know some of you pull this direction, some pull other directions, and so I'm trying to say exactly what the scripture says because I believe it but I'm trying to say it in a way that connects with your experience and your heart because if you don't feel it and it's just by road or just by dogma, it it can be it can be a pretty hard life and you can be a pretty hard and harsh person. So I I've shared this with people from time to time. If somebody asked me what I what it is I think or feel or believe or how do you get up in front of people and do that? I'll say, I feel like this is kind of a filter that I run things through.
33:49
And I was telling a friend in town this a while back and we love each other dearly and we talk from time to time about things that matter. He's a believer. Don't have any doubt about it. He ministers here. I don't have any doubt about it.
34:03
He said that I believe that dogma is the lens through which you should see those other three. And so, he is squarely in this quadrant and admits it and knows it but he so hates the experience based nonsense that he feels like, I can see from scripture that that's not right. Does that make sense? He says, and so he's squarely in this camp and he's kind of unwilling to move and if you're unwilling to move, actually, you're probably going to go further and further that direction. That's the way level, I mean, that's the way things work.
34:38
The further you go with something out of plum or out of level, the worse it gets. Okay. Christ hit the absolute center of the bull's eye. In his perfect birth, perfectly timed, in just the right moment, Christ was born of a woman. In his walk and in his life, he hit the absolute sinner over and over and over and over again and every experience that he had, he walked out the complete meaning of the scriptures.
35:03
He never went to the right or to the left or up or to the down. He was right and righteous. He never missed. Straight in that hole. Okay?
35:15
Dead on the level. How are we? We are all over map. Depending on who you talk to, you're going to get things that are more in the natural or supernatural realm. Or some folks will be dogmatic and some will be experience based.
35:30
And then there'll be those that are completely outside of orthodoxy. Claiming to be there, okay? But that's the way that this goes. So, I'm going come back to our text. Colossians two starting one and two here.
35:45
Paul has already told him that he loves him. He's already told him the groundedness that they need to have is found in Christ. Christ is absolutely preeminent. He must be. He needs to be preeminent in our lives because he is preeminent in truth.
35:59
He needs to be the center of it for us. So, Paul starts off a very personal note and I love the humility here and I love his concern. I think of the list of his sufferings. We just talked about sufferings last week, suffering for Jesus. At the end of Paul's list of sufferings about shipwreck and snake bit and all of that.
36:17
The end of the list, he says, and apart from that, my concern for all of the churches. My my heart's concern for all of the churches. He says to the Colossians, for I want you all to know how great a struggle I have for y'all, you all, and for those at Laodicea, which is a neighboring town about 12 miles away. For those at Laodicea and for all of those who've not seen me face to face. So, Paul's concern for Christians that he hasn't even met yet, including you.
36:47
He is extending God's will and he's extending God's word to Laodicea. Laodicea is interesting means people rule or people are right. The people are right. The people are right. It reminds me of the People's Democratic Republic Of China.
37:06
Not really the people ruling, right? But it's it's the communist kind of thinking that people, the people rule. Laodicea is one of the churches of revelation, right? And it's the people rule. They have come to believe that whatever they think is right is right and that's not true.
37:27
Just because a majority of people believe something, does that mean it's true or right? No. Okay. I won't talk politics. No.
37:39
Laodicea, the people rule. In America, we have a tendency to believe that most people are right most of the time. The majority of people. We've stocked our government with the idea that most people pick the right most of the time. Are you with me?
37:57
So, that can creep into our Christianity too. Let God be true and every man a liar. Christ hits the center of that target every time and we don't. So, Paul says he's struggling. He's struggling for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that's including us and what's he praying and struggling for?
38:18
That their hearts, our hearts might be encouraged and that being knit together in love that we would or they would reach all of the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery. Now, he said before in Colossians, he'll say it again. He said it in a couple other places we've already studied that this mystery which has been concealed for ages past has now been revealed in Christ Jesus and so, right here, he says, the mystery which is Christ. Christ makes clear all of the teachings that came before him, all of the prophecies he fulfilled, and all of the law he actually fulfilled too and it goes into that. The knowledge of God's mystery is Christ and if you get Christ, then you can be encouraged and you are being knit together in love and the what we're shooting for is to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery.
39:16
So we're shooting for the sinner. Jesus hits it every time. We don't. Knowledge of God's mystery which is Christ. Christ, in whom are hidden, all of the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.
39:33
I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. I like the the Greek on this is pith analogia. Pith analogia and it actually means persuasive speech, a pithy analogy. Pith analogia is a persuasive speech and the earliest one, I think, is probably in the garden when Satan used a persuasive speech on Eve. Did God really say?
40:03
You remember that? Did God really say that? Wait a second. Maybe God didn't say that. I heard it from Adam.
40:08
I didn't hear it directly from God. Did God really say that you would die? Think about it. Why would that be the case? He's put you in this garden.
40:17
That's a persuasive speech, right? It's wrong and it deluded her and it led her and her husband into sin, right? So, Paul says, I say all of this about the preeminence of Christ and I say all of this about the treasures and the wisdom and the knowledge of getting to know Christ so that no one may delude you with their plausible argument. You have probably heard plausible arguments from every one of these quadrants. Have you heard Carl Sagan before?
40:49
Carl Sagan would be naturalistic. This is all there is. Anything that can be observed with our senses is and anything that can't is not. No such thing as a soul, no such thing as resurrection, no such thing as heaven, no such thing as God. Intelligent design does not exist because this is all there is.
41:08
That is Carl Sagan's naturalistic view. And then again, in Jackson, you're just as likely to run into somebody who believes in karma, which is super supernaturalistic as you are to believe some run into somebody who believes the gospel. The supernatural that they will be reincarnated into a lower or higher based on how they live. That is completely supernaturalistic. Dogmatic.
41:38
We know dogmatic people. Do any of y'all don't know a dogmatic person? We know dogmatic when we see it. It's like, my goodness, that's so rigid or it's so ritualistic and I think of dogmatic being that way. I'm trying not to blast any particular scope of the church but to say that the the bread and the cup are magically changed is a bit supernaturalistic and it is absolutely dogmatic because that's what the church decided long, long, long, long ago rather than a representation is the actual body and blood of Christ.
42:16
So that is dogmatic and supernaturalistic. It's still a representation though. I think there's still plenty of Christians that are in there. But the plausible argument behind the elements changing is that we can control who receives the grace of God. That makes sense?
42:37
If they're not acting quite right, we withhold that. If they do act right, we can hand it over. If that's not grace, that's works. So dogmatic. And then experience based or experiential is just wanting the feeling.
42:49
Now I get from time to time, we need to sing more hymns with more depth. We need to sing hymns that have more scripture in them instead of those seven eleven songs where we sing the same seven song seven words 11 times. That would be an experiential thing. And if you go to a youth rally these days, we've been to a couple of them together, where they will sing a song, and I'm not joking, 19 different times until everybody's face is like this and then they say, now, everyone come down to the front. Magically, everybody comes down to the front.
43:22
I haven't ever gotten any of y'all up here to the front. Actually, it's like the altar call all you want to. These folks are not coming. It's just not in the culture of this place. But I tell you what, if we sang the same song for twenty minutes and I said, alright.
43:35
Now, we'll go home. If everybody will come forward. The power of suggestion brings you up here, right? So, experience based. Alright.
43:44
Back to the scripture. For though I am absent in body because Paul, you know, is in prison right now, house arrest in Rome. I'm absent in body. I'm not there with you in Colossi. Yet, I'm with you in spirit and I am rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith.
44:00
He just said he wanted to encourage their hearts and this is encouraging to read this to say, you know what? Yeah, Paul can rejoice because we are in good order. We are we love each other. We've come together in love and we came together in love because of Christ and what he did, not because what we did. So, he's rejoicing to see their good order and their firmness of their faith.
44:20
Christ hits the sinner every time. Now, we don't. Therefore, as the as right there doesn't mean, it it means just as or just like in the same way that, just as you receive Christ Jesus, the Lord. How do you receive Christ? It is not by works so that no one would boast but it is by faith, by grace through faith, by grace.
44:46
God's grace has offered it. Our faith is what receives it. Therefore, in exactly the same way as you receive Christ Jesus, the Lord by faith, so walk in him and I want to walk through that little phrase right there. So, walk in him. That's from parapetate.
45:02
I like the word parapetete. It's fun to say. Parapetic teaching is teaching that follows someone while they're walking. Parapetetic. Parapetete is the present active imperative second plural.
45:13
Kids love this in the first service. This is just this is what kids live for. Right? Their grammar in another language. Present active imperative second person plural from parapateo, the active means it is walk.
45:26
That it's a a person and it's walk. That's what parapetayo means is to walk. The present means you ing it. It is walking. It's a present active action.
45:40
So, we are walking. The imperative means be walking. Be walking. It is a command. That's imperative as a command to be walking and then second person plural is you all.
45:57
Y'all. So, y'all, Paul says, be walking. Y'all be walking and how are you going to be walking in him? Just as you received him, y'all be walking in him. Walk in faith with him.
46:11
So, walk in him. Be walking in him. Rooted and built up in him, in Christ, and established in the faith by Christ. What he has done, not because of what you have done. Do you all know Steve, Marcella, and Eileen, Marcella?
46:24
Do you all know them? Okay. So I was looking out during the first service. I've been using a target analogy the whole time and I looked out and I thought, I get text pictures from Steve and from Eileen and from Christy of animals that Eileen is dressed up in hunters camouflage and orange and holding the head of an elk or an antelope or something. And Eileen is legally blind.
46:47
Eileen can know who you are by your voice much easier than she can know who you are by your by seeing you because she's legally blind. She can barely see at all. If you ever see her read a text, she has the phone this close to her eye. She can't see. Yet she's the one shooting these animals.
47:02
So Steve, her dad, has trained her and he's established her in hunting. He has established her and he's taught her how not to pull to the right and down when you pull the trigger. He's taught her when she is lying down on the ground shooting out through the sagebrush to turn her feet out so that when if you hold your feet up like this, it messes your shot up. It makes you wiggle. So he's taught her those.
47:28
He's taught her all these different little things. He's gotten an iPad that is a mounted scope for her gun so it amplifies what she's looking at and she's able to put the target on it. He helps her because he's got a mirrored image exactly what she's seeing. And he talks her through it. Slow your breathing.
47:49
Are you ready? Yeah. Okay. Now is the time. Gently pull that trigger.
47:54
Pop. And she gets them. She's blind. We are all spiritually blind, but we have our eternal father. We have Christ who is, he's been here, he's done this, he knows exactly how it's done, and he hits the center every single time.
48:13
And he's the one who is doing just like Steve is doing for Eileen. That's pretty awesome. Awana. Awana clubs. Speaking of being established and rooted in the faith.
48:27
Now, I have not prepared this in advance and I have not asked them and I'm going to put them on the spot. Are you running for the backdoor? Can you give me any verse that you've learned in Awana, please? Red mic there. Anyone?
48:44
Either one? How about John three sixteen?
48:49
Okay. And God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
49:00
Amen. And that is trustworthy. Thank you. Thank you for being willing to do that. That is a trustworthy saying that he learned here probably when he was really young from his folks and that's a trustworthy saying.
49:15
Now at some point in his life, there'll be someone who comes along with a plausible argument that wants to argue that that's not true. It's true and it's good and he's been taught and he's received that truth just as you were taught. And Iwana teaches that. And if you want to volunteer for Iwana, like I said, we could use the help. Little commercial.
49:36
Abounding in Thanksgiving. I told you, I'm scared of kids. Scared to preach to kids anyway but there are tons of you who aren't. That that's just your deal and you love it and you communicate with them and they get it. I'm abounding in Thanksgiving that there are people who are pouring into kids' lives here and that they're accepting Christ because of what you're teaching.
49:54
Just as you were taught abounding in Thanksgiving, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit. The plausible argument thing can be in any quadrant. See to it that no one by philosophy or empty deceit. Do you all know who Renee Descartes is? Renee Descartes, Cartesian philosophy.
50:20
So okay. Rene Descartes goes into a restaurant. Waiter comes up to him and says, sir, I'd love to help you. Would you like to would you like the soup? And he says, I think not and poof, he disappears.
50:33
Rene Descartes is the guy who said, I think, therefore I am. He's a philosopher and I think therefore I am is stupid. Right? I mean, it is. It helps you as you think through things to go, well, I'm thinking so I must be.
50:47
If you go to the next level of philosophers after, Descartes, they go, well, that can't be proven. You can't prove that this what's going on in your mind is going on in your mind. It's you maybe just be a dream of something else. So, there are philosophies and if it does not start and end with a preeminent Christ, an almighty God, then it is an empty and deceitful philosophy and that's his point. See to it that no one takes you captive by their persuasive arguments, by their philosophy, by their empty deceit according to human tradition.
51:21
According to the elemental spirits of the world. The the human tradition, you remember when we were studying through John and Jesus was always, always, always running up against the traditions of men, especially the Pharisees, the traditions that were supplanting the scripture and they had built a hedge around scripture to the point that they were outside of the bounds of what God intended was man made for the Sabbath or the Sabbath made for man. Jesus always hit the center and he was a he was opposed by the religious. So, the elemental spirits of the world, if you look that one up in Greek, you might come up with something that mentions outer space and planetary travels and things like that, but that definition didn't come into being until the third or fourth century. This elemental or elementary spirits or principles of this world.
52:12
It means the things that seem right in the world. There's a way that seems right to man, but in the end, it is the way of destruction. The elemental spirits of the world and mentioning this part again, the elementary things, it could be any religiosity. That's what it is. Any kind of religious undertaking whereby my actions, I want to bend God to my will instead of me bending my will to God and it could be God's little g gods also.
52:44
Any kind of religiosity fits into this. It's according to human tradition. Most cultures, almost all cultures have some sort of a religious system. According to the elementary spirits of the world, all of us know what we should and shouldn't do culturally. And an example because we live in the culture.
53:04
Right? Now, we're a mix here and we're a melting pot in The US, but the elemental spirits of the world are those things which are religious undertakings outside of God and Christ and not according to Christ. He mentions that. Christ, the preeminent one. If it's not according to Christ, then it's not.
53:22
Now, there are some traditions that have grown up around Christ and the way that we do things like the way that we do our Lord's supper here is different than the way we did it growing up in the little church. It's different than the Catholic church does it. It's different than the Episcopal Church does it. It's different. It's just different.
53:39
If that become the way that we do it becomes really, really, really, really important to you, then you've probably gone outside of the bounds and you're going towards the elementary principles and according to human tradition and not according to Christ. He took very simple elements the night that he was and he met said that they were representative, not actual. Do this in remembrance of me. For in him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Now, Paul is saying this bodily over and over so that people don't think he's just supernatural.
54:12
In him, the fullness of deity, supernatural, supernatural, supernatural, dwells bodily, natural. He's bringing that back in to the center and you have been filled in him, Christ, who is the head of all rule and authority. So, center yourself on him. In him also, you were circumcised with a circumcision that was not made with with hands or made without hands. So, Jesus was the fulfillment of the law and he was circumcised at exactly the right time and according to the law, according to everything, he did exactly what was done but if you find your righteousness in him, then, you are accepting that perfection, that perfectly level bubble, that perfect shot at the center of the target because Christ hid it absolutely center in his life and walk.
55:02
His mother and earthly father took him to the temple just as they should have, did everything according to the law so that he could have a perfect life to offer in our stead. In him also, you were circumcised with circumcision made without hands by putting off this body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ. His righteousness is actually available. Now, from Abraham to Jesus, that was the sign. God said to Abraham, leave this land, go to a place that I'll show you and he also said and this will be the sign of our covenant that you will do this, the whole circumcision thing.
55:37
And from Abraham to Jesus, that was a line, the line of promise, and that was the way that it was supposed to be. Jesus fulfills that, and Paul speaking to a group of pagans, now Christians, and saying, it is not about the ritual. It's about accepting what Christ has done on your behalf. Having been buried with him in baptism in which you are also raised with him through faith and the powerful working of God, he who raised him from the dead. And you, you who were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God has made alive together with him.
56:14
You're Christians and believe it and you do not have to go. The people with their plausible argument saying, listen, this whole Old Testament has been this way for two thousand years. It's been a long time and God means this still. You have to do this. That's a plausible argument.
56:29
He's saying, God has made you alive together with him already. It is by faith that we're saved by grace through faith. Having forgiven us all of our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with all of its legal demands, Christ fulfilled that law and so now, you have freedom in his fulfillment of that law. This, he set aside and he nailed it to the cross. At the cross, the message of the cross is that Jesus's perfect life was put up without any debt.
57:01
His perfect target was right there. His dead level, absolutely perfect life was up and Jesus voluntarily surrendered that target in exchange for your missing the all over the place. He voluntarily exchanged that for your life that's completely out of kilter. And for those who are being saved and believe that, that's the power of God. But to those who are perishing, it's just mere foolishness.
57:26
Imma end with this. We went through this in second Corinthians. It's a succinct statement I think of the gospel and every Sunday we talk about how no one is righteous, no, not one and that God willingly offers it freely to anyone who would accept and take on that belief in Jesus. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor, that you, by his poverty might become rich.
58:01
Jesus wants to exchange with you individually, personally, experientially. It is a matter of dogma. It's supernatural and you're natural, okay? He wants to bring you in. Christ hit the absolute center in his life and walk and in his death and he offers that to us.
58:22
Now, the fifteenth says that he, God, disarmed the rulers and authorities. There's no threat to you from the rulers or authorities now. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and he put them to open shame and how did he do that? He did that by triumphing over them in Jesus. That's the only way.
58:46
So we're shooting for the sinner, and we're going to keep on missing. That's unfortunate. In Christ, we can get closer and closer to the center as we bow our will to his. I had one guy afterwards. He said, the harder I try, the further I pull down into the right.
59:04
That's true. But letting him, yielding to him. If Eileen were to just take the shot whenever she felt like it, oh, that could be dangerous. Blind girl with a gun. But if she waits for the appropriate moment when she's ready and she takes that shot when Steve says, Are you ready?
59:26
Yes. Now's the time. Gently. Boom. Right in the center.
59:31
But it's only by him. We are going to miss it every time if it's up to us. So, would you stand with me? I think we're going to sing a song and if you want to walk down to the front, it'd be the first time I've ever seen it happen here. But I will be here to receive you and I'll turn the microphone off, okay?
59:50
Have thine own way, lord. I have two verses for you for the benediction today. One of em is New Testament from Titus. For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age.
1:01:57
It's available. It's available. Now, you're an instrument. You have to bow your will to his. The Old Testament way of seeing this is Micah six eight and I love this verse.
1:02:06
I love it on this side of the cross. I love it. He has shown you, oh mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? What is it that God requires of man, woman, to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. That's exactly what he requires of.
1:02:24
That's impossible without Christ. Looking forward to him for those saints or looking backwards to him for us. But this, because of the cross, it is possible to say no to ungodliness and worldly passion than to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. I leave you with that. In Jesus name, would you help us, lord?
1:02:45
Would you get us sighted in? Would you slow us and calm us to be able to hit the center so that others may know you in Jesus name. Amen.
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